Mexico's National Research Articles

Review: A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico Since 1968 by Randal Sheppard

Review: <i>A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico Since 1968</i> by Randal Sheppard

Randal Sheppard, A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico since 1968 (Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2016), pp. xiv + 374, £59.95, hb

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Routes of Compromise: Building Roads and Shaping the Nation in Mexico, 1917-1952. By Michael K. Bess

Michael K. Bess’s new book on road building in post-Revolutionary Mexico uses the network of federal highways and local dirt roads constructed in the first half of the twentieth century as an apt metaphor for the mediated and uneven penetration of state power during that era. Introducing the reader to actors as varied as peasants building roadblocks and presidents negotiating treaties, Bess ably navigates the vagaries of politics on all scales to illustrate the continually contested nature of state formation. Roads, like the state, were built from both the ground up and the top down. Bess pays attention to both the shifting bureaucratic forms that governed infrastructural expansion and the myriad ways in which campesinos and laborers asserted influence over both decision-making and the actual construction of new roadways. The book demonstrates that despite calls for a national road building program going back to Venustiano Carranza, the national government only gradually asserted its primacy over infrastructural expansion. Instead, the central government delegated most authority over road building to the states. While it retained a role via the provision of funds and the management of inter-state and international highways, state and local governments managed the roads that served the majority of Mexicans. In turn, regional elites and campesinos decided for themselves what roadways were most necessary.

Comparative Analysis of Geomorphosites in Volcanoes of Costa Rica, Mexico, and Spain

This study is a comparative analysis of geomorphosites in Poas volcano in Costa Rica, Paricutin volcano in Mexico, and Teide-Pico Viejo volcanoes in Spain. The main objective of the paper is to compare the geomorphosites of these volcanoes using a geomorphosites evaluation to define which volcano is better for touristic activity. In this study, the geomorphosites evaluation methodology of Serrano and Gonzalez (Geomorphologie: Relief, Processus, Environment 3:197–208, 2005) was used. The study shows that these volcanoes have many different geomorphosites with geological and cultural importance for the population and that these characteristics make touristic development possible. One of the conclusions of this paper is that these volcanoes are representatives of the nations of Costa Rica, Mexico, and Spain, with interesting cultural and geological characteristics and unique landscapes. The methodology used gives another perspective to study the topographic setting and presents ideas to make new touristic sites available and attractive in other locations.

Monetary and nonmonetary household consumption of health services and the role of insurance benefits: An analysis of the Mexico's National Household Income and Expenditure Survey.

To study the monetary and nonmonetary consumption of healthcare services at household level in Mexico and the magnitude of the contribution of public programs. By using the National Household Income and Expenditure Survey 2012, we performed a cross-sectional and observational analysis of actual household consumption of health services by insurance type (no insurance, social security, Seguro Popular (SP)). Household consumption was divided into 2 categories: consumption related to "monetary" expenditure in health care and "nonmonetary" consumption in health care by the household. Nonmonetary included self-consumption or gifts received from other households and institutional contributions such as government payments or private organization transfers. In SP households, monetary and nonmonetary consumption of health services represented the highest proportion of available household expenditure (11.2%) compared to uninsured (8.4%) and social security (5.9%) households. The prevalence of outpatient consultation and medicine use is the highest among the health service consumption categories regardless of insurance status. Distribution of nonmonetary versus monetary consumption of health services was pro-poor: The poorer the households, the larger the proportion of nonmonetary consumption. The higher probability of receiving nonmonetary resources as a component of health service consumption in SP households is likely to increase the affordability to health services and likely to reduce healthcare expenditures. Future research should focus on the type of nonmonetary consumption of health services at household level to better understand financial protection and access to health care in Mexico.

Nutrimetry: BMI assessment as a function of development

Background and objectiveAdequate nutritional assessment is required to fight malnutrition (undernutrition and overfeeding) in children and adolescents. For this, joint interpretation of certain indicators (body mass index [BMI], height, weight, etc.) is recommended. This is done clinically, but not epidemiologically. The aim of this paper is to present “nutrimetry”, a simple method that crosses anthropometric information allowing for bivariate interpretation at both levels (clinical and epidemiological). Materials and methodsData from 41,001 children and adolescents aged 0–19 years, taken from Mexico's National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012, were analyzed. Data crossed were BMI-for-age Z-scores (BAZ) with height-for-age Z-scores (HAZ) according to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Conditional prevalences were calculated in a 3×3 grid and were compared with expected values. ResultsThis method identified subgroups in each BAZ category showing heterogeneity of the sample with regard to WHO standards for HAZ and nutritional status. According to the method, nutritional status patterns differed among Mexican states and age and sex groups. ConclusionNutrimetry is a helpful and accessible tool to be used in epidemiology. It allows for detecting unexpected distributions of conditional prevalences, its graphical representation facilitates communication of results by geographic areas, and enriched interpretation of BAZ helps guide intervention actions according to their codes.

Uninsured Migrants: Health Insurance Coverage and Access to Care Among Mexican Return Migrants.

Despite an expansive body of research on health and access to medical care among Mexican immigrants in the United States, research on return migrants focuses primarily on their labor market mobility and contributions to local development. Motivated by recent scholarship that documents poor mental and physical health among Mexican return migrants, this study investigates return migrants' health insurance coverage and access to medical care. I use descriptive and multivariate techniques to analyze data from the 2009 and 2014 rounds of Mexico's National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID, combined n=632,678). Analyses reveal a large and persistent gap between recent return migrants and non-migrants, despite rising overall health coverage in Mexico. Multivariate analyses suggest that unemployment among recent arrivals contributes to their lack of insurance. Relative to non-migrants, recently returned migrants rely disproportionately on private clinics, pharmacies, self-medication, or have no regular source of care. Mediation analysis suggests that returnees' high rate of uninsurance contributes to their inadequate access to care. This study reveals limited access to medical care among the growing population of Mexican return migrants, highlighting the need for targeted policies to facilitate successful reintegration and ensure access to vital resources such as health care.

A probabilistic procedure for estimating an optimal echo-integration threshold using the Expectation-Maximisation algorithm

To obtain reliable fish biomass estimates by acoustic methods, it is essential to filter out the signals from unwanted scatterers (e.g. zooplankton). When acoustic data are collected at more than one frequency, methods that exploit the differences in reflectivity of scatterers can be used to achieve the separation of targets. These methods cannot be applied with historical data nor recent data collected on board fishing vessels employed as scientific platforms, where only one transducer is available. Instead, a volume backscattering strength (Sv) threshold is set to separate fish from plankton, both for echogram visualisation or, more importantly, during echo-integration. While empirical methods exist for selecting a threshold, it often depends on the subjective decision of the user. A−47 dB threshold was empirically established in 2008 at the beginning of a series of surveys conducted by Mexico's National Fisheries Institute to assess the biomass of Pacific sardine in the Gulf of California. Until 2012, when a 120 kHz transducer was installed, only data collected at 38 kHz are available. Here, we propose a probabilistic procedure to estimate an optimalSvthreshold using the Expectation-Maximisation algorithm for fitting a mixture of Gaussian distributions toSvdata sampled from schools associated with small pelagic fish and their surrounding echoes. The optimal threshold is given by the Bayes decision function for classifying anSvvalue in one of the two groups. The procedure was implemented in the R language environment. The optimal threshold found for 38 kHz data was −59.4 dB, more than 12 dB lower than the currently used value. This difference prompts the need to revise the acoustic biomass estimates of small pelagics in the Gulf of California.

Sobre Randal Sheppard, A Persistent Revolution. History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico since 1968

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Nutrimetría: evaluando el IMC en función del desarrollo

Background and objectiveAdequate nutritional assessment is required to fight malnutrition (undernutrition and overfeeding) in children and adolescents. For this, joint interpretation of certain indicators (body mass index [BMI], height, weight, etc.) is recommended. This is done clinically, but not epidemiologically. The aim of this paper is to present “nutrimetry”, a simple method that crosses anthropometric information allowing for bivariate interpretation at both levels (clinical and epidemiological). Materials and methodsData from 41,001 children and adolescents aged 0-19 years, taken from Mexico's National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012, were analyzed. Data crossed were BMI-for-age z-scores (BAZ) with height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) according to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards. Conditional prevalences were calculated in a 3×3 grid and were compared with expected values. ResultsThis method identified subgroups in each BAZ category showing heterogeneity of the sample with regard to WHO standards for HAZ and nutritional status. According to the method, nutritional status patterns differed among Mexican states and age and sex groups. ConclusionNutrimetry is a helpful and accessible tool to be used in epidemiology. It allows for detecting unexpected distributions of conditional prevalences, its graphical representation facilitates communication of results by geographic areas, and enriched interpretation of BAZ helps guide intervention actions according to their codes.

A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico since 1968

A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico since 1968

Single-Species and Multiple-Species Connectivity Models for Large Mammals on the Navajo Nation

Abstract. Estimation of connectivity for multiple species could increase the efficiency of resource management and elucidate trade-offs among maintenance of connectivity for different taxa. We identified potential areas of high connectivity for 5 species of mammals on the Navajo Nation and adjacent lands in Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, USA: mountain lion (Puma concolor), mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus), desert bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis nelsoni), American black bear (Ursus americanus), and pronghorn (Antilocapra americana). These species were identified by the Navajo Nation as relevant to the benefit of their present and future generations. We used telemetry data to calculate utilization distributions, derive model permeability (the probability that a given location facilitates animal movement), and assess connectivity (the realization of permeability across a landscape) for desert bighorn sheep, black bear, and pronghorn. We based models of connectivity for mountain lion and mule deer on expert-ide...

Religión, Estado y Nación en España y México en el siglo XIX: una perspectiva comparada

En este artículo se estudian las relaciones entre religión, Estado y nación en España y México en el siglo XIX. La comparación de las experiencias mexicana y española ilustra muy bien dos propuestas de reacomodación de la Iglesia en sociedades donde no se ponía en cuestión la catolicidad de los ciudadanos, sino el papel que correspondió a aquélla en el nuevo orden político. Se ocupa también del papel que liberales y conservadores asignaron a la religión en la conformación de la identidad nacional. Se observan paralelismos entre los conservadores mexicanos y españoles en la identificación de la nación con el pasado colonial, la tradición católica y la monarquía. Por el contrario, los progresistas españoles y los federales mexicanos se alinearon con un anticlericalismo que distaba de ser, al mismo tiempo, una posición antirreligiosa. Lecturas del pasado y proyectos de futuro establecen en España y México elementos de afinidad y distancia semejantes entre las dos ramas de los liberalismos español y mexicano: la conservadora y la liberal.

El materialismo histérico : Derivados Iberoamericanos Del Neoliberalismo Vistos Por La Lente Narratoria De Xavier Velasco

Through his collection of short stories El materialismo histérico (2004) Mexican writer Xavier Velasco presents various narrative depictions of the increasing socioeconomic gap in Mexico between rich and poor in recent years in that has been clearly induced by the global onslaught of neoliberalism. With varying degrees of realism his work decisively and clearly treats the economic, social, and even psychological effects that have been asserted by a select body of scholars as the factual ramifications of the mentioned global phenomenon over essentially the entire planet. With his geographic focus on Spanish America towards the turn of the 21st century and by having as its central theme both the salient and also more esoteric impacts of economic globalization during said time period, the work creatively represents not just the visually discernible repercussions of globalization but it is noteworthy that Velasco delves also into the elusive facets of the human psyche. In this way his writing distinguishes itself for its ambitious attempt to achieve, albeit through the hypothetical lens of narrative fiction, a more comprehensive and thus more realistic depiction. Due to its life-like and inclusive illustrations of the historical issues described above, Velasco's short stories provide an intriguingly vivid and verisimilar representation of a critical era for the population of Latin America, or rather that of the nation of Mexico.

El materialismo histérico:Derivados Iberoamericanos del neoliberalismo vistos por la lente narratoriadeXavier Velasco

Through his collection of short stories El materialismo histerico (2004) Mexican writer Xavier Velasco presents various narrative depictions of the increasing socioeconomic gap in Mexico between rich and poor in recent years in that has been clearly induced by the global onslaught of neoliberalism. With varying degrees of realism his work decisively and clearly treats the economic, social, and even psychological effects that have been asserted by a select body of scholars as the factual ramifications of the mentioned global phenomenon over essentially the entire planet. With his geographic focus on Spanish America towards the turn of the 21st century and by having as its central theme both the salient and also more esoteric impacts of economic globalization during said time period, the work creatively represents not just the visually discernible repercussions of globalization but it is noteworthy that Velasco delves also into the elusive facets of the human psyche. In this way his writing distinguishes itself for its ambitious attempt to achieve, albeit through the hypothetical lens of narrative fiction, a more comprehensive and thus more realistic depiction. Due to its life-like and inclusive illustrations of the historical issues described above, Velasco's short stories provide an intriguingly vivid and verisimilar representation of a critical era for the population of Latin America, or rather that of the nation of Mexico.

The Past, Present, and Future of Mexico's National Bioethics Commission.

The establishment of Mexico's National Bioethics Commission (Comisión Nacional de Bioética), in 1992, was conceived within the context of a global movement aimed at raising awareness of the ethical implications of technological and scientific development, especially in biomedicine. In 2005, a new decree put the commission under the scope of the Secretariat of Health and granted it technical and operational autonomy, allowing it to become a regulatory agency aimed at promoting a culture of bioethics, encouraging reflection on human health, and developing guidelines for health care, research, and education, through a global, secular, and democratic perspective. The commission became the leading actor in the strategy for institutionalizing bioethics in Mexico after reforms to the country's General Health Act in 2011, which required that public, social assistance, or private health care facilities establish a hospital bioethics committee to address bioethical dilemmas or issues and, when relevant, a research ethics committee to address research with human subjects. This assignment has shifted the focus of the activities and goals of the National Bioethics Commission toward establishing these committees in line with current regulations and developing mechanisms to ensure that they operate with the highest standards of ethical conduct, performance, and accountability.

EL EFECTO POTENCIAL DE LAS REMESAS EN LA POBREZA Y LA DESIGUALDAD

Una de las consecuencias directas de la crisis económica reciente de los Estados Unidos fue una disminución en el envío de remesas provenientes de ese país hacia México y en consecuencia algunos impactos sobre sus niveles de pobreza y des- igualdad. Utilizando datos de la Encuesta Nacional a Hogares de México y técnicas de descomposición de indicadores de pobreza y desigualdad, este documento ex- plora los impactos potenciales de una disminución en las remesas sobre la pobreza y la desigualdad. Los resultados sugieren que las remesas provenientes de los Es- tados Unidos tienen impactos significativos sobre los niveles de pobreza mientras que no se encuentran efectos importantes sobre la distribución del ingreso.

Temporal Trends in Mortality from Ischemic and Hemorrhagic Stroke in Mexico, 1980-2012

Over the past decades, the decline in mortality from stroke has been more pronounced in high-income countries than in low- and middle-income countries. We evaluated changes in temporal stroke mortality trends in Mexico according to sex and type of stroke. We assessed stroke mortality from Mexico's National Health Information System for the period from 1980 to 2012. We analyzed age-adjusted mortality rates by sex, type of stroke, and age group. The annual percentage change and the average annual percentage change (AAPC) in the slopes of the age-adjusted mortality trends were determined using joinpoint regression models. The age-adjusted mortality rates due to stroke decreased between 1980 and 2012, from 44.55 to 33.47 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the AAPC (95% confidence interval [CI]) was -.9 (-1.0 to -.7). The AAPC for females was -1.1 (-1.5 to -.7) and that for males was -.7 (-.9 to -.6). People older than 65 years showed the highest mortality throughout the period. Between 1980 and 2012, the AAPC (95% CI) for ischemic stroke was -3.8 (-4.8 to -2.8) and was -.5 (-.8 to -.2) for hemorrhagic stroke. For the same period, the AAPC for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) was -.7 (-1.6 to .2) and that for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) was 1.6 (.4-2.8). The age-adjusted mortality rates of all strokes combined, ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, and ICH, decreased between 1980 and 2012 in Mexico. However, the increase in SAH mortality makes it necessary to explore the risk factors and clinical management of this type of stroke.

THE IMPACT OF MIGRATION AND REMITTANCES ON DISTRIBUTION AND SOURCES OF INCOME: THE MEXICAN RURAL CASE

The objective of this research is to determine the impact of migration and remittances on rural households’ income sources, as well as the implications of these impacts on the income distribution of the source communities. Using data from the Mexico National Rural Household Survey (Encuesta Nacional a Hogares Rurales de México, ENHRUM), the results show that national remittances and the predicted number of internal migrants impact in a positive way the incomes obtained from livestock activities. However, international remittances impact negatively on this income source due to the household’s loss of one of its members. Also, the results support the new economics of labor migration (NELM) hypothesis that points out that the remittances eliminate restrictions in different types of rural households’productive activities.

Review: A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico since 1968 by Randal Sheppard

Review: A Persistent Revolution: History, Nationalism, and Politics in Mexico since 1968 by Randal Sheppard