The role of ethical banks in health care policy and financing in Spain.

Objectives: Ethical, social, or civic banks, constitute a secondary source of financing, which is particularly relevant in Southern and Central Europe. However there is no information on the scientific literature on this source of health care financing.

Method: We review the characteristics of saving banks in Spain and illustrate the contribution of one institution "Obra Social Caixa Catalunya" (OS-CC) to the health care financing in Spain.

Mitigation of effects of extreme drought during stage III of peach fruit development by summer pruning and fruit thinning.

A water deficit during stage III of fruit growth was established with the aim of determining if it is possible to achieve an improvement in tree water status by summer pruning and fruit thinning. The experiment was set up as a randomized block split-plot design across trials (irrigation) where pruning was assigned to the main plot and fruit thinning to the sub-plots. The irrigation treatments were (1) standard full irrigation (FI), and (2) suppression of irrigation during stage III of fruit growth until leaves visibly withered (LWI); the pruning treatments were (1) experimental summer pruning (EP), and (2) standard summer pruning (CP); and three fruit thinning intensities were applied to facilitate analysis of the effects of the treatments in relation to fruit load.