Search Results (178)

Privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) is the process of linking records from various data sources, ensuring that matching records for the same entity are shared among parties while not disclosing other sensitive data. However, most existing PPRL approaches currently rely on third parties for linking, posing risks of malicious tampering and privacy breaches, making it difficult to ensure the security of the linkage. Therefore, we propose a parallel multi-party PPRL method based on consortium blockchain technology which can effectively address the issue of semi-trusted third-party validation, auditing all parties involved in the PPRL process for potential malicious tampering or attacks. To improve the efficiency and security of consensus within a consortium blockchain, we propose a practical Byzantine fault tolerance consensus algorithm based on matching efficiency. Additionally, we have incorporated homomorphic encryption into Bloom filter encoding to enhance its security. To optimize computational efficiency, we have adopted the MapReduce model for parallel encryption and utilized a binary storage tree as the data structure for similarity computation. The experimental results show that our method can effectively ensure data security while also exhibiting relatively high linkage quality and scalability. Full article

With the advent of the big data era, data security and sharing have become the core elements of new-era data processing. Privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL), as a method capable of accurately and securely matching and sharing the same entity across multiple data sources, is receiving increasing attention. Among the existing research methods, although PPRL methods based on Bloom Filter encoding excel in computational efficiency, they are susceptible to privacy attacks, and the security risks they face cannot be ignored. To balance the contradiction between security and computational efficiency, we propose a multi-party PPRL method based on secondary encoding. This method, based on Bloom Filter encoding, generates secondary encoding according to well-designed encoding rules and utilizes the proposed linking rules for secure matching. Owing to its excellent encoding and linking rules, this method successfully addresses the balance between security and computational efficiency. The experimental results clearly show that, in comparison to the original Bloom Filter encoding, this method has nearly equivalent computational efficiency and linkage quality. The proposed rules can effectively prevent the re-identification problem in Bloom Filter encoding (proven). Compared to existing privacy-preserving record linkage methods, this method shows higher security, making it more suitable for various practical application scenarios. The introduction of this method is of great significance for promoting the widespread application of privacy-preserving record linkage technology. Full article

Background: To support clinical decision-making at the point of care, the “best next step” based on Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and actual accurate patient data must be provided. To do this, textual SOPs have to be transformed into operable clinical algorithms and linked to the data of the patient being treated. For this linkage, we need to know exactly which data are needed by clinicians at a certain decision point and whether these data are available. These data might be identical to the data used within the SOP or might integrate a broader view. To address these concerns, we examined if the data used by the SOP is also complete from the point of view of physicians for contextual decision-making. Methods: We selected a cohort of 67 patients with stage III melanoma who had undergone adjuvant treatment and mainly had an indication for a sentinel biopsy. First, we performed a step-by-step simulation of the patient treatment along our clinical algorithm, which is based on a hospital-specific SOP, to validate the algorithm with the given Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based data of our cohort. Second, we presented three different decision situations within our algorithm to 10 dermatooncologists, focusing on the concrete patient data used at this decision point. The results were conducted, analyzed, and compared with those of the pure algorithmic simulation. Results: The treatment paths of patients with melanoma could be retrospectively simulated along the clinical algorithm using data from the patients’ electronic health records. The subsequent evaluation by dermatooncologists showed that the data used at the three decision points had a completeness between 84.6% and 100.0% compared with the data used by the SOP. At one decision point, data on “patient age (at primary diagnosis)” and “date of first diagnosis” were missing. Conclusions: The data needed for our decision points are available in the FHIR-based dataset. Furthermore, the data used at decision points by the SOP and hence the clinical algorithm are nearly complete compared with the data required by physicians in clinical practice. This is an important precondition for further research focusing on presenting decision points within a treatment process integrated with the patient data needed. Full article

Electronic patient portals represent a promising means of integrating mental health assessments into HIV care where anxiety and depression are highly prevalent. Patient attitudes toward portal-based mental health screening within HIV clinics have not been well described. The aim of this formative qualitative study is to characterize the patient-perceived facilitators and barriers to portal-based anxiety and depression screening within HIV care in order to inform implementation strategies for mental health screening. Twelve adult HIV clinic patients participated in semi-structured interviews that were audio recorded and transcribed. The transcripts were coded using constructs from the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research and analyzed thematically to identify the barriers to and facilitators of portal-based anxiety and depression screening. Facilitators included an absence of alternative screening methods, an approachable design, perceived adaptability, high compatibility with HIV care, the potential for linkage to treatment, an increased self-awareness of mental health conditions, the ability to bundle screening with clinic visits, and communicating an action plan for results. The barriers included difficulty navigating the patient portal system, a lack of technical support, stigmatization from the healthcare system, care team response times, and the novelty of using patient portals for communication. The patients in the HIV clinic viewed the use of a portal-based anxiety and depression screening tool as highly compatible with routine HIV care. Technical difficulties, follow-up concerns, and a fear of stigmatization were commonly perceived as barriers to portal use. The results of this study can be used to inform implementation strategies when designing or incorporating portal-based mental health screening into other HIV care settings. Full article

The widespread availability of pseudonymized user datasets has enabled personalized recommendation systems. However, recent studies have shown that users can be de-anonymized by exploiting the uniqueness of their data patterns, raising significant privacy concerns. This paper presents a novel approach that tackles the challenging task of linking user identities across multiple rating datasets from diverse domains, such as movies, books, and music, by leveraging the consistency of users’ rating patterns as high-dimensional quasi-identifiers. The proposed method combines probabilistic record linkage techniques with quasi-identifier attacks, employing the Fellegi–Sunter model to compute the likelihood of two records referring to the same user based on the similarity of their rating vectors. Through extensive experiments on three publicly available rating datasets, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach in achieving high precision and recall in cross-dataset de-anonymization tasks, outperforming existing techniques, with F1-scores ranging from 0.72 to 0.79 for pairwise de-anonymization tasks. The novelty of this research lies in the unique integration of record linkage techniques with quasi-identifier attacks, enabling the effective exploitation of the uniqueness of rating patterns as high-dimensional quasi-identifiers to link user identities across diverse datasets, addressing a limitation of existing methodologies. We thoroughly investigate the impact of various factors, including similarity metrics, dataset combinations, data sparsity, and user demographics, on the de-anonymization performance. This work highlights the potential privacy risks associated with the release of anonymized user data across diverse contexts and underscores the critical need for stronger anonymization techniques and tailored privacy-preserving mechanisms for rating datasets and recommender systems. Full article

This study aimed to investigate whether non-fasting plasma triglycerides were associated with diabetes mortality. It included 7312 US adult participants. Diabetes mortality data were obtained via the linkage to National Death Index (NDI) records. Hazard ratios of non-fasting plasma triglycerides for diabetes mortality were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for age, gender, ethnicity, obesity, poverty–income ratio, education levels, physical activity, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking status, survey period, hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, diabetes, and family history of diabetes. Among these participants, 1180 had diabetes. A total of 420 diabetes-caused deaths were recorded during a mean follow-up of 16.8 years. A 1-natural-log-unit increase in non-fasting plasma triglycerides was associated with a 41% higher diabetes mortality risk (hazard ratio, 1.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.19–1.67). Participants with non-fasting plasma triglycerides in the highest quintile, versus those in the lowest quintile, had a 141% higher diabetes mortality risk (hazard ratio, 2.41; 95% confidence interval, 1.46–3.97). The positive association of non-fasting plasma triglycerides with diabetes mortality was independent of diabetes status at the baseline. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that non-fasting plasma triglycerides were positively associated with diabetes mortality, independent of diabetes status at baseline. Non-fasting triglycerides may be a therapeutic target for diabetes-related complications. Full article

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a stigmatizing disease that disproportionately affects African Americans and Latinos among people living with HIV (PLWH). Researchers are increasingly utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze large amounts of data such as social media data and electronic health records (EHR) for various HIV-related tasks, from prevention and surveillance to treatment and counseling. This paper explores the ethical considerations surrounding the use of AI for HIV with a focus on acceptability, trust, fairness, and transparency. To improve acceptability and trust towards AI systems for HIV, informed consent and a Federated Learning (FL) approach are suggested. In regard to unfairness, stakeholders should be wary of AI systems for HIV further stigmatizing or even being used as grounds to criminalize PLWH. To prevent criminalization, in particular, the application of differential privacy on HIV data generated by data linkage should be studied. Participatory design is crucial in designing the AI systems for HIV to be more transparent and inclusive. To this end, the formation of a data ethics committee and the construction of relevant frameworks and principles may need to be concurrently implemented. Lastly, the question of whether the amount of transparency beyond a certain threshold may overwhelm patients, thereby unexpectedly triggering negative consequences, is posed. Full article

Daily time series with continuous records of mean air and soil temperature from 127 meteorological stations—fairly distributed over the country—were used to compute monthly temperature trends, as well as changes in the timing of the first and the last frost days over Romania since 1961. Results show that the frequency of the number of days with daily temperature averages below 0 °C in case of air and soil surface temperature is stable for most months, except for January, when (for both soil and air temperature), the number of days with a temperature below 0 °C is decreasing in the majority of the stations. The occurrence of the first day with (mean air and soil surface) temperatures below 0 °C, presents a delay in the south, south-east, and west, and an earlier occurrence in eastern and central regions. The occurrence of the last day with a mean air and soil surface temperature below 0 °C shows a stable trend for most stations (except for some small areas in the north, south-east and south-west of Romania). The regime of the land temperature is more stable, due to the physical characteristics of the soil, compared to the more versatile atmosphere. Linkages between thermal parameters and large-scale atmospheric circulation are also discussed. Full article

Background: Asthma is a widespread chronic respiratory disease that poses a significant public health challenge. The current study investigated the associations between air pollution and asthma severity among individuals residing near the Sohar industrial port (SIP) in Oman. Despite the presence of multiple major industrial complexes in Oman, limited knowledge regarding their impact on respiratory health is accredited. Hence, the primary objective of this study is to offer valuable insights into the respiratory health consequences of industrial air pollution in Al Batinah North. Methods: The state health clinics’ records for patient visits related to asthma were collected for the timeframe spanning 2014 to 2022. Exposure was defined as the distance from the SIP, Majan Industerial Area (MIA), and Sohar Industerial Zone (SIZ) to determine high-, intermediate-, and low-exposure zones (<6 km, 6–12 km and >12 km, respectively). Exposure effect modifications by age, gender, and smoking status were also examined. Results: The conducted cross-sectional study of 410 patients (46.1% males and 53.9% females) living in over 17 areas around SIP revealed that 73.2% of asthmatics were under 50 years old, with severity significantly associated with closeness to the port. Risk ratios were estimated to be (RR:2.42; CI95%: 1.01–5.78), (RR:1.91; CI95%: 1.01–3.6), and (RR:1.68; CI95%: 0.92–3.09) for SIP, MIP, and SIZ areas, respectively, compared to the control area. Falaj Al Qabail (6.4 km) and Majees (6 km) had the highest number of asthma patients (N 69 and N 72) and highest percentages of severe asthma cases among these patients (28% and 24%) with significant risk ratios (RR:2.97; CI95%: 1.19–7.45 and RR:2.55; CI95%: 1.00–6.48), correspondingly. Moreover, severe asthma prevalence peaked in the 25–50 age group (RR:2.05; CI95%: 1.26–3.33), and this linkage between asthma and age was much more pronounced in males than females. Smoking and exposure to certain contaminants (dust and smoke) also increased the risk of severe asthma symptoms, but their effects were less important in the high-risk zone, suggesting much more important risk factors. A neural network model accurately predicted asthma risk (94.8% accuracy), with proximity to SIP as the most influential predictor. Conclusions: This study highlights the high asthma burden near SIP, linked to port proximity, smoking, and wind direction as major risk factors. These findings inform vital public health policies to reduce air pollution and improve respiratory health in the region, prompting national policy review. Full article

Cytarabine (Ara-C) is a synthetic isomer of cytidine that differs from cytidine and deoxycytidine only in the sugar. The use of arabinose instead of deoxyribose hinders the formation of phosphodiester linkages between pentoses, preventing the DNA chain from elongation and interrupting the DNA synthesis. The minor structural alteration (the inversion of hydroxyl at the 2′ positions of the sugar) leads to change of the biological activity from anti-depressant and DNA/RNA block builder to powerful anti-cancer. Our study aimed to determine the molecular nature of this phenomenon. Three ¹H-¹⁴N NMR-NQR experimental techniques, followed by solid-state computational modelling (Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules, Reduced Density Gradient and 3D Hirshfeld surfaces), Quantitative Structure–Property Relationships, Spackman’s Hirshfeld surfaces and Molecular Docking were used. Multifaceted analysis—combining experiments, computational modeling and molecular docking—provides deep insight into three-dimensional packing at the atomic and molecular levels, but is challenging. A spectrum with nine lines indicating the existence of three chemically inequivalent nitrogen sites in the Ara-C molecule was recorded, and the lines were assigned to them. The influence of the structural alteration on the NQR parameters was modeled in the solid (GGA/RPBE). For the comprehensive description of the nature of these interactions several factors were considered, including relative reactivity and the involvement of heavy atoms in various non-covalent interactions. The binding modes in the solid state and complex with dCK were investigated using the novel approaches: radial plots, heatmaps and root-mean-square deviation of the binding mode. We identified the intramolecular OH···O hydrogen bond as the key factor responsible for forcing the glycone conformation and strengthening NH···O bonds with Gln97, Asp133 and Ara128, and stacking with Phe137. The titular butterfly effect is associated with both the inversion and the presence of this intramolecular hydrogen bond. Our study elucidates the differences in the binding modes of Ara-C and cytidine, which should guide the design of more potent anti-cancer and anti-viral analogues. Full article

The significant role of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in achieving sustainability and in meeting the expectations of stakeholders has been well documented. Using a collection of 2173 publications on CSR and its connections with business performance, this study conducted a bibliometric investigation using the Systematic Literature Network Analysis (SLNA) technique combined with network visualizations to demonstrate the current research trends, most topical themes and the developing areas of interest in the growing field of CSR and its linkages with business performance for an approximate period from 2004 to 2023 as published in the Scopus database of two decades. The goal was to explore the research gaps by analyzing the most cited authors and most impactful publications by year, location, subject area and document type. The study also outlined the trends by topic prevalence, commonly used keywords and citation networks based on co-occurrence and co-authorship to identify the current thematic gaps. The results reveal a mild rate of growth in scholarly interest around the field of CSR and business performance until 2022, where a manifold increase in publications was recorded. An expanding focus on human, social and organizational behavior, economic systems, financial and social performance, leadership, stakeholder management and management science was identified, although there is a scarcity of studies around issues regarding developing countries, climate change, CSR disclosure and small businesses. These findings demonstrate the current state of the research and offer interesting insights and timely research directions as a roadmap for future studies. Full article

Violence is recognised as a cause of health harm, but it is not consistently or adequately captured in healthcare data systems. While administrative health records could be valuable sources of information for measuring violence, they remain underutilised in violence-related research. The present research aims to examine the suitability of violence indicators in emergency care, primary care, and linked healthcare datasets. Descriptive analyses were conducted with the 2015/16 Hospital Episode Statistics Accident and Emergency (HES A&E) and the 2021/22 Emergency Care Data Set (ECDS). The potential of the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) and the South Wales Violence Surveillance dataset (a police and emergency department (ED) dataset linked by Public Health Wales) were shown using available evidence. Among the discussed datasets, the South Wales Violence Surveillance dataset has the most detail about violent acts and their contexts, while the CPRD includes a more extensive range of socioeconomic factors about patients and extensive linkage with other datasets. Currently, detailed safeguarding information is routinely removed from the ECDS extracts provided to researchers, limiting its utility for violence research. In the HES A&E, only physical violence was consistently recorded. Addressing these issues has the potential to improve the use of health administrative data in research on violence. Full article

The westerly circulation and the monsoon circulation are the two major atmospheric circulation systems affecting the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere (NH), which have significant impacts on climate and environmental changes in the middle latitudes. However, until now, people’s understanding of the long-term paleoenvironmental changes in the westerly- and monsoon-controlled areas in China’s middle latitudes is not uniform, and the phase relationship between the two at different time scales is also controversial, especially the exception to the “dry gets drier, wet gets wetter” paradigm in global warming between the two. Based on the existing literature data published, integrated paleoenvironmental records, and comprehensive simulation results in recent years, this study systematically reviews the climate and environmental changes in the two major circulation regions in the mid-latitudes of China since the Middle Pleistocene, with a focus on exploring the phase relationship between the two systems at different time scales and its influencing mechanism. Through the reanalysis and comparative analysis of the existing data, we conclude that the interaction and relationship between the two circulation systems are relatively strong and close during the warm periods, but relatively weak during the cold periods. From the perspective of orbital, suborbital, and millennium time scales, the phase relationship between the westerly and Asian summer monsoon (ASM) circulations shows roughly in-phase, out-of-phase, and anti-phase transitions, respectively. There are significant differences between the impacts of the westerly and ASM circulations on the middle-latitude regions of northwest China, the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau, and eastern China. However, under the combined influence of varied environmental factors such as BHLSR (boreal high-latitude solar radiation), SST (sea surface temperature), AMOC (north Atlantic meridional overturning circulation), NHI (Northern Hemisphere ice volume), NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation), ITCZ (intertropical convergence zone), WPSH (western Pacific subtropical high), TIOA (tropical Indian Ocean anomaly), ENSO (El Niño/Southern Oscillation), CGT/SRP (global teleconnection/Silk Road pattern), etc., there is a complex and close coupling relationship between the two, and it is necessary to comprehensively consider their “multi-factor’s joint-action” mechanism and impact, while, in general, the dynamic mechanisms driving the changes of the westerly and ASM circulations are not the same at different time scales, such as orbital, suborbital, centennial to millennium, and decadal to interannual, which also leads to the formation of different types of phase relationships between the two at different time scales. Future studies need to focus on the impact of this “multi-factor linkage mechanism” and “multi-phase relationship” in distinguishing the interaction between the westerly and ASM circulation systems in terms of orbital, suborbital, millennium, and sub-millennium time scales. Full article

Feline chronic gingivostomatitis (FCGS) is a debilitating inflammatory oral mucosal disease with a multifactorial etiology. The clinical diagnosis of FCGS is made based on inspection of severe inflammatory lesions and histological confirmation rather than a molecular diagnostic outcome. This gap limits the ability to provide an early diagnosis. In this report, we seek to provide additional diagnostic tools using genomics to aid in providing clinically relevant information. The use of in-depth diagnostic tools, like transcriptomics of diseased tissues, to diagnose FCGS and stratify patients into predictive treatment response groups would dramatically improve both clinical decisions and patient outcomes. In this study, we addressed the gap in diagnostic options using transcriptomic analysis of caudal oral mucosal swab specimens coupled to detailed medical record linkage of FCGS-affected cats undergoing tooth extractions and in some cases administration of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs). To better identify markers of disease and potential response to treatment, the transcriptomes of FCGS-afflicted cats were compared to those of healthy cats and those with chronic periodontitis to clearly establish diagnostic biomarker signal transduction connections. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Ak strain transforming (PI3K/AKT) and stress-activated protein kinases/Jun N-terminal kinase (SAP/JNK) signaling pathways were significantly differentially regulated in FCGS-afflicted cats. Activation of these pathways also differed in the treatment response groups. In conjunction, the enzymes Caspase 4 (CASP4), matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP8), and prostaglandin-endoperoxide synthase 2 (PTGS2) were identified as potential biomarkers for the prediction of treatment response outcomes. The observations in the case study support the use of transcriptomics of FCGS patients to contribute to improved molecular diagnostics for the diagnosis and treatment of FCGS. Full article

Due to their large surface area and pore volume, three-dimensional covalent organic frameworks (3D COFs) have emerged as competitive porous materials. However, structural dynamic behavior, often observed in imine-linked 3D COFs, could potentially unlock their potential application in gas storage. Herein, we showed how a pre-locked linker strategy introduces breaking dynamic behavior in 3D COFs. A predesigned planar linker-based 3,8-diamino-6-phenylphenanthridine (DPP) was prepared to produce non-dynamic 3D JUC-595, as the benzylideneamine moiety in DPP locked the linker flexibility and restricted the molecular bond rotation of the imine linkages. Upon solvent inclusion and release, the PXRD profile of JUC-595 remained intake, while JUC-594 with a flexible benzidine linker experienced crystal transformation due to framework contraction–expansion. As a result, the activated JUC-595 achieved higher surface areas (754 m² g⁻¹) than that of JUC-594 (548 m² g⁻¹). Furthermore, improved CO₂ and CH₄ storages were also seen in JUC-595 compared with JUC-594. Impressively, JUC-595 recorded a high normalized H₂ storage capacity that surpassed other reported high-surface area 3D COFs. This works shows important insights on manipulating the structural properties of 3D COF to tune gas storage performance. Full article