Publications

barriers to and benefits of leisure time physical activity in the elderly: differences across cultures.	the purpose of this study was to compare ethnic differences in attitudes toward barriers and benefits of leisure-time physical activity (ltpa) in sedentary elderly mexican (mas) and european americans (eas). an in-home, cross-sectional survey was performed on 210 community-dwelling elders from 10 primary care practices in south texas that are part of the south texas ambulatory research network, a practice-based research network. analytical variables included ethnicity, age, sex, income, educatio ...	2003	12757577
ciguatera fish poisoning--texas, 1998, and south carolina, 2004.	ciguatera fish poisoning is characterized by gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea and neurologic symptoms such as weakness, tingling, and pruritus (itching). the condition is caused by eating fish containing toxins produced by the dinoflagellate gambierdiscus toxicus, a one-celled plantlike organism that grows on algae in tropical waters worldwide. because these toxins are lipid soluble, they accumulate through the food chain as carnivorous fish consume contaminated h ...	2006	16943762
avian influenza virus investigation in wild bobwhite quail from texas.	the objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of avian influenza viruses (aiv) in bobwhite quail (colinus virginianus) populations from the rolling plains of texas, u. s. a. a total of 1320 swab samples (652 tracheal swabs and 668 cloacal swabs) and 44 serum samples were collected from wild-captured or hunter-harvested bobwhite quail from november 2009 to april 2011 at the rolling planes quail research ranch, fisher county, texas, u. s. a. the presence of aiv in the swabs was deter ...	2012	23402104
raising the bar on achieving racial diversity in higher education: the united states supreme court's decision in fisher v university of texas.	in fisher v university of texas, the u.s. supreme court revisited the constitutionality of race-conscious admissions practices aimed at fostering student diversity in university programs. although it concluded that student diversity remains the type of compelling state interest that justifies consideration of race in admissions, the court nonetheless raised the bar on the use of such practices by requiring universities to prove that no workable race-neutral methods can produce the same result. w ...	2013	24128633
dengue surveillance in veterans affairs healthcare facilities, 2007-2010.	although dengue is endemic in puerto rico (pr), 2007 and 2010 were recognized as epidemic years. in the continental united states (us), outside of the texas-mexico border, there had not been a dengue outbreak since 1946 until dengue re-emerged in key west, florida (fl), in 2009-2010. the objective of this study was to use electronic and manual surveillance systems to identify dengue cases in veterans affairs (va) healthcare facilities and then to clinically compare dengue cases in veterans prese ...	2013	23516642
validation of copy number variants associated with prostate cancer risk and prognosis.	two recent studies have reported novel heritable copy number variants on chromosomes 2p, 15q, and 12q to be associated with prostate cancer (pca) risk in non-hispanic caucasians. the goal of this study was to determine whether these findings could be independently confirmed in the caucasian population from the south texas area.	2014	24054869