The Role of Maternal Cognitive Ability in Child Health

The literature on child health suggests mother`s schooling is a key determinant of child health. Little is known of how other sources of maternal human capital contribute to her children`s health. This paper investigates the differential returns on child health of three sources of maternal human capital: schooling, cognitive ability and childhood background. Conditional on schooling and mother`s height, we first analyze the effect of maternal cognitive ability on her children`s health. Next, we relax the assumption of mother`s schooling and reasoning ability as predetermined variables and study the extent to which both returns reflect observed mother`s childhood endowments. We conclude by investigating the importance of mother`s schooling and cognitive ability in enhancing her offspring`s health during first-time motherhood. Results show maternal cognitive ability is an important factor in improving her children`s health. We find these returns robust to the inclusion of mother`s observed childhood endowments. However, estimates of mother`s schooling drop by 30 percent when we control for these variables. This suggests that unlike mother`s schooling, maternal returns to cognitive ability on child health are less likely to reflect mother`s childhood background. Finally, we find maternal reasoning ability to be an important factor in improving her children`s health in first-time motherhood. Our analysis is based on information gathered in the Mexican Family Life Survey (MxFLS-1), which administered Raven`s Colored Progressive Matrices, and collected anthropometric outcomes. Our results focus on child height-for-age (0-17 years) z-scores as long-run health outcomes.

Schooling Inequality among the Indigenous: A Problem of Resources or Language Barriers?

Using large household data sets from rural Mexican communities, where a majority of indigenous people live, we analyze the potential explanatory factors for low educational attainment of indigenous children. We find that, overall, indigenous children fare worse than their non-indigenous classmates. Nevertheless, there is important heterogeneity within the indigenous group. In particular, monolingual indigenous children (those who speak only an indigenous language) perform much worse in school than bilingual indigenous children who speak Spanish as a second language.

The correct identity of \u3cem\u3eCentruroides hoffmanni\u3c/em\u3e Armas, 1996 (Scorpiones: Buthidae), with the description of a new species from Chiapas, Mexico

The Mexican scorpion Centruroides hoffmanni Armas, 1996 was described on the basis of a supposed adult female (actually a juvenile) from La Gloria, Arriaga Municipality, southwest of the Chiapas State. In its redescription, this species was also recorded from the southeastern of Oaxaca State. Nevertheless, in the recent revision of the “thorellii” species-group of the genus Centruroides Marx, 1890, a new species from Chiapas was misidentified as C. hoffmanni and, also, an erroneous new diagnosis was given for C. hoffmanni. In the present contribution, this new species is named Centruroides concordia sp. n., and the correct identity of C. hoffmanni is established

Parâmetros de resfriamento de frutas e hortaliças de diferentes dimensões em um sitema com água fria

The cooling of fruits and vegetables in hydrocooling system can be a suitable technique. This work aimed to define cooling time for fruits and vegetables of different sizes, presenting practical indexes that could be used to estimate cooling time for produce with similar characteristics. Fruits (orange melon-Cucumis melo, mango-Mangifera indica, guava-Psidium guajava, orange-Citrus sinensis Osbeck, plum-Prunus domestica, lime-Citrus limon, and acerola-Prunus cerasus) and vegetables (cucumber-Cucumis sativus, carrot-Daucus carota, and green bean-Phaseolus vulgaris), were cooled in a hydrocooling system at 1°C. The volume of fruits and vegetables ranged between 8.18 cm³ and 1,150.35 cm³, and between 13.06 cm³ and 438.4 cm³, respectively. Cooling time varied proportionally to produce volume (from 8.5 to 124 min for fruits, and from 1.5 to 55 min, for vegetables). The relationship between volume and time needed to cool fruits (from 1.03 min cm-3 to 0.107 min cm-3) and vegetables (from 0.06 min cm-3 to 0.12 min cm-3) is an index that could be used to estimate cooling time for fruits and vegetables with similar dimensions as those presented in this work.O resfriamento com água gelada pode ser uma técnica adequada para frutas e hortaliças frescas. Este trabalho teve como objetivo obter o tempo de resfriamento de frutas e hortaliças de dimensões diferentes, e apresentar índices práticos que possam ser usados para estimar o tempo de resfriamento de produtos com características semelhantes. Frutas (melão-Cucumis melo, manga-Mangifera indica, goiaba-Psidium guajava, laranja-Citrus sinensis Osbeck, ameixa-Prunus domestica, limão-Citrus limon e acerola-Malpighia glabra) e hortaliças (pepino-Cucumis sativus, cenoura-Daucus carota e vagem-Phaseolus vulgaris), foram resfriadas num sistema por imersão em água à 1°C. O volume das frutas oscilou de 1150,35 cm³ a 8,18 cm³ e das hortaliças entre 438,4 cm³ a 13,06 cm³. O tempo de resfriamento variou proporcionalmente com o volume dos frutos, de 8,5 min até 124 min (frutas) e de 1,5 min até 55 min (hortaliças). Foi calculado o índice relacionando volume e tempo de resfriamento das frutas (1,03 min cm-3 a 0,107 min cm-3) e hortaliças (0,06 min cm-3 a 0,12 min cm-3), que pode ser usado para a estimativa do tempo de resfriamento de frutas e hortaliças com dimensões semelhantes.655658Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Parâmetros de resfriamento de frutas e hortaliças de diferentes dimensões em um sitema com água fria

The cooling of fruits and vegetables in hydrocooling system can be a suitable technique. This work aimed to define cooling time for fruits and vegetables of different sizes, presenting practical indexes that could be used to estimate cooling time for produce with similar characteristics. Fruits (orange melon-Cucumis melo, mango-Mangifera indica, guava-Psidium guajava, orange-Citrus sinensis Osbeck, plum-Prunus domestica, lime-Citrus limon, and acerola-Prunus cerasus) and vegetables (cucumber-Cucumis sativus, carrot-Daucus carota, and green bean-Phaseolus vulgaris), were cooled in a hydrocooling system at 1°C. The volume of fruits and vegetables ranged between 8.18 cm³ and 1,150.35 cm³, and between 13.06 cm³ and 438.4 cm³, respectively. Cooling time varied proportionally to produce volume (from 8.5 to 124 min for fruits, and from 1.5 to 55 min, for vegetables). The relationship between volume and time needed to cool fruits (from 1.03 min cm-3 to 0.107 min cm-3) and vegetables (from 0.06 min cm-3 to 0.12 min cm-3) is an index that could be used to estimate cooling time for fruits and vegetables with similar dimensions as those presented in this work.O resfriamento com água gelada pode ser uma técnica adequada para frutas e hortaliças frescas. Este trabalho teve como objetivo obter o tempo de resfriamento de frutas e hortaliças de dimensões diferentes, e apresentar índices práticos que possam ser usados para estimar o tempo de resfriamento de produtos com características semelhantes. Frutas (melão-Cucumis melo, manga-Mangifera indica, goiaba-Psidium guajava, laranja-Citrus sinensis Osbeck, ameixa-Prunus domestica, limão-Citrus limon e acerola-Malpighia glabra) e hortaliças (pepino-Cucumis sativus, cenoura-Daucus carota e vagem-Phaseolus vulgaris), foram resfriadas num sistema por imersão em água à 1°C. O volume das frutas oscilou de 1150,35 cm³ a 8,18 cm³ e das hortaliças entre 438,4 cm³ a 13,06 cm³. O tempo de resfriamento variou proporcionalmente com o volume dos frutos, de 8,5 min até 124 min (frutas) e de 1,5 min até 55 min (hortaliças). Foi calculado o índice relacionando volume e tempo de resfriamento das frutas (1,03 min cm-3 a 0,107 min cm-3) e hortaliças (0,06 min cm-3 a 0,12 min cm-3), que pode ser usado para a estimativa do tempo de resfriamento de frutas e hortaliças com dimensões semelhantes

Rare or poorly known scorpions from Colombia. II. Redescription of \u3cem\u3eTityus columbianus\u3c/em\u3e (Thorell, 1876) (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

A fully illustrated redescription is herein presented of Tityus columbianus (Thorell, 1876). It includes a description of the adult male, an update of its geographical distribution, and detailed information about age-related individual variation, with comments on the taxonomy of the “Tityus clathratus” group

A new species of \u3cem\u3eAnanteris\u3c/em\u3e Thorell, 1891 from Cordillera Central in Colombia, with some notes on the taxonomy of the genus (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

A new species of Ananteris Thorell, 1891 is herein described from a single locality placed in the Cordillera Central of Colombia, which represents the first record of this genus for Tolima department. This new taxon exhibits several singular features, and apparently represents a relict population inside an urbanized area. Also, some aspects on the taxonomy of the genus are briefly discussed, and its diagnosis is emended. With this addition, the total of Ananteris species described from Colombia is raised to six

Rare or poorly known scorpions from Colombia. I. Redescription of \u3cem\u3eTityus macrochirus\u3c/em\u3e Pocock, 1897 (Scorpiones: Buthidae)

A fully illustrated redescription is herein presented of Tityus macrochirus Pocock, 1897, based upon a series of specimens of both sexes recently collected in a new location near the type locality. We include an update of its geographical distribution and detailed information about age-related individual variation

A note on the scorpions from the Pirin Mountains, southwestern Bulgaria (Scorpiones: Buthidae, Euscorpiidae)

In the present note, four scorpion species are recorded from the Pirin Mountains in southwestern Bulgaria, including the first records for Bulgaria of both Mesobuthus gibbosus (Brullé, 1832) (Buthidae) and the “mingrelicus complex” of the genus Euscorpius Thorell, 1876 (Euscorpiidae) (the latter based upon an undetermined species). Also, E. hadzii Caporiacco, 1950 and another undetermined species of Euscorpius belonging to the “carpathicus complex” are recorded from Pirin. The taxonomic affinities of the taxa are discussed, as well as some biogeographical considerations about the scorpions of this poorly studied mountainous area