When the signal is in the noise: Exploiting Diffix's Sticky Noise

Anonymized data is highly valuable to both businesses and researchers. A large body of research has however shown the strong limits of the de-identification release-and-forget model, where data is anonymized and shared. This has led to the development of privacy-preserving query-based systems. Based on the idea of "sticky noise", Diffix has been recently proposed as a novel query-based mechanism satisfying alone the EU Article~29 Working Party's definition of anonymization. According to its authors, Diffix adds less noise to answers than solutions based on differential privacy while allowing for an unlimited number of queries. This paper presents a new class of noise-exploitation attacks, exploiting the noise added by the system to infer private information about individuals in the dataset. Our first differential attack uses samples extracted from Diffix in a likelihood ratio test to discriminate between two probability distributions. We show that using this attack against a synthetic best-case dataset allows us to infer private information with 89.4% accuracy using only 5 attributes. Our second cloning attack uses dummy conditions that conditionally strongly affect the output of the query depending on the value of the private attribute. Using this attack on four real-world datasets, we show that we can infer private attributes of at least 93% of the users in the dataset with accuracy between 93.3% and 97.1%, issuing a median of 304 queries per user. We show how to optimize this attack, targeting 55.4% of the users and achieving 91.7% accuracy, using a maximum of only 32 queries per user. Our attacks demonstrate that adding data-dependent noise, as done by Diffix, is not sufficient to prevent inference of private attributes. We furthermore argue that Diffix alone fails to satisfy Art. 29 WP's definition of anonymization. [...

TESTE DE QUANTIFICAÇÃO DE ETANOL PARA AVALIAÇÃO DA QUALIDADE FISIOLÓGICA SEMENTES DE QUINOA

A quinoa é uma cultura de origem andina. Atualmente apresenta grande demanda pelo mercado consumidor devido a qualidade nutricional de seus grãos. Assim, a importância do conhecimento do potencial fisiológico de sementes de quinoa ganha destaque. Uma metodologia inovadora, sendo considerado um teste rápido para avaliação do nível de vigor é o teste do etanol, desta forma, objetivou-se estudar a relação entre a produção de etanol e o desempenho fisiológico de sementes de quinoa. Foram utilizados quatro lotes de sementes, com distintos níveis de vigor e três diferentes massas de sementes (1,0; 1,5 e 2,0g). Posteriormente, as sementes foram imersas em água por um período de 24 horas a uma temperatura constante de 40°C, após este período, foi efetuada a quantificação de emissão de etanol. O teste foi eficiente para diferir os níveis de vigor dos lotes, sendo que em um 1,0g é obtido a mesma distinção que a oferecida por métodos tradicionais (emergência e índice de velocidade de emergência) com menor tempo de resposta

Sistema Integrato Multicentrico di Indicatori. Rapporto 2005. Provincia di Trento.

The SIMI (Integrated System of Indicators multicenter) Project contributes to the development of an integrated management of informative data streams related to drug addicted persons. This report analyzes the phenomenon of addiction on the territory of Trento province through a description of the network services that provide care and rehabilitation of those addicted. Besides the characteristics of users of local services for addictions, has been developed the analysis of the subjects reported to the prefectures for use of illegal drugs and any action taken. Standard methods of estimation were also applied to quantify the proportion of users of substances that do not relate to services and to identify certain characteristics.Il Progetto SIMI (Sistema Integrato Multicentrico di Indicatori) intende contribuire allo sviluppo di una gestione integrata e sinergica dei flussi informativi relativi ai consumatori di sostanze stupefacenti afferenti alle diverse amministrazioni dello Stato. In linea con quanto proposto dall\u27Osservatorio europeo di Lisbona, per la descrizione e analisi del fenomeno connesso all\u27uso/abuso di sostanze, risulta di fondamentale importanza la possibilit? di ottenere informazioni esaustive e comparabili sulle persone che usano e/o abusano di sostanze psicotrope. Il presente rapporto analizza il fenomeno delle dipendenze sul territorio della provincia di Trento attraverso la descrizione della rete dei servizi preposti alla cura e riabilitazione dei soggetti tossicodipendenti. Accanto alle caratteristiche degli utenti dei servizi territoriali per le dipendenze, ? stata sviluppata l\u27analisi dei soggetti segnalati alle Prefetture per uso di sostanze illegali e degli eventuali provvedimenti adottati. Sono state inoltre applicate metodologie standard di stima per quantificare la quota parte di utilizzatori di sostanze che non afferiscono ai servizi e per identificarne alcune caratteristiche

The JWST Galactic Center Survey -- A White Paper

The inner hundred parsecs of the Milky Way hosts the nearest supermassive black hole, largest reservoir of dense gas, greatest stellar density, hundreds of massive main and post main sequence stars, and the highest volume density of supernovae in the Galaxy. As the nearest environment in which it is possible to simultaneously observe many of the extreme processes shaping the Universe, it is one of the most well-studied regions in astrophysics. Due to its proximity, we can study the center of our Galaxy on scales down to a few hundred AU, a hundred times better than in similar Local Group galaxies and thousands of times better than in the nearest active galaxies. The Galactic Center (GC) is therefore of outstanding astrophysical interest. However, in spite of intense observational work over the past decades, there are still fundamental things unknown about the GC. JWST has the unique capability to provide us with the necessary, game-changing data. In this White Paper, we advocate for a JWST NIRCam survey that aims at solving central questions, that we have identified as a community: i) the 3D structure and kinematics of gas and stars; ii) ancient star formation and its relation with the overall history of the Milky Way, as well as recent star formation and its implications for the overall energetics of our galaxy's nucleus; and iii) the (non-)universality of star formation and the stellar initial mass function. We advocate for a large-area, multi-epoch, multi-wavelength NIRCam survey of the inner 100\,pc of the Galaxy in the form of a Treasury GO JWST Large Program that is open to the community. We describe how this survey will derive the physical and kinematic properties of ~10,000,000 stars, how this will solve the key unknowns and provide a valuable resource for the community with long-lasting legacy value.Comment: This White Paper will be updated when required (e.g. new authors joining, editing of content). Most recent update: 24 Oct 202

When the Signal is in the Noise: Exploiting Diffix's Sticky Noise

Anonymized data is highly valuable to both businesses and researchers. A large body of research has however shown the strong limits of the de-identification release-and-forget model, where data is anonymized and shared. This has led to the development of privacy-preserving query-based systems. Based on the idea of "sticky noise", Diffix has been recently proposed as a novel query-based mechanism satisfying alone the EU Article 29 Working Party's definition of anonymization. According to its authors, Diffix adds less noise to answers than solutions based on differential privacy while allowing for an unlimited number of queries. This paper presents a new class of noise-exploitation attacks, exploiting the noise added by the system to infer private information about individuals in the dataset. Our first differential attack uses samples extracted from Diffix in a likelihood ratio test to discriminate between two probability distributions. We show that using this attack against a synthetic best-case dataset allows us to infer private information with 89.4% accuracy using only 5 attributes. Our second cloning attack uses dummy conditions that conditionally strongly affect the output of the query depending on the value of the private attribute. Using this attack on four real-world datasets, we show that we can infer private attributes of at least 93% of the users in the dataset with accuracy between 93.3% and 97.1%, issuing a median of 304 queries per user. We show how to optimize this attack, targeting 55.4% of the users and achieving 91.7% accuracy, using a maximum of only 32 queries per user. Our attacks demonstrate that adding data-dependent noise, as done by Diffix, is not sufficient to prevent inference of private attributes. We furthermore argue that Diffix alone fails to satisfy Art. 29 WP's definition of anonymization. We conclude by discussing how non-provable privacy-preserving systems can be combined with fundamental security principles such as defense-in-depth and auditability to build practically useful anonymization systems without relying on differential privacy

Soybean seed vigor: ethanol quantification test

The objective of this study was to verify the separation of soybean seed lots according tovigor levels by the rapid ethanol test follow ing the adapted ethylometer method. The design used was entirely randomized, with four repetitions. The treatments consisted of five soybean seed lots, which were submitted to germination tests, first germination count, accelerated aging, field emergence, and electrical conductivity and ethanol measurement test. To measure ethanol, 50 soybean seeds were placed in plastic bottles containing 50 mL of distilled water, then placed in a BOD incubator for different temperatures and exposure times. After the imbibition period, measurements were performed with the aid of an adapted ethylometer. It is possible to quantify ethanol in soybean seed lots using the adapted ethylometer equipment,however the equipment is not efficient in ranking soybean seed lots at different vigor levels

The Impact of Uremic Toxicity Induced Inflammatory Response on the Cardiovascular Burden in Chronic Kidney Disease

Uremic toxin (UT) retention in chronic kidney disease (CKD) affects biological systems. We aimed to identify the associations between UT, inflammatory biomarkers and biomarkers of the uremic cardiovascular response (BUCVR) and their impact on cardiovascular status as well as their roles as predictors of outcome in CKD patients. CKD patients stages 3, 4 and 5 (n = 67) were recruited and UT (indoxyl sulfate/IS, p-cresil sulfate/pCS and indole-3-acetic acid/IAA); inflammatory biomarkers [Interleukin-6 (IL-6), high sensitivity C reactive protein (hsCRP), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), soluble vascular adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and soluble Fas (sFas)] and BUCVRs [soluble CD36 (sCD36), soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE), fractalkine] was measured. Patients were followed for 5.2 years and all causes of death was used as the primary outcome. Artery segments collected at the moment of transplantation were used for the immunohistochemistry analysis in a separate cohort. Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), circulating UT, plasma biomarkers of systemic and vascular inflammation and BUCVR were strongly interrelated. Patients with plaque presented higher signs of UT-induced inflammation and arteries from CKD patients presented higher fractalkine receptor (CX3CR1) tissue expression. Circulating IS (p = 0.03), pCS (p = 0.007), IL-6 (p = 0.026), sFas (p = 0.001), sCD36 (p = 0.01) and fractalkine (p = 0.02) were independent predictors of total mortality risk in CKD patients. Our results reinforce the important role of uremic toxicity in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in CKD patients through an inflammatory pathway

Estrogens as Antioxidant Modulators in Human Fertility

Among treatments proposed for idiopathic male infertility, antiestrogens, like tamoxifen, play a possible role. On the other hand, oxidative stress is a mechanism well recognized for deleterious effects on spermatozoa function. After reviewing the literature on the effects of estrogens in modulation of antioxidant systems, in both sexes, and in different in vivo and in vitro models, we suggest, also on the basis of personal data, that a tamoxifen treatment could be active via an increase in seminal antioxidants

Real-world treatment outcomes in HR+ HER2- metastatic breast cancer patients treated with CDK4/6 inhibitors: Results from a reference center in Brazil

Background: Cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 inhibitors (CDK4/6i) have been recently developed and introduced into clinical practice. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from patients with confirmed HR+/HER2 metastatic breast cancer treated with hormonal therapy in combination with ribociclib (R), palbociclib (P), or abemaciclib (A). Outcomes: median progression-free survival (mPFS), time to treatment discontinuation (mTTD), and objective response rate (ORR). Results: Between January 2016 - June 2021, 142 patients were treated with an CDK4/6i (79 P, 42 R, 21 A). The median age was 59 years and 67.6% had recurrent disease. Roughly 35.2%, 36.6%, 28.2% of the patients had 1, 2 or 3+ metastatic sites, respectively, and 55.6% of the patients received CDK4/6i as a first-line treatment. The mPFS was 28m(R) vs. 14m(P) vs. 6m(A) (P = 0.002), with a higher proportion of patients receiving R in the first-line setting. However, no difference was seen when the analysis was restricted to the first-line scenario (P = 0.193). Sixty-four patients required one dose reduction, and 19 patients required two. ORR was 76.2% (R) vs 62% (P) vs 42.9% (A). More patients achieved a complete response with R and P, with no difference in the incidence of partial response and stable disease. Adverse events occurred in 94.4% of the population, with the most common grade 3–4 AE being neutropenia (59.1%). Conclusions: Our results confirm the efficacy and tolerability of CDK4/6i in routine clinical practice. This is the first real-world data describing and comparing the efficacy and toxicity of CDK4/6i in the Brazilian population

Pedagogías críticas y universidad: Una mirada situada desde el territorio en perspectiva interseccional.

Obra colectiva coordinada por Jessica Visotsky y Sonia Sapini. Prólogo: Anahí Güelman Escribieron esta obra: Carlos Rodrigues Brandão, Moacir Gadotti, Jessica Visotsky, Sonia Sapini, Beatriz Gualdieri, María José Vázquez, Mariana Katz, Silvia Siderac, Sandra Alarcón, Roxana Fratícola, Matías Alamo, Andrea Quiroga, Laura Medina, Mirta Fiorucci, Leticia García, Sergio Martínez, María Belén Martelli, Romina Cané, Berenice Muñoz, Kûyen Graziano, Evelyn Arriagada, Victoria Etman, Julia Guerrero, Paola Vargas, Candela Salazar, Quimey Mansilla, Nicolás Patiño Fernández, Vanesa Arias Este libro nace de encuentros, andares y experiencias compartidas en los espacios de las cátedras Pedagogía II, Educación y Derechos Humanos, y del proyecto de investigación Pedagogías críticas, interseccionalidades y derechos humanos: una mirada en territ orio desde la investigación participante y las metodologías cualitativas 1 . Y es nuestra intención recuperar las reflexiones, diálogos y construcción de conocimientos con lxs distintos actores, grupos y colectivos con quienes recorrimos esos andares.Obra coordinada por Jessica Visotsky y Sonia Sapin