[Clinical registers in the twenty-first century : Balancing act between data protection and feasibility?] / Klinische Register im 21. Jahrhundert : Ein Spagat zwischen Datenschutz und Machbarkeit?

In the light of big data applications in modern medicine, the various forms of registries becoming increasingly more important. To meet the changing requirements in the field of digital healthcare, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive reform of data protection rules in the European Union (EU). After a transition phase the novel regulations will come into force from 25 May 2018 and then replace the existing Federal Data Protection Act. To conscientiously deal with this subject is of utmost importance before implementing registry-based projects in medical research or quality improvement. To protect patient rights in times of technical progress and increasing amounts of data, appropriate data protection strategies are needed. This article gives an overview on the background and developments in European data privacy law. It further aims to illustrate solutions to overcome new challenges associated with medical register projects.

Generation of scaled protogalactic seed magnetic fields in laser-produced shock waves.

The standard model for the origin of galactic magnetic fields is through the amplification of seed fields via dynamo or turbulent processes to the level consistent with present observations. Although other mechanisms may also operate, currents from misaligned pressure and temperature gradients (the Biermann battery process) inevitably accompany the formation of galaxies in the absence of a primordial field. Driven by geometrical asymmetries in shocks associated with the collapse of protogalactic structures, the Biermann battery is believed to generate tiny seed fields to a level of about 10(-21) gauss (refs 7, 8). With the advent of high-power laser systems in the past two decades, a new area of research has opened in which, using simple scaling relations, astrophysical environments can effectively be reproduced in the laboratory. Here we report the results of an experiment that produced seed magnetic fields by the Biermann battery effect. We show that these results can be scaled to the intergalactic medium, where turbulence, acting on timescales of around 700 million years, can amplify the seed fields sufficiently to affect galaxy evolution.