Two hundred seventeen male subjects from Costa Rica, Mexico, and the Hispanic population of the southwestern United States were studied. Twelve Y-chromosome STRs and the HVSI sequence of the mtDNA were analyzed to describe their genetic structure and to compare maternal and paternal lineages. All subjects are part of two NIMH-funded studies to localize schizophrenia susceptibility genes in Hispanic populations of Mexican and Central American ancestry. We showed that these three populations are similar in their internal genetic characteristics, as revealed by analyses of mtDNA and Y-chromosome STR diversity. These populations are related through their maternal lineage in a stronger way than through their paternal lineage, because a higher number of shared haplotypes and polymorphisms are seen in the mtDNA (compared to Y-chromosome STRs). These results provide evidence of previous contact between the three populations and shared histories. An analysis of molecular variance revealed no genetic differentiation for the mtDNA for the three populations, but differentiation was detected in the Y-chromosome STRs. Genetic distance analysis showed that the three populations are closely related, probably as a result of migration between close neighbors, as indicated by shared haplotypes and their demographic histories. This relationship could be an important common feature for genetic studies in Latin American and Hispanic populations.Population genetic studies can be used to compare relationships and differences between populations and to determine the genetic structures of naturally

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Apnea of prematurity is very frequent in premature newborns (PNB). If the apnea episode is not interrupted in time, it can cause several damages to the newborn's central nervous system. In this paper, we introduce a novel technology for detecting apnea of prematurity episodes, based on cardiac pulse frequency (PF) and arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2) simultaneously, and using vibrotactile stimulation to interrupt such episodes. The thresholds of the newborns' PF and SpO2 had been established to identify the apnea episode automatically through the proposed system: for babies ≤ 35 weeks gestation, PF is ≤ 100 bpm and SpO2 ≤ 80%; for babies > 35 weeks gestation, PF is ≤ 80 bpm and SpO2 ≤ 80%. The system used vibrotactile stimuli at 250 Hz for 4 s. To manage the system that activates the vibratory device automatically and registers those parameters, a program had been developed. It registers apnea occurrence, period of manual stimulation and vibratory stimulation duration. This technique was tested on 4 PNB. It was observed 10 apnea episodes and the device was successful in the detection of all of them. The vibrotactile stimulation was capable of promoting the return of respiratory movements in 9 of the 10 detected events of apnea and seemed to be a promising means of handling them.

The study reports an experience carried out by the Departamento de Assistência de Enfermagem do Hospital Universitário da USP, the implantation and development of the retrospective auditory process for the evaluation of their activities as an instrument for control and maintenance of the quality of nursing care given the community. It describes the various steps, instruments and reports used, as well as the use of the auditory's findings for reviewing the assistential and educational programs developed by the department.