Taming the Golden Goose: Private Companies, Consumer Geolocation Data, and the Need for a Class Action Regime for Privacy Protection

With the implementation of new geolocation technologies, the boundaries between private versus commercial and secret versus easily ascertainable have vanished. Consumer information that was once very difficult and prohibitively expensive to ascertain, catalogue, and recall is available to companies at the click of a button. Not only that, but the collecting company can share consumer information with other companies even more easily than it can initially collect the information. Today, with the widespread use of smartphone and location-enabled tablet devices, it is possible for location services to determine and plot the location and travel of the device and thereby the travel and habits of the owner. Companies can use the collected customer information to sell products, and they can sell the information to third parties for a variety of both benign and malicious purposes. Meanwhile, skilled hackers can steal consumer information. After analyzing the current legal landscape of consumer privacy law as it relates to geolocation services, this Note argues that US and global consumers need the United States to act. In order to foster trust in corporations and the market, Congress should enact a framework that assures consumers of sufficient protection of those details that consumers hold intrinsically private, such as their personal locations. This Note concludes by examining the bills currently under consideration by Congress and their respective deficiencies

A System Out of Breath: How Hypoxia Possibly Contributes to the Pathogenesis of Systemic Sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by vascular alterations and immunological disturbances and fibrosis, the order of which remains to be fully determined. Clinically, patients show clear signs of hypoxia in skin and internal organs. The low oxygen tension is potentially caused by a yet to be indentified circuitry involving the three features that typify SSc. In addition, once present, the hypoxia creates a vicious circle of ongoing pathology. In this paper, we provide an overview of the evidence that points towards the mechanisms causing hypoxia in SSc. In addition, data that suggest how hypoxia itself may orchestrate worsening of symptoms is presented. Altogether, it is clear that hypoxia is an important hallmark in SSc patients. By providing an overview of the mechanisms at play and the possible therapeutic avenues that have emerged, we hope to stimulate researchers to provide novel clues into the conundrum in SSc patients

Systematic review and meta-analysis of vancomycin-induced nephrotoxicity associated with dosing schedules that maintain troughs between 15 and 20 milligrams per liter

In an effort to maximize outcomes, recent expert guidelines recommend more-intensive vancomycin dosing schedules to maintain vancomycin troughs between 15 and 20 mg/liter.The widespread use of these more-intensive regimens has been associated with an increase in vancomycin-induced nephrotoxicity reports.The purpose of this systematic literature review is to determine the nephrotoxicity potential of maintaining higher troughs in clinical practice.All studies pertaining to vancomycin-induced nephrotoxicity between 1996 and April 2012 were identified from PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Controlled Trial Registry, and Medline databases and analyzed according to Cochrane guidelines.Of the initial 240 studies identified, 38 were reviewed, and 15 studies met the inclusion criteria.Overall, higher troughs ( >15 mg/liter) were associated with increased odds of nephrotoxicity (odds ratio [OR], 2.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.95 to 3.65) relative to lower troughs of >15 mg/liter.The relationship between a trough of >15 mg/liter and nephrotoxicity persisted when the analysis was restricted to studies that examined only initial trough concentrations (OR, 3.12; 95% CI, 1.81 to 5.37).The relationship between troughs of >15 mg/liter and nephrotoxicity persisted after adjustment for covariates known to independently increase the risk of a nephrotoxicity event.An incremental increase in nephrotoxicity was also observed with longer durations of vancomycin administration.Vancomycin-induced nephrotoxicity was reversible in the majority of cases, with short-term dialysis required only in 3% of nephrotoxic episodes.The collective literature indicates that an exposure-nephrotoxicity relationship for vancomycin exists.The probability of a nephrotoxic event increased as a function of the trough concentration and duration of therapy

Data availibility for the fisheries impact assessment of the FIMPAS project

The project Fisheries Measures in Protected Areas (FIMPAS) aims to introduce fisheries measures in the marine Natura 2000 sites within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Dutch part of the North Sea by the end of 2011. The FIMPAS project covers three such areas, the Dogger Bank and the Cleaver Bank (both to be designated for protection under the Habitats Directive) and the Frisian Front (to be designated for protection under the Birds Directive). These sites are beyond the Dutch 12 nm zone and several EU Member States fish within these areas. Therefore fisheries measures must be implemented through the Common Fisheries Policy. These marine protected areas, as well as the potential fisheries measures, are a consequence of the implementation of the European Birds and Habitats Directives and will be proposed to the European Commission by the Dutch government. The Dutch Ministry for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), together with Dutch environmental NGOs and the Dutch fishing industry, are cooperating within the FIMPAS project to develop the necessary fisheries measures to achieve the conservation objectives for the Dutch Natura 2000 sites of the North Sea. LNV has asked the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) to organize the necessary scientific processes and give advice on the desired fisheries measures involving the relevant stakeholders in this process

Invasive Amebiasis in Men Who Have Sex with Men, Australia

Entamoeba histolytica is a pathogenic ameba that has recently been recognized as an emerging pathogen in men who have sex with men (MSM) in Asia-Pacific countries where it is not endemic, i.e., Japan, Taiwan, and Republic of Korea. We report locally acquired invasive amebiasis in Sydney, Australia, exclusively in MSM

Gastrointestinal pathogen distribution in symptomatic children in Sydney, Australia

There is limited information on the causes of paediatric diarrhoea in Sydney. This cross-sectional study used clinical and microbiological data to describe the clinical features and pathogens associated with gastrointestinal illnesses for children presenting to two major public hospitals in Sydney with diarrhoea, for the period January 2007-December 2010.Of 825 children who tested positive for an enteric pathogen, 430 medical records were reviewed. Adenovirus, norovirus and rotavirus were identified in 20.8%, 20.3% and 21.6% of reviewed cases, respectively. Younger children were more likely to have adenovirus and norovirus compared with rotavirus (P=0.001). More viruses were detected in winter than in the other three seasons (P=0.001). Rotavirus presented a distinct seasonal pattern with the lowest rates occurring in the warm months and peaking in the cooler months. Adenovirus showed a less consistent monthly trend, and norovirus detection increased in the cooler months (P=0.008). A decline in the number of rotavirus cases was observed after mid-2008.The majority of childhood diarrhoeal illnesses leading to hospital presentations in Sydney are caused by enteric viruses with most infections following clear seasonal patterns. However, a sustained decrease in the incidence of rotavirus infections has been observed over the study period. © 2012 Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia

Epidemiology and geographical distribution of enteric protozoan infections in Sydney, Australia

© 2014 S. Fletcher et al., 2014. Results: Frequently detected protozoa were Blastocystis spp. (57%), Giardia intestinalis (27%) and Dientamoeba fragilis (12%). The age distribution showed that the prevalence of protozoa decreased with age up to 24 years but increasing with age from 25 years onwards. The geographic provenance of the patients indicates that the majority of cases of Blastocystis (53.1%) are clustered in and around the Sydney City Business District, while pockets of giardiasis were identified in regional/rural areas. The distribution of cases suggests higher risk of protozoan infection may exist for some communities.Conclusions: These findings provide useful information for policy makers to design and tailor interventions to target high risk communities Follow-up investigation into the risk factors for giardiasis in regional/rural areas is needed.Background: Enteric protozoa are associated with diarrhoeal illnesses in humans; however there are no recent studies on their epidemiology and geographical distribution in Australia. This study describes the epidemiology of enteric protozoa in the state of New South Wales and incorporates spatial analysis to describe their distribution.Design and methods: Laboratory and clinical records from four public hospitals in Sydney for 910 patients, who tested positive for enteric protozoa over the period January 2007 - December 2010, were identified, examined and analysed. We selected 580 cases which had residence post code data available, enabling us to examine the geographic distribution of patients, and reviewed the clinical data of 252 patients to examine possible links between protozoa, demographic and clinical features