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Gonorrhoea is a major public health concern globally. Increasing incidence and sporadic ceftriaxone-resistant cases, including treatment failures, are growing concerns. The 2020 European gonorrhoea guideline provides up-to-date evidence-based guidance regarding the diagnosis and treatment of gonorrhoea. The updates and recommendations emphasize significantly increasing gonorrhoea incidence; broad indications for increased testing with validated and quality-assured nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) and culture; dual antimicrobial therapy including high-dose ceftriaxone and azithromycin (ceftriaxone 1 g plus azithromycin 2 g) OR ceftriaxone 1 g monotherapy (ONLY in well-controlled settings, see guideline for details) for uncomplicated gonorrhoea when the antimicrobial susceptibility is unknown; recommendation of test of cure (TOC) in all gonorrhoea cases to ensure eradication of infection and identify resistance; and enhanced surveillance of treatment failures when recommended treatment regimens have been used. Improvements in access to appropriate testing, test performance, diagnostics, antimicrobial susceptibility surveillance and treatment, and follow-up of gonorrhoea patients are essential in controlling gonorrhoea and to mitigate the emergence and/or spread of ceftriaxone resistance and multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant gonorrhoea. This review provides the detailed background, evidence base and discussions, for the 2020 European guideline for the diagnosis and treatment of gonorrhoea in adults (Unemo M, et al. Int J STD AIDS. 2020).

Proper positioning of membrane proteins in the host membrane is often critical to successful protein function. While hydrophobic considerations play a dominant role in determining the topology of a protein in the membrane, amphiphilic residues, such as tryptophan, may ‘anchor’ the protein near the water–membrane interface. The SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor) family of membrane proteins mediates intracellular membrane fusion. Correct positioning of the SNAREs is necessary if fusion is to occur. Synaptobrevins are integral vesicle membrane proteins that are well conserved across species. Interestingly, mammalian Synaptobrevins typically contain two adjacent tryptophans near the water-membrane interface whereas the Drosophila, neuronal-Synaptobrevin (n-Syb), contains a single tryptophan in this same region. To explore the role of these tryptophan residues in membrane positioning, we prepared a peptide containing residues 75–121 of D. melanogaster n-Syb in DPC micelles, biosynthetically labeled with 4-fluorophenylalanine and 5-fluorotryptophan for the examination by 19F NMR spectroscopy. Mutations of this construct containing zero and two tryptophan residues near the water-membrane interface resulted in changes in the positioning of n-Syb in the micelle. Moreover, the addition of a second tryptophan appears to slow dynamic motions of n-Syb near the micelle–water interface. These data therefore indicate that juxtamembrane tryptophan residues are important determinants of the position of Synaptobrevin in the membrane.

Social media has quickly become a central component of many people’s lives. While it can be a tool for personal enjoyment, social media has become a big business and many companies are attempting to reach the audiences that social media platforms have quickly garnered. The goals of the study were to determine: the nature and extent of social media use for business versus personal use; which social media platforms were used for business versus personal use; gather certain information regarding use patterns with social media, particularly regarding the nature and extent of “friending”; individuals’ attitudes regarding disclosures via social media; as well as the level of review of corporate polices and social media privacy policies. The Lares Institute sent surveys to 802 individuals in the United States, and received 741 responses. The following is a summary of highlights from the study on social media: The overwhelming majority of those surveyed use some form of social media. However, significantly more people use social media for personal use than for business use. Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn were identified as the most popular social media services overall. Facebook and LinkedIn are ranked as the most used social media service for business purposes. Facebook easily takes the lead as the most popular social forum when it comes to personal use. On the other hand, the once popular MySpace received one of the lowest usage response rates of all social media services included in the survey. Social media services have seemingly developed a new trend wherein people are accustomed to being “friends” without ever having met. Generally, social media users believe that people voluntarily disclose too much information online. Moreover, a majority of social media users are at least minimally concerned about online privacy. When it comes to compliance policies, only a minority of users actively read the details of social media service policies before accepting. Corporate use of social media is rising - 49% of respondents report that their employer uses social media to promote its products or services. While almost 52% of respondents were aware of a corporate social media use policy, almost 48% reported that their employer either didn’t have a policy, or they were unaware of a policy existing.

Modern scholars continue to agree that current privacy theory does not meet societal expectations regarding privacy. While some believe accountability is the key, this paper argues that the principle of proportionality is the unifying theory of privacy for the Web 2.0 world.

This article is Version 2.0 of this working paper and it examines the history of privacy enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission, including the FTC’s jurisdiction under Section 5, and its privacy enforcement matters, as well as the FTC's recently issued report, "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers", in which the FTC examines past enforcement models, noting their failings. In light of the FTC’s examination of past enforcement models, this article then analyzes these models, including the accountability-centric model that has previously been utilized in the United States, as well as the FTC’s proposed solution to the privacy problems of the Web 2.0 World--the adoption of best practices, including a "privacy by design" framework. The article then argues that the method to achieve the FTC’s goal of voluntary adoption of best practices is to focus on proportional protection for data based upon the sensitivity of the data in question, and to create a "safe harbor" from enforcement for businesses that choose to adopt the framework. This proposed framework could be linked in a meaningful way to existing EU processes, such as Binding Corporate Rules or the existing EU Safe Harbor program. By combining these elements, the FTC can achieve meaningful and focused self-regulation and provide appropriate protection to consumers, while giving business an incentive to adopt best-practices, and also increase the level of international cooperation regarding privacy.

Individual concern over privacy has existed as long as humans have said or done things they do not wish others to know about. In their groundbreaking law review article The Right to Privacy, Warren and Brandeis posited that the common law should protect an individual's right to privacy under a right formulated as the right to be let alone--Privacy 1.0. As technology advanced and societal values also changed, a belief surfaced that the Warren and Brandeis formulation did not provide sufficient structure for the development of privacy laws. As such, a second theoretical construct of privacy, Privacy 2.0 as expressed in Dean Prosser's work Privacy was created. Dean Prosser continued (or expanded) upon the concepts formulated by Warren and Brandeis, particularly in emphasizing the role of common law in protecting privacy. These works, while influential in their time, do not account for paradigm shifts in technology, or, perhaps more importantly, changes in how people live their lives. The unending advance of technology and changes in societal norms fundamentally dictate that privacy theory must change over time, or it will lose its relevance. Indeed, in today's Web 2.0 world where many people instantly share very private aspects of their lives, one can hardly imagine a privacy concept more foreign than the right to be let alone. The question confronting modern-day privacy scholars is this: Can a common law based theory adequately address the shifting societal norms and rapid technological changes of today's Web 2.0 world where legislatures and government agencies, not courts, are more proactive on privacy protections‘ This Article argues that the answer is no and instead argues that the overarching principle of privacy of today should not be the right to be let alone, but rather the principle of proportionality. This is Privacy 3.0.

A collection of factors has caused the United States to be poised on the precipice of a new wave of litigation - litigation arising from the improper use or collection of information. Public concern over privacy is ever increasing while, and some would say because, information has become critical to our everyday existence. In what is now a self-reinforcing cycle, increased public concern has caused an exponential increase in regulations, and the new regulations have caused increased attention and public concern because many of the new laws require public disclosure of security breaches, which increases societal concerns over privacy. Security breach laws, the laws that mandate public disclosure of data incidents, provide the best example of the increase in regulation - Just a few short years ago California passed the first security breach law. Now, 43 other states, the City of New York, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have adopted laws and many other countries have either adopted, or are likely to adopt, security breach laws as well. Restrictions on the collection and use of Social Security number laws provide another such example as now more than 35 states have adopted these type of laws. Whether the increasing public concern over privacy is caused by, or reflected in, the new privacy laws, the phenomenal expansion in the number of privacy laws will have a predictable effect - a geometric increase in the number of privacy laws will result in an equally geometric increase in the number of violations of privacy laws. As violations increase there is an equally predictable consequence - increased incentives for individuals to attempt to enforce these new rights. One of the first challenges in privacy litigation is to define what "privacy" litigation actually is. While consumer-based privacy litigation gains much of the attention, to focus exclusively on consumer-oriented privacy litigation misses half the picture. The increase in value of information has increased the number of businesses that are bringing litigation to protect their intellectual capital and their networks. Though these claims are not thought of as "privacy" litigation in the traditional sense, these claims are no less about the improper use of information than actions brought by individuals. This litigation is frequently brought under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, CAN-SPAM, the unfair competition law, including portions of the Lanham Act. In the privacy realm, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") serves as the primary federal privacy enforcer. However, the FTC does not have unlimited resources, privacy is not its only responsibility, and the actual number of enforcement actions is not as high as one might guess. As a result, state attorney generals have an important role to play in privacy enforcement. However, with limited exceptions, state attorney generals have not brought a significant number of privacy matters. As a result, enforcement in many cases falls to private plaintiffs, and they play a role in enforcing privacy laws where violations are alleged to have occurred. However, the road to plaintiffs' recovery in privacy litigation is littered with a number of issues that can derail a case before it truly starts, not the least of which is that plaintiffs in many cases cannot prove actual damage, and may actually lack standing to bring an action. Moreover, even if the case clears this hurdle, many class actions fail the certification requirements because of issues unique to privacy litigation. This article examines the common theories of privacy litigation, the issues faced by plaintiffs, and examines class action issues generally, as well as some class issues that are unique to privacy litigation. While privacy cases have had mixed success, the increased importance of information, coupled with increased public attention, and the ever-increasing number of privacy laws guarantees that we will be stepping off of the precipice and into privacy litigation.

Transesophageal and transthoracic echocardiography and color flow Doppler were performed in patients with 42 normal and 20 dysfunctioning bioprosthetic mitral and aortic valves. Transesophageal echocardiography was superior to the transthoracic approach in delineating bioprosthetic valve cusps and the presence of valve thickening due to valve degeneration. In 27 clinically normal bioprosthetic mitral valves, regurgitation was demonstrated in three patients by the transthoracic approach and in seven by transesophageal study. Both transesophageal and transthoracic color flow Doppler demonstrated mitral regurgitation in 17 clinically regurgitant valves. The severity of mitral regurgitation was accurately assessed by the transesophageal study in all 13 patients who underwent angiography, whereas the transthoracic imaging underestimated valvular regurgitation in 7 of the 13 cases (54%). Bioprosthetic aortic valves were normal on clinical examination in 15 patients and were regurgitant in three others. Both transthoracic and transesophageal color flow Doppler were of equal value in observing and quantifying aortic regurgitation. In five clinically normal and regurgitant mitral and aortic valves, transesophageal color flow Doppler revealed eccentric regurgitant jets suggestive of paravalvular leak. This feature was not evident by the transthoracic approach. In conclusion, transesophageal echocardiography and color flow Doppler are superior to transthoracic imaging in estimating bioprosthetic mitral, but not aortic regurgitation, in differentiating valvular from paravalvular regurgitation, and in demonstrating thickened valves due to cusp degeneration.

The advent of new technologies has resulted in Copyright law having to adapt to new situations and infringements. These technologies, including music formats that contain compression, as well as the reduction in cost and size of hard drives has created significant new challenges and markets for digital content. Even in the short life of the iPod, it has gone from a music device, to a multimedia device. This article examines some of the issues and case law that is relevant to the content revolution created by the iPod.

The Federal Trade Commission is the main federal privacy enforcement agency in the United States. While there are a number of federal laws that provide guidance regarding privacy and information security, the FTC's guidance and enforcement actions are equally important to companies when they are assessing their compliance programs, particularly companies that are not already under heightened statutory burdens. Understanding the FTC's enforcement patterns, as well as its guidance, is all the more important now since the FTC has recently stepped up its enforcement activities, as is shown by the recent number of information security enforcement cases that it has brought. This article examines the typical basis of FTC enforcement in the security arena under Section 5 of the FTC Act, as well as the FTC's guide for businesses.

This document is the introductory chapter to my privacy book published by Thomson-West. It offers a conceptual overview of issues and principles that have been adopted by the United States, as well as foreign countries.

Advances in the study of human genetics and predictive genetic technologies, most notably the mapping of the human genome, have led to an increased understanding of how genetic code might relate to future health outcomes. These insights have raised concerns relating to the privacy of genetic information. The question becomes, what privacy protections does the law afford to individual persons and their genetic code, and how might the law protect individuals from discrimination when their privacy is violated?

The paper presents data on the role of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) receptors in skin disorders, especially in psoriasis. The usefulness of the measurement of these receptors as indicators of the disease activity has been discussed. New therapeutic options using anti-TNF-alpha molecules in dermatologic diseases are presented.

Renal transplantation is considered the only good long-term therapy for chronic renal failure. Better surgical techniques and recent advances in immunosuppressive therapy allow patients to survive for many years, free from any complications due to rejection. However, cutaneous lesions can be a significant problem for this group of patients. Immunosuppression predisposes them to infections--predominantly viral, but also fungal and bacterial ones, as well as malignant tumours like basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, melanoma and Kaposi's sarcoma. The review of the current literature on skin manifestations in renal transplant recipients is done.

Because of the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) epidemic in the former Soviet Union and the possibility of a rise in early syphilis and gonorrhoea in the eastern region of Poland it seemed important to calculate the incidence rates for early syphilis and gonorrhoea for 3 border regions (east, west and south) and the central part of the country in the last 10 years. In addition, data were analysed on patients and their sexual partners (from Poland and abroad), and the country where the contact took place obtained from 14 Provincial Skin-VD Out-Patients' Clinics of eastern Poland. The results from 1988/89 and 1996/97 were compared. It was shown that early syphilis morbidity significantly decreased in western and southern Poland, fell in the central part and rose in the east slightly. Gonorrhoea morbidity significantly decreased in all regions. However, the number of provinces with early syphilis and gonorrhoea incidence rates in the 1990s of the same value or higher than in the 1980s, or of the whole of Poland clearly increased in eastern and central regions. The early syphilis and gonorrhoea morbidity in east Poland in the 1990s in relation to 1980s was marked by significant increase in the percentage of the foreigners treated (12.2 vs 1.8, P0.001 for early syphilis, and 10.0 vs 2.3, P0.001 for gonorrhoea) and in sexual contacts with foreigners reported by Polish patients (23.7 vs 0.8, P0.01 for early syphilis and 17.7 vs 4.3, P0.01 for gonorrhoea). Of the foreign contacts reported in 1996/97 by early syphilis and gonorrhoea patients, 60.4% and 82.2%, respectively, were casual. Contact with foreigners took place, mainly, in the former Soviet Union. The study illustrates that there may be a danger of an increase in the incidence of syphilis and gonorrhoea in Poland due to the epidemics in the neighbouring countries.This study examines the epidemiology of syphilis and gonorrhea in eastern Poland from 1988 to 1997. Data on patients and their sexual partners were obtained from 14 provincial skin-VD outpatient clinics of eastern Poland. The results from 1988-89 and 1996-97 were compared. It was shown that early syphilis morbidity significantly decreased in western and southern Poland, fell in the central part, and rose slightly in the east. Gonorrhea morbidity significantly decreased in all regions. Early syphilis and gonorrhea morbidity in east Poland in the 1990s was marked by a significant increase in the percentage of foreigners treated and in sexual contacts with foreigners reported by Polish patients. Among the foreign contacts reported in 1996-97 by early syphilis and gonorrhea patients, about 60.4% and 82.2%, respectively, were casual. Contact with foreigners took place mainly in the former Soviet Union. This study illustrates that there is a probability of an increase in the incidence of syphilis and gonorrhea in Poland due to the epidemics in neighboring countries.

A case-control study was conducted to evaluate the role of dietary selenium (Se) intake and the selenium nutritional status in the course of psoriasis. The cases studied were 30 psoriatic patients with a history of the disease no longer than 10 months and 29 psoriatics with the disease lasting at least 3 years, 24 other dermatological patients and 14 healthy subjects constituted 2 control groups matched to cases studied by sex and age. Se dietary intake was calculated from 24-hours dietary recall and Se status was assessed with plasma Se level as well as plasma and erythrocyte GSH-Px activity. Dietary Se intake was found to be correlated to erythrocyte GSH-Px (r = 0.50, p0.05). The selenium nutritional status seemed to be insufficient, especially in females with psoriasis of no longer than 10 months' duration and males with long-lasting psoriasis. In these males plasma and erythrocyte GSH-Px activity were inversely correlated to the severity of the disease (r = -0.64 and r = -0.41, p0.05, respectively). The results obtained suggest that Se dietary intake could be one of the contributing factors in the pathogenesis and course of psoriasis. Further studies are needed to explore this relationship.

Transthoracic echocardiography and color flow Doppler have been shown to be of value in evaluating regurgitant St. Jude Medical (SJM) prostheses in the aortic valve position. 1 These studies have emphasized the limitations of this technique in diagnosing SJM mitral regurgitation because of flow masking and signal attenuation produced by the echo-reflective metallic valves. 2 Transesophageal echocardiography and color flow Doppler overcome these problems and show promise in evaluating normal functioning and regurgitant SJM mitral valves. 3,4 This report describes our transesophageal ultrasound experience with 28 normal functioning and 8 regurgitant SJM prostheses in the mitral valve position.

The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between the work load, evaluated by the occupational activity, and the incidence of cholelithiasis. In total 372 subjects (169 cholelithiasis patients examined using USG, and 203 controls), hospitalised in 1993 in the Department of Gastroenterology, Regional Hospital, Białystok, completed the questionnaire. Attention was also given to age, sex, permanent residence, education and physical activities after work. A moderate physical effort, both occupational and non-occupational, seemed to reduce the risk of cholelithasis.

A frequent long-term complication of bioprosthetic valves is spontaneous degeneration of the cusps with clinical features of valve regurgitation or, less frequently, valve stenosis.1 Transthoracic echocardiography with cardiac Doppler is valuable in diagnosing stenosis of bioprosthetic valves.2 However, a major drawback of this approach is that all 3 bioprosthetic cusps are not consistently demonstrated owing to sound attenuation from the intervening chest wall and lungs, and to reverberation from the metal portion of the valve ring and stents. These problems are usually overcome by using a transesophageal ultrasound probe. We recently described our transesophageal echocardiographic investigations in predominantly regurgitant bioprosthetic valves.3 Those patients are not included in this study. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports on stenotic bioprostheses studied by transesophageal echocardiography.

An asymptomatic patient was discovered to have a large right atrial myxoma by transthoracic echocardiography. Preoperative considerations included the possibility of satellite lesions, left atrial origin, and a question of tricuspid valve involvement. Subsequent operative transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated single-stalk attachment in the right atrial septal wall and no satellite lesions. Doppler and color flow examination immediately following tumor removal aided in the decision not to perform tricuspid annuloplasty as there was no significant tricuspid regurgitation. The combined use of transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography with Doppler and color flow imaging aids in the preoperative and intraoperative diagnosis and surgical management of right atrial tumors. (Chest 1991; 100:575-76)