Referee Report Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Due to Diet - Free Essay Example

Initially, when choosing an academic article to read and analyze, I wanted to choose something that I would be really invested in. Throughout my life, my grandfather has battled non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and I wanted to research what are some possible onsets of this disease. Could it possibly be diet? Could it be hereditary? These are questions I intended to answer through my research. At the conclusion of my research, I narrowed my focus to one article, in particular, that used regressions from data collected to show the correlation between diet, among other things, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. â€Å"Risk of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and Nitrate and Nitrite From Drinking Water and Diet† by Mary H. Ward, James R. Cerhan, Joanne S. Colt, and Patricia Hartge explores diet and other impurities we consume as humans in Iowa, Detroit, Seattle, and Los Angeles from 1998 to 2000. While this study was initially done to observe nitrite and nitrate levels in water and diet in Iowa, Detroit, Seattle, and Los Angeles, Iowa was the only state observed whose nitrate levels were abnormal relative to the other states. Therefore, the study decided to isolate this state in their research and focus solely on Iowa’s diet and water composition. Nitrate is significant in this area because it is more rural, and most traces of nitrate come from fertilizer, waste, and air pollution. â€Å"This analysis was part of a population-based case-control study of non-Hodgkin lymphoma conducted in 4 4 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) centers to investigate the role of environmental exposures in NHL risk.† (375) Water sources with over 70% nitrate levels since 1960 were studied. 117 item food questionnaires were used to determine how the population’s diet played a role in their health. â€Å"Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using logistic regression, adjusting for the study matching factors, education, and caloric intake.† (375) By the conclusion of the study, it was determined that there was no correlation between drinking water and NHL. There was also no correlation between vitamin c, red meat, and NHL. However, it was concluded that bread and cereal did hold significant value in determining NHL susceptibility. There were many parts of this report that I was able to appreciate. There were a lot of numbers and scientific fact included in the research. This shows me that research was done prior to this and that the review of the research was very thorough. This shows me that this report was not only made for health economists, but scientists and researchers as well. I appreciated the way they used a complete list of residences and the times they lived at these specific residences. They also used very specific dates, different from just a calendar year, to group the population into certain age groups. Data was collected from 28 years prior to when the study was conducted to have a large sample size of data. Every single type of water was examined, from private wells, public water, bottled water, and any other type of water that does not directly fit into one of these categories. (376) Concerning diet, an extensive food questionnaire was put into place that even took dietary and vitamin supplem ent intake into consideration. The focus of the dietary portion of the research was water intake, meat preparation methods, doneness of food/meat, and vegetable intake. Some vegetables have higher nitrate levels than others. (377) It is actually possible to have an increased risk of NHL from too much or too little vitamin C intake. (378) :The use of monitoring data for assessing exposure to nitrate has several limitations. Distribution samples taken at one or more taps quarterly or annually (as is required) may not adequately reflect exposure if there is substantial seasonal or spatial variation.† (381) I was pleased to see that the study was able to address the struggles they faced during research and the shortcomings they may have experienced. Throughout the study, I noticed parts that were not cohesive with the rest of the study or that may have hindered the overall message that it was trying to send so I appreciate the self-reflection on the part of the researchers.  "Our results for NHL in Iowa do not confirm results from our previous study in Nebraska in which NHL risk increased with increasing nitrate levels in public supplies†¦ additional studies of populations with higher exposure levels would be informative.† (382) There was also a study conducted in Nebraska that concluded the exact opposite results so for the researchers to acknowledge that is a step in the right direction for possibly one day correcting their deficiencies and getting an exact result on if these factors correlate to non-Hodgkin lymphoma. There were a few parts of the article that I did not like as well. There were many science terms that I was not familiar with. I wish I had more of a science background to be able to understand most of the reactions the article was saying would happen with nitrate and nitrite within the body to be able to form NHL. It required me to pay attention to trends within the numbers instead of actually understanding why things are happening the way they are. I do not like that they only focused on Iowa instead of the other 3 states. I feel like you are cutting out a good chunk of your sample size by negating the data from 3 states just because they were not rural enough. During testing, more women were tested than men were and more whites were tested than other racial groups. Having different genetic make-ups, I feel that only focusing on one gender or racial group would skew the results. The study focused mostly on private wells within Iowa since public water supplies were expected to be controlled as far as water impurities and composition. I feel that th is is an egregious error in assuming and could very well effect the outcome of the results. Increasing nitrite caused an increase in the risk of NHL. Most of this nitrite came from nitrite rich breads and cereals. (380) â€Å"A small percentage of the study population had more than a few years of exposure to nitrate levels.† (380) I do not see how a study can say that it is legitimate if most of the population had even been exposed to nitrate long enough for it to affect their body and possibly give them NHL. â€Å"Our study could not evaluate risk at nitrate levels above the maximum contaminant level due to the lack of historical exposure data for private wells and the infrequent exposure above this level among public water supply users.† (381) This particular research group had done 3 previous tests of the same kind in different geographic locations and the results were all different. (380) That makes me question the validity of the research. As previously stated, I did not understand many of the scientific terms that were used in the research. I also did not understand the 4 pathologic groups that were used in the study: follicular, diffuse, t-cell, and other classifications. It seemed that they wanted to be very specific in certain aspects of the study, such as food questionnaires, but then take shortcuts in other aspects, such as cutting out  ¾ of your sample size by not testing the other states. They focused on NHL cases without HIV in ages 20-74. I am not sure what having HIV has to do with NHL. I would assume these are two very separate diseases and do not correlate at all. This also cutting out your sample size. It was determined that most private wells had no nitrate, some had a bit of nitrate, and only 8 wells had concerning levels of nitrate. (377) This goes against the notion that the other 3 testing areas would not have offered any insight into nitrate levels because the rural area they tested ended up havin g less nitrate than the city. They used unconditional logic regression. I have gone over regressions in Econ Stats and Econometrics but have not encountered this regression yet. Therefore, I was confused as to how this regression is actually used. They also used body mass as a category of the population. I am not sure why this was used because I feel that if you have a higher body mass you will eat or drink more food that potentially contains pollutants, so it will eventually even out and body mass will not have to be taken into account. It is not as if everyone is eating or drinking the same amount. They eat or drink according to their body mass so it does not need to be accounted for. Smoking was introduced halfway into the study and I am not sure why this was not addressed earlier into the study because smoking has shown direct correlations to cancer so this was vital information that needed to be presented to the reader at the beginning of the article. (377) Overall, the effort of the study was there. Intentions were good, but execution could have been better. There was a lot of over focusing on one aspect while not enough focus was placed in other areas. Allocation of resources, labor, and time management could have made this study a lot more effective and worthwhile because ultimately, the conclusion did not yield anything significant since their previous 3 studies all showed different results.

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize - Free Essay Example

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize winning economist whose name is among those reaching the peaks of macroeconomics and beyond through his work on international trade among other topics. He is a professor of economics at City University of New York and a columnist for The New York Times. The Prize he received was due to his work in explaining the patterns of international trade and the geographic distribution of economies scale and of consumer preferences for diverse goods and services. Krugmans influence on international trade has helped garner a better understanding of free trade, urbanization and how worldwide trade is dominated by countries of similar conditions and products. The trade theory was based on, as of the mid-1970s, on the notion of comparative advantage. Up until then, David Ricardos theory from the 19th century and Heckscher-Ohlin theory from the 1920s held more weight due to the assumption of trade being conducted either in terms of technology or factor endowments. Comparative advantage is the ability to produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than a competitor can. Ricardos theory stated that countries can specialize on the production of goods it produces efficiently and buy the goods it produces less efficiently from other countries, even if this means buying goods from other countries it could efficiently produce itself. The Heckscher-Ohlin theory summed down to a capital abundant country exporting relatively capital-intensive goods and importing labor-intensive goods while assuming that both countries hold identical technology. The left side shows that the best place for coconuts is the trading with the best place for wool. Both of their items has to do a lot with the climate due to their geographic location. On the other hand, the right side shows that countries can be similar in abilities but they tend to pick a good that requires large scale production and focus on it so that different countries can come to them for that particular good. For example, Germany luxury cars trading with America for their aircrafts. The new trade began to emerge in the 1970s and was developed by Paul Krugman. This theory focuses on increasing returns to scale and network effects. Before this theory, the only reason trade was seen as a benefit was due to comparative advantage which means countries traded only what they were good at. These theories provided good explanations of the trade patterns in the first half of the 20th century. But as many researchers began to observe, comparative advantage seemed less relevant in the modern world. Today, most trade takes place between countries with similar technologies and similar factor proportions; quite similar goods are often both exported and imported by the same country. Paul Krugman developed that trade is due to increasing returns to scale, not the differences between the countries. He established a technology that indicates that it is cheaper to operate at large scale when extra units of a good are produced. When countries focus on the production of large quantities of specific products, it reduces production costs allowing for them to reap greater economies of scale. As a result, even if there are not differences in endowments, including culture and institutions, international trade is still beneficial. This is a form specialization which also helps to gain other network benefits while attaining a gain in economies of scale. The rate of scale is an increase in production which is related to the increase in factors of production. This is a relationship between input and output. There is a certain amount of input where the output remains constant so the best place for companies plugging in these inputs is to do it with the least amount of input generating the most output which in this case is at the number 3 for the scale of inputs. The new trade theory could also be said to show a role of government through their support in the growth of vital industries and in the promotion of new industries. There are many Asian economies who had protection and support from their governments which provides sustenance to this element of the new trade theory. For example, the support of the Japans government in the car industry. This evidence backs up the belief that a few years of support through tariff protection and domestic subsidies could be the encouragement needed in capital-intensive industries. There is also a downfall to government support because it could create a tendency for powerful businesses to rely on state support which could encourage inefficiency. The infant industry is another argument that justifies tariffs on imports to aid in the development of diverse industries. If a country could establish economies of scale through infrastructure then they can develop a comparative advantage and to do so they would place tariffs on countries where their industries have a dormant comparative advantage. While many developing countries have comparative advantage in minerals and agriculture, the long term production could be disadvantageous due to low-income elasticity of demand and unstable prices. The up and downs of supply and demand could be overcome if a developing country were to diversify the economy which could be done through a provision of a domestic market in lieu of a lack of capital markets through tariffs that will be reduced once the industries become more efficient. Urbanization, which has played a big part through specialization in the new trade theory, can be seen as a consequence of economic growth. It can also be seen as an extension of a process driven by technological and institutional changes in different countries. For example, specialization in the Silicon Valley surrounding the industry of IT expanded when Hewlett and Packard began the computer business. This is an outcome of network benefit which resulted in new firms popping up around older IT firms. The network effects can also be called the bandwagon effect where there is no intention to create value for others but it occurs anyway. The new trade theory also becomes an explanatory factor in the growth of globalization meaning that poor, underdeveloped countries that lag behind the economies of scale cannot hope to ever cultivate certain industries in their countries. There is not because of comparative advantage but due to the large economies of scale already owned by established firms. The increase in variety is a result of globalization. For example, there is heavy branding in the British and Italian labels so they hold a position in monopolistic competition even when they do not have a particular comparative advantage in producing clothes. The firms who have been a part of a certain industry for a long time have a certain advantage as opposed to new firms who cannot compete against these mature firms. The limited competition that global industries with great economies of scale face lead to a form of monopolistic competition. The element is very important in the new trade theory and it proposes that firms in their specialized industry are not just competing on simple price but also on branding and quality to out qualify the other and increase their demand. The number of firms in a competitive monopolistic industry and prices charged by them are affected by the size of market. The increase of the market size is credited to the opening up of a country to free trade. CC: AC= F/Q + c = n x F/S + c PP: P = c + 1/ (b x n). A type of imperfect rivalry, meaning monopolistic competition, is where many producers sell different products that are different from each another. There will be no single firm that controls the market and some firms will be larger than others. Aside from the automotive, pharmaceuticals and aerospace industries, another example is the fast food industry. On every corner of America, where there is a McDonalds, there will be a Burger King or Wendys or literally any other place that can serve food just as fast. The fast food restaurants will have something in their items that distinguishes them and that is a part of the new trade theory. The U.S. is big on imports more than exports which means there is a trade deficit. However, the investment of other countries is done in dollar so that makes Americas currency strong. The benefits of international trade outweigh the disadvantages that come with it. Paul Krugman influenced international trade through his analysis on trade patterns and location of economic activity. He revolutionized international trade by allowing other countries to take a step forward in strengthening their own economies through the commerce and trade. It has allowed underdeveloped countries to flourish and grow.