Isabel de la Torre

Analysis of the Security and Privacy Requirements of Cloud-Based Electronic Health Records Systems

Background The Cloud Computing paradigm offers eHealth systems the opportunity to enhance the features and functionality that they offer. However, moving patients’ medical information to the Cloud implies several risks in terms of the security and privacy of sensitive health records. In this paper, the risks of hosting Electronic Health Records (EHRs) on the servers of third-party Cloud service providers are reviewed. To protect the confidentiality of patient information and facilitate the process, some suggestions for health care providers are made. Moreover, security issues that Cloud service providers should address in their platforms are considered. Objective To show that, before moving patient health records to the Cloud, security and privacy concerns must be considered by both health care providers and Cloud service providers. Security requirements of a generic Cloud service provider are analyzed. Methods To study the latest in Cloud-based computing solutions, bibliographic material was obtained mainly from Medline sources. Furthermore, direct contact was made with several Cloud service providers. Results Some of the security issues that should be considered by both Cloud service providers and their health care customers are role-based access, network security mechanisms, data encryption, digital signatures, and access monitoring. Furthermore, to guarantee the safety of the information and comply with privacy policies, the Cloud service provider must be compliant with various certifications and third-party requirements, such as SAS70 Type II, PCI DSS Level 1, ISO 27001, and the US Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA). Conclusions Storing sensitive information such as EHRs in the Cloud means that precautions must be taken to ensure the safety and confidentiality of the data. A relationship built on trust with the Cloud service provider is essential to ensure a transparent process. Cloud service providers must make certain that all security mechanisms are in place to avoid unauthorized access and data breaches. Patients must be kept informed about how their data are being managed.

A new mobile ubiquitous computing application to control obesity: SapoFit

The objective of this work was the proposal, design, construction and validation of a mobile health system for dietetic monitoring and assessment, called SapoFit. This application may be personalized to keep a daily personal health record of an individuals food intake and daily exercise and to share this with a social network. The initiative is a partnership with SAPO – Portugal Telecom. SapoFit uses Web services architecture, a relatively new model for distributed computing and application integration. SapoFit runs on a range of mobile platforms, and it has been implemented successfully in a range of mobile devices and has been evaluated by over 100 users. Most users strongly agree that SapoFit has an attractive design, the environment is user-friendly and intuitive, and the navigation options are clear.

Advances and Current State of the Security and Privacy in Electronic Health Records: Survey from a Social Perspective

E-Health systems are experiencing an impulse in these last years, when many medical agencies began to include digital solutions into their platforms. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are one of the most important improvements, being in its most part a patient-oriented tool. To achieve a completely operational EHR platform, security and privacy problems have to be resolved, due to the importance of the data included within these records. But given all the different methods to address security and privacy, they still remain in most cases as an open issue. This paper studies existing and proposed solutions included in different scenarios, in order to offer an overview of the current state in EHR systems. Bibliographic material has been obtained mainly from MEDLINE and SCOPUS sources, and over 30 publications have been analyzed. Many EHR platforms are being developed, but most of them present weaknesses when they are opened to the public. These architectures gain significance when they cover all the requisites related to security and privacy.

Personal Learning Environment Box (PLEBOX): A new approach to E‐learning platforms

This article presents a new E‐learning platform called Personal Learning Environment Box (PLEBOX). The system is built on Microsoft SharePoint and SharePoint Learning Kit (SLK) and enables the creation of modular and expansible software, presenting a simplified interaction with the user. PLEBOX has been used by 210 users (10 teachers and 200 engineering students) of the University of Beira Interior, Portugal and the University of Valladolid, Spain. The PLEBOX platform has innovative features compared to existing platforms, such as creating a customizable work environment, the ability to add applications, a framework for developing modules, and a new form to exposure learning contents, which can be used in engineering applications and education.

A New Wireless Biosensor for Intra-Vaginal Temperature Monitoring

Wireless Body Sensors for medical purposes offer valuable contributions to improve patients’ healthcare, including diagnosis and/or therapeutics monitoring. Body temperature is a crucial parameter in healthcare diagnosis. In gynecology and obstetrics it is measured at the skin’s surface, which is very influenced by the environment. This paper proposes a new intra-body sensor for long-term intra-vaginal temperature collection. The embedded IEEE 802.15.4 communication module allows the integration of this sensor in a Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) for remote data access and monitoring. We present the sensor architecture, the construction of the corresponding testbed, and its performance evaluation. This sensor may be used in different medical applications, including preterm labor prevention and fertility and ovulation period detection. The features of the constructed testbed were validated in laboratory tests verifying its accuracy and performance.

Analysis of the EHR Systems in Spanish Primary Public Health System: The Lack of Interoperability

This paper presents the impact of the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) systems jointly in the Spanish Primary Public Health System. Different EHRs that exist in each of the Spanish regions are discussed. Moreover, other purpose of this analysis is to identify the current state of knowledge about health information systems adoption in primary care in Spain. For the analysis and study of EHRs systems in Spain we have relied on the use of different sources, mostly items related to the study of EHRs systems in different areas. We will analyze some technical aspects of these and some of their major implications, both positive and negative. Moreover, we have resorted to make direct contact with the organizations that have implemented the EHRs systems. The result of this study leads to a main idea, the need for interoperability between different systems. We will delve into how we have reached this conclusion and that is the key to EHRs systems homogenization of Spanish territory. EHR systems used in different regions of Spain offer the access to medical information as well as provide a clinical analysis of each patient more quickly. The adoption of health information systems is seen world wide as one method to mitigate the widening health care demand and supply gap.

Development and Evaluation of a Web-Based Tool to Estimate Type 2 Diabetes Risk: Diab_Alert

OBJECTIVE Diabetes and its complications are major causes of morbidity and mortality around the world. This article presents a new multilingual, mobile-compatible Web-based tool to estimate the risk of suffering from type 2 diabetes (Diab_Alert) after the individual answers a brief questionnaire. The rationale for building the tool is to raise the public awareness of diabetes and its consequences. People should be concerned about the fact that this disease can be prevented even in cases of prediabetes, when medication is crucial to avoid the emergence of diabetes. The application shows a message with the global risk for each user and encloses with it a graph that shows the probability of suffering from diabetes in the next 10 years, which other tools do not illustrate. This way, people at high risk can ask for advice from their physician and get basal glucose tests done more often. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The questions are based on research performed by experts, mainly the Diabetes Population Risk Tool and the Finnish Diabetes Risk Score. RESULTS Up to April 26, 2012, 141 users have completed this test. Of this group, 125 have used the Spanish language version, and of the other participants, 7 used English, 7 used Portuguese, and 2 used French. The number of individuals who have completed the questionnaire is too small to draw conclusions, although results are not as advanced as expected. Most of them are young and hence are at low risk, but those over 45 years of age are at a higher risk, especially men. CONCLUSIONS This tool can help users become more aware of their risk of diabetes and initiate lifestyle changes, such as improved nutrition or increased physical activity, which may reduce their risk of developing the disease. The tool has been designed to be easily translated into multiple languages and to work on multiple platforms, with a standard version for computers and a simpler version for mobile devices.

A Telematic Tool to Predict the Risk of Colorectal Cancer in White Men and Women: ColoRectal Cancer Alert (CRCA)

Colorectal cancer is an important disease because of its severity and also since it affects much of the population. Nothing helps patients and doctors to determine the risk of suffering from colorectal cancer during their lives, except for medical tests such as the colonoscopy. There have been several studies and research to try to estimate the relative risks of colorectal cancer based on various factors and the applications to calculate the risk of this cancer, but these are not within everyone’s research. This project offers a multilingual Web tool, called ColoRectal Cancer Alert (CRCA), to calculate the risk of colorectal cancer for life in men and women of white race. With this application, doctors can carry out research in a few minutes to explore this risk when they are seeing a patient. The platform is designed in such a way that anyone can use it. It is easy to use and intuitive. We should keep in mind that this tool does not replace diagnostic tests such as the colonoscopy or the sigmoidoscopy. It is designed so that users with the assistance of their doctor know the risk and act accordingly (for example, having more checkups on the disease in case of high risk). To access the tool a computer with Internet connection will be required. Currently, 250 users of white race under the supervision of a specialist have completed the questionnaire.

On asynchronous flow scheduling for wireless body sensor networks

Traditional distributed flow scheduling for wireless body sensor networks (WBSNs) is designed based on perfect control channels where the instantaneous control information from the neighbors is available. However, in practice it is very difficult, sometimes even impossible, to obtain this information especially for dynamic WBSNs. This motivates us in this paper to study the distributed flow scheduling with heterogeneous delayed control information (DCI). First, we translate this scheduling problem into a stochastic optimization problem that opens up a new methodology to exploit in a tractable framework. Subsequently, we investigate the relationship between the DCI and scheduling performance, and derive a general performance property bound for any distributed scheduling. Importantly, a class of asynchronous flow scheduling scheme is proposed to achieve the performance bound by making use of the correlation among the time-scale control information.

Blended learning (b-learning) in telecommunications engineering - A study case

Blended learning (b-learning) in higher education is facilitated by the effective combination of different modes of delivery, models of teaching and styles of learning. Moreover, it is based on transparent communication amongst students and teachers. This paper shows how the Course Management System (CMS), Moodle, can assist a teacher at a School of Telecommunications Engineering to create a b-learning environment. Moreover, this platform can be used by teachers to provide online content and activities to their students and it facilitates the student learning.