University of Nebraska Omaha

About: University of Nebraska Omaha is a education organization based out in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 4526 authors who have published 8905 publications receiving 213914 citations. The organization is also known as: UNO & University of Omaha.

Increased catechol estrogen metabolism as a risk factor for nonfamilial breast cancer.

Abstract: The metabolism of estrone (E1) or estradiol-17 beta (E2) to catechols seldom has been investigated in biochemical studies related to the risk of development of human breast cancer, as a result of the extreme lability and reactivity of these hormones. A method of indirect calculation was developed in which estimated catechol estrogen excretion (ECE) from urinary excretion of E1, E2, and estriol (E3) was used, based on the obligate reciprocal relation between 16 alpha-hydroxylase activity (r3) and estrogen 2/4 hydroxylase function (r2). This relationship is expressed by r2 x r3 = K, the estrogen oxidative constant. From published data relating chiefly to 2-OH estrone excretion, K = 12.4 +/- 0.8 (standard error of the mean). Urinary E1 + E2 excretion rates reflect nonprotein-bound plasma ovarian estrogen concentrations available for cell metabolism, which influence the value of K. The equation: r2 = [E1 + E2] K/[E3 + 16 alpha OH E1] = ECE gives a median correlation coefficient between actual catechol estrogen excretion and ECE in micrograms/24 hours of +0.88 (range, 0.61 to 0.97). When tested against the best product isolation analysis of catechol estrogen excretion, ECE was 95% accurate. Using this method a metaanalysis was conducted of published fractional estrogen excretion collected from 2846 healthy women worldwide aged 15 to 59 years, with a risk of breast cancer varying fivefold. Overall ECE was 78% to 97% higher in high-risk women of all ages and menstrual cycle phases (P less than 0.001, by Wilcoxon test). With increasing cancer risk (as estimated by the authors), ECE rose linearly exponentially with a slope of 0.149 (follicular phase) and 0.136 (luteal phase). The correlation coefficient (R2) between the two variables was 0.77 and 0.57, respectively (P less than 0.05). These data derived from calculations of ECE in healthy women confirmed recent analytic results of a twofold increase in the ratio of 2-OH E1/4-OH E1 in healthy Finnish women compared with recent Japanese migrants to Hawaii. In Finnish women with breast cancer, this ratio increased further (almost twofold). Metaanalysis supported the conclusion that increased rates of oxidation of estradiol 17-beta to 2-OH catechols supply the principal proximal human mammary carcinogens active after menarche.

The Linkage between Prices, Wages, and Labor Productivity: A Panel Study of Manufacturing Industries

Abstract: 1. IntroductionPolicy makers and financial analysts cite wage pressures and productivity gains as leading factors in explaining inflation. This cost-push explanation of inflation, however, is questioned by Mehra (1991, 1993, 2000), who shows that prices explain wages, but that wages are not a causal factor in determining inflation. Studies by Hu and Trehan (1995) and Gordon (1988, 1998) report evidence indicating that wage growth has no predictive content for inflation, rejecting the cost-push view. Emery and Chang (1996) and Hess (1999) demonstrate that these findings are sensitive to the sample period examined. Ghali (1999), using Granger-causality tests, finds that wage growth does help to predict inflation, supporting the cost-push view. A related but also relatively unexplored relationship is that between real wages and productivity. Although this link is the building block of many macroeconomic models and is frequently cited in intermediate macroeconomic textbooks, few empirical works have tested this relationship.1Recently, a large number of studies have begun testing long-standing macroeconomic hypotheses using panel unit-root and/or panel cointegration tests. However, few studies have employed industry-level panel data sets. The current article contributes to filling this void. It employs manufacturing industry data to evaluate the long-run dynamics between wages, prices, and productivity rather than the traditional approach of examining macroeconomic aggregates. More specifically, using annual four-digit industry-level data from the manufacturing sector over the period 1958-1996, this article examines the relationship between prices and wage-adjusted productivity as well as the linkage between productivity and real wages, using panel unit-root and cointegration estimation methods. The increased power and precision of the panel methods are particularly valuable in this context because they allow the researcher to more accurately test for the existence of a one-for-one cointegrating equilibrium between labor market variables and industry output prices. An additional objective of this article is to show the advantages and disadvantages of employing panel unit-root and cointegration tests. We demonstrate that the considerable heterogeneity of the data imply that the practitioner must be cautious in making inferences about the linkage between variables when using either pooling estimation methods or aggregate-level data. Our methodology accommodates for heterogeneity, by averaging coefficients, as well as examines outlier effects through quartile analysis. Heterogeneity of the cointegrating vector and cross-correlations are accommodated through analysis by industry of the extent of cointegration across the panel and Monte Carlo simulations that calculate correctly sized critical values.Our results suggest that a stable, long-run relationship exists between prices and wage-adjusted productivity as well as between real wages and productivity for many, but not all, industries. Both relationships, however, have considerably varied estimates and in most cases differ from the one-for-one linkage found by Mehra and others in aggregate-level data. Furthermore, Granger-causality tests support one-way causation from prices to per-unit labor costs (ULC) in both the short and the long run. Hence, the industry-level data reject the standard cost-push explanation of wage pressures contributing to inflation, supporting the aggregate-level findings of Mehra (1991, 1993, 2000) and others. Our findings suggest that prices may be driven more by demand-side factors than supply-side factors. Results further support bidirectional Granger causality in the long run between real wages and labor productivity. This implies that changes in real wages lead to productivity changes and is not inconsistent with the efficiency wage hypothesis. At the same time, productivity movements affect real wages, which is consistent with efficient labor markets. …

Are Tax Effects Important in the Long-Run Fisher Relation? Evidence from the Municipal Bond Market

Abstract: Recent studies of the Fisher relation have yielded contradictory conclusions on the importance of taxes in determining the long-run response of nominal interest rates to changes in expected inflation. This study uses data on taxable U.S. treasury and tax exempt municipal bond interest rates to shed light on the effects of inflation on nominal interest rates.

Advertising Sensitive Products

Abstract: The results of two nationwide studies of opinions on the advertising of sensitive products in the US are presented in this study. Results show higher levels of approval than had been indicated in previous studies. Several significant differences are observed when the results are cross-tabulated using a number of demographic variables. Conclusions are drawn and implications for managers and researchers are summarized.

High-dose multi-agent chemotherapy followed by bone marrow rescue for malignant astrocytomas of childhood and adolescence

Abstract: Between April 1986 and March 1989, ten patients under 21 years of age with histologically confirmed malignant astrocytoma, received marrow-ablative chemotherapy with either thiotepa and Etoposide (five patients) or thiotepa, Etoposide and BCNU (five patients), followed by bone marrow ‘rescue’. Nine patients had glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), and one patient had an intrinsic brain stem anaplastic astrocytoma (AA). Seven patients were treated for recurrent tumor. Two patients who developed GBM as second malignancies were treated directly following surgical resection. One patient had received irradiation only for recently diagnosed cervical spinal cord GBM. Thiotepa was administered at a total dose of 600–900 mg/M2 over three days, Etoposide was administered at a total dose of 1500 mg/M2 over three days, and BCNU was administered at a total dose of 600 mg/M2 over four days. Non-hematopoietic toxicities have been mainly transient, predictable and acceptable, consisting of oropharyngeal mucositis, cutaneous hyperpigmentation, erythema and desquamation. Four patients achieved complete responses (CR), as determined by radiographic evaluation (CT and/or MRI) on day 28 post-marrow infusion. The mean remission duration of those with CR is 290 + days; two patients presently remain in remission. Two patients achieved partial responses (PR, greater than 50% tumor shrinkage) by day 28 post-marrow infusion; both developed disease progression, at day 61 and 94 post-marrow infusion, respectively. One patient, with a brain stem AA, had stable disease maintained for 13 months post-marrow infusion. With a total (CR + PR) response rate of 60%, these regimens merit evaluation in broader categories of recurrent brain tumor patients, as well as in patients with newly-diagnosed GBM.