The Other Side: How Mexican-American University Students Living in Mexico Negotiate Their Transborder Identities

Using sociological qualitative methods, this article identifies three main themes on how Mexican university student who lived a significant part of their childhoods in the U.S. without documents negotiate their multicultural identities. Using transnationalism and post-colonial cultural theory as theoretical frames for my investigation, I put these themes in discussion with academic discourse related to the topic to make three conclusions on Mexican-American transborder identity. The first is that the persistence of difficulties transborder university students face integrating into Mexican society show that the difficulties of being a transborder student continue as the students age and mature. Second, is that the students’ efforts to have their identities recognized at the university and of operationalizing their bilingualism represent the formation of a new identity that is a product of return migration. Lastly, the identities of transborder students who had lived in the U.S. without authorization are still continuously changing as they mature and further establish themselves as independent adults. The goal of this research is to provide findings and conclusions that will contribute valuable information on how to begin understanding transborder identity and the experience of Mexican-American students and serve as a starting for future research on the topic

Basic Beliefs About A New Human Life and Ethical Judgment: Family Planning Field Workers in Taiwan

INTRODUCTION Taiwan\u27s place among the population hierarchy remains dwarfed by the shadow of China\u27s nearly billion people. Yet Taiwan\u27s population exceeds 17 minion and as such cis larger than that of most African, (e.g., Ghana, Kenya, Uganda), most Latin American (e.g., Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemela, Venezuala), and many Asian countries. Indeed, its exceptional family planning efforts, begun in 1964 on an island-wide basis, have been instrumental in lowering its natural increase rate from 30 per 1,000 in 1963 to 19 by 1973. This drop from 3% to less than 2% in a decade has been a remarkable achievement. The island, however, remains faced with the perplexing reality that in spite of intensive educational and service inputs, the crude birth rate has been stalled at 23 per 1,000 since 1973 (rising to 25.9 in 1976 and down again to 23.8 in 1977). The present three-year Family Planning Promotion Plan, which is part of the ongoing National Six-Year Economic Development Plan, calls for a lowering of the population increase rate to 1.7% by 1981. Such an achievement seems a difficult task with the rapidly increasing numbers of younger women who are entering marriagable ages. In addition to its efforts to shift emphasis to promoting later marriage, earlier use of contraception, and birth spacing among younger women, the government also has begun to consider relaxing present legal restrictions relating to induced abortion, including review of the present Cr imina1 Law Code, and establishment of an Eugenic Protection Law. The existing bibliography on the closely-evaluated Taiwan family planning program is extensive (Chinese Center for International Training in Family Planning, 1974) but relatively little study has been done on induced abortion to pave the way for change, presumably because of its officia1 illegality in spite of widespread availability. This survey assesses the ethical orientations about induced abortion of the several hundred field workers who provide family planning education and services to the people of Taiwan. These workers represent the major link between the public health administration and the people the government serves and their attitude toward abortion seems critical to future population planning. The study also reviews their knowledge about abortion availability, practice, and referrals. In addition it explores the relationship of their basic beliefs about the value assessments of human life to their ethical judgments about induced abortion. These beliefs and value assessments are studied to provide some better understanding of how they may affect the value judgments a worker may make about an ethical mode of behavior regarding a woman having an abortion under a particular circumstance. The actual survey was preceeded by more than a year of exploratory interviews, research review, consultation with experts, and pretesting of research instruments. It took place in late 1973 and covered 399 workers at 19 county and city health bureaus around the island. Only 14 of the 413 family planning workers did not attend the interview sessions scheduled at their county/city health bureaus: an impressive response rate (97%) considering that the interviewing was done during the typhoon season. Those unable, to attend (due to weather conditions or sickness) were not found to differ significantly from those attending. The 399 respondents represented virtually all geographic areas: from remote rural ones (including salt flats and mountainous areas) to semi -rural and suburban towns as well as highly-urbanized districts in large cities such as Kaohsiung, Taichung, Tainan and Keelung. The research questionnaire which took the workers from two and a half to three hours to complete is described below: Part 1: Ethical judgments about the IUD and the pill, sterilization, and induced abortion (74 items taking l-l-~ hours to complete). Part 2: Basic beliefs about human life and value assessments of human life (11 questions taking 20-30 minutes). Part 3: Judgments about fertility-related areas (32 items on spacing, two-child norm, sex preference, etc.). Part 4: Vital data (24 questions), religion (14 questions), and experience with abortion (11 questions) (Part 3 and 4 administered together taking 30-40 minutes). The ethical judgment scales were patterned after ones developed for use with U.S. public health professionals (Knutson, 1972) but their major thrust was toward the cognitive framework of the Taiwan field workers and the Taiwan social and cultural setting. The questions on beliefs and value assessments about human life relied heavily on a previous inventory developed by Knutson and tested in the U.S., India, Thailand, and Taiwan in an exploratory English form in the late 1960\u27s (1972, 1973) which was modified slightly to fit the Taiwan cultural melieu. The analysis involves two approaches. The first is use of the responses to the ethical judgment items to describe the nature and extent of the circumstances under which the field workers indicate that induced abortion should or should not be done and to provide scores to indicate comparative favorab ility to induced abortion. This involves a descriptive review including the use of Guttman-type scales to provide a cumulative ordered sequence of these ethical judgment positions in terms of their acceptability. The second includes: (a) reviewing individual basic beliefs and ideal value assessments about human life in terms of each1s associational and directional relationship to the abortion judgment scores of the workers (based on a 25-item Likert-like scale) and whether they ever referred for abortion; (b) determining the percent of variance in the scale scores accounted for by individual basic beliefs and selected demographic variables. The analysis is followed by a discussion of practical implications of the findings for population planning in Taiwan and suggestions for further research. The author thanks the Population Council and the staff of the Taiwan Provincial Health Department\u27s Institute of Family Planning for their support of this study. In addition, he expresses his appreciation to the many field workers who cooperated in the survey. He also acknowledges the help of Ching-ching Chen (Cernada) in fielding the survey and Professors Andie Knutson, William Griffiths, Thomas Crawford, and Harold Gustafson, then faculty at the University of California at Berkeley and Ronald Freedman at the University of Michigan who provided valuable direction as thesis advisors

Don\u27t Forget, It\u27s a Small Island: A Case Study of Population Policy and Research Utilization

This case study describes, from a participant\u27s viewpoint, the chronological unfolding of Taiwan\u27s first island-wide population education approach in the classroom. Cultural, bureaucratic and political obstacles to change and their complex interaction are discussed. A commentary and suggestions for discussion are included

Perfiles de expresión genómica: nuevo enfoque diagnóstico para la sepsis en recién nacidos menores de 1500 gramos

Introducción: La disponibilidad de marcadores de sepsis precoces y fiables que permitan anticiparse al resultado del hemocultivo continúa siendo un reto. Los perfiles de expresión genómica determinan los cambios de expresión de todo el genoma a partir de una pequeña cantidad de sangre usando una biochip. Aunque en pacientes adultos y pediátricos se han obtenido resultados prometedores con genes candidatos para marcadores de sepsis, no hay estudios equivalentes en la sepsis neonatal. Objetivo: Determinar si existen perfiles de expresión genómica específicos que diferencien recién nacidos de muy bajo peso (RNMBP) infectados de controles no infectados. Población y Metodología: Estudio de doble cohorte, observacional y prospectivo en RNMBP. A RNBP con sospecha clínica de sepsis se les extrajo hemocultivo y 0,5 ml de sangre que se conservó en solución estabilizadora de ácido ribonucleico (ARN) previo inicio de antibiótico. Consideramos sepsis aquéllos en los que se aisló un microoganismo en hemocultivo. Se seleccionaron controles apareados por características clínicas y demográficas, a los que también se extrajeron 0,5 ml sangre. Se aisló el ARN a partir de las muestras y se hibridaron sólo las muestras con una integridad y pureza de ARN adecuadas usando la plataforma de microarrays Human Gene 1.0 ST (Affymetrix®). Los perfiles de expresión se obtuvieron con el software Partek Genomic 6.6 (Partek Inc®) y el análisis estadístico descriptivo con SPPS 17.0 (SPSS Inc®). Se realizó un modelo predictivo con regresión de mínimos cuadrados parciales con análisis discriminante (PLS-DA: Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis, MatLab®) y los genes más significativos se validaron con reacción en cadena de la polimerasa a tiempo real combinada con una reacción de retro-transcripción (RT-PCR) usando sondas TaqMan® (Applied Biosystems). Se utilizó además una cohorte de validación externa con nuevos casos y controles. Resultados: Se analizaron 17 casos y 19 controles con características clínicas y demográficas similares. Se aislaron: S. coagulasa negativo (10), E. coli (3), E. faecalis (2), S. aureus (1) y M. morgagnii (1). Se observaron diferencias de expresión entre los dos grupos con 554 genes significativos con Fold Discovery Rate ≤0.05 en el ANOVA. El análisis no supervisado (Principal component analysis) objetivó diferencias de expresión entre: controles, sepsis por bacterias Gram positivas y sepsis por bacterias Gram negativas. El modelo predictivo con PLS-DA mostró 9 genes con una muy buena capacidad de clasificación: CD177, MMP8, OLFM4, HP, GSTM1, LCN2, ANKRD22, CEACAM1 y GPR84. Los procesos biológicos más significativamente implicados fueron la respuesta inmune innata y la respuesta inflamatoria y los reguladores cuyas redes explicaron más genes: el factor de necrosis tumoral (TNF), las citoquinas y el factor de transcripción nuclear kappa B (NF-kB). Se analizaron las diferencias entre las sepsis por bacterias Gram positivas y por bacterias Gram negativas en la cohorte de sepsis. El análisis no supervisado mostró 2 grupos diferentes en función de la expresión a partir de 719 genes significativos y el modelo predictivo 23 genes con una gran capacidad de clasificación. Se validaron los resultados con un test de permutaciones múltiples y doble validación cruzada. Conclusiones: Los perfiles de expresión genómica permiten discriminar a los RNBP con sepsis de los controles no infectados. Se han identificado y validado los genes más significativos que podrían ser futuros marcadores. Se han observado diferencias de expresión genómica entre las sepsis por bacterias Gram positivas y Gram negativas.Background: Bacterial sepsis is associated with high morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. However, diagnosis of sepsis and identification of the causative agent remains challenging. Genome-wide expression profiles have been successfully harnessed for the diagnosis of sepsis and patient stratification based on the severity of septic shock in the pediatric and adult population. To our knowledge, no transcriptomic studies for the diagnosis of bacterial sepsis in preterm infants have been previously conducted. Objective: Our aim was to determine genome wide expression profiles of very low birth weight (VLBW) infants (less than 1500 grams) with and without bacterial sepsis and assess differences. Methods: Prospective observational double cohort study conducted in VLBW infants with culture-positive bacterial sepsis and non-septic matched controls. Venous blood (0.5 mL) was obtained from eligible patients before starting antibiotics, and from matched controls, mixed with RNA stabilizing solution. Patients were diagnosed with sepsis when a microorganism was isolated from blood culture. Total RNA was isolated from each sample and integrity and quality were assessed prior to hybridization into Human 1.0 ST GeneChip Array (Affymetrix®). Genome-wide expression profiles were obtained using Partek Genomic 6.6 software (Partek Inc®) and descriptive statistical analysis was completed using SPPS 17.0 (SPSS Inc®). A Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis was performed to obtain a predictive model was performed and the most significant genes were validated by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using TaqMan® probes (Applied Biosystems). Furthermore, the signature was subsequently validated in an independent validation set of patients. Results: 17 septic VLBW infants and 19 matched controls were enrolled. Microorganisms isolated were: Coagulase negative Staphylococcus (10), E. coli (3), E. faecalis (2), S. aureus (1) y M. morgagnii (1). A three-dimensional unsupervised principal component analysis based on the entire genome identified three clusters of patients based on gene expression patterns: Gram positive sepsis, Gram negative sepsis and non-infected controls. Furthermore, these groups were confirmed using analysis of variance (ANOVA), which identified a transcriptional signature of 554 of differentially expressed genes with Fold Discovery Rate ≤0.05 between the groups. Predictive model using PLS-DA yielded 9 genes with high discriminative power: CD177, MMP8, OLFM4, HP, GSTM1, LCN2, ANKRD22, CEACAM1 y GPR84. The most significantly overexpressed pathways in septic neonates related with innate immune and inflammatory responses and the top master regulators based on p-value and numbers of genes were: tumor necrosis factor (TNF), cytokine and nuclear factor kappa B light chain enhancer of activated B cells (NF-kB). Differences between sepsis caused by Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria were assessed. Unsupervised analysis showed 2 independent groups according to gene expression and 719 significant genes derived from ANOVA. Predictive model (PLS-DA) revealed 23 discriminant genes. Results were validated using a multiple permutation test with double cross validation. Conclusions: Our results suggest that Genome-wide expression profiles early discriminate septic from non-septic VLBW infants. The most significant genes have been identified and validated. Differences in Genome-wide expression profiles between Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial sepsis have been described

Hypersensitivity to the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine caused by tromethamine: PEG is not always the culprit excipient

Vaccines against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are considered the cornerstone of the solution to the current global pandemic. The first vaccines to receive authorization for emergency use in humans were the BNT162b2 Pfizer-BioNTech and the mRNA-1273 Moderna vaccines. Both contain synthetic mRNA that codes for the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein, which is encased in a lipid nanoparticle envelope. Anaphylaxis and immediate hypersensitivity reactions were noted in only 1 case during phase III trials for BNT162b2, while no immediate hypersensitivity reactions were noted for the mRNA-1273 vaccine. However, a history of hypersensitivity to any component of the vaccines was an exclusion criterion. Nonetheless, cases of anaphylaxis were reported shortly after initiation of the vaccination campaign

The right to health in Spain. Special reference to the management of COVID-19

Este estudio se ha realizado con la finalidad de analizar el derecho a la salud en España centrado en tiempos del COVID-19 es decir, analizar como éste se ha visto afectado por la crisis sanitaria y cómo ha tenido que adaptarse para poder hacerle frente, además de tratar de estudiar la unión que existe entre el derecho y la salud, la gestión del COVID-19 que se ha llevado en nuestro país y los posibles errores que han podido surgir de ella. Tras el estudio realizado en fuentes científicas, se ha podido comprobar que efectivamente a pesar de contar en nuestro ordenamiento jurídico con regulación para situaciones de pandemias y de urgente y extraordinaria necesidad, la normativa no ha sido suficiente y han tenido que aprobarse nuevas normas para poder paliar los efectos de este virus a través de la creación de reales decretos-ley que permitieran de forma rápida dar una respuesta a las situaciones que se iban creando por esta situación. Además, puede afirmarse que el derecho y la salud van estrechamente ligados a pesar de no estar reconocido como derecho fundamental en nuestra constitución española el derecho a la salud. Por último mencionar que el COVID-19 ha sido un suceso que ha desbordado a el mundo entero y que todos los gobiernos del mundo han tratado de frenar el contagio dentro de sus fronteras pero que sin embargo, al tratarse de un virus desconocido y sin precedentes en los países, gestionarlo ha sido complicado y centrándonos en España, el Gobierno ha tratado de afrontarlo de la mejor forma posible pero ante tal situación con datos tan desgarradores y preocupantes y con una necesidad de respuesta tan rápida por parte de los dirigentes se han cometido errores durante la gestión que deberían tenerse en cuenta para futuras pandemias.This study has been carried out with the purpose of analyzing the right to health in Spain focused on times of COVID-19, that is, analyzing how it has been affected by the health crisis and how it has had to adapt to be able to face it and study the union that exists between law and health, the management of COVID-19 that has been carried out in our country and the possible mistakes that may have arisen from it. After the study carried out with scientific resources, it has been verified that despite having in our legal system regulations for situations of pandemics and situations of urgent and extraordinary need, the regulations have not been sufficient and new regulations have had to be approved in order to mitigate the effects of this virus through the creation of royal decree-laws that would allow a fast response to the situations that were created by this situation. In addition, it can be affirmed that law and health are closely linked despite the fact that the right to health is not recognized as a fundamental right I our Spanish constitution. Finally, mention that COVID-19 has been an event that has overwhelmed the entire world and that all the governments of the world have tried to stop the contagion within their borders, but nevertheless, since it is an unknown and unprecedented virus, in the countries, managing it has been complicated and, focusing on Spain, the government has tried to deal with it in the best possible way, but in the face of such a situation with such heartbreaking and worrying data and with such a rapid response from the leaders, they have committed errors during management that should be taken into account for future pandemics

Adolescent Sexuality and Family Planning Awareness, Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior: Taiwan

The Government has carried out an active family planning education and contraceptive service program which has helped cut Taiwan\u27s natural increase rate in half in twenty years (from 1963’s 3.0%. to less than 1.6% in 1983). Nevertheless, the population has increased from 1953\u27s 12 million to nearly 19 million in 1983. To continue this fertility decline, the program is considering focusing more efforts on the adolescent group (15-19) whose births comprised 6-8% of all during the past few years. In addition to demographic policy, there has recently been more awareness of social problems occurring as a result of an increase in unwanted premarital pregnancy for those married at age less than 20 (derived from findings of the 1980 Island-wide fertility KAP survey). Modernization, it appears, is bringing not only universal education but certain social and demographic problems. Unfortunately, until recently, we did not know a great deal about adolescent activities, i.e., our scientific body of knowledge on adolescent sexuality-related behavior was quite limited. Although there were a number of university-centered or sponsored studies of small samples or limited geographic areas (which attracted a fair amount of newspaper coverage), there had been no island-wide probability sample from which one might draw conclusions about the whole adolescent body. Too often, impressions of adolescent sexual activity are overstated based on anecdotes, sometimes apocryphal, about factory workers who represent only a small segment of the adolescent population. To remedy this and provide a clearer understanding of the existing social situation, the Taiwan Provincial Institute of Family Planning, with National Science Council support, and the cooperation of the University of Massachusetts Division of Public Health, the first Island-wide sample survey of youth’s viewpoint and behavior to male and female socializing took place. This survey focused particularly on unmarried females ages 15-19, but also included married women as well. These findings, made available in mid-1984, indicate the need to review the present Governmental Policy to strengthen the educational input on reproduction, pregnancy, family planning and contraception in the public and private schools. In addition, curriculum input, teacher and school administrator training, and educational materials related to the social relationships of male and female adolescents, particularly responsibility regarding sexuality, need to be developed. These findings also show that Government and private agencies need to make stronger efforts to reach adolescents, both in and out of school, with specific public information about contraception, particularly its availability and usage

Mass spectrometric detection of biomarkers for early assessment of intraamniotic fluid infection

Peer reviewe

Evaluation of the impact of the voucher and accreditation approach on improving reproductive health behaviors and status in Kenya

<p>Abtsract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alternatives to the traditional 'supply-side' approach to financing service delivery are being explored. These strategies are termed results-based finance, demand-side health financing or output-based aid which includes a range of interventions that channel government or donor subsidies to the user rather than the provider. Initial pilot assessments of reproductive health voucher programs suggest that, they can increase access and use, reducing inequities and enhancing program efficiency and service quality. However, there is a paucity of evidence describing how the programs function in different settings, for various reproductive health services. Population Council, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, intends to generate evidence around the 'voucher and accreditation' approaches to improving the reproductive health of low income women in Kenya.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>A quasi-experimental study will investigate the impact of the voucher approach on improving reproductive health behaviors, reproductive health status and reducing inequities at the population level; and assessing the effect of vouchers on increasing access to, and quality of, and reducing inequities in the use of selected reproductive health services. The study comprises of four populations: facilities, providers, women of reproductive health age using facilities and women and men who have been pregnant and/or used family planning within the previous 12 months. The study will be carried out in samples of health facilities - public, private and faith-based in: three districts; Kisumu, Kiambu, Kitui and two informal settlements in Nairobi which are accredited to provide maternal and newborn health and family planning services to women holding vouchers for the services; and compared with a matched sample of non-accredited facilities. Health facility assessments (HFA) will be conducted at two stages to track temporal changes in quality of care and utilization. Facility inventories, structured observations, and client exit interviews will be used to collect comparable data across facilities. Health providers will also be interviewed and observed providing care. A population survey of about 3000 respondents will also be carried out in areas where vouchers are distributed and similar locations where vouchers are not distributed.</p