Perceived Risk of Re-Identification in OMOP-CDM Database: A Cross-Sectional Survey.

BACKGROUND: The advancement of information technology has immensely increased the quality and volume of health data. This has led to an increase in observational study, as well as to the threat of privacy invasion. Recently, a distributed research network based on the common data model (CDM) has emerged, enabling collaborative international medical research without sharing patient-level data. Although the CDM database for each institution is built inside a firewall, the risk of re-identification requires management. Hence, this study aims to elucidate the perceptions CDM users have towards CDM and risk management for re-identification. METHODS: The survey, targeted to answer specific in-depth questions on CDM, was conducted from October to November 2020. We targeted well-experienced researchers who actively use CDM. Basic statistics (total number and percent) were computed for all covariates. RESULTS: There were 33 valid respondents. Of these, 43.8% suggested additional anonymization was unnecessary beyond, "minimum cell count" policy, which obscures a cell with a value lower than certain number (usually 5) in shared results to minimize the liability of re-identification due to rare conditions. During extract-transform-load processes, 81.8% of respondents assumed structured data is under control from the risk of re-identification. However, respondents noted that date of birth and death were highly re-identifiable information. The majority of respondents (n = 22, 66.7%) conceded the possibility of identifier-contained unstructured data in the NOTE table. CONCLUSION: Overall, CDM users generally attributed high reliability for privacy protection to the intrinsic nature of CDM. There was little demand for additional de-identification methods. However, unstructured data in the CDM were suspected to have risks. The necessity for a coordinating consortium to define and manage the re-identification risk of CDM was urged.

Reduction in Toxicity of Nano-Ag-Polyvinyl-pyrrolidone Using Hydra Proteins and Peptides during Zebrafish Embryogenesis.

Hydra magnipapillata cells reduce the toxicity of silver nanomaterials to zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. In this study, we investigated whether Hydra protein (HP) and Hydra basal disc peptide (Hym176) materials reduce nano-Ag-polyvinylpyrrolidone (N-Ag-PVP) toxicity during embryogenesis of the nanosensitive organism zebrafish. Protein (HP) was extracted from Hydra, and peptide (Hym176) was extracted from the hydra basal disc, which is attractive to nanomaterials and related to the immune system. The experimental conditions were exposure to N-Ag-PVP, HP, N-Ag-PVP+HP, Hym176, or N-Ag-PVP+Hym176 during embryo development. N-Ag-PVP+HP group showed lower toxicity than N-Ag-PVP group. In addition, in the N-Ag-PVP+HP group formed aggregated nanomaterials (≥200 nm size) through electrostatic bonding. In the gene expression profile, HP group differed in gene expression profile compared the other experimental groups and it was no genetic toxicity. HP showed a tendency to reduce side effects and abnormal gene expression produced by N-Ag-PVP with no evidence of inherent toxicity. Considering the potential nanotoxicity effects of released nanomaterials on the ecosystem, the reduction of nanotoxicity observed with HP natural materials should be regarded with great interest in terms of the overall health of the ecosystem.