Real or not? Identifying untrustworthy news websites using third-party partnerships

Untrustworthy content such as fake news and clickbait have become a pervasive problem on the Internet, causing significant socio-political problems around the world. Identifying untrustworthy content is a crucial step in countering them. The current best-practices for identification involve content analysis and arduous fact-checking of the content. To complement content analysis, we propose examining websites? third-parties to identify their trustworthiness. Websites utilize third-parties, also known as their digital supply chains, to create and present content and help the website function. Third-parties are an important indication of a website?s business model. Similar websites exhibit similarities in the third-parties they use. Using this perspective, we use machine learning and heuristic methods to discern similarities and dissimilarities in third-party usage, which we use to predict trustworthiness of websites. We demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of our approach in predicting trustworthiness of websites from a database of News, Fake News, and Clickbait websites. Our approach can be easily and cost-effectively implemented to reinforce current identification methods

Economics of Data Protection Policies

The widespread abuse of user privacy on websites has prompted user advocacy groups to call on governments to intervene and protect consumer rights. In this paper, we present several data protection policies including no third-party sharing and GDPR-type consent-based that policy-makers and governments can utilize to improve user surplus and/or social welfare. We use a stylized analytical model to examine the impact of privacy concerns and competition on the decisions of various entities including websites, users, and third-parties under the policies. We find that consent-based policies may have the opposite and unintended effect of increasing the number of third-parties, and thus, the sharing of user information. Whereas in the absence of market entry and exit, policies may benefit social welfare, considering the impact of such policies on entry and exit of websites is shown to be an important factor. We also provide an empirical investigation of our findings about the impact of competition and consent-based policies on third-parties

Role of Oocyte Morphological Abnormality Rates on the Embryo Development and Implantation

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of some oocyte morphological abnormality rates on embryo development and implantation. STUDY DESIGN: Oocyte morphological abnormalities including oocyte size, elliptical shape, vacuole, plain polar body, fragmented polar body, large perivitellin space, perivitellin debris, central granulation, dense central granulation, inclusion body, thick zona pellucida, clusters of smooth endoplasmic reticulum, easy needle insertion and dark cytoplasm were determined for each oocyte. Rates of these oocyte morphological anomalies were determined for each case and the impact of rates on the cycle outcome was analyzed. RESULTS: Similar oocyte morphology abnormality rates were observed between cycles with and without successful embryo implantation. On the other hand, both fragmented polar body and vacuole rates were found to be significantly higher in cycles with Grade 2 embryo transfer. These rate differences were remained significant after adjustment for the age and basal FSH level. CONCLUSION: None of the oocyte morphological features was found to have significant impact on ART outcome

Impact of Obesity on the Metabolic Control of Type 2 Diabetes: Results of the Turkish Nationwide Survey of Glycemic and Other Metabolic Parameters of Patients with Diabetes Mellitus (TEMD Obesity Study)

Background: Obesity is the main obstacle for metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Turkey has the highest prevalence of obesity and type 2 diabetes in Europe. The effect of obesity on the metabolic control, and the macro-and microvascular complications of patients are not apparent. Objectives: This nationwide survey aimed to investigate the prevalence of overweight and obesity among patients with type 2 diabetes and to search for the impact of obesity on the metabolic control of these patients. We also investigated the independent associates of obesity in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: We consecutively enrolled patients who were under follow-up for at least 1 year in 69 tertiary healthcare units in 37 cities. The demographic, anthropometric, and clinical data including medications were recorded. Patients were excluded if they were pregnant, younger than 18 years, had decompensated liver disease, psychiatric disorders interfering with cognition or compliance, had bariatric surgery, or were undergoing renal replacement therapy. Results: Only 10% of patients with type 2 diabetes (n = 4,648) had normal body mass indexes (BMI), while the others were affected by overweight (31%) or obesity (59%). Women had a significantly higher prevalence of obesity (53.4 vs. 40%) and severe obesity (16.6 vs. 3.3%). Significant associations were present between high BMI levels and lower education levels, intake of insulin, antihypertensives and statins, poor metabolic control, or the presence of microvascular complications. Age, gender, level of education, smoking, and physical inactivity were the independent associates of obesity in patients with type 2 diabetes. Conclusion: The TEMD Obesity Study shows that obesity is a major determinant of the poor metabolic control in patients with type 2 diabetes. These results underline the importance of prevention and management of obesity to improve health care in patients with type 2 diabetes. Also, the results point out the independent sociodemographic and clinical associates of obesity, which should be the prior targets to overcome, in the national fight with obesity. (c) 2019 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Base

Turkish nationwide survEy of glycemic and other Metabolic parameters of patients with Diabetes mellitus (TEMD study)

Aims: Turkey has the highest prevalence of diabetes in Europe. It is therefore essential to know the overall cardiovascular risk and reveal the predictors of metabolic control in Turkish adults with diabetes mellitus