Development of information security services for Finnish healthcare organizations

Terveydenhuollossa tietojen on pysyttävä luottamuksellisina ja yhtenäisinä mutta tarvittaessa niiden on oltava nopeastikin saatavilla. Tämän työn tarkoituksena on tutustua terveydenhuollon tietoturvan nykytilaan ja tulevaisuuden suuntauksiin. Näiden pohjalta arvioidaan, millaisia tarpeita terveydenhuollolla on tietoturvan suhteen ja miten Fujitsu voisi kaikkein parhaiten vastata näihin tarpeisiin ja kehittää omia tietoturvapalveluitaan. Tutkimuksessa perehdytään myös erään Fujitsun asiakkaan, suomalaisen sairaanhoitopiirin, tietoturvaratkaisuihin. Tavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi on tehty kirjallisuustutkimus, jossa on perehdytty muun muassa terveystietoja koskevaan lainsäädäntöön, KanTa-hankkeeseen ja tietoturvamenetelmiin, sekä haastateltu tietoturvan, terveydenhuollon ja myynnin asiantuntijoita terveydenhuollon tietoturvan nykytilasta ja tulevaisuuden näkymistä. Näiden tietojen pohjalta on esitetty ratkaisuehdotuksia siihen, miten Fujitsu voisi osaltaan parantaa terveydenhuollon tietoturvaa ylipäätään, sekä miten se voisi parantaa omia palveluita ja käytäntöjään. Ratkaisuina voisi olla esimerkiksi tiiviimpi yhteistyö terveydenhuollon organisaatioiden kanssa, tietoturvapalveluiden viimeistely ja hyötyjen taloudellinen korostaminen, organisaation oman tietoturvan kehitys sekä terveydenhuollon tietoturvan kokonaiskonseptin luominenIn healthcare information has to stay confidential and unchanged, but when needed it must be available in a short notice. The purpose of this study is to get familiar with the current and prospective state of information security in healthcare. Based on the findings, we define what kind of information security needs healthcare has, and how Fujitsu could best respond to these needs and develop its information security services. In this research we also take a look at the information security services of one hospital district which is a customer of Fujitsu. To reach the goals we have taken a literature research, during which we learned about legislation of health information, KanTa project and information security methods. We also interviewed specialists of information security, healthcare and sales about the current situation and future visions of healthcare information security. Based on these findings we presented solutions on how Fujitsu could enhance the information security of healthcare overall, and how it could develop its own services and practices. Solutions could be, for example, a tighter cooperation with healthcare organizations, finalizing of information security services, highlighting the financial benefits of information security, development of internal information security, and creation of healthcare information security concept

New insights into the chemical activation of lignins and tannins using K₂CO₃—a combined thermoanalytical and structural study

Engineering of activated carbons (ACs) through chemical activation of organic precursors has been extensively studied for a wide variety of biopolymers, biomasses, wastes and other fossil-based precursors. Despite huge efforts to engineer evermore performant and sustainable ACs, “searching-for-the-best-recipe” type of studies are more the rule than the exception in the published literature. Emerging AC applications related to energy and gas storage require strict control of the AC properties and a better understanding of the fundamentals underlying their engineering. In this study, we provide new insights into the K2CO3 chemical activation of plant-based polyphenols—lignins and tannins—through careful thermoanalytical and structural analyses. We showed for the the first time that the reactivity of polyphenols during K2CO3 chemical activation depends remarkably on their purity and structural properties, such as their content of inorganics, OH functionalities and average molecular weight. We also found that the burn-off level is proportional to the K2CO3/lignin impregnation ratio (IR), but only within a certain range—high impregnation ratios are not needed, unlike often reported in the literature. Furthermore, we showed for the first time that the K2CO3 chemical activation of different carbon surfaces from lignins and tannins can be modelled using simple global solid-state decomposition kinetics. The identified activation energies lay in the range of values reported for heterogenous gas-carbon surface gasification reactions (O2-C, H2O-C, or CO2-C) in which the decomposition of C(O) surface complexes is the common rate-limiting step.</p

Bacterial Genes Encoding Resistance Against Antibiotics and Metals in Well-Maintained Drinking Water Distribution Systems in Finland

Information on the co-occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and metal resistance genes (MRGs) among bacterial communities in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs) is scarce. This study characterized ARGs and MRGs in five well-maintained DWDSs in Finland. The studied DWDSs had different raw water sources and treatment methods. Two of the waterworks employed artificially recharged groundwater (ARGW) and used no disinfection in the treatment process. The other three waterworks (two surface and one groundwater source) used UV light and chlorine during the treatment process. Ten bulk water samples (two from each DWDS) were collected, and environmental DNA was extracted and then sequenced using the Illumina HiSeq platform for high-throughput shotgun metagenome sequencing. A total of 430 ARGs were characterized among all samples with the highest diversity of ARGs identified from samples collected from non-disinfected DWDSs. Furthermore, non-disinfected DWDSs contained the highest diversity of bacterial communities. However, samples from DWDSs using disinfectants contained over double the ratio of ARG reads to 16S rRNA gene reads and most of the MRG (namely mercury and arsenic resistance genes). The total reads and types of ARGs conferring genes associated with antibiotic groups namely multidrug resistance, and bacitracin, beta-lactam, and aminoglycoside and mercury resistance genes increased in waterworks treating surface water with disinfection. The findings of this study contribute toward a comprehensive understanding of ARGs and MRGs in DWDSs. The occurrence of bacteria carrying antibiotic or metal resistance genes in drinking water causes direct exposure to people, and thus, more systematic investigation is needed to decipher the potential effect of these resistomes on human health.Peer reviewe

A comparative analysis employing a gene- and genome-centric metagenomic approach reveals changes in composition, function, and activity in waterworks with different treatment processes and source water in Finland

The emergence and development of next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) has made the analysis of the water microbiome in drinking water distribution systems (DWDSs) more accessible and opened new perspectives in microbial ecology studies. The current study focused on the characterization of the water microbiome employing a gene- and genome-centric metagenomic approach to five waterworks in Finland with different raw water sources, treatment methods, and disinfectant. The microbial communities exhibit a distribution pattern of a few dominant taxa and a large representation of low-abundance bacterial species. Changes in the community structure may correspond to the presence or absence and type of disinfectant residual which indicates that these conditions exert selective pressure on the microbial community. The Archaea domain represented a small fraction (up to 2.5%) and seemed to be effectively controlled by the disinfection of water. Their role particularly in non-disinfected DWDS may be more important than previously considered. In general, non-disinfected DWDSs harbor higher microbial richness and maintaining disinfectant residual is significantly important for ensuring low microbial numbers and diversity. Metagenomic binning recovered 139 (138 bacterial and 1 archaeal) metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) that had a >50% completeness andPeer reviewe

Sote-palveluiden kehittämis- ja säästöpotentiaalin arviointi

Tämä selvitys on tehty valtioneuvoston selvitys- ja tutkimustoiminnan (VN TEAS) vuoden 2016 tutkimushankkeessa Sote-uudistuksen ja itsehallintoalueiden muodostamisen tukemista koskevat selvitykset. Selvitys liittyy käynnissä olevaan SOTE-uudistukseen, mutta SOTE-uudistuksen vaikutusarviointi on mahdollista vasta, kun lakimuutosten sisällöt ovat tarkentuneet. Raportissa on käyty osa-alueittain läpi mahdollisuuksia kehittää sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluita siten, että kustannuksia voidaan keventää, mutta säilyttää vähintään nykyisen tasoinen palveluvalikoima, palveluiden laatu ja vaikuttavuus. Analyyseissa käsitellään toimeksiannon rajauksista johtuen vain kuntien tällä hetkellä rahoittamia sosiaali- ja terveyspalveluita. Kehittämis- ja säästöanalyysin pohjana on käytetty pääosin nykyisten käytössä olevien parhaiden käytäntöjen hyödyntämismahdollisuuksia sekä tutkimus- ja selvitystietoa erilaisten interventioiden tai mekanismien vaikutuksista. Parhaiden käytäntöjen vaikutuksia on arvioitu numeerisesti, ja lisäksi osa-alueittain on kuvattu niitä mekanismeja, jotka vaikuttavat kustannusten kertymiseen. Kokonaisuutena tunnistettu säästöpotentiaali on yli 3 miljardia euroa suhteessa perusuran mukaiseen kasvuennusteeseen vuoteen 2029 mennessä

A lake-centric geospatial database to guide research and inform management decisions in an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska experiencing climate and land-use changes

Lakes are dominant and diverse landscape features in the Arctic, but conventional land cover classification schemes typically map them as a single uniform class. Here, we present a detailed lake-centric geospatial database for an Arctic watershed in northern Alaska. We developed a GIS dataset consisting of 4362 lakes that provides information on lake morphometry, hydrologic connectivity, surface area dynamics, surrounding terrestrial ecotypes, and other important conditions describing Arctic lakes. Analyzing the geospatial database relative to fish and bird survey data shows relations to lake depth and hydrologic connectivity, which are being used to guide research and aid in the management of aquatic resources in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Further development of similar geospatial databases is needed to better understand and plan for the impacts of ongoing climate and land-use changes occurring across lake-rich landscapes in the Arctic