A multi-source global-local model for epidemic management

The Effective Reproduction Number Rt provides essential information for the management of an epidemic/pandemic. Projecting Rt into the future could further assist in the management process. This article proposes a methodology based on exposure scenarios to perform such a procedure. The method utilizes a compartmental model and its adequate parametrization; a way to determine suitable parameters for this model in México’s case is detailed. In conjunction with the compartmental model, the projection of Rt permits estimating unobserved variables, such as the size of the asymptomatic population, and projecting into the future other relevant variables, like the active hospitalizations, using scenarios. The uses of the proposed methodologies are exemplified by analyzing the pandemic in a Mexican state; the main quantities derived from the compartmental model, such as the active and total cases, are included in the analysis. This article also presents a national summary based on the methodologies to illustrate how these procedures could be further exploited. The supporting information includes an application of the proposed methods to a metropolitan area to show that it also works well at other demographic disaggregation levels. The procedures developed in this article shed light on how to develop an effective surveillance system when information is incomplete and can be applied in cases other than México’s.

Two sides of the same coin: increasing material extraction rates and social environmental conflicts in Mexico

This article seeks to explain the multiplication of social environmental conflicts in Mexico as a consequence of expanding and intensifying extractive activities. It examines how the Mexican state has provided private and foreign capital greater access to the country’s natural resources in the transition from state-led import-substituting industrialization to export-oriented market-led development. This, it argues, has led to accelerating material extraction rates in the context of rising global demand for primary commodities; while the negative environmental and social impacts have in turn led to a growing number of conflicts involving the inhabitants of directly affected rural communities, who organize to resist. Based on standardized procedures for material flow analysis, it presents the results of an investigation into the domestic extraction rates of minerals, metal ores, biomass, and fossil fuels from Mexico, between 1990 and 2018. It finds that domestic extraction rates increased significantly during this period, with the exception of fossil fuels, which peaked in 2006, declining thereafter due to the exhaustion of the country’s most important oil reserves. The evolution of domestic extraction rates is juxtaposed with the emergence of related social environmental conflicts by drawing on multiple databases of conflicts around extractive activities in Mexico.

Salvia beltraniorum (Lamiaceae), a new species in savannoid vegetation from Cosalá, Sinaloa, Mexico

An undescribed Salvia species was discovered in savannoid vegetation in the municipality of Cosalá, Sinaloa, during botanical explorations addressed to document the endemic species of this Mexican state. This plant is morphologically most similar to Salvia pringlei, sharing with this the peculiar character of connivent calyces during fructification enclosing the mericarps. However, the new species differs by having smaller floral bracts, deep blue corollas instead of magenta, shorter corollas, corolla lips subequal in length, and shorter connectives and styles. Consequently, we describe and diagnosed this taxon as Salvia beltraniorum. A distribution map, photographs and an identification key to Salvia species in Sinaloa are also provided.

New Records of Neobenedenia Girellae (Hargis, 1955) (Monogenea: Capsalidae) In Marine Ornamental Fish Imported To Yucatan, Mexico

We detected N. girellae infections in 40 species belonging to 12 families of imported marine ornamental fish from a public aquarium in the Mexican state of Yucatan in January 2018 to December 2020 and carried out their identification to the species level using morphological and molecular analyses. Monogeneans were corroborated morphologically and molecularly using a partial sequence of 28S (region D1–D3) ribosomal DNA and analyzed in a molecular phylogenetic context in combination with data derived from other species of N. girellae available in GenBank. The phylogenetic tree revealed that the specimen found consistently belonged to the N. girellae clade. High infection parameters were detected of N. girellae in the hosts. This identification is relevant to aquarists and aquaculturists in the Gulf of Mexico because N. girellae is considered highly pathogenic in confined fish. Clearly, this work demonstrates that the importation of ornamental fish, coupled with deficient sanitary measures (lack of quarantine areas in distribution centres) contributes to the introduction of parasites and their establishment and dispersal within Mexico.

Cuerpos abiertos, cuerpos insaciables. Modelos narratológicos y una vieja maldición en El Sinaloa, de Guillermo Rubio y de Vizcarrondo

Luis Manuel Salcido Arispuro, whose alias gives its name to the novel El Sinaloa, is a policeman with a dual personality: an agent in the service of the Mexican State, which in turn serves the interests of the Sinaloa drug cartel mafia of the late 1990s. Hand in hand with Guillermo Rubio’s narrative, the reader will be introduced to the world of the mafia, with its impunity and self-confidence, where amid parties, excesses and violence, we will discover a charismatic character, with an insatiable hunger and of an exacerbated voracity. Given this, it is valid to ask ourselves if it is a normal condition of a character of its type, or if it is a curse of unsuspected, as well as ancestral dyes.

A Trypanosoma cruzi strain from southern Mexico is more virulent for male mice in part by blocking the immune response

Introduction: Chagas disease is a neglected disease in the American continent. The southern Mexican state of Chiapas has the highest incidence rate of Chagas disease in the country. The disease, mainly caused by Tripanosoma cruzi in Mexico, is more prevalent in males than in females but the scientific basis for the sex-related tropism is not completely understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pathogenicity of a T. cruzi strain in mice of both sexes and to assess certain elements of the immune response in the infected animals. Methodology: Triatomines bugs were searched at Los Mezcales, Chiapas, Mexico and T. cruzi was identified by PCR and sequencing. A T. cruzi strain was isolated from the feces of triatomines bugs. Mice were infected with the strain and the virulence of the T. cruzi strain as well as the immune response against the infection was compared in male versus female mice. Results: T. dimidiata was identified in all dwellings. 42.9% of the bugs were infected with T. cruzi lineage TcI. Male mice exhibited higher parasitemia than females, and developed leukopenia and lower levels of anti-T. cruzi antibodies compared to female mice. Conclusions: The identification of the T. cruzi strain in this endemic region of Mexico revealed that male mice are prone to this infectious protozoo, in addition to manifesting a deficient immune response against infection. These findings may explain the greater number of cases of Chagas disease among men in this endemic region of Latin America.

A Synopsis of Croton (Euphorbiaceae) in Michoacán, Mexico

A taxonomic and nomenclatural review of the genus Croton (Euphorbiaceae) in the Mexican state of Michoacán is presented. Six sections and 20 species are here reported. The greatest diversity is in the Balsas Depression province, where at least 12 species occur. There is a strong tendency to thrive in tropical deciduous forest. An identification key is provided, and for each species, the following information is included: protologue citation, type information, habit, habitat, and elevation within the state, regional and global distribution, and phenology. Relevant synonyms are listed, as too are herbarium specimens. Lectotypes are designated for Croton draco, C. niveus, and C. calvescens. One species, Croton rojasii, is described as new and illustrated with photos. It is known only from tropical deciduous forest in the Zicuirán-Infiernillo Biosphere Reserve, at elevations from 400 to 700 m. It belongs to sect. Geiseleria and is remarkable because of the strongly unequal pistillate sepals, the larger of which becoming accrescent and exceeding the fruit.

Onthophagus acernorus (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Onthophagini), a new dung beetle species from Jalisco, Mexico

The Onthophagus chevrolati Harold, 1869 (Coleoptera: Scarabaeidae: Scarabaeinae: Onthophagini) species complex was recently studied, and a majority of its species were newly described or redescribed (see Moctezuma & Halffter 2020). Onthophagus viridichevrolati Moctezuma & Halffter, 2020 was the only species within the O. chevrolati species complex recognized to occur in the Mexican state of Jalisco (Moctezuma & Halffter 2020). Recently, new material belonging to the O. chevrolati species complex was collected from the maple (Acer; Sapindaceae) forests of Talpa de Allende, Jalisco, Mexico. The examination of these specimens showed that they are morphologically similar to O. chevrolati Harold, 1869 and belong to an undescribed species. In this study, we provide photographs of the habitus (male and female) and male genitalia of O. acernorus new species; an identification key to separate it from O. chevrolati, and an updated distribution map of the O. chevrolati species complex.