New paper published

Our research group just had another paper published.
"The Nutritional Dual-Burden in Developing Countries. How is it assessed and what are the health implications? Collegium Antropologicum. Check it out!

http://www.collantropol.hr/_doc/Coll.%20Antropol.%2036%20(2012)%201:%2039%E2%80%9345.pdf

Photo competition - part 2

I just found out I had another photo "commended" on the conference last Monday.
Here it is:



(c) copyright Ines Varela-Silva (2012), Loughborough University

 Title: Stature as a measure of social inequalities

Author: Inês Varela-Silva
Location: Colonia San Jose Tecoh, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico

Description: Reflected in the patterns of growth of human populations are ‘the material and moral conditions of a society’ (Prof. James Tanner, 1986).

--------------------------------------
I am the one in the photo (on the right). My stature is ONLY 159cm. I am not tall at all...but look how taller I am in comparison with this Maya grandmother.

Photo Competition Award




(c) Copyright Ines Varela-Silva, 2012, Loughborough University

I was awarded yesterday (6 March 2012) the Second Prize Picture at the Loughborough University Research Conference (Photo Competition). This was the photo:

Title: Nutrition transition

Location
Celestun, Yucatan, Mexico

Description
The switch from traditional diets (high-fibre, low-fat, and low-calorie foods) to globalized diets (low-fibre, high-fat, high-calorie foods) is happening throughout the developing world.
The Maya are not an exception. Our research shows that, even in small communities like Celestun, fast food chains and nutritionally poor beverages are changing the dietary patterns of the populations and partially contributing for the increase in the obesity epidemic.

Research supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation. International Collaborative Research Grants (#ICRG-93).

Great work is being done by the Foundation "Save the Children". See the video and consider donating...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmV8OIfxt3I

Society for Latin American Studies Conference 2012

Ines Varela-Silva and Barry Bogin will be presenting their research with the Maya at the Society for Latin American Studies Conference 2012 (18-20 April, 2012 in Sheffield).
Check details of registration and programme here

Human experiments: Guatemala, 1940s

In the 1940s, US doctors deliberately infected thousands of Guatemalans with venereal diseases. The wound is still raw. (By Matthew Walter)

http://www.nature.com/news/human-experiments-first-do-harm-1.9980

Research humour



Research is an amazing phenomenon! Happy Valentine to all of you!



Trader Joe's signs Fair Food Agreement. Some Maya will benefit

  But a lot more needs to be done!

		Trader Joe's Relents To Pressure, Signs Fair Food Agreement
	Trader Joe's relented this week and signed a Fair Food Agreement with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), a community-based organization of mainly Latino, Mayan...

Working with Latino families

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/fcs/pdfs/fcs-521-01-web-1.pdf

New blog with jobs and conferences information

I just created a new blog, linked with this one, in which I will be posting job adverts, conferences, studenships and anything I think it is relevant for our kind of research. Feel free to spread the word and check it out...http://jobsbemicelu.blogspot.com

Grant proposal submitted to the British Academy

Just submitted a grant proposal to the British Academy.
Title: Migration, nutrition and health among the Maya in Yucatan".
Fingers crossed now!

Human Evolution Timeline Interactive | The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program

Let's put things in perspective. This is a great teaching tool, as well

Human Evolution Timeline Interactive The Smithsonian Institution's Human Origins Program

Huffington Post: Stop Ruining Your Guacamole: Recipe Dos and Don'ts

  When not in Mexico you better know how to do a really good guacamole 

		Stop Ruining Your Guacamole: Recipe Dos and Don'ts
	Not surprisingly guacamole has become a favorite dip in America, especially around game time. It's rich, creamy, fresh, tangy and so flavorful -- it always...

A music video about Evolution

RDFRS(US) (@rdfrs) 1/18/12 2:59 PM Symphony of Science - The Greatest Show on Earth! A music video about Evolution - YouTube - melodysheep - bit.ly/yXXSef

New paper in Press

We have a new paper coming out:

 

Varela-Silva MI, Dickinson F, Wilson H, Azcorra H, Griffiths PL, Bogin B. (2012). The Nutritional Dual-Burden in Developing Countries. How is it Assessed and what Are the Health Implications? Collegium Antropologicum, in press

Short course: Prevention Strategies for non-communicable diseases

Applications are now open for a new accredited short course: Prevention Strategies for NCDs. publichealth.ox.ac.uk/bhfhprg/events…

The ancient Maya smoked: Science News

science (@science) 1/11/12 5:15 AM Researchers say they have found first physical evidence of tobacco use by the Ancient Mayans bit.ly/x0rR5X

It's Not The End Of The World

We will be conducting research in the Yucatan, with the Maya families, for many years to come. The world is not going to end on 21 December 2012. Trust Charlie on this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hzF3vkmY28&feature=youtube_gdata_player

If not totally convinced ( and I don't see why you wouldn't be at this point!!)... NASA may help you as well...
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html

Maya-Toolkit

This toolkit compiles very useful information about the health status of several Maya groups. Everybody interested in this topic should be aware of this great tool.
http://www.brycs.org/maya-toolkit/upload/Maya-Toolkit.pdf

What we did in 2011

The year of 2011 was very productive for all of us involved in the BEMICELU project.

Publications
Hannah was the first author of two papers published on the American Journal of Human Biology. Inês has one paper in press on Collegium Antropologicum. See details of our publications here bemicelu.blogspot.com/p/publications-on-maya-issues.html

Presentation in conferences
We presented our work at the Human Biology Association Annual Meeting, in Minneapolis; at a conference on 'Anthropolohy and Health' in Dubrovnik; and at the SSHB Symposium 'The Human Biology of Jim Tanner', in Cambridge.

PhDs updates
Hannah has submitted her PhD dissertation and will have her viva in February or March 2012. Well done, Hannah. Hugo has been conducting fieldwork in Merida since October and is planning to keep going for 6 months more. Before Christmas he had been able to collect data from 30 family clusters (i.e. child, mother and grandmother). This is a great achievement.

Funding
Just before Christmas Hugo got extra funding from CONACYT. This will speed up some aspects of the fieldwork because it will be able to pay for another fieldworker.

Visits to Mexico
Ines and Barry visited Merida in July. We met with Fede, Hugo and the rest of the team at CINVESTAV. Ines went back in November to give a talk, to participate a bit on the fieldwork and to meet with the rest of the team.

Sabbaticals and visitorships
Fede and his wife Tere are coming to Loughborough to do a 1-year of sabbatical with Ines and Barry. Also, Adriana will start a 4-month visit to work with Ines and finish her Masters dissertation. Mexico is coming to Loughborough!!

Next year
We need to keep publishing steadily and, above all, write a couple of solid grant proposals focusing on the energy expenditure issues. Hopefully we will have a go on some epigenetics.



Three generations of Maya 

 Happy New Year to all. Thanks for reading our blog.