Introduction: A note on health and development

I am neither a health researcher nor a practitioner. My exposure to the field of health development is limited. Nevertheless, as one engaged in development planning and fascinated by the concept of Primary Health Care, I decided to put down rather hastily some notes on my understanding of the dialectical interaction between health and development. As many of us presumably recall, capitalist development theory in the 1960s (and for several preceding decades) was dominated by the growth models of neoclassical economics, e.g. Harrod Domar, Cobb Douglas etc. These models express output as a function of labour and capital, but conceive the relationship as only a technical or engineering one containing no element of social dynamics. The basic paradigm was, of course, the trickle-down theory, i.e. that the increased prosperity of the few would spill over and bring development to the majority

Sorption-Desorption Behavior of Atrazine on Soils Subjected to Different Organic Long-Term Amendments

Sorption of atrazine on soils subjected to three different organic amendments was measured using a batch equilibrium technique. A higher K(F) value (2.20 kg(-1)(mg L(-1))(-)N) was obtained for soil fertilized with compost, which had a higher organic matter (OM) content. A correlation between the K(Foc) values and the percentage of aromatic carbon in OM was observed. The highest K(Foc) value was obtained for the soil with the highest aromatic content. Higher aromatic content results in higher hydrophobicity of OM, and hydrophobic interactions play a key role in binding of atrazine, On the other hand, the soil amended with farmyard manure had a higher content of carboxylic units, which could be responsible for hydrogen bonding between atrazine and OR Dominance of hydrogen bonds compared to hydrophobic interactions can be responsible for the lower desorption capacity observed with the farmyard manure soil, The stronger hydrogen bonding can reduce the leaching of atrazine into drinking water resources and runoff to rivers and other surface waters