Development and Algorithmization of a Method for Analyzing the Degree of Uniqueness of Personal Medical Data

The purpose of this investigation is to develop a method for quantitative assessment of the uniqueness of personal medical data (PMD) to improve their protection in medical information systems (MIS). The relevance of the goal is due to the fact that impersonal PMD can form unique combinations that are potentially of interest to intruders and threaten to reveal the patient's identity and medical confidentiality. Existing approaches were analyzed, and a new method for quantifying the degree of uniqueness of PMD was proposed. A weakness in existing approaches is the assumption that an attacker will use exact matching to identify people. The novelty of the method proposed in this paper lies in the fact that it is not limited to this hypothesis, although it has its limitations: it is not applicable to small samples. The developed method for determining the PMD uniqueness coefficient is based on the assumption of a multidimensional distribution of features, characterized by a covariance matrix, and a normal distribution, which provides the most reliable reflection of the existing relationships between features when analyzing large data samples. The results obtained in computational experiments show that efficiency is no worse than that of focus groups of specialized experts. Doi: 10.28991/HIJ-2023-04-01-09 Full Text: PD

Nuclear maturation of immature bovine oocytes after vitrification using open pulled straw and cryotop methods

To date, at least two well known methods have been widely used for vitrification of oocytes and embryos at different stages in a variety of species. However, there is no reported data regarding the comparative effectiveness of these two methods for vitrification of immature bovine oocytes. The objective of this study is to compare the nuclear maturation of immature bovine oocytes vitrified using open pulled straw (OPS) and cryotop methods. Two experiments were conducted in this study. In the first experiment, cytotoxicity of vitrification solutions (VS) from both methods was studied. After removal of cryoprotectants, cumulus oocyte complexes (COCs) was cultured in vitro and cleavage rate was monitored on Day 2 post-insemination (pi), whereas, morulae and blastocyst yields on Days 5 and 8 pi, respectively. The VS solutions significantly reduced zygotic cleavage rate, morulae and blastocyst rates compared with the control group (P < 0.05). The lowest cleavage rate resulted from prolonged exposure time to OPS-VS solutions (35.1%; P < 0.05). However, the morulae and blastocyst rates were significantly higher (P < 0.05) for embryos derived from oocytes exposed to cryotop solutions (40.5 and 22.4%, respectively). In the second experiment, effectiveness of both vitrification methods was compared for cryopreservation of immature bovine oocytes. After warming, COCs were cultured in vitro for 24 h. The polar body (PB+) and metaphase-II (MII) stage rates differed significantly among treatment groups. Oocytes vitrified using cryotop solution and device showed higher percentages of PB+ (36%) and MII (51%) rates. In addition, the lowest percentage of degenerated oocytes resulted from cryotop solution. The highest degenerated oocytes obtained by equilibration in OPS solution and vitrified using OPS device (40%; P < 0.05). In conclusion, our data demonstrated that cryotop solution was less toxic to the immature bovine oocytes and vitrification with the cryotop method resulted in higher survival and nuclear maturation rates.Key words: Immature oocyte, bovine, vitrification, cryotop, open pulled straw (OPS)

Effects of exposure to dmso in vitrification solution on cytotoxicity and in vitro viability of immature bovine oocyte.

Based on previous studies for vitrification of oocytes, it has been shown that short term exposure to DMSO during vitrification could improve the maturation rate and cause not spontaneous parthenogenesis (Isachenko et al., 2006). In addition, it was reported that DMSO in freezing media caused disassembly of microfilaments and chromosomal abnormalities in mouse oocytes (Vincent et al., 1990). On the other hand, DMSO is categorized as a potent glass former and its existence in vitrification solution seems necessary. The aim of this study was to determine the in vitro viability of immature bovine oocytes vitrified by short or long time exposure to DMSO. Materials and Methods: Cumulus oocytes complexes (COCs) with homogenous ooplasm were recovered from slaughterhouse ovaries and used in this study. The vitrification protocol was adapted from Kuwayama et al (2005) with minor modifications. Briefly, oocytes were washed twice in holding solution (HS, Hepes-buffered TCM medium supplemented with 20% fetal calf serum, FCS) and kept there for about 15 min. Group of four COCs were incubated in the first vitrification solution (VS1; 7.5% DMSO and 7.5% EG in HS) for 12 min. Equilibration in VS1 was performed in three steps of increasing concentration. First (F) and second (S) steps contained 1/3 and 2/3 of VS1 diluted in HS, and the third (T) step contained only pure VS1. Based on removal of DMSO from each step, five treatment groups were designed: (G1) control, (G2) VS1, (G3) F w/o DMSO, (G4) F+S w/o DMSO, and (G5) F+S+T w/o DMSO. For G3, G4 and G5, similar concentration of EG was added to replace DMSO in VS1. All treatment groups were equilibrated into the second vitrification solution (VS2; 15% DMSO, 15% EG and 0.5M sucrose in HS) for a further 60 sec. Two experiments were performed: (a) cytotoxicity after only exposure, and (b) in vitro viability after vitrification processes. In cytotoxicity test, immature oocytes were directly transferred to the warming solution (WS). In vitrification experiment, oocytes were instantly loaded on a Cryotop device and submerged into liquid nitrogen (LN2) for storage. The time of exposure from VS2 to LN2 was not longer than 90 s. Vitrified samples were maintained in LN2 for at least 10 days. Immediately after removing the Cryotop from LN2, thin strip of Cryotop was submerged in 3 ml HS plus 1M sucrose (WS; 39°C) and smoothly tried to detach oocytes from Cryotop device. Immature oocytes were left in WS for one minute and then transferred to HS plus 0.5M and 0.15M sucrose solution for 3 and 5 min, respectively. Finally, the immature oocytes were washed twice in HS for 5 min each and processed for in vitro maturation. Significant differences among treatments used in the experiment were revealed by one-way analysis of variance and followed by Duncan's multiple range test for mean comparisons (P < 0.05) using SAS software (ver. 9.1)

Antimicrobial activity of Cosmos caudatus extract against foodborne pathogens

The antimicrobial activity of Cosmos caudatus extract was evaluated against Bacillus cereus(ATCC 33019), Bacillus subtilis(ATCC 6633), Proteus mirabilis (ATCC 21100), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 9027) and Candida albicans (ATCC 10231) using the methods as recommended by the Clinical and Laboratory Standard Institute (CLSI). The antimicrobial tests were conducted in term of susceptibility, minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal/fungicidal concentration (MBC/MFC) and killing-time curve. The results showed that C. caudatus extract was susceptible against all tested pathogens; the inhibition zone ranged from 8.60 mm to 9.83 mm. The MIC and MBC/MFC values were ranged from 6.25 mg/ml-12.50 mg/ml and 12.50 mg/ml-50.00 mg/ml, respectively. Mean while, killing-time curves showed that C. caudatus extract can killed the B. cereus, B. subtilis, P. mirabilis, P. aeruginosa and C. albicans at concentration of 8 MIC for 2 h, 4 MIC for 2 h or 2 MIC for 2 h, 8 MIC for 4 h, 4 MIC for 0.5 h and 4 MIC for 1 h, as respectively. Findings indicated that C. caudatus extract has the potentiality to develop as a natural antimicrobial agent

Eye Tracking Application on Emotion Analysis for Marketing Strategy

This paper present on understanding the human behavior with eye tracking studies related to consumer cognition in marketing product. The study of human behavior using eye tracking is a growing multidisciplinary field that links electronics, psychology and cognitive science to study the human behavior on problem solving and decision making. In this paper, we particularly investigate the human behavior in consumer cognition. We conducted experiments to track the human eyes by using the Tobii TX300 eye tracker. The eye–mind relationship can help to use eye motions activity measurements expressing to some degree about human behavior. The result shows that the visual attention of human is very much related to the cognition of the products

Scalability challenges in healthcare blockchain system - a systematic review

Blockchain technology is a private, secure, trustworthy, and transparent information exchange performed in a decentralised manner. In this case, the coordination and validation efforts are simplified as the records are designed to update regularly and there is no difference in the two databases. This review focuses on how the blockchain addresses scalability challenges and provides solutions in the healthcare field through the implementation of blockchain technology. Accordingly, 16 solutions fell under two main areas, namely storage optimization and redesign of blockchain. However, limitations persist, including block size, high volume of data, transactions, number of nodes, and protocol challenges. This review consists of six stages, namely identification of research question, procedures of research, screening of relevant articles, keywording based on the abstract, data extraction, and mapping process. Through Atlas.ti software, the selected keywords were used to analyse through the relevant articles. As a result, 48 codes and 403 quotations were compiled. Manual coding was performed to categorise the quotations. The codes were then mapped onto the network as a mapping process. Notably, 16 solutions fell under two main areas, namely storage optimization and redesign of blockchain. Basically, there are 3 solutions compiled for storage optimization and 13 solutions for the redesign of the blockchain, namely blockchain modelling, read mechanism, write mechanism, and bi-directional network

Metabolite characterization of different palm date varieties and the correlation with their NO inhibitory activity, texture and sweetness

The aim of this study was to examine the variation in metabolite constituents of five commercial varieties of date fruits; Ajwa, Safawi and Ambar which originated from Madinah, the Iranian Bam and Tunisian Deglet Noor. The differences of metabolome were inves-tigated using proton nuclear magnetic resonance (1HNMR) spectroscopy combined with multivariate data analysis (MVDA). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) revealed clear separation between the date varieties. The Tunisian Deglet Noor demonstrated distinct cluster from the rest of the palm date samples based on the metabolite composition as shown by the pattern observed in Hierarchical Clustering Analysis (HCA) and PCA. Deglet Noor exhibited a significant higher level of sucrose (d5.40) and fructose (d4.16) in comparison with the other four varieties which can be associated with the distinctive sweet taste of this variety.Dates originated from Madinah and Tunisia exhibited a contrast manner in the amount of xylose and moisture content. These two aspects may contribute towards the soft texture of Tunisian dates. All Madinah dates were found to contain phenolic compounds which were well established as great antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. Ajwa dates exerted greater effect in inhibiting the generation of nitric oxide (NO) from the stimulated RAW264.7 cells at 95.37% inhibition. Succinic acid was suggested to have the most significant correlation with the trend of NO inhibitory shown by the selected date palm varieties

Half-linear cavity multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser

Multiwavelength half-linear cavity Brillouin erbium fiber laser (BEFL) has been demonstrated. The half-linear cavity BEFL is formed by utilizing only two circulators: one circulator acts as input and output ports and the other circulator is used to form a physical mirror. This design exhibits low peak power difference between the adjacent channels, which is about 0.8 dB. At Brillouin pump (BP) power of 5 dBm and erbium doped fiber (EDF) pump power of 90 mW, up to 19 channels over a wide range of 40 nm (1529 nm to 1569 nm) have been obtained. These channels are free from self lasing cavity modes and for the first twelve Stokes lines, the optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) is approximately higher than 20 dB

Positioning for success: building capacity in academic competencies for early-career researchers in sub-Saharan Africa.

BACKGROUND: Capacity building is essential in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to address the gap in skills to conduct and implement research. Capacity building must not only include scientific and technical knowledge, but also broader competencies, such as writing, disseminating research and achieving work-life balance. These skills are thought to promote long-term career success for researchers in high-income countries (HICs) but the availability of such training is limited in LMICs. METHODS: This paper presents the contextualisation and implementation of the Academic Competencies Series (ACES). ACES is an early-career researcher development programme adapted from a UK university. Through consultation between HIC and LMIC partners, an innovative series of 10 workshops was designed covering themes of self-development, engagement and writing skills. ACES formed part of the African Mental Health Research Initiative (AMARI), a multi-national LMIC-led consortium to recruit, train, support and network early-career mental health researchers from four sub-Saharan African countries. RESULTS: Of the 10 ACES modules, three were HIC-LMIC co-led, four led by HIC facilitators with LMIC training experience and three led by external consultants from HICs. Six workshops were delivered face to face and four by webinar. Course attendance was over 90% and the delivery cost was approximately US$4500 per researcher trained. Challenges of adaptation, attendance and technical issues are described for the first round of workshops. CONCLUSIONS: This paper indicates that a skills development series for early-career researchers can be contextualised and implemented in LMIC settings, and is feasible for co-delivery with local partners at relatively low cost

Utilization of stimulated Raman Scattering as secondary pump on hybrid remotely-pump L-band Raman/erbium-doped fiber amplifier.

An L-band remotely-pumped erbium-doped fiber amplifier incorporating a secondary pumping scheme utilizing stimulated Raman Scattering (SRS) was demonstrated. 1423 nm Raman laser was employed to generate SRS which became the secondary pump source. The amplifier displayed excellent gain of up to 27.3 dB at 1570 nm for −30 dBm input. Noise figures were also kept to a minimum, with the highest figure measured at 11 dB which was influenced by imperfection of the C/L coupler utilized in this architecture. Overall transmission performance was measured as well and demonstrated an encouraging outcome with gain as high as 24 dB while the noise figure was maintained at about 11 dB. The L-band signal amplification was also contributed by the stimulated Raman scattering along the transmission fiber. The outcome of this study emphasized the feasibility of secondary pumping scheme using SRS in L-band gain enhancement