TRAP: using TaRgeted Ads to unveil Google personal Profiles

In the last decade, the advertisement market spread significantly in the web and mobile app system. Its effectiveness is also due thanks to the possibility to target the advertisement on the specific interests of the actual user, other than on the content of the website hosting the advertisement. In this scenario, became of great value services that collect and hence can provide information about the browsing user, like Facebook and Google. In this paper, we show how to maliciously exploit the Google Targeted Advertising system to infer personal information in Google user profiles. In particular, the attack we consider is external from Google and relies on combining data from Google AdWords with other data collected from a website of the Google Display Network. We validate the effectiveness of our proposed attack, also discussing possible application scenarios. The result of our research shows a significant practical privacy issue behind such type of targeted advertising service, and call for further investigation and the design of more privacy-aware solutions, possibly without impeding ?the current business model involved in online advertisement.

Erythropoietin and the heart: facts and perspectives.

EPO (erythropoietin) has long been identified as a primary regulator of erythropoiesis. Subsequently, EPO has been recognized as playing a role in a broad variety of processes in cardiovascular pathophysiology. In particular, the tight interactions of EPO with the nitric oxide pathway, apoptosis, ischaemia, cell proliferation and platelet activation appear of great interest. Although enhanced EPO synthesis is viewed as an appropriate compensatory mechanism in the cardio-renal syndrome, which features CHF (congestive heart failure) and CRF (chronic renal failure), maladaptative excessive EPO synthesis in the advanced stages of these diseases appears to be predictive of higher mortality. Clinical trials based on the use of EPO in both heart and renal failure have so far produced contradictory results, whereas treatment targeted to restore low Hb levels appears rational and is supported by regulatory authorities. New areas for therapeutic use of EPO, such as acute coronary syndromes, are under investigation, and they are discussed in the present review together with other clinical applications in cardiovascular diseases. The revisited concept of a potential use of endogenous EPO levels as a predictor of CHF severity, as well as in the monitoring of responses to treatment, deserves appropriate investigation, as this may identify EPO as a useful biomarker in the clinical management of cardiovascular diseases. © The Authors Journal compilation © 2011 Biochemical Society

Why Snoopy Loves Online Services: An Analysis of (Lack of) Privacy in Online Services

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Molecular and Clinical Links between Drug-Induced Cholestasis and Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis

Idiosyncratic Drug-Induced Liver Injury (iDILI) represents an actual health challenge, accounting for more than 40% of hepatitis cases in adults over 50 years and more than 50% of acute fulminant hepatic failure cases. In addition, approximately 30% of iDILI are cholestatic (drug-induced cholestasis (DIC)). The liver's metabolism and clearance of lipophilic drugs depend on their emission into the bile. Therefore, many medications cause cholestasis through their interaction with hepatic transporters. The main canalicular efflux transport proteins include: 1. the bile salt export pump (BSEP) protein (ABCB11); 2. the multidrug resistance protein-2 (MRP2, ABCC2) regulating the bile salts' independent flow by excretion of glutathione; 3. the multidrug resistance-1 protein (MDR1, ABCB1) that transports organic cations; 4. the multidrug resistance-3 protein (MDR3, ABCB4). Two of the most known proteins involved in bile acids' (BAs) metabolism and transport are BSEP and MDR3. BSEP inhibition by drugs leads to reduced BAs' secretion and their retention within hepatocytes, exiting in cholestasis, while mutations in the ABCB4 gene expose the biliary epithelium to the injurious detergent actions of BAs, thus increasing susceptibility to DIC. Herein, we review the leading molecular pathways behind the DIC, the links with the other clinical forms of familial intrahepatic cholestasis, and, finally, the main cholestasis-inducing drugs

Functional balance at rest of hemispheric homologs assessed via normalized compression distance

Introduction: The formation and functioning of neural networks hinge critically on the balance between structurally homologous areas in the hemispheres. This balance, reflecting their physiological relationship, is fundamental for learning processes. In our study, we explore this functional homology in the resting state, employing a complexity measure that accounts for the temporal patterns in neurodynamics. Methods: We used Normalized Compression Distance (NCD) to assess the similarity over time, neurodynamics, of the somatosensory areas associated with hand perception (S1). This assessment was conducted using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in conjunction with Functional Source Separation (FSS). Our primary hypothesis posited that neurodynamic similarity would be more pronounced within individual subjects than across different individuals. Additionally, we investigated whether this similarity is influenced by hemisphere or age at a population level. Results: Our findings validate the hypothesis, indicating that NCD is a robust tool for capturing balanced functional homology between hemispheric regions. Notably, we observed a higher degree of neurodynamic similarity in the population within the left hemisphere compared to the right. Also, we found that intra-subject functional homology displayed greater variability in older individuals than in younger ones. Discussion: Our approach could be instrumental in investigating chronic neurological conditions marked by imbalances in brain activity, such as depression, addiction, fatigue, and epilepsy. It holds potential for aiding in the development of new therapeutic strategies tailored to these complex conditions, though further research is needed to fully realize this potential

Can Bayesian Network empower propensity score estimation from Real World Data?

A new method, based on Bayesian Networks, to estimate propensity scores is proposed with the purpose to draw causal inference from real world data on the average treatment effect in case of a binary outcome and discrete covariates. The proposed method ensures maximum likelihood properties to the estimated propensity score, i.e. asymptotic efficiency, thus outperforming other available approach. Two point estimators via inverse probability weighting are then proposed, and their main distributional properties are derived for constructing confidence interval and for testing the hypotheses of absence of the treatment effect. Empirical evidence of the substantial improvements offered by the proposed methodology versus standard logistic modelling of propensity score is provided in simulation settings that mimic the characteristics of a real dataset of prostate cancer patients from Milan San Raffaele Hospital

A Laser Frequency Transverse Modulation Might Compensate for the Spectral Broadening Due to Large Electron Energy Spread in Thomson Sources

Compact laser plasma accelerators generate high-energy electron beams with increasing quality. When used in inverse Compton backscattering, however, the relatively large electron energy spread jeopardizes potential applications requiring small bandwidths. We present here a novel interaction scheme that allows us to compensate for the negative effects of the electron energy spread on the spectrum, by introducing a transverse spatial frequency modulation in the laser pulse. Such a laser chirp, together with a properly dispersed electron beam, can substantially reduce the broadening of the Compton bandwidth due to the electron energy spread. We show theoretical analysis and numerical simulations for hard X-ray Thomson sources based on laser plasma accelerators

Preliminary survey of the nutritional and palynological traits of honey bee-foraged pollen from Liguria (Italy)

It is known that the palynological features, and consequently the nutritional quality, of bee-foraged pollen vary according to several factors such as sampling site and period of year. In our two year study, carried out as part of the COLOSS CSI Pollen study between April and September in the eastern province of Genova (Italy), we explored the relationships between the palynological spectra and the protein content of corbicular pollen. We found that the differences are mainly driven by the collection season rather than by the site. This observation allowed us to employ the sample\u2019s palynological traits for the identification of foraging seasons characterized by different protein content in pollen. The outcome of our study provides a useful tool for beekeepers, helping them to cautiously program certain apiary management practices. This work also provides suggestions for future monitoring programs, regarding the advantages of studying the seasonal pattern not only of the floral origin of pollen but also of its nutritional traits

Normalized compression distance to measure cortico-muscular synchronization

The neuronal functional connectivity is a complex and non-stationary phenomenon creating dynamic networks synchronization determining the brain states and needed to produce tasks. Here, as a measure that quantifies the synchronization between the neuronal electrical activity of two brain regions, we used the normalized compression distance (NCD), which is the length of the compressed file constituted by the concatenated two signals, normalized by the length of the two compressed files including each single signal. To test the NCD sensitivity to physiological properties, we used NCD to measure the cortico-muscular synchronization, a well-known mechanism to control movements, in 15 healthy volunteers during a weak handgrip. Independently of NCD compressor (Huffman or Lempel Ziv), we found out that the resulting measure is sensitive to the dominant-non dominant asymmetry when novelty management is required (p = 0.011; p = 0.007, respectively) and depends on the level of novelty when moving the nondominant hand (p = 0.012; p = 0.024). Showing lower synchronization levels for less dexterous networks, NCD seems to be a measure able to enrich the estimate of functional two-node connectivity within the neuronal networks that control the body