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This piece illustrates some of the practices/discourses enacted by four displaced Puerto Rican mothers as they strived to support the academic success of their children in the receiving Pennsylvania public school system. The study, couched in Critical Pedagogy and Community Cultural Wealth (CCW), documents (a) the ways mothers supported and advocated for their children as culturally and linguistically diverse students pre- and during a global pandemic, and (b) how challenges that predated the pandemic complicated the transition to online learning.

In the following study, displaced Puerto Rican mothers and I created and explored a learning space -- culture circles -- that engaged participants in a critical cycle of problem posing, dialogue, and problem solving in relation to their experiences in the receiving Pennsylvania community. Using a qualitative, ethnographic approach, the study drew from Critical Pedagogy (CP), raciolinguistics, and a Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) framework to inform data collection and analysis. Individual interviews, culture circle meeting recordings, field notes, and digital artefacts created by four focal participants help illustrate how these mothers navigate the US school system and the wider receiving community in southern Pennsylvania. Moreover, the data reflect how racism in this context is based predominantly on families' language practices. Despite mothers facing significant challenges due to race/ethnicity, language, class, and gender, this study highlights the conversations that displaced Puerto Rican mothers engaged in regarding the impact racism had in their everyday lives. Furthermore, the space we created allowed participants to share and model their accumulated linguistic, social, and resistant capital for their children's academic success.

This study, guided by Woman of Color feminist epistemologies, implements culture circles to highlight the agency of displaced Puerto Rican mothers. Participants expanded their social/kin networks and shared resources from which they drew to meet their family's needs. Our space provided support for each participants' reality based on their positionalities while centering love and trust. This work can inform how schools envision engaging with families for their own and children's success in schools.

The Caribbean has one of the lowest rates of student participation in study abroad programs. This comparative study aims to contribute to the research on business students' attitudes toward studying abroad, specifically for students in public institutions in the Caribbean. The research shows that positive perceptions of students toward studying or internships do not necessarily depend on demographic or personal characteristics. A study conducted among business students from main campuses at the University of Puerto Rico (UPRRP) and the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) shows that desire to live abroad, benefits from study/internship abroad, and self-confidence are determinant factors to participate in study/internship programs abroad. Even though each group of participants has its own set of peculiarities, the results are consistent with the findings from other studies.

Drawing from rememory and decolonial theory, this collaborative piece illustrates how three Puerto Rican educators and researchers partnered with a Puerto Rican scholar, activist and children's book author to engage in inquiry cycles. These inquiry cycles centred our general experiences with children's literature and the author's work. After engaging in dialogue and sharing/responding to written reflections, we play with content and form as we unpack our creative‐research journey to ReconoceR—to acknowledge and re‐learn—through storying. By doing so, we engage in transformational actionings to resist the conditions of invisibility, silence and impossibility that sustain coloniality. Through this work, we recognise the centrality of affective spaces and attempt to name those intensities with language. We pivot towards notions of responses to literature as complex understandings of the networks of feelings, experiences and intensities that help us navigate texts and ourselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The COVID‐19 pandemic underscored the need for rapid and accurate diagnostic tools. In August 2020, the Abbott BinaxNOW COVID‐19 Antigen Card test became available as a timely and affordable alternative for SARS‐CoV‐2 molecular testing, but its performance may vary due to factors including timing and symptomatology. This study evaluates BinaxNOW diagnostic performance in diverse epidemiological contexts. Methods: Using RT‐PCR as reference, we assessed performance of the BinaxNOW COVID‐19 test for SARS‐CoV‐2 detection in anterior nasal swabs from participants of two studies in Puerto Rico from December 2020 to May 2023. Test performance was assessed by days post symptom onset, collection strategy, vaccination status, symptomatology, repeated testing, and RT‐PCR cycle threshold (Ct) values. Results: BinaxNOW demonstrated an overall sensitivity of 84.1% and specificity of 98.8%. Sensitivity peaked within 1–6 days after symptom onset (93.2%) and was higher for symptomatic (86.3%) than asymptomatic (67.3%) participants. Sensitivity declined over the course of infection, dropping from 96.3% in the initial test to 48.4% in testing performed 7–14 days later. BinaxNOW showed 99.5% sensitivity in participants with low Ct values (≤ 25) but lower sensitivity (18.2%) for participants with higher Cts (36–40). Conclusions: BinaxNOW demonstrated high sensitivity and specificity, particularly in early‐stage infections and symptomatic participants. In situations where test sensitivity is crucial for clinical decision‐making, nucleic acid amplification tests are preferred. These findings highlight the importance of considering clinical and epidemiological context when interpreting test results and emphasize the need for ongoing research to adapt testing strategies to emerging SARS‐CoV‐2 variants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decreased water quality in coastal environments due to land alterations by human activities has caused stressed and degraded coral reefs worldwide. The consequences of decreased water quality are not limited to coral reefs but also affect the quality of people's lives by increasing the incidence of diseases, so areas highly impacted have been prioritized for management. The Guánica Bay Watershed Management Plan was developed to reduce the non-point sources of pollution that arrive at the bay and to protect adjacent coral reefs, however, 15 years have passed since its creation and management actions have not been evaluated. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the management actions implemented in the Guánica Bay watershed. Therefore, the objective of this study was to describe temporal trends (2002-2008 and 2016-2022) of remotely sensed diffuse attenuation coefficient at 490 nm (Kd490), a water quality indicator, in one managed (Guánica Bay) and three non-managed (Guayanilla Bay, Descalabrado River, and Guanajibo River) estuaries in Southwestern Puerto Rico. This was achieved by integrating ocean-color satellite imagery from MERIS-Envisat and OLCI-Sentinel-3 sensors that were sampled using a beyond-Before-After-Control-Impact (beyond-BACI) approach. An additional oceanic site was selected to evaluate continuity between sensors estimates. The imagery was processed using SNAP to extract Kd490 values in the estuaries. The analysis for the beyond-BACI found significant differences between periods (before and after) but the changes were unique to each location within estuary. The lowest Kd490 values and variability within estuary was observed in Guánica (range 0.05-0.1 m-1) and the highest Kd490 values were observed in Guayanilla (0.35 m-1). The southern estuaries showed similar temporal trends, all having a peak in 2018 and a trough in 2020. Kd490 did not decrease in Guánica after the implementation of management actions, which can be related to the passage of several hurricanes during the after period. Further analysis should be done as new data is available and after the implementation of the last management actions suggested in the plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Spanish verbal system offers more evidence for agreement and tense than English, where morphological evidence is less robust. With a focus on the comprehension of verbal agreement morphology by child second (L2) learners of Spanish and English, we extend the Variational Learning account to L2 acquisition to investigate whether the abundance of morphological evidence for subject agreement in the target language contributes to the rate of acquisition. Participants were 32 Spanish-speaking L2 learners of English and 32 English-speaking L2 learners of Spanish ages 7;5-10;11. The children's comprehension of verb agreement morphology in Spanish and in English was assessed with an off-line picture-sentence matching task in each language. The results show higher accuracy comprehending agreement for the children learning L2 Spanish compared to the children learning L2 English. This finding is consistent with a probabilistic approach to morphological learning and the role of morphological typology in the rate of acquisition.

Community health promotion offers a potential solution to persistent healthcare challenges, with community health workers playing a pivotal role. The Community Training Institute for Health Disparities (CTIHD) implemented a problem-solving curriculum in Community Health Promotion, integrating a competency-based learning model through two courses: Introduction to Community Health Promotion and Design of an Action Plan for the Promotion of Community Health. Each course comprised ten three-hour sessions, featuring pre/post-tests, evaluations, and a cognitive debriefing. Knowledge change was assessed using pre/post-test scores among 27 community leaders from southern Puerto Rico. Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 demonstrated an overall retention rate of 62.6% and 96.7%, respectively. Although differences in knowledge gained between cohorts and courses weren't statistically significant, a trend toward increased knowledge was noted. Cohort 1 experienced a 22% knowledge increase in Course 1 and a 24% increase in Course 2. Cohort 2 demonstrated a 41% knowledge increase in Course 1 and a 25% increase in Course 2. The CTIHD's Community Health Promotion Program has made significant strides in elevating awareness and knowledge, marking a positive step toward reducing health disparities and fostering healthier, empowered communities in southern Puerto Rico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a highly successful peer tutoring program that has resulted in an improvement in the passing rates of mathematics placement exams from 16% to 42%, on average. Statistical analyses were conducted using a Chi-Squared (?[superscript 2]) test for independence and the results were statistically significant (p-value much less than 0.05). These encouraging results suggest that this type of initiative should be institutionalized at the end of the grant period that funds it. The paper describes the structure of the program, the conditions of the university in which it is being implemented, the details of the statistical analyses, and its impact in engineering education. This model may easily be replicated in academic institutions with similar conditions.

Background: This study aimed to assess COVID-19 vaccine confidence among healthcare personnel in the safety net sector of the United States and Puerto Rico. This study aimed to examine the extent to which increased knowledge and positive attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccine safety and efficacy were associated with healthcare workers' COVID-19 vaccination status and their recommendation of the vaccine to all patients. Methods: Online survey data were collected from health care workers working in Free and Charitable Clinics across the United States and Federally Qualified Health Centers in Puerto Rico. The survey consisted of 62 questions covering various demographic measures and constructs related to healthcare workers' vaccination status, beliefs, and recommendations for COVID-19 vaccination. Statistical analyses, including multivariate analysis, were conducted to identify the factors associated with the COVID-19 vaccine status and recommendations among healthcare personnel. Results: Among the 2273 respondents, 93% reported being vaccinated against COVID-19. The analysis revealed that respondents who believed that COVID-19 vaccines were efficacious and safe were three times more likely to be vaccinated and twice as likely to recommend them to all their patients. Respondents who believed they had received adequate information about COVID-19 vaccination were 10 times more likely to be vaccinated and four times more likely to recommend it to all their patients. Conclusions: The study results indicate that healthcare workers' confidence in COVID-19 vaccines is closely tied to their level of knowledge, positive beliefs, and attitudes about vaccine safety and efficacy. The study emphasizes the significance of healthcare workers feeling well informed and confident in their knowledge to recommend the vaccine to their patients. These findings have important implications for the development of strategies to boost COVID-19 vaccine confidence among healthcare workers and increase vaccine uptake among patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses health and reproductive injustices experienced by Puerto Rican mothers in the U.S. as of July 2024. Topics covered include their historical roots in colonization and systemic neglect, the determinants of pre- and perinatal health disparities, and the multifaceted issues like provider challenges in care delivery and physician shortage that impact peronatal health. Also noted are evidence-based interventions like telemedicine services, community health workers and doulas.

The integration of research and education is an essential component of our university's teaching philosophy. Recently, we made a curricular revision to facilitate such an approach in the General Chemistry Laboratory, to teach students that investigative approaches are at the core of sciences. The curriculum revision included new interdisciplinary experiments and a research project. Investigative, peer review, and cooperative learning strategies were introduced to enhance student learning and engagement. An environment in which students can analyze results within a laboratory session and reach comprehensive and quantitative conclusions was encouraged. To assess our results, students completed questionnaires, evaluated their peers and themselves. Instructors evaluated students through written reports, oral presentations, pre- and post test, a practical exam and a final exam. Assessments of the learning outcomes were performed to determine the level of research skills development, the improvement in laboratory techniques, and depth in analysis of concepts. The experimental designs, implementation of results, and comparisons of student performances using traditional approaches are presented.

The academic programs at the graduate level are increasingly interested about the enrollment management challenges in terms of international student mobility. Understanding fundamental enrollment concepts to attract international students provides the essential key to consider the competitive environment concerning university resources, academic program potential, complex cultural dynamics, and workplaces among others. Based on a six-year quantitative and descriptive statistical study, this paper addresses the trends of first-time graduate enrollment and patterns of international student mobility by faculty at the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez. Results revealed the sustained trend of graduate enrollment of international students mainly from South America, Central America, and the Caribbean among others. Moreover, the presence of international graduate students adds a dimension of diversity to UPRM between teaching and research undertakings that enhance the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, Agricultural Sciences, and Business Administration. The international student mobility has a consistent tendency mainly in the Colleges of Engineering, Arts and Sciences, and Agricultural Sciences. This consistency resembles the quality and reputation recognized by educational institutions and organizational world rankings. In-depth, understanding the trends related to international graduate enrollment and mobility should be considered by institutional leaders and administrators at UPRM to make knowledgeable decisions and to effectively set priorities to recruit highly qualified international students.

This introduction to our special issue surveys some of the current work undertaken by scholars on the island of Puerto Rico and abroad that document the language forms, uses, and ideologies of language in the U.S. territory. We provide the "total linguistic fact" (Silverstein 1985) of what it means to speak English and Spanish in Puerto Rico, Census projections of language use, self-reported data and actual documented work on the form and social uses of languages. We provide the sociohistorical context of the history of both Spanish and English on the Island, language policies across time, and how these have played out and been contested in real time. Setting the scene for our special issue, we ask our readers to think critically on the status of contact languages in globalized times, ideological shifts of language practices, and the intimate ties between language and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the language mixing practices of Puerto Rican adolescents in various social media platforms through a framework of code-mixing and socioindexicality. Over a twelve-week period, I collected samples of online text messages from six island bilinguals of an elite community of practice (CofP) and studied the way their unique socializations in private schools and bilingual universities contributed to the ways they made sense of languages, their social meaning potentials, and uses across online interactions. Against the meaningful backdrop of colonial-dynamics of Spanish and English in Puerto Rico, the paper examines how ideologies of "nationalism" and "race" get reproduced or challenged through bilingual practice, and English takes up an equally important role for the construction of social identities in the interactions of youth. Additionally, the study discusses bilingual styles that have been enregistered as social styles specific to technological mediums of communication and youth registers, Puerto Rican netspeak, as well as emerging social styles that indicate queer gender identity, or non-binary practices. In this sense, I offer a description of the island bilingual that is dynamic, strategic, and metapragmatically conscious of the purist ideologies of Spanish in Puerto Rico, as well as the indexical potentials of appropriating variable gender forms in Spanish, bilingual language practices, and netspeak registers towards the negotiation of identities in technological interaction. The way bilinguals relate to the languages at their disposal can provide a window to impending questions on the perceived coloniality of English, potential changes in language ideologies and uses, and whether and how language policies may shift to meet current demographic attitudes and language uses of contemporary Puerto Ricans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The article discusses the Santa Isabel Enslaved Census of 1870, which provides valuable information about the enslaved population in Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico. The dataset includes details such as names, civil status, profession, and age of the enslaved individuals. The text highlights the importance of using this dataset to further research the lives of enslaved people and emphasizes the need to include this information in broader studies of slavery and abolition in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. The dataset is available in the Harvard Dataverse and can be used in conjunction with other digitized documents for a comprehensive analysis of enslaved life in Puerto Rico. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction: Scaevola taccada and Scaevola plumieri co-occur on shorelines of the Caribbean. Scaevola taccada is introduced in this habitat and directly competes with native dune vegetation, including S. plumieri, a species listed as locally endangered and threatened in Caribbean locations. This study addresses whether the invasive S. taccada also impacts the native S. plumieri indirectly by competing for pollinators and represents the first comparative study of insect visitation between these species. Methods: Insect visitation rates weremeasured at sites where species co-occur and where only the native occurs. Where species cooccur, insect visitors were captured, identified and analyzed for the pollen they carry. Pollen found on open-pollinated flowers was analyzed to assess pollen movement between the two species. We also compared floral nectar from each species bymeasuring volume, sugar content, and presence and proportions of amine group containing constituents (AGCCs). Results: Our results demonstrate that both species share insect visitors providing the context for possible pollinator competition, yet significant differences in visitation frequency were not found. We found evidence of asymmetrical heterospecific pollen deposition in the native species, suggesting a possible reproductive impact. Insect visitation rates for the native were not significantly different between invaded and uninvaded sites, suggesting that the invasive S. taccada does not limit pollinator visits to S. plumieri. Comparisons of nectar rewards from the invasive and the native reveal similar volumes and sugar concentrations, but significant differences in some amine group containing constituents that may enhance pollinator attraction. Conclusion: Our analysis finds no evidence for pollination competition and therefore S. taccada's main impacts on S. plumieri are through competitive displacement and possibly through reproductive impacts as a consequence of heterospecific pollen deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given the pervasive issues of obesity and diabetes both in Puerto Rico and the broader United States, there is a compelling need to investigate the intricate interplay among body mass index (BMI), pregestational, and gestational maternal diabetes, and their potential impact on the occurrence of congenital heart defects (CHD) during neonatal development. Methods: Using the comprehensive System of Vigilance and Surveillance of Congenital Defects in Puerto Rico, we conducted a focused analysis on neonates diagnosed with CHD between 2016 and 2020. Our assessment encompassed a range of variables, including maternal age, gestational age, BMI, pregestational diabetes, gestational diabetes, hypertension, history of abortion, and presence of preeclampsia. Results: A cohort of 673 patients was included in our study. The average maternal age was 26 years, within a range of 22 to 32 years. The mean gestational age measured 39 weeks, with a median span of 38 to 39 weeks. Of the 673 patients, 274 (41%) mothers gave birth to neonates diagnosed with CHD. Within this group, 22 cases were linked to pre-gestational diabetes, while 202 were not; 20 instances were associated with gestational diabetes, compared to 200 without; and 148 cases exhibited an overweight or obese BMI, whereas 126 displayed a normal BMI. Conclusion: We identified a statistically significant correlation between pre-gestational diabetes mellitus and the occurrence of CHD. However, our analysis did not show a statistically significant association between maternal BMI and the likelihood of CHD. These results may aid in developing effective strategies to prevent and manage CHD in neonates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Framed within Ruiz's language-as-resource orientation, this article uses data from a college ESL classroom where a translanguaging approach was used for the teaching of a novel. After defining key terms, the article describes the linguistic context of higher education in Puerto Rico and its influence on one instructor's Basic English course. Using qualitative inquiry throughout a month-long unit, the researchers describe a bilingual instructor's translanguaging approach and how it enhanced the reading of Abraham Rodríguez Jr.'s "The Boy Without a Flag". The findings present how the translanguaging approach was implemented by using literature circles as a strategy to promote collaborative learning across the two languages. Ultimately, the authors argue that the use of a translanguaging approach complements Ruiz's language-as-a-resource orientation in that students' home language and varying linguistic repertories are respected and weaved into this ESL course as resources for constructing meaning and building on students' cultural knowledge.

L2 learners' problems with English articles have been linked to learners' L1 and their access to universal semantic features (e.g., definiteness and specificity). Studies suggest that L2 adults rely on their L1 knowledge, while child L2 learners rely more on their access to semantic universals. The present study investigates whether child L2 learners access features like adult L2 learners (i.e., reassembling the features of the L1) or as L1 acquirers (i.e., choosing from the inventory of universal features). We evaluated the acquisition of English articles in 30 Spanish-speaking children learning English as their L2 and found that they transfer knowledge from their L1 much in the same way as do adults. However, the error analysis also suggests that article acquisition in child L2 learners is restricted by Universal Grammar resembling L1 acquisition. In conclusion, we propose that article acquisition in child L2 learners patterns with both adult L2 and L1 acquisition.

Despite a low rate of student participation in study abroad programs in the Caribbean, there is insufficient research about the individual factors that help determine business students' willingness to study or to participate in internship programs abroad. This study aims to explore business students' attitudes toward study abroad. The positive perceptions of students toward study or internship abroad raises questions about individual factors for business students' outflow to study or participate in an internship abroad. This study also explores business students' preferences for short- and long-term international study or internship abroad, as well as certification programs in international business. Moreover, it provides some insight into the segments of business students that are more likely to support these programs.

This article focuses on the reception and effects of the post-emancipation forced labour system in Puerto Rico (1873–1876) and contributes to the global understanding of the transition from slavery to coerced labour in the nineteenth century. Through an analysis of local reports, metropolitan responses, and archival documentation, I examine the ways both Spanish and British colonial administrators obscured and shaped the historical record through their promotion of the narrative of absolute success of the contracting system and minimization of widespread reports of newly-emancipated libertos' (freedpeople's) challenges to it. In addition to interrogating the colonial reporting strategies utilized, motivations for narrative silencing, and the consequent effects on the historiography of Puerto Rican emancipation, the article provides glimpses of liberto resistance that constitute direct contradictions to the dominant narrative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Expanding and providing access to early detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) through testing community-based strategies among socially vulnerable communities (SVC) are critical to reducing health disparities. The Epidemiological Intelligence Community Network (EpI-Net) community-based intervention sought to increase coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) testing uptake and prevention practices among SVC in Puerto Rico (PR). We evaluated EpI-Net's community leaders' capacity-building component by assessing pre-post COVID-19 public health workshops' tests' score changes and satisfaction among trained community leaders. Methods: A total of 24 community leaders from SVC in PR have completed four community workshops. Pre- and post-assessments were completed as part of the health promotors training program to evaluate participants' tests score changes and satisfaction outcomes. Results: Preliminary results showed: (1) high intervention retention levels of community leaders (85.7% acceptance rate); (2) change in post-test scores for community engagement strategies (p = 0.012); (3) change in post-test educational scores in COVID-19 prevention practices (p = 0.014); and (4) a change in scores in public health emergency management strategies (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The overall workshop satisfaction was 99.6%. Community leaders have shown the importance of community capacity building as a key component for intervention feasibility and impact. Trial registration: Our study was retrospectively registered under the ClinicalTrial.gov ID NCT04910542. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a collaborative generative approach to psychological assessment employed in Puerto Rico, with children, adolescents, and adults. It begins with a critical reflection on how the dominant discourse of mental health, founded in the suppositions and practices of Euro‐American‐centred psychological knowledge, has been disseminated to the globalise south under the claim that its assertions are unaffected by social, ideological, or historical forces. It discusses how its claims of expert scientific knowledge have contributed, through classificatory instruments such as the DSM and the ICD, to the production and re‐production of deficit narratives in our day‐to‐day life. It also examines how these practices have been applied in the use of assessment instruments in Puerto Rico. It then describes, how, through a collaborative approach and narrative theory, the established colonising practices and narratives of traditional forms of psychological assessment can be questioned, deconstructed, and transformed. This approach promotes the co‐creation of dialogic and generative spaces that allow for the emergence of multiple stories and performances that give meaning to a person's identity and relational being. A brief clinical case exposition is used to illustrate how this collaborative, dialogic, and culturally sensitive approach to psychological assessment can help to undermine and disrupt deficit‐based narratives and provide families with new generative possibilities for re‐storying and re‐performing their lives and particularly, the lives of their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Determine the association of higher FI-LAB scores, derived from common laboratory values and vital signs, with hospital and post-hospital outcomes in Veterans hospitalized with COVID-19 infection. Design, Setting, and Participants: A retrospective, multicenter, cohort study of 7 Veterans Health Administration (VHA) medical centers in Florida and Puerto Rico. Patients aged 18 years and older hospitalized with COVID-19 and followed for up to 1 year post discharge or until death. Clinical Frailty Measure: FI-LAB. Main Outcomes and Measures Hospital and post-hospital outcomes. Results: Of the 671 eligible patients, 615 (91.5%) patients were included (mean [SD] age, 66.1 [14.8] years; 577 men [93.8%]; median stay, 8 days [IQR:3-15]. There were sixty-one in-hospital deaths. Veterans in the moderate and high FI-LAB groups had a higher proportion of inpatient mortality (13.3% and 20.6%, respectively) than the low group (4.1%), p <0.001. Moderate and high FI-LAB scores were associated with greater inpatient mortality when compared to the low group, OR:3.22 (95%CI:1.59-6.54), p=.001 and 6.05 (95%CI:2.48-14.74), p<0.001, respectively. Compared with low FI-LAB scores, moderate and high scores were also associated with prolonged length of stay, intensive care unit (ICU) admission, and transfer. Conclusions and Relevance: In this study of patients admitted to 7 VHA Hospitals during the first surge of the pandemic, higher FI-LAB scores were associated with higher in-hospital mortality and other in-hospital outcomes; FI-LAB can serve as a validated, rapid, feasible, and objective frailty tool in hospitalized adults with COVID-19 that can aid clinical care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study, guided by Woman of Color feminist epistemologies, implements culture circles to highlight the agency of displaced Puerto Rican mothers. Participants expanded their social/kin networks and shared resources from which they drew to meet their family's needs. Our space provided support for each participants' reality based on their positionalities while centering love and trust. This work can inform how schools envision engaging with families for their own and children's success in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During extreme events such as tropical cyclones, the precision of sensors used to sample the meteorological data is vital to feed weather and climate models for storm path forecasting, quantitative precipitation estimation, and other atmospheric parameters. For this reason, periodic data comparison between several sensors used to monitor these phenomena such as ground-based and satellite instruments, must maintain a high degree of correlation in order to issue alerts with an accuracy that allows for timely decision making. This study presents a cross-evaluation of the radar reflectivity from the dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) onboard the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission (GPM) and the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS) Next-Generation Radar (NEXRAD) ground-based instrument located in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, USA, to determine the correlation degree between these two sensors' measurements during extreme weather events and normal precipitation events during 2015–2019. GPM at Ku-band and Ka-band and NEXRAD at S-band overlapping scanning regions data of normal precipitation events during 2015–2019, and the spiral rain bands of four extreme weather events, Irma (Category 5 Hurricane), Beryl (Tropical Storm), Dorian (Category 1 hurricane), and Karen (Tropical Storm), were processed using the GPM Ground Validation System (GVS). In both cases, data were classified and analyzed statistically, paying particular attention to variables such as elevation angle mode and precipitation type (stratiform and convective). Given that ground-based radar (GR) has better spatial and temporal resolution, the NEXRAD was used as ground-truth. The results revealed that the correlation coefficient between the data of both instruments during the analyzed extreme weather events was moderate to low; for normal precipitation events, the correlation is lower than that of studies that compared GPM and NEXRAD reflectivity located in other regions of the USA. Only Tropical Storm Karen obtained similar results to other comparative studies in terms of the correlation coefficient. Furthermore, the GR elevation angle and precipitation type have a substantial impact on how well the rain reflectivity correlates between the two sensors. It was found that the Ku-band channel possesses the least bias and variability when compared to the NEXRAD instrument's reflectivity and should therefore be considered more reliable for future tropical storm tracking and tropical region precipitation estimates in regions with no NEXRAD coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies that look at language teaching and learning in Puerto Rico are mainly focused on the effects that macrolevel factors (e.g., language policies) have on Puerto Ricans' linguistic competence. These factors have been linked to low language proficiency in students of the public school system. However, the impact of individual factors (e.g., gender, socioeconomic status, and school of origin) have been practically overlooked, even if they play an important role in language skills (Reilly et al. 2016, 2018; Rowe 2018; Sirin 2005). The present study aims to address this gap by evaluating the effects of gender, socioeconomic status, and school on students' Spanish skills within the public education system. We used data from the Medición y Evaluación para la Transformación Educativa (META). The total sample consisted of 21,425 11th-grade students from 194 public schools. Statistical analyzes reveal a linguistic gap by gender and socioeconomic status. In addition, they suggest that the effectiveness of the school and the composition of the school population have a mitigating function in the gender and socioeconomic status gap. We propose that, although the school, in some cases, does appear to fulfill a compensatory function, its effectiveness seems to be closely linked to the students' socioeconomic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Latinx advanced cancer patients and caregivers are less likely to have adequate access to culturally congruent psychosocial interventions. Culturally relevant and adapted interventions are more effective within minority groups. We obtained patients' and caregivers' initial evaluations of the Caregivers–Patients Support to Latinx coping with advanced-cancer (CASA) protocol. A qualitative study was conducted, and an acceptance questionnaire and semi-structured interviews were conducted to culturally adapt the psychosocial intervention for Latinx coping with cancer. The semi-structured interview described and demonstrated intervention components and elicited feedback about each one. Latinx advanced cancer patients (Stage III and IV) and caregivers (n = 14 each) completed the acceptance survey, and N = 7 each completed semi-structured interviews. A total of 12 of the 14 patients and caregivers (85.7%) reported high acceptance of the goals and purposes of the intervention protocol. They also reported willingness to daily use of the content of the intervention components: Communication Skills, the Willingness of Meaning, Life has Meaning, Freedom of Will, Identity, Creative Sources of Meaning, and Homework. Most of the participants reported high acceptance (n = 9) of integrating family caregivers into therapy and the high acceptance (n = 10) of the length of the 4-session intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balzac v. Porto Rico meant a before and after in the doctrine of territorial incorporation created by the Supreme Court of the United States. Their racially prejudiced legal reasoning determined that the Sixth Amendment protection does not apply to unincorporated territories. The Supreme Court concludes, ignoring its own precedents, that an affirmative expression on the part of the U.S. Congress is necessary to incorporate the territories. This essay questions both conclusions using a historical analysis of the jurisprudential development of the right to trial by jury and of Puerto Rico's relations with the United States over time. In light of that evaluation, similar to the one used in Ramos v. Louisiana, which revoked a legal doctrine because of its racist origins, it is proposed that Balzac became a dead letter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the Educational Excellence Committee (EEC) promotes programs and projects for excellence in education, including programs of action that encourage the personal well-being, and global awareness of women educators. Topics include the platform to share strategies and experiences to expand the educational excellence that is part of the mission of DKG, and the EEC are based on empowering members to build leadership skills and providing meaningful ways to support to educators.

Background: In August 2018, Puerto Rico (PR) became the 4th state or territory in the United States to adopt a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine school-entry requirement, for students 11-12 years old. Evidence suggests that the content of media coverage may impact people's perception of HPV vaccine and their willingness to vaccinate. This study aimed to analyze the content of digital news coverage related to the implementation of the policy in PR.Methods: A content review was conducted of digital media published from January 2017 through December 2018. The content reviewed was carried out in two steps: 1) creating a matrix to summarize each article's content about the policy and 2) qualitative analysis using a grounded theory approach.Results: The search resulted in 34 articles obtained from 17 online local and international news outlets that reported the policy's implementation. Analyses showed that 61% of the news articles did not mention the number of required doses, and 79% discussed the new policy concerning cancer prevention. In 2017, news coverage focused mostly on describing the policy, while 2018 coverage focused on controversies surrounding the implementation. Neutral emergent codes included: 1) Description of the policy; 2) Information about HPV related cancers; and 3) General information about HPV vaccine. Negative emergent codes included: 1) infringement to patient and parental autonomy; 2) Hesitancy from the political sector, and 3) Hesitancy from groups and coalitions. Positive content included: 1) knowledge and acceptance of HPV vaccine for cancer prevention; 2) importance of education and protective sexual behaviors; and 3) new vaccination law proposal.Conclusions: Most of the media coverage in PR was neutral and included limited information related to the vaccine, HPV, and HPV-related cancers. Neutral and negative themes could influence public concerns regarding the new policy, as well as HPV vaccination rates in PR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented uncertainty associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely acknowledged. However, uncertainty and the complex psychological responses that it generates have not often been the core or centerpiece of writings on pandemic distress. In this paper, we discuss why it is crucial to understand pandemic distress reactions as a psychological response to uncertainty, in and of itself. To inform this discussion, we have drawn on writings and research on the topic of uncertainty within psychology and other disciplines (e.g., public health). We attempt to apply some of these ideas to the Puerto Rican context, where the COVID-19 pandemic has been one among many "uncertainty disasters." The importance of autogestión in Puerto Rico is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Asthma carries a high burden of disease for residents of Puerto Rico. We conducted this study to better understand asthma-related healthcare use and to examine potential asthma triggers. Methods: We characterized asthma-related healthcare use in 2013 by demographics, region, and date using outpatient, hospital, and emergency department (ED) insurance claims with a primary diagnostic ICD-9-CM code of 493.XX. We examined environmental asthma triggers, including outdoor allergens (i.e., mold and pollen), particulate pollution, and influenza-like illness. Analyses included descriptive statistics and Poisson time-series regression. Results: During 2013, there were 550,655 medical asthma claims reported to the Puerto Rico Healthcare Utilization database, representing 148 asthma claims/1,000 persons; 71% of asthma claims were outpatient visits, 19% were hospitalizations, and 10% were ED visits. Females (63%), children aged ≤9 years (77% among children), and adults aged ≥45 years (80% among adults) had the majority of asthma claims. Among health regions, Caguas had the highest asthma claim-rate at 142/1,000 persons (overall health region claim-rate = 108). Environmental exposures varied across the year and demonstrated seasonal patterns. Metro health region regression models showed positive associations between increases in mold and particulate matter <10 microns in diameter (PM10) and outpatient asthma claims. Conclusions: This study provides information about patterns of asthma-related healthcare use across Puerto Rico. Increases in mold and PM10 were associated with increases in asthma claims. Targeting educational interventions on exposure awareness and reduction techniques, especially to persons with higher asthma-related healthcare use, can support asthma control activities in public health and clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The burden of leptospirosis in Puerto Rico remains unclear due to underreporting.Methods: A cross-sectional survey and rodent trapping was performed in a community within San Juan, Puerto Rico to determine the seroprevalence and risk factors for Leptospira infection. The microscopic agglutination test was used to detect anti-Leptospira antibodies as a marker of previous infection. We evaluated Leptospira carriage by quantitative polymerase chain reaction among rodents trapped at the community site.Results: Of 202 study participants, 55 (27.2%) had Leptospira agglutinating antibodies. Among the 55 seropositive individuals, antibodies were directed most frequently against serogroups Icterohaemorrhagiae (22.0%) and Autumnalis (10.6%). Of 18 captured rodents, 11 (61.1%) carried pathogenic Leptospira (Leptospira borgpetersenii, 7 and Leptospira interrogans, 2). Four participants showed their highest titer against an isolate obtained from a rodent (serogroup Ballum). Increasing household distance to the canal that runs through the community was associated with decreased risk of infection (odds ratio = 0.934 per 10-meter increase; 95% confidence interval, .952-.992).Conclusions: There are high levels of Leptospira exposure in an urban setting in Puerto Rico, for which rodents may be an important reservoir for transmission. Our findings indicate that prevention should focus on mitigating risk posed by infrastructure deficiencies such as the canal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Production of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) was banned in the US in 1970s. However, susceptible populations especially those living at/around the contaminated sites continue to be at a risk of elevated exposure to PCBs because information about the contamination (of the environment) and its associated health risks may not reach these populations. A recent study found the second highest concentration of PCBs ever recorded worldwide in the sediment samples of Guánica Bay, located in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico. PCB levels in fish from the bay were also higher than the tolerance limit of Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which motivated this research to initiate a school-based campaign to bring community awareness about the contamination of the bay and engage students in preventive strategies to reduce their exposure to PCBs. Surveys before and after the campaign were administered in the high school as well as in the communities of Guánica Municipality. The analyses of the survey data suggest that the campaign was effective in bringing awareness among schoolchildren (6.6% before versus 69.7% after the campaign; χ2 ~ 60.4; p < 0.001) and strategies to reduce PCB exposure and its toxicity such as removing adipose tissues from seafood/fish and exercising. In the community, there was a significant decline in the consumption of seafood/fish harvested from the bay after the campaign (54.6% before versus 33% after the campaign; χ2 ~ 10.85; p < 0.001). However, the awareness did not result in significant behavior modifications among schoolchildren, such as avoiding swimming and fishing in the bay. Given hazardous levels of PCBs and some students use the bay for various purposes, including one-third of community members still use seafood/fish harvested from the bay, attention of different stakeholders is warranted for clean-up efforts as well as engaging children and communities in PCB exposure avoidance strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rare Caribbean mistletoe Antidaphne wrightii was known in Puerto Rico from a single historical collection by Paul E.E. Sintenis (5347) made on October 30, 1886 at Sierra de Naguabo on the eastern side of the island. Since then, this mistletoe has been considered extremely rare and possibly extirpated. Here we report the rediscovery of the species in Puerto Rico at the western Central Cordillera in Yauco and provide basic demographic information for the population. In addition, we summarize the known collections, illustrate the species with full color photographs, and present a distribution map for the genus Antidaphne in the Caribbean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to describe the distribution of injury mechanisms and to assess the impact of those mechanisms on the morbidity and mortality of trauma. All patients admitted to Puerto Rico Trauma Hospital (2002–2011) for road-traffic collisions (RTCs, 5,371), gunshot wounds (GSWs, 2,946), falls (2,319), pedestrian accidents (1,652), and stab wounds (SWs, 1,073) were selected. Gunshot victims were 1.19 (95%CI: 1.07–1.33) times as likely as road-traffic victims to have an ISS ≥25. Pedestrians were 1.76 (95%CI: 1.49–2.09) times more likely to have a GCS ≤8 than road-traffic victims were. The risk of dying was 2.64 (95%CI: 2.20–3.16) times higher for gunshot victims and 1.51 (95%CI: 1.23–1.86) times higher for pedestrians compared to patients who had had RTCs. Gunshot victims and pedestrians had the worst clinical outcomes. Accordingly, these patients should receive the most aggressive clinical management. Furthermore, it is imperative to develop public health campaigns on trauma prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: The Puerto Rico (PR) Region of the American Red Cross (ARC) evaluated the therapeutic aphaeresis program and we conducted 1609 procedures in 30months between 2011 and 2013. The primary objective of the present review was to demonstrate our data and compare it to the reviewed medical evidence regarding the adequacy of applying therapeutic aphaeresis (TA) for chosen indications based on data in the literature. It was concluded that our service is very active and appropriate, and the number of TA’s done varies and it’s not steady year-by-year. The indications are the same as most common indicators across the World and the adverse reactions are too. We are the only ones doing apheresis in the pediatric population of PR. No deaths have been reported from our procedures. We understand that clinicians do not have enough knowledge about TA and tend to apply TA’s in many cases as a last resort treatment for many diseases. Education at medical faculties and of hospital staff (nurses and medical technologists) about TA is very important. There is a need for symposia about this topic to the medical and general community. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]