Locating regional health policy: Institutions, politics, and practices

Poverty reduction and health became central in the agendas of Southern regional organisations in the last two decades. Yet, little is known about how these organisations address poverty, inclusion and social inequality, and how Southern regional formations are engaging in power constellations, institutions, processes, interests and ideological positions within different spheres of governance. This article reviews academic literatures spanning global social policy, regional studies and diplomacy studies, and the state of knowledge and understanding of the ‘place’ of regional actors in health governance as a global political practice therein. It identifies theoretical and thematic points of connection between disparate literatures and how these can be bridged through research focusing on the social policies of regional organisations and regional integration processes. This framework hence locates the contributions of each of the research articles of this Special Issue of Global Social Policy on the regional dimension of health policy and diplomacy in relation to Southern Africa and South America. It also highlights the ways in which the articles bring new evidence about how social relations of welfare are being (re)made over larger scales and how regional actors may initiate new norms to improve health rights in international arenas engaging in new forms of ‘regional’ diplomacy

Phosphorus nutrition of high rainfall pastures - Peel Harvey estuarine system study (phase II) and related phosphorus work

A. Sources, rates, time of application of phosphorus on high rainfall pastures. 80AL2, 80AL5, 81AL5, 81AL6, 81KE2, 81MA4, 82AL10, 82HA31, 82HA32, 83HA26, 83HA27. B. Soil test calibration curve trials on Bassendean sands. 82HA20, 82HA21, 82HA22, 82HA23, 82HA24, 82HA25, 82HA26, 82HA27, 82HA28, 82HA29, 82HA30. C. Soil test calibration curve trials on Coolup sands. 83HA20, 83HA21, 83HA22, 83HA23, 83HA24, 83HA25. D. Phosphorus rundown. 82HA14, 82HA15, 82HA16, 82HA18. NOTE: Summary is in two parts. 1. Peel Harvey catchment program (Deeley, Barker). 2. General program on high rainfall sandy soils (Yeates, Clarke). Summary of Experimental Work. General Aims. The work summarized here was commenced with the following aims: 1. To improve the efficiency of agricultural utilization of phosphorus applied to pastures on the deep leaching sands of the high rainfall areas. 2. To minimize phosphorus loss to drainage from the deep sand, and thus reduce eutrophication problems in adjacent waterways. Five potential ways of reducing the phosphorus losses from fertilizer sources while still maintaining optimum level of agricultural productivity were considered possible. These were: 1. The use of accurate soil tests for predicting phosphorus requirements and thus ensuring that only phosphorus actually required is applied. 2. Modification of times of application of soluble phosphorus fertilizer to maximise the plant utilisation.of applied P, and to minimise losses. 3. Development of phosphorus fertilizers of lower water solubility than ordinary superphosphate (and hence with reduced leaching losses). 4. Use of deep rooted and/or perennial plant species which are better able to utilize applied soluble P. 5. Modification of the sandy soils to increase phosphorus adsorption capacity and hence reduce or eliminate leaching losses. To date research has been chiefly concerned with the first three of these possibilities

Why decision making may not require awareness

Newell & Shanks (N&S) argue against the idea that any significant role for unconscious influences on decision making has been established by research to date. Inasmuch as this conclusion applies to the idea of an "intelligent cognitive unconscious," we would agree. Our concern is that the article could lead the unwary to conclude that there are no unconscious influences on decision making - and never could be. We give reasons why this may not be the case

Pulsational Mapping of Calcium Across the Surface of a White Dwarf

We constrain the distribution of calcium across the surface of the white dwarf star G29-38 by combining time series spectroscopy from Gemini-North with global time series photometry from the Whole Earth Telescope. G29-38 is actively accreting metals from a known debris disk. Since the metals sink significantly faster than they mix across the surface, any inhomogeneity in the accretion process will appear as an inhomogeneity of the metals on the surface of the star. We measure the flux amplitudes and the calcium equivalent width amplitudes for two large pulsations excited on G29-38 in 2008. The ratio of these amplitudes best fits a model for polar accretion of calcium and rules out equatorial accretion.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal. 16 pages, 10 figures

What to think of canine obesity? Emerging challenges to our understanding of human-animal health relationships.

The coincident and increasing occurrence of weight-related health problems in humans and canines in Western societies poses a challenge to our understanding of human–animal health relationships. More specifically, the epistemological and normative impetus provided by current approaches to shared health risks and chronic diseases in cohabiting human and animal populations does not account for causal continuities in the way that people and their pets live together. An examination of differences in medical responses to these conditions in human and pet dogs points to the existence of a distinct conceptual and ethical sphere for companion animal veterinary medicine. The disengagement of veterinary medicine for companion animals from human medicine has implications for our understanding what is required for health and disease prevention at the level of populations. This disengagement of companion animal veterinarians from family and preventive medicine, in particular, constrains professional roles, planning processes and, thereby, the potential for better-integrated responses to shared burdens of chronic conditions that increasingly affect the health and welfare of people and companion animals. Keywords: Human–Animal Relationships, Medical Epistemology, Companion Animal Welfare, Veterinary Ethics, Public Health Ethics, One HealthCanadian Institutes of Health Research, Open Operating Gran

ADHD and brain anatomy:What do academic textbooks used in the Netherlands tell students?

Studies of brain size of children classified with ADHD appear to reveal smaller brains when compared to ‘normal’ children. Yet, what does this mean? Even with the use of rigorously screened case and control groups, these studies show only small, average group differences between children with and without an ADHD classification. However, academic textbooks used in the Netherlands often portray individual children with an ADHD classification as having a different, malfunctioning brain that necessitates medical intervention. This conceptualisation of ADHD might serve professional interests, but not necessarily the interests of children

Scaling the mobility of health workers in an enlarged Europe : An open political-economy perspective

The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in European Urban and Regional Studies, Vol. 23 (4), October 2016, published by SAGE Publishing.The enlargement of the European Union in 2004 and 2007 and the marketisation of health care are increasing the mobility of workers and driving a scalar transformation of the sector across Europe. Drawing on questionnaires and interviews in 17 European Union countries, and focusing on two case study New Member States, we analyse inter- and intra-country drivers and impacts of health care labour mobility. The data are analysed from an open political-economy perspective underpinned by an understanding of scale as a socially constructed material entity mediated by national and supranational state institutions, and the collective agency of workers. We emphasise the contradictory and contested nature of rescaling health care and the complex micro-dynamics of mobility. Although absolute outward migration across borders is relatively small, the movement of health care specialists is having a disproportionate effect on sender countries and regions within them.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio