Value-based Innovation: Safety and Security

1. Pharmacotherapy Decision Support System to Help Improve the Effectiveness of Diabetes Treatment in the USA

In the USA, where one in four people aged 65 and over are diabetic^*, the expense of long-term drug treatments is a major issue for patients. In response, Hitachi and the University of Utah have jointly developed a pharmacotherapy decision support system that helps patients and clinicians considering treatment strategies to reach a common understanding.

The system uses its special technology for building state transition models of past medication patterns contained in clinical data on 27,904 diabetes cases held by the university. This can be used to predict the therapeutic efficacy of particular drugs (for example, the probability of achieving a blood sugar control goal after three months) based on the patient’s condition. The technology provides more accurate probability calculations than conventional machine learning (an 80% reduction in error), with a comparison display presenting both the drug cost and risk of side effects on an electronic health record system. As a result, use of the system enables both therapeutic efficacy and expense to be taken into account when deciding on a treatment strategy. Clinical trials at 13 clinics affiliated with the University of Utah commenced in February 2019 in preparation for practical deployment. Further improvements are also being made to the system while increasing the number of cases using the application. Hitachi will continue to use this system to contribute to the realization of healthcare services that aim to improve the quality of life (QoL) of patients.

［01］Dashboard of pharmacotherapy decision support system

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Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “National Diabetes Statistics Report,” 2020

2. Sample Foam Detection Technique for cobas e 801 Immunoassay Analyzer

• * See the list of “Trademarks.”

3. Automatic Finger Blood Sample Collection Device that Facilitates Creation of New Testing Service Solutions

Hitachi has developed a device for automatically collecting blood samples from fingers to reduce sample collection workloads for clinical staff.

The device uses a finger placement unit together with a cassette that holds the disposable puncture instrument, sample bottles, and styptic cotton^*1. The device works by controlling the movement of the cassette and the compression and release of a tourniquet that wraps around the finger of the patient giving the sample after they insert it into the unit. It automatically punctures the fingertip, encourages blood flow, collects the sample, and then staunches the flow once it has obtained a sufficient sample size for analysis by an automatic blood testing system (400 µL for biochemical testing or immunoassay, 250 µL for blood count).

The device was evaluated by Fujita Health University with which Hitachi High-Tech has a joint research relationship. This testing found a good correlation between analysis results (eight blood count parameters, blood sugar, HbAlc, and 18 biochemical parameters) obtained for samples collected using this device and those collected by the usual method of taking samples from the veins of the upper arm.

In the future, Hitachi intends to help create a safe and secure society, with finger blood collection devices playing a central role in the creation of new testing service solutions that allow for more decentralized testing.

［03］Automatic finger blood sample collection device and sample cassette

*1

The puncture instrument is a BD Microtainer^*2 contact-activated lancet and the sample bottles are BD Microtainer blood collection tubes with BD Microguard^*2 closures.

• *2 See the list of “Trademarks.”

4. New Variable-energy Accelerator for Particle Beam Therapy

Particle beam therapy is a form of radiotherapy for cancer that uses an accelerator to accelerate an ion beam up to the required energy level based on the shape of the irradiated area and its depth under the patient’s skin, directing the beam to deliver the appropriate dose distribution. Hitachi has developed a new variable-energy accelerator that can deliver high dose rates with precision and also features a small size and low cost that make it suitable for use in small and medium-sized hospitals.

Previous accelerators have used either synchrotrons or cyclotrons. Whereas synchrotrons are readily able to turn the beam on or off and vary its energy, cyclotrons are unable to vary beam energy on their own, but are easy to miniaturize through the use of superconductor electromagnets.

The new accelerator combines the advantages of both types of accelerators, using the magnetic field from a superconductor electromagnet to generate eccentric orbits and using a high-frequency acceleration cavity to accelerate the beam up to the desired energy. It achieves both variable energy and on/off control by positioning a high-frequency kicker at the point where the orbits for different beam energies coincide and engaging it at the right timing to deflect the beam toward the exit channel.

The ability to extract the beam has already been demonstrated in simulation under ideal electromagnetic field conditions and design work is now proceeding on implementing it in an actual therapy system.

［04］Configuration of new variable-energy accelerator

5. Radionuclide Manufacturing Technique for Targeted Alpha-particle Therapy

6. Cooperative Security Operation Techniques for Improving Detection of Cyberattacks

As cyberattacks have become increasingly sophisticated in recent years, there is only so much that organizations acting alone can do to prevent them. This has created a need for organizations to mount a joint defense in which they share their access logs with one another. Unfortunately, such logs can be difficult for other organizations to use if the confidential information they contain, such as user names, is deleted prior to sharing. In response, Hitachi has developed a technique that enables various analyses to be performed without disclosing information. This involves providing other organizations with logic in which analysis procedures based on the organization’s own expertise has been encrypted so that the other organizations can only obtain the results of applying this logic to logs.

A trial to assess the benefits of this technique was undertaken in partnership with Keio University and Chubu Electric Power Co., Inc. The trial involved the supply of logic for analyzing user behavior and its use to identify suspicious websites through the analysis of 2.5 billion web access log records collected by Keio University in which user names had been encrypted. Compared to the originating company only analyzing its own logs, the results indicated a 30% reduction in mis-identifications without compromising the positive identification rate.

In the future, this technique will help improve security for social infrastructure through its use across a range of industries.

［06］System utilizing information from other organizations in cooperative security operations for the detection of cyberattacks

7. High-volume, Contactless Finger Vein Authentication

Biometric authentication is being used in services such as payments with high user numbers. With the spread of COVID-19, however, there have also been urgent calls for its use to provide contactless authentication. In response, Hitachi has developed a high-volume, contactless finger vein authentication technique that can achieve accurate identification of individuals from millions of users simply by having them position their fingers near the scanner.

It can reliably detect multiple fingers without physical contact by illuminating them with two wavelengths of light at the same time (infrared and visible light), with accuracy being improved by using a number of different biometric features that can be acquired simultaneously.

Hitachi also has its own public biometric infrastructure (PBI) that performs authentication using a public key generated by putting biometric information through a one-way conversion used together with this new technique, secure, fast, and accurate authentication is achieved by searching through candidate users at high speed using compressed biometric feature information.

In the future, Hitachi intends to provide identity verification and cashless payments across a wide range of both commercial and consumer applications as it continues developing technologies to overcome new societal challenges while also supporting society and life under the new normal.

［07］Secure, fast, and accurate finger vein authentication system with PBI support

8. CPS Development for Achieving Sustainable Societies and Participation in Common Ground Living Lab

*1

gluon inc.; Takenaka Corporation; Nakanishi Metal Works Co., Ltd.; Hitachi, Ltd.; and Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. (listed in Japanese language order)

*2

Extended reality or cross reality. General terms for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and substitutional reality (SR).

9. Data Utilization for Hitachi’s IoT Solution for Buildings

10. HORA: A Prototype ADAS Solution for Trams

11. Enhancement of Vision-based Sensor Performance for Autonomous Driving Using Connected Data