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One of the leading commercial drivers applied in developing countries, especially in economies with conservative policies, is free trade agreements or tariff preferences with strategic economic zones worldwide. The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are no exception. The United States is the region's leading trading partner; however, several countries have signed trade agreements with the European area in recent years. In this paper, we ask ourselves to what extent these agreements are beneficial. In addition, we evaluate the impact on exports with other world regions. Mainly, we analyze the effect of commercial firms in the European zone on the level of exports of the other partners, especially with the United States. The results consistently suggest that signing trade agreements with the European zone generates an export displacement effect. In other words, although the gross level of exports to the European zone increases, the level of exports to other regions of the world, especially to the United States, grows faster than other countries that do not even have agreements with the Europeans. Generally, exports do not have a statistically significant effect on signing trade agreements with the European zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formalization and professionalization processes in Romania resemble the early history of counseling in the United States, where development initially took place in the educational and career/vocational sectors. Brief accounts of the relationship between select periods in Romanian history and access to education and career/vocational support services are presented to provide a context for present-day counseling activities. Information on the development of counseling in Romania, current practices, and future opportunities are presented as well.

In this case study, we use a consensus model as a framework for examining the professional development component of a standards-based reform effort initiated by a school district in the United States. We describe the district's actions, analyze the extent of adherence to the model, and identify reasons for what occurred. Although administrators intended to adopt key design principles of effective professional development, specific implementation strategies undermined and contradicted these principles. Their response to increasing bureaucratic controls at the state and national levels translated into increased regulation and control at the district and school levels, which paradoxically restricted the very attributes they sought to enhance.

In this article the author uses Levi-Strauss' (1966) metaphor of Bricolage to examine how teachers, not policymakers, make sense of their "problems of practice" in three United States high schools. The article also examines how teachers address these problems of practice. It concludes by underscoring the disconnect between teachers' and policymakers' perspectives on the challenges to teacher practice in the US. Finally, implications for practice and research are drawn.

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Examines the transformation of the Spanish-language radio industry in the U.S. History of Spanish-language radio broadcasting; Trends that influence the character of the Spanish-language radio industry; Issues concerning programming and music diversity within the Spanish-language media context.

• At risk sends the wrong message. • Use contextual learning, rather than teaching discreet skills in isolation of students' families and communities. • Question the business model of leadership in education because the idea of turning around schools and uprooting school personnel (i.e., leaving special education administrators in liminal space) is the latest educational fad. • The notions of social justice and critical leadership are inextricably intertwined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan cause of American trypanosomiasis (AT), causes life-long infection and is easily transmitted by blood transfusion. Our goals were to determine the prevalence of AT among donors in 5 blood banks in the cities of Guadalajara and Tepic and to look for AT in persons who had received blood from T. cruzi-infected donors. Study Design and Methods: Plasma samples from 2 blood banks in Guadalajara and 3 in Tepic were screened with the Abbott Chagas EIA or the Meridian Chagas' IgG ELISA. Positive specimens were retested in duplicate. Samples positive in at least one of the duplicate tests were considered positive at the level of initial screening. These positive samples were subsequently run in a confirmatory radioimmune precipitation assay (RIPA). Specimens within 50% of the cutoff in any of the three tests were also run in the RIPA in an effort to detect false negative results. The RIPA has been used widely in studies of AT among U.S. blood donors. Samples from recipients of blood products from RIPA-confirmed donors were also tested by RIPA. Cultures of blood from RIPA-positive donors were done in LDNT medium and parasites were propagated in cultures of RA786 renal carcinoma cells. Results: The age distribution of the donors was as follows: 15-25 years (41.1%), 26-35 (42.1%), 36-45 (13.3%), 46-55 (3.0%), and 56-65 (0.5%). 76.4% of the donors were male. 63 of 6,250 donors were repeatedly positive in the screening assays and 49 of these were confirmed by RIPA. In addition, 8 donors who were repeatedly negative in the screening tests were positive in the RIPA. Thus the overall prevalence of AT was 1/110 (0.9%). It was 1/100 (1.0%) in Guadalajara and 1/192 (0.5%) in Tepic. The sensitivity and specificity of the Abbott Chagas EIA were 94.1% (32/34) and 99.8% (3507/3515) respectively, and the corresponding values for the Meridian Chagas' IgG ELISA were 73.9% (17/23) and 99.8% (2729/2735). 1 of 2 hemocultures was positive, and when passed into RA786 cell cultures, parasites having morphology typical of T. cruzi grew. 4 of 9 recipients of blood products from RIPA-positive donors were found to be RIPA-positive. Conclusions: These findings indicate that AT is common among blood donors in Guadalajara and Tepic and suggest that transmission of T. cruzi to recipients of tainted blood is occurring. Serologic testing of blood donors for AT in the study areas should be performed. Given that 7-8 million Mexicans currently reside in the United States, many of whom emigrated from the region in which our study was carried out, efforts to identify T. cruzi-infected donors in the U.S. should also be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Exponential increases in deportation and negative public discourse have resulted in heightened fears of profiling and deportation among Latinx immigrant families in the United States. Deportation fears could compound the inequalities Latinx families face, worsening mental and behavioral health. To better understand the mental health consequences of the climate of deportation concerns among low-income Latinx mothers in the United States, we conducted a linguistic analysis of interviews of Latinx mothers' parenting experiences, examining their use of words related to deportation fears (e.g., separado ). We examined the interaction of sociodemographic risk with maternal deportation fears in predicting maternal and youth mental health., Method: Recent immigrant Latinx mothers ( N = 160) and youth ( M age = 12.88, SD age = 1.73) completed the Parent Development Interview-Revised (Slade et al., 2004), analyzed using a deportation fears custom dictionary (Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count; Pennebaker et al., 2003). Mothers completed the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 2001); youth completed the Youth Self-Report (Achenbach, 1991). Cumulative sociodemographic risk was assessed using a composite score of six risk variables., Results: Regressions revealed significant Sociodemographic Risk × Deportation Fear interactions for maternal depression ( p = .01) and youth depression ( p < .01) but not for maternal anxiety, youth anxiety, or aggression. As sociodemographic risk increased, associations between deportation fears and psychopathology decreased., Conclusions: The adverse impact of maternal deportation fears on mental health is visible only when demographic stress is lower. Deportation fears may increase mental health risk, potentially reducing treatment seeking among families previously at lower risk. Findings underscore the importance of policy and sociocultural shifts. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Latinx families are increasing in the population in the United States and have documented mental health concerns. Much remains to be understood about mental health predictors within this population. The present study aimed to help fill this gap and offer an in-depth assessment of psychopathology within a large (N = 330) sample of Latinx mothers and youth by exploring associations between sociodemographic risk, attachment relationship quality, and mental health. Demographic risk was not associated with youth or maternal psychopathology, but attachment relationship quality was associated with all indices of psychopathology in youth and mothers. The interaction between demographic risk and psychopathology only added to the prediction of maternal depression, revealing a pattern wherein maternal closeness was associated with lower depression at low and mean but not high levels of demographic risk. We discuss these findings in terms of the importance of supporting parent-child relationships in this population., (© 2021 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan cause of Chagas disease, causes life-long infection and is easily transmitted by blood transfusion. Our goals were to determine the prevalence of Chagas disease among donors in five Mexican blood banks, to look for evidence of transmission of T. cruzi by transfusion, and to evaluate two serologic assays for Chagas disease., Study Design and Methods: Blood samples from donors were tested initially with the Abbott Chagas EIA or the Meridian Chagas' IgG ELISA. Samples giving readings that were at least 50% of the cutoffs were run in a confirmatory radioimmune precipitation assay (RIPA), as were samples from recipients of blood products from RIPA-positive donors., Results: The overall prevalence of Chagas disease was 1/133 (55/7,296; 0.75%). In addition, 4 of 9 surviving recipients of blood products from T. cruzi-infected donors were in turn infected. Using the manufacturers' recommended cutoffs, the sensitivity and specificity of the Abbott test were 92.0% (23/25) and 99.8% (2,865/2,872) respectively, and the corresponding values for the Meridian assay were 70.0% (21/30) and 100.0% (4,369/4,369)., Conclusions: These findings indicate clearly that transfusion-associated transmission of T. cruzi is occurring in the study areas. Serologic testing of blood donors for Chagas disease should be performed there and in the rest of Mexico. The two screening assays evaluated may lack the accuracy necessary for blood donor testing when used as suggested by the manufacturers.