Avoidable causes of death and their effects on life expectancy. A socio-demographic interpretation. The case of the northern frontier, 1980-1990

"This study forms part of [a] research project on the health-disease-death process along the [Mexican] Northern Frontier--a by-product of the socio-economic structure of a specific social formation that determines disease and death--to support regional and sectorial design of policies and actions for the improvement of health conditions for its population.... An important finding is a 4.1 year increase of life expectancy due, among other causes, to a slight decrease in avoidable death causes, although these still produce about 50% of deaths." (SUMMARY IN ENG)     

Teenage pregnancy and neonatal behavior: Effects in Puerto Rico and Florida

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between neonatal behavior and prenatal and perinatal risk factors in infants of teenage and older mothers in Puerto Rico and Mainland United States. The sample included approximately 300 newborn infants;half were examined in Puerto Rico, the other half in Florida, using the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. Comparisons by maternal age and the number of obstetrical complications showed that for the Puerto Rican group, infants with fewer obstetrical complications were better able to regulate their crying and active states. Infants of teenage mothers with fewer complications had a higher level of arousal than infants of older mothers with fewer complications. Infant behavior in the Mainland sample did not vary by maternal age or complications. Multiple regression analysis indicated that the combination of biomedical variables significantly predicted neonatal behavior in both cultures. Mother's age was not separately correlated with neonatal behavior, but was repeatedly combined with other variables in the significant regressions. The findings suggest that infants of teenage mothers may differ from infants of older mothers, particularly in the organization of state behavior, and that the effects of maternal age on neonatal behavior are increased in the presence of biological outcome factors.This article is based on a final report to the NICHD Center for Population Research, Contract N01-HD-7283.Received Ph.D. from Michigan State University. Main research interests are determinants of neonatal and infant development, assessment of preterm and at risk infant.Received Ph.D. from Harvard University. Main research interests are sociocultural aspects of development, teenage pregnancy, infant temperament and psychophysiology.Received M.A. from University of Florida. Main research interests are prenatal and prenatal factors on development, maternal obstetric medication, and behavioral teratology.     

Population frequency for the short tandem repeat loci D18S849, D3S1744, and D12S1090 in Caucasian-Mestizo and African descent populations of Colombia

Blood samples from 489 unrelated Caucasian Mestizo and 252 individuals of African descent in Colombia were amplified and typed for three short tandem repeat (STR) markers (D12S1090, D3S1744, and D18S849). All markers conformed to Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium expectations in both populations studied. In addition, heterozygosity, mean exclusion chance, polymorphism information content, discrimination power, and the assumption of independence within and between loci were determined. The mean exclusion chance for all three STR markers is 0.9750 in the Caucasian Mestizo population and 0.9731 in the African Colombian Population. The discrimination power is 0.999925 and 0.999911 in the Caucasian Mestizo and African Colombian respectively.     

Determination of Inorganic Ion Profiles of Illicit Drugs by Capillary Electrophoresis

A portable capillary electrophoresis instrument with dual capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C⁴D) was used to determine the inorganic ionic profiles of three pharmaceutical samples and precursors of two illicit drugs (contemporary samples of methylone and para‐methoxymethamphetamine). The LODs ranged from 0.10 μmol/L to 1.25 μmol/L for the 10 selected cations, and from 0.13 μmol/L to 1.03 μmol/L for the eight selected anions. All separations were performed in less than 6 min with migration times and peak area RSD values ranging from 2 to 7%. The results demonstrate the potential of the analysis of inorganic ionic species to aid in the identification and/or differentiation of unknown tablets, and real samples found in illicit drug manufacture scenarios. From the resulting ionic fingerprint, the unknown tablets and samples can be further classified.     

Police Personnel Affective Profiles: Differences in Perceptions of the Work Climate and Motivation

The affective profile model was used to investigate individual differences in police personnel perceptions about the working climate and its influences on motivation. The Positive Affect, Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) was used to assign police personnel, sworn and non-sworn (N = 595), to four affective profiles: self-fulfilling, low affective, high affective, and self-destructive. The work climate was assessed using the Learning Climate Questionnaire (Management Relations and Style, Time, Autonomy and Responsibility, Team Style, Opportunities to Develop, Guidelines on How to do the Job, and Contentedness). Motivation was evaluated using a modified version (to refer specifically to the individual’s work situation) of the Situational Motivation Scale (intrinsic motivation, external regulation, identified regulation, and amotivation). Self-fulfilling individuals scored higher on all work climate dimensions compared to the other three groups. Compared to low positive affect profiles, individuals with profiles of high positive affect scored higher in intrinsic motivation and identified regulation. Self-destructive individuals scored higher in amotivation. Different aspects of the work climate were related to each motivation dimension among affective profiles. Police personnel may react to their work environment depending on their affective profile. Moreover, the extent to which the work influences police personnel’s motivation is also related to the affective profile of the individual.     

Solution-Focused Trauma-Informed Care (SF-TIC): An Integration of Models

Trauma-informed care is a rapidly emerging approach in child welfare and is significantly aligned with the core tenets and techniques of solution-focused practice. The integration of solution-focused practices and trauma-informed care offers an alternative to the problem-solving method frequently employed in child welfare. This paper describes and demonstrates how using a Solution-Focused Trauma-Informed Care (SF-TIC) approach can shift individuals and systems from a problem-solving focus to solution building. SF-TIC provides individuals with concrete skills, language and knowledge to effectively avoid inadvertent re-traumatization. Evaluation of this approach is in its infancy and future research is warranted.     

The impact of race on criminal justice ideology: An examination of high school students

Research suggests that differences exist in the criminal justice ideology of Black and White Americans. For example, adult African Americans are more likely than their White counterparts to support criminal justice measures that address the root causes of crime. There has, however, been limited interest in exploring the criminal justice ideology of juveniles. Using survey data collected from 1,398 rural and suburban public high school students, the present study examined the influence of race on the criminal justice ideology of juveniles. The findings suggested that while Black teenagers are significantly more likely to hold a liberal crime control ideology and White teenagers are significantly more likely to hold a conservative ideology, confidence in the justice system to be fair strongly influences the beliefs of both groups.     

Predicting Competitive‐Unethical Negotiating Behavior and Its Consequences

This study examines the relationships between negotiators' attitudes toward competitive and unethical tactics, their actual use of those tactics, and their subsequent perceptions of performance and reputation in two‐party, e‐mail‐based negotiations. The results indicate several predictors of competitive‐unethical behavior, including a negotiator's attitude toward competitive‐unethical tactics, early use of competitive‐unethical tactics, and the behavior of a negotiating counterpart. Furthermore, it was the perceived honesty of one's counterpart rather than the actual use of competitive‐unethical behaviors that was associated with a negotiator's perceptions of the collective or joint outcome. The implications of these findings are discussed, along with suggestions for future research.