Mestizo Men Research Articles

Muscles and the Media: A Natural Experiment Across Cultures in Men's Body Image.

An increasing number of studies are evidencing relationships between the drive for muscularity and potentially harmful behavioral strategies, such as unhealthy dieting and steroid use amongst men in WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) populations. As such Western appearance standards proliferate around the world via the media, men who live in other cultural contexts are also at risk of potentially negative effects from aspiring to the “muscular ideal.” However, few studies have explored these relationships in non-WEIRD populations. We investigated men’s body ideals and body image in two non-WEIRD, non-White populations, Uganda (Africa) and Nicaragua (Central America), and compared them with an ethnically diverse sample of men in the United Kingdom. We also examined whether socio-cultural factors including media and ethnicity, predicted the drive for muscularity and body change behaviors among our participants. Results showed that Ugandan men had the least desire for muscularity relative to men in the United Kingdom. Supporting the Tripartite model we found that media and peer influences significantly predicted the drive for muscularity, particularly among men from White British and Nicaraguan Miskitu ethnic groups. By contrast, Creole / Garifuna and Mestizo men from Nicaragua were more likely to want to increase muscularity relative to Black African men from Uganda. Overall, our findings support previous research in demonstrating that there are cultural differences in the kind of body men desire, and that men from WEIRD and non-WEIRD populations may experience similar pressures to aspire to and attain a muscular body type.

Underpinnings of entangled ethnical and gender inequalities in obesity in Cochabamba-Bolivia: an intersectional approach

BackgroundSocial inequalities in obesity have been observed not only by gender but also between ethnic groups. Evidence on combined dimensions of inequality in health, and specifically including indigenous populations, is however scarce, and presents a particularly daunting challenge for successful prevention and control of obesity in Bolivia, as well as worldwide.ObjectiveThe aims of this study were i) to examine intersectional inequalities in obesity and ii) to identify the factors underlying the observed intersectional inequalities.MethodsAn intersectional approach study was employed, using the information collected in a cross-sectional community-based survey. The sample consisted of youth and adults with permanent residence in Cochabamba department (N = 5758), selected through a multistage sampling technique. An adapted version of the WHO-STEPS survey was used to collect information about Abdominal obesity and risk factors associated. Four intersectional positions were constructed from gender (woman vs. men) and ethnic group (indigenous vs. mestizo). Joint and excess intersectional disparities in obesity were estimated as absolute prevalence differences between binary groups, using binomial regression models. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition was applied to estimate the contributions of explanatory factors underlying the observed intersectional disparities, using Oaxaca command in Stata software v15.1.ResultsThe prevalence of abdominal obesity had a higher prevalence in mestizos (men 35.01% and women 30.71%) as compared to indigenous (men 25.38% and women 27.75%). The joint disparity was estimated at 7.26 percentage points higher prevalence in the doubly advantaged mestizo men than in the doubly disadvantaged indigenous women. The gender referent disparity showed that mestizo-women had a higher prevalence than indigenous-women. The ethnic referent disparity showed that mestizo-men had a higher prevalence than indigenous men. The behavioural risk factors were the most important to explain the observed inequalities, while differences in socioeconomic and demographic factors played a less important role.ConclusionOur study illustrates that abdominal obesity is not distributed according to expected patterns of structural disadvantage in the intersectional space of ethnicity and gender in Bolivia. In the Cochabamba case, a high social advantage was related to higher rates of abdominal obesity, as well as the behavioural risk factors associated with them.

Bacteremia by colistin-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii isolate: a case\xa0report

BackgroundCarbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infections are a major public health problem worldwide, requiring the use of “old” antibiotics such as polymyxin B and E (colistin). However, there is concern regarding the emergence of isolates resistant to these antibiotics.Case presentationWe report a case of a 64-year-old mestizo man hospitalized in an intensive care unit of a health institution in Colombia with identification and clinical and molecular typing of a colistin- and carbapenem-resistant A. baumannii isolate with mechanisms of resistance to colistin not previously reported, causing bacteremia.ConclusionsWe have identified a strain of A. baumannii with mechanisms of resistance to colistin not previously reported in a patient with bacteremia who required treatment with multiple antibiotic schemes and had an adequate response.

Just another metastatic carcinoid tumour to the uveal tract

We describe the clinic, image, and histopathologic features of a well differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (carcinoid tumour) metastatic to choroid and ciliary body in a 52-year-old Mexican Mestizo man. The ophthalmologic examination showed an inferior choroidal mass accompanied by exudative retinal detachment. Ultrasound B-Scan study revealed a diffuse thickened choroid with overlying serous retinal detachment, ultrasound A-Scan revealed a high internal reflectivity solid lesion. Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) evidenced a dome shaped ciliary body mass, presumptive diagnosis was uveal tract metastatic disease. Scleral flap choroidal incisional biopsy was performed. Microscopic evaluation demonstrated a hypercellular lesion replacing choroid, composed by cohesive oval-round cells with finely granular chromatin arranged in organoid pattern. Immunohistochemical reactions were Pankeratin AE1/AE3 (+), Cytokeratin CK5/6 (+), Chromogranin A (+), Ki67 (20%), typical well differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (carcinoid tumour) was diagnosed. Patient had a mediastinal carcinoid diagnosed 3 years earlier. Metastatic cancer to the eye is perhaps the leading cause of intraocular tumour, despite this fact metastases are rarely seen by the ophthalmologist while the patient is alive. Intraocular metastasis should be considered in the presence of ciliary body or/and choroidal amelanotic or pigmented mass and serous retinal detachment in a patient with history of carcinoid tumor, althought its low frequency (2.2%).

Association of a TFAM haplotype with aggressive prostate cancer in overweight or obese Mexican Mestizo men

BackgroundMitochondrial dysfunction has been associated with the development of cancer and obesity, being prostate cancer more aggressive in obese men. It has been suggested that the mitochondrial transcription factor A (TFAM) plays a central role in these events. ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to analyze the possible association of 3 TFAM polymorphisms, as well as their haplotypes, with the development of aggressive prostate cancer in overweight or obese Mexican Mestizo men. Subjects and methodsA total of 257 unrelated men with histologically confirmed prostate cancer, of Mexican Mestizo ethnic origin, were included. Body mass index was determined and the degree of prostate cancer aggressiveness was demarcated by the D’Amico classification. DNA was obtained from blood leukocytes. The rs1937, rs1049432, and rs11006132, as well as their haplotypes, were studied by real-time polymerase chain reaction allelic discrimination. Deviations from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium were tested. Pairwise linkage disequilibrium between single nucleotide polymorphisms was calculated; haplotype analysis was performed. ResultsA higher risk (D’Amico classification) was documented in 56 patients (21.8%). We did not find a significant association among those polymorphisms analyzed; however, one haplotype was significantly associated with cancer aggressiveness. ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this constitutes the first study regarding the relationship of 3 TFAM polymorphisms, as well as their haplotypes, and the aggressiveness of prostate cancer in overweight or obese men; the most frequent haplotype was associated with cancer aggressiveness.

Genetic variants in ATP6 and ND3 mitochondrial genes are not associated with aggressive prostate cancer in Mexican–Mestizo men with overweight or obesity

Mitochondrial defects have been related to obesity and prostate cancer. We investigated if Mexican–Mestizo men presenting this type of cancer, exhibited somatic mutations of ATP6 and/or ND3.Body mass index (BMI) was determined; the degree of prostate cancer aggressiveness was demarcated by the Gleason score. DNA from tumor tissue and from blood leukocytes was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction and ATP6 and ND3 were sequenced. We included 77 men: 20 had normal BMI, 38 were overweight and 19 had obesity; ages ranged from 52 to 83. After sequencing ATP6 and ND3, from DNA obtained from leukocytes and tumor tissue, we did not find any somatic mutations. All changes observed, in both genes, were polymorphisms. In ATP6 we identified, in six patients, two non-synonymous nucleotide changes and in ND3 we observed that twelve patients presented non-synonymous polymorphisms. To our knowledge, this constitutes the first report where the complete sequences of the ATP6 and ND3 have been analyzed in Mexican–Mestizo men with prostate cancer and diverse BMI. Our results differ with those reported in Caucasian populations, possibly due to ethnic differences.

Infarto esplénico no relacionado con la altura en un paciente con rasgo falciforme: reporte de caso

Presentamos el caso de un hombre mestizo de 51 años, habitante de Medellín, Colombia, con dolor agudo repentino en hipocondrio izquierdo. La tomografía contrastada de abdomen reveló la presencia de múltiples zonas de infarto esplénico. Después de una evaluación exhaustiva se descartó enfermedad cardioembólica, infecciones y trombofilia. Se solicitó una electroforesis de hemoglobina que demostró la condición de portador del rasgo falciforme. Este es uno de los pocos reportes en la literatura de un paciente con rasgo falciforme e infarto esplénico no asociado con la exposición a grandes alturas.

The Disappearing Mestizo: Configuring Difference in the Colonial New Kingdom of Granada by Joanne Rappaport (review)

Reviewed by: The Disappearing Mestizo: Configuring Difference in the Colonial New Kingdom of Granada by Joanne Rappaport L. Kaifa Roland The Disappearing Mestizo: Configuring Difference in the Colonial New Kingdom of Granada. Joanne Rappaport. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2014. xiv + 352 pp., figures, map, appendix, notes, glossary, bibliography, and index. $25.95 paper (ISBN 978-0-8223-5636-3). Joanne Rappaport’s The Disappearing Mestizo is an important interrogation of the sixteenth and seventeenth century archives in service of detailing the construction of an enduring socio-racial category encountered throughout [End Page 253] Latin America. What is a mestizo, or as Rappaport challenges: when, where, and for whom was the mestizo category activated? As students of Latin American race are aware, mestizaje is understood to describe the condition of racial mixture, usually involving European and indigenous parentage. However, Rappaport finds the question of “impure blood” that mestizaje seems to indicate moves in and out of focus at various times, depending on a variety of contexts. “But must we confine our understanding of mestizaje to the offspring of mixed unions? In the early modern period, mixture resulted not only from sexual encounters but also from other sorts of activities, both public and intimate in character. That is, mixing was not necessarily genealogical in nature” (p.18). She invokes the title trope of “the disappearing mestizo” to address the instability of the category, and expertly engages the archives to ethnographically portray several men and women to whom the contentious label was ascribed in court cases. After introducing some of the “characters” readers will meet in the course of the book (also denoted in the appendix), Rappaport highlights her strong interdisciplinary approach, while acknowledging the limitations of working with archival data in her ethnographic construction of colonial history. She concedes that she only has information on her subjects for the fragments of time that they enter the legal archives, filling in other parts from available genealogical records in the region. Rather than forcing the evidence to fit the model, she interrogates the record and asks questions of gaps left in the wake of absent data. The greatest strength of the book is in its storytelling and the sensitive portrayal of historic individuals labeled or contesting the label of mestizo who were encountered in the archives. In chapter one, Rappaport introduces a series of vignettes in order to dismiss the notion that the “disappearing mestizo” phenomenon is an attempt at “passing” from one racial category to another. Rather, she finds individuals contesting or reinforcing classifications associated with Spanishness or indigenousness using color, gender, religion, and status to make the case. Given this fluidity, it can be anticipated that the second chapter’s inquiry into whether mestizos constituted a community is answered in the negative. While mestizo men, in particular, often found themselves on the fringes of society given their exclusion from both Spanish and indigenous society, they often associated with other marginalized individuals—and thus became associated with marginal behaviors like assaults, rapes, and kidnapping (p.87). While distinctions in gendered experiences are discussed throughout the book, chapter three stands out in the book for the way it highlights why it was often easier for women to transcend mestizaje than it was for men. Certainly, marriage provided mestiza-born women access to different forms of mobility than it did for men, but Rappaport also emphasizes the importance in colonial Spanish society of honor and reputation—especially so in the New World where noble lineages were established through more diverse means than in the Old World. Whereas women could largely be absorbed into Spanish or indigenous communities without upsetting the system too much, men had to be categorized by their particular role in the tribute system. In trying to determine why mestizo men found themselves excluded from sites of power, Rappaport may rely too much on the question of bloodline and biological relationships given her earlier arguments about how mestizaje also took account of issues of cultural mixture like how one comports oneself in public or marriage pairings. [End Page 254] Chapter four turns the attention from mestizos contending with their elite Spanish heritage, to mestizos fighting to be recognized among the chiefly indigenous...

Pulmonary hypertension secondary to hyperviscosity in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis and acquired von Willebrand disease: a case report

IntroductionAcquired von Willebrand disease is initiated by autoantibodies and hyperviscosity syndrome caused by a massive polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia. Acquired von Willebrand disease associated with autoimmune disease in addition to pulmonary hypertension during emergency room presentation is a rare condition. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second case reported in the literature treated with success; the first one was reported in 1987.Case presentationA 28-year-old mestizo man with a 3-year history of inflammatory arthritis was admitted to our hospital. An overlap of rheumatoid arthritis with systemic lupus erythematosus was suspected; therefore methotrexate was initiated, and later changed to leflunomide because of liver toxicity. Prothrombin time, international normalized ratio and activated partial thromboplastin times were normal (11/10.4 seconds; 1.2; 31.1/26.9 seconds, respectively), von Willebrand factor activity was observed with low ristocetin cofactor at 33.6UI/dL, high von Willebrand factor antigen >200UI/dL, and a low von Willebrand factor: ristocetin cofactor to von Willebrand factor antigen ratio. He was admitted to the emergency room with a 24-hour evolution of progressive dyspnea, cough, thoracic pain, and palpitations, 104 beats/min, 60/40 mmHg, temperature of 38°C, pulse oximetric saturation 88% and 30 breaths/minute. Cold, pale and mottled skin was also observed. He was then transferred to the intensive care unit. The placement of a pulmonary artery catheter was made. The initial patterns showed a precapillary pulmonary hypertension; acute pulmonary embolism was the first choice for diagnosis. Pulmonary angiography was conducted, and when no clot was discovered, pulmonary artery hypertension associated with connective tissue disease was considered. Serum protein electrophoresis confirmed the presence of a massive polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia, and no paraproteinemia or monoclonal cell population was found from the electrophoretic pattern of the patient’s plasma. Hypergammaglobulinemia was the cause of hyperviscosity syndrome associated with autoantibodies. Three sessions of plasma exchange therapy were made, and clinical improvement was observed. He was then discharged from the intensive care unit and hospital, respectively. He is now attended by an external consult and has no respiratory symptomatology.ConclusionsHyperviscosity syndrome with pulmonary arterial hypertension presentation in a patient with acquired von Willebrand disease in an autoimmune context is a rare condition that can be treated successfully with plasmapheresis and critical care support.

Towards an emotional electoral geography: The performativity of emotions in electoral campaigning in Ecuador

Building on feminist geopolitics and emotional geography, this paper calls for an emotional electoral geography that understands electoral practices as grounded, embodied and intertwined with the time-spatial context in which electioneering takes ‘place’. I argue that a performative understanding of emotions not only facilitates linking emotions to certain places, histories and (collective) bodies, but also helps to think of emotions as expressed both through body and speech acts. Empirically, the paper draws on visual ethnographic fieldwork of a local electoral campaign in an Amazon town in Ecuador. The observed emotional performances of female and indigenous local politicians are compared with the emotional performances of national populists who are mainly mestizo men and have dominated Ecuadorian politics throughout the past decades. The research identifies similar emotional patterns turning around a Manichean rhetoric of rabia (rage) and amor (love). The comparison shows, however, that the emotional performances of different candidates performatively generate the gendered, racialized and classed boundaries of el pueblo in different ways in particular times and places. The empirical case study illustrates the claim that electoral geographies need to be more attentive to the emotional dimension of electoral spaces to understand the affective dimension of contemporary populist politics.

Características faciales y anomalías de malposición dentaria más comunes en hombres

Se realizó un estudio con el objetivo de obtener información sobre las características faciales y las anomalías de malposición dentaria más comunes en hombres mestizos ecuatorianos entre 18 a 22 años de edad. Los resultados obtenidos demostraron que el perfil facial típico es el Perfil Recto existiendo una armonía entre los tercios faciales medio e inferior y que el 20% presentó algún tipo de incompatibilidad labial. De los 25 casos estudiadosse presentó solo un caso de mordida abierta anterior y ninguno de mordida cruzada anterior. Se presentaron más pacientes con zonas de apiñamientoque con diastemas y se registraron 4 casos de dientes ectópicos. En cuanto al tipo de maloclusión el42% de la muestra presentó Clase I, 0% Clase II y 25% Clase III bilateral de Angle. En relación canina el 67% presentó Clase I, 0% Clase II y 4% Clase III bilateral. Se concluye que los hombres mestizos ecuatorianos presentan en común un Perfil y medidas faciales armónicas con medidas de overjet y overbite dentro de la norma, que existe un alto porcentaje de pérdida de piezas dentarias en especial del 1er molar permanente, lo que se traduce en pérdida de espacio, problemas de oclusión además de una deficiente función masticatoria. Es necesaria la participación del Servicio Odontológico para identificar y corregir malos hábitos bucales a temprana edad y poner énfasis en tratamientos que preserven estas piezas dentarias consideradas por Angle como fundamentales para la correcta posición y oclusión de la arcada dental.

Sickle Cell Trait as a Cause of Splenic Infarction While Climbing Mt. Fuji

We report a 38-year-old mestizo man with the sudden onset of left upper abdominal pain while climbing Mt. Fuji, which is the highest mountain in Japan. Enhanced computed tomography showed splenic infarction. Although his peripheral blood smear was normal, a hemoglobin S level of 40% established the diagnosis of sickle cell trait (SCT). This trait is common worldwide, but is not well recognized by doctors in Japan because no Japanese patients with SCT have been reported. However, in Japan it is important to consider SCT when assessing foreign patients with splenic infarction.

MISCHIEVOUS LOVERS, HIDDEN MOORS, AND CROSS-DRESSERS: PASSING IN COLONIAL BOGOTÁ

Dona Catalina Acero de Vargas, a 16-year-old Spanish noblewoman from Santafe in the Nuevo Reino de Granada (today, Bogota), escaped in 1675 from her brother's house and ran off with Francisco Suare...

Encuentros: Dances of the Inti Raymi in Cotacachi, Ecuador

Encuentros:Dances of the Inti Raymi in Cotacachi, Ecuador Michelle Wibbelsman (bio) A human wall, fifteen men across in dozens of rows deep, advances in a slow trot toward the main square of Cotacachi, La Plaza de la Matriz. They are the San Juan dancers of the upper- and lower-moiety coalitions of local indigenous communities who have come to compete with one another in the toma de la plaza (the taking of the square) during the summer Inti Raymi festivities. The thundering of the synchronized dance step as boots pound against the pavement and the collective whistling announce the strength and aggression of the sanjuanes, as the dancers are known in honor of Saint John the Baptist, whose feast day is celebrated on this occasion, 24 June.1 They seek to test their vigor and their endurance in a ritual battle for the ultimate prize of symbolically winning the square. The dancers wear goatskin chaps (zamarros); tall, broad-rimmed, black, stiff cardboard hats; boots or shoes (instead of alpargatas2 ); and sunglasses. Many of them are completely outfitted in camouflage. As they trot to the music of the twin flutes, they wave leather whips (aciales) and chant in unison, "jari, jari, jarikuna . . . churay, churay, carajo"3 (men, men, [we are] men, put it there, put it there, carajo4 ). These precise, albeit imaginary, lines establish boundaries among groups, imposing a temporary festival order in the space of the plaza. An inclusive view of the square reveals a spatial arrangement wherein the sanjuanes dominate the street around the central park as they move in a counter-clockwise direction around the plaza. Food vendors and game operators set up their stands in the central park. An indigenous public crowds the steps of the church. Local mestizo onlookers view the dancing from the safe distance of second floor windows and balconies. Mestizo men make toasts over rounds of trago (cane alcohol) on the sidewalks that line the plaza, but they stay near a tavern or house for a quick getaway should there be trouble. Military and police [End Page 195] stand at every corner. Indigenous women, mostly spouses of the men dancing, carry bundles (kepis) and children on their backs, and walk between the San Juan groups on the street as a buffer for the fights.5 A few foreign tourists weave cumbersomely around the perimeter of the event, maneuvering their cameras above the crowds. Children scurry near their mothers. Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Sanjuanes entering the Plaza de la Matriz. In this article I argue that the dramatic rituals of the Inti Raymi constitute spaces of encounter within which Otavaleños (indigenous people of the Imbabura area, who also self-identify as Runakuna) reflexively evaluate, perform, and continuously redefine their sense of identity in ethnic relation to urban white-mestizos (non-indigenous Ecuadorians), vis-à-vis one another and as sacred beings within the Andean universe. Rather than assuming a connection between ritual, identity, and social formations, I take as my point of departure the premise that communities perform themselves into being on a regular basis (Barz 2003, 6). Consequently, I focus on the practices and processes that sustain an interrelational production and transformation of communities. My anthropological investigation reveals concurrent processes of identity formation in festival performances in the town of Cotacachi6 and explores the semiotic complexity and multivocality of the rituals through an analysis of festival dances and costumes. In this article I limit my interpretation to three levels of identity-making through performance: 1) At the intersection of the plaza during the [End Page 196] symbolic "taking of the square," the "transgression" into urban social spaces constitutes a performed affront to and appropriation of white-mestizo authority. As indigenous and mestizo identities are defined in juxtaposition to one another, the clash of cultures in this encounter is expressed in the aesthetics of the dance as a sort of counter-conquest and in the bellicose themes of festival costumes. 2) The taking of the main square begins with a dancing descent of participants from each community to the city of Cotacachi. The pattern of this dance emphasizes the mutual dependence between individuals and...

The Effects of Economic Restructuring on Women: The Case of Binational Agriculture in Baja California and California

This article analyzes the effects of increasing economic integration between Mexico and the United States on workers in the California and Baja California fresh fruit and vegetable industry. This sector has experienced significant economic integration in labor, capital, and product markets over the past 10 years. During this period, wages in this sector have fallen on both sides of the border, and wages in Mexico are currently about one-sixth of California wages. Although workers in Baja and California perform the same tasks using the same technology and work for firms funded by some of the same U.S. capital, indigenous Mixtec women and children from the poor, southern state of Oaxaca are concentrated in the lower-paying jobs in Baja, whereas Mixtec and mestizo men have greater access to the higher-paying jobs in California. Differing labor processes on opposite sides of the border result in this binational gender and ethnic segmentation of the labor market, which will slow wage convergence even if remaining trade barriers are removed. Better enforcement of laws and broader employment generation strategies are necessary to reduce poverty among farm workers on both sides of the border.

South American pemphigus foliaceus: Study of an epidemic in El Bagre and Nechi, Colombia 1982 to 1986

Between 1982 and 1986 we have had the chance to study 21 patients with pemphigus foliaceus of the 'fogo selvagem' type. The patients came from El Bagre and Nechi, rural areas of Colombia with some gold mining. This is the first outbreak of South American pemphigus foliaceus reported in Colombia. The majority of the patients were mestizo men, who worked as farmers or miners or both, with an average age of 44. Five patients were relatives. Eleven patients (52%) had mild disease, three (14%) moderate disease and seven (33%) severe disease. During hospitalization, three patients died due to complications or as a result of immunosuppressive treatment. Of the remaining 18 patients, 10 were in remission with treatment, one was in remission without treatment, while no information was available on the remaining seven.