Towards a Secure Web Based Health Care Application

Even though security requirements in health care are traditionally high, most computerized health care applications lack sophisticated security measures or focus only on single security objectives. This paper describes special security problems that arise when processing health care data using public networks such as the Internet. It proposes a structured approach using a context-dependent access control mechanism over the Internet as well as other security mechanisms to counter the threats against the major security objectives: confidentiality, integrity, availability, and accountability. The feasibility of the proposed security measures is shown through a prototype, which has been developed in a research project focussed on security in health care

Ear and Eye: Retention effects of illustrations in listening tasks

Lernen mit der Unterstützung von bildlichen Darstellungen unterschiedlicher Form soll in Zusammenhang mit mündlich vorgetragenem Text untersucht werden. Dabei wird von der Annahme ausgegangen, daß vergleichbare Forschungsergebnisse zur Verarbeitung von "geschriebener Text + Bild" wegen der spezifischen Bedingungen, die beim Zuhören relevant werden, nicht auf die Situation "gehörter Text + Bild" verallgemeinert werden können. Es wird auch angenommen, daß, gerade wegen der besonderen Anforderung der auditiven Informationsverarbeitung, unterschiedliche Formen von Illustrationen unter je eigenen Bedingungen Behalten begünstigen. Konkret überprüft wurde in einer Studie mit 56 Schülerinnen und Schülern aus der 6. Jahrgangsstufe eines Gymnasium die unterschiedliche Wirksamkeit von repräsentationalen Bildern und abstrakten logischen Bildern. Es zeigte sich, daß abstrakte, organisierende Darstellungen bei einmaliger Präsentation des Zuhörtextes bei unmittelbar anschließender Abfrage das Behalten begünstigen. Die Ergebnisse werden im Kontext von kapazitätsbedingten Interferenzen bei der Informationsverarbeitung diskutiert. (DIPF/Orig.

Associations between sleep quality and biomarkers for neurodegeneration - A longitudinal one-year case-control study of patients with bipolar disorder and healthy control individuals

Disturbed sleep during affective episodes may impact levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-amyloid-beta (Aβ)42 and other biomarkers of neurodegeneration in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). The study aimed to investigate the correlations between sleep and biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and neurodegeneration in BD and healthy controls (HC). We present a prospective, longitudinal case-control study of euthymic patients with BD (N ​= ​86) and HC (N ​= ​44). All participants were evaluated with clinical assessments at baseline, and after a year. The patients’ affective states were recorded weekly as euthymic, subthreshold level, major depression, or (hypo)mania. Patients were re-assessed during and after an episode if it occurred during follow-up. Total sleep scores based on three Hamilton-17 Depression Scale items were analyzed in relation to concentrations of CSF-Aβ42, CSF-Aβ40, CSF-Aβ38, CSF-Aβ42/40 and 42/38 ratios, CSF-soluble amyloid-precursor proteins α+β, plasma-Aβ42, plasma-Aβ40, CSF-phosphorylated-tau, CSF-total-tau, plasma-total-tau, CSF-neurofilament-light, plasma-neurofilament-light, CSF-neurogranin, serum-S100B, CSF-8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-guanosine, CSF-8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine, urine-8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-guanosine, and urine-8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine. The primary outcome was the association between total sleep scores and levels of CSF-Aβ42 at baseline and follow-up estimated by the regression coefficient in a linear mixed model. We found no statistically significant associations between sleep and CSF-Aβ42 (−2.307 ​pg/ml (95% CI: -9.525–4.911; p ​= ​0.523)) or any other biomarkers. However, higher sleep scores appeared to be associated with higher CSF-Aβ42/40 and CSF-Aβ42/38 ratios, and lower CSF-total-tau concentration, but were not statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. In conclusion attenuated sleep during an affective episode was not associated with changes in biomarkers for AD and neurodegeneration in BD, but larger prospective studies are needed

Audiovisueller Input (Minimalpaarrollenspiele) und Reflexion zur Förderung der Gesprächskompetenz in der Fremdsprache

Horstmann S. Audiovisueller Input (Minimalpaarrollenspiele) und Reflexion zur Förderung der Gesprächskompetenz in der Fremdsprache. In: Colliander P, Drumbl H, Höhmann D, Ivanenko S, Knorr D, Moraldo S, eds. Linguistische Grundlagen für den Sprachunterricht : Sektionen C1, C2, C3, C4, C5, C6. IDT 2013. Vol 5. Bozen: bu,press; 2017: 407-424

Prognostic impact of acute pulmonary triggers in patients with Takotsubo syndrome : new insights from the International Takotsubo Registry

© 2021 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.Aims: Acute pulmonary disorders are known physical triggers of takotsubo syndrome (TTS). This study aimed to investigate prevalence of acute pulmonary triggers in patients with TTS and their impact on outcomes. Methods and results: Patients with TTS were enrolled from the International Takotsubo Registry and screened for triggering factors and comorbidities. Patients were categorized into three groups (acute pulmonary trigger, chronic lung disease, and no lung disease) to compare clinical characteristics and outcomes. Of the 1670 included patients with TTS, 123 (7%) were identified with an acute pulmonary trigger, and 194 (12%) had a known history of chronic lung disease. The incidence of cardiogenic shock was highest in patients with an acute pulmonary trigger compared with those with chronic lung disease or without lung disease (17% vs. 10% vs. 9%, P = 0.017). In-hospital mortality was also higher in patients with an acute pulmonary trigger than in the other two groups, although not significantly (5.7% vs. 1.5% vs. 4.2%, P = 0.13). Survival analysis demonstrated that patients with an acute pulmonary trigger had the worst long-term outcome (P = 0.002). The presence of an acute pulmonary trigger was independently associated with worse long-term mortality (hazard ratio 2.12, 95% confidence interval 1.33-3.38; P = 0.002). Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that TTS is related to acute pulmonary triggers in 7% of all TTS patients, which accounts for 21% of patients with physical triggers. The presence of acute pulmonary trigger is associated with a severe in-hospital course and a worse long-term outcome.C. T. has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa binHamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss HeartFoundation. The InterTAK Registry is supported by the BissDavies Charitable Trust. L. S. M. has been supported by EUHORIZON 2020(SILICOFCM ID777204)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ethnic comparison in takotsubo syndrome : novel insights from the International Takotsubo Registry

© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Background: Ethnic disparities have been reported in cardiovascular disease. However, ethnic disparities in takotsubo syndrome (TTS) remain elusive. This study assessed differences in clinical characteristics between Japanese and European TTS patients and determined the impact of ethnicity on in-hospital outcomes. Methods: TTS patients in Japan were enrolled from 10 hospitals and TTS patients in Europe were enrolled from 32 hospitals participating in the International Takotsubo Registry. Clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes were compared between Japanese and European patients. Results: A total of 503 Japanese and 1670 European patients were included. Japanese patients were older (72.6 ± 11.4 years vs. 68.0 ± 12.0 years; p < 0.001) and more likely to be male (18.5 vs. 8.4%; p < 0.001) than European TTS patients. Physical triggering factors were more common (45.5 vs. 32.0%; p < 0.001), and emotional triggers less common (17.5 vs. 31.5%; p < 0.001), in Japanese patients than in European patients. Japanese patients were more likely to experience cardiogenic shock during the acute phase (15.5 vs. 9.0%; p < 0.001) and had a higher in-hospital mortality (8.2 vs. 3.2%; p < 0.001). However, ethnicity itself did not appear to have an impact on in-hospital mortality. Machine learning approach revealed that the presence of physical stressors was the most important prognostic factor in both Japanese and European TTS patients. Conclusion: Differences in clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes between Japanese and European TTS patients exist. Ethnicity does not impact the outcome in TTS patients. The worse in-hospital outcome in Japanese patients, is mainly driven by the higher prevalence of physical triggers.Open Access funding provided by Universität Zürich. CT has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss Heart Foundation. L.S.M. has been supported by EU HORIZON 2020 (SILICOFCM ID777204). J.R.G has received a grant “Filling the gap” from the University of Zurich. The InterTAK Registry is supported by The Biss Davies Charitable Trust.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Clinical Features and Outcomes of Patients With Malignancy and Takotsubo Syndrome: Observations From the International Takotsubo Registry

BackgroundClinical characteristics and outcomes of takotsubo syndrome (TTS) patients with malignancy have not been fully elucidated. This study sought to explore differences in clinical characteristics and to investigate short‐ and long‐term outcomes in TTS patients with or without malignancy.Methods and ResultsTTS patients were enrolled from the International Takotsubo Registry. The TTS cohort was divided into patients with and without malignancy to investigate differences in clinical characteristics and to assess short‐ and long‐term mortality. A subanalysis was performed comparing long‐term mortality between a subset of TTS patients with or without malignancy and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients with or without malignancy. Malignancy was observed in 16.6% of 1604 TTS patients. Patients with malignancy were older and more likely to have physical triggers, but less likely to have emotional triggers compared with those without malignancy. Long‐term mortality was higher in patients with malignancy (PP=0.17). In a subanalysis, long‐term mortality was comparable between TTS patients with malignancies and ACS patients with malignancies (P=0.13). Malignancy emerged as an independent predictor of long‐term mortality.ConclusionsA substantial number of TTS patients show an association with malignancy. History of malignancy might increase the risk for TTS, and therefore, appropriate screening for malignancy should be considered in these patients.</p

Biografieforschung: theoretische Perspektiven und methodologische Konzepte für eine re-konstruktive Geschlechterforschung

Die Biografieforschung bezeichnet einen komplexen Forschungsansatz, der auf eine lange Geschichte des wissenschaftlichen Interesses an "persönlichen Dokumenten" verweisen kann. Sie ist eine voraussetzungsvolle Forschungsperspektive, die sich in zentralen Aspekten ihres Vorgehens auf Biografien als theoretisches Konzept, als historisch-empirischen Gegenstand und als komplexe methodologische Strategie bezieht. Andere Begriffe, welche oftmals synonym gebraucht, in der Biografieforschung aber systematisch unterschieden werden, sind "Lebensgeschichte" und "Lebenslauf". Die Autorin skizziert die Perspektiven einer rekonstruktiven Geschlechterforschung innerhalb der Biografieforschung, wozu sie auf die Differenzierungen empirischer Forschung, die methodologischen Prinzipien sowie auf Datenerhebung und Datenanalyse eingeht. Sie hebt insbesondere drei Kontextrelationen bei der Interpretation eines biografischen Textes hervor: Biografie, Interaktion, kulturelle Muster und soziale Regeln. Das skizzierte Konzept von Biografieforschung begreift sie als ein offenes Programm, das vielfältige Anknüpfungspunkte zu aktuellen theoretischen Diskussionen in der Geschlechterforschung aufweist. (ICI2