Continuity, Not Change: The Latino Vote in 2004

This paper describes the Latino vote in the 2004 presidential election. It pays particular attention to conflicting claims regarding the extent to which Latinos voted for President Bush. It also evaluates the overall impact Latinos had on the results of the election. The 2004 election lived down to expectations. It closely followed the pattern set in 2000. That is, President Bush’s victory slightly expanded his electoral base by adding Iowa and New Mexico to the states he carried previously while only losing New Hampshire from the states he won in 2000. Additionally while he lost the popular vote in 2000 by 539,947 votes, in 2004 he won it by 3,311,608, increasing his percentage of the vote from 48% to 51%. President Bush, thus, won in 2004 with a small minority that provides a legitimate basis for claiming a clear victory but not a mandate

El voto latino en 2004

Este artículo examina el modo en que las estructuras electorales y las inclinaciones políticas interactúan con el tamaño y la distribución de la población hispana para determinar el papel que los hispanos desempeñarán en las elecciones presidenciales de 2004. El crecimiento de la población latina ha llevado a afirmar que los hispanos representarán un papel fundamental en las elecciones presidenciales estadounidenses de este año. No obstante, estas afirmaciones resultan engañosas, puesto que se basan exclusivamente en el tamaño de la población, pasando por alto una serie de factores estructurales y de comportamiento que determinan la influencia final del voto latino. Este artículo examina el modo en que factores institucionales tales como el papel del Colegio Electoral y el acercamiento de cada uno de los partidos a esta comunidad afectan a la participación de este colectivo. También analiza el modo en que la distribución de la población influye en el peso electoral latino. Por último examina patrones históricos, preferencias políticas y patrones de identificación con los distintos partidos para explicar por qué la mayoría de los latinos votará al Partido Demócrata en 2004

El futuro de la política latina

El entorno político que históricamente había venido marginando a los latinos ha dado lugar a un régimen que presenta obstáculos importantes al acceso electoral pero que también ofrece amplias oportunidades para que este sector se convierta en un actor político de importancia. Para poder aprovechar este nuevo entorno es necesario entender la nueva demografía hispana, la viabilidad de lo étnico y lo panétnico como mecanismo de movilización de los latinos, el impacto real y potencial del voto latino y el modo en que los dirigentes políticos latinos deberían afrontar el futuro

Redefiniendo las fronteras nacionales: cambios en las relaciones entre las diásporas y los Estados latinoamericanos

Tema: Este análisis describe los aspectos principales de las nuevas relaciones que los gobiernos latinoamericanos están desarrollando con sus ciudadanos emigrados a Estados Unidos. Resumen: Debido principalmente al gran incremento de la inmigración procedente de América Latina, los Estados latinoamericanos están desarrollando nuevos tipos de relaciones que dan prioridad a las cuestiones que preocupan a los propios inmigrantes, tales como la protección de sus derechos, el apoyo para una amplia gama de problemas y el respaldo a las iniciativas culturales de sus comunidades. Los Gobiernos también están trabajando con sus ciudadanos emigrados para que éstos se movilicen en grupos de presión que promuevan los intereses de su país de origen e incrementen las remesas enviadas por éstos a sus países de origen

Teaching in the time of COVID-19: Shared perspectives from South Africa and the USA

In line with keeping people safe, social distancing has become a civilised norm across the world. Compulsory lockdowns have meant that universities closed their doors to students and staff, thus causing widespread disruption across the higher-education landscape. Pharmacy education is no exception. As pharmacy educators from institutions in different countries, with an existing partnership, we have identified common challenges between our different educational environments and have benefited from sharing possible solutions

The Integration of Lean and Human Resource Management Practices as an Enabler for Lean Deployment- A Systematic Literature Review

Purpose – The current research aims to map and investigate how Human Resource Management and Lean practices can be integrated. This investigation will help identify the Human Resource Management aspects critical in the success of Lean initiatives while exploring the research gaps in the existing literature. The review also aims to delineate the benefits and challenges of integrating Lean with Human Resource Management systems to discuss further research and practice areas. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilizes a Systematic Literature Review method to identify and synthesize the existing literature. As part of the process, a protocol that provided a plan for the review was followed, including the research questions and the data to be extracted. Findings– The study results indicate that aspects of Human Resources Management practice and policies such as Training & Development, Teamwork, Motivation, Communication, Leadership, are key enablers of Lean initiative deployment and success. The benefits of the integration of Human Resources with Lean 15 can help in Lean training and development, communication of Lean initiatives and successes, allocating and hiring continuous improvement personnel, and supporting leadership in Lean deployment. Challenges to integrating Lean and HRM practices included lack of integration and collaboration between disciplines. Further exploration areas in successful Lean deployment would be practical longitudinal case studies on Lean deployments with HR partnerships and involvement. Practical implications – This review paper has crucial implications for practice relating to, integration of Lean with Human resource management structures and tailoring Human resource management initiatives to ensure the success of Lean deployment and reduce risks of failure. Originality/value – The Systematic literature review study conducted in this paper is the first of its kind to integrate and map the human resource management concepts that can be integrated with Lean to deploy the initiative successfully. This mapping is critical for ensuring the success of Lean methodologies within an organization and paves the way for future research. In addition, managers and organizations can find support and guidance from this study to focus on vital areas of partnership between their Lean and HR programs

Burnout Among First-Year Medical Students During COVID-19 Pandemic in Mexico: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: The coronavirus pandemic is an international public health emergency without precedence in modern history. It represents a challenge to students’ academic and psychological stability due to the changes it caused in daily life. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and level of burnout in medical students caused by the academic and psychological instability that the pandemic represents. Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was designed using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Student Survey (MBI-SS). This evaluated the emotional exhaustion due to study demands, cynicism, and negative self-academic efficacy. This study was based in the school of medicine of the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon (UANL) in Monterrey, Mexico, during the Spring semester of 2020. Results: A total of 154 (93 women and 61 men) first-year medical students participated (response rate of 36.4%). Burnout was identified in 14.9% (n=23), and high emotional exhaustion in 53.9% (n=83). Burnout was almost 4 times more likely to develop in men than in women (aOR = 4.8; 95% Confidence Interval=1.7-13.3) when considering age as a covariable in the multivariable model. Conclusion: Further epidemiological studies of burnout syndrome in medical students are needed, and schools should consider promoting mental health and making programs available for their students to help overcome the emotional and social challenges during the pandemic

“CLUPS”: A New Culture Medium for the Axenic Growth of Entamoeba histolytica

Amebiasis remains a major health problem in Mexico. Terefore, the search for better culture media and low-cost diagnostic and therapeutic tools is fundamental. We present a new culture medium for Entamoeba histolytica which allows the microbe to preserve its virulence factors and ability to induce hepatic abscesses in animal models. Te novel CLUPS medium is an improved version of the PEHPS medium, previously designed in our laboratory. Te main diference is the substitution of raw beef liver in PEHPS by raw beef lung in the CLUPS medium. To compare the performance of three-culture media (traditional TYI-S-33, PEHPS, and CLUPS), E. histolytica trophozoites were cultured in quintuplicate, followed by the evaluation of phospholipase activity and the induction of liver abscesses in golden hamsters. E. histolytica trophozoites grew signifcantly better in CLUPS medium than in TYIS-33. Likewise, CLUPS-cultured trophozoites produced signifcantly more phospholipases than TYI-S-33-cultured trophozoites. Finally, trophozoites grown in any of the three tested media had similar potential to induce liver abscesse

Llama Single Domain Antibodies Specific for the 7 Botulinum Neurotoxin Serotypes as Heptaplex Immunoreagents

There are currently 7 known serotypes of botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) classified upon non-cross reactivity of neutralizing immunoglobulins. Non-neutralizing immunoglobulins, however, can exhibit cross-reactivities between 2 or more serotypes, particularly mosaic forms, which can hamper the development of highly specific immunoassays, especially if based on polyclonal antisera. Here we employ facile recombinant antibody technology to subtractively select ligands to each of the 7 BoNT serotypes, resulting in populations with very high specificity for their intended serotype.A single llama was immunized with a cocktail of 7 BoNT toxoids to generate a phage display library of single domain antibodies (sdAb, VHH or nanobodies) which were selected on live toxins. Resulting sdAb were capable of detecting both toxin and toxin complex with the best combinations able to detect 100s-10s of pg per 50 microL sample in a liquid bead array. The most sensitive sdAb were combined in a heptaplex assay to identify each of the BoNT serotypes in buffer and milk and to a lesser extent in carrot juice, orange juice and cola. Several anti-A(1) sdAb recognized A2 complex, showing that subtype cross-reactivity within a serotype was evident. Many of our sdAb could act as both captor and tracer for several toxin and toxin complexes suggesting sdAb can be used as architectural probes to indicate BoNT oligomerisation. Six of 14 anti-A clones exhibited inhibition of SNAP-25 cleavage in the neuro-2A assay indicating some sdAb had toxin neutralizing capabilities. Many sdAb were also shown to be refoldable after exposure to high temperatures in contrast to polyclonal antisera, as monitored by circular dichroism.Our panel of molecularly flexible antibodies should not only serve as a good starting point for ruggedizing assays and inhibitors, but enable the intricate architectures of BoNT toxins and complexes to be probed more extensively