The Intergenerational Elasticity of Earnings: Exploring the Mechanisms

Using data covering a single cohort's first 55 years of life, we show that most of the intergenerational elasticity of earnings (IGE) is explained by differences in: years of schooling, cognitive skills, investments of parental time and school quality, and family circumstances during childhood. To decompose the fraction of the IGE explained by each of these channels, we implement a multi-level mediation analysis combined with a latent factor framework that accounts for measurement error. Multilevel mediation analysis allows us to assess not only the direct effect of each channel on the IGE, but also its indirect effects working through the other channels, thus providing an in-depth understanding of the link between parents' and children's earnings. Of these channels, we show that the main driver of the IGE is increased levels of parental investments received by children of high income parents early in their lives, which encourages greater cognitive development and lifetime earnings

Stimulatory effects of antiandrogens on LNCaP human prostate tumor cell growth, EGF-receptor level and acid phosphatase secretion

Abstract LNCaP cells (derived from a lymph node carcinoma of the human prostate) show androgen responsive growth. Progestagens, estradiol and antiandrogens competed with androgens for binding to the androgen receptor in the cells to a higher extent than in other androgen-sensitive systems. Optimal growth (3–4 fold increase in DNA content of 6 day cell cultures vs controls) was observed after addition of the synthetic androgen R1881 (0.1 nM). Both steroidal and non-steroidal antiandrogens did not suppress the androgen responsive growth. At a concentration of 10 nM cyproterone acetate or 100 nM RU 23908, growth was even stimulated to an extent comparable to that observed after addition of androgen. Cyproterone acetate and RU 23908 also increased the number of epidermal growth factor receptors expressed at the cell surface to a comparable level as did the androgen. Like androgens, cyproterone acetate, RU 23908 or estradiol stimulated the secretion per cell of prostate specific acid phosphatase in the culture fluid. In conclusion, antiandrogens can exert striking stimulatory effects on the proliferation of LNCaP cells probably due to a defective androgen receptor system. It is discussed that comparable changes in the specificity of the androgen receptor in prostate cancer cells may give these cells an advantage in growth rate and may contribute to development of tumors characterized as hormone independent

The cosmic X-ray experiment aboard HEAO-1

The HEAO-1 A-2 experiment, designed to study the large scale structure of the galaxy and the universe at X-ray energies is described. The instrument consists of six gas proportional counters of three types nominally covering the energy ranges of 0.15-3 keV, 1.2-20 keV, and 2.5-60 keV. The two low energy detectors have about 400 sq cm open area each while the four others have about 800 sq cm each. Dual field of view collimators allow the unambiguous determination of instrument internal background and diffuse X-ray brightness. Instrument characteristics and early performance are discussed

Unusual specificity of the androgen receptor in the human prostate tumor cell line LNCaP: High affinity for progestagenic and estrogenic steroids

Abstract LNCaP tumor cells, derived from a metastatic lesion of a human prostatic carcinoma, are androgen-sensitive in cell culture. Although increase in growth rate is observed with low doses of progestagens or estradiol, these cells contain exclusively androgen receptors. In the present study the binding affinity of different ligands for both non-DNA- and DNA-binding (transformed) forms of the androgen receptor were analyzed. The cytosolic (non-transformed) form of the receptor displayed an abnormal high affinity for progestagens and estradiol when compared with the cytosolic androgen receptor from other sources. Subsequently the non-transformed forms of the androgen receptor obtained from LNCaP cell nuclei was studied. A high binding affinity was found not only for dihydrotestosterone, but also for progesterone and the synthetic progestagen R5020 (relative binding affinity 42% and 10% of dihydrotestosterone). The binding characteristics of the transformed androgen receptor were examined in intact cells at 37°C. LNCaP cells were compared in this respect with COS cells containing the cloned human androgen receptor, normal human skin fibroblasts and PC3 (prostate) and NHIK (cervix) human tumor cell lines. The affinity of the transformed androgen receptors for the progestagen R5020 in LNCaP cells was significantly higher than in the other cell systems, although the differences were less pronounced than for the non-transformed receptor form. In conclusion: the LNCaP tumor cells contain an androgen receptor with an abnormal binding site. This might be due to a mutation and/or a post-transcriptional effect

The development of the Meaning in Life Index (MILI) and its relationship with personality and religious behaviours and beliefs among UK undergraduate students

The scales available for assessing meaning in life appear to be confounded with several related constructs, including purpose in life, satisfaction with life, and goal-directed behaviour. The Meaning in Life Index (MILI), a new instrument devised as a specific measure of meaning in life, was developed from responses to a pool of 22 items rated by a sample of 501 undergraduate students in Wales. The nine-item scale demonstrated sufficient face validity, internal consistency, and scale reliability to commend the instrument for future use. With respect to personality, the MILI scores were most strongly predicted by neuroticism (negatively), and less strongly by extraversion (positively) and psychoticism (negatively). With respect to several religious behavioural variables, those who attended church at least weekly returned significantly higher MILI scores than those who attended church less frequently. Intrinsic religiosity was the only orientation to be significantly associated with the MILI scale scores, although the magnitude of the association was smaller than anticipated. These results suggest that meaning in life is associated more strongly with individual differences in personality than with specific religious behaviours and attitudes. The implications of these results are discussed in terms of individual's personal values and attitudes that might underlie their experience of a meaning in life

Cathepsin-D in primary breast cancer: prognostic evaluation involving 2810 patients

There is controversy regarding the prognostic value of cathepsin-D in primary breast cancer. An increased level of cathepsin-D in tumour extracts has been found to be associated with a poor relapse-free and overall survival. Studies performed with immunohistochemistry or Western blotting have produced diverse results. We have analysed 2810 cytosolic extracts obtained from human primary breast tumours for cathepsin-D expression, and have correlated their levels with prognosis. The median follow-up of the patients still alive was 88 months. Patients with high cathepsin-D levels had a significantly worse relapse-free and overall survival, also in multivariate analysis (P < 0.0001). Adjuvant therapy which was associated with an improved prognosis in node-positive patients in univariate analysis, also significantly added to the multivariate models for relapse-free and overall survival. There were no statistically significant interactions between the levels of cathepsin-D and any of the classical prognostic factors in analysis for relapse-free survival, suggesting that the prognostic value of cathepsin-D is not different in the various subgroups of patients. Indeed, multivariate analyses in subgroups of node-negative and -positive patients, pre- and post-menopausal patients, and their combinations, showed that tumours with high cathepsin-D values had a significantly poor relapse-free survival, with relative hazard rates ranging from 1.3 to 1.5, compared with tumours with low cathepsin-D levels. The results presented here on 2810 patients confirm that high cytosolic cathepsin-D values are associated with poor prognosis in human primary breast cancer. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Theoretical and experimental stress analyses of ORNL thin-shell cylinder-to- cylinder model 2

Model 2 in a series of four thin-shell cylinder-to-cylinder models was tested, and the experimentally determined elastic stress distributions were compared with theoretical predictions obtained from a thin-shell finite-element analysis. Both the cylinder and the nozzle of model 2 had outside diameters of 10 in., giving a d$sub 0$/D$sub 0$ ratio of 1.0, and both had outside diameter/ thickness ratios of 100. Sixteen separate loading cases in which one end of the cylinder was rigidly held were analyzed. An internal pressure loading, three mutually perpendicular force components, and three mutually perpendicular moment components were individually applied at the free end of the cylinder and at the end of the nozzle. In addition to these 13 loadings, 3 additional loads were applied to the nozzle (in-plane bending moment, out-of-plane bending moment, and axial force) with the free end of the cylinder restrained. The experimental stress distributions for each of the 16 loadings were obtained using 152 three- gage strain rosettes located on the inner and outer surfaces. All the 16 loading cases were also analyzed theoretically using a finite-element shell analysis. The analysis used flat-plate elements and considered five degrees of freedom per node in the final assembled equations. The comparisons between theory and experiment show reasonably good general agreement, and it is felt that the analysis would be satisfactory for most engineering purposes. (auth