The Rise and Fall of "Respectable" Spanish Liberalism, 1808-1923: An Explanatory Framework

The article focuses on the reasons behind both the consolidation of what I have termed “respectable” liberalism between the 1830s and the 1840s and its subsequent decline and fall between 1900 and 1923. In understanding both processes I study the links established between “respectable” liberals and propertied elites, the monarchy, and the Church. In the first phase these links served to consolidate the liberal polity. However, they also meant that many tenets of liberal ideology were compromised. Free elections were undermined by the operation of caciquismo, monarchs established a powerful position, and despite the Church hierarchy working with liberalism, the doctrine espoused by much of the Church was still shaped by the Counter-Reformation. Hence, “respectable” liberalism failed to achieve a popular social base. And the liberal order was increasingly denigrated as part of the corrupt “oligarchy” that ruled Spain. Worse still, between 1916 and 1923 the Church, monarch, and the propertied elite increasingly abandoned the liberal Monarchist Restoration. Hence when General Primo de Rivera launched his coup the rug was pulled from under the liberals’ feet and there was no one to cushion the fall

Psychometric characteristics of the Spanish version of instruments to measure neck pain disability

Background: The NDI, COM and NPQ are evaluation instruments for disability due to NP. There was no Spanish version of NDI or COM for which psychometric characteristics were known. The objectives of this study were to translate and culturally adapt the Spanish version of the Neck Disability Index Questionnaire (NDI), and the Core Outcome Measure (COM), to validate its use in Spanish speaking patients with non-specific neck pain (NP), and to compare their psychometric characteristics with those of the Spanish version of the Northwick Pain Questionnaire (NPQ). Methods: Translation/re-translation of the English versions of the NDI and the COM was done blindly and independently by a multidisciplinary team. The study was done in 9 primary care Centers and 12 specialty services from 9 regions in Spain, with 221 acute, subacute and chronic patients who visited their physician for NP: 54 in the pilot phase and 167 in the validation phase. Neck pain (VAS), referred pain (VAS), disability (NDI, COM and NPQ), catastrophizing (CSQ) and quality of life (SF-12) were measured on their first visit and 14 days later. Patients' self-assessment was used as the external criterion for pain and disability. In the pilot phase, patients' understanding of each item in the NDI and COM was assessed, and on day 1 test-retest reliability was estimated by giving a second NDI and COM in which the name of the questionnaires and the order of the items had been changed. Results: Comprehensibility of NDI and COM were good. Minutes needed to fill out the questionnaires [median, (P25, P75)]: NDI. 4 (2.2, 10.0), COM: 2.1 (1.0, 4.9). Reliability: [ICC, (95%CI)]: NDI: 0.88 (0.80, 0.93). COM: 0.85 (0.75,0.91). Sensitivity to change: Effect size for patients having worsened, not changed and improved between days 1 and 15, according to the external criterion for disability: NDI: -0.24, 0.15, 0.66; NPQ: -0.14, 0.06, 0.67; COM: 0.05, 0.19, 0.92. Validity: Results of NDI, NPQ and COM were consistent with the external criterion for disability, whereas only those from NDI were consistent with the one for pain. Correlations with VAS, CSQ and SF-12 were similar for NDI and NPQ (absolute values between 0.36 and 0.50 on day 1, between 0.38 and 0.70 on day 15), and slightly lower for COM (between 0.36 and 0.48 on day 1, and between 0.33 and 0.61 on day 15). Correlation between NDI and NPQ: r = 0.84 on day 1, r = 0.91 on day 15. Correlation between COM and NPQ: r = 0.63 on day 1, r = 0.71 on day 15. Conclusion: Although most psychometric characteristics of NDI, NPQ and COM are similar, those from the latter one are worse and its use may lead to patients' evolution seeming more positive than it actually is. NDI seems to be the best instrument for measuring NP-related disability, since its results are the most consistent with patient's assessment of their own clinical status and evolution. It takes two more minutes to answer the NDI than to answer the COM, but it can be reliably filled out by the patient without assistance

Impact of the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19) pandemic on the morbidity and mortality of high risk patients undergoing surgery: a non-inferiority retrospective observational study

Background: During the COVID-19 crisis it was necessary to generate a specific care network and reconvert operating rooms to attend emergency and high-acuity patients undergoing complex surgery. The aim of this study is to classify postoperative complications and mortality and to assess the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic may have had on the results. Methods: this is a non-inferiority retrospective observational study. Two different groups of surgical patients were created: Pre-pandemic COVID and Pandemic COVID. Severity of illness was rated according to the Diagnosis-related Groups (DRG) score. Comparisons were made between groups and between DRG severity score-matched samples. Non-inferiority was set at up to 10 % difference for grade III to V complications according to the Clavien-Dindo classification, and up to 2 % difference in mortality. Results: A total of 1649 patients in the PreCOVID group and 763 patients in the COVID group were analysed; 371 patients were matched for DRG severity score 3-4 (236 preCOVID and 135 COVID). No differences were found in relation to re-operation (22.5 % vs. 21.5 %) or late admission to critical care unit (5.1 % vs. 4.5 %). Clavien grade III to V complications occurred in 107 patients (45.3 %) in the PreCOVID group and in 56 patients (41.5 %) in the COVID group, and mortality was 12.7 % and 12.6 %, respectively. During the pandemic, 3 % of patients tested positive for Covid-19 on PCR: 12 patients undergoing elective surgery and 11 emergency surgery; there were 5 deaths, 3 of which were due to respiratory failure following Covid-19-induced pneumonia. Conclusions: Although this study has some limitations, it has shown the non-inferiority of surgical outcomes during the COVID pandemic, and indicates that resuming elective surgery is safe

Uso del Balón de Contrapulsación Intra-Aórtico en Cirugía Cardiovascular

Introducción: El balón de contrapulsación intraaórtico es el dispositivo de asistencia ventricular de corta duración más utilizado actualmente en la Cirugía Cardiovascular.Objetivos: Caracterizar las variables preoperatorias, quirúrgicas y el momento de implantación del balón de contrapulsación intraaórtico y determinar su asociación con la mortalidad hospitalaria.Material y Métodos: Estudio retrospectivo de corte transversal, donde se incluyeron 73 pacientes (53 hombres, edad media 61.7±8.7), con indicación del balón de contrapulsación intraaórtico de un total de 1306 pacientes conducidos a cirugía cardiovascular en el hospital “Hermanos Ameijeiras”, desde enero de 2008 a diciembre de 2010. Resultados: La mortalidad hospitalaria fue del 34.2 %. Las complicaciones vasculares relacionadas con la inserción del dispositivo fueron minoritarias (4.8 %). La colocación postoperatoria del balón de contrapulsación intraaórtico (78.1 %) predominó sobre la intra (15.1 %) o la preoperatoria (6.8 %). El momento de implantación del balón (p=0.000), el tiempo de circulación extracorpórea (p=0.001), el tiempo de clampaje aórtico (p=0.006) y el tiempo quirúrgico (p=0.024) se asociaron significativamente con la mortalidad hospitalaria en el análisis univariado. El tiempo de circulación extracorpórea fue la única variable que mostró una asociación significativa e independiente con la mortalidad hospitalaria (OR 3.33 IC 95 % [1.57-7.09], p=0.004).Conclusiones: El incremento del tiempo de circulación extracorpórea muestra una asociación significativa e independiente con la mortalidad de los pacientes con indicación del balón de contrapulsación intraaórtico en la cirugía cardiovascular.Palabras clave: balón de contrapulsación intraaórtico, cirugía cardiovascular, mortalidad hospitalaria

La cochinilla corticícola Matsucoccus feytaudi Ducasse, 1941 y su papel en el decaimiento de Pinus pinaster Aiton en el Parque Natural de la Sierra de Baza (Granada, Andalucía, España)

A severe forest decline event affecting some 2 000 ha of plantations of maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton.) occurred during the summer of 2016 in the Natural Park of the Sierra de Baza (Granada, Andalusia, south of Spain). Scattered mortality of pines, but with a much lower intensity, was previously detected in 2014 and 2015 in surroundings areas. Symptoms were uniform and include discolouration of foliage and foliage lost, following by the death of the trees, affecting frequently the whole stand. Associated with the dieback, an outbreak of Matsucoccus feytaudi Ducasse, 1941 was observed, being considered as a potential causal factor involved in the mortality. Twelve pheromone sampling traps (with substance from INRA, France) were installed on February 2017 in the decline area and its surroundings (Natural Park of the Sierra de Baza) to monitor the presence of male insects. Aditionally, eight traps were placed in other maritime pinus stands (both in plantations and natural-dynamics areas, and with presence and absence of decline symptoms) to compare the incidence of Matsucoccus feytaudi: Sierra de Almijara (Albuñuelas, Granada); Sierra Nevada (Abla, Almería; Jerez del Marquesado, Granada); Sierra de Baza (Valle del Zalabí, Granada); Sierra de los Filabres (Alcóntar, Almería); Sierra Morena (Aldeaquemada, Jaén); Sierra Bermeja (Estepona, Málaga); and Natural Park of Doñana (Almonte, Huelva). Results from the campaign (February to May 2017) show that M. feytaudi is spread across most of the sampled areas, even in stands with good vegetation conditions. The results suggest that initiating mechanisms of this pine decline event may be mainly climatic anomalies, acting this insect as an associated factor which speeds up the process.En 2016 se produjo un episodio de decaimiento de gran intensidad sobre los pinares de repoblación del Parque Natural de la Sierra de Baza. Los primeros indicios de este proceso de mortalidad masivo se habían observado ya en 2014 y 2015 en Sierra de Baza y Sierra de los Filabres (Granada y Almería), así como en la cara norte de Sierra Nevada, también en las dos provincias. Asociado a este proceso se observó la presencia notable de la cochinilla Matsucoccus feytaudi Ducasse, 1941. Con objeto de dilucidar el papel que este insecto estaba desempeñando en la muerte del arbolado, en febrero de 2017 se colocaron 12 trampas de feromonas desarrolladas por el INRA (Francia) en la Sierra de Baza y 8 trampas adicionales en otras zonas de Andalucía, tanto en rodales procedentes de repoblación como con dinámica natural, con o sin manifestación de síntomas patentes de decaimiento: Sierra de Almijara (Albuñuelas, Granada); Sierra Nevada (Abla, Almería; Jerez del Marquesado, Granada); Sierra de los Filabres (Alcóntar, Almería), Sierra de Baza (Valle del Zalabí, Granada); Sierra Morena (Aldeaquemada, Jaén); Los Reales de Sierra Bermeja (Estepona, Málaga); y el Espacio Natural de Doñana (Almonte, Huelva). Se presentan los resultados derivados del trampeo llevado a cabo durante los meses de febrero a mayo de 2017, los cuales muestran una presencia muy extendida de M. feytaudi en la mayor parte de las localizaciones, discutiéndose el rol de este insecto en el episodio de decaimiento. Los resultados sugieren que el factor desencadenante del episodio de decamiento haya sido principalmente de tipo climático, actuando este insecto como un factor asociado que acelera la muerte del arbolado

Ownership structure and accountability: the case of the privatization of the Spanish tobacco monopoly, 1887-96

This paper analyses the case of the privatization of the Spanish tobacco monopoly, focusing on the period between 1887 and 1896, which corresponds to the first leasing contract between the state and the Spanish Tobacco Company and it is concerned with two different issues. First, it deals with the effects of privatization on accountability.The main question examined is whether public and private ownership entail different approaches to the way in which managers are accountable to owners, and the impact this issue had on corporate reporting. Second, it is concerned with exploring the determinants of accounting disclosure. Here, the basic issue is to understand the factors shaping changes in corporate reporting during the period of study.Accounting History, Corporate Reporting, Privatization, Tobacco Monopoly, Spain,