The Gut: Science Online Special Collection

The Gut: Science Online Special Collection: "In this special collection, published with the 25 March 2005 issue, Science Magazine and its online Knowledge Environments focus on one of the body's most remarkable systems: The 10-meter-long tube of the gut, the mechanisms and activities of which are still largely mysterious. In Science, News, Viewpoint, and Review articles cover a range of topics in gut development, immunology, and disease, as well as the incredibly diverse gut flora and the gut-brain connection, a key in the obesity wars. Science's Signal Transduction Knowledge Environment presents four Perspective articles on various aspects of signaling both from the nervous system to the gut and within the gut epithelium. And the Science of Aging Knowledge Environment looks at how age-related neurodegenerative diseases affect the gut.

For registered individual users and AAAS members, we've prepared a suite of online extras, including a special interactive version of the poster featured in the print version, with additional images, multimedia, and links. (Not yet registered? Do so for free here.)"

Exploiting Health Advocay

buildingbridges.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Health Disparities and the Body Politic 2005

Health Disparities and the Body Politic 2005
WARNING: Social inequality may be harmful to your health. It increases the burden of disability and disease in communities and cuts short lives. Economic deprivation, discrimination, lack of access to health services, and violation or neglect of human rights all play a part in shaping population health.

Yet, despite centuries of evidence on the toll of adverse living and working conditions on health, only been in the past decade has concern with social inequalities in health become part of the mainstream public health agenda.

To explore the role that governments and engaged communities can play in reducing and rectifying social inequities in health worldwide, the Harvard School of Public Health is hosting a three-part symposium series.

Earth's Health is Deteriorating as Growing Human Demands for Food, Water Strain Ecosystems

ENN: Environmental News Network [[Today's News Full Story ]]
Earth's Health is Deteriorating as Growing Human Demands for Food, Water Strain Ecosystems, U.N. Study Finds

March 30, 2005 — By Kenji Hall, Associated Press
TOKYO — Growing populations and expanding economic activity have strained the planet's ecosystems over the past half century, a trend that threatens international efforts to combat poverty and disease, a U.N.-sponsored study of the Earth's health warned on Wednesday.

The four-year, US$24 million (euro18.57 million) study -- the largest-ever to show how people are changing their environment -- found that humans had depleted 60 percent of the world's grasslands, forests, farmlands, rivers and lakes.

Public health challenges in a globalizing world --

Public health challenges in a globalizing world -- Brundtland 15 (1): 3 -- The European Journal of Public Health
Gro Harlem Brundtland
Public health challenges are no longer just local, national or regional. They are global. They are no longer just within the domain of public health specialists. They are among the key challenges to our societies. They are political and cross-sectoral. They are intimately linked to environment and development. They are key to national, regional and global security.

Pain Management: The Online Series, American Medical Association,

AMA (CME Select) Pain Management: The Online Series, American Medical Association, pain, CME, free, complementary, continuing medical education, physician education, continuing education, CE
Pain is one of the most common reasons patients seek medical attention, and is a symptom that is encountered by every physician, crossing all medical specialties. According to American Pain Society estimates, 75 million people are partially or totally disabled by pain and 45% of all Americans seek care for persistent pain at some point in their lives.A report from the American Medical Association Council on Scientific Affairs found that healthcare professionals may have inadequate knowledge of analgesic pharmacology and pain therapy, poor pain assessment practices, and ungrounded concern over regulatory oversight.
Program
Module 1 Pathophysiology of Pain and Pain Assessment (1 credit)
Module 2 Overview of Management Options (1 credit)
Module 3 Barriers to Pain Management and Pain in Special Populations (1 credit)
Module 4 Assessing and Treating Pain in Patients with Substance Abuse Concerns (1 credit)
Module 5 Assessing and Treating Pain in Older Adults (1 credit)
Module 6 Pediatric Pain Management (1 credit)
Module 7 Assessing & Treating Persistent Nonmalignant Pain: an Overview (1 credit)
Module 8 Assessing and Treating Persistent Nonmalignant Pain, Common Persistent Pain Conditions (1 credit)
Module 9 Assessing and Treating Neuropathic Pain (1 credit)
Module 10 Overview and Assessment of Cancer Pain
Module 11 Cancer Pain: Pharmacotherapy (1 credit)
Module 12 Management of Cancer Pain: Other Analgesic Approaches and End-of-Life Care (1 credit)

Global Burden due to vegetable and fruits distribution

The global distribution of risk factors by poverty level

Analysis of spatial data in public health

Analysis of spatial data in public health: methods, problems, and perspectives 1 Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Correspondência M. S. Carvalho Departamento de Epidemiologia e Métodos Quantitativos em Saúde, Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública,
Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Rua Leopoldo Bulhões 1480, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 21041-210, Brasil. carvalho@fiocruz.br
Marilia Sá Carvalho Reinaldo Souza-Santos

SAUDAVEL - Sistema de Apoio Unificado para Detecção e Acompanhamento em Vigilância EpidemioLógica

SAUDAVEL - P�gina Inicial
O projeto SAUDAVEL (Sistema de Apoio Unificado para Detecção e Acompanhamento em Vigilância EpidemioLógica) propõe os uso das Tecnologias da Informação Espacial no apoio ao Controle de Endemias: Dos "Lugares das Doenças" às "Doenças do Lugar".


O objetivo principal do projeto é encontrar as respostas e produzir os instrumentos de Tecnologia da Informação (TI) Espacial, métodos, algoritmos e produtos de software, para dotar os sistemas de vigilância epidemiológica e de controle de endemias, de capacidade de antecipação, a partir da possibilidade de tratar grandes bases de dados espaço-temporais, com dados dos SIS (Sistema de Informação em Saúde) e com dados caracterizadores da população e de seu lugar.

O SAUDAVEL insere as TI Espaciais, incluindo-se Bancos de Dados Geográficos, Sistemas de Informações Geográficos e Análise Espaço-Temporal, no contexto do controle de endemias. Transformar pontos e polígonos no espaço e no tempo nos "Lugares das Doenças", determinar sua distribuição, e ao possibilitar integrar mais informações das pessoas do lugar - informação censitária -, e caracterizar melhor estes lugares - informações socioambientais - revelar também as "Doenças do Lugar". Este é um projeto aprovado pela Chamada Conjunta MCT/SEPIN - FINEP - CNPq 01/2002, do Programa de Apoio à Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento e Inovação em Tecnologia da Informação - PDI-TI.

RADIS - Comunicação em Saúde

POSIÇÃO FINAL DO 1º FÓRUM SOCIAL MUNDIAL DA SAÚDE

Os 800 participantes de 27 países reunidos no 1º Fórum Social Mundial da Saúde em Porto Alegre - Brasil, de 23 a 25 de janeiro de 2005, declaram:(Seguem-se 38 itens)

Europe's Way of Death

TIME Europe Magazine: Europe's Way of Death -- April 4, 2005 | Vol. 165 No. 14
The Terri Schiavo case has provoked a fierce debate about euthanasia in the U.S. — and a sense of bafflement among many Europeans
BY SIMON ROBINSON

The way Terri Schiavo's private tragedy has become a political issue in the U.S. estranges many people in Europe. But Europeans, too, have struggled to find the proper balance between the right to life and the right to die.

Pfizer and Coley Pharmaceuticals Agreement on Promume for Cancers

Medical News Today News Article

Secretaria de Vigilância em Saúde - Publicações

SVS - Publicações

WHO estimates of the causes of death in children

The Journal : Current Issue
Jennifer Bryce, Cynthia Boschi-Pinto, Kenji Shibuya, Robert E Black, and the WHO Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group
Interpretation: Achievement of the millennium development goal of reducing child mortality by two-thirds from the 1990 rate will depend on renewed efforts to prevent and control pneumonia, diarrhoea, and undernutrition in all WHO regions, and malaria in the Africa region. In all regions, deaths in the neonatal period, primarily due to preterm delivery, sepsis or pneumonia, and birth asphyxia should also be addressed. These estimates of the causes of child deaths should be used to guide public-health policies and programmes

Making the world's children count

The Journal : Current Issue
Peter Byass, Tedros A Ghebreyesus
Progress in counting the world's children, and particularly deaths by cause in those aged under 5 years, is reported by WHO in today's Lancet. The report includes new methods of accounting for the large part of the world's population, particularly in poorer regions, where individuals are not routinely counted.1 Reliable numbers are important for the world to take seriously the Millennium Development Goals, of which the fourth aims to reduce child mortality in those aged under 5 by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015.2 At least now we have a better chance of knowing if and when that goal is reached.

Managing chronic diseases -- BMJ

-- Data Supplement - Webchat transcript: Managing chronic diseases -- BMJ
Webchat transcript. Thursday 24 March 2005

The Era of Exploitation

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: The Era of Exploitation
By BOB HERBERT

Congress is in recess and the press has gone berserk over the Terri Schiavo case. So very little attention is being paid to pending budget proposals that are scandalously unfair, but that pretty accurately reflect the kind of country the U.S. has become.

President Bush believes in an "ownership" society, which means that except for the wealthy, you're on your own. The president's budget would cut funding for Medicaid, food stamps, education, transportation, health care for veterans, law enforcement, medical research and safety inspections for food and drugs. And, of course, it contains big new tax cuts for the wealthy.

These are the new American priorities. Republicans will tell you they were ratified in the last presidential election. We may be locked in a long and costly war, and federal deficits may be spiraling toward the moon, but the era of shared sacrifices is over. This is the era of entrenched exploitation. All sacrifices will be made by working people and the poor, and the vast bulk of the benefits will accrue to the rich....

World Population Prospects; The 2004 Revision.

(referred by Analucia ruggiero - PAHO) and recommended the AMICOR JAIME [mailto:jaime@prudente.unesp.br]
The 2004 Revision is the nineteenth round of official United Nations population estimates and projections prepared by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat. These are used throughout the United Nations system as the basis for activities requiring population information. The 2004 Revision is the first to incorporate the full results of the 2000 round of national population censuses.

It also takes into account the results of recent specialized surveys carried out in developing countries to provide both demographic information and data to assess the progress made in achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The comprehensive review of past worldwide demographic trends and future prospects presented in the 2004 Revision provides the population basis for the assessment of those goals.


Country profiles; http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=3

Basic Data: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=1

Detailed data: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=2

Assumptions: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=4

Definitions of Regions: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=5

Sources of the urban and rural population: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=6

Glossary: http://esa.un.org/unpp/index.asp?panel=7

It's Never too Late

Experiments in species as diverse as yeast, worms, flies, and rodents emonstrate that dietary restriction prolongs survival. The encouraging findings of Mair et al. (1) on page 1731 of this issue now reveal that a lifetime of abstemiousness is not required to reduce one’s risk of death—at least in fruit flies. These investigators show that when flies fed a restricted diet are switched to a full diet, mortality soars to the level suffered by fully fed flies. Conversely, when the diet of fully fed Drosophila is restricted, mortality plunges within 2 days to the level enjoyed by flies that have xperienced a lifelong restricted diet.
The alliterative title of the Mair et al. paper—“Demography of Dietary Restriction and Death in Drosophila”—gives due credit to demography as the source of their new discovery.
Demographers have long realized that death rates provide age-specific information that cumulative survival curves cannot (2). Heeding this insight, Mair et al. analyzed the daily mortality of their fed and hungry flies. Demography offers a further lesson: Death of the frail alters the composition of a cohort, lowering subsequent mortality and possibly offsetting increases in mortality resulting from cumulative damage (3).......

DEMOGRAPHY: Enhanced: Broken Limits to Life Expectancy -- - Supplemental Data -- Science

DEMOGRAPHY: Enhanced: Broken Limits to Life Expectancy -- Oeppen and Vaupel 296 (5570): 1029 Data Supplement - Supplemental Data -- Science: "Data sources
A brief history of life-expectancy limits, with references
Further arguments and evidence about life-expectancy limits
Supplementary figures 1 to 5
Supplementary tables 1 and 2 "

DEMOGRAPHY: Enhanced: Broken Limits to Life Expectancy -- Oeppen and Vaupel 296 (5570): 1029 -- Science

DEMOGRAPHY: Enhanced: Broken Limits to Life Expectancy -- Oeppen and Vaupel 296 (5570): 1029 -- Science
Is life expectancy [HN1] approaching its limit? Many--including individuals planning their retirement and officials responsible for health and social policy--believe it is. The evidence suggests otherwise.

Consider first an astonishing fact. Female life expectancy in the record-holding country has risen for 160 years at a steady pace of almost 3 months per year [Fig. 1 and suppl. table 1 (1)]. In 1840 the record was held by Swedish women, who lived on average a little more than 45 years. Among nations today, the longest expectation of life--almost 85 years--is enjoyed by Japanese women [HN2]. The four-decade increase in life expectancy in 16 decades is so extraordinarily linear [r2 = 0.992; also see suppl. figs. 1 to 5 (1)] that it may be the most remarkable regularity of mass endeavor ever observed. Record life expectancy has also risen linearly for men (r2 = 0.980), albeit more slowly (slope = 0.222): the gap between female and male levels [HN3] has grown from 2 to 6 years (suppl. fig. 2).

Easing Policy Risks, Costs And Barriers To Competition Keys To Faster Growth, Less Poverty: World Development Report 2005

News - Easing Policy Risks, Costs And Barriers To Competition Keys To Faster Growth, Less Poverty: World Development Report 2005
A Better Investment Climate for Everyone, the World Bank’s annual World Development Report for 2005, was launched on September 28, 2004. The Report focuses on what governments can do to improve the investment climates of their societies to increase growth and reduce poverty. Video or Transcript of the Washington DC press conference.

A good investment climate is central to growth and poverty reduction. A vibrant private sector creates jobs, provides the goods and services needed to improve living standards, and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in health, education, and other services. But too often governments stunt the size of those contributions by creating unjustified risks, costs, and barriers to competition.

— François Bourguignon, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist, The World Bank

The Report, written by a core team led by Warrick Smith,

draws on surveys of over 30,000 firms in 53 developing countries, the Bank's Doing Business database, country case studies, and other new research.
highlights opportunities for governments to improve their investment climates by expanding the opportunities and incentives for firms of all types to invest productively, create jobs, and expand.

ACTION ON THE SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH: LEARNING FROM PREVIOUS EXPERIENCES

Today an unprecedented opportunity exists to improve health in some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable communities by tackling the root causes of disease and health inequalities. The most powerful of these causes are the social conditions in which people live and work, referred to as the social determinants of health (SDH). The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) shape the current global development agenda. The MDGs recognize the interdependence of health and social conditions and present an opportunity to promote health policies that tackle the social roots of unfair and avoidable human suffering.
(referred by Dennis raphael and Maria Ines Reinert Azambuja)

Bill Gates: a 21st century Robin Hood?

Many people in the developed world see Microsoft’s near
monopoly of the software market as a tax on the rich; the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is funded by the
proceeds of selling some of Bill Gates’ Microsoft stock, has
given over US$7·5 billion to help the poor.

Using the World Wide Web in Health-related Intervention Research

Using the World Wide Web in Health-related Intervention Research
A review of published controlled trials was conducted to evaluate components, utility, and efficacy of Web-based healthcare interventions. Nine studies met the established review criteria. Knowledge gains were the most commonly reported significant changes; rarely were there measures or significant changes on behavioral outcomes. Studies varied in format of personal contact with participants, in the structure or sequence of intervention content, and in design features. Dosage was inconsistently measured and process evaluation was relatively absent. Despite limitations, several studies reported significant effects. Based on best evidence-to-date, elements of technologically mediated interventions important to future research are summarized. Taken together, research suggests that Web-based interventions may be an efficacious delivery system, especially for those with chronic conditions amenable to self-management and to those with various limitations to accessing healthcare.............

The economic dimension of interpersonal violence

Department of Injuries and Violence Prevention, World Health Organization 2004
Available online as PDF file [70p.] at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2004/9241591609.pdf
“………Interpersonal violence is defined to include violence between family members and intimate partners and violence between acquaintances and strangers that is not intended to further the aims of any formally defined group or cause. Self-directed violence, war, state-sponsored violence and other collective violence are specifically excluded from these definitions.
This report, based on an extensive review of peer reviewed articles and published and unpublished reports, treats the following themes:
· The economic effects of interpersonal violence in a variety of socioeconomic and cultural settings.
· The economic effects of interventions intended to reduce interpersonal violence.
· The effects of economic conditions and policies on interpersonal violence - with particular reference to poverty, structural adjustment, income equality and social investment.
Many of the studies detailing the costs of violence are from the USA where child abuse results in $94 billion in annual costs to the economy - 1.0% of the gross domestic product. Direct medical treatment costs per abused child have been calculated by different studies to range from $13 781 to $42 518. Intimate partner violence costs the USA economy $12.6 billion on an annual basis - 0.1% of the gross domestic product - compared to 1.6% of the gross domestic product in Nicaragua and 2.0% of the gross domestic product in Chile. Gun violence - which includes suicides - has alone been calculated at $155 billion annually in the USA, with lifetime medical treatment costs per victim ranging from $37 000 to $42 000.

The approaches taken to several key methodological issues differed substantially across the studies reviewed. Studies documenting the economic effects of interpersonal violence have used a broad range of categories of costs. Those estimating indirect costs - including the opportunity cost of time, lost productivity and reduced quality of life - provided higher cost estimates than studies that limited the costs of violence to direct costs alone. Other key methodological issues included the economic values assigned to human life, lost productive time and psychological distress. The rate at which future costs and benefits are discounted, in accounting terms, also varied across studies.

Given the wide range of methodological differences and extensive gaps in the existing literature on the economics of interpersonal violence, there is a clear need for systematic future research into the costs of violence. Such research should follow rigorous methodological guidelines, be inclusive of both direct and indirect cost categories, and - perhaps most importantly - be comparable across countries and settings. ….”

This reference was originated from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues. [DD/ IKM Area]

handheld - TIMI

www.theheart.org

Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert

Encyclopedia of Diderot & d'Alembert
(From Science)
Twenty-six years in the making, the Encyclopédie (1751-1777) ranks as one of the intellectual landmarks of the Enlightenment. The work's main editor, the French philosopher and gadfly Denis Diderot (1713-1784), sought not only to summarize human learning but also to foster critical thinking. Thanks to volunteer translators, you can now read more than 100 of the Encyclopédie articles at this site from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Translated scientific articles touch on everything from alchemy to probability to the natural history of raccoons. Some entries attempt to reason through questions we're still pondering today, such as whether life exists elsewhere in the solar system. The moon lacks an atmosphere, Jupiter appears too turbulent, and comets undergo temperature extremes, the author concludes: "What living bodies would be able to withstand that extraordinary heat on one hand and extreme cold on the other?"

A device that changed my practice: Palmtop medical information -- Wilkinson 322 (7280): 209 -- BMJ

A device that changed my practice: Palmtop medical information -- Wilkinson 322 (7280): 209 -- BMJ

Validity of composite end points in clinical trials -- Montori et al. 330 (7491): 594 -- BMJ

Validity of composite end points in clinical trials -- Montori et al. 330 (7491): 594 -- BMJ:
"The widespread use of composite end points reflects their elegant simplicity as a solution to the problem of declining event rates. Unfortunately, use of composite end points makes the interpretation of the results of randomised trials for clinical decision making challenging. Investigators and their sponsors may claim treatment effects over a broad range of outcomes, whereas the effect may in fact be limited to one component. Occasionally, composite end points prove useful and informative for clinical decision making. Often, they do not. These users' guides will help clinicians differentiate between these situations. "

Recent developments in asthma management -- Currie et al. 330 (7491): 585 -- BMJ

Recent developments in asthma management -- Currie et al. 330 (7491): 585 -- BMJ

Counting the dead in Iraq -- McPherson 330 (7491): 550 -- BMJ

Counting the dead in Iraq -- McPherson 330 (7491): 550 -- BMJ
We need to know how many people have died


Counting the dead is intrinsic to civilised society. Understanding the causes of death is a core public health responsibility. The government's white paper on public health emphasises the vital role of assessing the impact on health of all public policy.1 This is well recognised, and yet neither the public nor public health professionals are able to obtain reliable and officially endorsed information about the extent of civilian deaths attributable to the allied invasion of Iraq. Estimates vary between tens and hundreds of thousands.

These estimates come from reports in the press, or counting bodies admitted to hospitals, (www.iraqbodycount.net) as well as surveys.
.........

World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development

World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development


The World Development Report (WDR) 2006 explores the role of equity in development. Inequalities in incomes, in health and in educational outcomes have long been a stark fact of life in many developing countries. These are often accompanied by profound differences in influence, power and social status, whether at the level of individuals or groups. High inequalities matter for development and need to be addressed by domestic and international policies and institutions.
The WDR 2006 is being prepared by a team of World Bank staff and researchers working under the guidance of François Bourguignon, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. The report will be published in September 2005.

An Outline of the report was finalized in July 2004 after discussions within the Bank, including with the Executive Directors, and with external partners. An online discussion on the Outline was held from October 12 to November 19, 2004. Consultations will be held throughout the preparation of the report. Comments and inputs will also be sought through conferences and meetings.

Comments can be sent to wdr2006@worldbank.org.

World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development

World Development Report 2006: Equity and Development


The World Development Report (WDR) 2006 explores the role of equity in development. Inequalities in incomes, in health and in educational outcomes have long been a stark fact of life in many developing countries. These are often accompanied by profound differences in influence, power and social status, whether at the level of individuals or groups. High inequalities matter for development and need to be addressed by domestic and international policies and institutions.
The WDR 2006 is being prepared by a team of World Bank staff and researchers working under the guidance of François Bourguignon, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist. The report will be published in September 2005.

An Outline of the report was finalized in July 2004 after discussions within the Bank, including with the Executive Directors, and with external partners. An online discussion on the Outline was held from October 12 to November 19, 2004. Consultations will be held throughout the preparation of the report. Comments and inputs will also be sought through conferences and meetings.

Comments can be sent to wdr2006@worldbank.org.

USCWC -- Statistical Summary: America's Major Wars

USCWC -- Statistical Summary: America's Major Wars

National Priorities Project

National Priorities Project
Cost of war....

Searching in the Darkness: About Prayer and Medical Cures

Searching in the Darkness: About Prayer and Medical Cures
(Referido pela Maria Inês Reinert Azambuja)

Gil Gaudia, PhD


Medscape General Medicine. 2005; 7 (1): ©2005 Medscape
"It must be emphasized that, in the entire history of modern science, no claim of any type of supernatural phenomena has ever been replicated under strictly controlled conditions. The importance of this fact cannot be overstated. One would think that all medical journal editors would be keenly aware of this fact and therefore be highly skeptical of paranormal or supernatural claims. One must therefore wonder if the Columbia researchers and the JRM editors were blinded by religious beliefs. Everything else being equal, if the claimed supernatural intervention had been Ms. Cleo manipulating Tarot cards rather than Christians praying, would the reviewers and editors have taken this study seriously? In any case, the damage has been done. The fact that a 'miracle cure' study was deemed to be suitable for publication in a scientific journal automatically enhanced the study's credibility. Not surprisingly, the news media quickly disseminated the 'miraculous' results" (Flamm B. Skeptical Inquirer Magazine. September 2004).
...

The end of poverty

Fragment from the cover article ot The Time Magazine
..................................
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. has launched a war on terrorism, but it has neglected the deeper causes of global instability. The nearly $500 billion that the U.S. will spend this year on the military will never buy lasting peace if the U.S. continues to spend only one-thirtieth of that, around $16 billion, to address the plight of the poorest of the poor, whose societies are destabilized by extreme poverty. The $16 billion represents 0.15% of U.S. income, just 15(cent) on every $100 of our national income. The share devoted to helping the poor has declined for decades and is a tiny fraction of what the U.S. has repeatedly promised, and failed, to give.

Yet our generation, in the U.S. and abroad, can choose to end extreme poverty by the year 2025. To do it, we need to adopt a new method, which I call "clinical economics," to underscore the similarities between good development economics and good clinical medicine. In the past quarter-century, the development economics imposed by rich countries on the poorest countries has been too much like medicine in the 18th century, when doctors used leeches to draw blood from their patients, often killing them in the process. Development economics needs an overhaul in order to be much more like modern medicine, a profession of rigor, insight and practicality. The sources of poverty are multidimensional. So are the solutions. In my view, clean water, productive soils and a functioning health-care system are just as relevant to development as foreign exchange rates. The task of ending extreme poverty is a collective one—for you as well as for me. The end of poverty will require a global network of cooperation among people who have never met and who do not necessarily trust one another.

One part of the puzzle is relatively easy. Most people in the world, with a little bit of prodding, would accept the fact that schools, clinics, roads, electricity, ports, soil nutrients, clean water and sanitation are the basic necessities not only for a life of dignity and health but also to make an economy work. They would also accept the fact that the poor may need help to meet their basic needs. But they might be skeptical that the world could pull off any effective way to give that help. If the poor are poor because they are lazy or their governments are corrupt, how could global cooperation help?

Identificaron una molécula que frena las defensas del organismo ante un tumor

LO PRESENTARON CIENTIFICOS ESPAÑOLES
Un importante avance en la lucha contra el cáncer

Identificaron una molécula que frena las defensas del organismo ante un tumor. El hallazgo pemitirá desarrollar una nueva terapia.

MADRID AGENCIAS

Un grupo de investigadores españoles identificaron una molécula que frena las defensas del organismo ante un tumor y permite su expansión. Se trata de un gran avance científico en la lucha contra el cáncer.

Los investigadores aseguraron que también descubrieron cuál es y cómo funciona el mecanismo por el que el sistema inmune se bloquea dejando que el cáncer avance. El equipo de científicos liderado por Eduardo López-Collazo, que trabaja en el hospital madrileño de La Paz, bautizó a esta molécula con las siglas IRAK-M.
.....................