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Background: Ascribed traditional gender role has rarely been examined in the topical area of protected sex. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between HIV knowledge, ascribed cultural gender roles of machismo and marianismo, acculturation, attitudes toward risky sexual behaviors and sexual self-efficacy on protected sex, and the mediating effect of sexual self-efficacy between these predictors and protected sex. Methods: Part of a larger study, Hispanic college students from a Hispanic-serving institution in a U.S. southern border city were recruited. Results and Conclusion: Sexual self-efficacy was found a significant mitigating factor against sexual risks associated with machismo as well as a positive reinforcing element on attitudes toward protected sex. Study findings have implications toward the development of culturally sensitive evidence-based interventions that promote sexual self-efficacy skills among Hispanic males who strongly identify with culturally ascribed gender roles.

This study aimed to determine the probability of fatty liver, hepatomegaly, and liver size ≥2SD with age in each category of BMI percentile. It also aimed to investigate the relationship between GFR, BMI percentile, liver size, Blood Pressure (BP), and right kidney volume among overweight and obese boys and girls and to identify the predictors of GFR. 763 records of boys and girls visiting a pediatric clinic in South Texas from 2003 to 2018 were assessed. Statistical analyses such as linear regression, binary logistic regression, cubic estimation, path analysis, and factor analysis were performed. It was found that among all the BMI percentile categories, boys have larger liver sizes than girls. Obese boys and girls have the largest liver size than overweight boys and girls followed by normal (robust) and underweight (slim) boys and girls. As the BMI percentile increases, the probability of fatty liver, hepatomegaly, and liver size ≥2SD increases. As the BMI percentile increases, decreased kidney function prevalence increases in the young Mexican American population. Decreased kidney function is also affected by liver enlargement and increased systolic blood pressure. Obese boys' and girls' kidney function start to drop at age 7.755 while overweight boys' and girls' start to fall at age 9.185. The exponential trends in the probabilities between liver size and age indicate that overweight and obese boys and girls are at higher risk for fatty and enlarged liver. Overweight and obese boys and girls have reduced kidney function as indicated by their decreasing GFR. High BMI percentile, increased liver size, and increased systolic blood pressure are precursors (predictors) to decreased kidney function.

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