A blinded evaluation of privacy preserving record linkage with Bloom filters

Background: Privacy preserving record linkage (PPRL) methods using Bloom filters have shown promise for use in operational linkage settings. However real-world evaluations are required to confirm their suitability in practice. Methods: An extract of records from the Western Australian (WA) Hospital Morbidity Data Collection 2011–2015 and WA Death Registrations 2011–2015 were encoded to Bloom filters, and then linked using privacy-preserving methods. Results were compared to a traditional, un-encoded linkage of the same datasets using the same blocking criteria to enable direct investigation of the comparison step. The encoded linkage was carried out in a blinded setting, where there was no access to un-encoded data or a ‘truth set’. Results: The PPRL method using Bloom filters provided similar linkage quality to the traditional un-encoded linkage, with 99.3% of ‘groupings’ identical between privacy preserving and clear-text linkage. Conclusion: The Bloom filter method appears suitable for use in situations where clear-text identifiers cannot be provided for linkage

Optical Properties of Heavily Fluorinated Lanthanide Tris beta-Diketonate Phosphine Oxide Adducts

The construction of lanthanide(III) chelates that exhibit superior photophysical properties holds great importance in biological and materials science. One strategy to increase the luminescence properties of lanthanide(III) chelates is to hinder competitive non-radiative decay processes through perfluorination of the chelating ligands. Here, the synthesis of two families of heavily fluorinated lanthanide(III) β-diketonate complexes bearing monodentate perfluorinated tris phenyl phosphine oxide ligands have been prepared through a facile one pot reaction [Ln(hfac)3{(ArF)3PO}(H2O)] and [Ln(F7-acac)3{(ArF)3PO}2] (where Ln = Sm3+, Eu3+, Tb3+, Er3+ and Yb3+). Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis in combination with photophysical studies have been performed to investigate the factors responsible for the differences in the luminescence lifetimes and intrinsic quantum yields of the complexes. Replacement of both bound H2O and C–H oscillators in the ligand backbone has a dramatic effect on the photophysical properties of the complexes, particularly for the near infra-red emitting ion Yb3+, where a five fold increase in luminescence lifetime and quantum yield is observed. The complexes [Sm(hfac)3{(ArF)3PO}(H2O)] (1), [Yb(hfac)3{(ArF)3PO}(H2O)] (5), [Sm(F7-acac)3{(ArF)3PO}2] (6) and [Yb(F7-acac)3{(ArF)3PO}2] (10) exhibit unusually long luminescence lifetimes and attractive intrinsic quantum yields of emission in fluid solution (ΦLn = 3.4% (1); 1.4% (10)) and in the solid state (ΦLn = 8.5% (1); 2.0% (5); 26% (6); 11% (10)), which are amongst the largest values for this class of compounds to date