Duopoly insurers' incentives for data quality under a mandatory cyber data sharing regime

We study the impact of data sharing policies on cyber insurance markets. These policies have been proposed to address the scarcity of data about cyber threats, which is essential to manage cyber risks. We propose a Cournot duopoly competition model in which two insurers choose the number of policies they offer (i.e., their production level) and also the resources they invest to ensure the quality of data regarding the cost of claims (i.e., the data quality of their production cost). We find that enacting mandatory data sharing sometimes creates situations in which at most one of the two insurers invests in data quality, whereas both insurers would invest when information sharing is not mandatory. This raises concerns about the merits of making data sharing mandatory.Comment: 46 pages, 8 figures, to be published at Computers & Securit

ANKLE MUSCLE STRENGTH AND ACHILLES TENDON PROPERTIES IN RUNNERS WITH DIFFERENT SPEED DEPENDENT STRIKE PATTERNS

The purpose of this study was to investigate ankle muscle strength and Achilles tendon anthropometrics of heel-strikers who a) do not switch or b) do switch their strike pattern towards a forefoot-strike when increasing running velocity. Differences were primarily found in the capacity to develop plantarflexion strength. This indicates that the two groups differ - next to kinematic aspects - in muscular characteristics of the plantarflexors, which could be influenced by Achilles tendon properties

The inflammation in the cytopathology of patients with mucopolysaccharidoses : immunomodulatory drugs as an approach to therapy

Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) are a group of lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs), characterized by the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). GAG storageinduced inflammatory processes are a driver of cytopathology in MPS and pharmacological immunomodulation can bring improvements in brain, cartilage and bone pathology in rodent models. This manuscript reviews current knowledge with regard to inflammation in MPS patients and provides hypotheses for the therapeutic use of immunomodulators in MPS. Thus, we aim to set the foundation for a rational repurposing of the discussed molecules to minimize the clinical unmet needs still remaining despite enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT)

Stärkung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der ökologischen Ferkelerzeugung in Bayern - ein interdisziplinäres Projekt

Die Wettbewerbsfähigkeit der für Süddeutschland typischen, bäuerlichen Ferkelerzeugung ist im ökologischen Landbau bisher gering. Dadurch besteht ein Umstellungshemmnis, das die weitere Entwicklung der Schweinhaltung im Ökolandbau behindert. Das vorgestellte interdisziplinäre Projekt soll mithilfe einer engen Zusammenarbeit von Forschung, Beratung und Praxis einen wesentlichen Beitrag zur Verbesserung der Produktionsbedingungen liefern. Ziel ist es, Grundlagen für eine Erhöhung von Leistung und Wertschöpfung in der ökologischen Ferkelerzeugung zu erarbeiten. Dies geschieht durch eine Verbesserung des Stands des Wissens über geeignete Haltungsverfahren, Stallbaulösungen, Arbeitsorganisation, Prozessqualität und Betriebswirtschaft. An dem Projekt sind sieben Arbeitsgruppen und elf Praxisbetriebe beteiligt. Das Projekt startete im Juli 2008 und wird voraussichtlich Ende 2010 abgeschlossen werden

Disseminated cancer cells detected by immunocytology in lymph nodes of NSCLC patients are highly prognostic and undergo parallel molecular evolution

In melanoma, immunocytology (IC) after sentinel lymph node disaggregation not only enables better quantification of disseminated cancer cells (DCCs) than routine histopathology (HP) but also provides a unique opportunity to detect, isolate, and analyse these earliest harbingers of metachronous metastasis. Here, we explored lymph node IC in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). For 122 NSCLC patients, 220 lymph nodes (LNs) were split in half and prepared for IC and HP. When both methods were compared, IC identified 22% positive patients as opposed to 4.5% by HP, revealing a much higher sensitivity of IC (p < 0.001). Assessment of all available 2,952 LNs of the same patients by HP uncovered additional patients escaping detection of lymphatic tumour spread by IC alone, consistent with the concept of skip metastasis. A combined lymph node status of IC and complete HP on a larger cohort of patients outperformed all risk factors in multivariable analysis for prognosis (p < 0.001; RR = 2.290; CI 1.407–3.728). Moreover, isolation of DCCs and single-cell molecular characterization revealed that (1) LN-DCCs differ from primary tumours in terms of copy number alterations and selected mutations and (2) critical alterations are acquired during colony formation within LNs. We conclude that LN-IC in NSCLC patients when combined with HP improves diagnostic precision, has the potential to reduce total workload, and facilitates molecular characterization of lymphatically spread cancer cells, which may become key for the selection and development of novel systemic therapies. © 2022 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

DATA QUALITY CONSEQUENCES OF MANDATORY CYBER DATA SHARING BETWEEN DUOPOLY INSURERS

Cyber attacks against companies are becoming more common as technology advances and digitalization is increasing exponentially. All Swedish insurance companies that sell cyber insurance encounter the same problem, there is not enough data to do good actuarial work. In order for the pricing procedure to improve and general knowledge of cyber insurance to increase, it has been proposed that insurance companies should share their data with each other. The goal of the thesis is to do mathematical calculations to explore data quality consequences of such a sharing regime. This thesis is based on some important assumptions and three scenarios. The most important assumptions are that there are two insurance companies forced to share all their data with each other and that they can reduce the uncertainty about their own product by investing in better data quality. In the first scenario, we assume a game between two players where they can choose how much to invest in reducing the uncertainty. In the second scenario, we assume that there is not a game, but the two insurance companies are forced to equal investments and thus have the same knowledge of their products. In the third scenario, we assume that the players are risk averse, that is, they are not willing to take high risk. The results will show how much, if any, the insurance companies should invest in the different scenarios to maximize their profits (if risk neutral) or utility (if risk averse). The results of this thesis show that in the first and second scenario, the optimal profit is reached when the insurance companies do not invest anything. In the third scenario though, the optimal investment is greater than zero, given that the companies are enough risk averse

DATA QUALITY CONSEQUENCES OF MANDATORY CYBER DATA SHARING BETWEEN DUOPOLY INSURERS

Cyber attacks against companies are becoming more common as technology advances and digitalization is increasing exponentially. All Swedish insurance companies that sell cyber insurance encounter the same problem, there is not enough data to do good actuarial work. In order for the pricing procedure to improve and general knowledge of cyber insurance to increase, it has been proposed that insurance companies should share their data with each other. The goal of the thesis is to do mathematical calculations to explore data quality consequences of such a sharing regime. This thesis is based on some important assumptions and three scenarios. The most important assumptions are that there are two insurance companies forced to share all their data with each other and that they can reduce the uncertainty about their own product by investing in better data quality. In the first scenario, we assume a game between two players where they can choose how much to invest in reducing the uncertainty. In the second scenario, we assume that there is not a game, but the two insurance companies are forced to equal investments and thus have the same knowledge of their products. In the third scenario, we assume that the players are risk averse, that is, they are not willing to take high risk. The results will show how much, if any, the insurance companies should invest in the different scenarios to maximize their profits (if risk neutral) or utility (if risk averse). The results of this thesis show that in the first and second scenario, the optimal profit is reached when the insurance companies do not invest anything. In the third scenario though, the optimal investment is greater than zero, given that the companies are enough risk averse

Motion corrected silent ZTE neuroimaging

Purpose: To develop self-navigated motion correction for 3D silent zero echo time (ZTE) based neuroimaging and characterize its performance for different types of head motion. Methods: The proposed method termed MERLIN (Motion Estimation & Retrospective correction Leveraging Interleaved Navigators) achieves self-navigation by using interleaved 3D phyllotaxis k-space sampling. Low resolution navigator images are reconstructed continuously throughout the ZTE acquisition using a sliding window and co-registered in image space relative to a fixed reference position. Rigid body motion corrections are then applied retrospectively to the k-space trajectory and raw data and reconstructed into a final, high-resolution ZTE image. Results: MERLIN demonstrated successful and consistent motion correction for magnetization prepared ZTE images for a range of different instructed motion paradigms. The acoustic noise response of the self-navigated phyllotaxis trajectory was found to be only slightly above ambient noise levels (<4 dBA). Conclusion: Silent ZTE imaging combined with MERLIN addresses two major challenges intrinsic to MRI (i.e., subject motion and acoustic noise) in a synergistic and integrated manner without increase in scan time and thereby forms a versatile and powerful framework for clinical and research MR neuroimaging applications