[Social inequality in the use of screening tests in Mexico: an analysis of the national health surveys 2006 and 2012].

Objective: To measure health inequality in the use of screen-ing services in adults from 20 to 59 years of age from the 2006 and 2012 national health and nutrition surveys.

Materials And Methods: dults (detection of diabetes, hypertension, breast cancer, cervical cancer and prostate cancer), the Kuznets index, the slope inequality index and the health concentration index were estimated. Considering as social indicators schooling, ethnicity, unemployment, socioeconomic level and type of health protection.

[Behavior of influenza seasons in Mexico from 2010 to 2016: Analysis and prospective].

The influenza virus spreads rapidly through recurring seasonal outbreaks during the fall and winter. Our country has the Epidemiological Surveillance System for Influenza (SISVEFLU), in operation since 2006, which has records of 558 health units of Influenza. According to the information recorded in it, we can see that the 2010-2016 influenza seasons have a biannual behavior, and that in the 2010-2011, 2012-2013, and 2014-2015 seasons, the predominant viral subtype was A (H3N2), while in the 2011-2012, 2013-2014, and 2015-2016 seasons, the predominant subtype was A (H1N1) pdm09, which was associated with an increased number of influenza cases and deaths.

[Trends of cancer mortality rates in children and adolescents by level of marginalization in Mexico (1990-2009)].

Objective: To determine childhood and adolescent cancer mortality by the level of marginalization in Mexico.

Materials And Methods: We used 1990-2009 death certificates estimating age-standardized rates. We calculated the Average Annual Percent Change (AAPC) using the Joinpoint Regression program available at the National Cancer Institute to assess tendency.

[Health in Mexico: old and rising challenges. An updated assessment].

In recent decades, Mexico has come a long way in health care matters, which has influenced the standard of living of the population and the development of the country. However, much remains to be done and changes should happen faster. Some of the main challenges Mexico faces currently are presented in this document and include: the challenge of reducing poverty in order to improve the health status of society; the development of health services that affect the slowdown in the pace of evolution of demographic indicators, life expectancy at birth and infant mortality; the challenge of reducing inequality; the challenge of great infrastructure available in the country for health care and the limited performance obtained in terms of organization, management and financing; the challenge resulting from human resources training systems, both undergraduate and postgraduate; the challenge that relates to academic and scientific productivity; the challenge of diabetes as an example of a serious public health problem; and the challenge of ethical implications in the organization and administration of health services, specifically, the allocation of public resources to them.

[A method designed for the assessment of myocardial metabolism in rats with 18F-FDG using small-animal-PET. Initial experience in Mexico].

Purpose: To standarize an acquisition protocol for the study of myocardial metabolism in adult rats.

Material And Methods: Three Wistar adult male rats were studied in three different protocols: no fasting group, fasting group over a period of 12 hr before the study with only water provided ad libitum, and fasting group by the same time receiving an oral 50% glucose solution. Thirty-minute acquisition images were obtained with a micro-PET, thirty and sixty minutes after the administration of 370-555 MBq 18F-FDG.

[Experience with the use of positron emission tomography (PET) in Mexico].

Background: Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a non-invasive imaging diagnostic tool that allows the study of specific biochemical processes using labeled molecules that closely mimic endogenous molecules. The two radiopharmaceuticals used in our facility are 13N-Ammonia and 18F-2-deoxy-2 fluor D-glucose (18F-FDG). 18F-FDG is the most common radiopharmaceutical used both at our Unit as well as worldwide, as it allows the study of tumor activity, the heart's metabolic activity, distinguish viable from non-viable myocardium and assess cerebral metabolism, among others.

[Frequency of cesarean sections in four hospitals of Mexico City: 20 years later].

Background: This article is an update of a similar study published in 1984 in which the frequency of cesarean sections practiced in four Mexico City hospitals from 1976 to 1983 was analyzed.

Objective: To assess the frequency of cesarean sections practiced in four Mexico City hospitals from 1995 to 2002.

Material And Method: Data from these same hospitals corresponding to the 1995-2002 period was again collected.

[The role of the general physician in present-day medical care in Mexico].

The issue of how medical specialization does not represent a novelty is discussed. The authors also approach the question of how the advantages and shortcomings of medical care provided by both general practitioners and medical specialists have been equally addressed previously by the ancient Greek classics as well as by outstanding Mexican specialists more than 50 years ago. A short review is made of the main current demographic, social, and health-related conditions of Mexico's society and of the public health system built up in the last 60 years.

[Ethics and health. Challenges and reflections].

In this essay, the concepts of ethics, bioethics, and professional ethics are reviewed. In addition, we analyzed the relationship between ethics and medicine, the conditions that can be source of ethical dilemmas, and the influence of ethics in the doctor-patient relationship, in the clinical work of the physician, and in an individual and institutional process of decision-making. Some factors that result from the interrelationship between ethics and health care, in particular the need for preserving and increasing the human dimension in medical practice, are discussed.