Supervising programme of aflatoxins in Mexican corn.

Contamination of maize with aflatoxins was detected in Tamaulipas in 1989 and the Mexican government organized a Supervising Programme to check the maize crop of Tamaulipas from 1989 to 1992. The monoclonal immunoaffinity column method quantified by fluorometry was chosen as the official one. After detecting, in 1989, the first lots of contaminated maize, in 1990 87% of the crop was quarantined and the Supervising Programme was implemented. Laboratories were constructed in each warehouse that received the maize; one chemical analysis for aflatoxins was performed for every 100 tons of maize received and there were around 60,000 analyses in the whole Programme (1989-1993). A random sampling method was applied, taking 2 kg from each truck. In 1991, the contaminated maize was dyed and separated as feed. Decontaminating methods with aluminosilicates and with ammonia were tested, but the cost was high and these practices were abandoned. A Technological Package for the farmers was organized by different institutions: the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture, Conasupo, and the government of the State of Tamaulipas. This specified sowing time, insecticides, fungicides, fertilizers, irrigation periods, maize cultivars, etc. and had successful results in the field, in 1992, when lower quantities of total aflatoxins in maize were detected. On the other hand, the aflatoxin combination of maize persisted in storage areas, especially in the last week of July and the first week of August. The aflatoxin maize problem will be solved only when both field and storage contaminations are controlled.

[Sanitary regulation in Mexico and the Free Trade Treaty]. / La regulación sanitaria en México y el Tratado de Libre Comercio.

In this paper are discussed essential issues about the concept, characteristics and general functions of sanitary regulation, as well as the principles and main lines of action contained in the Program of Modernization of the Sanitary Regulation, which is being implemented by the Ministry of Health of Mexico. In addition, some considerations are offered regarding the supporting role of such a program, in the context of the free trade era that Mexico is undergoing. After 40 years of an outdated sanitary regulation based in a non-functional licensing concept, the new and improved scheme relies on several ammendments to the General Health Law. Thus, the present approach, focuses on a set of flexible, simple and efficient rules, strengthened by proven scientific and technical procedures.

[A strategy for preventing health injuries due to observing the solar eclipse in Mexico]. / Estrategia para prevenir daños a la salud ocasionados por la observación del eclipse solar en México.

A total solar eclipse was watched by almost [corrected] 50 million people in the Mexican Republic on July 11, 1991. Cases of solar retinitis, which can even lead to permanent loss of visual function, have been reported in the international literature. The institutions of the National Health System employed a strategy for the prevention of risks and health damages caused by direct observation of the phenomenon, which implied the elaboration of a technical norm concerning the manufacturing of sun filters, the diffusion of preventive actions through the use of mass media, the detection and prompt care of cases and the establishment of an ophthalmologic care system and epidemiological surveillance system. The result was the detection of 21 moderate cases of solar retinitis, all of which recovered their full visual function after four months. The present article reports the implemented actions and the details of the cases.

Estudio multicentrico del tratamiento de osteoartrosis con indoprofen inyectable. / Multicentric study of the treatment of osteoarthrosis with parenteral indoprofen

En este estudio se observan detalladamente los resultados obtenidos en noventa y ocho pacientes con osteoartrosis sometidos a tratamiento con indoprofen inyectable.Pudo observarse que a partir de los primeros cuatro dias de iniciado el tratamiento, la mayoria de los parametros valorables mejoraron significativamente, a las dosis diarias de 400 mg I.M. cada 12 hrs., principalmente en lo referente a la resolucion del dolor y a la mejoria de la motilidad articular. Los efectos secundarios observados se circunscribieron al sitio de su aplicacion. En general, en este estudio pudo comprobarse la eficacia de indoprofen en el tratamiento de la osteoartrosis