The Great Recession has brought income inequality to the forefront of the American psyche. Parallels have been made between the Great Depression and the Great Recession, and as such, economic history can act as a powerful analytical tool in directing policy. The first essay in Income Inequality during the Great Depression is a qualitative analysis of income transitions from 1929 to 1933 using 33 representative cities as surveyed by the Civil Works Administration. The second essay investigates the welfare effects of income inequality on infant mortality during the Depression. And the third essay on noninfant mortality gives context to the analysis of infant mortality and stillbirths.

No description available.

No description available.

Background Previous measurements of preventable death in hospital do not account for the uncertainty of preventability ratings. Objective To determine the proportion of deaths in hospital that a have high probability of being prevented with high quality care. Methods We created summaries for every death at a tertiary care hospital over 4-months. Four reviewers assigned preventability ratings to each death and latent class analysis was used to classify deaths into high and low preventability categories. Results There were 480 decedents with mean age of 73.9. Inter-rater reliability was poor with an intra-class correlation of 0.14. The best latent class model found that 6.2% (95% CI 0.00 – 15.2%) of deaths had a 31.0% probability of being rated more likely preventable than not by each reviewer. In contrast, 93.8% (95% CI 84.8 - 100.0%) of deaths had a 0.8% probability of being rated more likely preventable than not by each reviewer. The incidence of truly preventable deaths is less than the 6.2% that are deemed possibly preventable. xi Conclusion Very few deaths in hospital are preventable. The low incidence of preventable deaths and low inter-rater reliability means that peer review methodology is only sensitive to large differences in preventable death rate.

<p> This paper is a descriptive analysis of differences in mortality rates among Canada's 23 Census Metropolitan Areas in 1976. · Life Table output focuses specifically on the life expectancies and standardized mortality rates as a means to identify CMA mortality differences. With mention to relevant cause-specific studies and use of regression analysis an attempt is made to shed some light on the identified mortality patterns. Major findings are (1) that mortality rate variation among CMAs reveals an east-west spatial arrangement - mortality rates in Atlantic, Quebec, and Northern Ontario CMAs are above the Canadian average while the mortality rates of Southern Ontario and Western CMAs are at or below the Canadian average; (2) that Victoria CMA is dominant among the CMAs in 1976 in terms of favourable mortality probability; (3) that male mortality rates are significantly higher than female mortality rates but tend to be positively related; (4) that health expenditures per capita have significant influence on health status but continued research is necessary to study and gain a fuller understanding of the effects of various explanatory variables on mortality. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

<p> This paper is an exploratory study of the intermetropolitan mortality variations in Canada for the years 1971 and 1976. A characterization of the mortality variations based on life expectancies is first performed. Through the use of BACKWARD regression, these variations are then explained by marital status and income variables. Major findings are as follows: (1) There is an east-west spatial pattern for mortality variation with the eastern Census Metropolitan Areas (C~~'s) and northern Ontario CMA's experiencing below average life expectancies and the western CMA's having the highest life expectancies. (2) Victoria B. C. has the longest life expectancy of all of the CMA's for both 1971 and 1976. (3) For females, the MARRIED and LOW INCOME (under $1,000) variables are statistically significant, with MARRIED negatively related and LOW INCOME positively related to mortality. (4) For males, the MARRIED and DIVORCED variables are statistically significant. MARRIED is negatively related to mortality, while a negative relationship was found for DIVORCED although this finding is doubted to be a true relationship. (5) The levels of explanation are not very high. To know whether the unexplained variation is mostly due to chance variation, future research should add more cities to the sample. </p> / Thesis / Bachelor of Arts (BA)

This dissertation examines the relation between occupational exposure to the solvent methylene chloride and mortality in a cohort of cellulose fiber production workers. The first paper, entitled The Mortality of Cellulose Fiber Production Workers, presents the main results of the mortality follow-up of the cellulose fiber workers cohort through September 1, 1986. Mortality from neoplastic and non-neoplastic disease among cellulose fiber production workers is compared to that of the U.S. and local (county level) populations, while controlling for the effects of gender, race, calendar period, and age. Mortality from cancers of the lung, breast, and pancreas, and ischemic heart disease was less than expected. Excess mortality was observed for melanoma of the skin, cancer of the buccal cavity and pharynx, tumors of the liver and biliary tract, and accidental deaths. Three deaths from cancer of the bile ducts were observed (3 observed, 0.15 expected, SMR=20). This is the first known report of an association between exposure to methylene chloride and cancer of the bile ducts. [TRUNCATED]

The marginalization index for each municipality in Mexico confirms that the country is characterized by substantial economic inequality. Using this index as a tool to measure inequality in urbanization and data from the Consejo Nacional de Población (CONAPO) and the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), this work first analyzes observed spatial patterns of the marginalization index. Next, this dissertation analyzes the association between marginalization and mortality patterns inside Mexico. Overall, there is evidence of high marginalization linked to high mortality rates. Factors that might influence marginalization like geographical differences do not seem to influence the relationship between marginalization and mortality. Factors like migration and indigenous population percentages show more relevance in explaining the association between marginalization and mortality as a social causation effect. / text

Background and Aim: Prostate cancer (PCa) is the leading cancer diagnosis amongst South African men. The incidence of PCa is 68.0 per 100 000 Age Standardized Rate (ASR) and the mortality rates are 27.9 per 100 000 ASR; Globocan 2018. Diagnosis of PCa is based on a combination of digital rectal examination, prostate-specific antigen (PSA) and histology. Several biomarkers have been used to increase the sensitivity and specificity of PSA in distinguishing patients with PCa from those with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). These include fractionated PSA, free/total PSA ratio, −2proPSA, prostate cancer antigen 3 and prostate health index amongst others. Biomarkers are needed to differentiate BPH from PCa due to a lack of specificity of these markers with PSA levels above 4.0 ng/ml. The aim of this study is to investigate gene expression patterns of South African men in 9 PCa and 10 BPH patients in order to distinguish between the two groups. Methods: Ethical approval was obtained (HREC 454/2012). Patients scheduled for transurethral resection of the prostate were recruited from the Western Cape. RNA was extracted from prostate tissue using the AllPrep DNA/RNA/miRNA Universal Kit (Qiagen). Complementary DNA was synthesized from RNA using the SuperScript IV VILO Master Mix (Thermo Fischer Scientific). Gene expression was analyzed with the Human Prostate Cancer RT2 Profiler PCR Array and SYBR Green Master Mix. Data were analyzed with the GeneGlobe RT2 and miScript PCR Array Data Analysis Centre from Qiagen. Results: The cohort included patients from different ethnic groups namely, Caucasians, Mixedand African ancestry. The PCa group has an age range from 56 to 75 years (mean 65) while the BPH group was slight older ranging from 60 to 76 years (mean 68). PSA levels range from 24 to 5000 ng/ml (mean 1252 ng/ml, median 185) for the PCa group and 11 to 58 ng/mL (mean 25 ng/ml, median 22) for the BPH group. The following genes were downregulated 2-fold in the PCa group with p values s <0.05; IGF1, PTEN, GSTP1, SOCS3, EGR3, GPX3, TIMP3, ZNF185, DKK3, PTGS2, FOXO1, ARNTL, TNFRSF10D, CCND1, and DLC1, upregulated genes included; CDH1, MKI67, TMPRSS2, ERG, CDKN2A, FASN, and AR but were not statistically significant. At a fold change threshold of 1.5, the following additional genes were downregulated in the PCa group with p values <0.05; DAXX, EGFR, RASSF1, SOX4, and TIMP2, upregulated genes were ACACA, AR, CDKN2A, ERG and FASN but were also not statistically significant. The study shows similarly differentially expressed genes as seen in international studies. Of note PTEN, MKI67 and FASN which are associated with poor prognosis. EGR3 was downregulated in our study and this has been associated aggressive disease and predict relapse after PCa treatment. This could explain the high mortality demonstrated in South African epidemiological studies. Conclusion: We identified a group of differentially expressed genes that have potential in distinguishing PCa and BPH patients with PSA values above 10 ng/ml. A larger population study is needed to further evaluate the clinical significance of our findings.

The study of the relationship between socioeconomic characteristics and mortality patterns has been a traditional research focus in demography, representing one of the core areas of the discipline. In Latin America, there is an important set of studies that show a significant inverse relationship between socioeconomic status and mortality rates. However, mainly due to limitations in the available data, we know very little about the specific relation between educational attainment and adult mortality. This inverse relationship between educational attainment and mortality rates provides just the tip of the iceberg for a large set of questions: How wide are educational differences in overall adult mortality in Argentina? Does the association between educational attainment and adult mortality vary by age group, gender and region? Are there unique adult mortality patterns by education among specific causes of death? Has the adult mortality differential by education attainment widened or narrowed as education attainment increased between 1991 and 2010? The main objective of this research was to describe and analyze the relationship between educational attainment and adult mortality patterns during the 1991-2010 period in Argentina. The data used in this study come from the Argentinian Mortality Files for the period 1991-2010 and from the 1991, 2001 and 2010 Argentinian Censuses. Results show a clear gradient in the specific mortality rates according to educational groups, for both sexes and for all age groups. The existence and direction of this relationship was as expected; however, the magnitude of educational differences was much higher than what has been found in other countries. The data also exhibited a clear declining trend in mortality inequalities by education as age increased. Educational differences in overall adult mortality did not display an increasing pattern over time. The year 2001, which was characterized by serious economic and social crisis in the country, displayed the highest educational inequalities in mortality in comparison to either 1991 or 2010. The findings of this dissertation are relevant to policy questions about health care and social inequalities in death. / text