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Background: Although Mexican-Indian migrant workers live under precarious conditions in both Mexico and the USA, they have more access to food than they did in their original communities. The nutritional status and food security among the children of these workers have not been reported., Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of overweight, obesity, undernutrition and hunger among migrant children in a city on the US-Mexico border., Design: During 2001-2002, a total of 1767 children from six schools from the Tijuana Indian school system was measured to assess anthropometric status. Third and fifth grade children were also interviewed for their perception of hunger experience and dietary intake by 24-h recall method., Results: The overall prevalence of overweight and obesity was 38%. Abdominal obesity was found in 26% of subjects, while 43% had both obesity and abdominal obesity. The prevalence of undernutrition according to weight-for-age was 1.2%, and by height-for-age it was 4.8%. The prevalence of hunger was 2.5%, and at risk of hunger was 44%. Daily intake of food groups in servings was: 8.7 grains, 1.2 fruit, 1.0 vegetable, 2.1 milk and 2.6 meat. Only one child (0.07%) consumed The Apple of Health recommended portions., Conclusions: This study confirmed the coexistence of obesity, hunger, undernutrition and limited food group consumption among Indian children living in a prosperous and the largest US-Mexico border city.

A total of 150 Large White cross Landrace pigs (110-120 kg) of both sexes were used to investigate the effects of three different lairage times (0 h, 3 h, 9 h). Blood samples were collected at exanguination and cortisol, glucose, lactate, muscle enzymes and haematological parameters were determined. Post-mortem measurements of muscle pH were taken at 20 min, 2 h and 24 h from Longissimus thoracis and Semimembranosus. Lairage time showed a significant effect on pH24, internal muscle reflectance using the fibre optic probe (FOP24), red blood cells, neutrophils and lymphocytes, glucose and enzymatic activities. Changes in blood profile and meat quality parameters indicated that three hours of lairage in Spanish commercial conditions may reduce the amount of stress exhibited by pigs at slaughter and better meat quality can be obtained. No lairage or an excessively long lairage period without food may compromise animal welfare and meat quality.

Background: The recommended diet for children would promote health, support growth, and prevent risk of disease. Diets high in fruits and vegetables demonstrate a strong and consistent pattern for decreasing the risk for many cancers and providing benefits against cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, and stroke. The purpose of this study was to assess fruit, vegetable, soft drink, and high-fat-containing snack consumption among fifth- and ninth-grade children attending public schools in the northeastern Mexican state of Baja California., Methods: A randomized design was used to select 20 schools with fifth-grade students and 20 schools with ninth-grade students in each of the five Baja California counties. A randomized sample of 20 classes of fifth- and ninth-grade students was then selected. The food frequency questionnaire used contained 36 items. Foods were grouped in the five main food categories, plus soft drinks, sweets, and high-fat-containing snacks. Means, standard deviations (SDs), and frequencies were calculated using SPSS, while chi square was employed to test the association between food consumption and selected variables., Results: Mean daily intake of fruits was 1.5 by children from both grades, while daily mean intake of vegetables was 2.5 for fifth-grade students. The percentage of children with intakes lower than the standard (Apple of Health) was 77 and 80% for fifth and ninth graders for fruits and 62 and 53% for vegetables, respectively. At least 92% of fifth graders reported consuming one soft drink, and 85% consumed one portion of high-fat-containing snacks daily., Conclusions: Our results demonstrated overall low intake of fruits and vegetables and excessive consumption of soft drinks and high-fat-containing snacks, leading to the possibility of costly health complications later in life.

Prevalence of malnutrition in pre-school children may be used to determine the need for nutrition surveillance or nutritional care. That prevalence depends on the nutritional classification used. The authors consider that one of the most recommended classifications used for identifying Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) was developed by Waterlow. The criteria includes weight-for-height and height-for-age. Frisancho suggested that Arm Muscle Area (AMA), related to height, could provide useful measurements for assessing mass reserve, thus, in beginning stages of PEM it is worth while to determine those who could benefit from nutritional services. The aim of this study was to determine the percentages of pre-school children considered well nourished by Waterlow indicators, but wasted or below average using the AMA for height criteria. Children (881) of either sex, from 48 to 79 months of age, were studied from the Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico pre-school system. Standard anthropometric measurements were taken including weight, height, upper-arm circumference, and triceps skinfold. Arm muscle area was created from those measurements. Using Waterlow indicators, results showed deficit of height-for-age alone was seen in 25.6%; deficit of weight-for-height alone was observed in 1%; deficit of AMC-for-height, but well nourished by Waterlow indicators was seen in 14.9%. If one speculates that children with deficits of AMC-for-height could have different risks of acquiring a disease compared to those apparently normal, then 14.9% of the studied sample would also need nutritional care. Thus, using these criteria, the need for nutritional surveillance and nutritional education is greater for PEM than that established exclusively using Waterlow criteria.

The aim of this experiment was to study the biological responses of Pirenaica and Parda Alpina cows (2-4 years old, n = 32) and their calves (2-4 months old, n = 32) to the physical exercise of climbing to mountain pastures in spring. These two breeds have a different sensitivity to stress-induced myopathy, the Pirenaica calves being highly sensitive. The animals walked 14 km with an elevation increase of 600 m, in approximately 3 h. Blood samples were obtained the day before, immediately after the move to the mountain pastures and the following day. The plasma cortisol levels in Pirenaica cows were significantly higher than in Parda Alpina cows under basal conditions, but disappeared in later samples. There were also significant differences in the hematological parameters. Under basal conditions, the red blood cell counts, packed cell volume, and hemoglobin content of blood were higher in Parda Alpina than in Pirenaica cows, but calves of both breeds did not differ. On the other hand, the calves of both breeds were more sensitive than their dams to the exercise, as shown by the large increase in white blood cell counts with a reversal of the lymphocytes:neutrophils ratio, a consequence of cortisol secretion. In calves the largest differences were observed in the muscle enzyme activity levels measured in serum (creatin kinase, lactic dehydrogenase, aspartate amino transferase and alanine amino transferase), which were always higher in the Pirenaica calves both under basal conditions and after exercise. These biological changes reflected the sensitivity of Pirenaica calves to muscular problems when they walk up to the pasture. It was concluded that genetic factors and age might play essential roles in the neuroendocrine and metabolic adaptation to this unusual physical exercise.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of feeding patterns among infants born in four community hospitals of the city of Tijuana, Mexico. From a total of 1964 live births, a random sample of 236 was chosen from the clinical files and distributed according to the total number of births in each hospital. 182 mothers from the original sample were contacted and accepted to participate in the study: 61 in the three-month group, 60 in the six-month group, and 61 in the twelve-month group. The most usual feeding patterns were: at three months of age, breast milk plus formula; at six months, formula plus other foods; and, at twelve months, fresh milk plus other foods. Three infants (1.65%) were never breastfed; at three months of age, 43 per cent of the infants were not receiving their mother's milk; and, at six months of age, 90 per cent were dependent on formula and other food only. Furthermore, 20.4 per cent of the infants were weaned before reaching their first month of age; 61.3 per cent between 30 and 119 days of age, 16.8 per cent between 120 and 209 days of age, and the rest after 209 days of age. It may be concluded that infants born in community hospitals in Tijuana show tendencies in feeding patterns similar to those of Mexican-American infants and those of urban regions in developing countries; that is, the substitution of breastfeeding for formula, and early weaning.

The aim of this study is to assess errors in the filling-out of death certificates and difficulties for disclosing the origin of neoplasms. This study was carried out in Tijuana, Mexico. Death certificates containing a diagnosis of cancer were selected from all death certificates issued from January 1 to December 31, 1989. The following variables were identified: age, sex, place of residence and cancer site. Using these criteria, we found that 74.9 per cent of death certificates had been correctly filled out and 21.5 per cent were errors. It was seen that the main cancer sites causing mortality were the lungs, breast, cervicouterine and stomach. Cancer in unknown sites was registered in 20.5 per cent of all certificates. Implications of these results are analyzed in the light of mortality trends by causes and risk factors. We suggest that training courses are given to physicians so that they fill out the certificates properly.

The assessment of skinfold thickness has been used to estimate protein reserve through arm muscle area (AMA) and through arm fat area (AFA) it can assess caloric reserve. The aim of this paper is to compare trends of AMA in pre-school children living in Tijuana with american children of the same ages. This study has been accomplish in pre-school children attending to the Federal Education System. Through a randomly sample it was chosen 30 school, afterwards in systematic was done to assess 900 children aged 48 to 78 months old. This studied variables were: weight, height, arm circumference and triceps skinfold thickness, obtained according to accepted techniques at the international literature. From which were created AMA and AFA, according to formulas already described. A multiple regression model was obtained from AMB to height, between expected and experimental values. Using analysis of variance to determined differences between slopes and intercepts. In this paper are shown the statistics and distributions for AMA and AFA. Correlations for reference and experimental values were linear and no significant differences were observed between the slopes and intercepts of the set of data. These results suggest that form the point of view considering AMA, growth rate between Tijuana children and American similars are apparently the same at this ages.

The aim of this study was to determine whether some muscular pathology existed in fighting bulls, in relation or not to the weakness shown in these animals during the bullfight (corrida for males and tienta for females). Creatinine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and aspartate transaminase (AST) serum enzyme activities were increased after the corrida or the tienta. Most of the fighting bulls (78%) had some histological lesions in the skeletal or cardiac muscle, with predominance of chronic lesions. Clinical signs of these chronic lesions could only be seen after some trigger-effect, such as physical, exercise or stress, as shown after the corrida or tienta.

The purpose of this review is to analyze original and review papers dealing with associations between diet and its influence on the incidence of Coronary Heart Diseases, so as its implications on the preventive measures at regional levels. It has been analyzed relationships between serum cholesterol levels and Coronary Heart Disease, diet and serum cholesterol and diet and Coronary Heart Disease. It is concluded that there have been shown strong relations in comparisons between communities. However, there are not consistent relations when subjects from the same community are compared. This could be due to variations in variable measurements, such as the limitations of the tools used (food survey, food composition tables, individual intake variations, etc.). All these would difficult to extrapolate the results from one region to another. To develop more effective preventive measures there is the need of cohort studies at regional level bearing in mine all that considerations above mentioned.

The authors reviewed 210 children with typhoid and paratyphoid fevers; 191 were infected with S. typhi, 13 with S. paratyphi A and 6 with S. paratyphi B. The proportion was higher in school children. Fever, headache, tongue furred, stupor, and hepatomegaly were the most important clinical findings. Salmonella was cultured from the blood of 42% patients, the Widal reaction was negative only in one case, and faeces culture was positive in 25%. All patients received chloramphenicol.