Health Care for Undocumented Migrants: European Approaches

European countries have smaller shares of undocumented migrants than does the United States, but these individuals have substantial needs for medical care and present difficult policy challenges even in countries with universal health insurance systems. Recent European studies show that policies in most countries provide for no more than emergency services for undocumented migrants. Smaller numbers of countries provide more services or allow undocumented migrants who meet certain requirements access to the same range of services as nationals. These experiences show it is possible to improve access to care for undocumented migrants. Strategies vary along three dimensions: 1) focusing on segments of the population, like children or pregnant women; 2) focusing on types of services, like preventive services or treatment of infectious diseases; or 3) using specific funding policies, like allowing undocumented migrants to purchase insurance

Determinants of infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe: Results of multivariate hazard analysis

This study addresses important issues in infant and child mortality in Zimbabwe. The objective of the paper is to determine the impact of maternal, socioeconomic and sanitation variables on infant and child mortality. Results show that births of order 6+ with a short preceding interval had the highest risk of infant mortality. The infant mortality risk associated with multiple births was 2.08 times higher relative to singleton births (pCox proportional hazards models, Demographic and Health Survey, infant and child mortality, under-five mortality, Zimbabwe

Social Protection, the Millennium Development Goals and Human Rights

This article is an attempt to outline the possible implications of a rights?based approach to social protection and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It starts with some remarks on the role of social protection floors and human rights in a new global social contract. It then provides a framework as to how the rights?based approach can be operationalised – for four main human rights principles and using structural, process and output indicators. It applies this framework to the right to social security. The penultimate section shows that the adoption of national social protection floors would constitute a key ingredient to a human rights approach towards achieving the MDGs before and after 2015. It also points out the potential role of the UN Human Rights Council in monitoring MDGs in the future

The weathering of micrometeorites from the Transantarctic Mountains

Micrometeorites are cosmic dust particles recovered from the Earth's surface that dominate the influx of extraterrestrial material accreting to our planet. This paper provides the first in-depth study of the weathering of micrometeorites within the Antarctic environment that will allow primary and secondary features to be distinguished. It is based on the analysis of 366 particles from Larkman Nunatak and 25 from the Transantarctic Mountain collection. Several important morphological categories of weathering effects were identified: (1) irregular and faceted cavities, (2) surface etch pits, (3) infilled cavities, (4) replaced silicate phases, and (5) hydrated and replaced metal. These features indicate that congruent dissolution of silicate phases, in particular olivine, is important in generating new pore space within particles. Comparison of the preservation of glass and olivine also indicates preferential dissolution of olivine by acidic solutions during low temperature aqueous alteration. Precipitation of new hydrous phases within cavities, in particular ferrihydrite and jarosite, results in pseudomorph textures within heavily altered particles. Glass, in contrast, is altered to palagonite gels and shows a sequential replacement indicative of varying water to rock ratios. Metal is variably replaced by Fe-oxyhydroxides and results in decreases in Ni/Fe ratio. In contrast, sulphides within metal are largely preserved. Magnetite, an essential component of micrometeorites formed during atmospheric entry, is least altered by interaction with the terrestrial environment. The extent of weathering in the studied micrometeorites is sensitive to differences in their primary mineralogy and varies significantly with particle type. Despite these differences, we propose a weathering scale for micrometeorites based on both their degree of terrestrial alteration and the level of encrustation by secondary phases. The compositions and textures of weathering products, however, suggest open system behaviour and variable water to rock ratios that imply climatic variation over the lifetime of the micrometeorite deposits

Fatigue after Liver Transplantation

Liver transplantation (LTx) has developed from an experimental procedure in the 1960’s to the preferred treatment for end-stage liver disease nowadays. The first human LTx was performed by Starlz and his team in 1963 in Colorado.[1] Unfortunately, this patient died within a few days. The first successful LTx was performed in 1967 by the same team; this patient survived one year. The most prevalent indications for LTx in Europe are virus-related cirrhosis (22%), alcoholic cirrhosis (19%), cancer (18%), cholestatic liver diseases (11%), acute hepatic failure (9%) and metabolic disease (6%).[2] The main complications in the immediate postoperative period are dysfunction and rejection of the graft, infections, bile duct complications and pulmonary or neurological problems. Long-term complications after LTx are typically a consequence of the prolonged immunosuppressive therapy, and include diabetes mellitus, infections, renal dysfunction, hypertension, osteoporosis, and de novo neoplasia.[3] Currently, three University Medical Centers are performing LTx’s in the Netherlands: Groningen, Leiden and Rotterdam

Kurt Baschwitz

Kurt Baschwitz (1886-1968) had a lifelong fascination for ‘the riddle of the mass’ in both its visible and invisible forms. He was a major pioneer of communication and media studies on the European continent, an early student of the social, political, and mass psychology of crowds, publics, audiences, and public opinion, as well as a versatile social historian. Half a century after his death, however, he risks being forgotten and misunderstood, falling through the cracks of history