Thomas Caruso

Background  Mobile devices, including cell phones and most recently wearables, i.e. smartwatches, can track a variety of parameters associated with our health, such as steps, fitness activities, and biometrics like weight, heart rate, skin temperature, perspiration, and nutrition.  A movement called “quantified self” has grown among individuals who wish to use this information to better understand how they might improve their health and the quality of their lives.  However, many are challenged by an inability to easily analyze and share with their health care providers this data that comes from multiple sources.  In addition, healthcare providers, researchers, and companies doing market research would like to more easily access this information.  After years of smaller companies like TicTrac developing businesses to take advantage of this opportunity, Apple, Samsung, Google and Amazon have all recently offered products and services enabling personal health data aggregation.  Besides individuals desiring assurance of the privacy of their data and control over how their data is being used, they would also like to directly benefit from the sharing of their data. 
 
Objective The Self-Generated Health Information Exchange (SGHIx), developed by a consortium of universities and companies, empowers consumers to aggregate, protect, and control the sharing of personal health data.  The SGHIx will give users the ability to aggregate and view their data on one platform, to protect their data and monitor who accesses it, to share their information in a way that is consistent with their preferences, and to obtain rewards proportional to the quality of the data shared.  This combination of user privacy control and reward mechanism gives users an incentive to increase the quality of their shared data, improving the research that would result from this sharing.  An API is being provided to allow app developers the opportunity to use these features in their apps, which would provide further utility to the user of the SGHIx.
 
Method We have developed and pilot-tested an early version of the SGHIx.  Development involved use cases, user interface design, and focus group discussions about the best UI for privacy controls, and access and benefits monitoring. Our pilot tests included user observation and interviews to obtain input into the usability and desired functionality of the SGHIx.
 
Results Users of the SGHIx want privacy features, but have limited interest in granular controls of this information.  Just having a place to aggregate data is not adequate to motivate use; however, they do establish a firm foundation for future product releases.
 
Discussion and Conclusion Our results demonstrate a limited but growing interest in services like those provided by the SGHIx.  More interest in the SGHIx was indicated when users were aware of the monitoring capabilities and benefits that could be obtained from using the SGHIx system.  These features will be built into the next versions of the SGHIx.

Chloroxymorphamine, the 6beta-N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl) derivative of oxymorphone, is a potent nonequilibrium narcotic agonist in the longitudinal muscle preparation of guinea pig ileum. The corresponding naltrexone analog,chlornaltrexamine, is a potent nonequilibrium antagonist of morphine. These receptor sitedirected alkylating agents possess considerable potenial as pharmacologic and biochemical probes of apoid receptors.

Abstract: The stability of dopamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase, guanylate cyclase, ATPase, and GTPase was measured in homogenates of rat striatal tissue frozen from 0 to 24 h postmortem. ATPase, GTPase, and Mg2+-dependent guanylate cyclase activities showed no significant change over this period. Mn2+-dependent guanylate cyclase activity was stable for 10 h postmortem. Basal and dopamine-stimulated adenylate cyclase activity decreased markedly during the first 5 h. However, when measured in washed membrane preparations, these adenylate cyclase activities remained stable for at least 10 h. Therefore, the postmortem loss of a soluble activator, such as GTP, may decrease the adenylate cyclase activity in homogenates. These results are not consistent with an earlier suggestion that there is a postmortem degradation of the enzyme itself. Other kinetic parameters of dopamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase can also be measured independently of postmortem changes. Thus, it is possible to investigate kinetic parameters of dopamine-sensitive adenylate cyclase, guanylate cyclase, ATPase, and GTPase in human brain obtained postmortem.

Chloroxymorphamine, the 6β -N,N-bis(2-chloroethyl) derivative of oxymorphone, is a potent nonequilibrium narcotic agonist in the longitudinal muscle preparation of guinea pig ileum. The corresponding naltrexone analog, chlornaltrexamine, is a potent nonequilibrium antagonist of morphine. These receptor site-directed alkylating agents possess considerable potential as pharmacologic and biochemical probes of opioid receptors.