Is health a right?: public policies in times of neoliberalism

El presente artículo aborda de qué manera ha sido incorporado el derecho a la salud en la Constitución Nacional Argentina, para arribar así a la reforma de 1994 donde el mismo es explicitado en el artículo N° 42. Se destaca también la importancia de suscribir a tratados internacionales. Se describen las características generales del Estado de Bienestar versus el Estado neoliberal, destacando como uno y otro ha tenido injerencia en el sector salud. Luego se conceptualiza qué son las políticas públicas y las políticas en salud en particular. Se trata de visibilizar desde una perspectiva crítica, el estado actual de las políticas en salud al momento del cierre del gobierno de Mauricio Macri. Se concluye sobre la importancia de continuar trabajando sobre la democratización del derecho a la salud como resistencia al avance del mercado sobre la salud pública.Este artigo discute como e quando o direito à saúde foi incorporado à Constituição Nacional Argentina, para chegar à reforma de 1994, onde o direito à saúde é mencionado no artigo nº 42. A importância também é destacada. de assinar tratados internacionais. Em seguida, conceitua-se o que são políticas públicas e políticas de saúde, em particular a Cobertura Universal de Saúde. O objetivo é tornar visível, sob uma perspectiva crítica, o estado atual das políticas de saúde e o vínculo delas com a eliminação do Ministério da Saúde da Nação do Decreto 801/2018. Conclui sobre a importância de continuar trabalhando na democratização do direito à saúde como resistência ao avanço do mercado da saúde pública.This article historicizes on how and when the right to health has been incorporated into the Argentine National Constitution, in order to arrive at the 1994 reform where the Right to Health is named in Article No. 42. The importance of subscribing to international treaties is also highlighted. Then it is conceptualized what are public policies and health policies, in particular the Universal Health Coverage. The goal is to make the current state of health policies and the link between them and the elimination of the Ministry of Health of the Nation from Decree 801/2018 visible from a critical perspective. It concludes on the importance of continuing to work on the democratization of the right to health as well as resistance to the market advance on public health.Facultad de Psicologí

Saúde é um direito? Políticas públicas em tempos de neoliberalismo

El presente artículo historiza sobre cómo y cuándo ha sido incorporado el derecho a la salud en la Constitución Nacional Argentina, para arribar así a la reforma de 1994 donde el Derecho a la salud aparece nombrado en el artículo N° 42. Se destaca también la importancia de suscribir a tratados internacionales. Luego se conceptualiza qué son las políticas públicas y las políticas en salud, en particular la Cobertura Universal de Salud. Se trata de visibilizar desde una perspectiva crítica, el estado actual de las políticas en salud y la vinculación de estas con la eliminación del Ministerio de salud de la Nación a partir del Decreto 801/2018. Se concluye sobre la importancia de continuar trabajando sobre la democratización del derecho a la salud como de resistencia al avance del mercado sobre la salud públicaThis article historicizes on how and when the right to health has been incorporated into the Argentine National Constitution, in order to arrive at the 1994 reform where the Right to Health is named in Article No. 42. The importance of subscribing to international treaties is also highlighted. Then it is conceptualized what are public policies and health policies, in particular the Universal Health Coverage. The goal is to make the current state of health policies and the link between them and the elimination of the Ministry of Health of the Nation from Decree 801/2018 visible from a critical perspective. It concludes on the importance of continuing to work on the democratization of the right to health as well as resistance to the market advance on public healthEste artigo discute como e quando o direito à saúde foi incorporado à Constituição Nacional Argentina, para chegar à reforma de 1994, onde o direito à saúde é mencionado no artigo nº 42. A importância também é destacada. de assinar tratados internacionais. Em seguida, conceitua-se o que são políticas públicas e políticas de saúde, em particular a Cobertura Universal de Saúde. O objetivo é tornar visível, sob uma perspectiva crítica, o estado atual das políticas de saúde e o vínculo delas com a eliminação do Ministério da Saúde da Nação do Decreto 801/2018. Conclui sobre a importância de continuar trabalhando na democratização do direito à saúde como resistência ao avanço do mercado da saúde públic

A new collaborative shared control strategy for continuous elder/robot assisted navigation

In nowadays aging society, many people require mobility assistance. Autonomous wheelchairs may provide some help, but they are not supposed to overtake all control on human mobility, as this is reported to lead to loss of residual capabilities and frustration. Instead, persons and wheelchairs are expected to cooperate. Traditionally, shared control hands control from human to robot depending on a triggering event. In this paper, though, we propose a method to allow constant cooperation between humans and robots, so that both have some weight in the emergent navigating behavior. We have tested the proposed method on a robotized Meyra wheelchair at Santa Lucia Hospedale in Rome with several volunteering in-patients presenting different disabilities. Results in indoor environments have been satisfactory both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

The emerging landscape of tumor marker panels for the identification of aggressive prostate cancer: the perspective through bibliometric analysis of an Italian translational working group in uro-oncology

Molecular heterogeneity and availability of different therapeutic strategies are relevant clinical features of prostate cancer. On this basis, there is an urgent need to identify prognostic and predictive biomarkers for an individualized therapeutic approach. In this context, researchers focused their attention on biomarkers able to discriminate potential life-threatening from organ-confined disease identify high-grade tumors. Such biomarker could provide aid in clinical decision making, helping in order to choose the treatment which ensures the best results in terms of patient survival and quality of life. To address this need, many new laboratory tests have been proposed, witha clear tendency to use panels of combined biomarkers. In this review we evaluate current data on the application in clinical practice for of the most promising laboratory tests: Phi, 4Kscore and Stockholm 3 as circulating biomarkers, and Mi-prostate score, Exo DX Prostate and Select MD-X as urinary biomarkers, Confirm MDx, Oncotype Dx, Prolaris and Decipher as tissue biomarkers. In particular, the ability of these tests in the identification of clinically significant PCa and their potential use for precision medicine have been explored in this review

Abdominal drainage after elective colorectal surgery: propensity score-matched retrospective analysis of an Italian cohort

background: In italy, surgeons continue to drain the abdominal cavity in more than 50 per cent of patients after colorectal resection. the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of abdominal drain placement on early adverse events in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery. methods: a database was retrospectively analysed through a 1:1 propensity score-matching model including 21 covariates. the primary endpoint was the postoperative duration of stay, and the secondary endpoints were surgical site infections, infectious morbidity rate defined as surgical site infections plus pulmonary infections plus urinary infections, anastomotic leakage, overall morbidity rate, major morbidity rate, reoperation and mortality rates. the results of multiple logistic regression analyses were presented as odds ratios (OR) and 95 per cent c.i. results: a total of 6157 patients were analysed to produce two well-balanced groups of 1802 patients: group (A), no abdominal drain(s) and group (B), abdominal drain(s). group a versus group B showed a significantly lower risk of postoperative duration of stay >6 days (OR 0.60; 95 per cent c.i. 0.51-0.70; P < 0.001). a mean postoperative duration of stay difference of 0.86 days was detected between groups. no difference was recorded between the two groups for all the other endpoints. conclusion: this study confirms that placement of abdominal drain(s) after elective colorectal surgery is associated with a non-clinically significant longer (0.86 days) postoperative duration of stay but has no impact on any other secondary outcomes, confirming that abdominal drains should not be used routinely in colorectal surgery

Bowel preparation for elective colorectal resection: multi-treatment machine learning analysis on 6241 cases from a prospective Italian cohort

background current evidence concerning bowel preparation before elective colorectal surgery is still controversial. this study aimed to compare the incidence of anastomotic leakage (AL), surgical site infections (SSIs), and overall morbidity (any adverse event, OM) after elective colorectal surgery using four different types of bowel preparation. methods a prospective database gathered among 78 Italian surgical centers in two prospective studies, including 6241 patients who underwent elective colorectal resection with anastomosis for malignant or benign disease, was re-analyzed through a multi-treatment machine-learning model considering no bowel preparation (NBP; No. = 3742; 60.0%) as the reference treatment arm, compared to oral antibiotics alone (oA; No. = 406; 6.5%), mechanical bowel preparation alone (MBP; No. = 1486; 23.8%), or in combination with oAB (MoABP; No. = 607; 9.7%). twenty covariates related to biometric data, surgical procedures, perioperative management, and hospital/center data potentially affecting outcomes were included and balanced into the model. the primary endpoints were AL, SSIs, and OM. all the results were reported as odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). results compared to NBP, MBP showed significantly higher AL risk (OR 1.82; 95% CI 1.23-2.71; p = .003) and OM risk (OR 1.38; 95% CI 1.10-1.72; p = .005), no significant differences for all the endpoints were recorded in the oA group, whereas MoABP showed a significantly reduced SSI risk (OR 0.45; 95% CI 0.25-0.79; p = .008). conclusions MoABP significantly reduced the SSI risk after elective colorectal surgery, therefore representing a valid alternative to NBP

PESFOR-W: Improving the design and environmental effectiveness of woodlands for water Payments for Ecosystem Services

ABSTRACT: The EU Water Framework Directive aims to ensure restoration of Europe?s water bodies to ?good ecological status? by 2027. Many Member States will struggle to meet this target, with around half of EU river catchments currently reporting below standard water quality. Diffuse pollution from agriculture represents a major pressure, affecting over 90% of river basins. Accumulating evidence shows that recent improvements to agricultural practices are benefiting water quality but in many cases will be insufficient to achieve WFD objectives. There is growing support for land use change to help bridge the gap, with a particular focus on targeted tree planting to intercept and reduce the delivery of diffuse pollutants to water. This form of integrated catchment management offers multiple benefits to society but a significant cost to landowners and managers. New economic instruments, in combination with spatial targeting, need to be developed to ensure cost effective solutions - including tree planting for water benefits - are realised. Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) are flexible, incentive-based mechanisms that could play an important role in promoting land use change to deliver water quality targets. The PESFOR-W COST Action will consolidate learning from existing woodlands for water PES schemes in Europe and help standardize approaches to evaluating the environmental effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of woodland measures. It will also create a European network through which PES schemes can be facilitated, extended and improved, for example by incorporating other ecosystem services linking with aims of the wider forestscarbon policy nexus

Beta-Blocker Use in Older Hospitalized Patients Affected by Heart Failure and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: An Italian Survey From the REPOSI Register

Beta (β)-blockers (BB) are useful in reducing morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure (HF) and concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Nevertheless, the use of BBs could induce bronchoconstriction due to β2-blockade. For this reason, both the ESC and GOLD guidelines strongly suggest the use of selective β1-BB in patients with HF and COPD. However, low adherence to guidelines was observed in multiple clinical settings. The aim of the study was to investigate the BBs use in older patients affected by HF and COPD, recorded in the REPOSI register. Of 942 patients affected by HF, 47.1% were treated with BBs. The use of BBs was significantly lower in patients with HF and COPD than in patients affected by HF alone, both at admission and at discharge (admission, 36.9% vs. 51.3%; discharge, 38.0% vs. 51.7%). In addition, no further BB users were found at discharge. The probability to being treated with a BB was significantly lower in patients with HF also affected by COPD (adj. OR, 95% CI: 0.50, 0.37-0.67), while the diagnosis of COPD was not associated with the choice of selective β1-BB (adj. OR, 95% CI: 1.33, 0.76-2.34). Despite clear recommendations by clinical guidelines, a significant underuse of BBs was also observed after hospital discharge. In COPD affected patients, physicians unreasonably reject BBs use, rather than choosing a β1-BB. The expected improvement of the BB prescriptions after hospitalization was not observed. A multidisciplinary approach among hospital physicians, general practitioners, and pharmacologists should be carried out for better drug management and adherence to guideline recommendations

Racial differences in systemic sclerosis disease presentation: a European Scleroderma Trials and Research group study

Objectives. Racial factors play a significant role in SSc. We evaluated differences in SSc presentations between white patients (WP), Asian patients (AP) and black patients (BP) and analysed the effects of geographical locations.Methods. SSc characteristics of patients from the EUSTAR cohort were cross-sectionally compared across racial groups using survival and multiple logistic regression analyses.Results. The study included 9162 WP, 341 AP and 181 BP. AP developed the first non-RP feature faster than WP but slower than BP. AP were less frequently anti-centromere (ACA; odds ratio (OR) = 0.4, P < 0.001) and more frequently anti-topoisomerase-I autoantibodies (ATA) positive (OR = 1.2, P = 0.068), while BP were less likely to be ACA and ATA positive than were WP [OR(ACA) = 0.3, P < 0.001; OR(ATA) = 0.5, P = 0.020]. AP had less often (OR = 0.7, P = 0.06) and BP more often (OR = 2.7, P < 0.001) diffuse skin involvement than had WP.AP and BP were more likely to have pulmonary hypertension [OR(AP) = 2.6, P < 0.001; OR(BP) = 2.7, P = 0.03 vs WP] and a reduced forced vital capacity [OR(AP) = 2.5, P < 0.001; OR(BP) = 2.4, P < 0.004] than were WP. AP more often had an impaired diffusing capacity of the lung than had BP and WP [OR(AP vs BP) = 1.9, P = 0.038; OR(AP vs WP) = 2.4, P < 0.001]. After RP onset, AP and BP had a higher hazard to die than had WP [hazard ratio (HR) (AP) = 1.6, P = 0.011; HR(BP) = 2.1, P < 0.001].Conclusion. Compared with WP, and mostly independent of geographical location, AP have a faster and earlier disease onset with high prevalences of ATA, pulmonary hypertension and forced vital capacity impairment and higher mortality. BP had the fastest disease onset, a high prevalence of diffuse skin involvement and nominally the highest mortality

Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry:Workshop Summary

This document presents a summary of the 2023 Terrestrial Very-Long-Baseline Atom Interferometry Workshop hosted by CERN. The workshop brought together experts from around the world to discuss the exciting developments in large-scale atom interferometer (AI) prototypes and their potential for detecting ultralight dark matter and gravitational waves. The primary objective of the workshop was to lay the groundwork for an international TVLBAI proto-collaboration. This collaboration aims to unite researchers from different institutions to strategize and secure funding for terrestrial large-scale AI projects. The ultimate goal is to create a roadmap detailing the design and technology choices for one or more km-scale detectors, which will be operational in the mid-2030s. The key sections of this report present the physics case and technical challenges, together with a comprehensive overview of the discussions at the workshop together with the main conclusions