Participatory action research in two communities in Bolivia and the United States

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66665/2/10.1177_002087289203500214.pd

Migration, health knowledge and teenage fertility: evidence from Mexico

Migration may affect fertility and child health care of those remaining in the country of origin. Mexican data show that having at least one household member who migrated to the United States decreases the occurrence of pregnancy among teenagers by 0.339 probability points. This finding can be partially explained by the fact that teenagers in migrant households have a higher knowledge of contraceptive methods and likely practice active birth control. I use potential migration, measured as historic migration rates interacted with the proportion of adult males in the household, as an instrument to account for the endogeneity of migrant status.Financial support from the Spanish MEC (Ref. ECO2014-58434-P) is gratefully acknowledged

Sources of Intravascular ATP During Exercise in Humans: Critical Role for Skeletal Muscle Perfusion

Exercise hyperemia is regulated by several factors and one factor known to increase with exercise that evokes powerful vasomotor action is extracellular ATP. The origination of ATP detectable in plasma from exercising muscle of humans is, however, a matter of debate and ATP has been suggested to arise from sympathetic nerves, blood sources (e.g. erythrocytes), endothelial cells, and skeletal myocytes, among others. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that acute augmentation of sympathetic nervous system activity (SNA) results in elevated plasma ATP draining skeletal muscle, and that SNA superimposition during exercise further increases ATP vs exercise alone. We show that increased SNA via −40mmHg lower body negative pressure (LBNP) at rest does not increase plasma ATP (51±8 vs 58±7 nmol/L with LBNP), nor does it increase [ATP] above levels observed during rhythmic handgrip exercise (79±11 exercise alone vs 71±8 nmol/L with LBNP). Secondly, we tested the hypothesis that active perfusion of skeletal muscle is essential to observe increased plasma ATP during exercise. We identify that complete obstruction of blood flow to contracting muscle abolishes exercise-mediated increases in plasma ATP (90±19 to 49±12 nmol/L), and further, that cessation of blood flow prior to exercise completely inhibits the typical rise in ATP (3 vs 61%; obstructed vs intact perfusion). The lack of ATP change during occlusion occurred in the face of continued muscle work and elevated SNA, indicating the rise of intravascular ATP is not resultant from these extravascular sources. Our collective observations indicate that the elevation in extracellular ATP observed in blood during exercise is unlikely to originate from sympathetic nerves or the contacting muscle itself, but rather is dependent on intact skeletal muscle perfusion. We conclude that an intravascular source for ATP is essential and points toward an important role for blood sources (e.g. red blood cells) in augmenting and maintaining elevated plasma ATP during exercise

Reproductive rights approach to reproductive health in developing countries

Research on reproductive health in developing countries focuses mostly on the role of economic development on various components of reproductive health. Cross-sectional and empirical research studies in particular on the effects of non-economic factors such as reproductive rights remain few and far between.This study investigates the influence of two components of an empowerment strategy, gender equality, and reproductive rights on women's reproductive health in developing countries. The empowerment strategy for improving reproductive health is theoretically situated on a number of background factors such as economic and social development.Cross-national socioeconomic and demographic data from a number of international organizations on 142 developing countries are used to test a model of reproductive rights and reproductive health.The findings suggest that both economic and democratic development have significant positive effects on levels of gender equality. The level of social development plays a prominent role in promoting reproductive rights. It is found that reproductive rights channel the influences of social structural factors and gender equality on reproductive health