Best Practices in Evolving Privacy Frameworks for Patient Age Data: Census Data Study.

Background: Over the previous 4 decennial censuses, the population of the United States has grown older, with the proportion of individuals aged at least 90 years old in the 2010 census being more than 2 and a half times what it was in the 1980 census. This suggests that the threshold for constraining age introduced in the Safe Harbor method of the HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) in 1996 may be increased without exceeding the original levels of risk. This is desirable to maintain or even increase the utility of affected data sets without compromising privacy.

Participation in patient support forums may put rare disease patient data at risk of re-identification.

Background: Rare disease patients often struggle to find both medical advice and emotional support for their diagnosis. Consequently, many rare disease patient support forums have appeared on hospital webpages, social media sites, and on rare disease foundation sites. However, we argue that engagement in these groups may pose a healthcare data privacy threat to many participants, since it makes a series of patient indirect identifiers 'readily available' in combination with rare disease conditions.

Identification of -β-d-Glucopyranosyl Azole-Type Inhibitors of Glycogen Phosphorylase That Reduce Glycogenolysis in Hepatocytes: Design, Synthesis, Kinetics, and Studies.

Several -β-d-glucopyranosyl azoles have recently been uncovered as among the most potent glycogen phosphorylase (GP) catalytic site inhibitors discovered to date. Toward further exploring their translational potential, experiments have been performed for their effectiveness in reduction of glycogenolysis in hepatocytes. New compounds for these experiments were predicted where, for the first time, effective ranking of GP catalytic site inhibitor potencies using the molecular mechanics-generalized Born surface area (MM-GBSA) method has been demonstrated.

A multidisciplinary study of 3-(β-d-glucopyranosyl)-5-substituted-1,2,4-triazole derivatives as glycogen phosphorylase inhibitors: Computation, synthesis, crystallography and kinetics reveal new potent inhibitors.

3-(β-d-Glucopyranosyl)-5-substituted-1,2,4-triazoles have been revealed as an effective scaffold for the development of potent glycogen phosphorylase (GP) inhibitors but with the potency very sensitive to the nature of the alkyl/aryl 5-substituent (Kun et al., Eur. J.

Plastic waste sacks alter the rate of decomposition of dismembered bodies within.

As a result of criminal activity, human bodies are sometimes dismembered and concealed within sealed, plastic waste sacks. Consequently, due to the inhibited ingress of insects and dismemberment, the rate of decomposition of the body parts within may be different to that of whole, exposed bodies. Correspondingly, once found, an estimation of the postmortem interval may be affected and lead to erroneous inferences.

The distribution of blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larval lengths and its implications for estimating post mortem intervals.

The length or stage of development of blow fly (Diptera: Calliphoridae) larvae may be used to estimate a minimum postmortem interval, often by targeting the largest individuals of a species in the belief that they will be the oldest. However, natural variation in rate of development, and therefore length, implies that the size of the largest larva, as well as the number of larvae longer than any stated length, will be greater for larger cohorts. Length data from the blow flies Protophormia terraenovae and Lucilia sericata were collected from one field-based and two laboratory-based experiments.

An evaluation of indirubin analogues as phosphorylase kinase inhibitors.

Phosphorylase kinase (PhK) has been linked with a number of conditions such as glycogen storage diseases, psoriasis, type 2 diabetes and more recently, cancer (Camus et al., 2012 [6]). However, with few reported structural studies on PhK inhibitors, this hinders a structure based drug design approach.

An Improved Equation for TBS and ADD: Establishing a Reliable Postmortem Interval Framework for Casework and Experimental Studies.

Megyesi et al.'s (J Forensic Sci, 2005, 50, 618) paper was important to forensic anthropology as it introduced a quantitative framework for estimating time since death in human cadavers, based upon physical appearance by way of scoring on a novel scale. However, errors concerning rounding, temperature scale, and incorrect use of a statistical regression model render their predictive formula unusable.

Decomposition Rate and Pattern in Hanging Pigs.

Accurate prediction of the postmortem interval requires an understanding of the decomposition process and the factors acting upon it. A controlled experiment, over 60 days at an outdoor site in the northwest of England, used 20 freshly killed pigs (Sus scrofa) as human analogues to study decomposition rate and pattern. Ten pigs were hung off the ground and ten placed on the surface.

The Effect of Clothing on the Rate of Decomposition and Diptera Colonization on Sus scrofa Carcasses.

Twenty Sus scrofa carcasses were used to study the effect the presence of clothing had on decomposition rate and colonization locations of Diptera species; 10 unclothed control carcasses were compared to 10 clothed experimental carcasses over 58 days. Data collection occurred at regular accumulated degree day intervals; the level of decomposition as Total Body Score (TBSsurf ), pattern of decomposition, and Diptera present was documented. Results indicated a statistically significant difference in the rate of decomposition, (t427  = 2.

National characteristics and variation in Arabic handwriting.

From each of four Arabic countries; Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan and Oman, 150 participants produced handwriting samples which were examined to assess whether national characteristics were discernible. Ten characters, which have different configurations depending upon their position in the word, along with one short word, were classified into distinguishable forms, and these forms recorded for each handwriting sample. Tests of independence showed that character forms used were not independent of country (p<0.

A preliminary examination of differential decomposition patterns in mass graves.

Five pairs of mass graves, each containing carcasses of 21 rabbits, were used to examine differential decomposition at four locations within the burial: surface, deep, mid-outer, and core. Every 100 accumulated degree days (ADD), a pair of graves was exhumed, and total body score (TBS) and internal carcass temperature of each rabbit were recorded. Decomposition did not differ for core- and deep-positioned carcasses (p = 0.

Quantifying the temperature of maggot masses and its relationship to decomposition.

Numerous Calliphoridae species have been observed to form larval aggregations during the feeding stage of development, resulting in localized increases in temperature. This study investigates the relationship between maggot numbers in a mass and heat generation. Single-species aggregations (Lucilia sericata) of various sizes (50-2500 individuals) were reared in the laboratory at a constant ambient temperature of 22°C.

Development of a multiplex system to assess DNA persistence in taphonomic studies.

In this study, we have developed a PCR multiplex that can be used to assess DNA degradation and at the same time monitor for inhibition: primers have been designed to amplify human, pig, and rabbit DNA, allowing pig and rabbit to be used as experimental models for taphonomic research, but also enabling studies on human DNA persistence in forensic evidence. Internal amplified controls have been added to monitor for inhibition, allowing the effects of degradation and inhibition to be differentiated. Sequence data for single-copy nuclear recombination activation gene (RAG-1) from human, pig, and rabbit were aligned to identify conserved regions and primers were designed that targeted amplicons of 70, 194, 305, and 384 bp.

N-alkylated 2,3,3-trimethylindolenines and 2-methylbenzothiazoles. Potential lead compounds in the fight against Saccharomyces cerevisiae infections.

The synthesis of a variety of N-alkylated 2,3,3-trimethylindolenines and 2-methylbenzothiazoles is reported herein. Their potential as antifungal agents is evaluated by preliminary screening against Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae), Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S.

The formation of early stage adipocere in submerged remains: a preliminary experimental study.

In some circumstances, the presence of adipocere may retard decomposition and complicate postmortem interval estimation. This article explores the correlation between Accumulated Degree Days (ADD) and early stage formation of adipocere. Sixty wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) carcasses were used in this experiment; a control group (N = 30) deposited directly on the ground surface and an experimental group (N = 30) completely submersed in water in individual buckets.

The decomposition of rabbit carcasses and associated necrophagous Diptera in Kuwait.

Rabbit carcasses were used to compare rates of decomposition and associated assemblages of Diptera at four discernable habitat types in Kuwait; a country of a region with a paucity of such reference data. Carcasses in an urban habitat showed faster decomposition (as measured by percentage weight loss) than in agricultural, coastal or desert habitats, even with accumulated degree days (ADD) as the explanatory variable (t=2.73, df=34, p=0.

Differential decomposition patterns in charred versus un-charred remains.

Although researchers have examined many aspects of fire modification, the rate and pattern of decomposition in charred remains have not been studied previously. This study utilized 48 domestic pigs, divided into 24 charred (head, neck, and limbs burned to Crow-Glassman level 1 and torso to level 2) and 24 un-charred pig carcasses. Decomposition of control carcasses was scored at 50 accumulated degree days (ADD) intervals, and charred carcasses were also observed and photographed at this time.

The influence of insects on decomposition rate in buried and surface remains.

This article reports results of a comparative study of decomposition rates of wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) which were either (i) buried after exposure to insect activity, (ii) buried without exposure, (iii) kept above ground behind an insect screen, or (iv) continuously exposed above ground in a field experiment. Results showed that dipteran oviposition occurred consistently in groups i and iv only. Decomposition rates (measured by Total Body Score every c.

Predicting the postmortem submersion interval for human remains recovered from U.K. waterways.

This article aims to increase accuracy in estimating the postmortem submersion interval (PMSI) for bodies recovered from rivers in the United Kingdom. Data were collected from closed case files, crime scene reports, and autopsy files concerning bodies recovered over a 15-year period from the River Clyde, Scotland, and the River Mersey and canals in northwest England. One hundred and eighty-seven cases met the study criteria and were scored by quantifying the overall amount of decomposition observed in each case.

Debugging decomposition data--comparative taphonomic studies and the influence of insects and carcass size on decomposition rate.

Comparison of data from a variety of environments and ambient temperatures has previously been difficult as few studies used standardized measures of time/temperature and decomposition. In this paper, data from previous studies and recent experiments are compared using simple conversions. These conversions allow comparison across multiple environments and experiments for the first time.