Generative Fingerprint Augmentation against Membership Inference Attacks

openThis thesis aspires to provide a privacy protection mechanism for neural networks concerning fingerprints. Biometric identifiers, especially fingerprints, have become crucial in the last several years, from banking operations to daily smartphone usage. Using generative adversarial networks (GANs), we train models specialized in compressing and decompressing (Codecs) images in order to augment the data these models used during the learning process to provide additional privacy preservation over the identity of the fingerprints found in such datasets. We test and analyze our framework with custom membership inference attacks (MIA) to assess the quality of our defensive mechanism.This thesis aspires to provide a privacy protection mechanism for neural networks concerning fingerprints. Biometric identifiers, especially fingerprints, have become crucial in the last several years, from banking operations to daily smartphone usage. Using generative adversarial networks (GANs), we train models specialized in compressing and decompressing (Codecs) images in order to augment the data these models used during the learning process to provide additional privacy preservation over the identity of the fingerprints found in such datasets. We test and analyze our framework with custom membership inference attacks (MIA) to assess the quality of our defensive mechanism

IER-START nomogram for prediction of three-month unfavorable outcome after thrombectomy for stroke

BACKGROUND: The applicability of the current models for predicting functional outcome after thrombectomy in strokes with large vessel occlusion (LVO) is affected by a moderate predictive performance. AIMS: We aimed to develop and validate a nomogram with pre- and post-treatment factors for prediction of the probability of unfavorable outcome in patients with anterior and posterior LVO who received bridging therapy or direct thrombectomy <6 h of stroke onset. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study on patients data collected prospectively in the Italian Endovascular Registry (IER). Unfavorable outcome was defined as three-month modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score 3-6. Six predictors, including NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score, age, pre-stroke mRS score, bridging therapy or direct thrombectomy, grade of recanalization according to the thrombolysis in cerebral ischemia (TICI) grading system, and onset-to-end procedure time were identified a priori by three stroke experts. To generate the IER-START, the pre-established predictors were entered into a logistic regression model. The discriminative performance of the model was assessed by using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC). RESULTS: A total of 1802 patients with complete data for generating the IER-START was randomly dichotomized into training ( n = 1219) and test ( n = 583) sets. The AUC-ROC of IER-START was 0.838 (95% confidence interval [CI]): 0.816-0.869) in the training set, and 0.820 (95% CI: 0.786-0.854) in the test set. CONCLUSIONS: The IER-START nomogram is the first prognostic model developed and validated in the largest population of stroke patients currently candidates to thrombectomy which reliably calculates the probability of three-month unfavorable outcome