Building a Collaborative Phone Blacklisting System with Local Differential Privacy

Spam phone calls have been rapidly growing from nuisance to an increasingly effective scam delivery tool. To counter this increasingly successful attack vector, a number of commercial smartphone apps that promise to block spam phone calls have appeared on app stores, and are now used by hundreds of thousands or even millions of users. However, following a business model similar to some online social network services, these apps often collect call records or other potentially sensitive information from users' phones with little or no formal privacy guarantees. In this paper, we study whether it is possible to build a practical collaborative phone blacklisting system that makes use of local differential privacy (LDP) mechanisms to provide clear privacy guarantees. We analyze the challenges and trade-offs related to using LDP, evaluate our LDP-based system on real-world user-reported call records collected by the FTC, and show that it is possible to learn a phone blacklist using a reasonable overall privacy budget and at the same time preserve users' privacy while maintaining utility for the learned blacklist.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 7 algorithm

Gold Nanoparticle Colorants as Traditional Ceramic Glaze Alternatives

Historically, Roman stained glass has been a standard for high‐temperature color stability since biblical times but was not properly characterized as emission from nanoparticle plasmon resonance until the 1990s. The methods under which it was created have been lost, but some efforts have recently been made to recreate these properties using gold nanoparticle inks on glassy surfaces. This body of work employs gold nanoparticle systems ranging from 0.015% to 0.100% (wt/wt), suspended in a clear glaze body. The glazes are fired with traditional ceramic methods—in both gas reduction and electric oxidation kilns—in which nanoparticles are retained and can be imaged via TEM. Various colors intensities are reported in addition to changes in nanoparticle size after application and firing. The nanoparticle glazes are compared to traditional red glazes, highlighting the significantly lower metal loading required (5%‐10% for traditional glazes vs 0.100% for gold (wt/wt)), therein. Finally, proof of concept is provided with a functional gold nanoparticle mug, fired in reduction, that costs roughly 0.98$ USD in gold used

Identification and Characterisation of a Novel Pathogenic Mutation in the Human Lipodystrophy Gene AGPAT2 : C48R: A Novel Mutation in AGPAT2.

Loss-of-function mutations in AGPAT2, encoding 1-acylglycerol-3-phosphate-O-acyltransferase 2 (AGPAT2), produce congenital generalised lipodystrophy (CGL). We screened the AGPAT2 gene in two siblings who presented with pseudoacromegaly, diabetes and severe dyslipidaemia and identified a novel mutation in AGPAT2 causing a single amino acid substitution, p.Cys48Arg. We subsequently investigated the molecular pathogenic mechanism linking both this mutation and the previously reported p.Leu228Pro mutation to clinical disease. Wild-type and mutant AGPAT2 were expressed in control and AGPAT2-deficient preadipocyte cell lines. mRNA and protein expression was determined, and the ability of each AGPAT2 species to rescue adipocyte differentiation in AGPAT2-deficient cells was assessed. Protein levels of both p.Cys48Arg and p.Leu228Pro AGPAT2 were significantly reduced compared with that of wild-type AGPAT2 despite equivalent mRNA levels. Stable expression of wild-type AGPAT2 partially rescued adipogenesis in AGPAT2 deficient preadipocytes, whereas stable expression of p.Cys48Arg or p.Leu228Pro AGPAT2 did not. In conclusion, unusually severe dyslipidaemia and pseudoacromegaloid overgrowth in patients with diabetes should alert physicians to the possibility of lipodystrophy. Both the previously unreported pathogenic p.Cys48Arg mutation in AGPAT2, and the known p.Leu228Pro mutation result in decreased AGPAT2 protein expression in developing adipocytes. It is most likely that the CGL seen in homozygous carriers of these mutations is largely accounted for by loss of protein expression

Parameters identification and optimization of photovoltaic panels under real conditions using Lambert W-function

This paper proposes a new approach based on Lambert W-function to extract the electrical parameters of photovoltaic (PV) panels. This approach can extract the optimal electrical characteristics of the PV panel under variable conditions of irradiation and temperature. Three benchmarking panels (shell SP70 monocrystalline silicon, shell ST40 thin film, and KC200GT Polycrystalline Silicon) are demonstrated and analyzed considering the electrical characteristics provided by the manufacturers. A comprehensive assessment is carried out under different weather condition to validate the capability and the robustness of the proposed approach. Furthermore, the simulated output characteristics of the three modules Photovoltaic are almost comparable and reproduce faithfully the manufacturer’s experimental data The novelty of this study is the using a new hybrid analytical and numerical method that straight forward and effective given value of Root mean square error less than those obtained by others methods that indicate the estimated results are very close to the experimental values provided by the manufacturers

An unexpected, mild phenotype of glucocorticoid resistance associated with glucocorticoid receptor gene mutation case report and review of the literature

BACKGROUND: Glucocorticoid resistance is a rare, sporadic or familial condition caused by mutation of the gene encoding the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). Clinically it is characterized by symptoms developed due to local, tissue-specific, or generalized partial insensitivity to glucocorticoids. CASE PRESENTATION: A 31-year-old woman was evaluated because of infertility at the Endocrine Unit of the 2nd Department of Medicine, Semmelweis University. During her laboratory investigations, elevated serum and salivary cortisol were observed which failed to be suppressed after administration of 1 mg dexamethasone. 24 h urinary cortisol was increased, but a normal midnight serum cortisol was detected suggesting a maintained circadian rhythm. Plasma dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate and androstendione levels were also elevated. Repeated plasma ACTH measurements indicated slightly elevated or normal values. Bone mineral density was normal. All laboratory results confirmed the diagnosis of glucocorticoid resistance. Genetic counseling followed by Sanger sequencing of the coding region of the gene encoding human glucocorticoid receptor was performed and a missense mutation (Arg714Gln, R714Q) in a heterozygous form was detected. Following family screening, the same mutation was found in her clinically-healthy 35-year-old sister who had no fertility problems.This variant was not detected in more than 60 patients and controls tested either for glucocorticoid resistance or Cushing's syndrome in our Laboratory and it was absent in Exome Variant Server, HumanGene Mutation Database and ExAC databases. CONCLUSIONS: Our case fulfils the diagnostic criteria of glucocorticoid resistance, also named Chrousos syndrome. The glucocorticoid receptor gene mutation detected in our patient has been already reported in a 2-year-old child with hypoglycaemia, hypokalaemia, hypertension and premature puberty. These distinct phenotypes may suggest that other factors may modify the functional consequences of the R714Q variant of GR

Project #37: Management Guidelines for Patients with COVID-19: Rapid Cycle Improvement

Project’s purpose is to rapidly devise, continually improve, educate, and implement a live and changing COVID-19 management guideline based upon emerging best available evidence. This project also aims to optimize the care of patients with COVID-19 and improve patient outcomes.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/qualityexpo2022/1004/thumbnail.jp

Effect of blood glucose level on standardized uptake value (SUV) in F-18- FDG PET-scan : a systematic review and meta-analysis of 20,807 individual SUV measurements

Objectives To evaluate the effect of pre-scan blood glucose levels (BGL) on standardized uptake value (SUV) in F-18-FDG-PET scan. Methods A literature review was performed in the MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane library databases. Multivariate regression analysis was performed on individual datum to investigate the correlation of BGL with SUVmax and SUVmean adjusting for sex, age, body mass index (BMI), diabetes mellitus diagnosis, F-18-FDG injected dose, and time interval. The ANOVA test was done to evaluate differences in SUVmax or SUVmean among five different BGL groups (200 mg/dl). Results Individual data for a total of 20,807 SUVmax and SUVmean measurements from 29 studies with 8380 patients was included in the analysis. Increased BGL is significantly correlated with decreased SUVmax and SUVmean in brain (p <0.001, p <0.001,) and muscle (p <0.001, p <0.001) and increased SUVmax and SUVmean in liver (p = 0.001, p = 0004) and blood pool (p=0.008, p200 mg/dl had significantly lower SUVmax. Conclusion If BGL is lower than 200mg/dl no interventions are needed for lowering BGL, unless the liver is the organ of interest. Future studies are needed to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of FDG-PET scan in diagnosis of malignant lesions in hyperglycemia.Peer reviewe

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular testing in the United States versus the rest of the world

Objectives: This study sought to quantify and compare the decline in volumes of cardiovascular procedures between the United States and non-US institutions during the early phase of the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the care of many non-COVID-19 illnesses. Reductions in diagnostic cardiovascular testing around the world have led to concerns over the implications of reduced testing for cardiovascular disease (CVD) morbidity and mortality. Methods: Data were submitted to the INCAPS-COVID (International Atomic Energy Agency Non-Invasive Cardiology Protocols Study of COVID-19), a multinational registry comprising 909 institutions in 108 countries (including 155 facilities in 40 U.S. states), assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on volumes of diagnostic cardiovascular procedures. Data were obtained for April 2020 and compared with volumes of baseline procedures from March 2019. We compared laboratory characteristics, practices, and procedure volumes between U.S. and non-U.S. facilities and between U.S. geographic regions and identified factors associated with volume reduction in the United States. Results: Reductions in the volumes of procedures in the United States were similar to those in non-U.S. facilities (68% vs. 63%, respectively; p = 0.237), although U.S. facilities reported greater reductions in invasive coronary angiography (69% vs. 53%, respectively; p < 0.001). Significantly more U.S. facilities reported increased use of telehealth and patient screening measures than non-U.S. facilities, such as temperature checks, symptom screenings, and COVID-19 testing. Reductions in volumes of procedures differed between U.S. regions, with larger declines observed in the Northeast (76%) and Midwest (74%) than in the South (62%) and West (44%). Prevalence of COVID-19, staff redeployments, outpatient centers, and urban centers were associated with greater reductions in volume in U.S. facilities in a multivariable analysis. Conclusions: We observed marked reductions in U.S. cardiovascular testing in the early phase of the pandemic and significant variability between U.S. regions. The association between reductions of volumes and COVID-19 prevalence in the United States highlighted the need for proactive efforts to maintain access to cardiovascular testing in areas most affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 infection