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Introduction: The use of filgrastim biosimilars for healthy adult and pediatric donor mobilization in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has been met with increased safety and efficacy concerns in contrast to generic small molecule drugs. In Mexico, several filgrastim‐intended copies (FIC) have been available and marketed since 2001, while no clinical comparability studies to evaluate their use in this setting have been published and thus are not considered to be true biosimilars. In this study, we report our experience using three different FIC products currently available (Filatil, Dextrifyl, and Biofilgran). Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 118 related donors of all ages who received any brand 5 μg/kg subcutaneously twice daily for 4 days and were harvested in a single apheresis system on day 5. Results: Donors had a median age of 38 years (range, 1‐69). A successful harvest defined as ≥2 × 106 CD34+ cells/kg of recipient weight was achieved in 95.8% of cases, with a median CD34+ cell dose of 9.4 × 106/kg (range 1‐42.8). A single apheresis session was performed in 89.8% of cases. No significant difference in cell yield between each brand was observed. All pediatric donors had a successful harvest with similar results to adult donors. No immediate severe adverse effects were documented in any case. Conclusions: In conclusion, three FICs available in Mexico were efficacious and without immediate severe adverse effects, resulting in significant cost savings. Evaluation of immunogenicity and establishment of a pharmacovigilance program with the use of FICs is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dwellings have an important role in human adaptation to their environment; it is therefore crucial to understand how people deal with variations in building materials. We studied the impact of transforming traditional agroecosystems on the perishable materials used to build vernacular dwellings in a Maya community in central Yucatan, Mexico. Occupants and builders identified traditional agroecosystems as the main source of traditional materials. Our informants cited fragmentation of landholdings and land use intensification of traditional agroecosystems as the main reasons for the decreasing availability of traditional materials, which, together with their perishable nature have led to their replacement by industrially produced materials, predominantly by households with limited involvement in agricultural activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fisheries learning exchanges (FLEs) bring together fisher communities to exchange knowledge and experiences, with the goal of building social capital and disseminating management techniques. In 2015 two groups of octopus fishers from Bahia de los Angeles, Mexico and Sarodrano, Madagascar travelled to Andavadoaka, southwest Madagascar to learn about the temporary fishing closures for octopus used in the region. Octopus fisheries in Madagascar and Mexico differ in several respects, particularly harvesting techniques. The FLE was qualitatively evaluated through participant observation and semi-structured key informant (KI) interviews. Thirty before-and-after interviews were carried out with 16 KIs including visitors, hosts and organisers. Informants suggested that holding the FLE at the same time as the closure openings allowed for learning benefits but carried an important opportunity cost for organisers and host participants, and that shortcomings of planning and translation capacity limited learning opportunities. Several KIs were concerned about the applicability of the Malagasy management model to the Mexican context concerned, and the FLE may have had unforeseen consequences since Malagasy fishers were excited to learn a new fishing method (trapping) from the visitors: if effective, trapping could negatively impact Malagasy octopus stocks. The exchange of knowledge in the FLE was primarily one-way, from host to visitor, and most organisers did not view themselves as participants. Recommendations to improve the effectiveness of future FLEs include: (i) improving facilitation and translation capacity to promote dialogue, (ii) focusing on key messages, (iii) selecting appropriate participants and (iv) recruiting a specialist to organise and lead exchanges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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El artículo se enfoca en la historia de la violencia, la muerte y la delincuencia organizada en Ciudad Juárez y el estado de Chihuahua, México que ha pasado en la primera década del siglo XXI. La autora discute de la violencia sexual dirigida a las mujeres, igual a los asesinatos, que también son prevalecientes en la región.

Se presenta un ensayo sobre la violencia extrema y las condiciones precarias en la Ciudad Juárez, México, entre los años 1993 y 2010. Se ofrece un análisis de los factores clave del problema, incluyendo la globalización, el crimen organizado y el papel del gobierno en la situación. Se concluye que el fracaso de los elementos fundantes del estado nación de México ha facilitado la violencia y el crimen.

Feminist promotion of gender equity in development began in the 1970s, challenging development policy and practice and producing a rich body of debate and scholarship. Feminist anthropologists, through scholarship and activism, made important contributions to the project of reforming development. A recent anthropological critique of development, however, referred to as the anthropology of 'development', has raised important questions about anthropology's relationship to development, presenting new challenges to feminist anthropologists who would engage with development. This new approach, despite its attention to power, has not had questions about gender at its centre. Drawing on fieldwork in southeastern Campeche, Mexico, this paper explores challenges of a feminist anthropology of 'development', including pressures for engagement and disengagement, and the apparent contradiction between reflexive critiques of, and feminist engagements with, development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurements of methyl bromide (CH3Br) and methyl chloride (CH3Cl) were made during the Gulf of Mexico and the East Coast Carbon (GOMECC) cruise in the summer of 2007. This was the first large-scale study of CH3Br and CH3Cl in the coastal ocean. The mean atmospheric mixing ratios were 10.1 ppt for CH3Br and 517 ppt for CH3Cl. Surface seawater concentrations ranged from 0.8 pM to 5.0 pM for CH3Br and from 61.5 pM to 179 pM for CH3CI. Biological processes contribute to the elevated seawater concentrations of CH3Br, while a combination of biological processes and terrestrial sources may contribute to elevated seawater concentrations of CH3Cl. Vertical distributions show highest concentrations of CH3Br and CH3Cl in the subsurface seawater below the mixed layer due to high degradation rates near the surface. Good correlation of the production rates between CH3Br and CH3Cl suggests they have some common sources in the coastal ocean. After excluding the open ocean points, annual coastal emissions in the studied region were 0.01-0.06 Gg yr-1 for CH3Br and 0.3-1.6 Gg yr-1 for CH3Cl. By simple extrapolation, the global coastal emissions were estimated at 0.5-3.6 Gg yr-1 for CH3Br and 19-98 Gg yr-1 for CH3C1. Including the coastal ocean emissions of CH3Br and CH3C1 will increase the estimate of global oceanic emissions by 1%-9% and 1%-8%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article details the study of a Canadian sustainable development project in Mexico, the Calakmul Model Forest. The title of the article came from the Model Forest project's provision for the organization of handicraft production groups. This provision was designed to make women a part of the project and their community at large.

Neonatal per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) exposure can disrupt hormonal homeostasis and induce neuro- and immunotoxicity in children. In this exploratory study, we investigated associations between PFAS levels in neonatal dried blood spots and retinoblastoma risk. This study included 501 retinoblastoma cases born from 1983 to 2011 and 899 controls frequency-matched by birth year (20:1 matching ratio), born to 755 US-born and 366 Mexico-born mothers in California. Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perflurooctanoic acid (PFOA), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) feature intensities were identified from neonatal blood spots from California newborn Genetic Disease Screening Program. Using logistic regression, we assessed whether an interquartile range (IQR) increase of PFAS levels or having above-mean levels of PFAS in blood affects retinoblastoma risk overall or its subtypes (i.e., unilateral, bilateral). We assessed children of US-born and Mexico-born mothers, separately. Among all children, above-mean PFOS levels at birth increased the odds of retinoblastoma overall by 29% (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.00, 1.67) and unilateral retinoblastoma by 42% (95% CI: 1.03, 1.97). For children of Mexico-born mothers, we estimated the highest odds of retinoblastoma overall (adjusted odds ratio (aOR): 1.67; 95% CI: 1.06, 2.66) and bilateral retinoblastoma (aOR: 2.06; 95% CI: 1.12, 3.92) with above-mean PFOS levels. Among children of US-born mothers, higher PFOS levels increased the odds of unilateral retinoblastoma by 15% (95% CI: 0.99, 1.35) for each IQR increase and by 71% among children with above-mean PFOS levels (95% CI: 1.04, 2.90). In addition, for children of US-born mothers, PFOA increased the odds of retinoblastoma overall (aOR: 1.41; 95% CI: 1.00, 2.02 for above-mean levels, aOR: 1.06; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.16 per IQR increase). PFNA was not associated with retinoblastoma risk. Our results suggested that PFOS and PFOA might contribute to retinoblastoma risk in children born in California. • We studied prenatal exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance via metabolomics. • Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid elevated the risk of retinoblastoma. • Perflurooctanoic acid elevated retinoblastoma only in children of US-born mothers. • Perfluorononanoic acid was not associated with retinoblastoma risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relapsed or refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia represents a major challenge in low- and middle-income countries where new therapies are not easily accessible. Combinations of cost-effective drugs should be considered as a bridge for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. We retrospectively analyzed pediatric and adolescent and young adult patients who received reinduction with a protocol based on l-asparaginase, doxorubicin, vincristine, dexamethasone, and bortezomib (BZ). Fifteen patients were included. Total complete response (CR) was achieved by nine of 15 patients (60%); five patients achieved CR with negative minimal residual disease, two achieved complete morphological response (CR), and two complete morphological response without platelet recovery. Eleven patients (73%) were not hospitalized and 10 (66%) did not require any blood component transfusions. There were no cases of serious toxicity or mortality. Nine patients (60%) underwent transplant. Five-year overall survival was 40%. This BZ-based protocol is effective and safe when administered as an outpatient regimen and feasible in a low resource setting., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Studies of environmental exposures and childhood cancers that rely on records often only use maternal address at birth or address at cancer diagnosis to assess exposures in early childhood, possibly leading to exposure misclassification and questionable validity due to residential mobility during early childhood. Our objective was to assess patterns and identify factors that may predict residential mobility in early childhood, and examine the impact of mobility on early childhood exposure assessment for agriculturally applied pesticides and childhood cancers in California. We obtained the addresses at diagnosis of all childhood cancer cases born in 1998-2011 and diagnosed at 0-5 years of age (n = 6478) from the California Cancer Registry (CCR), and their birth addresses from linked birth certificates. Controls were randomly selected from California birth records and frequency matched (20:1) to all cases by year of birth. We obtained residential histories from a public-record database LexisNexis for both case (n = 3877 with age at diagnosis 1-5 years) and control (n = 99,262) families. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the socio-demographic factors in relation to residential mobility in early childhood. We employed a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based system to estimate children's first year of life exposures to agriculturally applied pesticides based on birth vs diagnosis address or residential histories based upon Lexis-Nexis Public Records and assessed agreement between exposure measures using Spearman correlations and kappa statistics. Over 20% of case and control children moved in their first year of life, and 55% of children with cancer moved between birth and diagnosis. Older age at diagnosis, younger maternal age, lower maternal education, not having a Hispanic ethnic background, use of public health insurance, and non-metropolitan residence at birth were predictors of higher residential mobility. There was moderate to strong correlation (Spearman correlation = 0.76-0.83) and good agreement (kappa = 0.75-0.81) between the first year of life exposure estimates for agricultural pesticides applied within 2 km of a residence relying on an address at birth or at diagnosis or LexisNexis addresses; this did not differ by outcome status, but agreement decreased with decreasing buffer size, and increasing distance moved or age at diagnosis. These findings suggest that residential addresses collected at one point in time may represent residential history in early childhood to a reasonable extent; nevertheless, they exposure misclassification in the first year of life remains an issue. Also, the highest proportion of women not captured by LexisNexis were Hispanic women born in Mexico and those living in the lowest SES neighborhoods, i.e. possibly those with the higher environmental exposures, as well as younger women and those with less than high school education. Though LexisNexis only captures a sub-population, its data may be useful for augmenting address information and assessing the extent of exposure misclassification when estimating environmental exposures in large record linkage studies. Future research should investigate how to correct for exposure misclassification introduced by residential mobility that is not being captured by records., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In 1963 Jean Bernard introduced the concept of "geographic hematology" and distinguished 2 branches, i.e., "ethnic hematology," which deals with differences between populations, and "environmental hematology," which considers factors such as food habits, infections, and others. Both of these branches have implications in the distribution of hematological diseases worldwide. In comparison with Caucasian populations, in Mexico a significantly higher prevalence of acute lymphoblastic, acute promyelocytic, and acute megakaryoblastic leukemias has been described. The rate of chronic myeloid leukemia seems to be as high as that reported in Caucasian populations, while other myeloproliferative neoplasias are significantly less frequent in Mexico. Significantly lower prevalences of hairy cell leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, multiple myeloma, and Waldenström's macroglobulinemia have been reported from Mexico. Regrettably, the influence of drug companies interested in selling their new and expensive drugs has resulted in both overdiagnosis of some diseases and overidentification of the refractory forms of some of these conditions to justify the use of unnecessary drugs., (© 2018 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Prenatal exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) is detrimental to the health of newborns and increases the risk of disease development later in life. Here we examined a subset of newborn cord blood leukocyte samples collected from subjects enrolled in the Biomarkers of Exposure to ARsenic (BEAR) pregnancy cohort in Gómez Palacio, Mexico, who were exposed to a range of drinking water arsenic concentrations (0.456-236 µg/l). Changes in iAs-associated DNA 5-methylcytosine methylation were assessed across 424,935 CpG sites representing 18,761 genes and compared with corresponding mRNA expression levels and birth outcomes. In the context of arsenic exposure, a total of 2919 genes were identified with iAs-associated differences in DNA methylation. Site-specific analyses identified DNA methylation changes that were most predictive of gene expression levels where CpG methylation within CpG islands positioned within the first exon, the 5' untranslated region and 200 bp upstream of the transcription start site yielded the most significant association with gene expression levels. A set of 16 genes was identified with correlated iAs-associated changes in DNA methylation and mRNA expression and all were highly enriched for binding sites of the early growth response (EGR) and CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) transcription factors. Furthermore, DNA methylation levels of 7 of these genes were associated with differences in birth outcomes including gestational age and head circumference.These data highlight the complex interplay between DNA methylation, functional changes in gene expression and health outcomes and underscore the need for functional analyses coupled to epigenetic assessments., (© The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Toxicology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Point mutations in the zone of polarizing activity regulatory sequence (ZRS) are known to cause human limb malformations. Although most mutations cause preaxial polydactyly (PPD), triphalangeal thumb (TPT) or both, a mutation in position 404 of the ZRS causes more severe Werner mesomelic syndrome (WMS) for which malformations include the distal arm or leg bones in addition to the hands and/or feet. Of more than 15 reported families with ZRS mutations, only one homozygous individual has been reported, with no change in phenotype compared with heterozygotes. Here, we describe a novel point mutation in the ZRS, 402C>T (AC007097.4:g.105548C>T), that is transmitted through two Mexican families with one homozygous individual. The homozygous phenotype for this mutation, WMS, is more severe than the numerous heterozygous individuals genotyped from both families who have TPT and PPD. A mouse transgenic enhancer assay shows that this mutation causes an expansion of the enhancer's expression domain in the developing mouse limb, confirming its pathogenicity. Combined, our results identify a novel ZRS mutation in the Mexican population, 402C>T, and suggest that a dosage effect exists for this ZRS mutation., (© 2014 WILEY PERIODICALS, INC.)

Exposure to inorganic arsenic (iAs) early in life is associated with adverse health effects in infants, children, and adults, and yet the biological mechanisms that underlie these effects are understudied. The objective of this research was to examine the proteomic shifts associated with prenatal iAs exposure using cord blood samples isolated from 50 newborns from Gómez Palacio, Mexico. Levels of iAs in maternal drinking water (DW-iAs) and the sum of iAs and iAs metabolites in maternal urine (U-tAs) were determined. Cord blood samples representing varying iAs exposure levels during the prenatal period (DW-iAs ranging from <1 to 236 μg As/l) were analyzed for altered expression of proteins associated with U-tAs using a high throughput, antibody-based method. A total of 111 proteins were identified that had a significant association between protein level in newborn cord blood and maternal U-tAs. Many of these proteins are regulated by tumor necrosis factor and are enriched in functionality related to immune/inflammatory response and cellular development/proliferation. Interindividual differences in proteomic response were observed in which 30 newborns were "activators," displaying a positive relationship between protein expression and maternal U-tAs. For 20 "repressor" newborns, a negative relationship between protein expression level and maternal U-tAs was observed. The activator/repressor status was significantly associated with maternal U-tAs and head circumference in newborn males. These results may provide a critical groundwork for understanding the diverse health effects associated with prenatal arsenic exposure and highlight interindividual responses to arsenic that likely influence differential susceptibility to adverse health outcomes.

Inorganic arsenic (iAs) is an environmental toxicant currently poisoning millions of people worldwide, and chronically exposed individuals are susceptible to arsenicosis or arsenic poisoning. Using a state-of-the-art technique to map the methylomes of our study subjects, we identified a large interactome of hypermethylated genes that are enriched for their involvement in arsenic-associated diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. Notably, we have uncovered an arsenic-induced tumor suppressorome, a complex of 17 tumor suppressors known to be silenced in human cancers. This finding represents a pivotal clue in unraveling a possible epigenetic mode of arsenic-induced disease.