Metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women: higher prevalence in the Northeastern Region of Brazil than in other Latin American countries and the influence of obesity and socioeconomic factors

SILVEIRA, Inavan Lopes da; MARANHÃO, T. M. O.; AZEVEDO, George Dantas. Metabolic syndrome in postmenopausal women: higher prevalence in the Northeastern Region of Brazil than in other Latin American countries and the influence of obesity and socioeconomic factors. Climacteric (Carnforth), v.10, p.438-439, 2007.

Pass-through of International food prices to domestic ination during and after the great recession: evidence from a set of Latin American economies

We examined how international food price shocks have impacted local ination processes in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru in the past decade -- Using impulse-response analysis coming from cointegrated VARs, we wind that international food ination shocks take from one to six quarters to pass through to domestic head-line ination, depending on the country -- In addition, by calculating the elasticity of local prices to an international food price shock, we found that this pass-through is not complete -- We also take a closer look at how this type of shock affects local food and core prices separately, and asses the possibility second round effects over core ination stemming from the shock -- We wind that a transmission to headline prices does occur, and that part of the transmission is associated with rising core prices both directly and through possible second round effects, which implies a role for monetary policy when such a shock takes place -- This is especially relevant given that international food prices have recently been on an upward trend after falling considerably during the Great Recession

Immigration experience of Latin American working women in Alicante, Spain: an ethnographic study

Objective: to describe the experience of Latin American working women regarding immigration, taking into account the expectations and conditions in which this process takes place. Method: ethnographic qualitative study. Data collection was performed by means of semi-structured interviews with 24 Latin American immigrant women in Spain. The information collected was triangulated through two focal groups. Results: the expectations of migrant women focus on improving family living conditions. Social support is essential for their settling and to perform daily life activities. They declare they have adapted to the settlement country, although they live with stress. They perceive they have greater sexual freedom and power with their partners but keep greater responsibility in childcare, combining that with the role of working woman. Conclusions: migrant women play a key role in the survival of households, they build and create new meanings about being a woman, their understanding of life, their social and couple relationships. Such importance is shaped by their expectations and the conditions in which the migration process takes place, as well as their work integration.

An analysis of herd behavior in Latin American stock markets

This research investigates whether the major stock markets in Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Argentina) exhibited herd behavior over the period January 2, 2002 to June 30, 2014, using the variation in the returns overall and by sector in the most representative stock market index in each country, using the model proposed by Christie y Huang (1995) -- The results do not reveal any herd behavior in the total market, or in the sectors of the markets examined in the study

A Critique of the Representation of Violence in American Literature:

The purpose of this thesis was to draw new insights on Thomas Berger’s classic American novel, Little Big Man, and his representation of fictional violence that is a substantial aspect of any text on the Indian Wars and “Custer’s Last Stand”. History’s major world wars led to shifts in the political climate and a noted change in the way that violence was represented in the arts. Historical, fictional, and cinematic treatments of “Custer’s Last Stand” and violence were each considered in relation to the text. Berger's version of the famed story is a revision of history that shows the protagonist as a dual-member of two violent societies. The thesis concluded that Berger’s updated American legends and unique “white renegade” character led to a representation of violence that spoke to the current state of affairs in 1964 when the world was becoming much more hostile and chaotic place.

A Comparison Study of the English III/American Literature Success of African American High School Students and That of Students Whose Home Language is Haitian Creole

The purpose of the study was to compare the English III success of students whose home language is Haitian Creole (SWHLIHC) with that of the more visible African American high school students in the Miami Dade County Public Schools System, in an effort to offer insight that might assist educators in facilitating the educational success of SWHLIHC in American Literature class. The study was guided by two important theories on how students interact with and learn from literature. They are Reader Response Theory which advocates giving students the opportunity to become involved in the literature experience (Rosenblatt, 1995), and Critical Literacy, a theory developed by Paolo Freire and Henry Giroux, which espouses a critical approach to analysis of society that enables people to analyze social problems through lenses that would reveal social inequities and assist in transforming society into a more equitable entity. Data for the study: 10th grade reading FCAT scores, English III/American Literature grades, and Promotion to English IV records for the school year 2010-2011 were retrieved from the records division of the Miami Dade County Public Schools System. The study used a quantitative methods approach, the central feature of which was an ex post facto design with hypotheses (Newman, Newman, Brown, & McNeely, 2006). The ex post facto design with hypotheses was chosen because the researcher postulated hypotheses about the relationships that might exist between the performances of SWHLIHC and those of African American students on the three above mentioned variables. This type of design supported the researcher’s purpose of comparing these performances. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA), two way ANOVAs, and chi square tests were used to examine the two groups’ performances on the 10th grade reading FCAT, their English III grades, and their promotion to English IV. The study findings show that there was a significant difference in the performance of SWHLIHC and African American high school students on all three independent variables. SWHLIHC performed significantly higher on English III success and promotion to English IV. African American high school students performed significantly higher on the reading FCAT.

Post-Revolutionary Post-Modernism: Central American Detective Fiction by the Turn of the 21st Century

Contemporary Central American fiction has become a vital project of revision of the tragic events and the social conditions in the recent history of the countries from which they emerge. The literary projects of Sergio Ramirez (Nicaragua), Dante Liano (Guatemala), Horacio Castellanos Moya (El Salvador), and Ramon Fonseca Mora (Panama), are representative of the latest trends in Central American narrative. These trends conform to a new literary paradigm that consists of an amalgam of styles and discourses, which combine the testimonial, the historical, and the political with the mystery and suspense of noir thrillers. Contemporary Central American noir narrative depicts the persistent war against social injustice, violence, criminal activities, as well as the new technological advances and economic challenges of the post-war neo-liberal order that still prevails throughout the region. Drawing on postmodernism theory proposed by Ihab Hassan, Linda Hutcheon and Brian MacHale, I argued that the new Central American literary paradigm exemplified by Sergio Ramirez’s El cielo llora por mí, Dante Liano’s El hombre de Montserrat, Horacio Castellanos Moya’s El arma en el hombre and La diabla en el espejo, and Ramon Fonseca Mora’s El desenterrador, are highly structured novels that display the characteristic marks of postmodern cultural expression through their ambivalence, which results from the coexistence of multiple styles and conflicting ideologies and narrative trends. The novels analyzed in this dissertation make use of a noir sensitivity in which corruption, decay and disillusionment are at their core to portray the events that shaped the modern history of the countries from which they emerge. The revolutionary armed struggle, the state of terror imposed by military regimes and the fight against drug trafficking and organized crime, are among the major themes of these contemporary works of fiction, which I have categorized as perfect examples of the post-revolutionary post-modernism Central American detective fiction at the turn of the 21st century.

Interpreting independence in Latin American cinema today: the digital option

Globalisation has transformed “independence” into, at best, “inter-dependence”. In Latin American film, this process has been experienced as a decline in the national productions, now usually co-productions, and a tendency towards the self-exoticising as films cater for a festival-circuit global audience; similarly, theatrical exhibition takes place in one of a handful of the global multiplex complexes. Moreover, narrative film itself has long been regarded as inherently “dependent”, on the conservative sectors that have provided its finance, with the word “independent” referring to authorial features only. However, the very same processes that have allowed for such an unprecedented corporate control of these film industries have also spawned a parallel network of local, regional and national filmmaking, distribution and exhibition through digital media. From the “Mi Cine” project in Mexico to the “Cine Piquetero” in Argentina, digital filmmaking is empowering viewers and restoring agency to local filmmakers. In this paper I argue for this understanding of “independence” in the contemporary cinematic spheres of Latin America: the re-appropriation, amidst the transnationalism of the day, of the democratising potential of cinema that Walter Benjamin once thought was inherent to the medium.

Unamuno y América, una intensa relación

Resumen: Miguel de Unamuno tenía gran interés por y hacia los temas de América, sobre todo de la América hispánica. El objetivo de este artículo es refl exionar sobre la recepción y la acogida que dio a la literatura hispanoamericana coetánea, sobre cómo se aproximó a la obra de los escritores americanos, especialmente los argentinos. A través de un análisis crítico, se profundizará en esta relación considerando que América estuvo presente en su refl exión y su preocupación. Asimismo, se tratarán brevemente las colaboraciones literarias del escritor vasco en La Nación y otras revistas americanas para demostrar su interés respecto a la temática.

Teorias da Conduta: uma análise crítica

Neste trabalho foram analisadas e comparadas as principais teorias da conduta. Com isso buscou-se não apenas aprofundar um debate frequentemente mediado pelos manuais, mas também, por meio do recurso aos aportes críticos da bibliografia latino-americana, verificar se a concepção ontológica de conduta é de fato a mais limitadora ao poder punitivo. Parte do eixo analítico deste trabalho passa pelo estudo da articulação entre o respeito à estrutura lógico-objetiva da conduta humana como base de sucessivas valorações e a função limitadora da conduta. Com isso, pretende-se debater se a minimização dessa estrutura lógico-objetiva, acarretando a um acréscimo potencial de uma normativização do direito penal, representaria uma maior exposição do sujeito ao poder punitivo. A partir do conceito de praxis, como desenvolvido por Lukács, busca-se paralelamente uma base filosófica que não se esgote na compartimentalização jurídica. Trata-se de uma corrente que reivindica criticamente a herança teórica das principais contribuições filosóficas ocidentais, desde proposições aristotélicas, passando pelos conceitos hegelianos, chegando ao debate sobre objetificação hegeliano-marxista.

Recepción e influencia de la literatura hispanoamericana en Corea

A medida que el concepto de "nación" se ha debilitado en estos últimos años, y de forma muy rápida, el límite convencional de la cultura se está desvaneciendo y el mundo se mueve hacia un orden cultural integrado, a través de intercambios constantes entre las culturas, a pesar de las barreras discriminatorias. La literatura, en este sentido, no es una excepción y es necesario discutir la relación entre la literatura coreana y la hispanoamericana desde la perspectiva de la literatura comparativa. El presente estudio ofrece una mirada más cercana al proceso y a los distintos aspectos del modo en que las obras de los escritores hispanoamericanos han sido aceptadas en Corea del Sur. La literatura hispanoamericana se ha introducido en Corea desde principios del siglo XX y se extendió rápidamente a partir de los ochenta, cuando la controversia literaria del posmodernismo se desató y las obras de Borges y García Márquez fueron presentadas a los lectores coreanos. Sería interesante examinar los aspectos sobre cómo los escritores hispanoamericanos como Neruda, Borges y García Márquez se han integrado en la literatura coreana. En esta etapa, sin embargo, es difícil determinar si su influencia es suficientemente permanente como para convertirse en un linaje, o simplemente se trata de un fenómeno temporal. No obstante, la literatura hispanoamericana seguirá expandiendo interrelaciones crecientes con la coreana más allá de las fronteras, ejerciendo una gran influencia entre sí.

La narrativa indigenista en Argentina. Una doble denuncia

Desde tiempos de José Carlos Mariátegui, la crítica literaria indigenista viene articulando un discurso etnocentrista cuyo eje de producción se sitúa en Perú y los países vecinos, pero rara vez se ha mencionado una obra argentina que trate sobre las desigualdades que sufren los indígenas de ese país. Ni siquiera la academia argentina ha analizado ninguna novela desde la óptica indigenista.En un país cuyos gobiernos, desde el siglo XIX, han tratado de borrar cualquier traza de sangre indígena en su población, ya sea mediante la asimilación, exterminio o invisibilidad, y cuyas zonas de mayor asentamiento indígena se encuentran lejos del hegemónico Buenos Aires, las narraciones de problemas sociales ajenos quedaban encajonadas en el recóndito mundo de la literatura regional.Sin embargo, durante los años de eclosión del movimiento indigenista, escritores argentinos se hicieron eco de los sufrimientos y demandas de sus compatriotas indígenas por medio de novelas que sobrepasaron el peyorativo epíteto regionalista y que incomprensiblemente, han sido olvidadas.En este artículo, que forma parte de un estudio más amplio, se aborda el silencio crítico, se contextualiza la producción indigenista de la época y se analizan brevemente algunas de las obras.

Aproximaciones al concepto de propiedad privada del suelo urbano. Estado del arte en latinoamérica 1990 - 2014

El presente trabajo pretende hacer una revisión de la bibliografía latinoamericana con respecto al concepto de propiedad del suelo urbano. Se explica primero el itinerario del concepto a través de la historia, rescatando los puntos más importantes del debate y las particularidades que cada contexto aportó a la formación del concepto actual, para ahondar después en el análisis de la situación del debate en el contexto latinoamericano desde 1990, explicando los puntos de discusión y las posiciones de los autores con respecto a los mismos, para después intentar intuir el devenir futuro del concepto en nuestro continente. En este trabajo se encontró que las problemáticas particulares de las ciudades latinoamericanas tienen una influencia importante en el devenir de la discusión proporcionándole un enfoque diferente en el tratamiento del concepto.

Alegoría e historia en La hoguera bárbara (Del Historiador y el Ensayista)

El autor estudia La hoguera bárbara como texto inscrito en una doble tradición de la literatura latinoamericana, vigente hasta los años 60: reconstruye la vida de un caudillo, aspirando a refundar el sentido de lo nacional, y, por otro lado, problematiza los límites entre historia y literatura, en tanto el texto es alegoría de lo nacional y narrativa biográfica. La hoguera bárbara plantea una visión histórica en la que el héroe ocupa el lugar central, tiene un claro carácter nacionalista, lo que permite comprender la recuperación de este personaje histórico después del conflicto con el Perú de 1941. Más allá de su valor literario, el autor propone que La hoguera bárbara sea leída como un texto histórico.