NON DIMENTICARE MAI LA LOTTA DI CLASSE

The intervention discusses Roberto Finelli’s last book, An accomplished patricide. Marx's final confrontation with Hegel, following the structure of the book. I agree with Finelli that the early Marx is somehow compromised with Feuerbach’s Gattung; at the same time, a ‘backward’ reading of Marx reveals that some key notions of the 1844 Economic-Philosophic Manuscripts reappear in different form in the Grundrisse as well as in Capital. My comment then focuses on the confusions and indeterminacies plaguing Finelli’s refer-ence to Arbeits-kraft, ‘labour-power’. Dealing with abstract labour, I show that Finelli’s in-terpretation is defective because he never considers the dimension of the collective worker, and because his view of abstract labour too often reduces it to simple labour, increasingly devoid of skills. To move beyond Finelli’s limits we need to consider the processual consti-tution of capitalist reality, and to distinguish carefully the eventual validation of private la-bours on the market from the immediate socialisation of collective labour going on within the immediate production process. In my opinion, the failure of Finelli’s dual Parricide is a reminder of the need to move forward towards a re-reading of Marx’s abstract value theory of labour as a macro-monetary theory of capitalist production

Dobutamine stress MRI in pulmonary hypertension: relationships between stress pulmonary artery relative area change, RV performance, and 10-year survival

In pulmonary hypertension (PH), right ventricular (RV) performance determines survival. Pulmonary artery (PA) stiffening is an important biomechanical event in PH and also predicts survival based on the PA relative area change (RAC) measured at rest using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this exploratory study, we sought to generate novel hypotheses regarding the influence of stress RAC on PH prognosis and the interaction between PA stiffening, RV performance and survival. Fifteen PH patients underwent dobutamine stress-MRI (ds-MRI) and right heart catheterization. RACREST, RACSTRESS, and ΔRAC (RAC STRESS – RAC REST) were correlated against resting invasive hemodynamics and ds-MRI data regarding RV performance and RV-PA coupling efficiency (n’vv [RV stroke volume/RV end-systolic volume]). The impact of RAC, RV data, and n’vv on ten-year survival were determined using Kaplan–Meier analysis. PH patients with a low ΔRAC (<−2.6%) had a worse long-term survival (log-rank P = 0.045, HR for death = 4.46 [95% CI = 1.08–24.5]) than those with ΔRAC ≥ −2.6%. Given the small sample, these data should be interpreted with caution; however, low ΔRAC was associated with an increase in stress diastolic PA area indicating proximal PA stiffening. Associations of borderline significance were observed between low RACSTRESS and low n’vvSTRESS, Δη’VV, and ΔRVEF. Further studies are required to validate the potential prognostic impact of ΔRAC and the biomechanics potentially connecting low ΔRAC to shorter survival. Such studies may facilitate development of novel PH therapies targeted to the proximal PA

Effectiveness of chest physiotherapy and pulmonary rehabilitation in patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis: a narrative review.

Respiratory physiotherapy and rehabilitation are important therapeutic options in non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB). The aims of this review of clinical trials were to evaluate the safety and the effects on physiologic and clinical outcomes of airway clearance techniques (ACTs) and rehabilitation in NCFB patients, in comparison to usual care. The search was performed on March 2018 by using PubMed and PeDro databases. 33 studies were selected. The use of ACTs for NCFB were effective in increasing sputum volume although no benefit in quality of life (QoL) or pulmonary exacerbations were observed. There were no differences in effectiveness between the several techniques used. Humidification and saline inhalation were able to aid airway clearance. Hypertonic solution (HS) was more effective than isotonic solutions (IS) in improving expectoration and sputum viscosity. Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) was found to be associated with short term benefits in exercise capacity, dyspnea and fatigue. Exercise training seems to improve quality of life and lower exacerbation rate, but long-term data are not available. Further studies are necessary to identify the most feasible long-term outcomes such as QoL and exacerbation rate

Finance and the Realization Problem in Rosa Luxemburg: a ‘Circuitist’ Reappraisal

Artykuł wykazuje, że Róża Luksemburg przeprowadziła swoją analizę akumulacji kapitalistycznej w duchu „cyrkulatywistycznej”, makroekonomicznej interpretacji kapitalizmu jako pieniężnej gospodarki wytwórczej. Autorzy analizują uwagi poczynione przez Luksemburg na temat schematu reprodukcji rozszerzonej wprowadzonego przez Marksa w drugim tomie „Kapitału” oraz streszczają krytyki jej podejścia w wydaniu Mikołaja Bucharina, Michała Kaleckiego i Joan Robinson. Argumentują także, że nie można zredukować stanowiska Luksemburg wyłącznie do statusu „podkonsumpcjonizmu”, a jej analizy składają się na jasną makroekonomiczną ilustrację pieniężnego i sekwencyjnego charakteru procesu kapitalistycznego

Introduction: the Theoretical Legacy of Augusto Graziani

Augusto Graziani (1933–2014) was one of the most eminent Italian economists of the twentieth century. He is internationally known as the founding father of the Theory of Monetary Circuit. His contributions to economic theory went beyond the circuit, especially in the early part of his career. They included both other theoretical areas (for example, a critical review of Walras’s general equilibrium model) and the analysis of the ‘uneven development’ of the Italian economy. Even his approach to ‘circuitism’ was quite original and cannot be reduced to a special branch of post-Keynesianism. This introduction to the special section of ROKE on Graziani highlights some key points of his heretical thinking, and gives a quick summary of the papers that follow

Neoliberal growth models, monetary union and the Euro Crisis : a post-Keynesian perspective

The paper offers an account of the Euro crisis based on post-Keynesian monetary theory and its typology of demand regimes. Neoliberalism has transformed social and financial relations in Europe but it has not given rise to a sustained profit-led growth process. Instead, growth has relied either on financial bubbles and rising household debt (‘debt-driven growth’) or on net exports (‘export-driven growth’). In Europe the financial crisis has been amplified by an economic policy architecture (the Stability and Growth Pact) that aimed at restricting the role of fiscal policy and monetary policy. This neoliberal economic policy regime in conjunction with the separation of monetary and fiscal spheres has turned the financial crisis of 2007 into a sovereign debt crisis in southern Europe