Report on the “FAIR Data Austria” Workshop at the Vienna University of Technology (Vienna, 8 September 2020)

Dieser Report beschreibt die Ergebnisse eines eintägigen Workshops, der mit Partnerinnen und Partnern des Projektes FAIR Data Austria und einer Vertreterin des Horizon-2020-Projekts EOSC-Pillar durchgeführt wurde. Ziel des Workshops war es, den Nutzen eines FAIR Office Austria zu evaluieren. Die Teilnehmenden diskutierten über mögliche Partnerinnen und Partner sowie Kundinnen und Kunden und über konkrete Services, die angeboten werden sollten. Ebenso wichtig war die Definition der Nicht-Ziele. Der Workshop sollte zur Findung eines klaren Mission Statements dienen und den Teilnehmenden dazu verhelfen, ein gemeinsames Verständnis und Erwartungen zu entwickeln. Die Ergebnisse bilden die Grundlage für einen konkreten Maßnahmenplan. Ein Ergebnis war, dass ein FAIR Office Austria in erster Linie als Informationsdrehscheibe und Vermittler zwischen (internationalen) Organisationen (z.B. GO FAIR, EOSC, RDA) und lokalen Reference Points innerhalb der österreichischen Forschungseinrichtungen und anderen Stakeholdern dienen sollte. Ein FAIR Office Austria, so eine weitere Erkenntnis, muss von mehreren, unterschiedlichen (Forschungs-)Organisationen aufgebaut und betrieben werden, um eine wirklich transdisziplinäre, trans-institutionelle und nationale Dimension widerzuspiegeln. Lokale FAIR Reference Points sollen an Universitäten eingerichtet werden, aber nicht auf diese beschränkt sein. Weitere Forschungseinrichtungen werden ermutigt, ebenfalls lokale Reference Points zu benennen.This report presents the results of a full-day workshop held with partners of the project FAIR Data Austria and a representative of the Horizon 2020 project EOSC-Pillar. The aim of the workshop was to determine the objective of a FAIR Office Austria. The participants explored whom a FAIR Office Austria should serve, who the partners and the clients are, which services it should offer as well as what is in scope and what is out of scope in relation to the overall project. The workshop was designed to find a clear mission statement and help the participants develop a common understanding and expectations. The results will be the basis for a concrete action plan. The participants agreed that a FAIR Office Austria should serve predominantly as an information hub and a mediator between (international) organizations (e.g. GO FAIR, EOSC, RDA) and local reference points located within the Austrian research institutions and other stakeholders. A FAIR Office Austria must furthermore be organized and run by several (research) institutions to reflect a truly trans-disciplinary, trans-institutional and national dimension. The local FAIR reference points shall be installed at research-performing institutions. Other types of institutions will be encouraged to appoint local reference points as well

Quality assessment for register-based statistics - Results for the Austrian census 2011

In 2011, Statistics Austria carried out its first register-based census. Advantages of using administrative data for statistical purposes are, among others, a reduced burden for respondents and lower cost for the National Statistical Institutes (NSI). However, new challenges, like need for a new approach to the quality assessment of this kind of data arise. Therefore, Statistics Austria developed a comprehensive standardized framework to evaluate data quality for register-based statistics. In this paper, we present the basic concept of this quality framework and provide detailed results from the quality evaluation of the Austrian census of 2011. More specifically, we derive a quality measure for each census attribute from four complementary hyperdimensions. The first three of these hyperdimensions address the documentation of data, the usability of records and an external data validation. The fourth hyperdimension focuses on the quality of data imputations. The proposed framework combines these different quality-related information sources for each attribute to form an overall quality indicator. This procedure allows to track changes in quality during data processing and to compare the quality of different census generations

The Lipase/Amylase Ratio (LAR) in Peripheral Blood Might Represent a Novel Prognostic Marker in Patients with Surgically Resectable Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic enzymes might play a pivotal role in the pathophysiology and prognosis of pancreatic cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate the lipase/amylase ratio (LAR), representing a marker previously used in the differentiation of pancreatitis, as a potential prognostic marker in pancreatic cancer. Data from 157 surgically treated patients with ductal pancreatic adenocarcinoma and 351 patients with metastatic disease were evaluated retrospectively. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) was considered the endpoint of the study. After applying Kaplan–Meier curve analysis, uni- and multivariate Cox regression models were calculated to evaluate the prognostic relevance of LAR. An elevated LAR at diagnosis of localized pancreatic cancer was significantly associated with higher CA19-9 levels (p < 0.05). In univariate analysis, we observed an increased LAR as a significant factor for lower CSS in localized pancreatic cancer patients (HR = 1.63; 95% CI = 1.12–2.36; p = 0.01), but not in metastatic patients (HR = 1.12; 95% CI = 0.87–1.43; p = 0.363). In multivariate analysis, including age, gender, tumor stage, Karnofsky Performance Status, tumor grade, administration of chemotherapy and the LAR, an increased LAR was confirmed to represent an independent prognostic factor regarding CSS (HR = 1.81; 95% CI = 1.17–2.77; p = 0.007) in localized pancreatic cancer patients. In conclusion, our study identified the LAR as an independent prognostic factor in surgically treated pancreatic cancer patients