The distribution impact of the social security program, 1962-1972

This dissertation investigated the effect of old age insurance (OAI) benefits on the distribution of lifetime income for persons retiring between 1961 and 1973. An actuarial standard of fairness was employed to assess the direction of redistribution and the extent to which the OAI program redistributed income across subgroups comprising the retirement cohort. It was hypothesized that socioeconomic status influenced the absolute size of the redistributional component because of differential survivorship rates and the differential treatment of certain identifiable groups, such as women, nonworking persons age 65-71, traditional family structures, and low-income household units. In addition, the distributional consequences of a maturing pay-as-you-go retirement system were examined;The distributional impact of the OAI program under legislation in effect in 1972 was isolated by decoupling the insurance portion of the OAI benefits from the redistribution portion. The decoupling was accomplished by estimating a series of annuity-type counterfactuals--person-specific estimates of actuarially fair benefit payments. The size of the annuity benefit received was dependent on the accumulated value of OAI contribution, the comprehensiveness of the income insurance purchased, and the degree to which the insurer could discriminate among beneficiaries. The annuity-type estimates and 1972 OAI benefit levels used to measure redistribution were based on data from the 1973 Current Population Survey--Administrative Record Exact Match File and the Longitudinal Social Security Earnings Exact Match File;All 1972 beneficiaries received more than their money\u27s worth from the OAI program. In addition, the OAI program was found to be mildly and generally progressive across income groups, but it also exhibited strong regressive features, resulting in lower relative returns to middle-income beneficiaries. The regressive features were more pronounced with the introduction of the earning test and socioeconomic-adjusted mortality rates. Overall, the lower-income groups received the largest relative gains from the program, whereas the middle-income groups received the largest share of the intergenerational transfer. The size of the intergenerational transfer was found, in many cases, significantly associated with the following worker characteristics: lifetime earnings, service length, sex, age at retirement, year of retirement, and marital status

Childhood and Adult Trauma Experiences of Incarcerated Persons and Their Relationship to Adult Behavioral Health Problems and Treatment

Rates of childhood and adult trauma are high among incarcerated persons. In addition to criminality, childhood trauma is associated with the risk for emotional disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety) and co-morbid conditions such as alcohol and drug abuse and antisocial behaviors in adulthood. This paper develops rates of childhood and adult trauma and examines the impact of age-of-onset and type-specific trauma on emotional problems and behavior for a sample of incarcerated males (N~4,000). Prevalence estimates for types of trauma were constructed by age at time of trauma, race and types of behavioral health treatment received while incarcerated. HLM models were used to explore the association between childhood and adult trauma and depression, anxiety, substance use, interpersonal problems, and aggression problems (each model estimated separately and controlling for age, gender, race, time incarcerated, and index offense). Rates of physical, sexual, and emotional trauma were higher in childhood than adulthood and ranged from 44.7% (physical trauma in childhood) to 4.5% (sexual trauma in adulthood). Trauma exposure was found to be strongly associated with a wide range of behavioral problems and clinical symptoms. Given the sheer numbers of incarcerated men and the strength of these associations, targeted intervention is critical

Temporal Patterns of Arrest in a Cohort of Adults Receiving Mental Health Services: The Massachusetts Mental Health / Criminal Justice Cohort Study

Criminal Justice Involvement among Clientele is a Major Concern for State Mental Health Agencies. Mental health and criminal justice systems provide services at various points along the interface of these systems to reduce offending and re-offending, including: - Diversion programs - Mental Health Courts - Re-Entry Little information about scope of offending to guide service development. This study provides data on the prevalence, type and temporal patterns of arrest for a large sample of adults followed for roughly 9.5 years

Serious Mental Illness and Chronic Crimial Justice Involvement: Findings from The Massachusetts Mental Healthy / Criminal Justice Cohort Study

Presents findings from 1990 through 2000 from The Massachusetts Mental Health/Criminal Justice Cohort Study

Workshop to identify critical windows of exposure for children's health: cancer work group summary.

We considered whether there are discrete windows of vulnerability in the development of cancer and which time periods may be of the greatest importance. Cancer was considered broadly, including cancers in childhood as well as adult cancers that may have an in utero or childhood origin. We concluded that there was evidence from animal and epidemiologic studies for causal relationships for preconceptional, in utero, and childhood exposures and cancer occurrence in children and adults. However, the evidence is incomplete and all relevant critical windows may not have been identified. The comprehensive evaluation of the relative importance of specific time windows of exposure is limited. Improvements in the design of epidemiologic studies and additional animal studies of mechanisms are warranted

Prognostic Value of Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes in Triple-Negative Breast Cancers From Two Phase III Randomized Adjuvant Breast Cancer Trials: ECOG 2197 and ECOG 1199

Purpose Recent studies suggest that tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) are associated with disease-free (DFS) and overall survival (OS) in operable triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We seek to validate the prognostic impact of TILs in primary TNBCs in two adjuvant phase III trials conducted by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG). Patients and Methods Full-face hematoxylin and eosin–stained sections of 506 tumors from ECOG trials E2197 and E1199 were evaluated for density of TILs in intraepithelial (iTILs) and stromal compartments (sTILs). Patient cases of TNBC from E2197 and E1199 were randomly selected based on availability of sections. For the primary end point of DFS, association with TIL scores was determined by fitting proportional hazards models stratified on study. Secondary end points were OS and distant recurrence–free interval (DRFI). Reporting recommendations for tumor marker prognostic studies criteria were followed, and all analyses were prespecified. Results The majority of 481 evaluable cancers had TILs (sTILs, 80%; iTILs, 15%). With a median follow-up of 10.6 years, higher sTIL scores were associated with better prognosis; for every 10% increase in sTILs, a 14% reduction of risk of recurrence or death (P = .02), 18% reduction of risk of distant recurrence (P = .04), and 19% reduction of risk of death (P = .01) were observed. Multivariable analysis confirmed sTILs to be an independent prognostic marker of DFS, DRFI, and OS. Conclusion In two national randomized clinical trials using contemporary adjuvant chemotherapy, we confirm that stromal lymphocytic infiltration constitutes a robust prognostic factor in TNBCs. Studies assessing outcomes and therapeutic efficacies should consider stratification for this parameter

Monitoring of Serum DNA Methylation as an Early Independent Marker of Response and Survival in Metastatic Breast Cancer: TBCRC 005 Prospective Biomarker Study

Epigenetic alterations measured in blood may help guide breast cancer treatment. The multisite prospective study TBCRC 005 was conducted to examine the ability of a novel panel of cell-free DNA methylation markers to predict survival outcomes in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) using a new quantitative multiplex assay (cMethDNA)

TBCRC 019: A phase II trial of nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel with or without the anti-death receptor 5 monoclonal antibody tigatuzumab in patients with triple negative breast cancer

Purpose: Tigatuzumab (TIG), an agonistic anti-DR5 antibody, triggers apoptosis in DR5+ human tumor cells without crosslinking. TIG has strong in vitro/in vivo activity against basal-like breast cancer cells enhanced by chemotherapy agents. This study evaluates activity of TIG and chemotherapy in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Experimental Design: Randomized 2:1 phase II trial of albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-PAC) ± TIG in patients with TNBC stratified by prior chemotherapy. Patients received nab-PAC weekly × 3 ± TIG every other week, every 28 days. Primary objective was within-arm objective response rate (ORR). Secondary objectives were safety, progression-free survival (PFS), clinical benefit, and TIG immunogenicity. Metastatic research biopsies were required. Results: Among 64 patients (60 treated; TIG/nab-PAC n = 39 and nab-PAC n = 21), there were 3 complete remissions (CR), 8 partial remissions (PR; 1 almost CR), 11 stable diseases (SD), and 17 progressive diseases (PD) in the TIG/nab-PAC arm (ORR, 28%), and no CRs, 8 PRs, 4 SDs, and 9 PDs in the nab-PAC arm (ORR, 38%). There was a numerical increase in CRs and several patients had prolonged PFS (1,025+, 781, 672, 460, 334) in the TIG/nab-PAC arm. Grade 3 toxicities were 28% and 29%, respectively, with no grade 4–5. Exploratory analysis suggests an association of ROCK1 gene pathway activation with efficacy in the TIG/nab-PAC arm. Conclusions: ORR and PFS were similar in both. Preclinical activity of TIG in basal-like breast cancer and prolonged PFS in few patients in the combination arm support further investigation of anti-DR5 agents. ROCK pathway activation merits further evaluation

Arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahmen

Inhalt: I Arbeitsmarktpolitische Maßnahmen; I.I Einführung und Resümee; I.II Beratung und Vermittlung; I.III Langfristige Wirkungen von geförderter beruflicher Weiterbildung; I.IV Bildungsgutscheine; I.V Weiterbildungsabsicht von Arbeitslosen und Kompetenzen formal Geringqualifizierter; I.VI Initiative zur Flankierung des Strukturwandels (IFlaS); I.VII Weiterbildung Geringqualifizierter und beschäftigter älterer Arbeitnehmer in Unternehmen (WeGebAU); I.VIII Berufsvorbereitende Bildungsmaßnahmen der Bundesagentur für Arbeit (BvB); I.IX Maßnahmen im Rahmen beruflicher Rehabilitation für Menschen mit Behinderung; I.X Sozialer Arbeitsmarkt; Literatur zu Kapitel I