This article examines mathematics instruction and its intersection with culturally relevant teaching in an elementary/middle school in a Mexican American community. The findings are based on a collaborative-research and school-change project involving university researchers, teachers, and the school's principal. On the basis of ethnographic data and an interdisciplinary theoretical framework, we propose a three-part model of culturally relevant mathematics instruction. The 3 components are (a) building on students' informal mathematical knowledge and building on students' cultural and experiential knowledge, (b) developing tools of critical mathematical thinking and critical thinking about knowledge in general, and (c) orientations to students' culture and experience.I was 15 [when I came to the U.S.] The first thing I learned was that I was different. Even with my Latino peers. There are levels of being Mexican. I didn't know how bad it was to be who I was. There were so many pressures from name calling, insults in the street, said aloud because I was so Mexican … I had a lot of anger. It was this anger, and anger at the experiences of my brother in school. We all did not do as well because of the school experiences. That made me want to be a teacher.-Ms. Salinas, a sixth-grade teacher in the school In this article, we hope to contribute to a theory of culturally relevant teaching (Ladson-Billings, 1995) of mathematics in a Mexican immigrant community. Our analysis is based on the ideas and practices of five teachers. The teachers are participating in a school-change project in a public school located in a low-income Mexican American community in a large midwestern U.S. city. The purpose of the project is to help teachers use what they know about their students' culture to improve students' learning of mathematics, and of other subjects as well, and to help students develop critical approaches to knowledge and the tools they will need to be agents

Traditional methods of aging adult skeletons suffer from the problem of age mimicry of the reference collection, as described by Bocquet-Appel and Masset (1982). Transition analysis (Boldsen et al., 2002) is a method of aging adult skeletons that addresses the problem of age mimicry of the reference collection by allowing users to select an appropriate prior probability. In order to evaluate whether transition analysis results in significantly different age estimates for adults, the method was applied to skeletal collections from Postclassic Cholula and Contact-Period Xochimilco. The resulting age-at-death distributions were then compared with age-at-death distributions for the two populations constructed using traditional aging methods. Although the traditional aging methods result in age-at-death distributions with high young adult mortality and few individuals living past the age of 50, the age-at-death distributions constructed using transition analysis indicate that most individuals who lived into adulthood lived past the age of 50.

An evolutionary, diachronic approach to the phenotypic craniofacial pattern arisen in a human population after high levels of admixture and gene flow was achieved by means of geometric morphometrics. Admixture has long been studied after molecular data. Nevertheless, few efforts have been made to explain the morphological outcome in human craniofacial samples. The Spanish-Amerindian contact can be considered a good scenario for such an analysis. Here we present a comparative analysis of craniofacial shape changes observed between two putative ancestor groups, Spanish and precontact Aztecs, and two diachronic admixed groups, corresponding to early and late colonial periods from the Mexico's Central Valley. Quantitative shape comparisons of Amerindian, Spanish, and admixed groups were used to test the expectations of quantitative genetics for admixture events. In its simplest form, this prediction states that an admixed group will present phenotypic values falling between those of both parental groups. Results show that, in general terms, although the human skull is a complex, integrated structure, the craniofacial morphology observed fits the theoretical expectations of quantitative genetics. Thus, it is predictive of population structure and history. In fact, results obtained after the craniofacial analysis are in accordance with previous molecular and historical interpretations, providing evidence that admixture is a main microevolutionary agent influencing modern Mexican gene pool. However, expectations are not straightforward when moderate shape changes are considered. Deviations detected at localized structures, such as the upper and lower face, highlight the evolution of a craniofacial pattern exclusively inherent to the admixed groups, indicating that quantitative characters might respond to admixture in a complicated, nondirectional way.

Abstract:In most of the legally protected areas in Mexico local inhabitants use natural resources, such as fire wood or cattle grazing. These frequent but low-intensity disturbances have consequences at various levels of the tropical ecosystems and strongly impact forest structure and its regeneration capacity. Despite their importance, the effects of these perturbations in many aspects of tropical forest ecology and in the forest's capacity to recover after disturbance exclusion remain poorly understood. Understanding the impact of these processes on tropical forests is necessary for rehabilitating these forests and enhancing their productivity. In this study, we evaluate the impact of twelve years of exclusion (E) of cattle grazing and fire wood extraction in the composition and dynamics of seed rain, and compare this assessment to a similar analysis in an area where these perturbations continued (without exclusion, WE). We found a strong seasonality in seed rain (96% of seeds fell in the dry season) in both areas. There were no significant differences between E and WE sites in relation to overall seed density, species richness and diversity. However, the distribution along the year of seed species density was significantly different among the E and WE sites. The Jaccard's similarity index between E and WE sites was relatively low (0.57). Barochory was the most common dispersal mode observed among the 23 species in terms of seed species density (48%), followed by anemochory (39%) and zoochory (13%). In relation to seed density, anemochory was the most frequent dispersal mode (88%). Most species in the zone were categorized as small seeds (92%), and there were no significant differences in the distribution of seed size between E and WE. The spatial pattern of dispersal of the four species with the highest relative importance value index, in both areas, was aggregated. Twelve years of disturbance exclusion were not enough to fully restore the seed rain of the area; some differences were already perceptible after this lapse. On the other hand, zoochorous species were almost absent from both sites. The re-introduction of climax and animal-dispersed species may be, in addition to perturbation exclusion, a viable strategy to accelerate ecological restoration in this area. Rev. Biol. Trop. 57 (1-2): 257-269. Epub 2009 June 30.

This chapter presents the case of Mexico, which reveals the fact that district/provincial expenditures in health care are inversely related to need, a case in point of the “inverse care law.” Mexico is a middle-income country facing a double burden of infectious and chronic disease and engaged in health sector reform and decentralization. Using the marginality index developed by the Mexican government, the chapter employs a policy-relevant mechanism for highlighting disparity and mapping the intersection of marginality, membership in an indigenous group, and rural poverty. It outlines the implications of the analyses for resource allocation to meet the differential needs for health care more equitably in marginalized areas.

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This article reports on strategies developed by female street vendors (vendedoras ambulantes) in Mexico City to ensure the care of their young children in the absence of a specific and operational government policy to fulfil this need. The information concerning child care and health was gathered by a survey of 426 street traders selected by multi-stage random cluster sampling in four of the administrative districts (delegaciones politicas) of Mexico City during 1990. It was found that, as mothers of young children, street vendors most frequently looked after their children personally on the street or left them with other members of the family. Related factors were availability of alternative child care providers in the family, the age of the children and working conditions of the mother. Children who remained on the streets with their mothers suffered more frequently from gastro-intestinal diseases and accidents than the national average. The incidence of acute respiratory diseases, however, was similar in the cases of maternal care in the street and care by family members in another environment. Existing public health measures show a greater concern for the health of food consumers than that of workers in this area. Current public policy seeks to regulate street vending activities and to concentrate traders in ad hoc areas and facilities. Our research results document the need for actions that can contribute to an improvement in the care and health conditions of these young children.

Introducción. Estudios mundiales han demostrado la contribución de los alelos de la apolipoproteína E en las variaciones de los lípidos y las apolipoproteínas. Objetivo. Determinar la frecuencia alélica y genotípica de la apolipoproteína E y su asociación con los lípidos y apolipoproteínas en escolares de la región centro-oriental de Colombia. Materiales y métodos. El tamaño de la muestra fue de 691 escolares entre los 5 y 15 años, de los departamentos de Cundinamarca, Boyacá, Meta, Santander y Norte de Santander. Los genotipos de la apolipoproteína E se identificaron por reacción en cadena de la polimerasapolimorfismo de longitud del fragmento de restricción. Se analizaron las variables lipídicas de colesterol total, colesterol HDL, colesterol LDL, triglicéridos y colesterol VLDL, apolipoproteína A-I y apolipoproteína B-100. Resultados. Las frecuencias de los alelos ε2, ε3 y ε4 fueron 0,04, 0,86 y 0,08, respectivamente. El grupo E4 (E4/3-E4/4) comparado con el grupo E2 (E3/2-E2/2) presentó las concentraciones plasmáticas más altas de colesterol total, colesterol LDL y apolipoproteína B-100 (p=0,014, 0,001 y 0,000, respectivamente), lo mismo ocurre al comparar el grupo E3/3 con el E2 (p=0,015, 0,002 y 0,002, respectivamente); la influencia del polimorfismo de la apolipoproteína E fue mayor en las niñas. Conclusiones. La asociación del alelo e4 con niveles más altos de colesterol total, colesterol LDL y apolipoproteína B-100 muestra la importancia de realizar otros estudios sobre el polimorfismo de la apolipoproteína E, su interacción con otros genes, estilos de vida y factores de riesgo y su posible contribución para el desarrollo de enfermedad cardiovascular.