HIPAA's Effect on Web Site Privacy Policies

Healthcare institutions typically post their privacy practices online as privacy policy documents. We conducted a longitudinal study that examines the effects of HIPAA's enactment on a collection of privacy policy documents for a fixed set of organizations over a four-year period. We present our analysis of 24 healthcare privacy policy documents from nine healthcare Web sites, analyzed using goal mining, a content-analysis method that supports extraction of useful information about institutions' privacy practices from documents. We compare our results to our pre-HIPAA study of these same institutions' online privacy practices and evaluate their evolution in the presence of privacy laws     

Ubiquitin-Specific Protease 29 Regulates Cdc25A-Mediated Tumorigenesis

Cell division cycle 25A (Cdc25A) is a dual-specificity phosphatase that is overexpressed in several cancer cells and promotes tumorigenesis. In normal cells, Cdc25A expression is regulated tightly, but the changes in expression patterns in cancer cells that lead to tumorigenesis are unknown. In this study, we showed that ubiquitin-specific protease 29 (USP29) stabilized Cdc25A protein expression in cancer cell lines by protecting it from ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation. The presence of USP29 effectively blocked polyubiquitination of Cdc25A and extended its half-life. CRISPR-Cas9-mediated knockdown of USP29 in HeLa cells resulted in cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase. We also showed that USP29 knockdown hampered Cdc25A-mediated cell proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells in vitro. Moreover, NSG nude mice transplanted with USP29-depleted cells significantly reduced the size of the tumors, whereas the reconstitution of Cdc25A in USP29-depleted cells significantly increased the tumor size. Altogether, our results implied that USP29 promoted cell cycle progression and oncogenic transformation by regulating protein turnover of Cdc25A.     

Antineoplastic and antioxidant potential of phycofabricated silver nanoparticles using microalgae Chlorella minutissima

This study for the first time reports on fresh water microalgae Chlorella minutissima aqueous extract (CmAe) which was utilized for the biogenic synthesis of silver nanoparticles and tested their antineoplastic potential against Liver Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HepG2) cell line. The characteristic colour change of the reaction mixture from greenish yellow to yellowish brown confirmed the synthesis of Chlorella minutissima silver nanoparticles (CmAgNPs). Microscopic analysis revealed CmAgNPs to be spherical‐shaped with particle size ranging from 10 to 30 nm. The carbohydrates and proteins distinctive peaks were observed in Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra which suggested these biomolecules acted as reducing and capping agents. Further, the crystalline nature of CmAgNPs was confirmed by X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. CmAgNPs showed maximum free radical scavenging proving it to be more potent antioxidant agent as compared to CmAe. The mortality rate of HepG2 cells treated with CmAgNPs was found to be 91.8 % at 120 μg/ml with IC₅₀ value 12.42 ± 1.096 μg/ml after 48 h whereas no effect was observed on normal Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK 293) cells. Fluorescent images of the treated HepG2 cells revealed the formation of apoptotic bodies, condensed nuclei and cell shrinkage indicating their effectiveness against the cancer cells.Inspec keywords: silver, nanoparticles, nanomedicine, microorganisms, cellular biophysics, nanofabrication, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, proteins, Fourier transform infrared spectra, molecular biophysics, X‐ray chemical analysis, X‐ray diffraction, kidney, cancer, biomedical materialsOther keywords: antineoplastic potential, antioxidant potential, phycofabricated silver nanoparticle, Chlorella minutissima, freshwater microalgae, aqueous extract, liver hepatocellular carcinoma cell line, CmAgNP synthesis, field emission scanning electron microscopy, high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, dynamic light scattering, carbohydrate, protein, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, biomolecule, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, elemental silver signal, CmAgNP crystalline, X‐ray diffraction analysis, antioxidant agent, HepG2 cell mortality rate, human embryonic kidney, HEK 293 cell, fluorescent image, apoptotic body formation, condensed nuclei, cell shrinkage, cancer cell, antineoplastic agent, Ag     

Oxide bound impact on hot-carrier degradation for gate electrode workfunction engineered (GEWE) silicon nanowire MOSFET

In this present work, we explore the hot carrier fidelity of gate electrode workfunction engineered silicon nanowire (GEWE-SiNW) MOSFET at 300 K using DEVEDIT-3D device editor and ATLAS device simulation software. TCAD simulation shows reduction in the hot carrier reliability of a GEWE SiNW MOSFET in terms of electron temperature, electron velocity and Hot Electron gate current for reflecting its efficacy in high power CMOS applications. Further, a comparative investigation for different values of oxide thickness and high-k has been done to analyze the performance of GEWE-SiNW MOSFET in terms of electrical parameters such as conduction band, DIBL, electric field, electron temperature, electric velocity and gate current. It has been clearly shown that with oxide thickness 0.5 nm the hot-carrier reliability and device performance improves in comparison to oxide thickness 2.5 nm. In addition, with k = 21(HfO₂) device performance in terms of hot-carrier reliability further enhanced due to increased capacitance and thus offer its effectiveness in sub-nm range analog applications.     

Electrochemical treatment of cotton textile-based dyeing effluent

The electrochemical treatment (ECT) of textile wastewater was carried out in a 1.5 dm³ electrolyte batch reactor using iron electrodes. With the four plate configurations, a current density (CD) of 89.2 A/m² and a pH value of 8.5 were found to be optimal, at which maximum reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) and colour achieved were 86% and 79%, respectively. Loss of 0.0666 kg/m³ iron electrode and 18.44 kWh/m³ power consumption was observed during ECT with a maximum COD reduction of 79%. The settling characteristics of electrochemically treated effluents as well as the characteristics of foam and residue were also analysed.     

Whole grains and resistant starch rich,reduced‐calorie biscuit diet as a hypoglycaemic,hypolipidaemic and insulin stimulator in streptozotocin‐induced diabetic rats

A fibre‐enriched, reduced‐calorie biscuit [formulated biscuit (FB)] was evaluated for its antidiabetic and antilipidaemic potential in streptozotocin‐induced diabetes in Wistar rats against control biscuit (CB) having high calorie and low fibre content. Animals were allocated into five groups: a control group fed with synthetic diet, two diabetes‐induced groups (CBD and FBD) and two nondiabetic groups (CBND and FBND). CBD and CBND were fed with synthetic diet + CB while FBD and FBND were fed with synthetic diet + FB. After 6 weeks of feeding, the change in weight of nondiabetic group fed with FB (+16.20%) was nonsignificantly lower compared to control (+33.01%) and CB‐fed (+34.55%) group. Nonsignificant loss in body weight was observed among diabetic group fed with FB (?11.76%) or CB (?36.88%). Feeding of FB led to a significant decrease in fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels, total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL‐C, VLDL‐C and atherosclerotic index and increase the HDL‐C. Histological examination showed that feeding of FB was able to partially recover the destroyed β‐cell in STZ‐induced diabetic rats.     

Instrumentation and computer capabilities for improving sodar data acquisition

A computer program has been developed to exploit the multimedia capabilities of a personal computer for a new design of sodar (sonic detection and ranging) data acquisition and control system with minimized hardware elements. Advantages include trouble-free, cost-effective and user-friendly sodar data acquisition using any standard computer. The new design overcomes limitations due to using an add-on data acquisition card with conventional computer-controlled sodar. The data can be processed to produce online display of the dynamics of prevailing atmospheric boundary layer thermal structures and inversion/mixing depth for environmental applications.     

Oligoaniline intermediates in the aniline-peroxydisulfate system

Chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline using peroxydisulfate oxidant in aqueous pH 2.5–10.0 buffers yields electrically insulating brown powders that are believed to be mixtures of Michael-type adducts of benzoquinone monoimine and aniline at various stages of hydrolysis. A spectroscopically similar product is formed when solid 1,4-benzoquinone is added to an aqueous solution of aniline at room temperature in the absence of peroxydisulfate. This suggests that the peroxydisulfate oxidant in the aniline/S₂O₈^2? system provides a pathway for the formation of benzoquinone monoimine as an intermediate. Benzoquinone monoimine intermediate could be formed as a result of a Boyland–Sims rearrangement of aniline proceeding via the intermediacy of p-aminophenyl sulfate. Benzoquinone monoimine undergoes a series of conjugate 1,4-Michael-type addition/reoxidation/coupling steps with aniline or p-aminophenyl sulfate yielding the oligoaniline product. The precipitate that is isolated is also in the midst of two simultaneous pH dependent hydrolysis reactions: (i) hydrolysis of the imine groups to quinone, and (ii) hydrolysis of arylsulfates to phenols. The ratio of hydrolysis in each case was determined by the C/N ratio and sulfur elemental analysis values yielding analytical data that is consistent with experimentally determined values and also with our proposed reaction scheme. These findings offer a rationale for the high C/N ratios (>6.0) frequently observed in these systems while tracing the genesis of the residual sulfur in the product to unhydrolyzed arylsulfate. The oligoaniline product has previously been reported to have a novel poly-aza structure consisting of continuously linked –N–N–N– bonds, and alternately also reported to consist of phenazine-type linkages. This study is consistent with the latter and describes a pathway to phenazine coupling through a second and third stage hydrolysis of the arylsulfate and reoxidation with peroxydisulfate. There is no pathway for the formation of linear –N–N–N– linkages in the aniline/benzoquinone adduct and the striking similarity between its spectroscopic properties and the aniline/S₂O₈^2? adduct suggests that it is not a preferred pathway under these experimental conditions.