Designing a Serious Game: Teaching Developers to Embed Privacy into Software Systems

Software applications continue to challenge user privacy when users interact with them. Privacy practices (e.g. Data Minimisation (DM), Privacy by Design (PbD) or General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)) and related "privacy engineering" methodologies exist and provide clear instructions for developers to implement privacy into software systems they develop that preserve user privacy. However, those practices and methodologies are not yet a common practice in the software development community. There has been no previous research focused on developing "educational" interventions such as serious games to enhance software developers' coding behaviour. Therefore, this research proposes a game design framework as an educational tool for software developers to improve (secure) coding behaviour, so they can develop privacy-preserving software applications that people can use. The elements of the proposed framework were incorporated into a gaming application scenario that enhances the software developers' coding behaviour through their motivation. The proposed work not only enables the development of privacy-preserving software systems but also helping the software development community to put privacy guidelines and engineering methodologies into practice.Comment:

Accuracy of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for screening to detect major depression: individual participant data meta-analysis

Objective: To determine the accuracy of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for screening to detect major depression. Design: Individual participant data meta-analysis. Data sources: Medline, Medline In-Process and Other Non-Indexed Citations, PsycINFO, and Web of Science (January 2000-February 2015). Inclusion criteria: Eligible studies compared PHQ-9 scores with major depression diagnoses from validated diagnostic interviews. Primary study data and study level data extracted from primary reports were synthesized. For PHQ-9 cut-off scores 5-15, bivariate random effects meta-analysis was used to estimate pooled sensitivity and specificity, separately, among studies that used semistructured diagnostic interviews, which are designed for administration by clinicians; fully structured interviews, which are designed for lay administration; and the Mini International Neuropsychiatric (MINI) diagnostic interviews, a brief fully structured interview. Sensitivity and specificity were examined among participant subgroups and, separately, using meta-regression, considering all subgroup variables in a single model. Results: Data were obtained for 58 of 72 eligible studies (total n=17 357; major depression cases n=2312). Combined sensitivity and specificity was maximized at a cut-off score of 10 or above among studies using a semistructured interview (29 studies, 6725 participants; sensitivity 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.83 to 0.92; specificity 0.85, 0.82 to 0.88). Across cut-off scores 5-15, sensitivity with semistructured interviews was 5-22% higher than for fully structured interviews (MINI excluded; 14 studies, 7680 participants) and 2-15% higher than for the MINI (15 studies, 2952 participants). Specificity was similar across diagnostic interviews. The PHQ-9 seems to be similarly sensitive but may be less specific for younger patients than for older patients; a cut-off score of 10 or above can be used regardless of age.. Conclusions: PHQ-9 sensitivity compared with semistructured diagnostic interviews was greater than in previous conventional meta-analyses that combined reference standards. A cut-off score of 10 or above maximized combined sensitivity and specificity overall and for subgroups. Registration: PROSPERO CRD42014010673

Probability of major depression diagnostic classification using semi-structured vs. fully structured diagnostic interviews

Background: Different diagnostic interviews are used as reference standards for major depression classification in research. Semi-structured interviews involve clinical judgement, whereas fully structured interviews are completely scripted. The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), a brief fully structured interview, is also sometimes used. It is not known whether interview method is associated with probability of major depression classification. Aims: To evaluate the association between interview method and odds of major depression classification, controlling for depressive symptom scores and participant characteristics. Method: Data collected for an individual participant data meta-analysis of Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) diagnostic accuracy were analyzed. Binomial Generalized Linear Mixed Models were fit. Results: 17,158 participants (2,287 major depression cases) from 57 primary studies were analyzed. Among fully structured interviews, odds of major depression were higher for the MINI compared to the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) [OR (95% CI) = 2.10 (1.15-3.87)]. Compared to semi-structured interviews, fully structured interviews (MINI excluded) were non-significantly more likely to classify participants with low-level depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 scores 6) as having major depression [OR (95% CI) = 3.13 (0.98-10.00)], similarly likely for moderate-level symptoms (PHQ-9 scores 7-15) [OR (95% CI) = 0.96 (0.56-1.66)], and significantly less likely for high-level symptoms (PHQ-9 scores 16) [OR (95% CI) = 0.50 (0.26-0.97)]. Conclusions: The MINI may identify more depressed cases than the CIDI, and semi- and fully structured interviews may not be interchangeable methods, but these results should be replicated

Barbarians at the British Museum: Anglo-Saxon Art, Race and Religion

A critical historiographical overview of art historical approaches to early medieval material culture, with a focus on the British Museum collections and their connections to religion

Is there a role for a random measurement of 24-hour urine calcium excretion in the determination of calcium supplementation in osteoporotic postmenopausal women using alendronate?

Abstract The article addresses the clinical query whether a casual determination of 24-hour urinary calcium excretion by the end of first-year treatment with alendronate in osteoporotic postmenopausal women correlates with the change in bone mineral density achieved during that year. The study included 2 arms: a prospective arm (n = 31) with women on long-term hormone replacement therapy were followed for 1 year after addition of alendronate (10 mg/daily); a retrospective arm (n = 33) with women using alendronate for 1 year. Bone mineral density and urine deoxypyridinoline were measured at baseline and 1 year, 24-hour urine calcium was obtained at 1 year. All patients used supplemental calcium, but the exact intake values were not determined. The results demonstrated no correlation between the annual increase in both spine and femur bone density and urinary calcium. Asssuming that urinary calcium correlates with calcium intake and absorption, a casual measurement of urinary calcium excretion seems irrelevant for the titration of optimal calcium supplementation in this clinical setup

Inhibitory Effect of a Highly Potent Antagonist of LH Releasing Hormone (SB-75) on the Pituitary Gonadal Axis in the Intact and Castrated Rat

The biological potency of the new, highly potent antagonist [AC-D-Nal (2)1, E-Phe(4Cl)2, D-Pal(3)3, E > -Cit6, D-Ala10] LH-RH (SB-75) on the pituitary-gonadal system of female castrated and intact ovulating rats was tested. Administration of a single dose (50-100 µg/kg BW) of the antagonist SB-75 inhibited effectively the elevated gonadotrophin levels for 48 h. Pituitary LH and FSH content was not affected by SB-75 treatment. When administered in the early afternoon of the proestrus to intact cycling rats, SB-75 blocked the preovulatory LH surge as well as the primary and secondary FSH surges. However, the secondary FSH surge was not affected by SB-75 treatment when administered on the evening of proestrus suggesting its independence from the LH-RH mechanism. A group of ovariectomized rats was chronically treated with D-Trp6-LH-RH after having been pretreated by administration of a single dose of the antagonist. The initial stimulatory release of LH and FSH initiated by injection of the LH-RH agonist was significantly reduced by pretreatment with the LH-RH antagonist. We conclude that the LH-RH antagonist SB-75 may be used effectively in the field of reproductive dysfunction and endocrinological oncology and may become an invaluable physiological probe in studying the hormonal dynamics of the reproductive endocrine axis

Dopaminergic regulation of prolactin secretion in the hyperprolactinemic syndrome

The prolactin responses to an oral challenge of L-dopa (0.5 g) and bromocriptine (2.5 mg) were studied in 31 hyperprolactinemic females without radiological abnormalities of pituitary fossa, in 12 hyperprolactinemic patients with minor radiological evidence suggesting the presence of a pituitary adenoma and in 16 normal volunteers in the early puerperium with physiological hyperprolactinemia. Administration of bromocriptine was followed by a similar suppression of prolactin secretion in the functional as well as the adenomatous hyperprolactinemic patients. By contrast, a significantly blunted response to L-dopa was noted in the patients with pathological hyperprolactinemia (with and without radiological abnormalities of the pituitary fossa). These results suggest that the L-dopa suppression test might serve as a reliable indicator to detect prolactin-secreting microadenomas in patients with persistent hyperprolactinemia and radiologically normal pituitary fossae. © 1983 S. Karger AG, Basel.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Luteinizing hormone‐releasing hormone agonist triptorelin in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapy in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma: A prospective double blind randomized trial

BACKGROUND Several lines of evidence suggest that the proliferation of ovarian carcinoma might be stimulated by gonadotrophins. A number of Phase I/Phase II clinical trials have reported that the suppression of endogenous luteinizing hormone and follicle‐stimulating hormone secretion by luteinizing hormone‐releasing hormone (LHRH) analogs induced objective remissions and/or disease stabilization in 10–30% of patients with advanced refractory ovarian carcinoma. The current study was performed to evaluate whether the addition of LHRH agonist treatment to standard platinum‐based chemotherapy could prolong survival of patients with surgically treated Stage III or IV epithelial ovarian carcinoma. METHODS One hundred and thirty‐five patients with Stage III or IV epithelial ovarian carcinoma participated in this prospective randomized double blind trial. After cytoreductive surgery, 69 patients received monthly injections of a depot preparation of the LHRH agonist [D‐Trp6] LHRH (triptorelin, 3.75 mg) and 66 patients received placebo until their deaths or termination of the trial, respectively. All patients were treated with a standard platinum‐based chemotherapy, and, if necessary, with second‐ or third‐line cytotoxic regimens. RESULTS Endogenous gonadotrophins were reliably suppressed in patients treated with triptorelin. However, their progression free and overall survival were not significantly different from that of patients receiving placebo injections (statistical power > 80% for a difference between both groups of; ce20%). CONCLUSIONS The results of this trial suggest that the suppression of endogenous gonadotrophins by conventional doses of an LHRH agonist produces no relevant beneficial effects in patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma who receive standard surgical cytoreduction and cytotoxic chemotherapy. Cancer 1996;78:1452‐60