Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

-

-

-

-

Introduction. Frailty is an indicator of health status in old age and a common clinical syndrome in older adults that carries an increased risk of poor health outcomes, including falls, incidents of disability, hospitalization, and mortality. This study aimed to identify the different trajectories of frailty and the factors related to frailty among Mexican older adults over time. Methods: Data are from a four-wave panel composed of older Mexican adults from 2001 to 2015 of the Mexican Health and Aging Study (MHAS). Frailty is the accumulation of deficits using a frailty index. A multilevel analysis, using hierarchical models, was applied to know the changes of frailty trajectories and what factors are related to it. Results. Being female, older, being widowhood, and having a lower level of education were risk factors for having a high frailty index and lower financial satisfaction doing activities at home have adverse effects. Conclusion. The findings of this work present information about the prevalence of frailty considering the proportion of deficits that individuals possess and their main associated components in older Mexican adults. It is necessary to improve socioeconomic health conditions in phases before old age to avoid developing frailty in the future.

The COVID-19 pandemic not only has had an impact in public health field, but it has also lead to a profound social and economic crisis. Attending to the demands generated by the virus has meant an economic standstill almost everywhere in the world. Mexico wasn’t the exception and the measures implemented in the country had important consequences in the economy and the labor market, carrying to a strong reduction of employment and withdrawals from the labor force. Thus, this article looks to understand the observed differences in this process, taking a point of view which prioritizes household care demands as a factor that can explain the dissimilar behaviour by gender.  To follow this objective a quantitative analysis is performed using data from the ECOVID-ML, through a logistic regression model. This shows that the effect of the care variables is relevant in understanding differences in labor force participation between men and women, and also confirms the lower reincorporation into the labor market of women, even though recovery has concentrated on feminized sectors.

Introduction: Ionizing radiation (RI) can induce the formation of micronuclei (MN). The formation of MN is used as a biomarker of radiation-induced genetic damage. Objective: assess DNA damage resulting from occupational exposure to RI in veterinary personnel. Methodology: the cytokinesis-block micronucleus assay (MNBC) was used to compare the observed frequency of MN in 40 individuals occupationally exposed to ionizing radiation with respect to a control group of 32 participants, both groups belonging to veterinary personnel. In addition, demographic, lifestyle and occupational variables that could influence the formation of MN were recorded. Results: univariate analysis did not show significant differences in the frequency of MN between the study groups (p=0.118). Using multivariate analysis, it was found that approximately 27% (adjusted R2= 0.269) of the variability in the frequency of MN can be explained by the joint influence of age, sex and the number of radiographic images performed by the participant. Age is the variable with the greatest relative importance (β = 0.504), followed by the sex of the participant (β = -0.316) and the number of X-rays performed per day (β = 0.214). Conclusions: the frequency of MN tends to increase in women, as the participant's age increases and as the number of radiographic images performed increases.

A case series of suspected cases of congenital Zika syndrome in a maternity hospital in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, Mexico was assembled to assess why they were not reported and explore the hypothesis of dengue antibody dependent Zika disease.  Clinical and imaging records, and interviews of a total of 13 of the cases revealed that only one of them was laboratory confirmed because appropriate specimens were not collected from the newborns as required by the case definition. 1) Microcephaly, 2) hypoplasia/hypogeneses, thinning or absence of brain structures, 3) multiple birth defects, 4) calcifications, and cysts, 5) meningocele/encephalocele and 6) hydrocephalus were found in 100%, 76.9%, 38.5%, 38.5%, 30.8%, and 23.1%, respectively. They clustered geographically, and 77% occurred within May 2016 to March 2017, and recalled or were told by a doctor they Zika fever. Using as referent a group of mothers who delivered normal newborns in the same hospital, and an 80% plaque reduction neutralization test for dengue virus 1 and 2, there was a four-fold increased risk of congenital Zika syndrome among those with dengue 1 antibody as compared to those with dengue 2 antibody (odds ratio = 3.6; 95% confidence interval: 0.7, 20.5), reaching only borderline statistical significance.  The case definitions of congenital Zika syndrome used during the pandemic probably needed to be simpler to gain sensitivity.

Homicide is one of the most important mortality causes that has reduced the Mexican life expectancy. That is why the aim of this work is to identify some sociodemographic and economic factors that can help explain homicides in Mexico and measure their impact, assuming the current conditions prevail. To do that, several Machine Learning (ML) methods were evaluated. The C5.0 model is best suited for the data at hand. After fine-tuning the algorithm, we used the estimated model to identify the main factors that explain homicides. Among these factors, eleven were selected that can be influenced by direct changes in domestic public policy, laws and/or regulations. These were used as input in a two-level fractional factorial Statistical Design of Experiments (DOE) to estimate their main effects and possible interactions. Although several of these factors had statistically significant effects on homicide rate, the one that had the biggest and direct impact from a practical perspective, was the Rule of Law Index (RLI). In fact, if we assumed that all states had the median RLI of 0.37, implementing domestic policies and procedures to move them all to the best RLI level could significantly reduce homicide rates.

Aquest article explora els apetits obsessius en Chanson Douce, de Leïla Slimani, traduïda a l'anglés al Regne Unit amb el títol Lullaby i als Estats Units com The Perfect Nanny, i Dans le jardin de l'ogre, traduïda com Adèle. Em base en les idees de Lauren Berlant sobre les connexions entre l'alimentació obsessiva i la sexualitat obsessiva en Cruel Optimism, destacant com en l'obra de Slimani, els trastorns alimentaris i les compulsions sexuals constitueixen representacions repetides de vincles fallits i són desencadenats per una forma de trauma sistèmic (que Berlant denomina "vulgaritat en crisi") arrelat en l'alienació sociocultural. La cerca desesperada d'intimitat en Chanson douce i d'antiintimitat en Dans le jardin de l'ogre condueix a l'autodestrucció, representada en la inanició, en relacions sexuals perjudicials i, en última instància, en l'assassinat. Al meu entendre, el lector queda atrapat en les repeticions destructives i en el desig d'anar més enllà d'elles cap a alguna mena de final satisfactori, que en aquests textos implica el silenciament brutal dels desitjos i l'agència femenins (inscrits en les narracions des del principi). La lectura es mostra així lligada a la violència de l'optimisme cruel i als seus apetits obsessius.