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.

Rituximab with chemotherapy in children and adolescents with central nervous system and/or bone marrow-positive Burkitt lymphoma/leukaemia: A Children’s Oncology Group Report

Abstract: Children and adolescents with Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) and combined central nervous system (CNS) and bone marrow involvement still have a poor prognosis with chemotherapy alone. We therefore investigated in children and adolescents with bone marrow (≥25% blasts) and/or CNS-positive Burkitt lymphoma the chemoimmunotherapy combination of rituximab (375 mg/m(2) ) and the standard chemotherapy arm of our previously reported French-American-British (FAB) Lymphome Malins de Burkitt (LMB) 96 trial. Central pathological and cytogenetic characterization was also performed. There were 40 evaluable patients with Burkitt histology (25 with leukaemia and 15 with CNS disease ± leukaemia). The chemoimmunotherapy regimen was well tolerated. The incidence of grade III/IV mucositis during induction cycles with combined chemotherapy and rituximab was 31% and 26%, respectively. The 3-year event-free survival (EFS)/overall survival (OS) was 90% (95% confidence interval [CI], 76-96%) in the entire cohort and 93% (95% CI, 61-99%) in patients with CNS disease. Based on the results of this trial, an international randomized study of FAB/LMB 96 chemotherapy ± rituximab for high-risk patients is currently under investigation.

Collaborative Business Engineering: A Decade of Lessons from the Field

Abstract: Business process reengineering (BPR) projects have been carried out for many years, with varying degrees of success. Two key reasons for failure are distinguished from the literature: insufficient stakeholder involvement and poor analyses of the business processes. The purpose of this paper is to present a decade of field experiences with collaborative BPR. Nine BPR projects were executed and analyzed in detail, leading to the identification of 87 themes regarding the efficiency and effectiveness of the project. These themes were organized into 12 categories of lessons learned that provide insight into the "best practices" and together informed the evolution of the collaborative business engineering (CBE) approach to BPR. The CBE approach combines a BPR process with collaboration and simulation modeling support to address the above-mentioned reasons for failure in BPR. The field experiences show that the CBE approach can be successfully applied for BPR projects in real life.

Fiscal Institutions, Credit Ratings, and Borrowing Costs

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of fiscal institutions on state government borrowing costs. We find that institutions have both a direct and indirect effect on interest costs paid by state governments. Revenue limits are associated directly with higher interest costs; expenditure limits, stricter balanced budget rules, and restrictions on state debt issuance are indirectly associated with lower interest costs because they lead to higher credit ratings. It appears that investors and bond raters incorporate information on fiscal institutions into their assessment of state government credit quality.