[Our experience of the clinical application of sentinel node biopsy in breast cancer].

Introduction: Systematical lymphadenectomy has been replaced by selective sentinel node biopsy in the initial staging of early breast cancer. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of the technique in its application phase, paying special attention to the follow-up of patients with negative sentinel node who did not undergo axillary lymphadenectomy.

Patients And Method: A total of 168 patients with 169 stage I and II breast cancer lesions underwent sentinel lymph node biopsy in its application phase.

[Comprehensive reform to improve health system performance in Mexico].

Despite having achieved an average life expectancy of 75 years, much the same as that of more developed countries, Mexico entered the 21st century with a health system mared by its failure to offer financial protection in health to more than half of its citizens; this was both a result and a cause of the social inequalities that have marked the development process in Mexico. Several structural limitations have hampered performance and limited the progress of the health system. Conscious that the lack of financial protection was the major bottleneck, Mexico has embarked on a structural reform to improve health system performance by establishing the System of Social Protection in Health (SSPH), which has introduced new financial rules and incentives.

Comprehensive reform to improve health system performance in Mexico.

Despite having achieved an average life expectancy of 75 years, much the same as that of more developed countries, Mexico entered the 21st century with a health system marred by its failure to offer financial protection in health to more than half of its citizens; this was both a result and a cause of the social inequalities that have marked the development process in Mexico. Several structural limitations have hampered performance and limited the progress of the health system. Conscious that the lack of financial protection was the major bottleneck, Mexico has embarked on a structural reform to improve health system performance by establishing the System of Social Protection in Health (SSPH), which has introduced new financial rules and incentives.

The importance of quality of care in perinatal mortality: a case-control study in Chiapas, Mexico.

Background: This study was undertaken in order to ascertain the relative importance of different risk factors for perinatal mortality (PM) in a community of Chiapas, Mexico stressing the importance of antenatal and neonatal medical care.

Methods: Cases were stillbirth and early neonatal death (END). Two children born in the same hospital and/or day as the case were randomly selected as controls, in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.

Daily respiratory mortality and PM10 pollution in Mexico City: importance of considering place of death.

Significant associations have been reported between particles with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 mm (PM10) and ozone ambient concentrations, and daily number of deaths from respiratory causes. The aim of the present study was to assess such associations among elderly (> or =65 yrs) residents of Mexico City. Ambient air pollution data were provided by the Metropolitan Monitoring Network.

[Overweight in 12-49 year-old women and children under 5 years of age in Mexico].

Objective: To estimate the association between some sociodemographic characteristics and the risk of obesity among 12-49 year-old women and children aged under five.

Material And Methods: We analyzed data from Mexico's 1988 National Nutrition Survey, including information on 15 811 women of child-bearing age and 6 987 children aged under five years. We estimated the obesity prevalence rate ratios and confidence intervals for all the variables of interest.

[Stunting and emaciation in children under 5 in distinct regions and strata in Mexico].

Data from a National Nutrition Survey conducted in 1988 in a probability sample of 13,236 households and 17,426 children under five, representative at the national level and for four regions (North, Center, South, and Mexico City), were analyzed. Risks for wasting and stunting and odds ratios were obtained by region, by district according to proportion of indigenous population and by level of urbanization, by level of education of both parents, by gender, and by various combinations of the former strata. A high risk of stunting and a low risk of wasting were found.

Feeding patterns of Mexican infants recorded in the 1988 National Nutrition Survey.

Infant feeding patterns in Mexico were analyzed using data from the 1988 National Nutrition Survey. The prevalence of breast-feeding among infants declined from 86% at birth to approximately 40% after three months of age. The hazard rate of terminating breast-feeding increased by 38% at the national level and by 87% in the northern region with each increment in household living conditions, decreased 50% in rural municipalities in the south and decreased by 20% in all regions for each month that the introduction of other milks was delayed.

[Anemia in women of reproductive age. The results of a national probability survey].

Iron deficiency is one of the most prevalent forms of malnutrition which is clinically known as anemia. Functional consequences of anemia include impairment of cardiovascular performance, limitation in productivity, higher incidence of low birth weight and premature delivery, and increased maternal mortality. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of anemia in women of reproductive age in Mexico.

Field test of a rapid assessment technique against a probabilistic community survey: operational implications for neonatal tetanus elimination.

Neonatal tetanus (NNT) is a leading cause of neonatal mortality in developing countries and is frequently called 'the silent epidemic'. It is endemic in over 90 countries throughout the world. Incidence is often not known, obstructing cost-effective resource management for control measures.

Predictors of poliomyelitis case confirmation at initial clinical evaluation: implications for poliomyelitis eradication in the Americas.

In 1985, the Pan American Health Organization adopted the goal of eradication of poliomyelitis from the Americas by 1990. Strategies to accomplish this included high vaccination coverage, aggressive outbreak control, and active surveillance for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP). Although the sensitivity of AFP surveillance for detecting paralytic poliomyelitis cases is high, studies have shown the specificity to be low.