Lethal Violence and Migration in Mexico: An Analysis of Internal and International Moves.

We analyze the effect of homicide in Mexico on patterns and processes of internal and international migration. Linking municipal-level homicide rates from 1990 through 2018 with data from the Mexican Migration Project, we estimate a series of multinomial discrete time event history models to assess the effect that exposure to lethal violence has on the likelihood of migration within Mexico and to the United States without documents. Statistical estimates indicate that the homicide rate negatively predicts the likelihood of taking a first undocumented trip to the United States but positively predicts the likelihood of taking a first trip within Mexico. Among those undocumented migrants who have already taken a first U.S. trip, lethal violence also negatively predicts the likelihood of taking a second undocumented trip. Among returned internal migrants whose first trip was to a Mexican destination, the odds of taking a first U.S. trip were also negatively predicted by the municipal homicide rate. We conclude that rising violence in Mexico is not a significant driver of undocumented migration to the United States. Instead it contributes to the decline in undocumented out-migration observed since 2007, in combination with the rising age of those at risk of migration and the growing access of Mexicans to legal entry visas.

Analizamos el efecto de homicidio en México sobre patrones y procesos de migración interna y internacional. Conectando tasas de homicidio municipales desde 1990 a 2018 con datos del Proyecto Mexicano de Migración, estimamos una serie de modelos multinomiales de tiempo discreto para evaluar el efecto de la violencia mortal sobre la probabilidad de migrar dentro de México o hacia los Estados Unidos sin documentos. Estimaciones indican que la tasa de homicidio predice negativamente la probabilidad de tomar un primero viaje a los Estandos uniods per predice positivamente la probabilidad de tomar un primero viaje dentro de México. Entre los migrantes indocumentados quien ya se han hecho un primer viaje a los Estados Unidos, violencia mortal también predice negativamente la probabilidad de hacer un segundo viaje indocumentado. Entre migrantes retornados de un primer viaje dentro de México, la probabilidad de hacer un primero viaje indocumentado a los EE. UU. también están predicidos negativamente por la tasa de homicide municipal. Concluimos que el crecimiento de violencia mortal en México no es una causa de la migración indocumentada a los Estados Unidos. Al contrario, la violencia contribuya a la la disminución en migración indocumentada observada desde 2007, en combinación con el aumento de la edad promedia y el acceso creciente a visas legales para entrar los EE. UU.

Debacles on the Border: Five Decades of Fact-Free Immigration Policy.

Since 1987 the Mexican Migration Project (MMP) has compiled extensive data on the characteristics and behavior of documented and undocumented migrants to the United States and made them publicly available to users to test theories of international migration and evaluate U.S. immigration and border policies. Findings based on these data have been plentiful, but have also routinely been ignored by political leaders who instead continue to pursue policies with widely documented, counterproductive effects. In this article we review prior studies based on MMP data to document these effects. We also use official statistics to document circumstances on the border today, and draw on articles in this volume to underscore the huge gap between U.S. policies and the realities of immigration. Despite that net positive undocumented Mexican migration to the U.S. ended more than a decade ago, the Trump administration continues to demand the construction of a border wall and persists in treating Central American arrivals as criminals rather than asylum seekers, thus transforming what is essentially a humanitarian problem into an immigration crisis.

Evolution of the Mexico-U.S. Migration System: Insights from the Mexican Migration Project.

Since 1987 the Mexican Migration Project has collected and disseminated representative survey data on documented and undocumented migration to the United States. The MMP currently includes surveys of 161 communities, which together contain data on 27,113 households and 169,945 individuals, 26,446 of whom have U.S. migratory experience. These data are here used to trace the evolution of the Mexico-U.S. migration system from the late 19th to the early 21st century, revealing how shifts in U.S. immigration and border policies have been critical to the formation of different eras of migration characterized by distinctive patterns of migration, settlement, and return in different legal statuses. The present era is characterized by the repression of the large population of undocumented migrants and their U.S. citizen children by an ongoing regime of mass detention and deportation and the simultaneous recruitment of Mexican workers for exploitation on short term temporary visas. The future of Mexican migration to the United States will be revealed by subsequent waves of data collection by the Mexican Migration Project.

Why Border Enforcement Backfired.

In this article we undertake a systematic analysis of why border enforcement backfired as a strategy of immigration control in the United States. We argue theoretically that border enforcement emerged as a policy response to a moral panic about the perceived threat of Latino immigration to the United States propounded by self-interested bureaucrats, politicians, and pundits who sought to mobilize political and material resources for their own benefit. The end result was a self-perpetuating cycle of rising enforcement and increased apprehensions that resulted in the militarization of the border in a way that was disconnected from the actual size of the undocumented flow. Using an instrumental variable approach, we show how border militarization affected the behavior of unauthorized migrants and border outcomes to transform undocumented Mexican migration from a circular flow of male workers going to three states into an eleven-million person population of settled families living in 50 states.

Border Enforcement and Return Migration by Documented and Undocumented Mexicans.

Using data from the Mexican Migration Project we compute probabilities of departure and return for first and later trips to the United States in both documented and undocumented status. We then estimate statistical models to analyze the determinants of departure and return according to legal status. Prior to 1986, Mexico-U.S. migration was characterized by great circularity, but since then circularity has declined markedly for undocumented migrants but increased dramatically for documented migrants. Whereas return migration by undocumented migrants dropped in response to the massive increase in border enforcement, that of documented migrants did not. At present, the Mexico-U.S. migration system has reached a new equilibrium in which undocumented migrants are caged in as long term settlers in the United States while documented migrants increasingly range freely and circulate back and forth across the border within rising frequency.

Gender differences in adiponectin modulation of cardiac remodeling in mice deficient in endothelial nitric oxide synthase.

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, a leading cause of death. Alterations in endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), an enzyme involved in regulating vascular tone, and in adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived secretory factor, are associated with cardiac remodeling. Deficiency of eNOS is associated with hypertension and LVH. Adiponectin exhibits vaso-protective, anti-inflammatory, and anti-atherogenic properties. We hypothesized that increased levels of adiponectin would alleviate cardiac pathology resulting from eNOS deficiency, while decreased levels of adiponectin would exacerbate the pathology. Male and female mice, deficient in eNOS, and either lacking or over-expressing adiponectin, were fed high fat diet (HFD) or normal chow. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed to serially assess heart morphology and function up to 40 weeks of age. Thirty-two weeks of HFD feeding led to significantly greater LV mass in male mice deficient in eNOS and either lacking or over-expressing adiponectin. Heart function was significantly reduced when the mice were deficient in either eNOS, adiponectin or both eNOS and adiponectin; for female mice, heart function was only reduced when both eNOS and adiponectin were lacking. Thus, while over-expression of adiponectin in the eNOS deficient HFD fed male mice preserved function at the expense of significantly increased LV mass, female mice were protected from decreased function and increased LVH by over-expression of adiponectin. Our results demonstrate a sexual dimorphism in response of the heart to alterations in eNOS and adiponectin during high fat feeding and suggest that adiponectin might require eNOS for some of its metabolic effects.

The Peruvian diaspora: portrait of a migratory process.

Since the 1980s and especially the 1990s, Peru has become a nation of emigrants. Emigration has become massive over the past two decades, and the Peruvian populations of the United States, Japan, and Spain have tripled in less than a decade. A survey of households in five localities, three urban and two rural, in and around Lima helps to reveal the special character of this emigration. It tends to involve older and better-educated individuals than are typical of international migration and to target a wider variety of destinations. Moreover, it is a multiclass phenomenon. The economic, political, and social crisis brought about by a change in the economic model, two decades of terrorism, and a succession of failed democratic administrations has affected the society as a whole, and international migration seems to operate as an escape valve.

New World Orders: Continuities and Changes in Latin American Migration.

Although migration from Mexico to the United States is more than a century old, until recently most other countries in Latin America did not send out significant numbers of migrants to foreign destinations. Over the past thirty years, however, emigration has emerged as an important demographic force throughout the region. This article outlines trends in the volume and composition of the migrant outflows emanating from various countries in Latin America, highlighting their diversity with respect to country of destination; multiplicity of destinations; legal auspices of entry; gender and class composition; racial, ethnic, and national origins; and the mode of insertion into the receiving society. The review underscores the broadening of international migration away from unidirectional flows toward the United States to new streams going to Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan, as well as to other countries in Latin America itself.

Evolutionarily conserved role of calcineurin in phosphodegron-dependent degradation of phosphodiesterase 4D.

Calcineurin is a widely expressed and highly conserved Ser/Thr phosphatase. Calcineurin is inhibited by the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine A (CsA) or tacrolimus (FK506). The critical role of CsA/FK506 as an immunosuppressant following transplantation surgery provides a strong incentive to understand the phosphatase calcineurin. Here we uncover a novel regulatory pathway for cyclic AMP (cAMP) signaling by the phosphatase calcineurin which is also evolutionarily conserved in Caenorhabditis elegans. We found that calcineurin binds directly to and inhibits the proteosomal degradation of cAMP-hydrolyzing phosphodiesterase 4D (PDE4D). We show that ubiquitin conjugation and proteosomal degradation of PDE4D are controlled by a cullin 1-containing E(3) ubiquitin ligase complex upon dual phosphorylation by casein kinase 1 (CK1) and glycogen synthase kinase 3beta (GSK3beta) in a phosphodegron motif. Our findings identify a novel signaling process governing G-protein-coupled cAMP signal transduction-opposing actions of the phosphatase calcineurin and the CK1/GSK3beta protein kinases on the phosphodegron-dependent degradation of PDE4D. This novel signaling system also provides unique functional insights into the complications elicited by CsA in transplant patients.

Lack of association between adiponectin levels and atherosclerosis in mice.

OBJECTIVE: Adiponectin is an adipocyte-derived, secreted protein that is implicated in protection against a cluster of related metabolic disorders. Mice lacking adiponectin display impaired hepatic insulin sensitivity and respond only partially to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma agonists. Adiponectin has been associated with antiinflammatory and antiatherogenic properties; however, the direct involvement of adiponectin on the atherogenic process has not been studied. METHODS AND RESULTS: We crossed adiponectin knockout mice (Adn(-/-)) or mice with chronically elevated adiponectin levels (Adn(Tg)) into the low-density lipoprotein receptor-null (Ldlr(-/-)) and the apoliprotein E-null (Apoe(-/-)) mouse models. Adiponectin levels did not correlate with a suppression of the atherogenic process. Plaque volume in the aortic root, cholesterol accumulation in the aorta, and plaque morphology under various dietary conditions were not affected by circulating adiponectin levels. In light of the strong associations reported for adiponectin with cardiovascular disease in humans, the lack of a phenotype in gain- and loss-of-function studies in mice suggests a lack of causation for adiponectin in inhibiting the buildup of atherosclerotic lesions. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that the actions of adiponectin on the cardiovascular system are complex and multifaceted, with a minimal direct impact on atherosclerotic plaque formation in preclinical rodent models.

Respuesta del sistema antioxidante en varones sanos, frente a hiperglicemia aguda inducida / Healthy males' antioxidant system response in induced acute hyperglycemia

Objetivo: determinar la respuesta del sistema antioxidante en varones sanos, frente a la hiperglicemia aguda inducida. Diseño: estudio prospectivo, descriptivo, longitudinal, experimental. Lugar: Instituto Nacional de Biología Andina, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Perú. Material biológico: Sangre y suero de sujetos aparentemente sanos. Intervenciones: A 13 sujetos adultos clínicamente sanos, entre 20 y 41años, después de 10 horas de ayuno, se administró glucosa vía endovenosa, mediante el método de clamp hiperglicémico, a 125 mg/dL por encima del valor basal, durante 120 minutos. Se realizó mediciones de la glicemia a 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110 y 120 minutos. Se tomó la muestra sanguínea con anticoagulante EDTA y otra de sangre total, para obtención de suero, para las pruebas bioquímicas a los 0, 60 y 120 minutos. Principales medidas de resultados: Modificaciones de la glicemia y lipoperoxidación en suero, glutatión y actividad superóxido dismutasa en glóbulos rojos lisados e índices de estrés oxidativo. Resultados: El nivel de glucosa durante el clamp hiperglicémico, luego de alcanzar el æequilibrioÆ, fue 197±17,58 mg/dL. La lipoperoxidación aumentó de 2,54 + 0,51 a 2,90 + 0,58 umol/L, de 0 a 60 minutos, y a 2,66 + 0,55 umol/L a los 120 minutos. El glutatión se redujo en 8,10 por ciento a la hora, aumentando 7,08 por ciento a los 120 minutos. La actividad superóxido dismutasa se elevó 0,54 por ciento a los 60 minutos y 5,66 por ciento a los 120 minutos, sobre el basal. Los índices de valoración del estrés oxidativo tuvieron correlación r Pearson positiva, en nivel alto a muy alto. Conclusiones: la hiperglicemia aguda inducida hasta 2 horas elevó el estrés oxidativo, promoviendo generación de defensa antioxidante, con síntesis de glutatión reducido de novo y mayor actividad de la superóxido dismutasa.

Objective: To determine healthy malesÆ antioxidant system response in induced acute hyperglycemia. Design: Prospective, descriptive, longitudinal, experimental study. Setting: National Institute of Andean Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Biological materials: Whole blood and serum of apparently healthy men. Interventions: After 10 hour fasting, intravenous glucose was administered to thirteen healthy 20-41 year-old adult men using the hyperglycemic clamp method at 125 mg/dL above basal value during 120 minutes. Glycemia was measured at 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120 minutes. Blood sampling was obtained with EDTA anticoagulant and whole blood to obtain blood serum for biochemistry tests at 0, 60 and 120 minutes. Main outcome measures: Blood serum glycemia and lipoperoxidation variation, glutathione and superoxide dismutase activity in lysed red blood cells and oxidative stress index. Results: After achieving æbalanceÆ, glucose levels during hyperglycemic clamp was 197 ± 17,58 mg/dL. Lipoperoxidation increased from 2,54 + 0,51 to 2,90 + 0,58umol/L, from 0 to 60 minutes, and to 2,66 + 0,55 umol/L at 120 minutes. Glutathione was reduced in 8,10 per cent at one hour, rising 7,08 per cent at 120 minutes. Superoxide dismutase activity rose above basal 0,54 per cent at 60 min and 5,66 per cent at 120 min. Oxidative stress valuation index had high level to very high level positive Pearson r correlation. Conclusions: Acute induced hyperglycemia up to 2 hours increased oxidative stress, promoting generation of antioxidant defence with de novo synthesis of reduced glutathione and greater activity of superoxide dismutase.

Maternal substrate utilization programs the development of the metabolic syndrome in male mice exposed to high fat in utero.

Studies were conducted to determine whether maternal substrate utilization during pregnancy affects fetal growth and predisposes offspring to metabolic disease. Female wild-type (WT) and glucose transporter 4 heterozygous mice (G4+/-, a model of altered peripheral substrate utilization) were fed high-fat diet (HFD, 35.5% fat) or control chow (C, 9.5% fat) for 2 wk before mating, throughout pregnancy and lactation (IU/L). WT HFD females exhibited increased serum nonesterified fatty acid and lactate levels and increased hepatic mRNA expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator-1-beta and SREBP-1c, consistent with increased lipogenesis. G4+/- HFD females exhibited enhanced lipid clearance, and exposure to HFD did not increase hepatic gene expression. HFD independent of maternal genotype decreased fetal growth and birth weight. WT offspring were weaned onto a low-fat diet (5.6% fat). Male offspring of WT mothers exposed to HFD exhibited "catch-up" growth accompanied by increased adiposity, impaired glucose tolerance, and insulin sensitivity. In contrast, male offspring of G4+/- HFD mothers did not exhibit any characteristics of metabolic syndrome. These data suggest that differences in maternal substrate utilization influence offspring metabolic phenotype.

Role of NO synthase in the development of Trypanosoma cruzi-induced cardiomyopathy in mice.

Trypanosoma cruzi infection results in an increase in myocardial NO and intense inflammation. NO modulates the T. cruzi-induced myocardial inflammatory reaction. NO synthase (NOS)1-, NOS2-, and NOS3-null mice were infected with T. cruzi (Brazil strain). Infected NOS1-null mice had increased parasitemia, mortality, and left ventricular inner diameter (LVID). Chronically infected NOS1- and NOS2-null and wild-type mice (WT) exhibited increased right ventricular internal diameter (RVID), although the fold increase in the NOS2-null mice was smaller. Infected NOS3-null mice exhibited a significant reduction both in LVID and RVID. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction showed expression of NOS2 and NOS3 in hearts of infected NOS1-null and WT mice, whereas infected NOS2-null hearts showed little change in expression of other NOS isoforms. Infected NOS3-null hearts showed an increase only in NOS1 expression. These results may indicate different roles for NOS isoforms in T. cruzi-induced cardiomyopathy.

Design and evaluation of a passive alcove-based microfluidic mixer.

A novel passive microfluidic silicon mixer has been designed, optimized and fabricated. The architecture of the mixer consists of a simple "T" junction, made up by a 20 microm wide by 82 microm deep channel, followed by three repeats of an alcove, each with a triangular obstruction, arranged in a zigzag fashion. Numerical simulations were employed to optimize the geometry, particularly the dimensions of the alcoves, the relative orientation and the spacing between them, and the degree of intrusion associated with them. The simulation results demonstrate that chaotic flow due to recirculation within the alcoves results in transverse velocity that promotes effective fluid mixing. The microfluidic mixer with the simulation-optimized geometry was fabricated with photolithographic techniques and characterized by optical imaging, fluorescence, and Raman microscope spectroscopy. At a sample flow rate of 20 microL/s, the mixer exhibits a short mixing deadtime of approximately 22 micros and a high mixing efficiency under both low and high viscosity conditions. The alcove-based microfluidic silicon mixer offers unique advantages for its short deadtime and slow sample consumption rate. In addition, it provides a valuable component for laboratory-on-a-chip applications for its ease of development into multiple networks for massively parallel analytical processes.

Nuevos escenarios de la migración México-Estados Unidos. Las consecuencias de la guerra antiinmigrante.

The history of Mexico-U.S. migration is characterized by a series of discrete phases during which levels and patterns of migration change primarily in response to shifts in U.S. policies. The late 1990s witnessed the onset of the latest shift, moving Mexican immigration from the era of contradiction to the era of marginalization. At present a large majority of Mexicans living in the United States lie outside the full protection of the law during a period in which the penalties for illegality have grown and the persecution of unauthorized immigrants has reached record levels. Increasingly Mexicans in the United States cut off from their homeland by a militarized border but estranged from American society by anti-immigrant policies, practices, and attitudes, putting them in an unusually marginalized and vulnerable position.

Marcadores de estrés oxidativo en hipertensión leve / Oxidative stress markers in mild hypertension

Introducción: La hipertensión es un factor de riesgo cardiovascular y en 90 por ciento de los casos se desconoce el mecanismo que la inicia. Recientemente, se considera que la hipertensión es un síndrome de anormalidades metabólicas y estructurales, en el que las especies reactivas derivadas del oxígeno (EROs) juegan un papel fisiopatológico preponderante en su desarrollo. Objetivo: Determinar los niveles séricos de zinc, selenio y magnesio en personas normotensas e hipertensas. Asimismo, valorar la actividad de la enzima superóxido dismutasa (SOD) y los niveles de sustancias reactivas al ácido tiobarbitúrico (TBARS) en ambos grupos de estudio. Diseño: Estudio analítico observacional, tipo casos y controles. Lugar: Centro de Investigación de Bioquímica y Nutrición, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Material biológico: Sangre de pacientes normotensos y con hipertensión leve. Intervenciones: Se obtuvo las muestras de sangre de 20 pacientes normotensos y 20 con hipertensión leve, con edades entre 50 y 60 años, después de un ayuno de 12 horas, realizándose el estudio en suero y sangre total. Principales medidas de resultados: Variación de niveles de TBARS, oligoelementos (Se, Zn y Mg), medición de actividad de SOD eritrocitario. Resultados: En el grupo de hipertensos, se obtuvo incremento significativo de magnesio y TBARS y disminución significativa de zinc y de la actividad de SOD. Conclusiones: Se demuestra el compromiso del estrés oxidativo en pacientes con hipertensión leve. La hipermagnesemia podría explicarse por el daño a los elementos formes de la sangre.

Introduction: Hypertension is a cardiovascular risk factor and the initial mechanism is unknown in 90 per cent of the cases. Currently hypertension is considered a syndrome with metabolic and structural abnormalities where oxygen reactive species (ORS) play a preponderant pathophysiological role. Objective: To determine zinc, selenium and magnesium serum levels in hypertensive and normotensive subjects, and to measure superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels in both groups. Design: Analytical observational, case-control study. Setting: Biochemistry and Nutrition Research Center, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru. Biological material: Normotensive and mild hypertensive patients blood samples. Interventions: Blood samples from 20 normotensive subjects and 20 patients with mild hypertension aged 50 to 60 years were obtained after 12 hour fasting. We studied serum and whole blood. Main outcome measures: Serum determination of TBARS and oligoelements (Zn and Mg), measurement of SOD erythrocytic activity. Results: In the hypertensive group we obtained significant increase in magnesium and TBARS, and significant decrease in zinc and SOD activity. Conclusions: We demonstrated the occurrence of oxidative stress in mild hypertensive patients. Hypermagnesemia could be explained by blood elements injury.

Obesity-associated improvements in metabolic profile through expansion of adipose tissue.

Excess caloric intake can lead to insulin resistance. The underlying reasons are complex but likely related to ectopic lipid deposition in nonadipose tissue. We hypothesized that the inability to appropriately expand subcutaneous adipose tissue may be an underlying reason for insulin resistance and beta cell failure. Mice lacking leptin while overexpressing adiponectin showed normalized glucose and insulin levels and dramatically improved glucose as well as positively affected serum triglyceride levels. Therefore, modestly increasing the levels of circulating full-length adiponectin completely rescued the diabetic phenotype in ob/ob mice. They displayed increased expression of PPARgamma target genes and a reduction in macrophage infiltration in adipose tissue and systemic inflammation. As a result, the transgenic mice were morbidly obese, with significantly higher levels of adipose tissue than their ob/ob littermates, leading to an interesting dichotomy of increased fat mass associated with improvement in insulin sensitivity. Based on these data, we propose that adiponectin acts as a peripheral "starvation" signal promoting the storage of triglycerides preferentially in adipose tissue. As a consequence, reduced triglyceride levels in the liver and muscle convey improved systemic insulin sensitivity. These mice therefore represent what we believe is a novel model of morbid obesity associated with an improved metabolic profile.