Disciplining CBDCs: Achieving the Balance between Privacy Protection and Central Bank Independence

Central bank digital currency (“CBDC”) is a crucial FinTech development that aspires to overhaul the current payment system. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, CBDCs’ promises to reduce personal contact, facilitate socially desirable use of money, and initiate more targeted monetary measures have increased their popularity. In addition, CBDCs can potentially serve as a tool to internationalize a sovereign’s currency. World central banks, thus, have gradually formulated a consensus on structuring CBDCs, leaving the regulatory aspects of CBDCs deserving more attention. Among the regulatory issues related to CBDCs, observers often mentioned their association with privacy concerns, but comprehensive studies on this aspect of CBDCs remain limited. In this paper, we discuss the privacy concerns associated with CBDCs and attempt to introduce discipline upon CBDCs and their issuing central banks. We first demonstrate the privacy implications of CBDCs and highlight the risks that issuing sovereigns misuse CBDCs to serve their agendas. We then discuss, in a domestic context, several architectural designs proclaimed to address CBDCs’ privacy concerns and propose further disciplinary mechanisms that may credibly enforce privacy protection laws against issuing central banks and other governmental authorities. We finally highlight the extraterritorial character of modern privacy laws, which allows foreign privacy protection regulators to discipline the CBDCs of other sovereigns. Through this analysis, we argue that applying modern privacy laws with proper supporting mechanisms may effectively discipline CBDCs and their issuing central banks

Clinical Features Associated with Frozen Shoulder Syndrome in Parkinson’s Disease

Background. Frozen shoulder syndrome is a common musculoskeletal disease of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease (PD) that causes long-term pain and physical disability. A better understanding of the associated factors can help identify PD patients who will require prevention to improve their quality of life. Methodology. This prospective study evaluated 60 shoulders of 30 PD patients. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationships between clinical factors and shoulder sonography findings. Results. Frozen shoulder syndrome was found in 14 of 30 PD patients affecting 19 shoulders, including bilateral involvement in five and unilateral involvement in nine. There was a significant positive correlation between the parameters of sonography findings and frozen shoulder syndrome (i.e., thickness of bicipital effusion and tendon thickness of the subscapularis and supraspinatus) and mean ipsilateral Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) III and its subscores (tremor, rigidity, and bradykinesia scores). Conclusions. Higher ipsilateral UPDRS and subscores are associated with increased effusion around the biceps tendon, with increased tendon thickness of subscapularis and supraspinatus. Preventing frozen shoulder syndrome in the high-risk PD group is an important safety issue and highly relevant for their quality of life

Routine identification of microorganisms by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry: Success rate, economic analysis, and clinical outcome

Background: Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) has been widely used in microbial identification. This study evaluated the performance of MALDI-TOF MS and investigated the economic and medical impact of MALDI-TOF MS implementation. Methods: A total of 12,202 clinical isolates collected from April to September 2013 were identified using MALDI-TOF MS, and the success rates in identifying isolates were analyzed. The differences in the processing time, cost of consumables, weight of waste, and clinical impact between MALDI-TOF MS and biochemical reaction were compared. Results: MALDI-TOF MS successfully identified 96% of 12,202 isolates, including 96.8% of 10,502 aerobes, 90.5% of 1481 anaerobes, 93.8% of 81 yeasts, and 90.6% of 138 nontuberculous mycobacteria at the genus level. By using MALDI-TOF MS, the processing time for aerobes decreased from 32.5 hours to 4.1 hours, and that for anaerobes decreased from 71.5 hours to 46 hours. For detection of aerobes and anaerobes, the cost of consumables was estimated to decrease by US$0.9 per isolate, thus saving US$94,500 in total annual isolation. Furthermore, the weight of waste decreased six-fold, resulting in a reduction of 350 kg/month or 4.2 tons/year. MALDI-TOF MS also increased the percentage of correct antibiotics treatment for Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia from 56.1% to 75% and shortened the initiation time of the correct antibiotic action from 3.3 hours to 2.5 hours. Conclusions: MALDI-TOF MS is a rapid, reliable, economical, and environmentally friendly method for routine microbial identification and may contribute to early appropriate antibiotic treatment in clinical settings

Thymic macrophages consist of two populations with distinct localization and origin.

Tissue-resident macrophages are essential to protect from pathogen invasion and maintain organ homeostasis. The ability of thymic macrophages to engulf apoptotic thymocytes is well appreciated, but little is known about their ontogeny, maintenance, and diversity. Here, we characterized the surface phenotype and transcriptional profile of these cells and defined their expression signature. Thymic macrophages were most closely related to spleen red pulp macrophages and Kupffer cells and shared the expression of the transcription factor (TF) SpiC with these cells. Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-Seq) showed that the macrophages in the adult thymus are composed of two populations distinguished by the expression of Timd4 and Cx3cr1. Remarkably, Timd4+ cells were located in the cortex, while Cx3cr1+ macrophages were restricted to the medulla and the cortico-medullary junction. Using shield chimeras, transplantation of embryonic thymuses, and genetic fate mapping, we found that the two populations have distinct origins. Timd4+ thymic macrophages are of embryonic origin, while Cx3cr1+ macrophages are derived from adult hematopoietic stem cells. Aging has a profound effect on the macrophages in the thymus. Timd4+ cells underwent gradual attrition, while Cx3cr1+ cells slowly accumulated with age and, in older mice, were the dominant macrophage population in the thymus. Altogether, our work defines the phenotype, origin, and diversity of thymic macrophages

Factors Influencing Self-Management Behaviors among Hemodialysis Patients

Aim: To investigate the factors affecting hemodialysis patients’ self-management ability at a dialysis center in Taiwan. Background: Taiwan has the highest incidence and prevalence of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in the world. Over 90% of patients with ESKD receiving hemodialysis (HD) and self-management behaviors are critical among these patients. Failure to adhere to self-managed care increases the cost of medical care and the risk of morbidity and mortality. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 150 HD patients were observed for their self-management behaviors and the factors influencing these behaviors including education level, comorbid conditions, biochemical analysis, depression, and social support, etc., were analyzed. Results: Self-management behaviors in HD patients were significantly impaired in the presence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, anemia, hypoalbuminemia, and depression. The major predictor of patients’ self-management was depression, explaining 14.8% of the total variance. Further addition of social support, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus into the regression model increased the total explained variance to 28.6%. Of the various domains of self-management, the partnership domain received the highest score, whereas emotional processing received the lowest score. Conclusions: This study found the important factors influencing self-management behaviors; through this acknowledgement and early correction of these factors, we hope to improve HD patients’ individual life quality and further decrease their morbidity and mortality

Peripheral Leukocyte Apoptosis in Patients with Parkinsonism: Correlation with Clinical Characteristics and Neuroimaging Findings

Apoptosis of both brain neurons and peripheral blood leukocyte is believed to be an important biomarker for evaluating the functional status of Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, their correlation remains unknown. A better understanding of the pathophysiology of neurodegeneration is essential for the treatment and prevention of PD. The present study demonstrated that leukocyte apoptosis is significantly higher in PD patients and is associated with central dopamine neuron loss by using Tc99m-TRODAT-1 SPECT. The leukocyte apoptosis and striatal dopamine transporter uptake ratios were further associated with increased severity and longer duration of disease. The interaction between brain and systemic inflammation may be responsible for the neurodegenerative disease progression

Three-dimensional light manipulation by gold nanobumps

The scattering of surface plasmon polariton (SPP) waves can be manipulated by various plasmonic structures. The plasmonic structure composed of arranged subwavelength nanobumps on a gold thin film is the promising structure to manipulation SPP wave. By controlling the geometric shape of the structures, the height, position, and pattern of scattered light from SPP wave can be modulated as desired. A clear single focusing spot can be reconstructed at a specific altitude by a particular curved structure with appropriate curvature and adjacent interspacing of nanobumps. The designed light patterns reconstructed by the focusing spot from the arranged curved structures at a specific observation plane are clearly demonstrated.Published versio