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

Identifying vigour controlling rootstocks for mango

Vigour reduction in many tree crops is an essential element of highly productive, high density systems that is often achieved through rootstocks. Mangoes are large vigorous tropical trees that are traditionally grown at low density as suitable vigour reducing technologies are not commercially available. The aim of this work was to identify rootstock cultivars for mango that reduced scion vigour while maintaining or boosting yields. Ninety rootstocks are being evaluated for their ability to reduce vigour in two Australian mango scion cultivars from the National Mango Breeding Program (NMBP); ‘NMBP-1243’ and ‘NMBP-4069’. The evaluated rootstocks were sourced from a wide genetic range within Mangifera indica and related Mangifera spp. from the Australian National Mango Gene Bank and the Australian Mango Breeding Program. Rootstock-scion combinations were field planted at Walkamin, Queensland, Australia over three years, from May 2014 in randomised incomplete blocks. Tree height, canopy depth, canopy length (along the row), canopy width (across the row), rootstock trunk diameter (10 cm above the ground and 10 cm below the graft point) and scion diameter (10 cm above the graft) were measured every six months as indicators of tree growth and vigour. This is a report on the progress of 29 rootstocks from the May 2014 planting. There was a significant (

The effect of rootstocks on mango tree vigour, scion architecture, yield, percentage of flowering terminals in young unpruned trees

In Australia, commercial tree size management in mango orchards involves annual machine hedging and heavy hand pruning. In tropical growing regions, heavy pruning often stimulates strong vegetative regrowth that is less likely to flower due to insufficient terminal growth-unit dormancy required for flowering. A few mango rootstocks have been shown to reduce scion vigour and maintain regular, high yields; however, there is a lack of rigorous field-testing of these and other rootstocks under Australian scions growing in Queensland. Apart from some scion vigour control, the effects of mango rootstocks on scion architecture have not been studied in Australia and reports in the international literature are scarce. In this study, 90 genetically diverse rootstocks have been evaluated for their ability to reduce vigour in two Australian mango scion varieties from the National Mango Breeding Program (NMBP); ‘NMBP-1243’ and ‘NMBP-4069’. Tree height, canopy volume and shape, rootstock and scion trunk cross-sectional area were measured in young trees 30 months after planting to evaluate tree growth and vigour. Branch angle, length and diameter, number of growth units, number of leaves, and leaf size were also measured to characterize scion architecture. Ten rootstocks were identified as reducing vigour while maintaining the percentage of flowering terminals per canopy volume. Four rootstocks were also found to influence scion architecture by altering secondary branch angles to be closer to horizontal, potentially making them more suited to single-leader training used in high-density orchards systems. Canopy architecture parameters measured in this study suggest that rootstocks may be a useful technique for reducing tree vigour and altering the architecture of mango scion canopies to make them more suited to intensive orchard systems. © 2022 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved

Cats and <i>Toxoplasma gondii</i>: A systematic review and meta-analysis in Iran

Toxoplasma gondii is a cosmopolitan zoonotic intracellular coccidian of the phylum Apicomplexa infecting warm-blooded animals and human beings. This protozoan causes a significant public health problem in humans and imposes considerable economic losses and damages to husbandry industries. The final host, cats, accounts for all of these significant burdens. Hence the present study was designed to analyse and review the overall prevalence rate of T. gondii infection in cats in Iran for the first time. In the present study data collection (published and unpublished papers, abstracts of proceedings of national parasitology congresses and dissertations) was systematically undertaken on electronic databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Ebsco, Science Direct, Scopus, Magiran, Irandoc, IranMedex and Scientific Information Database. A total of 21 studies from 1975 to 2013 reporting prevalence of Toxoplasma infection in cats from different areas in Iran met the eligibility criteria. The pooled proportion of toxoplasmosis using the random-effect model amongst cats was estimated at 33.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 22.05–46.41). The prevalence rate of cat toxoplasmosis in various regions of Iran ranged from 1.2% to 89.2%. Firstly, this study establishes a crude prevalence rate of T. gondii infection in cats. Secondly, it discusses the role of significant risk factors including sex, age and being either household or stray cats, in the epidemiology of the disease. Furthermore, the current study determines gaps and drawbacks in the prior studies that are useful to keep in mind to assist in designing more accurate investigations in future

Epstein-Barr virus particles induce centrosome amplification and chromosomal instability.

Infections with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) are associated with cancer development, and EBV lytic replication (the process that generates virus progeny) is a strong risk factor for some cancer types. Here we report that EBV infection of B-lymphocytes (in vitro and in a mouse model) leads to an increased rate of centrosome amplification, associated with chromosomal instability. This effect can be reproduced with virus-like particles devoid of EBV DNA, but not with defective virus-like particles that cannot infect host cells. Viral protein BNRF1 induces centrosome amplification, and BNRF1-deficient viruses largely lose this property. These findings identify a new mechanism by which EBV particles can induce chromosomal instability without establishing a chronic infection, thereby conferring a risk for development of tumours that do not necessarily carry the viral genome

A retrospective cohort study predicting and validating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with chronic kidney disease

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased risk of baseline mortality and severe COVID-19, but analyses across CKD stages, and comorbidities are lacking. In prevalent and incident CKD, we investigated comorbidities, baseline risk, COVID-19 incidence, and predicted versus observed 1-year excess death. In national English data(NHSD-TRE; n=56 million), we conducted a retrospective cohort study in prevalent and incident CKD(March 2020 to March 2021) of prevalence of comorbidities by incident and prevalent CKD, SARS-CoV-2 infection and mortality. We assessed baseline mortality risk, incidence and outcome of infection by comorbidities, controlling for age, sex and vaccination. We compared observed versus predicted 1-year mortality at varying population infection rates(IR) and pandemic-related relative risks(RR) using our published model in pre-pandemic CKD cohorts(NHSD TRE and CPRD). Among individuals with CKD(prevalent:1,934,585, incident:144,969), comorbidities were common(73.5% and 71.2% with ≥1 condition, and 13.2% and 11.2% with ≥3 conditions, in prevalent and incident CKD), and associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection, particularly dialysis/transplantation(OR 2.08, 95% CI 2.04-2.13) and heart failure(OR 1.73, 1.71-1.76), but not cancer(OR 1.01, 1.01-1.04). One-year all-cause mortality varied by age, sex, multimorbidity and CKD stage. Compared with 34,265 observed excess deaths, in NHSD-TRE and CPRD data respectively, we predicted 28,746(83.9%) and 24,546(71.6%) deaths (IR 10% and RR=3.0), and 23754(69.3%) and 20283(59.2%) deaths (observed IR 6.7% and RR 3.7). In the largest, national-level study to-date, individuals with CKD have high burden of comorbidities and multimorbidity, high risk of pre-pandemic mortality and a high risk of pandemic mortality. Treatment of comorbidities, non-pharmaceutical measures, and vaccination are priorities in people with CKD and management of long-term conditions is important during and beyond the pandemic