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Biomedical subjects

V Navarro

Publications and source records attributed to V Navarro.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

The arguments against a national health program: science or ideology?

This article provides empirical information that questions some of the major arguments put forward against the establishment of a comprehensive and universal health program in the United State. The positions that (1) "Americans do not want a further expansion of government roles in their lives," (2) "a National Health Program would further increase the rate of growth of health expenditures," (3) "the federal deficit is too large and needs to be reduced before establishing a National Health Program," and (4) "people do not want to pay higher taxes," are shown to be ideological rather than scientific. The author presents evidence that questions each of these assumptions.

Budgets↗
PubMed1988

Professional dominance or proletarianization?: neither.

The medical profession has lost much of its power to control the production of knowledge, practice, and organization of medicine, but it was never the dominant force in shaping medicine. Instead, medicine has evolved in response to many different, and often conflicting, social, political, and economic forces, including professional forces. The profession's loss of autonomy over the material means of producing, and the systems for funding and organizing, medical services--the "corporatization" of medicine--should not, however, be identified as "proletarianization." The considerable influence that physicians retain and their level of skill keep them from fitting a strict Marxist definition of the proletariat.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1987

In vitro net progesterone production by human corpora lutea: effects of human chorionic gonadotropin, dibutyryl adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate, cholera toxin, and forskolin.

Slices of human corpora lutea (CL) obtained at varying stages of the luteal phase from 21 women were used to study the effect of hCG on progesterone (P4) production. Slices obtained from mid- and late CL incubated with 10 IU/mL hCG exhibited a significant increase in net P4 production (P less than 0.001), whereas slices from early CL did not. Mid-CL slices were the most sensitive to hCG (4.2-fold increase in P4 production compared to 1.2-fold for early CL and 2.7-fold for late CL). To investigate the unresponsiveness of early CL to hCG, [125I]hCG binding was studied. All early CL had LH/hCG-specific receptors, and the apparent Kd for this binding was 1.95 X 10(-10) M. Dibutyryl cAMP (1 mM), cholera toxin (0.84 mM), and forskolin (50 microM) stimulated net P4 production (P less than 0.05) in slices of early CL tissue incubated in the presence of methylisobutylxanthine (0.1 mM). Cholera toxin and forskolin stimulated cAMP formation by the early CL, but hCG failed to do so. These results confirm that hCG has an age-dependent stimulatory effect on CL P4 synthesis. Our findings suggest that there is inadequate coupling of the LH/hCG receptor and adenylate cyclase in the early human CL, which explains in part the relative insensitivity of this tissue to the steroidogenic action of hCG.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

The welfare state and its distributive effects: part of the problem or part of the solution?

In the first part of this article, the author presents (1) a discussion of some of the major arguments against the welfare state put forward by neoliberal forces on both sides of the Atlantic, and (2) empirical information that shows the ideological rather than scientific nature of those arguments. The author also questions the widely held belief among European neoliberal (and even on occasion progressive) forces that the Reagan Administration policies have been (1) very successful in stimulating employment and economic growth, and (2) neoliberal rather than Keynesian. The empirical information presented in this article shows that these Reagan Administration policies have followed a military Keynesianism rather than social Keynesianism, which is responsible for a rather poor economic and social performance. In the second part, the author presents alternatives to the austerity policies advocated by the anti-welfare state forces, policies based on an expansion of the universalist character of the welfare state and its democratization, with active participation of the municipalities in the administration of the welfare state services and in the development of reflationary policies aimed at guiding production and stimulating consumption. The author also shows that the full development of the welfare state is a precondition for the needed restructuring of the economy, labor mobility, and technological innovation. The welfare state, rather than being the cause of the economic crisis, is part of the resolution of this crisis. The article ends with a discussion of the political conditions for the expansion of the welfare state and for the resolution of the economic crisis.

Economics↗
PubMed1987

International mobility of hazardous products, industries, and wastes.

The export of hazards to developing countries, frequently associated with the transfer of technology, is an increasing public health problem. It may arise from the export of hazardous products and wastes, or from the transfer of hazardous industries in the absence of appropriate safeguards. Multinational corporations bear a major responsibility for having lower standards of health protection in manufacturing and marketing in the developing countries than in home-country operations. These firms are coming under growing international pressure from concerned citizens, unions, environmental groups, national governments and international organizations, religious groups, the media, and public health professionals.

Consumer Product Safety↗
PubMed1987

Federal health policies in the United States: an alternative explanation.

Since 1980 there has been an unprecedented shift in federal expenditures away from health and social welfare; an "electoral mandate" to reduce government's role is widely cited as justification. Yet, a survey of all major opinion polls of the past decade shows that electoral behavior and popular opinion are not synonymous. In exploring the historical ideological roots of this disjunction, the post- New Deal rise of "interest group" over "class" behavior is noted; "depoliticization" of political issues and "abstentionism" in voting follow. Rather than a realignment, recent elections represent a dealignment from regressive choices.

Democracy↗
PubMed1985

Double standards in the analysis of Marxist scholarship: a reply to Reidy's critique of my work.

This article is a reply to Reidy's critique of my work, published under the title, 'Marxist Functionalism in Medicine: A Critique of the Work of Vicente Navarro'. The first part of Reidy's article contains a lengthy list of what she defines as "the symptoms of the disease" and the second part includes the analysis and "definition of the disease; Marxist Functionalism". Her conclusion is that human liberation requires the elimination of my disease: Marxist Functionalism. She refers to my writings on Chile as yet one more proof of my disease. This article is an answer, case by case, and symptom by symptom, of Reidy's accusations and shows that it is the accuser--Reidy--rather than the accused--Navarro--who is guilty of misrepresentation and inaccurate reporting and her target of criticism is not Marxist Functionalism but Marxism. My article shows that Reidy's piece is an outcome of her maliciousness, limited knowledge of Parsons', Marx's and my own work and own political beliefs, intolerant of Marxist revolutionary positions. The article concludes that Allende's Chile proved me right, rather than wrong, as she indicated.

Chile↗
PubMed1985

The public/private mix in the funding and delivery of health services: an international survey.

Two recently published international surveys show that industrialized Western countries with the greatest government funding and administration of health services have the greatest population coverage and the lowest administrative costs. Countries with central government administration and fiscal controls have the greatest ability to control health care expenditures. Current United States focus on the private sector may be misplaced.

Canada↗
PubMed1985

U.S. Marxist scholarship in the analysis of health and medicine.

This article makes a review of 1.) dominant analyses of health and medicine in the social sciences of the U.S. and 2.) Marxist critiques of these analyses. It presents the roots of Marxist scholarship in the study of health and medicine and discusses the main Marxist critiques of the hegemonic pluralist and power elite interpretations of the institutions of medicine and of their corporatization. It also reviews Marxist studies of 1.) the crisis of medicine; 2.) the relationship between production, work, and health; and 3.) imperialism, health, and medicine. It concludes with a discussion of the operational meaning of Marxism in health and medicine, with presentation of current Marxist debates on socialist medicine and their consequences for political praxis.

Communism↗
PubMed1985

The 1980 and 1984 U.S. elections and the New Deal. An alternative interpretation.

This article has three sections. The first discusses the hegemonic interpretations of the 1980 and 1984 U.S. elections that are being reproduced on both sides of the political spectrum and that are presented as justification of current federal health and social policies. This section presents evidence that questions those hegemonic interpretations. Section II presents an alternative explanation of current political realities rooted in the class practices of the current federal administration and the Republican Party and in the abandonment by the opposition party--the Democratic Party--of the class practices of the New Deal. It discusses the reasons for that situation and analyzes its consequence for social policy. Section III presents evidence that questions the ideological arguments that are put forward by the Right (and are uncritically accepted by large sectors of the Left) and that sustain current federal economic and social policies. This section concludes with a discussion of alternative policies, stressing the need to rediscover class practices and its implication in health and social policy.

Economics↗