Statistical Analysis of Abilities to Give Consent to Health Data Processing

The recent pandemic crisis has highlighted the importance of the availability and management of health data to respond quickly and effectively to health emergencies, while respecting the fundamental rights of every individual. In this context, it is essential to find a balance between the protection of privacy and the safeguarding of public health, using tools that guarantee transparency and consent to the processing of data by the population. This work, starting from a pilot investigation conducted in the Polyclinic of Bari as part of the Horizon Europe Seeds project entitled “Multidisciplinary analysis of technological tracing models of contagion: the protection of rights in the management of health data”, has the objective of promoting greater patient awareness regarding the processing of their health data and the protection of privacy. The methodology used the PHICAT (Personal Health Information Competence Assessment Tool) as a tool and, through the administration of a questionnaire, the aim was to evaluate the patients’ ability to express their consent to the release and processing of health data. The results that emerged were analyzed in relation to the 4 domains in which the process is divided which allows evaluating the patients’ ability to express a conscious choice and, also, in relation to the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients themselves. This study can contribute to understanding patients’ ability to give their consent and improve information regarding the management of health data by increasing confidence in granting the use of their data for research and clinical management.

Dynamic Multi-Layer Perceptron for Fetal Health Classification Using Cardiotocography Data

Fetal health care is vital in ensuring the health of pregnant women and the fetus.Regular check-ups need to be taken by the mother to determine the status of the fetus’growth and identify any potential problems.To know the status of the fetus,doctors monitor blood reports,Ultrasounds,cardiotocography(CTG)data,etc.Still,in this research,we have considered CTG data,which provides information on heart rate and uterine contractions during pregnancy.Several researchers have proposed various methods for classifying the status of fetus growth.Manual processing of CTG data is time-consuming and unreliable.So,automated tools should be used to classify fetal health.This study proposes a novel neural network-based architecture,the Dynamic Multi-Layer Perceptron model,evaluated from a single layer to several layers to classify fetal health.Various strategies were applied,including pre-processing data using techniques like Balancing,Scaling,Normalization hyperparameter tuning,batch normalization,early stopping,etc.,to enhance the model’s performance.A comparative analysis of the proposed method is done against the traditional machine learning models to showcase its accuracy(97%).An ablation study without any pre-processing techniques is also illustrated.This study easily provides valuable interpretations for healthcare professionals in the decision-making process.

Investigation and Analysis of Lung Cancer Risk Factors in the Health Check-Up Population

Objective: To investigate and analyze the risk factors of lung cancer in the population of health checkups. Methods: A total of 500 cases of the health check-up population were selected for data study. Surveyed showed that 19 cases of lung cancer were grouped as the lung cancer group and the remaining 481 cases made up the control group, and the risk factors were analyzed. Results: Among men, there was a significant proportion of individuals aged 60-69 years old, and women aged 30-39 years old. Additionally, individuals aged 60 and above were at increased risk of developing lung cancer. The results of the multifactorial analysis were that the risk factors affecting the detection of lung cancer in healthy people were smoking history, family history of lung cancer, secondhand smoke, history of respiratory diseases, psychosomatic factors, living environment, and kitchen fumes. Conclusion: People over 60 years of age were prone to early lung cancer, followed by individuals aged 30-39 years. It is important to identify the risk factors of lung cancer to strengthen the screening of high-risk groups for early detection and treatment.

Analysis of the Prevalence Characteristics of Lung Nodules and Their Influencing Factors in The Health Check-Up Population

Objective: To study the prevalence characteristics of pulmonary nodules and their influencing factors in the health check-up population. Methods: A total of 500 cases of health checkups were selected for the data study to analyze the detection and prevalence characteristics of pulmonary nodules. The influencing factors between the pulmonary nodules group and the no pulmonary nodules group were analyzed. Results: A total of 209 cases were detected, of which there were more males than females, and for female patients, the detection rate increased with age (P < 0.05). The distribution of gender, age, smoking, respiratory symptoms, and exposure to kitchen fumes between the two groups was compared (P < 0.05). The multifactorial analysis concluded that risk factors include, respiratory symptoms, older age, exposure to kitchen fumes, and smoking. In addition, patients who exercised more had a lower risk of developing lung nodules. Conclusion: The detection rate of pulmonary nodules was high in the health check-up population and the influencing factors analyzed involved the presence of respiratory symptoms, older age, kitchen fume exposure, and smoking, while the positive influencing factor was increased exercise.

Opportunities and Challenges of College Mental Health Education from the Perspective of Big Data

This paper explores the opportunities and challenges of college mental health education from the perspective of big data.Firstly,through literature review,the importance of mental health education and the current issues are elucidated.Then,from the perspective of big data,the potential opportunities of big data in college mental health education are analyzed,including data-driven personalized education,real-time monitoring and warning systems,and interdisciplinary research and collaboration.At the same time,the challenges faced by college mental health education under the perspective of big data are also pointed out,such as data privacy and security issues,insufficient data analysis and interpretation capabilities,and inadequate technical facilities and talent support.Lastly,the research content of this paper is summarized,and directions and suggestions for future research are proposed.

Challenges and opportunities for battery health estimation:Bridging laboratory research and real-world applications

Addressing climate change demands a significant shift away from fossil fuels,with sectors like electricity and transportation relying heavily on renewable energy.Integral to this transition are energy storage systems,notably lithium-ion batteries.Over time,these batteries degrade,affecting their efficiency and posing safety risks.Monitoring and predicting battery aging is essential,especially estimating its state of health(SOH).Various SOH estimation methods exist,from traditional model-based approaches to machine learning approaches.

Health Data Availability Protection:Delta-XOR-Relay Data Update in Erasure-Coded Cloud Storage Systems

To achieve the high availability of health data in erasure-coded cloud storage systems,the data update performance in erasure coding should be continuously optimized.However,the data update performance is often bottlenecked by the constrained cross-rack bandwidth.Various techniques have been proposed in the literature to improve network bandwidth efficiency,including delta transmission,relay,and batch update.These techniques were largely proposed individually previously,and in this work,we seek to use them jointly.To mitigate the cross-rack update traffic,we propose DXR-DU which builds on four valuable techniques:(i)delta transmission,(ii)XOR-based data update,(iii)relay,and(iv)batch update.Meanwhile,we offer two selective update approaches:1)data-deltabased update,and 2)parity-delta-based update.The proposed DXR-DU is evaluated via trace-driven local testbed experiments.Comprehensive experiments show that DXR-DU can significantly improve data update throughput while mitigating the cross-rack update traffic.

Towards Cache-Assisted Hierarchical Detection for Real-Time Health Data Monitoring in IoHT

Real-time health data monitoring is pivotal for bolstering road services’safety,intelligence,and efficiency within the Internet of Health Things(IoHT)framework.Yet,delays in data retrieval can markedly hinder the efficacy of big data awareness detection systems.We advocate for a collaborative caching approach involving edge devices and cloud networks to combat this.This strategy is devised to streamline the data retrieval path,subsequently diminishing network strain.Crafting an adept cache processing scheme poses its own set of challenges,especially given the transient nature of monitoring data and the imperative for swift data transmission,intertwined with resource allocation tactics.This paper unveils a novel mobile healthcare solution that harnesses the power of our collaborative caching approach,facilitating nuanced health monitoring via edge devices.The system capitalizes on cloud computing for intricate health data analytics,especially in pinpointing health anomalies.Given the dynamic locational shifts and possible connection disruptions,we have architected a hierarchical detection system,particularly during crises.This system caches data efficiently and incorporates a detection utility to assess data freshness and potential lag in response times.Furthermore,we introduce the Cache-Assisted Real-Time Detection(CARD)model,crafted to optimize utility.Addressing the inherent complexity of the NP-hard CARD model,we have championed a greedy algorithm as a solution.Simulations reveal that our collaborative caching technique markedly elevates the Cache Hit Ratio(CHR)and data freshness,outshining its contemporaneous benchmark algorithms.The empirical results underscore the strength and efficiency of our innovative IoHT-based health monitoring solution.To encapsulate,this paper tackles the nuances of real-time health data monitoring in the IoHT landscape,presenting a joint edge-cloud caching strategy paired with a hierarchical detection system.Our methodology yields enhanced cache efficiency and data freshness.The corroborative numerical data accentuates the feasibility and relevance of our model,casting a beacon for the future trajectory of real-time health data monitoring systems.

Health Data Deduplication Using Window Chunking-Signature Encryption in Cloud

Due to the development of technology in medicine,millions of health-related data such as scanning the images are generated.It is a great challenge to store the data and handle a massive volume of data.Healthcare data is stored in the cloud-fog storage environments.This cloud-Fog based health model allows the users to get health-related data from different sources,and duplicated informa-tion is also available in the background.Therefore,it requires an additional sto-rage area,increase in data acquisition time,and insecure data replication in the environment.This paper is proposed to eliminate the de-duplication data using a window size chunking algorithm with a biased sampling-based bloomfilter and provide the health data security using the Advanced Signature-Based Encryp-tion(ASE)algorithm in the Fog-Cloud Environment(WCA-BF+ASE).This WCA-BF+ASE eliminates the duplicate copy of the data and minimizes its sto-rage space and maintenance cost.The data is also stored in an efficient and in a highly secured manner.The security level in the cloud storage environment Win-dows Chunking Algorithm(WSCA)has got 86.5%,two thresholds two divisors(TTTD)80%,Ordinal in Python(ORD)84.4%,Boom Filter(BF)82%,and the proposed work has got better security storage of 97%.And also,after applying the de-duplication process,the proposed method WCA-BF+ASE has required only less storage space for variousfile sizes of 10 KB for 200,400 MB has taken only 22 KB,and 600 MB has required 35 KB,800 MB has consumed only 38 KB,1000 MB has taken 40 KB of storage spaces.

Stand-Alone Patient Reception and Referral System with Health Data Management

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed vulnerabilities within our healthcare structures. Healthcare facilities are often faced with staff shortages and work overloads, which can have an impact on the collection of health data and constants essential for early diagnosis. In order to minimize the risk of error and optimize data collection, we have developed a robot incorporating artificial intelligence. This robot has been designed to automate and collect health data and constants in a contactless way, while at the same time verifying the conditions for correct measurements, such as the absence of hats and shoes. Furthermore, this health information needs to be transmitted to services for processing. Thus, this article addresses the aspect of reception and collection of health data and constants through various modules: for taking height, temperature and weight, as well as the module for entering patient identification data. The article also deals with orientation, presenting a module for selecting the patient’s destination department. This data is then routed via a wireless network and an application integrated into the doctors’ tablets. This application will enable efficient queue management by classifying patients according to their order of arrival. The system’s infrastructure is easily deployable, taking advantage of the healthcare facility’s local wireless network, and includes encryption mechanisms to reinforce the security of data circulating over the network. In short, this innovative system will offer an autonomous, contactless method for collecting vital constants such as size, mass, and temperature. What’s more, it will facilitate the flow of data, including identification information, across a network, simplifying the implementation of this solution within healthcare facilities.

Fatigue Safety Assessment of Concrete Continuous Rigid Frame Bridge Based on Rain Flow Counting Method and Health Monitoring Data

The fatigue of concrete structures will gradually appear after being subjected to alternating loads for a long time,and the accidents caused by fatigue failure of bridge structures also appear from time to time.Aiming at the problem of degradation of long-span continuous rigid frame bridges due to fatigue and environmental effects,this paper suggests a method to analyze the fatigue degradation mechanism of this type of bridge,which combines long-term in-site monitoring data collected by the health monitoring system(HMS)and fatigue theory.In the paper,the authors mainly carry out the research work in the following aspects:First of all,a long-span continuous rigid frame bridge installed with HMS is used as an example,and a large amount of health monitoring data have been acquired,which can provide efficient information for fatigue in terms of equivalent stress range and cumulative number of stress cycles;next,for calculating the cumulative fatigue damage of the bridge structure,fatigue stress spectrum got by rain flow counting method,S-N curves and damage criteria are used for fatigue damage analysis.Moreover,it was considered a linear accumulation damage through the Palmgren-Miner rule for the counting of stress cycles.The health monitoring data are adopted to obtain fatigue stress data and the rain flow counting method is used to count the amplitude varying fatigue stress.The proposed fatigue reliability approach in the paper can estimate the fatigue damage degree and its evolution law of bridge structures well,and also can help bridge engineers do the assessment of future service duration.

The State of the Art of Data Science and Engineering in Structural Health Monitoring

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a multi-discipline field that involves the automatic sensing of structural loads and response by means of a large number of sensors and instruments, followed by a diagnosis of the structural health based on the collected data. Because an SHM system implemented into a structure automatically senses, evaluates, and warns about structural conditions in real time, massive data are a significant feature of SHM. The techniques related to massive data are referred to as data science and engineering, and include acquisition techniques, transition techniques, management techniques, and processing and mining algorithms for massive data. This paper provides a brief review of the state of the art of data science and engineering in SHM as investigated by these authors, and covers the compressive sampling-based data-acquisition algorithm, the anomaly data diagnosis approach using a deep learning algorithm, crack identification approaches using computer vision techniques, and condition assessment approaches for bridges using machine learning algorithms. Future trends are discussed in the conclusion.

An enrichment model using regular health examination data for early detection of colorectal cancer

Objective: Challenges remain in current practices of colorectal cancer(CRC) screening, such as low compliance,low specificities and expensive cost. This study aimed to identify high-risk groups for CRC from the general population using regular health examination data.Methods: The study population consist of more than 7,000 CRC cases and more than 140,000 controls. Using regular health examination data, a model detecting CRC cases was derived by the classification and regression trees(CART) algorithm. Receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve was applied to evaluate the performance of models. The robustness and generalization of the CART model were validated by independent datasets. In addition, the effectiveness of CART-based screening was compared with stool-based screening.Results: After data quality control, 4,647 CRC cases and 133,898 controls free of colorectal neoplasms were used for downstream analysis. The final CART model based on four biomarkers(age, albumin, hematocrit and percent lymphocytes) was constructed. In the test set, the area under ROC curve(AUC) of the CART model was 0.88 [95%confidence interval(95% CI), 0.87-0.90] for detecting CRC. At the cutoff yielding 99.0% specificity, this model’s sensitivity was 62.2%(95% CI, 58.1%-66.2%), thereby achieving a 63-fold enrichment of CRC cases. We validated the robustness of the method across subsets of test set with diverse CRC incidences, aging rates, genders ratio, distributions of tumor stages and locations, and data sources. Importantly, CART-based screening had the higher positive predictive value(1.6%) than fecal immunochemical test(0.3%).Conclusions: As an alternative approach for the early detection of CRC, this study provides a low-cost method using regular health examination data to identify high-risk individuals for CRC for further examinations. The approach can promote early detection of CRC especially in developing countries such as China, where annual health examination is popular but regular CRC-specific screening is rare.

Constructing Large Scale Cohort for Clinical Study on Heart Failure with Electronic Health Record in Regional Healthcare Platform:Challenges and Strategies in Data Reuse

Regional healthcare platforms collect clinical data from hospitals in specific areas for the purpose of healthcare management.It is a common requirement to reuse the data for clinical research.However,we have to face challenges like the inconsistence of terminology in electronic health records (EHR) and the complexities in data quality and data formats in regional healthcare platform.In this paper,we propose methodology and process on constructing large scale cohorts which forms the basis of causality and comparative effectiveness relationship in epidemiology.We firstly constructed a Chinese terminology knowledge graph to deal with the diversity of vocabularies on regional platform.Secondly,we built special disease case repositories (i.e.,heart failure repository) that utilize the graph to search the related patients and to normalize the data.Based on the requirements of the clinical research which aimed to explore the effectiveness of taking statin on 180-days readmission in patients with heart failure,we built a large-scale retrospective cohort with 29647 cases of heart failure patients from the heart failure repository.After the propensity score matching,the study group (n=6346) and the control group (n=6346) with parallel clinical characteristics were acquired.Logistic regression analysis showed that taking statins had a negative correlation with 180-days readmission in heart failure patients.This paper presents the workflow and application example of big data mining based on regional EHR data.

Hydraulic metal structure health diagnosis based on data mining technology

In conjunction with association rules for data mining, the connections between testing indices and strong and weak association rules were determined, and new derivative rules were obtained by further reasoning. Association rules were used to analyze correlation and check consistency between indices. This study shows that the judgment obtained by weak association rules or non-association rules is more accurate and more credible than that obtained by strong association rules. When the testing grades of two indices in the weak association rules are inconsistent, the testing grades of indices are more likely to be erroneous, and the mistakes are often caused by human factors. Clustering data mining technology was used to analyze the reliability of a diagnosis, or to perform health diagnosis directly. Analysis showed that the clustering results are related to the indices selected, and that if the indices selected are more significant, the characteristics of clustering results are also more significant, and the analysis or diagnosis is more credible. The indices and diagnosis analysis function produced by this study provide a necessary theoretical foundation and new ideas for the development of hydraulic metal structure health diagnosis technology.

An Efficiency Assessment of Tuberculosis Treatment on Health Centers: A Data Envelopment Analysis Approach

This study utilized Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) in assessing the efficiency of health center in tuberculosis (TB) treatment. Assessing the efficiency of health center treating TB is a vital and sensitive topic, because there is a cumulative amount of public funds devoted to healthcare. In this research, a DEA model has been correlated to evaluate and assess the efficiency of 17 health centers. The researchers selected the health budget and the number of health workers as input variables likewise, the number of people served, number of TB patients served, and TB patients treated (%) as output variables. Based on the result of the study, only five (5) health centers out of seventeen (17) have 100% efficiencies throughout the 2 years period. It is recommended that other health centers should learn from their efficient peers recognized by the DEA model so as to increase the overall performance of the healthcare system. Likewise, health centers should integrate Health Information Technology to deliver healthier care for their patients.

Big tech,big data and the new world of digital health

This commentary shows the exponential growth of digital health and the accompanying explosion of health data.It discusses three major shifts in the global health landscape.The first will be the move of the big tech companies into healthcare,the second will be the monetization of consumer data and the creation of health data marketplaces;and the third will be the growth of Asia as a leader in digital health.Big tech already has the advantage of a massive consiuner base,data and analytics which enable them to understand consumers;and complementary technologies,like wearables,that will drive the consumerization of healthcare.This expansion can happen quickly and already is creating challenges for regulators as they try to catch up.The vast volumes of data and the ability of technology such as blockchain to enable data owners to monetize their data,will lead to the development of health data marketplaces,which can connect and monetize data for data owners and make it available for scientific discovery.The developments in self-sovereign identity,will make it possible for individuals to monetize their health data in the future.Finally,we see the emergence of Asia as a powerhouse for the digital health of the future,with vast populations,mobile technology and increasing adoption of wearable devices.Consumer focused health care driven by data will change the institutional models of the past.

Assessing the Relative Efficiency of Health Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa Using Data Envelopment Analysis

We assess the relative efficiency of health systems of 35 countries in sub-Saharan Africa using Data Envelopment Analysis. This method allows us to evaluate the ability of each country to transform its sanitary “inputs” into health “outputs”. Our results show that, on average, the health systems of these countries have an efficiency score between 72% and 84% of their maximum level. We also note that education and density of population are factors that affect the efficiency of the health system in these countries.

Providing Physical and Mental Health Support Using Medical Examination Data and Perceived Health

Without ascertaining workers’ perceived health, it is difficult to achieve behavioral modification even if health guidance is conducted. To investigate physical and mental health support emphasizing “positive health,” we used the Total Health Index (THI) survey with the purpose of elucidating the association between medical examination data and perceived health. After obtaining medical examination data from 90 men, we analyzed their responses to the THI survey. The results suggested that age and abnormal medical examination data are associated with physical and mental complaints. In the analysis by age group, we found that men in their 20s had more complaints of irregularity of daily life on the THI scale. The group who responded that they were not getting enough sleep had higher mean values of total cholesterol and fasting blood sugar. The group who responded that their meals were irregular had higher mean values of Body Mass Index, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase. As confirmed by the THI, continuously supporting lifestyle improvement is important. The THI of the “health guidance” group indicated fewer physical health complaints and more aggression/extroversion than the “normal” group. In those for whom health guidance was applicable, participants who were “obese” and “hypertensive” had more aggression/extroversion and lesser extent of nervousness. Based on these findings, it was suggested that meaningful, personalized health support can be developed.

Using compositional data analysis to explore accumulation of sedentary behavior,physical activity and youth health

Purpose:The study aimed to describe youth time-use compositions,focusing on time spent in shorter and longer bouts of sedentary behavior and physical activity(PA),and to examine associations of these time-use compositions with cardiometabolic biomarkers.Methods:Accelerometer and cardiometabolic biomarker data from 2 Australian studies involving youths 7-13 years old were pooled(complete cases with accelerometry and adiposity marker data,n=782).A 9-component time-use composition was formed using compositional data analysis:time in shorter and longer bouts of sedentary behavior;time in shorter and longer bouts of light-,moderate-,or vigorous-intensity PA;and"other time"(i.e.,non-wear/sleep).Shorter and longer bouts of sedentary time were defined as<5 min and>5 min,respectively.Shorter bouts of light-,moderate-,and vigorous-intensity PA were defined as<1 min;longer bouts were defined as≥1 min.Regression models examined associations between overall time-use composition and cardiometabolic biomarkers.Then,associations were derived between ratios of longer activity patterns relative to shorter activity patterns,and of each intensity level relative to the other intensity levels and"other time",and cardiometabolic biomarkers.Results:Confounder-adjusted models showed that the overall time-use composition was associated with adiposity,blood pressure,lipids,and the summary score.Specifically,more time in longer bouts of light-intensity PA relative to shorter bouts of light-intensity PA was significantly associated with greater body mass index z-score(zBMI)(β=1.79;SE=0.68)and waist circumference(β=18.35,SE=4.78).When each activity intensity was considered relative to all higher intensities and"other time",more time in light-and vigorous-intensity PA,and less time in sedentary behavior and moderate-intensity PA,were associated with lower waist circumference.Conclusion:Accumulating PA,particularly light-intensity PA,in frequent short bursts may be more beneficial for limiting adiposity compared to accumulating the same amount of PA at these intensities in longer bouts.