Puerto Rican Girls Research Articles

Abstract B88: Examining differences in HPV knowledge, vaccine awareness, and acceptability between U.S. Hispanic and island Puerto Rican women

Abstract Background: Despite having guidelines recommending vaccination against the human papillomavirus (HPV) and widespread coverage for the vaccine, HPV vaccination rates among U.S. Hispanic and island Puerto Rican (PR) girls are low. In 2012, only 16% of PR girls aged 11–18 and 42% of U.S. Hispanic girls aged 13-17 were vaccinated with all three HPV vaccine doses; far fewer than the Healthy People 2020 goal of 80%. Parents are crucial to the success of HPV vaccine uptake efforts. Few studies focusing on parents have examined possible differences in HPV knowledge and vaccine acceptability within ethnic groups. The purpose of the study is to assess potential differences in HPV knowledge, vaccine awareness, and acceptability between U.S. Hispanic and island PR women. Methods: We utilized data from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 2007 and HINTS Puerto Rico 2009. For the current study, we restricted our analyses to female respondents in both surveys for a total sample of 792 women (n = 375; U.S. Hispanic HINTS 2007 and n = 417; Puerto Rican HINTS-PR 2009). Using the Wald chi-square test, we assessed if there were significant differences in HPV knowledge, vaccine awareness, and acceptability between U.S. Hispanics and island PR women. Results: Island PR women had significantly higher HPV vaccine awareness (66.9% vs. 61.0%; Wald X2 F(1, 97) = 16.03, p < .001) and were more accepting of the HPV vaccine for a real or hypothetical daughter (74.8% vs. 56.1%; Wald X2 F(2, 96) = 7.18, p < .001) compared to U.S. Hispanic women. Both groups were highly knowledgeable that HPV causes cancer (89.2% in both samples) and HPV is a sexually transmitted infection (78.1% [U.S. Hispanics] and 84.7% [PR]). Less than 10% of both groups recognized that HPV can go away on its own without treatment. Conclusions: Our study found that island PR women were more aware of and accepting of the HPV vaccine when compared to U.S. Hispanic women. Future research should further explore these in-group differences to determine what in the PR socio-cultural context or environment may have led to higher HPV vaccine awareness and acceptability. Findings may also assist in developing culturally appropriate health education programs and media to promote HPV vaccination among both groups. Citation Format: Daisy Y. Morales-Campos, Robin C. Vanderpool. Examining differences in HPV knowledge, vaccine awareness, and acceptability between U.S. Hispanic and island Puerto Rican women. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr B88.

Pediatric Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: More Than a Positive Antinuclear Antibody

Based on strong research evidence and consensus, the most common disease manifestations at diagnosis of pSLE are constitutional symptoms, arthritis, and malar rash. Based on some research evidence and consensus, patients with pSLE tend to have major organ system involvement (renal/central nervous system) and a greater disease burden compared with adults. Despite these findings, mortality is low. Based on some research evidence and consensus, the diagnosis of pSLE is unlikely if the ANA is negative, and most patients with SLE have a positive ANA at a titer ≥1:160. Based on strong research evidence, both MMF and cyclophosphamide can be used for induction therapy in class III and IV lupus nephritis. Based on strong research evidence, patients with SLE and anticardiolipin antibodies or LA have a two and six times greater risk of venous thrombosis, respectively, compared with patients with SLE without antiphospholipid antibodies. Based on strong research evidence, patients with pSLE have a higher risk for subclinical atherosclerosis when there is weight-adjusted prednisone use, azathioprine use, increasing age, male gender, high BMI, abnormal creatinine clearance, and elevated lipoprotein(a) levels.

“Watching a person who knows how to cook, you’ll learn a lot”. Linked lives, cultural transmission, and the food choices of Puerto Rican girls

In-depth individual interviews were conducted with mainland- and island-dwelling Puerto Rican girls ( n = 23) to determine how migration, acculturation, and family contexts influenced food choices. Interview data from girls with diverse migration experiences (U.S. mainland raised, recent migrants to U.S. mainland, and Puerto Rico raised) were triangulated with extensive participant observation conducted in New York State and Puerto Rico. Data analysis using a ground theory approach revealed that participants’ access to traditional foods varied in three domains: mothers’ (cultural orientation, health, work, and cooking skills); household (composition, presence of Puerto Rican grandmother, and cooking skills); and girls’ (migration experience, food preferences and values, and cooking skills) characteristics. Four food choice types emerged from participant narratives that differed in these domains: everybody cooks, tradition keeper, seeker, and on my own. Varied language orientations and migration experiences were represented among girls across all four food choice types, ranging from consistent to limited access to traditional food, demonstrating the limitations of one-dimensional models for understanding dietary acculturation. Findings demonstrate how a multidimensional, culture-specific model, including both cultural and structural characteristics, can influence dietary acculturation at the family and household level and food choices among immigrant adolescent girls, and guide future research and interventions.

Hermansky‐Pudlak Syndrome: Severe Colitis and Good Response to Infliximab

Hermansky‐Pudlak Syndrome: Severe Colitis and Good Response to Infliximab

Proceedings of the Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility: executive summary

The 2007 Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility convened scientists, health care professionals, community groups, political representatives, and the media to hear presentations on the impact of environmental contaminants on reproductive health and fertility, and to discuss opportunities to improve health through research, education, communication, and policy. Environmental reproductive health focuses on exposures to environmental contaminants, particularly during critical periods of development, and their potential effects on future reproductive health, including conception, fertility, pregnancy, adolescent development, and adult health. Approximately 87,000 chemical substances are registered for commercial use in the United States, with ubiquitous human exposures to environmental contaminants in air, water, food, and consumer products. Exposures during critical windows of susceptibility may result in adverse effects with lifelong and even intergenerational health impacts. Effects can include impaired development and function of the reproductive tract and permanently altered gene expression, leading to metabolic and hormonal disorders, reduced fertility and fecundity, and illnesses such as testicular, prostate, uterine, and cervical cancers later in life. This executive summary reviews effects of pre- and postnatal exposures on male and female reproductive health, and provides a series of recommendations for advancing the field in the areas of research, policy, health care, and community action.

Proceedings of the Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility: executive summary

The 2007 Summit on Environmental Challenges to Reproductive Health and Fertility convened scientists, health care professionals, community groups, political representatives, and the media to hear presentations on the impact of environmental contaminants on reproductive health and fertility, and to discuss opportunities to improve health through research, education, communication, and policy. Environmental reproductive health focuses on exposures to environmental contaminants, particularly during critical periods of development, and their potential effects on future reproductive health, including conception, fertility, pregnancy, adolescent development, and adult health. Approximately 87,000 chemical substances are registered for commercial use in the United States, with ubiquitous human exposures to environmental contaminants in air, water, food, and consumer products. Exposures during critical windows of susceptibility may result in adverse effects with lifelong and even intergenerational health impacts. Effects can include impaired development and function of the reproductive tract and permanently altered gene expression, leading to metabolic and hormonal disorders, reduced fertility and fecundity, and illnesses such as testicular, prostate, uterine, and cervical cancers later in life. This executive summary reviews effects of pre- and postnatal exposures on male and female reproductive health, and provides a series of recommendations for advancing the field in the areas of research, policy, health care, and community action.

Passing Time: An Exploration of School Engagement among Puerto Rican Girls

This article presents data from an ethnographic study focused on the school engagement of Puerto Rican girls. I explore the school engagement of Puerto Rican girls through the metaphor of passing. The findings demonstrate that despite variation between individual girls in academic achievement, all of the girls in the study suffered negative consequences from the limited ways that school engagement was constructed at their school. I argue that to understand and address the opportunity and achievement gap between Puerto Rican girls and other students, we must pay close attention to how this group of students is passing their time at school and to what passes as school engagement.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), organic matter quality and meiofauna in Galician sandy beaches, 6 months after the Prestige oil-spill

Bustos-Obregon, E., 2001. Adverse effects of exposure to agropesticides on male reproduction. APMIS 109 (Suppl. 103), 233–242. Colburn, T., Vom Saal, F.S., Soto, A.M., 1993. Developmental effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals in wildlife and humans. Environmental Health Perpectives 101, 378–384. Colon, I., Caro, D., Bourdony, C.J., Rosario, O., 2000. Identification of phthalate esters in the serum of young Puerto Rican girls with premature breast development. Environmental Health Perspectives 108, 895–900. Foster, P.M., Mylchreest, E., Gaido, K.W., Sar, M., 2001. Effects of pthalate esters on the developing reproductive tract of male rats. Human Reproduction Update 7, 231–235. Guo, Y.L., Hsu, P.C., Hsu, C.C., Lambert, G.H., 2001. Semen quality after pre-natal exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans. Lancet 356, 1240–1241. Junglaus, G.A., Lopez-Avila, V., Hites, R.A., 1978. Organic compounds in industrial wastewater, a case study of their environmental impact. Environmental Science and Technology 12, 88–96. Kwak, H., Bae, M., Lee, M., Lee, Y., Lee, B., Kang, K., Chae, C., Sung, H., Shin, J., Kim, J., Mar, W., Sheen, Y., Cho, M., 2001. Effects of nonylphenol, bisphenol A, and their mixture on the viviparous swordtail fish (Xiphophorus Helleri). Environmental Science and Technology 20, 787–795. Kogevinas, M., 2001. Human health effects of dioxins: cancer, reproductive and endocrine system defects. Human Reproduction Update 7, 331–339. Lopez-Avila, V., Hites, R., 1980. Organic compounds in industrial wastewater, their transport into sediments. Environmental Science and Technology 14, 1382–1390. Nakamura, M., Nagoya, H., Hirai, T., 2002. Nonylphenol induces complete feminization of the gonad in genetically controlled all-male amago salmon. Fisheries Science 68, 1387–1389. NOAA, 1999. NOAA screening quick reference table for organics, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, US Department of Commerce. Soto, A., Sonnenschein, C., Chung, K.L., Fernandez, M.F., Olea-Serrano, F., 1995. The E-screen assay as a tool to identify estrogens. An update on estrogenic environmental pollutants. Environmental Health Perspective 103 (Suppl. 7), 113–122.

Critical Care: A Color(full) Analysis of Care Narratives in the Schooling Experiences of Puerto Rican Girls

In this article, the author explores the intersection between race/ethnicity and caring in the educational experiences of middle school Puerto Rican girls. Critical race theory and Latino/Latina critical theory are used as data analysis frameworks because of their emphasis on the roles of race/ethnicity and racism in shaping the circumstances of individuals and institutions. The author calls for a color(full) critical care praxis that is grounded in a historical understanding of students’ lives; translates race-conscious ideological and political orientations into pedagogical approaches that benefit Latino/a students; uses caring counternarratives to provide more intimate, caring connections between teachers and the Latino communities where they work; and pays attention to caring at both the individual and institutional levels.

On the Bus

One time I rode a bus that ran a red light and crashed into a family wagon, killing the baby in the back seat. But before that I sat with my face out the window, letting the sun zap the ants crawling behind my eyes. Two days of speeding, bag ging, drinking Cr?me de Menthe, and snorting procaine, and now it was daylight and the worms were already digging into my skin. The guy sitting next to me bit into a soggy taco. The smell of wet meat made me want to vomit. Then I saw him. Two seats down, with his back to the window. An old black man with sky bright eyes who waved and smiled at everyone as though he'd seen all of them as children once. His skin was more purple than grapes and his uniform overalls had a stitched name tag that had no name. The mop next to him was new, its head still wrapped in plastic. He could've been a janitor but I'd never seen one ride around with a mop, or look so happy doing it. He nodded and beamed at everyone. Until he turned to me. With his hands on his lap he stared into me as if to light me on fire. And that's when we slammed head on into the station wagon. Someone screamed, Oh God! just before the crash, which sound ed like a thousand knives being sharpened all at once. People lunged forward then back, landing on their ribs, their ears. Apples, celery, and canned beans rolled on the floor; an old lady's walker slammed into the toll machine. On his knees, a man in a suit gathered the papers that had spilled from his briefcase, not hearing the girl next to him crying for her doll. It felt good to hear the bus come to life. It calmed me to see them acting out what I felt inside. Some tried to push open the doors, others hugged, and others cried into their hands, their fingers wiping beneath their eyes. But the black man, he hadn't budged. He was still facing me. Even his mop hadn't moved. That's when I knew he was God, that he'd come for me, but the baby had gotten in the way. Behind the driver's seat a Puerto Rican girl my age cried and rubbed her round stomach, and sitting on the floor in the aisle an old man screamed of a broken arm but nobody but me understood

Phthalate Exposure and Early Thelarche

Phthalate Exposure and Early Thelarche

Seduced by Images: Identity and Schooling in the Lives of Puerto Rican Girls

Based on a two‐year ethnographic study at an urban middle school, this article describes the power that images created by and about Puerto Rican girls hold in shaping their schooling experiences. Using a black, critical, feminist framework, I show how dichotomizing the sexuality of Puerto Rican females against their intellectual development obscures the complex ways that identities are co‐constructed and then affirmed, appropriated, or resisted within their school site. I conclude that to resist the reproduction of educational inequality in the lives of Puerto Rican females, we must explore and seek to transform the influential ways that identities are mediated and educational outcomes are produced within the school contexts where Puerto Rican females are educated. [Puerto Rican, urban, educational equity, ethnicity, gender]

Predicting Adolescent Self-Esteem From Participation in School Sports Among Latino Subgroups.

Data from the in-school survey of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health on girls and boys who claim a Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Cuban heritage were employed to test two hypotheses: (1) Participating in a school-based sport is associated with self-esteem, and (2) school attachment and a sense of physical well-being mediate this relationship. The first hypothesis was partially confirmed in that participation in school sports was associated with self-esteem among Mexican American adolescent girls and boys, Puerto Rican girls, and Cuban American boys, but not among Cuban American girls nor Puerto Rican boys. The second hypothesis was confirmed in that, where there was a significant relationship between participating in a school sport and self-esteem, school attachment and physical well-being mediated this relationship. The results underscore the need to study psychosocial processes separately among Latino subgroups and to examine gender within each subgroup.

Identification of Phthalate Esters in the Serum of Young Puerto Rican Girls with Premature Breast Development

Identification of Phthalate Esters in the Serum of Young Puerto Rican Girls with Premature Breast Development

Identification of Phthalate Esters in the Serum of Young Puerto Rican Girls with Premature Breast Development

Premature breast development (thelarche) is the growth of mammary tissue in girls younger than 8 years of age without other manifestations of puberty. Puerto Rico has the highest known incidence of premature thelarche ever reported. In the last two decades since this serious public health anomaly has been observed, no explanation for this phenomenon has been found. Some organic pollutants, including pesticides and some plasticizers, can disrupt normal sexual development in wildlife, and many of these have been widely used in Puerto Rico. This investigation was designed to identify pollutants in the serum of Puerto Rican girls with premature thelarche. A method for blood serum analysis was optimized and validated using pesticides and phthalate esters as model compounds of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Recovery was > 80% for all compounds. We performed final detection by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. We analyzed 41 serum samples from thelarche patients and 35 control samples. No pesticides or their metabolite residues were detected in the serum of the study or control subjects. Significantly high levels of phthalates [dimethyl, diethyl, dibutyl, and di-(2-ethylhexyl)] and its major metabolite mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate were identified in 28 (68%) samples from thelarche patients. Of the control samples analyzed, only one showed significant levels of di-isooctyl phthalate. The phthalates that we identified have been classified as endocrine disruptors. This study suggests a possible association between plasticizers with known estrogenic and antiandrogenic activity and the cause of premature breast development in a human female population.

Identification of phthalate esters in the serum of young Puerto Rican girls with premature breast development.

Premature breast development (thelarche) is the growth of mammary tissue in girls younger than 8 years of age without other manifestations of puberty. Puerto Rico has the highest known incidence of premature thelarche ever reported. In the last two decades since this serious public health anomaly has been observed, no explanation for this phenomenon has been found. Some organic pollutants, including pesticides and some plasticizers, can disrupt normal sexual development in wildlife, and many of these have been widely used in Puerto Rico. This investigation was designed to identify pollutants in the serum of Puerto Rican girls with premature thelarche. A method for blood serum analysis was optimized and validated using pesticides and phthalate esters as model compounds of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Recovery was > 80% for all compounds. We performed final detection by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. We analyzed 41 serum samples from thelarche patients and 35 control samples. No pesticides or their metabolite residues were detected in the serum of the study or control subjects. Significantly high levels of phthalates [dimethyl, diethyl, dibutyl, and di-(2-ethylhexyl)] and its major metabolite mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate were identified in 28 (68%) samples from thelarche patients. Of the control samples analyzed, only one showed significant levels of di-isooctyl phthalate. The phthalates that we identified have been classified as endocrine disruptors. This study suggests a possible association between plasticizers with known estrogenic and antiandrogenic activity and the cause of premature breast development in a human female population.

Puerto Rican Early Adolescents' Self-Esteem Patterns

This study examines self-esteem as a multidimensional construct in 1 Latino subgroup, Puerto Rican girls and boys during early adolescence, using Harter's (1985b) Self-Perception Profile for Children. The results show that in its English and Spanish versions-the latter developed by the present research team-the Self-Perception Profile for Children has adequate reliability for use with 13- to 14-year-old Puerto Rican youth living on the mainland. Results obtained in this study of Puerto Rican early adolescents, which contrasts with the results from the combined data of "Hispanics" in the American Association of University Women (1991) survey of 3,000 youth, strongly suggests that Latino subgroups need to be studied separately. The mean levels of self-esteem found among Puerto Rican girls and boys were generally similar to those found among Harter's sample of predominantly Anglo middle school students from the suburbs of Denver except that Puerto Rican youth did not show gender differences in overall self-esteem. Gender differences in mean levels of self-esteem in different domains were similar to those of Anglo youth, regardless of the Puerto Rican youth's individual level of psychological or behavioral acculturation. When differences by acculturation emerged, psychological acculturation appeared to play a more protective role for girls (Hispanic- or Latino-oriented girls reported being better behaved and having greater confidence in their scholastic abilities) and behavioral acculturation operated as a risk factor for boys (boys with preference for English reported low Behavioral Conduct and Scholastic Competence scores). On the other hand, greater acculturation (both psychological and behavioral) was associated with girls' lower confidence in their physical attractiveness. Finally, the structure of self-esteem varied by gender, and psychological and behavioral acculturation.

Growth of postmenarcheal girls from three ethnic groups.

Documentation of normal growth in late adolescence has been limited to a few studies using largely white participants. Annual growth rates of 668 high school girls who had already achieved menarche were determined for stature, sitting height, and knee height measured using the Knee Height Measuring Device (KHMD), an instrument with superior reliability. The sample was 61.4% white, 16.8% Puerto Rican, 15.7% African American, and 6.1% girls of other ethnic backgrounds. Median growth rate was 1.5 cm/year for stature, 1.1 cm/year for sitting height, and 2.7 mm/year for knee height in the first full year after menarche, and >80% of all girls grew in at least one dimension. Growth in stature (≥1 cm) continued for 64% of girls 1 full year after menarche and for 31% of girls 2 years after menarche, and growth in knee height (≥1 mm) continued in >45% of girls up to 5 completed years past menarche. Whites, African Americans, and Puerto Ricans showed small but significant differences in amounts of postmenarcheal growth in the dimensions measured. African-American girls grew less in stature and sitting height than other groups, whereas Puerto Rican girls grew significantly more in sitting height and significantly less in knee height than other ethnic groups. These findings demonstrate that, as documented in other studies of postmenarcheal growth, there is substantial growth after menarche in most girls. The most sensitive measures indicate that small amounts of growth persist >5 years after menarche. Appreciation of this phenomenon needs to be communicated to clinicians who generally assume that growth ceases at/or just after menarche. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Culturally sensitive treatment of adolescent Puerto Rican girls and their families

Adolescence for the Puerto Rican girl in the United States constitutes a phase of life in which developmental tasks are strained by the demands of her family and exposure to two cultures. This stress renders her adaptive potentials vulnerable to dysfunction. The authors describe the Puerto Rican family, the girl's socialization, the stress of living in dual cultures, and implications for behavioral problems. These factors are integrated to help the practitioner design culturally sensitive interventions.

910 TRANSIENT LAZY LEUKOCYTE SYNDROME

A Puerto Rican girl with history of impetigo at 3 weeks of age was admitted with diagnosis of pneumonia at 5 months of age. Her WBC: 5800 with Poly: 1 Eo: 1 L: 79 M: 19%. The bone marrow was normal with increased number of myeloid cells, without maturation arrest. The subcutaneous epinephrine as well as intravenous hydrocortisone injections did not increase the total WBC's as well as percentage of PMNs. The PMN chemotaxis and random motility was grossly abnormal. For the next 10 months the WBC and % of PMN did not change, and she had a number of URI's and gingivitis, then she was lost to follow up. At 3 years of age when she was seen again with WBC:7150 Poly:45 Eo:1 L:48 M:6%. The epinephrine stimulation showed a 116% increase in absolute PMN count at 5′ and hydrocortisone injection increased the PMN count 4560 above the baseline at 3 hours. PMN chemotaxis was normal.