Exclusion Of Women Research Articles

Rules and statutes of the Spanish Military Orders of Calatrava and Santiago: the evolution of two attitudes towards women (12th‒15th centuries)

Rules and statutes of military orders regulated the daily life of the members, their behaviour, their membership, and the relationship they must maintain between them and with people outside of the orders. Hence, the analysis of normative sources may provide insight into the study of women who lived inside and outside of the military orders in the Iberian Peninsula. Most of them mention lay and conventual sisters. However, they also speak of other women, such as “half‒sisters”, Moors and even concubines. The aim of this paper is to study the place of women and their relationship with the orders, according to the rules and statutes. Is their presence and their relationship with brothers only determined by their gender? What do the main evolutions of those sources, from the 12th to the 15th century, reveal about the attitudes of the orders towards women? Focusing on the two main Spanish orders, Calatrava and Santiago, this article attempts to answer these questions by examining the different profiles found in the normative sources. It begins by introducing the main differences of both orders in their inclusion and exclusion of women, and presents the main changes and evolutions that occur until the Late Middle Ages. What can be observed is that the attitudes of Calatrava and Santiago were first markedly different, especially towards the integration of women into the orders and the conjugal chastity to which women are often associated. It appears that it was changing with the development of the orders until the 15th century, when the gap between men and women members may have become less relevant than between lay and cleric members.

Urbanization as a Gendered Process: Theory, Evidence, and Implications

Abstract This research note addresses the overlooked and undertheorized gendered dimensions of rural-urban migration in the developing world. Drawing on Ester Boserup's (1970/2007) framework, a macro-social theory is offered that links historic agricultural divisions of labor to gendered patterns of urbanization. Specifically, it is argued that nations with a history of male farming systems (MFS) are more likely to produce economic and cultural conditions that facilitate women's rural-urban migration when compared to nations with a history of female farming systems (FFS). From this, the notion of “open” and “closed” urban systems is conceptualized to help identify and categorize the gendered urbanization histories of developing nations, which are linked to women's rights. Empirical support for the concepts and their association with women's rights is presented using mapped data from 138 developing nations from 1985 to 2015. A nation-level t-test of the interactive proxy measure between nation-level male-to-female urban population ratios and the degree of women's exclusion reveals a significant difference between nations with open and closed urban systems (p < 0.01). The conclusion discusses the limitations of the theory and evidence, the implications of the findings, and future research directions.

Endometriosis, a prevalent disease, is associated with significant cardiac disease

Abstract Background Endometriosis, a chronic systemic gynecological disease affecting 10% of women in the reproductive age, shares pathophysiological characteristics with cardiovascular disease. However, data on the relationship between endometriosis and cardiac outcomes are scarce. Further research is needed to address this gap in knowledge as highlighted by recent calls from the European Heart Journal. Purpose To examine the incidence of the following outcomes both as a composite and individually: 1) ischemic events, 2) arrhythmias, and 3) heart failure among women with endometriosis compared with the background population. Methods Using Danish nationwide registries, all women with a diagnosis of endometriosis (1977-2021) were identified and matched with women from the background population in a 1:4 ratio based on year of birth. The incidence of 1) ischemic heart disease and ischemic stroke, 2) arrhythmias (including atrial flutter/fibrillation), and 3) heart failure were examined and compared between women with and without endometriosis. Results After exclusion of women with ischemic events/arrhythmias/heart failure prior to index, 59,194 women with endometriosis and 238,352 matched controls were included (median age 37.1 years [IQR 29.8-44.4 years]). The women were followed for a median of 17 years and a maximum of 45 years. Overall, women with endometriosis were more comorbid and used more medications than their matched controls. The 40-year cumulative incidences of the composite outcome were 36.2% (95%CI 35.4-37.1%) and 30.2% (95%CI 29.8-30.7%) among women with and without endometriosis, whereas it were 23.8% (95%CI 23.0%-24.5%) and 18.8% (95%CI 18.5%-19.1%) for ischemic events, 20.1% (95%CI 19.4%-20.9%) and 17.2% (95%CI 16.8%-17.5%) for arrhythmias, and 7.5% (95%CI 7.0-8.0%) and 6.6% (95%CI 6.3-6.8%) for heart failure, respectively (Figure 1). The most common arrhythmia was atrial fibrillation/flutter constituting more than half of the events in both groups. In both unadjusted and adjusted analyses, women with endometriosis compared with controls had a significantly higher associated risks of the composite outcome (unadjusted HR 1.30 [95%CI 1.27-1.34], adjusted HR 1.29 [95%CI 1.25-1.32]), ischemic events (unadjusted HR 1.32 [95%CI 1.28-1.37], adjusted HR 1.31 [95%CI 1.26-1.35]), arrhythmias (unadjusted HR 1.25 [95%CI 1.20-1.30], adjusted HR 1.24 [95%CI 1.19-1.29]), and heart failure (unadjusted HR 1.07 [95%CI 1.01-1.14]), adjusted analysis (HR 1.05 [95%CI 0.98-1.12]). Conclusions Women with endometriosis have a higher associated long-term risk of significant cardiac outcomes compared with the background population. Despite the small relative differences, the high prevalence of endometriosis underscores the importance of these findings and emphasizes the need for enhanced understanding and prevention of its long-term cardiac outcomes.

WOMEN'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE LIBERATION OF KOSOVO IN 1998-1999

The work brings to mind the years 1998 and 1999 in Kosovo, which brought a lot of suffering. Serbian forces carried out massacres, murders, raped women and men and destroyed almost the entire country. Approximately 90% of Kosovo Albanians were forcibly expelled from their homes. The paper brings to attention a contemporary issue, in these times of horror that are being repeated in the same form again in Ukraine and Palestine, groups of women and girls who are raped, massacred and killed, help displaced people with food, support, medical care, housing and education. Over 20 thousand Albanian women and girls were raped by the Serbs during the years 1998-1999. The harrowing narratives of Kosovar women and girls reveal the barbaric violence that the Serbs have inflicted on women, girls, mothers, children and men, who became victims of rape during the war. The role of women in Kosovo, in this war, was as important as the role of women for the creation of a new life. This research is based on real statistics of the testimonies of women and girls during the war in Kosovo. According to the records, women and girls got knowledge about weapons and ammunition and became part of the national liberation struggle. The women became the informers of the massacres that the Serbs would do in the towns and villages, preventing them. The lack of an accurate number of women participating in the war for the liberation of Kosovo means that they do not take their rightful place in this war. They deserve recognition. According to the data, there was a considerable number of women in the guerrilla BIA. Women had a key role in the liberation of the country, they must have been forgotten by the free state of Kosovo. The contribution and sacrifices of women during the war in Kosovo were unparalleled, they aimed at the war and the liberation of the Albanian lands. In many studies, this role of women in liberation has not been identified, due attention has not been paid to it, and this is related to the existence of patriarchal norms of Kosovar society. The exclusion of women from this active contribution is related to these norms and this study makes an effort to bring this contribution of women to the liberation war of Kosovo. The study brings to attention that the contribution of women during the war should be documented and be part of our oral and written history, whose contribution has been little described.

Short inter-pregnancy interval and birthweight: a reappraisal based on a follow-up study of all women in Norway with two singleton deliveries during 1970–2019

We studied mean changes in birthweight from the first to the second delivery according to length of the inter-pregnancy interval. We also studied recurrence risk of low birthweight, preterm birth and perinatal death. We followed all women in Norway from their first to their second singleton delivery at gestational week 22 or beyond during the years 1970–2019, a total of 654 100 women. Data were obtained from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Mean birthweight increased from the first to the second delivery, and the increase was highest in pregnancies conceived < 6 months after the first delivery; adjusted mean birthweight increase 227 g (g) (95% CI; 219–236 g), 90 g higher than in pregnancies conceived 6–11 months after the first delivery (137 g (95% CI; 130–144 g)). After exclusion of women with a first stillbirth, the mean increase in birthweight at inter-pregnancy interval < 6 months was attenuated (152 g, 95% CI; 143–160 g), but remained higher than at longer inter-pregnancy intervals. This finding was particularly prominent in women > 35 years (218 g, 95% CI; 139 –298 g). In women with a first live born infant weighing < 2500 g, mean birthweight increased by around 1000 g to the second delivery, and the increase was most prominent at < 6 months inter-pregnancy interval. We found increased recurrence risk of preterm birth at inter-pregnancy interval < 6 months, but no increased recurrence risk of low birthweight, small for gestational age infant or perinatal death. In conclusion, we found the highest mean increase in birthweight when the inter-pregnancy interval was short. Our results do not generally discourage short pregnancy intervals.

Intramural Leiomyomas and Fertility: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

To evaluate fertility outcomes based on size and number of intramural leiomyomas and outcomes after removal. Online searches: MEDLINE, ClinicalTrials.gov , PubMed, Cochrane Library, and PROSPERO Library from 1994 to 2023. A total of 5,143 studies were identified, with inclusion of 13 study groups. Outcomes for size and number of leiomyomas were reported with clinical pregnancy rates and ongoing pregnancy or live-birth rates. In data sets with maximum leiomyoma diameters of less than 6 cm for study inclusion, women with leiomyomas smaller than 3 cm had lower clinical pregnancy rates than women without leiomyomas, with an odds ratio (OR) of 0.53 (95% CI, 0.38-0.76) and, for ongoing pregnancy or live-birth rates, an OR of 0.59 (95% CI, 0.41-0.86). The ORs for clinical pregnancy rates in women with intermediately-sized leiomyomas (those between 3 cm and 6 cm) were lower than in women without leiomyomas, with an OR at 0.43 (95% CI, 0.29-0.63) and, for ongoing pregnancy or live-birth rates, an OR at 0.38 (95% CI, 0.24-0.59). In data sets without exclusion for women with larger-sized leiomyomas, clinical pregnancy rates were lower for those with leiomyomas smaller than 5 cm compared with those without leiomyomas, with an OR of 0.75 (95% CI, 0.58-0.96). Women with leiomyomas larger than 5 cm showed no differences in clinical pregnancy rate compared with women without leiomyomas, with an OR of 0.71 (95% CI, 0.32-1.58). Although women with a single leiomyoma in any location had no differences in outcomes, those with more than one leiomyoma had lower clinical pregnancy rates and ongoing pregnancy or live-birth rates, with an OR of 0.62 (95% CI, 0.44-0.86) and 0.57 (95% CI, 0.36-0.88), respectively. The clinical pregnancy rate for women undergoing myomectomy for intramural leiomyomas was no different than those with intramural leiomyomas in situ, with an OR of 1.10 (95% CI, 0.77-1.59). Even small intramural leiomyomas are associated with lower fertility; removal does not confer benefit. Women with more than one leiomyoma in any location have reduced fertility.

Woman Leadership in Toba Batak Society a Critical Study on Patriarchy

This research is an attempt to highlight the important aspect that leads to the inequality and marginalization of women in Toba Batak society, including their exclusion from leadership roles. The women experience this marginalization rationalized by the patriarchal system which is persistent and enduring even to this day. The role of the patriarchy system has resulted gender-inequality system that subordinate women in Toba Batak society. The Toba Batak patriarchal system is implemented in all aspects of life such as myths, rituals, organizations, leadership, and kinship systems. The cultural beliefs and rituals have created an attitude among the Toba Batak to view men as first class and women as second class. The research used qualitative research method particularly through ethnography. The researchers belong to the Toba Batak community attempt to be neutral and professionally on observing the life practices of the Toba Batak community. This research uses Pierre Bourdieu's theory of practice, especially doxa to analyze critically the Toba Batak, regarding leadership roles. Furthermore, this research includes the critique of patriarchy by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Mary John Mananzan who have engaged with Bourdieu on how to approach the struggle against patriarchy. This research aims to reach the root causes of discrimination on leadership especially the women exclusion. Finally, the researchers offer pastoral invitation the importance equality between men and women as the image of God through family formation.

‘Meeting them halfway’: legitimation in the discourse of secular social work educators at ultra-Orthodox campuses

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines the discursive practices used by secular social work educators when teaching ultra-Orthodox students, whose strict interpretations of Jewish religious law often clash with professional values. Utilizing data from a qualitative study based on in-depth interviews with 16 social work faculty members, the paper elaborates van Leeuwen’s framework for analyzing legitimation in discourse. The findings indicate that the lecturers often encounter controversial situations that require them to abandon their professional ethics in order to accommodate the differential needs of their ultra-Orthodox students. I contend that in order to legitimize and camouflage conflictual pedagogic actions, such as the exclusion of women, self-censorship or the acceptance of discriminatory attitudes, the interviewees use social work concepts and terminology, such as cultural sensitivity, discretion or rapport. That is, the lecturers paradoxically use their professional identity to suspend social work principles in an attempt to implement multicultural politics in the classroom. The study uses identity construction as a complementary analytical lens to van Leeuwen’s approach and illuminates the use of discursive legitimation in educational and professional settings.

Behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion in women: the role of facial attractiveness and friendliness

The behavioral and neural responses to social exclusion were examined in women randomized to four conditions, varying in levels of attractiveness and friendliness. Informed by evolutionary theory, we predicted that being socially excluded by attractive unfriendly women would be more distressing than being excluded by unattractive women, irrespective of their friendliness level. Our results contradicted most of our predictions but provide important insights into women’s responses to interpersonal conflict. Accounting for rejection sensitivity, P300 event-related potential amplitudes were largest when women were excluded by unattractive unfriendly women. This may be due to an expectancy violation or an annoyance with being excluded by women low on social desirability. An examination of anger rumination rates by condition suggests the latter. Only attractive women’s attractiveness ratings were lowered in the unfriendly condition, indicating they were specifically punished for their exclusionary behavior. Women were more likely to select attractive women to compete against with one exception—they selected the Black attractive opponent less often than the White attractive opponent when presented as unfriendly. Finally, consistent with studies on retaliation in relation to social exclusion, women tended to rate competitors who rejected them as being more rude, more competitive, less attractive, less nice, and less happy than non-competitors. The ubiquity of social exclusion and its pointed emotional and physiological impact on women demands more research on this topic.

Public Administration of Mobility in the Literature on the Exclusion of Women

The public administration of mobility lies in the establishment of the axes of analysis that allow articulating a system of transportation options to the transfer needs. In the case of gender distinctions, women's mobility is associated with security. Therefore, the first step to establish an efficient and safe system is the review of the findings related to suburban cities where the transfer from the periphery to the center explains the mobility network. The objective of this work was to review the literatura published from 2020 to 2024 in order to establish the central, grouped and structured axes of mobility. A documentary, retrospective, systematic, cross-sectional and correlational study was carried out with a sample of summaries in sources indexed to international repositories. The results demonstrate the prevalence of the use and appropriation of pedestrian spaces and parking as the central axes of the mobility system reported by the literature. In relation to the literature consulted, the extensión ofthe study towards the establishment of a public mobility policy associated with a security policy is recommended.

Customary Deprivation: Perceptions of Legatee in Igbo land and Female Property Crimes amongst Enugu Urban Inhabitants

This study aims to garner perceptions of Enugu inhabitants on the customary practice of property transfer to inheritors and its nexus to female property crimes (FPCs). Inheritance is an age-old practice which tends to favour male folks. Women have often been relegated to the kitchen. This practice is embedded in most African cultures where the birth of a male is valued over the birth of a female child. Denial of female rights of inheritance, denial of ownership of landed property, and female marginalization in almost all social institutions seem to stem from patriarchy which in turn tend to predispose women to property crimes. This study anchored on Relative Deprivation theory. Mixed method approach was adopted. Sampling of participant was based on multi-stage sampling procedure and purposive sampling. The sample size is 1015 for the quantitative part of the study and nine key informants for the qualitative aspect. This study found that the customary practice of legatee in Igbo land is embedded in patriarchy and this holds adverse economic effects for women, culminating in FPCs which involve women of youthful age who are mostly in full blown exposure of the existing privileges and cover offered to women in patriarchal societies especially when married. This study concludes that patriarchy understood as domination of vital social and political positions by men and exclusion of women from inheriting family lands and properties is implicit to FPCs.

Himalayan Mountaineering, Imperial Masculinity and Altitude Records Before Everest

ABSTRACT Across the nineteenth century, European surveyors, explorers and mountaineers often sought to constitute the Himalaya as spaces of imperial duty, escape from civilisation, and manly experiences against and in nature. Rather than focusing on the homosociality of the better known climbing ventures of the twentieth century, this article instead considers the period before Mount Everest became the main prize. In particular, it examines an eclectic mix of Himalayan expeditions that made claims to the world ‘altitude record’: that is, the highest height ever climbed above sea level. The different ways that climbers discussed and doubted these record-seeking climbs in their accounts, and especially in talks at the Royal Geographical Society in London, provide a series of snapshots into manly self-fashioning around suffering and self-reliance at the edge of the British Empire. Here the masculinities of non-European guides and porters (especially Gurkhas) also always provided both a foil and a challenge. Ultimately, attempts on the altitude record reveal the way that casting the Himalaya as a space for the narration of masculine ideals and imperial expansion could be both mutually reinforcing and in conflict. Expressions of homosociality nevertheless also shifted across the nineteenth century, with the filling in of the last ‘blank spaces’ on the map seemingly narrowing the canvas for manly outdoor experiences. This was compounded by the way the Himalaya were constituted and maintained as spaces for manly experiences in part by the exclusion of women, even as women like Fanny Bullock Workman were themselves climbing towards record heights.

‘The bloody fingers … bear witness’: Sign Language and the Mute Detective in Susan Hopley and The Trail of the Serpent

In her examination of signing characters in works of Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins, Jennifer Esmail highlights deaf characters’ absence in Victorian fiction. Mutism is more common, for example, in the character of Mary Elizabeth Braddon's working-class, fingerspelling Detective Peters (70, 10n24). Even so, sign language – seen as ‘primitive’ and ‘lacking [in] intellectual […] rigor’ – was rarely represented (Esmail 3). Dickens, Collins and Braddon, proto-detective novelists themselves, were preceded by Catherine Crowe, whose 1841 novel Susan Hopley features Julie le Moine, a female, cross-dressing sleuth whose mutism does not prevent her from testifying using ‘signs’ and ‘the finger alphabet’ (III.100, 125). Julie's undercover work not only crosses class, gender, and genre boundaries, but her non-verbal evidence challenges women's exclusion from ‘“masculine” systems of representation’ symbolised by legal parlance (Irigaray 85). When detective fiction pits the private eye against traditional jurisprudential structures, the courtroom becomes a space where classed and gendered hierarchies inform testimonial evidence, reinforcing exclusionary principles that disenfranchise the ‘Other’. The sign language, fingerspelling and lip-reading of Julie le Moine, Joseph Peters and Richard Marsh's Judith Lee expose ableist and sexist barriers that seek to expunge the detectives from the legal record by excluding them from public speech.

(Re)thinking gender in cyber-violence. Insights from awareness-raising campaigns on online violence against women and girls in Italy

Online violence against women and girls, known as cyber-VAWG, is a phenomenon that exacerbates dynamics of discrimination, marginalization, and exclusion of women from society. This is recognized as a form of violence with profound social, cultural, and economic consequences (EIGE, 2017; EU Parliament, 2021; Goulds et al., 2020). Rather than being an isolated phenomenon, cyber-violence is part of the continuum of violence, emphasizing how its various manifestations stem from a common cultural root and are inherently connected to each other. This study, by analyzing various Italian awareness campaigns focused on cyber-violence against women and girls, highlights the essentiality of a media-educational approach that integrates a gender perspective into the creation of media literacy pathways specifically aimed at digital environments. This integration proves fundamental in promoting media-educational strategies that do not just focus on developing skills but also consider the social and cultural context in which digital practices take shape (Cho, 2022; Taddeo &amp; Tirocchi, 2014; Tirocchi, 2013).

PAST AND PRESENT OF WOMEN'S RIGHTS AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

In history, the greatest aspiration of people is that all humanity has equal rights regardless of race, language, religion or gender. Gender inequality seen in communities where patriarchal structure prevails has caused women to be deprived of their rights. The exclusion of women who have been deprived of their rights due to their gender and even exposure to violence is a global problem that continues from past to present.&#x0D; Violence against women, which is as old as the history of humanity, is a phenomenon that affects all societies deeply and negatively. As a fundamental human rights and freedom problem, it continues to exist all over the World as a universal public health problem, regardless of ethnic origin, class, religion, social status, culture, economic and geographical boundaries. Domestic violence is the most common form of violence against women. &#x0D; In this study, the historical process of women and their rights, the place of women in society today, the historical process of violence against women, the causes and types of violence against women, femicides, the end point of violence against women, the effects of violence on public health, violence in our country will be discussed. Furthermore, institutions and organizations that women victims of violence can apply to, and suggestions against violence towards women are mentioned.

An Experiment on Gender Representation in Majoritarian Bargaining

Women are underrepresented in business, academic, and political decision-making bodies across the world. To investigate the causal effect of gender representation on multilateral negotiations, we experimentally manipulate the composition of triads in a majoritarian, divide-the-dollar game. We document a robust gender gap in earnings driven largely by the exclusion of women from alliances rather than differential shares within alliances. Experiments with different subject pools show that distinct bargaining dynamics can underlie the same inequitable outcomes; gender-biased outcomes can be caused by outright discrimination, but they can also be driven by more complex dynamics related to differences in bargaining strategies. Although replacing the male with a female majority all but eliminates the gap in one pool, it has minimal effect in the other. These findings show that there is no “one-size-fits-all” solution to the gender gap we uncovered and highlight the importance of studying bargaining dynamics in detail. This paper was accepted by Marie-Claire Villeval, behavioral economics and decision analysis. Funding: A. Baranski recognizes financial support from Tamkeen [under the New York University Abu Dhabi Research Institute; Grant CG005]. J. Tremewan acknowledges funding from the Agence Nationale de la Recherche [Grant ANR-21-CE03-0018 (Project ENDURA)]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.01800 .

Technologies of inclusion and marginalization: Mobile phones and multiple exclusion homeless women

Little is known about women experiencing multiple exclusion homelessness (MEH) in the UK, and even less about their use of mobile phones. MEH describes a subset of homeless people with multiple and complex needs who experience forms of deep social exclusion. Marginalized and socially excluded women often avoid social services and survive through remaining elusive and invisible. This evasion is reflected in their mobile phone practices in which both use and nonuse are expressions of their limited agency in the face of profound structural inequalities. This study explores MEH women's agency articulated through mobile phone ownership and usage in a UK coastal city. Through “deep hanging out” participant observation and interviews, it illuminates the complex ways in which MEH women access and manage mobile phones. It highlights paradoxical tensions between connection and invisibility; for example, homeless support services provide budget feature phones to MEH clients to ensure their improved safety and connectivity; however, MEH women sell these phones to meet their immediate needs. In so doing, these women reject the provision and discourse of stripped-back, financially compromised UK homeless support services. Through their mobiles, MEH women also engage with social media in uncertain ways, an activity which rather than providing connectivity and access, reaffirms social marginalization. Thus, MEH women's deep social exclusion is both mediated and reinforced by their mobile media practices.

The lost scientistsMischievous Creatures: The Forgotten Sisters Who Transformed Early American Science Catherine McNeur Basic Books, 2023. 432 pp.

A tale of two 19th-century researchers reveals how professionalization led to women's exclusion from science.

Excess adiposity and iron-deficient status in Colombian women of reproductive age.

Information about excess adiposity markers different from BMI and iron status is limited and more so about the shape of these associations. This study evaluated the relationship between three adiposity markers and iron-deficient status in reproductive-age women. Cross-sectional analysis in 6357 non-pregnant women from the Colombian nutritional health survey (ENSIN) 2010. Exposures were the following: waist circumference (WC), waist-to-height ratio (W-HtR), BMI, and WC > 80 cm, W-HtR > 0.5, and BMI ≥ 25 and ≥30. Outcomes were the following: iron deficiency (ID) as serum ferritin <15 μg/L, ID as ferritin <30 μg/L, anemia, and continuous values of ferritin and hemoglobin. Logistic and linear regressions adjusted for sociodemographic/inflammation covariates were conducted. All the adiposity markers, continuous or categorical, were inversely and significantly associated with both ID thresholds in fully adjusted models (p < 0.05). W-HtR reported stronger effect estimates for ID (odds ratios < 0.5) and for prediction of log-ferritin levels (fully adjusted β-coefficient [95% CI] 0.61 [0.39-0.82], p < 0.01) and was also inversely associated with anemia (p < 0.05). In cubic splines analyses, W-HtR, WC, and BMI were linearly associated with ID from values closer to international thresholds of general or central obesity, and the patterns of WC and BMI tended toward flatness. A significant decline in the likelihood of anemia was steeper by increasing W-HtR than by increasing BMI. After exclusion of women with C reactive protein > 5 mg/L or adjustment for C reactive protein, adiposity markers remained significantly related to ferritin levels and W-HtR with anemia. Women with higher adiposity were less likely to have an iron-deficient status. W-HtR was the strongest and most consistently associated marker. Inflammation would not be involved in the associations found.

Evidence of deviant parasympathetic response to social exclusion in women with borderline personality disorder

Stressful social situations like social exclusion are particularly challenging for patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) and often lead to dysfunctional reactive behaviour of aggression and withdrawal. The autonomous signature of these core symptoms of BPD remains poorly understood. The present study investigated the parasympathetic response to social exclusion in women with BPD (n = 62) and healthy controls (HC; n = 87). In a between-subjects design, participants experienced objective social exclusion or overinclusion in the Cyberball task, a virtual ball-tossing game. Need threat scores served as individual measures of perceived exclusion and the resulting frustration of cognitive–emotional needs. Five-minute measurements of high-frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) at three time points (before, during, after Cyberball) indicated parasympathetic tone and regulation. We observed a trend towards lowered baseline HF-HRV in BPD vs. HC in line with previous findings. Interestingly, the parasympathetic response of patients with BPD to objective and perceived social exclusion fundamentally differed from HC: higher exclusion was associated with increased parasympathetic activation in HC, while this autonomic response was reversed and blunted in BPD. Our findings suggest that during social stress, the parasympathetic nervous system fails to display an adaptive regulation in patients with BPD, but not HC. Understanding the autonomous signature of the stress response in BPD allows the formulation of clinically relevant and biologically plausible interventions to counteract parasympathetic dysregulation in this clinical group.