A Privacy Preserving Framework for RFID Based Healthcare Systems

RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) is anticipated to be a core technology that will be used in many practical applications of our life in near future. It has received considerable attention within the healthcare for almost a decade now. The technology’s promise to efficiently track hospital supplies, medical equipment, medications and patients is an attractive proposition to the healthcare industry. However, the prospect of wide spread use of RFID tags in the healthcare area has also triggered discussions regarding privacy, particularly because RFID data in transit may easily be intercepted and can be send to track its user (owner). In a nutshell, this technology has not really seen its true potential in healthcare industry since privacy concerns raised by the tag bearers are not properly addressed by existing identification techniques. There are two major types of privacy preservation techniques that are required in an RFID based healthcare system—(1) a privacy preserving authentication protocol is required while sensing RFID tags for different identification and monitoring purposes, and (2) a privacy preserving access control mechanism is required to restrict unauthorized access of private information while providing healthcare services using the tag ID. In this paper, we propose a framework (PriSens-HSAC) that makes an effort to address the above mentioned two privacy issues. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first framework to provide increased privacy in RFID based healthcare systems, using RFID authentication along with access control technique

Effects of brand awareness, religious belief, and brand trust on purchase intentions of halal products among young consumers

Halal brands are gaining popularity among Muslim consumers across the world. This study aims to explore the effect of brand awareness, religious belief, and brand trust on young Muslim consumers’ willingness to purchase halal-branded products. The electronic questionnaires were distributed to participants through Google Forms via a popular social media platform. The survey sample consisted of university students from Bangladesh who identified as Muslims. The paper utilized a purposive sampling technique to select participants for the study, resulting in a total of 517 respondents being included in the sample. Finally, 479 responses were found usable for this study, with a response rate of 92.70%. Among 479, 300 participants were male, while 179 students were female university students. The latest edition of the software SPSS has been employed to examine hypotheses and correlations, with a confidence level of 95%. The results showed a significant impact of brand awareness, religious belief, and brand trust on purchase willingness. Moreover, it indicates that consumers’ brand awareness about halal products (β = 0.392) has a greater effect on their purchase willingness. These findings have the potential to provide valuable insights for halal brands, as they can have a substantial impact on the purchasing choices of young Muslim consumers, particularly regarding their religious and halal concerns

Description of patients who died within 30 days of surgery.

Description of patients who died within 30 days of surgery.</p

Surgical procedures categorized by CPT coding.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the surgical practice throughout the world, including elective surgical care. This study investigated the characteristics of patients undergoing elective surgery, the prevalence of COVID-19 infection, the surgical procedures performed, and 30-day mortality in general and pediatric surgical settings in selected tertiary-level hospitals in Bangladesh from November 2020 to August 2021.MethodsThis serial cross-sectional study included 264 patients scheduled for elective surgeries during the study period. All patients underwent COVID-19 real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing within 24 hours before surgery. Data on age, sex, common comorbidities, surgical procedures, and 30-day mortality were collected and analyzed. Furthermore, comparisons were made between COVID-19 positive and negative patients.ResultsThe prevalence of COVID-19 infection among patients was 10.6%. Older age, a history of major surgery within the last three months, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus were significantly associated with COVID-19 infection. All COVID-19-negative patients underwent surgery, while only 46.4% of COVID-19-positive patients underwent surgery. The most common surgical procedures were related to the digestive system, breast, and urinary system. Only one patient (0.4%) died within 30 days after surgery among the COVID-19-negative patients, whereas two patients (7.1%) died among the COVID-19-positive patients: one before surgery and one after surgery.ConclusionsThis study provides valuable insights into the characteristics, burden of COVID-19 infection, and 30-day mortality of patients undergoing elective surgery in tertiary care centers in Bangladesh during the pandemic.</div