Ataques de nervios in the Puerto Rican diagnostic interview schedule: The impact of cultural categories on psychiatric epidemiology

This paper examines the effect of the cultural category ataques de nervios on responses to the Puerto Rican Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS), a Spanish version of structured psychiatric diagnostic interview developed for the NIHM Epidemiologic Catchment Area study. An ataque de nervios scale was created from the Somatization items of the DIS to explore the effect of this culturally meaningful category of distress on responses to a standard psychiatric interview. Analysis of 1,513 cases from a representative sample of the island of Puerto Rico indicated that people reporting ataque symptoms fit the social characteristics described for ataques sufferers in the ethnographic literature. Qualitative data indicated that Puerto Ricans were reporting ataques de nervios in the panic section of the DIS. Questions are raised about the validity of the somatization and panic sections of the DIS in cross-cultural research with Hispanics.     

Estudio micologico de un caso de Micetoma por Cephalosporium en Puerto Rico

Resumen Hemos descrito un Cephalosporium como agente etiológico en un caso de Pié de Madura puertorriqueño. Este hongo crece bien en los medios ordinarios de laboratorio produciendo colonias características y dando origen a un pigmento difusible cuyo color varía de acuerdo con los ingredientes dal agar. Al examen microscópico, los cultivos nos revelan un gran número de conidios alargados que se caracterizan por su gran tamaño, su pronunciado eneorvamiento y su tabicación interna, a más de lo cual se notan muchos clamidosporos de morfología variadísima y, finalmente, estructuras nodulares muy semejantes a las que se desarrollan en ciertas especies del género Trichophyton. La identificatión específica del parásito ha quedado pendiente hasta tanto pueda hacerse un estudio comparativo de otras tres especies cefalospóricas que parecen guardar estrecha analogía con la nuestra a juzgar por las descripciones que de aquellas se han hecho.Sea cual fuere su posición sistemática, la especie aquí descrita no había sido encontrada nunca antes en las lesiones del micetoma. La literatura médica solamente registra otro caso de esa enfermedad producido por Cephalosporium. Se trataba entonces de una infectión contraida en el Brasil que tuvo como agente etiológico en parásito, distinto del nuestro, el cual fué estudiado y clasificado por Leão y Lobo como especie nueva : el Cephalosporium recifei.     

The State and Small-Scale Fisheries in Puerto Rico

The State and Small-Scale Fisheries in Puerto Rico . Ricardo Pérez. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2005. 218 pp.     

Sponsored Identities: Cultural Politics in Puerto Rico

Sponsored Identities: Cultural Politics in Puerto Rico. Arlene M. Davila. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1997. 302 pp.     

The Cuban community in Puerto Rico: A comparative Caribbean perspective

The purpose of this article is to present the opinions of the Argentine intellectual, Leopoldo Lugones, regarding the Jews and the reasons for his seemingly contradictory attitudes towards them that mirror both the general precariousness of Jewish existence in Argentina and the contradictions of Argentine nationalism. Moreover, these writings also reveal other related aspects of Lugones’ thought and provide a partial overview of Argentine nationalistic thought from the beginning of the twentieth century to the late 1930s, thereby offering insights into the nature and evolution of Argentine nationalism in reaction to Jews and other immigrant groups.     

Legionella spp. in Puerto Rico cooling towers

Water samples from air conditioning cooling towers receiving different treatment protocols on five large municipal buildings in San Juan, P.R., were assayed for various Legionella spp. and serogroups by using direct immunofluorescence. Several water quality parameters were also measured for each sample. Guinea pigs were inoculated with water samples to confirm pathogenicity and recover viable organisms. Legionella pneumophila serogroups 1 to 6, L. bozemanii, L. micdadei, L. dumoffii, and L. gormanii were observed in at least one of the cooling towers. L. pneumophila was the most abundant species; its density reached 10(5) cells per ml, which is within the range that is considered potentially pathogenic to humans. A significantly higher density of L. pneumophila was observed in the cooling tower water that was not being treated with biocides. Percent respiration (INT) and total cell activity (acridine orange direct count) were inversely correlated with bacterial density. This study demonstrates that Legionella spp. are present in tropical air-conditioning cooling systems and that, without continuous biocide treatment, they may reach densities that present a health risk.     

Cecropia schreberiana in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico

Cecropia schreberiana Miq. (Cecropiaceae) is a common tree in the Luquillo Mountains of Puerto Rico because it is a pioneer that establishes abundantly after recurrent hurricanes that damage Luquillo forests. In these forestsC. schreberiana typically reaches about 20 m in height and 60 cm dbh and has few branches, these bearing large, deeply lobed leaves. The wood is light and weak. Unlike most of its congeners,C. schreberiana in Puerto Rico does not have symbiotic ants. It is dioecious and produces wind-pollinated flowers in spikes and abundant minute seeds broadly dispersed by birds and bats. Forest soils contain a high density of its seeds, which lie dormant until canopy opening stimulates germination. With adequate nutrientsC. schreberiana grows fast in high light, while nondominant individuals suffer heavy mortality. An individual of the species is thought to live 30 to 50 years. Cecropia schreberiana is uncommon in abandoned pastures in the Luquillo Mountains. It colonizes road cuts, landslides, and infrequent, large treefall gaps. Yet these disturbances provide only a limited “background regeneration,” which is not sufficient to maintain the species’ observed high abundance in Luquillo forests. However, there is widespread and abundantC. schreberiana regeneration after hurricane damage opens the forest canopy. Despite high mortality among these post-hurricane colonizers, enough survive and grow so thatC. schreberiana is generally among the ten most common canopy trees in the widespread “tabonuco” forest type. Post-hurricane colonizers mature, senesce, and decline in number, butC. schreberiana remains abundant as seeds in the soil ready to form tree cohorts after disturbance. The status of theC. schreberiana population indicates the developmental status of the forest as a whole. Moreover,C. schreberiana performs a key function in the reorganization of Luquillo forest ecosystems after disturbance, when its abundant regeneration and rapid growth capture and store nutrients. Also, its colonizing saplings may facilitate succession to mature forest by excluding grasses, herbs, and vines that hinder forest development. The biology of this species both reflects and helps drive the dynamics of forests in the Luquillo Mountains.     

Urban influences on the nitrogen cycle in Puerto Rico

Anthropogenic actions are altering fluxes of nitrogen (N) in the biosphere at unprecedented rates. Efforts to study these impacts have concentrated in the Northern hemisphere, where experimental data are available. In tropical developing countries, however, experimental studies are lacking. This paper summarizes available data and assesses the impacts of human activities on N fluxes in Puerto Rico, a densely populated Caribbean island that has experienced drastic landscape transformations over the last century associated with rapid socioeconomic changes. N yield calculations conducted in several watersheds of different anthropogenic influences revealed that disturbed watersheds export more N per unit area than undisturbed forested watersheds. Export of N from urban watersheds ranged from 4.8 kg ha^?1 year^?1 in the Río Bayamón watershed to 32.9 kg ha^?1 year^?1 in the highly urbanized Río Piedras watershed and 33.3 kg ha^?1 year^?1 in the rural-agricultural Río Grande de Añasco watershed. Along with land use, mean annual runoff explained most of the variance in fluvial N yield. Wastewater generated in the San Juan Metropolitan Area receives primary treatment before it is discharged into the Atlantic Ocean. These discharges are N-rich and export large amounts of N to the ocean at a rate of about 140 kg ha^?1 year^?1. Data on wet deposition of inorganic N ( $\hbox{NH}_{4}^{+}+\hbox{NO}_{3}^{-}Anthropogenic actions are altering fluxes of nitrogen (N) in the biosphere at unprecedented rates. Efforts to study these impacts have concentrated in the Northern hemisphere, where experimental data are available. In tropical developing countries, however, experimental studies are lacking. This paper summarizes available data and assesses the impacts of human activities on N fluxes in Puerto Rico, a densely populated Caribbean island that has experienced drastic landscape transformations over the last century associated with rapid socioeconomic changes. N yield calculations conducted in several watersheds of different anthropogenic influences revealed that disturbed watersheds export more N per unit area than undisturbed forested watersheds. Export of N from urban watersheds ranged from 4.8 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in the Río Bayamón watershed to 32.9 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in the highly urbanized Río Piedras watershed and 33.3 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹ in the rural-agricultural Río Grande de A?asco watershed. Along with land use, mean annual runoff explained most of the variance in fluvial N yield. Wastewater generated in the San Juan Metropolitan Area receives primary treatment before it is discharged into the Atlantic Ocean. These discharges are N-rich and export large amounts of N to the ocean at a rate of about 140 kg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹. Data on wet deposition of inorganic N () suggest that rates of atmospheric N deposition are increasing in the pristine forests of Puerto Rico. Stationary and mobile sources of NO _x (NO+NO₂) and N₂O generated in the large urban centers may be responsible for this trend. Comprehensive measurements are required in Puerto Rico to quantitatively characterize the local N cycle. More research is required to assess rates of atmospheric N deposition, N fixation in natural and human-dominated landscapes, N-balance associated with food and feed trade, and denitrification.