| 1. |
- Brown, David A, et al.
(author)
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Macrophage inhibitory cytokine 1 : a new prognostic marker in prostate cancer.
- 2009
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In: Clinical Cancer Research. - : AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH. - 1078-0432 .- 1557-3265. ; 15:21, s. 6658-6664
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PURPOSE: High serum levels of macrophage inhibitory cytokine 1 (MIC-1) are strongly associated with metastatic prostate cancer, suggesting MIC-1 is a biomarker for prostate cancer prognosis. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 1,442 Swedish men with a pathologically verified diagnosis of prostate cancer between 2001 and 2003. Blood was drawn either pretreatment (n = 431) or posttreatment (n = 1,011) and cases were followed for a mean time of 4.9 years (range, 0.1-6.8 years). RESULTS: MIC-1 serum levels independently predicted poor cancer-specific survival with an almost 3-fold higher cancer death rate in patients with serum levels in the highest quartile compared with men with serum levels in the lowest quartile (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.82-4.68). Pretreatment MIC-1 levels revealed an even stronger association with disease outcome with an 8-fold higher death rate in the highest compared with the lowest category (adjusted hazard ratio, 7.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.73-36.86). Among patients considered to have localized disease, MIC-1 significantly increased the discriminative capacity between indolent and lethal prostate cancer compared with the established prognostic markers clinical stage, pathologic grade, and prostate-specific antigen level (P = 0.016). A sequence variant in the MIC-1 gene was associated with decreased MIC-1 serum levels (P = 0.002) and decreased prostate cancer mortality (P = 0.003), suggesting a causative role of MIC-1 in prostate cancer prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: Serum MIC-1 concentration is a novel biomarker capable of predicting prostate cancer prognosis.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Wiklund, Fredrik E, et al.
(author)
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Macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1/GDF15) : a new marker of all-cause mortality
- 2010
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In: Aging Cell. - : Wiley. - 1474-9718 .- 1474-9726. ; 9:6, s. 1057-1064
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Macrophage inhibitory cytokine-1 (MIC-1/GDF15) is a member of the TGF-b superfamily, previously studied in cancer and inflammation. In addition to regulating body weight, MIC-1/GDF15 may be used to predict mortality and/or disease course in cancer, cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic renal and heart failure, as well as pulmonary embolism. These data suggested that MIC-1/GDF15 may be a marker of all-cause mortality. To determine whether serum MIC-1/GDF15 estimation is a predictor of all-cause mortality, we examined a cohort of 876 male subjects aged 35-80 years, selected from the Swedish Population Registry, and followed them for overall mortality. Serum MIC-1/GDF15 levels were determined for all subjects from samples taken at study entry. A second (independent) cohort of 324 same-sex twins (69% female) from the Swedish Twin Registry was similarly examined. All the twins had telomere length measured and 183 had serum levels of interleukin 6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) available. Patients were followed for up to 14 years and had cause-specific and all-cause mortality determined. Serum MIC-1/GDF15 levels predicted mortality in the all-male cohort with an adjusted odds ratio (OR) of death of 3.38 (95%CI 1.38-8.26). This finding was validated in the twin cohort. Serum MIC-1/GDF15 remained an independent predictor of mortality when further adjusted for telomere length, IL-6 and CRP. Additionally, serum MIC-1/GDF15 levels were directly correlated with survival time independently of genetic background. Serum MIC-1/GDF15 is a novel predictor of all-cause mortality.
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| 4. |
- Abdul Kader, Hale, et al.
(author)
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The determinants of reinsurance in the Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar years, 1919–39
- 2010
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In: Business History. - : Taylor & Francis Group. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 52:2, s. 268-284
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Drawing a framework from agency theory, we use a panel data design to examine the factors motivating the level of demand for reinsurance in the rapidly developing Swedish property fire insurance market during the interwar period 1919–39. We find that as hypothesised, reinsurance enabled Swedish fire insurers to mitigate underwriting and solvency risks and thus increased their capacity to underwrite new business in uncertain economic times. This in turn helped to increase the supply of indemnity coverage for property (buildings) fire risks in the Swedish insurance market. We also find that as expected, investment earnings are inversely related to reinsurance purchases. However, contrary to what was hypothesised, reinsurance appears to be positively related to liquidity levels, suggesting that over our period of analysis, fire insurers could have been reinsuring to ‘protect’ earnings and accumulated cash reserves therefore enabling investment opportunities to be realised. Analysis of the sub-period 1919–28 further supports this contention, while our results for the economic depression years after 1929 show that reinsurance helped mitigate underwriting and insolvency risks, suggesting that the reinsurance decision of fire insurance companies could be motivated by macroeconomic factors.
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| 5. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(author)
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Commercial banking, insurance and economic growth in Sweden between 1830 and 1998
- 2009
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In: Accounting Business and Financial History. - : Taylor & Francis. - 0958-5206 .- 1466-4275. ; 19:1, s. 21-39
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We examine empirically the dynamic historical relation between commercial bank lending, insurance and economic (income) growth in Sweden using time-series data from 1830 to 1998 and performing tests for Granger causality. Because of the non-stationary nature of the time series examined the procedure of Toda andYamamoto (1995) is used. Our results, which have accounted for possible regime changes due to different exchange rate mechanisms over time, indicate that insurance has Granger-caused economic growth and bank lending. Therefore, we conclude that insurance is an important prerequisite for stimulating economic growth and that this could have important implications for contemporary developing economies.
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| 6. |
- Adams, M., et al.
(author)
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Competing models of organizational form : Risk management strategies and underwriting profitability in the Swedish fire insurance market between 1903 and 1939
- 2012
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In: Journal of Economic History. - 0022-0507 .- 1471-6372. ; 72:4, s. 990-1014
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Mutual and stock insurers have coexisted and competed against each other in insurance markets for centuries. In this article, we examine the risk management strategies and underwriting profitability of the different organizational forms in Sweden's property fire insurance market between 1903 and 1939. We demonstrate that stock insurers acted as intermediaries between policyholders and reinsurers to operate effectively in the potentially high-risk segments of the fire insurance market. In contrast, nationwide mutual insurers kept larger reserves to balance fluctuations in claims experiences, while local insurance pools relied on social obligation and trust to mobilize capital after adverse fire events.
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| 7. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(author)
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Firm size and growth in Sweden's life insurance market between 1855 and 1947 : A test of Gibrat's law
- 2014
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In: Business History. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 56:6, s. 956-974
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using data for the period from 1855 to 1947 and the two sub-periods, 1855-1902 and 1903-47, the article examines whether the organic growth rates of 38 Swedish life insurance firms are independent of size, as predicted by Gibrat's (1931) Law of Proportionate Effects. Using panel unit root tests and panel Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) regression, the article finds a significant difference between the growth rates of small and large Swedish life insurance firms (with smaller firms tending to grow faster than larger firms), a result that clearly contradicts Gibrat's Law as a long-run tendency in the Swedish life insurance sector. significant influences were also found on firm growth from profitability, organisational form, reinsurance, the real rate of interest and the Swedish regulatory environment.
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| 8. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(author)
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Managing policy lapse risk in Sweden's life insurance market between 1915 and 1947
- 2020
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In: Business History. - : Routledge. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 62:2, s. 222-239
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We examine the challenges that Swedish life insurers faced in managing the lapse risk of policies written on the lives of the industrial urban working class between 1915 and 1947. We observe that with the threat of State socialisation of insurance in the 1930s, industrial life insurers modified their business practices to better control policy lapses. Using firm-level data, we also analyse the effect of socio-economic changes, such as rising real wages, interest rate fluctuations and unemployment on life insurance policy lapses. Our results support contemporary tests of the emergency fund and interest rate explanations for the voluntary premature termination of life insurance policies.
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| 9. |
- Adams, Mike, et al.
(author)
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Mutuality as a control for information asymmetry : a historical analysis of the claims experience of mutual and stock fire insur ance companies in Sweden, 1889 to 1939
- 2011
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In: Business History. - Ilford, Essex : Cass. - 0007-6791 .- 1743-7938. ; 53:7, s. 1074-1091
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We test two competing arguments regarding the influence of organisational form onunderwritingperformance usingdatafromtheSwedish fireinsuranceindustry for the years 1889 to 1939 – a period of both economic growth and stagnation. Since mutuality is a response to information asymmetry problems, mutual insurers are expected to report lower annual claims relative to premiums than stock insurance companies. However, an alternative view is that stock insurers seek to reduce information asymmetry problems by issuing non-participatory rights insurance contracts with high deductibles that induce risk-sharing between the insurer’s shareholders and policyholders. This implies that stock insurers are likely to report lower annual claims than mutual insurers. Our results show that organisational form is an important determinant of the claims experience of Swedish fire insurers, suggesting that mutuality acts as an effective control for information asymmetries in the market.
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| 10. |
- Andersson, Lars Fredrik, et al.
(author)
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Is Structural Change Speeding Up? : The Case of Sweden, 1850-2000
- 2008
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In: Scandinavian Economic History Review. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1750-2837 .- 0358-5522. ; 56:3, s. 192-208
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- This article focuses on the importance of structural change on productivity growth and conditions in the labour market. From a productivity perspective, a positive relation is found between structural change and productivity growth from the industrial breakthrough until the first oil crisis. From the early 1970s, this positive relation weakened and eventually became negative as labour moved from high to low productive industries. From a labour market perspective, it is found that extent of sectoral reallocation of labour has become more intense over the twentieth century. The extent of job gains and losses seems to have been more intense during the postwar period than during the industrialization phase.
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