Unwanted fertility in Mexico

Data from the 1987 National Health and Fertility Survey were used to explore trends and differentials in unwanted fertility in Mexico. Women were classified in three educational categories: illiterate or incomplete primary, complete primary or some secondary, and complete secondary or more. The four urbanization categories were: under 2500; 2500 to 19,999; 20,000 and more; and metropolitan areas. The place of primary socialization was the place of residence until age 12. Two categories of employment of household head were included, agricultural or nonagricultural. The categories for mother's employment considered employment until the union and employment between the time of union and the birth of the first child. The proportion of births that were unwanted was estimated by calculating the total fertility rate for the year before the survey and comparing it to desired family size. The "total desired family size" was 2.4 for the entire sample. In other words, nearly 37% of the total fertility rate was undesired. The greatest differentials in percentages of undesired fertility were found in educational categories. 40.7% of the total fertility rate in the least educated groups vs. 13.6% in the most educated groups was undesired. Differentials in the other categories ranged from 1.9 for a history of employment before the birth of the first child to 8.8 for agricultural or nonagricultural employment of the household head. When effects of education were controlled, the percentage of undesired fertility declined as educational level increased for all rural or urban residence categories, places of socialization, and employment groups except women who worked before the first child was born. Women with more education, urban residence, and with histories of employment had the lowest levels of undesired fertility.     

我爱北京

我叫Peter Gonzalez,来自美国的加利福尼亚。12年前,我从加州来到了中国。在这以前,我对中国是一无所知。当我穿着短裤踏上中国的土地,中国人都用奇怪的眼神看着我。当时是秋天,天气已经很凉了,他们一定认为,这个老外疯了。我心里清楚,我没疯,只是心里越来越兴奋,因为我喜欢上了中国,喜欢上了北京。     

Political Power, Fiscal Crises, and Decentralization in Latin America: Federal Countries in Comparative Perspective (and some Contrasts with Unitary Cases)

What factors shape decentralization processes in Latin Americanfederations? This work reviews and statistically analyzes currentapproaches on the topic, questions some claims of generalityin their theoretical frameworks, and presents an argument toexplain variation in decentralization processes across thesefederations. The main hypothesis is that the degree of decentralization(in fiscal and administrative terms) in Latin American federationshas been shaped by the political power of the national executiveand sub-national actors and the fiscal context in which theyinteract. The article presents statistical evidence (for federaland unitary countries between 1979 and 1998) to sustain someof the expectations in the argument and discusses some of itslimitations.     

Mitochondrial DNA error prophylaxis: assessing the causes of errors in the GEP'02-03 proficiency testing trial

A qualitative and quantitative analytical method was developed and validated for the determination of 49 licit and illicit drugs in oral fluid. Small oral fluid samples, volume 1mL, were collected from volunteers using a modified Omni-Sal device and the analytes were extracted from an oral fluid/buffer mixture using a single Bond Elut Certify solid phase extraction cartridge. Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS-MS) and gas chromatography-repetitive full scan mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used in parallel to analyze the extracts for the targeted drugs. Extracts were analyzed by GC-MS in their underivatized form and as their pentafluoropropionyl derivatives. Deuterated internal standards were used for quantification of drugs of abuse by LC-MS-MS to minimize matrix effects. Methadone-d(9) and tumoxetine were used as the internal standards for quantification of non-derivatized and derivatized analytes respectively by GC-MS. Linearity was demonstrated over the range 5-200 ng/mL and limits of detection were less than 4 ng/mL for each drug analyzed. The method demonstrated acceptable recoveries for most of the analytes and good intra- and inter-day precision. Acquisition of data by repetitive full scan GC-MS allows the addition of further analytes to the target menu.     

Analysis of the CODIS autosomal STR loci in four main Colombian regions

Genotype polymorphism studies at the 13 loci STRs included in the combined DNA index system [CODIS and PCR-based short tandem repeat loci, in: Proceedings of the Second European Symposium on Human Identification, Promega Corporation, Madison, WI, 1998, pp. 73-88; J. Forensic Sci. 46 (2001) 453] (CODIS: D3S1358, HUMvWA31, HUMFGA, D8S1179 D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820, HUMTH01, HUMTPOX, HUMCSF1PO and D16S539) were carried out in a sample of 1429 unrelated Colombian individuals belonging to 25 different departments. As many other countries in Latino-America, Colombia shows an important admixture component, basically integrated by Amerindians, European-descendants and African-descendants. Due to the fact that only partial population analyses have been carried out in the country, the main aim of the present analysis is to establish a database of forensic interest based on the widely used CODIS systems covering the main Colombian regions.