Impact of pesticides use on human health in Mexico: a review.

Pesticides having a high adverse effect on the health and environment of inhabitants of the Mexican Republic were studied to establish the main parameters to bear in mind for their use and application. The investigation showed that Mexico is the agricultural zone with the highest health damage to its population from pesticides. The valid regulation norms for the use and application of these agrochemicals were analyzed. Case histories recorded by the public health sector in Mexico were reviewed. In this way, a strong relation was found between the health problems and the pesticides applied. Finally, the study concludes that the various Mexican States appear as a risk zone because of contamination by pesticides that are permitted by the regulation norms and by others whose use is prohibited in other countries and in Mexico. This situation causes a serious effect on the health deterioration of people who are exposed to these agro-chemicals and, in some cases, leads to death.

EEG asymmetry and sleep mentation during REM and NREM.

The hypothesis that dreaming is mediated by the right hemisphere was evaluated by monitoring EEG power asymmetry during REM and NREM sleep, and obtaining mentation reports when short-term temporal shifts in the EEG indicated relative left- or right-hemispheric dominance. Content analyses provided no support for the right-hemisphere hypothesis; indeed, some scales showed higher content during relative left-hemispheric dominance. In contrast to earlier reports, no difference between REM and NREM in EEG asymmetry was observed.