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Background: In April 2009, public health surveillance detected an increased number of influenza-like illnesses in Mexico City's hospitals. The etiological agent was subsequently determined to be a spread of a worldwide novel influenza A (H1N1) triple reassortant. The purpose of the present study was to demonstrate that molecular detection of pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 strains is possible in archival material such as paraffin-embedded lung samples. Methods: In order to detect A (H1N1) virus sequences in archived biological samples, eight paraffin-embedded lung samples from patients who died of pneumonia and respiratory failure were tested for influenza A (H1N1) Neuraminidase (NA) RNA using in situ RT-PCR. Results: We detected NA transcripts in 100% of the previously diagnosed A (H1N1)-positive samples as a cytoplasmic signal. No expression was detected by in situ RT-PCR in two Influenza-like Illness A (H1N1)-negative patients using standard protocols nor in a non-related cervical cell line. In situ relative transcription levels correlated with those obtained when in vitro RT-PCR assays were performed. Partial sequences of the NA gene from A (H1N1)-positive patients were obtained by the in situ RT-PCR-sequencing method. Sequence analysis showed 98% similarity with influenza viruses reported previously in other places. Conclusions: We have successfully amplified specific influenza A (H1N1) NA sequences using stored clinical material; results suggest that this strategy could be useful when clinical RNA samples are quantity limited, or when poor quality is obtained. Here, we provide a very sensitive method that specifically detects the neuraminidase viral RNA in lung samples from patients who died from pneumonia caused by Influenza A (H1N1) outbreak in Mexico City. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examined the effects of national culture, self-construals, and power distance on face concerns and facework behaviors during conflicts with parents and siblings. A total of 449 participants of 4 national cultures completed a questionnaire in their respective languages: Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United States. The questionnaire measured 3 face concerns and 11 facework behaviors in recalled conflicts with either a sibling or a parent. The major findings of the study are as follows: (a) self-construals had strong effects on face concerns and facework with independence positively associated with self-face and dominating facework and interdependence positively associated with other- and mutual-face and integrating and avoiding facework behaviors; (b) power distance had small, positive effects on self-face, other-face, avoiding facework, and dominating facework; (c) national culture had small to medium effects with individualistic, small power distance cultures having more self-face and mutual-face and using more dominating and integrating facework and less avoiding facework; (d) Germans have more self-face and used defending more than U.S. Americans; (e) Japanese used more expression than Mexicans; and (f) individuals in conflict with parents were more likely to use respect and expression and less likely to use aggression, pretend, and third party than individuals in conflict with siblings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Some reports suggest that body mass index (BMI) is not strongly associated with mortality in Hispanic populations., Objective: To assess the causal relevance of adiposity to mortality in Mexican adults, avoiding reverse causality biases., Design: Prospective study., Setting: 2 Mexico City districts., Participants: 159 755 adults aged 35 years and older at recruitment, followed for up to 14 years. Participants with a hemoglobin A1c level of 7% or greater, diabetes, or other chronic diseases were excluded., Measurements: BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, waist circumference, and cause-specific mortality. Cox regression, adjusted for confounders, yielded mortality hazard ratios (HRs) after at least 5 years of follow-up and before age 75 years., Results: Among 115 400 participants aged 35 to <75 years at recruitment, mean BMI was 28.0 kg/m2 (SD, 4.1 kg/m2) in men and 29.6 kg/m2 (SD, 5.1 kg/m2) in women. The association of BMI at recruitment with all-cause mortality was J-shaped, with the minimum at 25 to <27.5 kg/m2. Above 25 kg/m2, each 5-kg/m2 increase in BMI was associated with a 30% increase in all-cause mortality (HR, 1.30 [95% CI, 1.24 to 1.36]). This association was stronger at ages 40 to <60 years (HR, 1.40 [CI, 1.30 to 1.49]) than at ages 60 to <75 years (HR, 1.24 [CI, 1.17 to 1.31]) but was not materially affected by sex, smoking, or other confounders. The associations of mortality with BMI and waist-to-hip ratio were similarly strong, and each was weakened only slightly by adjustment for the other. Waist circumference was strongly related to mortality and remained so even after adjustment for BMI and hip circumference., Limitation: Analyses were limited to mortality., Conclusion: General, and particularly abdominal, adiposity were strongly associated with mortality in this Mexican population., Primary Funding Source: Mexican Health Ministry, Mexican National Council of Science and Technology, Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council, and Kidney Research UK.