Objective: To compare individual risk behaviors in African American, Whites, and Hispanic women as found in the literature and support those findings by analyzing date available through NHANES in order to find out if the higher rate of HIV infection in African American women is a direct result of higher risk behaviors. Those risk behaviors include lower rates of condom use, higher rates of drug use including those taken intravenously, higher rates of risky sex habits, higher number of sexual partners over their lifetime, and a more extensive history of sexually transmitted infection. This study also aims to draw attention to larger factors that may foster the conditions for increased HIV rates in African American women. Results: The perception that higher rate of HIV infection is the result of increased risk factors among African American women is not supported either in the literature or in the analysis of NHANES data. For instance, results from data analysis found that African American women had fewer average sexual partners (P ≤ 0.05), lower overall rate of drug use (P ≤ 0.01), lower rates of risky sexual practices (P ≤ 0.01), but more likely to report a history of STIs (P ≤ 0.01) than Whites. The literature also confirmed that current HIV testing recommendations do not cover a large enough portion of the population to make significant impact on HIV incidence. In addition, socioeconomic situations further exacerbate the condition favorable to transmitting the disease. Conclusion: Methods that rely on individual risk behaviors alone may not be enough to reduce HIV rates in African American women, though those methods may be work in MSM. Socioeconomic programs that address disparities and testing recommendations that cover more people are needed in order to drive down HIV infection rates in African American women.

Objective: To compare known individual risk behaviors in African American, Whites, and Hispanic women as found in the literature and support those findings by analyzing data available through NHANES in order to find out if the higher rate of HIV infection in African American women is a direct result of higher risk behaviors. Those risk behaviors include lower rates of condom use, higher rates of drug use including those taken intravenously, higher rates of risky sex habits, higher number of sexual partners over their lifetime, and a more extensive history of sexually transmitted infections. This study also aims to draw attention to larger factors that may foster the conditions for increased HIV rates in African American women. Results: The perception that higher rate of HIV infection is the result of increased risk factors among African American women is not supported either in the literature or in the analysis of NHANES data. For instance, results from data analysis found that African American women had fewer average number of sexual partners (P ≤ 0.05), lower overall rate of drug use (P ≤ 0.01), lower rates of risky sexual practices (P ≤ 0.01), but more likely to report a history of STIs (P ≤ 0.01) than Whites. The literature also confirmed that current HIV testing recommendations do not cover a large enough portion of the population to make a significant impact on HIV incidence. In addition, socioeconomic situations further exacerbate the conditions favorable to the transmission of the disease in African American women. Conclusion: Prevention programs that rely on individual risk behaviors alone may not be enough to reduce HIV rates in African American women, though those same programs may be working in MSM. Programs that address socioeconomic disparities and testing recommendations that cover more people are needed in order to drive down HIV infection rates in African American women.

After Harberger published his influential paper in 1962, many authors have assessed empirically whether the incidence of the corporate income tax (CIT) falls on capital owners, consumers, or workers (Krzyzaniak and Musgrave, 1963; Gordon, 1967; Arulampalam et al., 2008). Today, there is little agreement among economists about who bears the incidence of the CIT (Gruber, 2007; Harberger, 2008a,b). The reason for the little convincing evidence is that the econometric models used in the literature ignore that the factors that motivate changes in corporate tax policy are sometimes correlated with other developments in the economy and disentangling those effects from exogenous policy changes requires tremendous effort. Using annual information at the industry level for the United States, I propose to investigate the consequences of exogenous changes in corporate tax policy. The identification of these exogenous events follows the work of Romer and Romer (2009, 2010), who provide an extensive analysis of the U.S. federal tax legislation using narrative records from presidential speeches and congressional reports, among other documentations. The results validate the original predictions from Harberger (1995, 2008a). That is, in the short-term, capital owners bear the full burden of the tax. Over time, however, capital owners are able to shift this burden either by raising consumers' goods prices, or decreasing workers' wages. The magnitude of these e ects depends on the degree of capital intensity as well as the access to international markets and the availability of substitutes for the industry under consideration.

No description available.

No description available.

Project (M.P.P.) - Simon Fraser University, 2006. / Theses (Master of Public Policy Program) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.) - University of Göttingen, 2004.

Although the incidence of breast cancer is high among Caucasian women, African American women continue to experience higher breast cancer mortality and lower survival rate in comparison to Caucasian women of the same age. Research regarding breast cancer screening among ethnic minority women from lower socioeconomic groups is extensive, but there is a lack of research that investigates barriers to breast cancer screening among African American women of higher socioeconomic status. The purpose of this study was to compare health beliefs of African American and Caucasian women regarding perceived barriers to breast cancer screening. The sample for this study consisted of 80 women, 40 African American and 40 Caucasian women, who were between the ages 40 to 80 years. The study was conducted at two local community churches located in Tampa, Florida. The barriers subscale from the Health Belief scale was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze demographic data, and independent t-test were used to compare the two groups in their perceived barriers. Results revealed that both groups perceived barriers to breast cancer, there were more similarities than differences. However, African American women were significantly more likely to indicate that having a mammogram would make them worry about breast cancer (p= 0.39). Although previous research has shown differences African American and Caucasian women, this study did not support those results. The two groups of women were similar in age, education, and marital status and all were active in their churches. Perhaps these similarities led to the lack of differences in perceived barriers scores between the two groups. This finding lends support to the idea that socioeconomic status more than race leads to disparities in breast screening.

Disease surveillance is the continuous collection, analysis, and interpretation of health-related data. Information gained from routine HIV disease surveillance is vital to national program managers deciding to implement new prevention or treatment programs. In this dissertation, we describe methods for estimation of HIV incidence and the prevalence of HIV drug resistance.

The incidence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is rising, but controversy exists in many aspects of its treatment. This study described the change in incidence of DTC in Ontario, variations in management including extent of thyroidectomy and the influence of provider volume, and the impact of these parameters on recurrence and thyroid cancer-specific death (TCSD). A population-based study identified all new cases of DTC between 1992-2007. The incidence of DTC increased dramatically (annual percentage change 7.6%). Linkage to administrative databases revealed that extent of thyroidectomy is influenced by various factors including patient gender, age, year of diagnosis, surgeon specialty, and hospital setting, but not provider volume. Total thyroidectomy is associated with a lower recurrence rate. There is a significant association between provider volume and recurrence, with lower volume surgeons having a higher recurrence risk. Extent of thyroidectomy and provider volume did not influence TCSD. Such variations in management may lead to disparities in health outcomes.