BRCA1 and VDR gene polymorphisms are associated with prostate cancer risk in Mexican men.

Prostate cancer (PC) is a polygenic disease with broad differences across ethnicities. BRCA1/2 and VDR have exhibited a featured genetic contribution to PC development in European populations. Nonetheless, its contribution in Latino populations specifically among Mexican men, where 70% of PC cases are detected in advanced stages, is still unknown.

Zinc Supplementation and Fortification in Mexican Children.

Background: Zinc is an essential micronutrient for human health. Approximately 1.4% of deaths worldwide are related to zinc deficiency.

Performance Comparison of Xpert HIV-1 Viral Load Assay and Roche Taqman and Abbott M2000 RT in Bamako, Mali.

Background: Routine monitoring of HIV-1 Viral Load (VL) is important in patients on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) management. Access to HIV VL remains a challenge in resource-limited settings, especially in rural areas. Universal access to VL requires more simplified and less restrictive alternatives to current conventional VL methods.

Identifying critical windows of prenatal particulate matter (PM) exposure and early childhood blood pressure.

Background: Exposure to air pollution is associated with increased blood pressure (BP) in adults and children. Some evidence suggests that air pollution exposure during the prenatal period may contribute to adverse cardiorenal health later in life. Here we apply a distributed lag model (DLM) approach to identify critical windows that may underlie the association between prenatal particulate matter ≤ 2.

Miscarriage Occurrence and Prevention Efforts by Disability Status and Type in the United States.

Very little is known about early pregnancy loss in women with disabilities. To address this gap, we analyzed nationally representative data on miscarriage and receipt of care focused on miscarriage prevention among women with and without disabilities. We used 2011-2015 National Survey of Family Growth data on women with at least one completed pregnancy within the past 5 years.

The relationship between management practices and the efficiency and quality of voluntary medical male circumcision services in four African countries.

Introduction: Given constrained funding for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) programs across Sub-Saharan Africa, delivering services efficiently is paramount. Voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is a key intervention that can substantially reduce heterosexual transmission-the primary mode of transmission across the continent. There is limited research, however, on what factors may contribute to the efficient and high-quality execution of such programs.

Sexuality Education During Adolescence and Use of Modern Contraception at First Sexual Intercourse Among Mexican Women.

Purpose: Mexico has implemented comprehensive sexuality education. We hypothesized that young women who received sexuality education as adolescents would be more likely to report modern contraceptive use at first sexual intercourse.

Methods: We used a nationally representative survey of Mexican women aged 20-24 years who were asked about experiences during adolescence.

Utilisation of second-trimester spontaneous and induced abortion services in public hospitals in Mexico, 2007-2015.

Background: Data on utilisation of in-facility second-trimester abortion services are sparse. We describe temporal and geographical trends in utilisation of in-facility second-trimester abortion services across Mexico.

Methods: We used 2007-2015 data from Mexico's Automated Hospital Discharge System (SAEH) to identify second-trimester abortive events (ICD O02-O08) in public hospitals across Mexico's 32 states.

A follow-up study after an improved cookstove intervention in rural Mexico: Estimation of household energy use and chronic PM exposure.

The benefits of improved biomass cookstoves (ICS) depends on their adoption and sustained use. Few studies have documented if and how they are used more than five years after being introduced. We conducted a 9-year prospective cohort study among young rural women in the highlands of Michoacan, Mexico.

Prenatal exposure to metals modified DNA methylation and the expression of antioxidant- and DNA defense-related genes in newborns in an urban area.

The developmental period in utero is a critical window for environmental exposure. Epigenetic fetal programming via DNA methylation is a pathway through which metal exposure influences the risk of developing diseases later in life. Genetic damage repair can be modified by alterations in DNA methylation, which, in turn, may modulate gene expression due to metal exposure.

Are overweight and obesity associated with increased risk of cesarean delivery in Mexico? A cross-sectional study from the National Survey of Health and Nutrition.

Background: In Mexico, obesity is a major public health problem; 71% of adults are overweight or obese. The proportion of deliveries by cesarean is also very high (45%). Women of reproductive age with overweight or obesity may be at higher risk of cesarean.

Body mass index percentiles and elevated blood pressure among children and adolescents.

It is well established that obesity is associated with an increased risk of elevated and high blood pressure (BP) in children and adolescents. However, it is uncertain whether there is an increase in the risk of elevated and high BP associated with an increase of body mass index (BMI) among children and adolescents whose BMI is in the accepted normal range. Data were available for 58 899 children and adolescents aged 6-17 years from seven national cross-sectional surveys in China, India, Iran, Korea, Poland, Tunisia, and the United States.

Environmental Health Promotion of a Contaminated Site in Mexico.

Entangled in complex ecological, sociocultural, and economic systems, current environmental health problems require integrated participatory approaches. Alpuyeca, a semi-urban, highly marginalized community in South-Central Mexico burdened by lead and polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination, dengue fever, and intestinal diseases, illustrates this. Its residents are distinctive, however, for their concerted actions in the face of environmental problems and the presence of defenders of a prehispanic worldview based on the protection of nature.

Association of RMND1/CCDC170-ESR1 single nucleotide polymorphisms with hip fracture and osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association of seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the RMND1, CCDC170, and ESR1 genes with osteoporosis or hip fracture in a postmenopausal Mexican population.

Methods: We included a group of 400 postmenopausal women from the Health Workers Cohort Study from the Mexican Institute of Social Security. As a replication sample, we recruited 423 postmenopausal women from the National Institute of Rehabilitation.

Height-specific blood pressure cutoffs for screening elevated and high blood pressure in children and adolescents: an International Study.

Pediatric blood pressure (BP) reference tables are generally based on sex, age, and height and tend to be cumbersome to use in routine clinical practice. In this study, we aimed to develop a new, height-specific simple BP table according to the international child BP reference table based on sex, age and height and to evaluate its performance using international data. We validated the simple table in a derivation cohort that included 58,899 children and adolescents aged 6-17 years from surveys in 7 countries (China, India, Iran, Korea, Poland, Tunisia, and the United States) and in a validation cohort that included 70,072 participants from three other surveys (China, Poland and Seychelles).

Association of Dietary Advanced Glycation End Products with Metabolic Syndrome in Young Mexican Adults.

Consumption of dietary advanced glycation end products is linked to metabolic syndrome. The objective was to describe the association between dietary advanced glycation end products intake and metabolic syndrome in young Mexican adults. The present was a cross-sectional study in 126 Mexican adults 18⁻35 years old evaluating metabolic syndrome through the harmonized criteria.

Influence of supply-side factors on voluntary medical male circumcision costs in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia.

Background: In this study, we described facility-level voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) unit cost, examined unit cost variation across facilities, and investigated key facility characteristics associated with unit cost variation.

Methods: We used data from 107 facilities in Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, and Zambia covering 2011 or 2012. We used micro-costing to estimate economic costs from the service provider's perspective.

Efficiency of HIV services in Nigeria: Determinants of unit cost variation of HIV counseling and testing and prevention of mother-to-child transmission interventions.

Background: Like most countries with a substantial HIV burden, Nigeria continues to face challenges in reaching coverage targets of HIV services. A fundamental problem is stagnated funding in recent years. Improving efficiency is therefore paramount to effectively scale-up HIV services.

Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the Vitamin D Receptor and GC Genes and Analysis of Their Distribution in Mexican Postmenopausal Women.

Genome-wide association studies in people with European ancestry suggest that polymorphisms in genes involved in vitamin D (VD) metabolism have an effect on serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. However, nothing is known about these polymorphisms in populations with Amerindian ancestry. Our aim was to evaluate the association between genetic variants on the vitamin D receptor (VDR) and the vitamin D binding protein (GC) genes, involved in the VD pathway, and VD deficiency in 689 unrelated Mexican postmenopausal women.

Does the Mexican sugar-sweetened beverage tax have a signaling effect? ENSANUT 2016.

Objective: To evaluate the potential signaling effect of the Mexican tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) by analyzing the association between awareness of and opinions about its effectiveness with current consumption of taxed SSBs and with a self-reported change in consumption of SSBs since the implementation of the tax. We also examined the association between psychosocial and environmental determinants of SSB consumption with current consumption of taxed SSBs and with a reported change in consumption of SSBs.

Methods: Cross-sectional analyses of survey and food-frequency questionnaire data from the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey 2016.

Syndemic Vulnerability and Condomless Sex Among Incarcerated Men in Mexico City: A Latent Class Analysis.

In order to address common statistical and population-based limitations in epidemiological literature applying syndemic theory, this study uses latent class analysis (LCA) to explore how health and social problems coalesce and shape sexual risk behaviors linked to HIV transmission in three Mexico City prisons. Among the studied male inmates, LCA identified four classes, defined by low syndemic risk (61.4%); marijuana (14.

Health providers pass knowledge and abilities acquired by training in obstetric emergencies to their peers: the average treatment on the treated effect of PRONTO on delivery attendance in Mexico.

Background: A significant proportion of newborn and maternal deaths can be prevented through simple and cost-effective strategies. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the PRONTO obstetric-emergency management training for improving evidence-based birth attendance practices among providers attending the training at 12 hospitals in three states of Mexico from 2010 to 2012, and to estimate dissemination of the training within the hospitals.

Methods: The average treatment on the treated effect of the PRONTO intervention for the probability of performing certain practices during birth attendance was estimated in a sample of 310 health providers.

Who presents past the gestational age limit for first trimester abortion in the public sector in Mexico City?

Objective: To identify socio-demographic factors associated with presenting for abortion services past the gestational age (GA) limit (12 weeks), and thus not receiving services, in Mexico City's public sector first trimester abortion program.

Methods: We used clinical data from four high volume sites in the Interrupción Legal de Embarazo (ILE) program, 2007-2015. We used descriptive statistics to quantify the proportion of women who did not receive an abortion due to presenting past the gestational age limit.

Identification of microRNAs in human circulating monocytes of postmenopausal osteoporotic Mexican-Mestizo women: A pilot study.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) are a class of short non-coding RNAs that serve an important regulatory role in living organisms. These molecules are associated with multiple biological processes and are potential biomarkers in multiple diseases. The present study aimed to further identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed in circulating monocytes (CMCs) from postmenopausal Mexican-Mestizo women.

Physical activity and calorie intake mediate the relationship from depression to body fat mass among female Mexican health workers.

Background: Depression is a foremost cause of morbidity throughout the world and the prevalence of depression in women is about twice as high as men. Additionally, overweight and obesity are major global health concerns. We explored the relationship between depression and body fat, and the role of physical activity and diet as mediators of this relationship in a sample of 456 adult female Mexican health workers.