Data protection and information security in biomedical research: A sequential explanatory mixed study.

PURPOSE: Biomedical research is a pillar of every medical student's career. When collecting data, several regulations are established to ensure the protection of individuals. Most medical students are not compliant with the guidelines, and this is probably due to a lack of knowledge. The aim of our research is to evaluate the knowledge and behavior of medical students regarding these rules, then attempt to explain the results obtained. METHODS: This is a sequential explanatory mixed study including an initial quantitative section followed by an explanatory qualitative section. For the quantitative part, we administered a questionnaire based on the information security regulation and the GDPR to third- and fourth-year medical students. We evaluated their knowledge and behaviors and their correlation. For the qualitative part, we conducted semi-structured interviews with eight students followed by thematic analysis to explain the results. RESULTS: Most students have a lack of knowledge. A correlation was found between the non-compliant behavior of keeping the laptop unattended in a public place and a low level of knowledge. For the qualitative section, the thematic analysis represents three groups to explain non-compliant behavior: lack of knowledge, work overload, and consideration of the hospital as a safe place. CONCLUSION: Data collection and information security rules are rarely followed by medical students. This is mainly due to lack of knowledge, work overload and assuming the hospital as a safe place. Future awareness interventions would be necessary to improve non-compliant behavior and subsequently ensure a more secure environment during medical research.

Data Protection in Healthcare Research: Medical Students' Knowledge and Behavior.

Healthcare research involves handling personal health information. Information security policies are implemented in research institutions to ensure data subjects' rights but are not always respected due to researchers' neglect or unawareness. This paper is part of an action research project at Saint Joseph University in Lebanon aiming to increase researchers' compliance with the university's information security policy. An anonymous online questionnaire was administered to medical students to evaluate their knowledge and behavior regarding patient data handling in research projects. 38 responses were collected. Results show that most students collect patient data for research, and are frequently not aware of, and do not comply with, the existing information security policy. We also found correlations between low knowledge and non-compliant behaviors including clicking on links from unknown senders, leaving computers unattended, and sharing data insecurely. To address these issues, we plan to implement various Information Security Awareness interventions and compare their effectiveness.

Uncovering the role of urinary microbiota in urological tumors: a systematic review of literature.

PURPOSE: Urinary microbiota has been found to play a key role in numerous urological diseases. The aim of this systematic review is to depict the role of urinary microbiota in the pathogenesis, diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of urological tumors, including bladder cancer (BCa), prostate cancer (PCa) and renal cell carcinoma (RCC). METHODS: A systematic PubMed and Scopus search was undergone from inception through June 2021 for studies investigating urinary microbiota alterations in urological tumors. Study selection followed the PRISMA statement. Phylum, family, genus and species of each bacterium in cancer patients and controls were recorded. RESULTS: Twenty-one studies with 1194 patients (748 cancer patients and 446 controls) were included in our final analysis. Certain bacterial phylum, family, genus, and species were more predominant in each of BCa, PCa and RCC patients compared to controls. Abundance and specificity of urinary microbiota were prognosticators for: (1) recurrence, distinguishing recurrent from non-recurrent BCa, (2) disease stage, distinguishing non-muscle invasive from muscle invasive BCa, and (3) disease grade, distinguishing high- vs. low-grade PCa and BCa. Dietary, environmental and geographic patterns influenced urinary microbiota. Urinary microbiota of benign prostatic hyperplasia was different from PCa. CONCLUSION: Urological cancer patients have an altered urinary microbiota compared to controls. This may predict recurrence, disease stage and disease grade of these tumors. Further prospective studies are needed to depict a potential influence on therapeutic outcomes.