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This paper explores the relationship between access to early childhood education and care (ECEC) services and family arrangements in the distribution of work in four Latin American countries. We find that households in which all children aged 0 to 5 receive ECEC services exhibit smaller gender gaps in unpaid work, mainly due to a decrease in the amount of time women devote to care work. Women in these households devote more time to paid work, such that the gender gap in total work does not differ between households based on use of ECEC services. However, use of ECEC services for children aged 0 to 5 is associated with reduced hours of unpaid work among women and an increase in women's hours of paid work. These findings confirm the importance of increasing access to early childhood care and education services to reduce gender gaps in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the ways in which Mexican immigrants experience, narrate, and describe stress and the extent to which it impacts their efforts at engaging in physical activity using a biocitizenship framework. Data were derived from a mixed-method study among Mexicans living in New York City recruited from a large Catholic church. The qualitative sample of 25 participated in quantitative and qualitative components of the study and as such we include some of these quantitative indicators as descriptors. Our main qualitative findings reveal that study participants experience stress and time constraint as factors that contribute to the waning of their physical and mental well-being. As such, time constraints for many of our participants were among the factors that contributed to high perceived levels of stress. They attributed this to their difficulty maintaining a physically active lifestyle due to factors like the fast-paced lifestyle in New York, working long hours, and not having enough time to exercise, though some important differences in narratives were noted across gender. Findings have implications for interventions aimed at improving the health of immigrants in general and Mexican immigrants in New York City specifically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Scarce evidence exists on barriers to physical activity in Mexican women. Despite evidence from other countries, no research has investigated the influence of the breast on PA in this population. Objective: To determine the association between the breast and physical activity in Mexican women. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Methods: Volunteers were 279 Mexican women from Veracruz, Durango, and Baja California states, who completed a paper survey of their demographics, brassiere characteristics, breast pain, and frequency and amounts of weekly physical activity. Results: The first barrier to physical activity was time constraints, followed by breast-related issues. Breast pain was reported by 47.1% of women, and the breast as a barrier to physical activity participation was reported by 30.6%. Responses, such as "I am embarrassed by excessive breast movement" and "My breasts are too big" were the most frequently reported breast-related barriers to physical activity. Breast pain was associated with the menstrual cycle and exercise. Breast health knowledge and pain intensity were unrelated to moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity. The 36.4% and 6.7% of women did not meet weekly moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity guidelines, respectively. Weekly moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity was similar between women reporting breast pain and those who did not. Conclusions: Because the breast was the second most significant barrier to physical activity, it is imperative to increase breast health knowledge in Mexican women to reduce impediments to physical activity. Plain Language Summary: Perception of Mexican women regarding their breasts as a barrier to physical activity Physical activity provides numerous health benefits, sometimes associated with reversing or delaying several diseases. However, barriers to increasing physical activity in women remain, as the breast is an anatomical aspect that is unique to women. Breast pain has been reported in more than 50% of women who perform physical exercise. Therefore, the study aimed to determine the associations between breast characteristics and barriers to physical activity in Mexican women. Two hundred and seventy-nine women from three Mexican states voluntarily participated in the study. They answered survey questions on the history of bra use, barriers to physical activity, and essential demographic characteristics. The main findings of this study were that issues related to the breasts were reported as the second barrier to physical activity participation. In addition, time constraints were reported as the main reason impeding physical activity participation. Public health initiatives should support attempts to increase breast satisfaction among women of all breast sizes to stimulate engagement in physical activity throughout their lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether corruption leads to the election of women and whether increased women's representation leads to lower levels of corruption are two questions with answers that remain uncertain and context-dependent. We explore the case of Mexico and theorize that three factors--gender stereotypes, demands for the inclusion of women, and expectations of accountability--condition the relationship between women's representation and corruption. We hypothesize that given the features of the Mexican system, revelations of corruption should lead to the election of women and women should not be less corrupt than men in office. Leveraging an original dataset of close to 20 years of municipal audits to mayors, we find supporting evidence. The occurrence of audits and recent revelations of corruption increase the likelihood of women being elected and municipalities led by women report no fewer irregularities as compared to those led by men. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contrary to popular narratives, it is not clear whether using social media for news increases belief in political misinformation. Several of the most methodologically sound studies find small to nonexistent effects. However, extant research is limited by focusing on few platforms (usually Facebook, Twitter or YouTube) and is heavily U.S. centered. This leaves open the possibility that other platforms, such as those that rely on visual communication (e.g., Instagram) or are tailored to strong-tie network communication (e.g., WhatsApp), are more influential. Furthermore, the few studies conducted in other countries suggest that social media use increases political misperceptions. Still, these works use cross-sectional designs, which are ill suited to dealing with omitted variable bias and temporal ordering of processes. Using a two-wave survey fielded in Mexico during the 2021 midterm elections (N = 596), we estimate the relationship between frequency of news exposure on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp, and belief in political misinformation, while controlling for both time-invariant and time-dependent individual differences. In contrast to political discussion, information literacy and digital skills, none of the social platforms analyzed exhibits a significant association with misinformed beliefs. We also tested for possible indirect, moderated, and reciprocal relationships, but none of these analyses yielded a statistically significant result. We conclude that the study is consistent with the "minimal media effects" paradigm, which suggests that efforts to address misinformation need to go beyond social platforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypersensitivity reactions to anticancer chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies may lead to discontinuation of first-line treatment options. Identification of these reactions can provide specific diagnosis and treatment by rapid drug desensitizations. Objective: To determine the hypersensitivity reactions involved in anticancer chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies, and the safety and efficacy of rapid drug desensitization. Methods: We conducted an observational study of hypersensitivity reaction presented after the administration of anticancer chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies in Mexico. We documented the symptoms of initial reaction and their severity, and the results of skin tests. We also report our experience of the administration of 12-step (mild-moderate reactions) and 16-step (severe reactions) desensitization protocols in these patients. Results: Overall, 93 patients received 336 rapid drug desensitization; 105 to taxanes, 115 to platinum drugs, 101 to monoclonal antibodies, and 15 other anticancer chemotherapy. Hypersensitivity reaction to taxanes occurred in the first or second administration, platinum drugs after the sixth cycle, and rituximab in the first cycle. The most common symptom in carboplatin was urticaria, paclitaxel back pain, oxaliplatin and docetaxel dyspnea, and in the monoclonal antibodies cardiovascular symptoms. Skin tests were positive in 75% of the carboplatin group, and only 16.7% in docetaxel. There was a rapid drug desensitization success rate of 99.4% and 85.7% did not present any related hypersensitivity reaction. Conclusion: The diagnosis of hypersensitivity reaction to anticancer chemotherapy and monoclonal antibodies offers a panorama in the management of oncological diseases. Our standardized desensitization protocol is safe and effective and can be reproduced in other centers to treat patients who need to maintain first-line treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a counterstory to damaging, dominant narratives concerning migrant experiences and border crossings. Through counter-storytelling, I share Rey's lived experiences as a transfronterizx (transborder) student who crossed the United States–Mexico border daily to attend school and eventually, participate in school music. The overarching question guiding the study was: What are a transfronterizx student's experiences navigating school and school music in the United States? Based on the findings, Rey encountered literal and metaphorical barriers as he pursued an education in the United States. In particular, navigating language, deficit-based teaching practices, surveillance, and policing were key in his narrative. Currently as a music educator, Rey draws from his personal transfronterizx background to inform his music teaching practices in a predominantly Latine school community. Considerations for working with migrant students and families are discussed in light of ongoing sociopolitical issues, including the need for more culturally and linguistically responsive practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the current trends in conducting ethnographies, with time and funding limitations and the need to reflect on the researcher's positionality, this article explores the implications of conducting ethnographic fieldwork in a mixed team (in terms of gender, race and nationality) with highly vulnerable populations in a context of crisis. To that end, the article analyses the experience of conducting a team ethnography with African migrants in Tijuana, Mexico. While the study did not start with a self-awareness of what a team ethnography implied, as fieldwork developed the gender, race and nationality of both interviewees and researchers became crucial elements to produce a meaningful multi-layered, multiply-positioned ethnography. This article argues that methodological flexibility and the researchers' relationship with themselves and the respondents are vital elements that require further experimentation in ethnographic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indigenous people in Mexico encountered and interacted with the visual images of Mary, Jesus, and the Saints via Catholic missionaries in the sixteenth century. I examine the complexity of Franciscan changing attitudes and practices toward transforming what they perceived as idols into icons in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Indigenous Christians also adapted and synthesized artistic forms and meanings. Furthermore, artists from various cultures drew sources from Indigenous Mexican, European, and Asian traditions and created a visual Christian culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how three recently arrived Indigenous male migrant youth from Guatemala and Mexico in an urban high school in the Pacific Northwest understood and employed Spanish and English to navigate racialized and languaged interactions. Utilizing a Critical Latinx Indigeneities framework, findings from this study show that Spanish is a racialized and languaged system of power that traveled with youth. In the U.S., Spanish interacts with English as a new system of power resulting in the diminishing of Indigenous languages. This study provides urban educators with understandings of the complex systems of race, language, and power Indigenous migrants navigate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we examine the demand-and-supply dynamic of security policies. We argue there are two informational shortcuts through which voters process policy alternatives and choose among them: (1) their own personal experiences with violence and (2) candidates’ profiles. We test our argument through an original survey experiment conducted in Mexico. We model voters’ decisions to support candidates campaigning over a variety of security proposals. Our survey design takes advantage of recent developments in network models to better measure the effects of crime exposure on voters’ preferences. We find that higher exposure to crime victimization is associated with increased support for only some iron-fist policies, therefore highlighting the importance of unpacking security policies instead of generalizing the results of crime exposure. We show null effects of partisan advantages and reveal the role of non-partisan heuristics, such as the candidate’s professional experience, in preferences for security policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is associated with high rates of readmission following endovascular interventions and contributes to a significant hospital readmission burden. Quality metrics like hospital readmissions affect hospital performance, but must adjust to local trends. Our primary goal was to evaluate risk factors and readmission rates post-percutaneous peripheral intervention in a US-Mexico border city, at a single tertiary university hospital. We performed a retrospective review of patients with PAD undergoing first time peripheral intervention from July 2015 to June 2020. Among 212 patients, 58% were readmitted with median 235-day follow-up (inter-quartile range (IQR) 42–924); 35.3% of readmissions occurred within 30 days, and 30.2% of those were within 7 days. Median time to readmission was 62 days. Active smokers had 84% higher risk of readmission (hazard ratio (HR) 1.84, 95% CI 1.23–2.74, P <.01). Other significant factors noted were insurance status—Medicaid or uninsured (HR 1.94, 95% CI 1.22–3.09), prior amputation (HR 1.69, 95% CI 1.13–2.54), heart failure, both preserved (HR 4.35, 95% CI 2.07–9.16) and reduced ejection fraction (HR 1.88, 95% CI 1.14–3.10). Below the knee, interventions were less likely to be readmitted (adjusted HR.64, 95% CI 0.42–.96). Readmission rates were unrelated to medication adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Executive Summary: Mexico is increasingly important as a country of transit migration between the Global South and the Global North. Migration dynamics from Central America to and through Mexico are mainly considered as economic or mixed migration of people looking for work and a better life in the USA. Nevertheless, since the 2010s the number of asylum applications in Mexico has sky rocketed. Based on a survey of Central American migrants in Mexico we demonstrate that some kind of (organized) violence was a crucial driver for leaving and a constant companion during their journey. After contextualizing the migration route from the Northern Triangle (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras) toward Mexico, we present the design of the study, describe sociodemographic and general contexts of the 350 interviewees, and present the migration trajectories as long-lasting sequences of events and stays, where violence in quite different forms always is at play. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle-income countries experience various types of migration: transients, emigrants, refugees, and returnees. Their domestic economy is especially influenced by refugees and returnees. Since returnees and refugees vary in access to social policy programs and in skill composition, different types of migration should vary in "threat potential" for social policy demands, with the low-skilled responding more negatively to refugees, while the high-skilled face greater competition from returning natives. We test our argument with original survey data from Mexico, distinguishing respondents' concerns about two distinct streams of migration: Central Americans seeking refuge in Mexico and Mexicans returning from living in the United States. Surprisingly, we find that the low-skilled's welfare preferences suffer neither type of migration concern, whereas high-skilled Mexicans oppose expanding social welfare when concern about returnees is high. Social solidarity in the welfare state is most depressed by returning natives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides a long-term historical periodization of federal police agencies under Mexico's single-party regime (1930s–2000). Based on archival findings in Mexico and the United States, as well as interviews with former law-enforcement officials, the article documents and reflects, in particular, on the entanglements between federal policing agencies and organized crime (police protection rackets). Drawing from bandit studies and critical perspectives on policing, the article argues police protection rackets to be an integral but overlooked mechanism in Mexico's modern state-formation process. The article also hints at the important but largely overlooked role of police protection rackets in the making of capitalist modernity more generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several nations, including Mexico, are encountering problems with accomplishing the targets of sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study addresses how to develop SDG agenda for Mexico, which may also be applied to other emerging markets with comparable profiles. Therefore, this study utilizes a newly developed load capacity factor (LCF, a detailed environmental evaluation tool) that combines biocapacity (supply side) and ecological foot (demand side) to examine the effect of renewable energy consumption and trade openness on LCF while controlling for nonrenewable energy consumption and economic growth in the case of Mexico during 1970–2017. Using the dual adjustment approach, we find evidence of long-run cointegration nexus among the series. In addition, trade openness affects LCF positively, whereas renewable energy consumption, economic growth, and nonrenewable energy consumption impact LCF negatively. Furthermore, results of the frequency domain causality show that all the variables can predict LCF in the long-term. Based on these results, Mexico should focus on promoting public understanding of green energy and environmental preservation measures and participate in the production of nonenergy-consuming and ecologically friendly products while compelling polluting enterprises to migrate to countries with less stringent environmental restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the consequences of the militarization of public safety? Governments increasingly rely on militaries for policing, but the systematic study of this phenomenon's consequences for human rights has been neglected. NGO and journalistic accounts point to widespread violations by the military, but these snapshots do not necessarily present evidence of systematic abuse. Based on unique data on military deployments and human rights complaints in Mexico, we conduct a systematic, country-wide study of the consequences of constabularization for human rights. Following matching and difference-in-difference strategies, we find that it leads to a 150% increase in complaints against federal security forces. We also leverage deployments for disaster-relief operations and complaints against non-security institutions to show that the increase is not due to underlying conditions or higher reporting in the military's presence. The findings have important implications for our understanding of quality of democracy and the democratic ideals of civilian policing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The twin topics of immigrants and immigration have been known to generate strong debates within the American body politic due to these debates' reverberations in U.S. society. Immigration has remained a contentious policy issue for several decades because of Americans' divergent opinions about opening the nation's borders to immigrants. Using YouGov data, we show that employing the terms illegal immigrant and undocumented immigrant produced different reactions among the survey participants. We also show, via multivariate analyses, that participants who voted for Donald Trump, those who did not vote in the 2016 Presidential election, and conservatives were more likely than liberals and those who voted for Hillary Clinton to endorse Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) twin policies of separating immigrant parents from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border and arresting illegal immigrants who have overstayed their visas, even if they have not committed a crime. The implications of our findings for policy, group relations, and future research are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based participant-observation purposefully combines participant-observation and community-based participatory research. While participant-observation is the core method of ethnography and foundational to cultural anthropology, community-based participatory research initially emerged from health and related applied sciences to align researchers' and communities' agendas through focused collaboration. Participant-observation and community-based participatory research have different scholarly origins and norms but are united in centering communities' understandings on their terms. Combining the strengths of both, we provide a step-by-step explanation of community-based participant-observation, with examples from a study of water insecurity in colonias north of the U.S.–Mexico border. Using community-based participant-observation, researchers can facilitate the co-production of knowledge and community benefit by analyzing high-quality data that inform theory building and basic research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay contributes to literature on the intersections of white settler colonialisms, racial capitalism, and U.S.-Mexico borderlands history by tracing the web of spatial, temporal, and legal power relations that produced El Paso, Texas' seemingly legitimate possession of stolen Mexican territory known as "El Chamizal" in the El Paso-Cd. Juárez borderlands. This land theft became the Chamizal Dispute: an international land and boundary conflict between the U.S. and Mexico caused by the meandering Río Grande that defines the "fixed" international border between El Paso, Texas and Cd. Juárez, Chihuahua. In the 1860s, multiple shifts in the Rio Grande "relocated" El Chamizal north of this river/boundary. Soon thereafter, and despite Mexico's sustained claim to and jurisdiction over this land, recently arrived Anglo American settlers incorporated El Chamizal into the nascent City of El Paso. In 1964, the U.S. and Mexico finally agreed to resolve this conflict by virtue of the landmark Chamizal Treaty, which ceded 630-acres of El Paso to Cd. Juárez as El Chamizal. Contrary to what dominant state accounts and the mainstream historical literature on this settlement would have us believe, however, this ceded land includes only a fraction of the original contested terrain. El Chamizal therefore remains a stolen tract of land nestled within the heart of El Paso. Drawing on oral histories, court testimonies and affidavits, and an array of binational records, this essay demonstrates that this ongoing theft is not a finite or complete project. Rather, the process hinges on a fragile web of spatial, white settler temporal, and legal practices of concealment/denial anchored to a colonial rumor that refuses to open this region to the mystery and wonder of the Río Grande's "wayward life, beautiful experiment in how to live." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: An enormous need for pediatric palliative care (PPC) has been reported, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, the access to PPC is limited. This study identifies the current challenges in the provision of PPC and their severity from the perspective of healthcare professionals. Method: We conducted a web-based descriptive cross-sectional survey among healthcare professionals treating children in need of palliative care in Mexico in 2019. We used convenience sampling and snowball sampling to acquire participants. Results: Seventy healthcare professionals from Mexico participated. Participants were 64.3% female, on average 45.8 (SD = 10.9) years old, had an average of 15.84 (SD = 10.4) years of work experience and worked in 15 states. The three most severe barriers reported were: (1) Few teams and/or networks of out-of-hospital/domestic support; (2) Absence of training centres and continuing medical/paramedical education in PPC; and (3) Lack of legal, labor, and economic protection for parents who must stop working to be with their children. The barriers related to a lack of awareness and commitment, a lack of support, legal factors, and working conditions were rated highest. Participants considered increased awareness and better knowledge of PPC for all as the top priority, and particularly emphasized the need for better education and training of health professionals. Conclusion: We have identified several barriers to successful palliative care (PC) provision for children. Primarily, these are lack of awareness and commitment, especially of the health authorities and the medical professions, lack of personal and financial support, legal factors, and working conditions. The need to change and improve care exists at the policy level, the health professional level, and the public societal level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]