Background: Examining the distribution of variation has proven an extremely profitable technique in the effort to identify sequences of biological significance. Most approaches in the field, however, evaluate only the conserved portions of sequences -ignoring the biological significance of sequence differences. A suite of sophisticated likelihood based statistical models from the field of molecular evolution provides the basis for extracting the information from the full distribution of sequence variation. The number of different problems to which phylogeny-based maximum likelihood calculations can be applied is extensive. Available software packages that can perform likelihood calculations suffer from a lack of flexibility and scalability, or employ error-prone approaches to model parameterisation.

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This article examines disparities in health and healthcare for Latina women. It draws on existing literature and descriptive data from a study with Latinas. Mortality rates, leading causes of death, and reproductive health are well-documented. Little information is available on the health and chronic health conditions severely inflicting Latinas such as heart disease and diabetes. Despite advances regarding reproductive care and screening procedures, Latinas still experience inequities in healthcare insurance and utilization. Study findings indicate higher rates of diabetes and hypertension than Latinas nationwide and reasons for delaying seeking healthcare. Directions for future research and policy recommendations are explored.