The financialization of mass wealth, banking crises and politics over the long run

The co-evolution of democratic politics and mass, financialized wealth has destabilized highly integrated financial systems and the socio-political underpinnings of neoliberal policy norms at domestic and global levels. Over the long run, it has increased the political pressure on governments to undertake bailouts during major banking crises and, by raising voters’ attentiveness to wealth losses and distributional inequities, has sharply raised the bar for government performance. The result has been more costly bailouts, greater political instability and the sustained politicization of wealth cleavages in crisis aftermaths. We underline the crucial importance and modernity of this phenomenon by showing how the high concentration of wealth in pre-1914 Britain and America among elites was associated with limited crisis interventions and surprisingly tranquil political aftermaths. By contrast, the 2007–2009 crises in both countries epitomise the political dilemmas facing elected governments in a new world of mass financialized wealth and the impact on political polarization and democratic politics. We show that these dilemmas were embryonic in the interwar period and highlight how the evolutionary forces shaping policy and political outcomes reveal the importance of time, context and the effects of long cycles in the world economy and global politics

Relations of body habitus, fitness level and cardiovascular risk factors including Lipoproteins and Apolipoproteins in a rural and urban Costa Rican population

Artículo científico -- Universidad de Costa Rica, Instituto de Investigaciones en Salud. 1991. La revista no permite distribuir la versión final del PDF.Increased general and abdominal obesity has been independently associated with diabetes, increased risk of stroke, and coronary artery disease (CAD). It is more prevalent in developed countries and in urban areas of nonindustrialized nations than in less developed and rural areas. To evaluate the associations between general and abdominal obesity (as determined by total body fat, waist to hip ratio, umbilical to triceps ratio, and umbilical to subscapular ratio) with glucose, plasma lipoproteins, apolipoprotein (apo) A-I and B concentrations, and low density lipoprotein (LDL) particle size (LDL 1-7), we randomly selected 222 men and 243 women from rural and urban areas of Puriscal, Costa Rica. Abdominal obesity, as assessed by the waist to hip ratio, was independently and significantly associated with higher triglyceride levels (p <O.01) and with lower high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (p <0.05) in men and women and with higher glucose levels ( p <0.05) and smaller LDL particle size (p <0.01) in women. Abdominal obesity, as assessed by the umbilical to subscapular ratio, was independently and significantly associated with higher total cholesterol (p <0.005) and apo B (p<0.01) levels. Umbilical to triceps ratio was positively associated with blood pressure in men. Urban men had increased general and abdominal obesity (p <0.0001), number of cigarettes smoked per day (p <0.0001), and diastolic blood pressure (p <0.05) and had a decreased fitness level (p <0.0001) as well as higher (p <0.05) plasma glucose, triglyceride, and total cholesterol concentrations and lower (p<0.05) apo A-I and IIDL cholesterol levels compared with rural men. The differences between rural and urban women were not as striking. Urban women had increased general and abdominal obesity, glucose, and apo B levels (p<0.05) and a decreased fitness level (p <0.0001). Our data indicate that general and abdominal obesity, increased cigarette smoking, diastolic blood pressure, and decreased fitness level are more prevalent in an urban than in a rural area in Costa Rica, particularly in men. The higher prevalence of such risk factors in the urban area is associated with a more atherogenic plasma lipoprotein profile.Universidad de Costa Rica, Instituto de Investigaciones en Salud.UCR::Vicerrectoría de Investigación::Unidades de Investigación::Ciencias de la Salud::Instituto de Investigaciones en Salud (INISA

PTH, vitamin D, and the FGF-23-klotho axis and heart: Going beyond the confines of nephrology

BACKGROUND: Profound disturbances in mineral metabolism are closely linked to the progression of chronic kidney disease. However, increasing clinical and experimental evidence indicates that alterations in phosphate homoeostasis could have an even stronger impact on the heart. AIM: The aim of this review is to provide the reader with an update of how alterations in mineral metabolism are related to direct and indirect cardiotoxic effects beyond the nephrology setting. RESULTS: Evidence exists that alterations in mineral metabolism that are related to changes in parathyroid hormone (PTH), vitamin D, and the FGF-23-klotho axis have direct pathological consequences for the heart. Alterations in plasma PTH levels are associated with cardiac dysfunction and detrimental cardiac remodelling. Several clinical studies have associated vitamin D deficiency with the prevalence of cardiovascular disease (CV) and its risk factors. Recent evidences support deleterious direct and nonphosphaturic effects of FGF-23 on the heart as hypertrophy development. In contrast, reduced systemic klotho levels are related to CV damage, at least when advanced age is present. In addition, we discuss how these mineral metabolism molecules can counteract each other in some situations, in the context of failed clinical trials on cardiac protection as is the case of vitamin D supplementation. CONCLUSIONS: Among all mineral components, an increase in systemic FGF-23 levels is considered to have the greatest CV impact and risk. However, it is quite possible that many intracellular mechanisms mediated by FGF-23, especially those related to cardiomyocyte function, remain to be discovered.Sin financiación2.784 JCR (2018) Q1, 37/160 Medicine, General & Internal; Q2, 67/136 Medicine, Research & Experimental1.097 SJR (2018) Q1, 27/133 Clinical Biochemistry, 470/2844 Medicine (miscellaneous); Q2, 140/462 BiochemistryNo data IDR 2018UE