Geolocation with respect to persona privacy for the Allergy Diary app - a MASK study

Background: Collecting data on the localization of users is a key issue for the MASK (Mobile Airways Sentinel network: the Allergy Diary) App. Data anonymization is a method of sanitization for privacy. The European Commission's Article 29 Working Party stated that geolocation information is personal data. To assess geolocation using the MASK method and to compare two anonymization methods in the MASK database to find an optimal privacy method. Methods: Geolocation was studied for all people who used the Allergy Diary App from December 2015 to November 2017 and who reported medical outcomes. Two different anonymization methods have been evaluated: Noise addition (randomization) and k-anonymity (generalization). Results: Ninety-three thousand one hundred and sixteen days of VAS were collected from 8535 users and 54,500 (58. 5%) were geolocalized, corresponding to 5428 users. Noise addition was found to be less accurate than k-anonymity using MASK data to protect the users' life privacy. Discussion: k-anonymity is an acceptable method for the anonymization of MASK data and results can be used for other databases.Peer reviewe

Geolocation with respect to persona privacy for the Allergy Diary app - a MASK study

Background: Collecting data on the localization of users is a key issue for the MASK (Mobile Airways Sentinel network: the Allergy Diary) App. Data anonymization is a method of sanitization for privacy. The European Commission's Article 29 Working Party stated that geolocation information is personal data.To assess geolocation using the MASK method and to compare two anonymization methods in the MASK database to find an optimal privacy method.Methods: Geolocation was studied for all people who used the Allergy Diary App from December 2015 to November 2017 and who reported medical outcomes. Two different anonymization methods have been evaluated: Noise addition (randomization) and k-anonymity (generalization).Results: Ninety-three thousand one hundred and sixteen days of VAS were collected from 8535 users and 54,500 (58. 5%) were geolocalized, corresponding to 5428 users. Noise addition was found to be less accurate than k-anonymity using MASK data to protect the users' life privacy.Discussion: k-anonymity is an acceptable method for the anonymization of MASK data and results can be used for other databases

novel potentiometric membrane sensor for the determination of trace amounts of chromium ions

A plasticized Cr3+ ion sensor by incorporating 2,3,8,9-tetraphenyl-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododeca-1,3,7,9-tetraene (TTCT) ionophore exhibits a good potentiometric response for Cr3+ over a wide concentration range (1.0 x 10(-6) - 1.0 x 10(-1) M) with a slope of 19.5 mV per decade. The sensor response is stable for at least three months. Good selectivity for Cr3+ in comparison with alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions, and minimal interference are caused by Li+, Na+, K+, Co2+, Hg2+, Ca2+, Pb2+ and Zn2+ ions, which are known to interfere with other chromium membrane sensors. The TTCT-based electrode shows a fast response time (15 s), and can be used in aqueous solutions of pH 3 - 5.5. The proposed sensor was used for the potentiometric titration of Cr3+ with EDTA and for a direct potentiometric determination of Cr3+ content in environmental samples

Optimization of probiotic lactobacillus casei ATCC 334 production using date powder as carbon source

This study was conducted to optimize culture conditions for economic production of a probiotic bacterium, Lactobacillus casei ATCC 334, in which palm date powder was applied for the first time as a low-cost main carbon source. The effect of eleven factors on bacterial growth was investigated using the Taguchi experimental design, and three factors including palm date powder, tryptone and agitation rate were found to be the most significant parameters. The optimum conditions including date powder concentration, 38 g/L; tryptone concentration, 30 g/L; and an agitation rate of 320 rpm were determined by response surface methodology of Box-Behnken. A third-order polynomial model was suggested to predict the design space following which the predicted values were validated experimentally. The maximum log value of the viable cells in the optimized alternative medium was 9.97 at 24 h of incubation which was comparable to that obtained in the complex and expensive MRS medium (10.06)

Flow injection potentiometry by a novel coated graphite electrode based on 5-(9-anthracenylmethyl)-5-aza-2,8-dithia[9],(2,9)-1,10-phenanthrolinophane for the selective determination of uranyl ions

Spectrofluorimetric studies on the binding properties of 5-(9-anthracenylmethyl)-5-aza-2,8-dithia[9],(2,9)-1,10-phenanthrolinophane (L) toward different heavy metal ions in methanol solution revealed its selective 2:1 (ligand/metal) complexation with uranyl ion. Consequently, L was used as a suitable ionophore for the preparation of new plasticized PVC membrane-selective electrodes for the determination of uranyl ion by flow injection potentiometry. The electrodes resulted in Nernstian responses for UO2 2+ ion over wide concentration ranges (1.0×10−6 to 1.0×10−1M with a detection limit of 8.3×10−7Mfor polymeric membrane electrode, PME, and 1.0×10−7 to 1.0×10−1Mwith a detection limit of 7.5×10−8Mfor coated graphite electrode, CGE). The potentiometric response is independent of the pH of test solution in the pH range 2.5–4.0. The proposed electrodes possess very good selectivities over a wide variety of other cations including alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions. The CGE was used in flow injection potentiometry and resulted in well defined peaks for uranyl ions with stable baseline, excellent reproducibility and very high sampling rate of 160 injections h−1. The proposed FIP system was used for the determination of trace uranyl ions in real and synthetic samples

Using national electronic health records for pandemic preparedness: validation of a parsimonious model for predicting excess deaths among those with COVID-19–a data-driven retrospective cohort study

\ua9 2022, The Royal Society of Medicine. Objectives: To use national, pre- and post-pandemic electronic health records (EHR) to develop and validate a scenario-based model incorporating baseline mortality risk, infection rate (IR) and relative risk (RR) of death for prediction of excess deaths. Design: An EHR-based, retrospective cohort study. Setting: Linked EHR in Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD); and linked EHR and COVID-19 data in England provided in NHS Digital Trusted Research Environment (TRE). Participants: In the development (CPRD) and validation (TRE) cohorts, we included 3.8 million and 35.1 million individuals aged ≥30 years, respectively. Main outcome measures: One-year all-cause excess deaths related to COVID-19 from March 2020 to March 2021. Results: From 1 March 2020 to 1 March 2021, there were 127,020 observed excess deaths. Observed RR was 4.34% (95% CI, 4.31–4.38) and IR was 6.27% (95% CI, 6.26–6.28). In the validation cohort, predicted one-year excess deaths were 100,338 compared with the observed 127,020 deaths with a ratio of predicted to observed excess deaths of 0.79. Conclusions: We show that a simple, parsimonious model incorporating baseline mortality risk, one-year IR and RR of the pandemic can be used for scenario-based prediction of excess deaths in the early stages of a pandemic. Our analyses show that EHR could inform pandemic planning and surveillance, despite limited use in emergency preparedness to date. Although infection dynamics are important in the prediction of mortality, future models should take greater account of underlying conditions