This article analyzes the changes in health conditions and quality of life in the populations of developed and developing countries over the past 30 years, resulting from neoliberal policies developed by many governments and promoted by the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Health Organization, and other international agencies. It challenges interpretations by the analysts of "globalization", including the common assumption that states are disappearing. The author shows that what has been happening is not a reduction of state interventions but a change in the nature and character of those interventions, resulting from major changes in class (and race and gender) power relations in each country, with establishment of an alliance between the dominant classes of developed and developing countries-a class alliance responsible for the promotion of its ideology, neoliberalism. This is the cause of the enormous health inequalities in the world today. The article concludes with a critical analysis of the WHO report on social determinants of health, applauding its analysis and many of its recommendations, but faulting it for ignoring the power relations that shape these social determinants. It is not inequalities that kill people, as the report states; it is those who are responsible for these inequalities that kill people.

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This analysis reflects on the importance of political parties, and the policies they implement when in government, in determining the level of equalities/inequalities in a society, the extent of the welfare state (including the level of health care coverage by the state), the employment/unemployment rate, and the level of population health. The study looks at the impact of the major political traditions in the advanced OECD countries during the golden years of capitalism (1945-1980)--social democratic, Christian democratic, liberal, and ex-fascist--in four areas: (1) the main determinants of income inequalities; (2) levels of public expenditures and health care benefits coverage; (3) public support of services to families; and (4) the level of population health as measured by infant mortality. The results indicate that political traditions more committed to redistributive policies (both economic and social) and full-employment policies, such as the social democratic parties, were generally more successful in improving the health of populations. The erroneous assumption of a conflict between social equity and economic efficiency is also discussed. The study aims at filling a void in the growing health and social inequalities literature, which rarely touches on the importance of political forces in influencing inequalities.

This article analyzes how the neoliberal policies, such as the politics of austerity (with considerable cuts to social policy expenditures including medical care and public health services) and the privatization of health services, imposed by many governments on both sides of the North Atlantic, considerably weakened the capacity of the response to the coronavirus pandemic in Italy, Spain, and the United States.

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Changes in the immune system indicators serum hemagglutinating activity, complement levels, antibody titer, and lymphocyte number and in the plasma levels of cortisol and glucose in the gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) indicated that stress was induced when fish were chased daily for 8 min with a hand-held net for 16 days. Plasma levels of cortisol and glucose were elevated after 1 day and cortisol remained above prestress levels throughout the experiment. The immune system was altered as indicated by lymphocytopenia and decreases in hemolytic activity, agglutination capacity, and antibody titer. As these results show, for the first time, that the complement system is depressed after stress, a routine complement analysis is suggested as an additional technique for assessing the health status of fish.RCsumC : La rCponse de stress a Ct C m&surCe sur la dorade (Sparus aurata) aprks 16 jolmrs de poursuite rkgulikre (8 minijour). On a analysi le cortisol et la glucose plasmatiques et des rdponses immunologiques, comme 19activite hemagglutinante du sCrum, l'action himolysante du complkment, la titration des anticorps et le nombre de lymphocytes circulants. Les rCsultats montrent une augmentation du cortisol et de la glucose aprks Ie premier jour, laquelle continue pour le cortisol jusqu'i la fin de l'expdriment, ou on trouve l mne stabilisation. Toutes les r6powses immunologiques sont affeetCes. On trouve lymphocytopenie et une baisse de 19activitC hCmolitiqlme, de la capacite d'agglutination et de la titration des anticorps. Puisque ces aCsultats iwdiquent l'inhibition du systkme du complCment par le stress, on suggkre l'addition des analyses du compl6rnent B I'ensemble des autres indicateurs sanitaires des poissows.

BackgroundThe objective of this study is to analyze the factors that are associated with the adequacy of empirical antibiotic therapy and its impact in mortality in a large cohort of patients with extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL) - producing Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. bacteremia.MethodsCases of ESBL producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-E) bacteremia collected from 2003 through 2008 in 19 hospitals in Spain. Statistical analysis was performed using multivariate logistic regression.ResultsWe analyzed 387 cases ESBL-E bloodstream infections. The main sources of bacteremia were urinary tract (55.3%), biliary tract (12.7%), intra-abdominal (8.8%) and unknown origin (9.6%). Among all the 387 episodes, E. coli was isolated from blood cultures in 343 and in 45.71% the ESBL-E was multidrug resistant. Empirical antibiotic treatment was adequate in 48.8% of the cases and the in hospital mortality was 20.9%. In a multivariate analysis adequacy was a risk factor for death [adjusted OR (95% CI): 0.39 (0.31-0.97); P = 0.04], but not in patients without severe sepsis or shock. The class of antibiotic used empirically was not associated with prognosis in adequately treated patients.ConclusionESBL-E bacteremia has a relatively high mortality that is partly related with a low adequacy of empirical antibiotic treatment. In selected subgroups the relevance of the adequacy of empirical therapy is limited.

This paper presents a formulation to incorporate the influence of water salinity on the swelling behaviour of a MX-80 bentonite into previously developed hydro-mechanical models that can reproduce swelling under dilute conditions. The effects of salinity on macro-and microstructural water chemical potentials were introduced. In addition, a description of solute transport was included to characterise the evolution of the system's salinity. A simplified geochemical model was adopted to idealise the geochemical complexity of bentonite. In addition, the modelling of the destructuration process that occurs during swelling was modified to account for the effect of salinity. The formulation was implemented in a multiphysics partial differential equation finite element solver, and the numerical model was used to simulate several vertical free swelling tests with feed water of different salt contents (deionised, 10, 35 and 70 g/L). The results demonstrate that even though the model can be developed further, it represents a significant improvement over models that do not account for the effects of salinity.