scholarly journals The mechanism and pattern of injuries of undocumented immigrants crossing the Texas-Mexico border along the Rio Grande Valley

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos H. Palacio ◽  
Bianca Cruz ◽  
Cheryl Vanier ◽  
Jose Cano ◽  
Bradford G. Scott
Keyword(s):  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
Surgical Intervention ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Border Fence ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Extremity Injuries

Abstract Background Apprehensions of undocumented immigrants in the Rio Grande Valley sector of the U.S.-Mexico border have grown to account for nearly half of all apprehensions at the border. The purpose of this study is to report the prevalence, mechanism, and pattern of traumatic injuries sustained by undocumented immigrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border at the Rio Grande Valley sector over a span of 5 years and were treated at a local American College of Surgeons verified Level II trauma center. Methods A retrospective chart review was conducted from January 2014 to December 2019. Demographics, comorbidities, injury severity score (ISS), mechanism of injury, anatomical part of the body affected, hospital and ICU length of stay (LOS), and treatment costs were analyzed. Descriptive statistics for demographics, injury location and cause, and temporal trends are reported. The impact of ISS or surgical intervention on hospital LOS was analyzed using an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). Results Of 178 patients, 65.2% were male with an average age of 31 (range 0–67) years old and few comorbidities (88.8%) or social risk factors (86%). Patients most commonly sustained injuries secondary to a border fence-related incident (33.7%), fleeing (22.5%), or motor vehicle accident (16.9%). There were no clear temporal trends in the total number of patients injured, or in causes of injury, between 2014 and 2019. The majority of patients (60.7%) sustained extremity injuries, followed by spine injuries (20.2%). Border fence-related incidents and fleeing increased risk of extremity injuries (Odds ratio (OR) > 3; p < 0.005), whereas motor vehicle accidents increased risk of head and chest injuries (OR > 4; p < 0.004). Extremity injuries increased the odds (OR: 9.4, p < 0.001) that surgery would be required. Surgical intervention was common (64%), and the median LOS of patients who underwent surgery was 3 days more than those who did not (p < 0.001). Conclusion In addition to border fence related injuries, undocumented immigrants also sustained injuries while fleeing and in motor vehicle accidents, among others. Extremity injuries, which were more likely with border fence-related incidents, were the most common type. This type of injury often requires surgical intervention and, therefore, a longer hospital stay for severe injuries.

The Role of Obesity in Motor Vehicle Injuries and Fatalities in the Pediatric Population: A Systematic Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 088506662199273
Author(s):  
Zana Alattar ◽  
Shelby Hoebee ◽  
Eyal Ron ◽  
Paul Kang ◽  
Eric vanSonnenberg
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Risk Factor ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Pediatric Population ◽  
Extremity Injury ◽  
Obese Children ◽  
Patients Âgés ◽  
Vehicle Accidents ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Extremity Injuries

Purpose: A systematic review done to evaluate obesity as a risk factor for injuries and mortality in motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) in the pediatric population, as there has not been a systematic review done in over 10 years. This study aims to update the literature regarding obesity as a risk factor for injuries in MVAs in the pediatric population. Materials and Methods: A systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines with strict inclusion and exclusion criteria, resulting in the use of 3 total articles to analyze obesity as a risk factor for overall injury and mortality in the pediatric population. Results: Zaveri et al demonstrated a statistically significant, but weak, decrease in the odds of extremity injury in overweight patients ages 2 to 17 years old (odds ratio [OR] = 0.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.4-1.0, P ≤ 0.05). On the other hand, Pollack et al and Haricharan et al found an increase in extremity injury in the obese population, in ages 9 to 15 years (OR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.15-5.59, P ≤ 0.05), and 10 to 17 years (Age 10-13: OR = 6.06, 95% CI = 2.23-16.44, P ≤ 0.05, Age 14-17 OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.04-2.00, P ≤ 0.05), respectively. Haricharan et al also found an increase in thoracic injuries in obese children, ages 2 to 13 and increased risk of head/face/neck injury in obese children ages 2 to 5 (OR = 3.67, 95% CI = 1.03-13.08, P ≤ 0.05), but a decreased risk of head injury in obese children ages 14 to 17 (OR = 0.33, 95% CI = 0.18-0.60, P ≤ 0.05). Conclusions: There are sparse data that are conflicting, regarding the effect of obesity on extremity injuries in the pediatric population. Obesity is not protective against thoracic, head, or abdominal injuries. However, it was found to be a risk factor for trunk injuries in ages 2 to 13, as well as head/face/neck injuries for ages 2 to 5. Since the literature is so sparse, further research is warranted in these areas.

The association between HIV/AIDS and food insecurity at the US–Mexico border: Experiences of low-income patients in the Rio Grande Valley

2020 ◽  
pp. 095646242093060
Author(s):  
Jennifer Tabler ◽  
Laryssa Mykyta ◽  
Jason M Nagata
Keyword(s):  
Food Insecurity ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Neighborhood Environment ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Aids Diagnosis ◽  
Living With Hiv ◽  
Us Mexico Border ◽  
Hiv Aids

US–Mexico border communities are uniquely vulnerable to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission given the economic and social challenges these communities face. We surveyed low-income, predominantly Latinx residents receiving sexually transmitted infection testing and/or HIV/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) care in the lower Rio Grande Valley of southernmost Texas about their experiences of food insecurity. Participants aged 18 years and over took a self-administered survey available in English or Spanish in a clinic waiting room ( N = 251). Ordinary least squares regression results suggested that those with a prior HIV/AIDS diagnosis reported a response for food insecurity that was approximately 0.67 points higher than peers without a prior HIV/AIDS diagnosis (coefficient = 0.67; p < 0.05), even when adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics, social support, perceived discrimination, and neighborhood environment. Interaction results between age and HIV status indicated that younger individuals living with HIV/AIDS experienced uniquely higher food insecurity; those who reported a prior HIV/AIDS diagnosis experienced an additional reduction in food insecurity by approximately 0.06 points for each additional year of age (age × HIV/AIDS interaction coefficient = −0.06; p < 0.05). Community programs serving low-income populations should consider screening for and intervening on food insecurity, especially among young adults living with HIV/AIDS.

Border and Becoming as Sites of Theory

2020 ◽  
pp. 194084472093904
Author(s):  
Michael C. McLane ◽  
Scott Jarvie
Keyword(s):  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Qualitative Work ◽  
A Site

This paper travels backwards, imagining impossibly a particular time and place in the past, to consider how the Texas–Mexico border helps make sense of our own becomings as teachers, scholars, and persons. Drawing on St. Pierre’s notion of the past as a site of theory, we ruminate on the Rio Grande Valley as “the literal ground of our consciousness”. To do this qualitative work, we turn to others who have made sense of the border fictionally, as non-scholarly forms present different possibilities for research. We explore, nostalgically, the persons we might become in a Valley long past—an openness now restricted—and ways of (re)imagining becoming, of refusing narratives that foreclose hope—work crucially exigent for the precarious lives of those on the border today and the stories we tell about them.

The Wall

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Undocumented Immigrants ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Border Crossing ◽  
Border Patrol ◽  
Visual Artists ◽  
Border Fence

The most inane obstacle that undocumented immigrants face upon reaching U.S. soil is the 670-mile border wall that Congress erected after passing the 2006 Secure Border Fence Act. The author meditates on its architecture through her meetings with half a dozen visual artists. Conceptual artist Susan Harbage Page photographs and collects the objects immigrants leave behind during their border crossing. Artist and curator Mark Clark organizes “Art Against The Wall” exhibitions in which artists festoon the border wall with brilliantly colored canvases (until the Border Patrol takes them down). Rigoberto Gonzalez is an oil painter who recreates life-size images of narco-violence in the style of seventeenth-century Baroque masters. Santa Barraza paints a Virgen de Guadalupe in Kingsville every December. At the end of the chapter, the author witnesses the arrest of two undocumented immigrants less than a mile from the Rio Grande.

scholarly journals A Comparative Analysis of the Attitudes toward the U.S.-Mexico Border Policy: Evaluating Perspectives on Border Security and Building a Wall in the Rio Grande Valley, National Hispanic and General U.S. Populations

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 476-496
Author(s):  
Dongkyu Kim ◽  
Mi-son Kim ◽  
Natasha Altema McNeely
Keyword(s):  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Original Data ◽  
South Texas ◽  
Policy Attitudes ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
Borderland Communities ◽  
General Populations ◽  
The U.S

Recently, there has been a surge of national attention toward the U.S.-Mexican border in South Texas, known as the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). Despite the attention and potential impact, which the wall would directly have on the RGV community, there has been no systemic attention paid to the opinions of the RGV residents regarding the proposed wall and other related immigration policies. This article, therefore, aims to fill this gap by comparing immigration policy attitudes in the borderland communities to both the national Hispanic and the general national populations. By utilizing original data from an RGV public opinion survey we conducted in 2018, our analysis shows that RGV residents hold more lenient immigration attitudes than do both the national Hispanic and the general populations. We utilize logistic regression analysis to further our understanding of the correlates of these attitudes across different samples. Our findings provide important policy and political implications.

The DHS Border Fence in the Rio Grande Valley

2011 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 530-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence Garrett ◽  
James Storbeck
Keyword(s):  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Border Fence

Addressing high cervical cancer rates in the Rio Grande Valley along the Texas–Mexico border: a community-based initiative focused on education, patient navigation, and medical provider training/telementoring

2021 ◽  
pp. 175791392199461
Author(s):  
MP Salcedo ◽  
R Gowen ◽  
AM Rodriguez ◽  
S Fisher-Hoch ◽  
M Daheri ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cervical Cancer ◽  
Cancer Screening ◽  
Patient Navigation ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Cervical Dysplasia ◽  
Rio Grande Valley ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Medical Providers ◽  
Project Echo ◽  
Mexico Border

Aims: Cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates are approximately 55% higher in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) along the Texas–Mexico border compared with the average rates in the US. Our aim was to improve cervical cancer prevention efforts in the RGV through a comprehensive multilevel intervention initiative focused on community education, patient navigation, and training of local providers. Methods: We initiated a program in the RGV which consisted of (1) community education, (2) patient navigation, and (3) a training/mentoring program for local medical providers including hands-on training courses coupled with telementoring using Project ECHO® (Extension for Community Health Outcomes). We assessed the number of women undergoing cervical cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment at three participating clinics caring for underserved women in the region. Results: From November 2014 to October 2018, 14,846 women underwent cervical cancer screening. A total of 2030 (13.7%) women underwent colposcopy for abnormal results (179% increase over baseline) and 453 women underwent loop electrosurgical excision procedures (LEEPs) for treatment of cervical dysplasia. Invasive cancer was diagnosed in 39 women who were navigated to a gynecologic oncologist for treatment. Seven local medical providers were trained to perform colposcopy and/or LEEP. Project ECHO telementoring videoconferences were held every 2 weeks for a total 101 sessions with an average of 22 participants per session and a total of 180 patient cases presented and discussed. Conclusions: Our program led to a large number of women undergoing diagnosis and treatment of cervical dysplasia in the RGV. If sustained, we anticipate these efforts will decrease cervical cancer rates in the region. The program is currently being expanded to additional underserved areas of Texas and globally to low- and middle-income countries.

341 Acute effects of seltorexant, a selective orexin-2 antagonist (JNJ- 42847922), on driving after bedtime administration

SLEEP ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. A136-A136
Author(s):  
S Brooks ◽  
R G J A Zuiker ◽  
G E Jacobs ◽  
I Kezic ◽  
A Savitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Postural Stability ◽  
Driving Simulator ◽  
Motor Vehicle ◽  
Subjective Effects ◽  
Driving Ability ◽  
Post Dose ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Subjective Sleepiness ◽  
The Difference

Abstract Introduction Seltorexant (JNJ-42847922), a potent and selective antagonist of the human orexin-2 receptor, is being developed for the treatment of major depressive disorder. Seltorexant also has sleep-promoting properties. Investigating the effects of sleep-promoting medications on driving is important because some of these agents (e.g. GABAA receptor agonists) may be associated with increased risk of motor vehicle accidents. We evaluated the effect of seltorexant on driving after forced awakening at night, using a validated driving simulator. Methods This double-blind, placebo and active-controlled, randomized, 3-way cross-over study was conducted in 18 male and 18 female healthy subjects. All subjects received seltorexant 40 mg, zolpidem 10 mg, or placebo 15 minutes before bedtime. Eighteen subjects were awakened at 2- and 6-hours post-dose, and the other 18 at 4- and 8-hours post-dose. At those timepoints, pharmacokinetics, objective (standard deviation of the lateral position [SDLP]) and subjective effects (using Perceived Driving Quality and Effort Scales) on driving ability, postural stability and subjective sleepiness were assessed. Results For seltorexant, the SDLP difference from placebo (95% confidence interval) at 2-, 4-, 6- and 8-hours post-dose was 3.9 cm (1.26, 6.60), 0.9 cm (-1.08, 2.92), 1.1 cm (-0.42, 2.63), and 0.6 cm (-2.75, 1.55), respectively vs. 9.6 cm (6.97, 12.38), 6.6 cm (3.53, 9.60), 4.7 cm (1.46, 7.85), and 1.3cm (-1.16, 3.80), respectively for zolpidem. The difference from placebo was significant at 2-hours after taking seltorexant, while the difference from placebo was significant at 2, 4 and 6-hours after zolpidem. Subjective driving quality was decreased for both drugs at all time points and driving effort was increased up to 4-hours post-dose for both medications. Subjective sleepiness showed a significant increase compared to placebo 2- and 4-hours after administration of either drug. Postural stability was decreased up to 2-hours after administration of seltorexant, and up to 4-hours after administration of zolpidem. Conclusion Compared to zolpidem, objective effects on driving performance were more transient after seltorexant administration and largely normalized by 4–6 hours post-dose. Support (if any) This work was sponsored by Janssen R&D.

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