bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Effect of Computational Constraints on Zero-Dimensional Computations for the Nanosecond-Order Ignition Process of the CH4/Air Mixture
Authors: Suzuki M. , Morii Y. , Nakamura H. , Maruta K.
Published: September 2021

Zero-dimensional computations of nanosecond-order ignition using a nanosecond discharge are performed with two constraints. The effects of these constraints are assessed to study the experimental rapid pressure change properly at the initial stages. The computations are carried out with the following constraints: constant internal energy and volume (U&V) and constant enthalpy and pressure (H&P), revealing differences between the two solutions. As the pressure remains constant under the H&P constraint, the total number density of all species decreases during ignition. In this case, O radicals are less generated and consumed. The progression of all reactions and temperatures increases under the H&P constraint less intensely than under the U&V constraint. Significant differences are found between the results calculated under the U&V and H&P constraints. Therefore, large discrepancies with real phenomena can be caused if the loss due to pressure reduction is not treated well.
Symptomatic pancreatic body endometrial cyst requiring en bloc distal pancreatectomy
Authors: Ludwig Cameron , Kopacz Avery , Warren M Logan , Onkendi Edwin
Published: September 2021

Pancreatic endometriosis is an extremely rare condition, with only a few cases described in the literature. Definitive diagnosis is often difficult to elucidate and will almost always require biopsy or surgical resection. We present a case of a female in her early thirties with a well-known history of widespread endometriosis presenting with vague epigastric pain. CT imaging showed an 11 cm well-circumscribed simple-appearing cyst in the lessor sac. Its origin could not be determined preoperatively but it appeared to involve the parenchyma of the body of the pancreas. Due to the associated pain and indeterminate nature, subtotal surgical resection of the extrapancreatic cyst was performed with the intrapancreatic cyst being managed by a cystogastrostomy to the adjacent stomach in a planned pancreas-sparing procedure following intraoperative confirmation it was arising within the pancreas. Pathological evaluation of the resected cyst confirmed it to be an endometrial cyst. The cystogastrostomy anastomosis subsequently obstructed a few weeks postoperatively and symptoms recurred from cyst enlargement. Redo robotic resection with resection of the remnant cyst, cystogastrostomy and en bloc spleen-preserving distal pancreatectomy was performed. The patient had an uneventful recovery. She has had no recurrence of cyst or symptoms since. A procedure video is included in the report.
Impact of COVID-19 social distancing measures on future incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease in England and Wales: a mathematical modelling study
Authors: Choi Yoon Hong , Miller Elizabeth
Published: September 2021

Objectives

In January 2020, the UK moved to a 1+1 schedule for the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV13) with a single priming dose at 3-month and a 12-month booster. We modelled the impact on invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) out to 2030/2031 of reductions in PCV13 coverage and population mixing associated with restrictions on non-essential healthcare visits and social distancing measures introduced in 2020/2021 to reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Design

Using an existing model of pneumococcal transmission in England and Wales, we simulated the impact of a 40% reduction in coverage and a 40% reduction in mixing between and within age groups during two lockdowns in spring 2020 and autumn/winter 2020/2021. More and less extreme reductions in coverage and mixing were explored in a sensitivity analysis.

Main outcome measures

Predicted annual numbers of IPD cases under different coverage and mixing reduction scenarios with uncertainty intervals (UIs) generated from minimum and maximum values of the model predictions using 500 parameter sets.

Results

The model predicted that any increase in IPD cases resulting from a reduction in PCV13 coverage would be more than offset by a reduction in pneumococcal transmission due to social distancing measures and that overall reductions in IPD cases will persist for a few years after resumption of normal mixing. The net reduction in cumulative IPD cases over the five epidemiological years from July 2019 was predicted to be 13 494 (UI 12 211, 14 676) all ages. Similar results were obtained in the sensitivity analysis.

Conclusion

COVID-19 lockdowns are predicted to have had a profound effect on pneumococcal transmission resulting in a reduction in pneumococcal carriage prevalence and IPD incidence for up to 5 years after the end of the lockdown period. Carriage studies will be informative in confirming the predicted impact of the lockdown measures after they have been lifted.
Practical and validated tool to assess falls risk in the primary care setting: a systematic review
Authors: Meekes Wytske MA , Korevaar Joke C , Leemrijse Chantal J , van de Goor Ien AM
Published: September 2021

Objective

Although several falls risk assessment tools are available, it is unclear which have been validated and which would be most suitable for primary care practices. This systematic review aims to identify the most suitable falls risk assessment tool for the primary care setting (ie, requires limited time, no expensive equipment and no additional space) and that has good predictive performance in the assessment of falls risk among older people living independently.

Design

A systematic review based on prospective studies.

Methods

An extensive search was conducted in the following databases: PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, Cochrane and PsycINFO. Tools were excluded if they required expensive and/or advanced software that is not usually available in primary care units and if they had not been validated in at least three different studies. Of 2492 articles published between January 2000 and July 2020, 27 were included.

Results

Six falls risk assessment tools were identified: Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, Gait Speed test, Berg Balance Scale, Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment, Functional Reach test and falls history. Most articles reported area under the curve (AUC) values ranging from 0.5 to 0.7 for these tools. Sensitivity and specificity varied substantially across studies (eg, TUG, sensitivity:10%–83.3%, specificity:28.4%–96.6%).

Conclusions

Given that none of the falls risk assessment tools had sufficient predictive performance (AUC <0.7), other ways of assessing high falls risk among independently living older people in primary care should be investigated. For now, the most suitable way to assess falls risk in the primary care setting appears to involve asking patients about their falls history. Compared with the other five tools, the falls history requires the least amount of time, no expensive equipment, no training and no spatial adjustments. The clinical judgement of healthcare professionals continues to be most important, as it enables the identification of high falls risk even for patients with no falls history.

Trial registraion number

The Netherlands Trial Register, NL7917; Pre-results.
Healing Right Way: study protocol for a stepped wedge cluster randomised controlled trial to enhance rehabilitation services and improve quality of life in Aboriginal Australians after brain injury
Authors: Armstrong Elizabeth , Coffin Juli , Hersh Deborah , Katzenellenbogen Judith M , Thompson Sandra , Flicker Leon , McAllister Meaghan , Cadilhac Dominique A , Rai Tapan , Godecke Erin , Hayward Colleen , Hankey Graeme J , Drew Neil , Lin Ivan , Woods Deborah , Ciccone Natalie
Published: September 2021

Introduction

Despite higher incidence of brain injury among Aboriginal compared with non-Aboriginal Australians, suboptimal engagement exists between rehabilitation services and Aboriginal brain injury survivors. Aboriginal patients often feel culturally insecure in hospital and navigation of services post discharge is complex. Health professionals report feeling ill-equipped working with Aboriginal patients. This study will test the impact of a research-informed culturally secure intervention model for Aboriginal people with brain injury.

Methods and analysis

Design:Stepped wedge cluster randomised control trial design; intervention sequentially introduced at four pairs of healthcare sites across Western Australia at 26-week intervals.

Recruitment:Aboriginal participants aged ≥18 years within 4 weeks of an acute stroke or traumatic brain injury.

Intervention:(1) Cultural security training for hospital staff and (2) local, trial-specific, Aboriginal Brain Injury Coordinators supporting participants.

Primary outcome: Quality-of-life using EuroQOL-5D-3L (European Quality of Life scale, five dimensions, three severity levels) Visual Analogue Scale score at 26 weeks post injury. Recruitment of 312 participants is estimated to detect a difference of 15 points with 80% power at the 5% significance level. A linear mixed model will be used to assess the between-condition difference.

Secondary outcome measures: Modified Rankin Scale, Functional Independence Measure, Modified Caregiver Strain Index, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale at 12 and 26 weeks post injury, rehabilitation occasions of service received, hospital compliance with minimum care processes by 26 weeks post injury, acceptability of Intervention Package, feasibility of Aboriginal Brain Injury Coordinator role.

Evaluations: An economic evaluation will determine the potential cost-effectiveness of the intervention. Process evaluation will document fidelity to study processes and capture changing contexts including barriers to intervention implementation and acceptability/feasibility of the intervention through participant questionnaires at 12 and 26 weeks.

Ethics and dissemination

The study has approvals from Aboriginal, university and health services human research ethics committees. Findings will be disseminated through stakeholder reports, participant workshops, peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers.

Trial registration number

ACTRN12618000139279.
Association between newborn separation, maternal consent and health outcomes: findings from a longitudinal survey in Kenya
Authors: Nakphong Michelle Kao , Sacks Emma , Opot James , Sudhinaraset May
Published: September 2021

Objectives

Disrespectful and poor treatment of newborns such as unnecessary separation from parents or failure to obtain parental consent for medical procedures occurs at health facilities across contexts, but little research has investigated the prevalence, risk factors or associated outcomes. This study examined these experiences and associations with healthcare satisfaction, use and breast feeding.

Design

Prospective cohort study.

Setting

3 public hospitals, 2 private hospitals, and 1 health centre/dispensary in Nairobi and Kiambu counties in Kenya.

Participants

Data were collected from women who delivered in health facilities between September 2019 and January 2020. The sample included 1014 women surveyed at baseline and at least one follow-up at 2–4 or 10 weeks post partum.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

(1) Outcomes related to satisfaction with care and care utilisation; (2) continuation of post-discharge newborn care practices such as breast feeding.

Results

17.6% of women reported newborn separation at the facility, of whom 71.9% were separated over 10 min. 44.9% felt separation was unnecessary and 8.4% reported not knowing the reason for separation. 59.9% reported consent was not obtained for procedures on their newborn. Women separated from their newborn (>10 min) were 44% less likely to be exclusively breast feeding at 2–4 weeks (adjusted OR (aOR)=0.56, 95% CI: 0.40 to 0.76). Obtaining consent for newborn procedures corresponded with 2.7 times greater likelihood of satisfaction with care (aOR=2.71, 95% CI: 1.67 to 4.41), 27% greater likelihood of postpartum visit attendance for self or newborn (aOR=1.27, 95% CI: 1.05 to 1.55), and 33% greater likelihood of exclusive breast feeding at 10 weeks (aOR=1.33, 95% CI: 1.10 to 1.62).

Conclusions

Newborns, mothers and families have a right to high-quality, respectful care, including the ability to stay together, be informed and properly consent for care. The implications of these experiences on health outcomes a month or more after discharge illustrate the importance of a positive experience of postnatal care.
Incidence, trends and risk factors for obstetric massive blood transfusion in China from 2012 to 2019: an observational study
Authors: Xie Yanxia , Liang Juan , Mu Yi , Liu Zheng , Wang Yanping , Dai Li , Li Xiaohong , Li Qi , Li Mingrong , Chen Peiran , Zhu Jun , Wang Xiaodong
Published: September 2021

Objectives

This study aims to use the high-quality national monitoring data from the China’s National Maternal Near Miss Surveillance System (NMNMSS) to ascertain the incidence, trends and risk factors of obstetric massive blood transfusion (MBT) from 2012 to 2019 in China and determine its clinical outcomes.

Settings

Observational study of hospitalised pregnancies who had given birth or ended their pregnancy among member hospitals of NMNMSS.

Participants

11 667 406 women were included in this study.

Primary and secondary outcome measures

We screened for the incidence, trends, risk factors and main reasons for obstetric MBT, and the outcomes after obstetric MBT. MBT was defined as the transfusion of ≥5 units of red blood cells or ≥1000 mL of whole blood. The incidence of MBT was defined as the MBT cases per 10 000 pregnancies.

Results

Obstetric MBT occurred in 27 626 cases, corresponding to an incidence of 23.68 per 10 000 maternities, which exhibited an increasing trend in China during 2012–2019 (14.03–29.59 per 10 000 maternities, p for trend <0.001). Obstetric MBT was mainly associated with amniotic fluid embolism, uterine atony, abnormal placenta, severe anaemia, ectopic pregnancy, abortion, caesarean section, advanced maternal age and multiparous from biological effect. While from sociological effects, uterine atony, severe anaemia and placenta previa are the top three complications which more likely to undergo obstetric MBT in the Chinese population. Overall, the secular trends of hysterectomy incidence (25.07%–9.92%) and MMR during hospitalisation (21.41‰–7.48‰) among women who underwent MBT showed decreasing trends (p for trend <0.001).

Conclusion

To minimise the incidence of obstetric MBT, more attention should be paid to education on the importance of the antenatal visit, evidence-based transfusion practice and females who are multiparous and have an advanced age, amniotic fluid embolism, uterine atony, severe anaemia and placenta previa.
Acceptability of and symptom findings from an online symptom check-in tool for COVID-19 outpatient follow-up among a predominantly healthcare worker population
Authors: Kerr Colm , O’ Regan Simon , Creagh Donnacha , Hughes Gerry , Geary Una , Colgan Mary-Paula , Canning Caitriona , Martin Zenia , Merry Concepta , Noonan Noirin , Bergin Colm
Published: September 2021

Introduction

Health systems worldwide have had to prepare for a surge in volume in both the outpatient and inpatient settings since the emergence of COVID-19. Early international healthcare experiences showed approximately 80% of patients with COVID-19 had mild disease and therfore could be managed as outpatients. However, SARS-CoV-2 can cause a biphasic illness with those affected experiencing a clinical deterioration usually seen after day 4 of illness.

Objective

We created an online tool with the primary objective of allowing for virtual disease triage among the increasing number of outpatients diagnosed with COVID-19 at our hospital. Secondary aims included COVID-19 education and the promotion of official COVID-19 information among these outpatients, and analysis of reported symptomatology.

Methods

Outpatients with acute COVID-19 disease received text messages from the hospital containing a link to an online symptom check-in tool which they were invited to complete.

Results

296 unique participants (72%) from 413 contacted by text completed the online check-in tool at least once, generating 831 responses from 1324 texts sent. 83% of text recipients and 91% of unique participants were healthcare workers. 7% of responses to the tool were from participants who admitted to a slight worsening of their symptoms during follow-up. Fatigue was the most commonly reported symptom overall (79%), followed by headache (72%). Fatigue, headache and myalgia were the most frequently reported symptoms in the first 3 days of illness. 8% of responses generated in the first 7 days of illness did not report any of the cardinal symptoms (fever, cough, dyspnoea, taste/smell disturbance) of COVID-19. Participants found the tool to be useful and easy to use, describing it as ‘helpful’ and ‘reassuring’ in a follow-up feedback survey (n=140). 93% said they would use such a tool in the future. 39% reported ongoing fatigue, 16% reported ongoing smell disturbance and 14% reported ongoing dyspnoea after 6 months.

Conclusion

The online symptom check-in tool was found to be acceptable to participants and saw high levels of engagement and satisfaction. Symptomatology findings highlight the variety and persistence of symptoms experienced by those with confirmed COVID-19 disease
Characterisation of social support following incarceration among black sexual minority men and transgender women in the HPTN 061 cohort study
Authors: Scheidell Joy D , Dyer Typhanye V , Hucks-Ortiz Christopher , Abrams Jasmyn , Mazumdar Medha , Cleland Charles , Irvine Natalia , Turpin Rodman E , Severe MacRegga , Mayer Kenneth , Khan Maria
Published: September 2021

Objective

To examine longitudinal associations between recent incarceration and subsequent social support among black sexual minority men and transgender women, and whether associations differed between those who did and did not have support prior to incarceration.

Design

A secondary analysis in 2020 of data from the HIV Prevention Trials Network 061, a cohort study of black sexual minority men and transgender women recruited in 2009–2010 and followed for 12 months.

Setting

Six US cities (Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Washington DC).

Participants

Individuals ≥18 years of age who identified as black, reported being male or assigned male at birth, reported ≥1 unprotected anal intercourse event with a male partner in the past 6 months, and reported on incarceration at the 6-month follow-up visit.

Exposure

Having spent ≥1 night in jail/prison in the past 6 months reported at the 6-month follow-up visit.

Outcome

Social support measured using a six-item scale assessing frequency of emotional/informational, affectionate and tangible support (range 6–30); and dichotomous indicators of low support for each item (ie, receiving that form of support none/little of the time).

Results

Among participants who returned for the 6-month visit (N=1169), 14% had experienced incarceration in the past 6 months. Mean support score was 20.9; 18.9 among those with recent incarceration versus 21.2 among those without. Recent incarceration predicted lower support (adjusted β −2.40, 95% CI −3.94 to –0.85). Those recently incarcerated had increased risk of lacking emotional/informational (eg, no one to talk to adjusted risk ratio (aRR) 1.55, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.13) and affectionate (aRR 1.51, 95% CI 1.11 to 2.04) but not tangible support. Effects appeared somewhat stronger among those who had support at baseline.

Conclusions

Incarceration may reduce support on re-entry among black sexual minority men and transgender women, populations unequally targeted for incarceration and at risk for low support.
Malnutrition modifies the response to multimodal prehabilitation: a pooled analysis of prehabilitation trials
Authors: Gillis C. , Fenton T.R. , Gramlich L. , Keller H. , Sajobi T.T. , Culos-Reed S.N. , Richer L. , Awasthi R. , Carli F.
Published: September 2021

Patients with colorectal cancer are at risk of malnutrition before surgery. Multimodal prehabilitation (nutrition, exercise, stress reduction) readies patients physically and mentally for their operation. However, it is unclear whether extent of malnutrition influences prehabilitation outcomes. We conducted a pooled analysis from five 4-week multimodal prehabilitation trials in colorectal cancer surgery (prehabilitation: n = 195; control: n = 71). Each patient’s nutritional status was evaluated at baseline using the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA; higher score, greater need for treatment of malnutrition). Functional walking capacity was measured with the 6-minute walk test distance (6MWD) at baseline and before surgery. A multivariable mixed effects logistic regression model evaluated the potential modifying effect of PG-SGA on a clinically meaningful change of ≥19 m in 6MWD before surgery. Multimodal prehabilitation increased the odds by 3.4 times that colorectal cancer patients improved their 6MWD before surgery as compared with control (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.6 to 7.3; P = 0.001, n = 220). Nutritional status significantly modified this outcome (P = 0.007): Neither those patients with PG-SGA ≥9 (adjusted odds ratio: 1.3; 95% CI: 0.23 to 7.2, P = 0.771, n = 39) nor PG-SGA <4 (adjusted odds ratio: 1.3; 95% CI: 0.5 to 3.8, P = 0.574, n = 87) improved in 6MWD with prehabilitation. In conclusion, baseline nutritional status modifies prehabilitation effectiveness before colorectal cancer surgery. Patients with a PG-SGA score 4–8 appear to benefit most (physically) from 4 weeks of multimodal prehabilitation.

Novelty: Nutritional status is an effect modifier of prehabilitation physical function outcomes. Patients with a PG-SGA score 4–8 benefited physically from 4 weeks of multimodal prehabilitation.
Late Permian ultrapotassic rhyolites in SE Thailand: evidence for a Palaeotethyan continental rift basin
Authors: Qian Xin , Ma Shen , Lu Xianghong , Wu Sainan , Udchachon Mongkol , Zhang Yuzhi , Wang Yuejun
Published: September 2021

The volcanic rocks in the Chanthaburi zone are rarely reported, but are important in investigating the tectonic evolution of the Palaeotethyan Ocean in SE Thailand. Four rhyolitic samples from Ko Chang Island yield zircon ages of 258–254 Ma, confirming the presence of Late Permian volcanic rocks in SE Thailand. These rocks consist of Group 1 rhyolites and Group 2 rhyolitic ignimbrites and have high K
2
O contents of 4.92–7.10 wt% and A/CNK values of 1.10–1.69. They are enriched in the light rare earth elements, Rb, Th, U, Zr and Y and show negative anomalies of Ba, Sr, Nb, Ta and Ti, with clear Eu anomalies. Their whole-rock

ε

Nd
(
t
) values range from −1.7 to −3.1. Zircon
in situ

ε

Hf
(
t
) and

δ

18
O values range from 0.0 to +5.6 and from 8.2 to 9.6‰, respectively. They belong to the group of peraluminous, ultrapotassic A-type rhyolites and were derived from partial melting of a mixed source of Mesoproterozoic metasedimentary rocks with a component of juvenile mafic crust. These ultrapotassic rhyolites formed in a continental rift setting in response to the rollback of a subducted Palaeotethyan oceanic slab beneath the Indochina Block. Combining these results with previous geological observations, we propose that there were some sporadically distributed continental rift basins along the Eastern Palaeotethyan domain during the Permian.

Supplementary material:
Major oxides, trace element analytical and Nd isotopic data, LA–ICP–MS and SIMS zircon U–Pb ages and Zircon in-situ Hf–O isotopic compositions are available at
https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5635390
Cross-border stratigraphy of the Northern, Central and Southern North Sea: a comparative tectono-stratigraphic megasequence synthesis
Authors: Patruno Stefano , Kombrink Henk , Archer Stuart G.
Published: September 2021

The Devonian–Recent tectono-stratigraphic history of the Northern, Central and Southern North Sea is here reviewed at a regional scale and four novel cross-border pseudo-Wheeler diagrams are presented to summarize the stratigraphic evolution of the cycles of basin fill and uplift/erosion. In this scheme, six first-order megasequence boundaries have been defined, characterized by extensive and long-lasting erosional hiatuses and major coastal regressions: (1) Caledonian (or Base Devonian) Unconformity; (2) Variscan–Saalian (or Base Permian) Unconformity; (3) Mid Cimmerian (or Intra-Aalenian) Unconformity; (4) Late Cimmerian (or Base Cretaceous) Unconformity; (5) Atlantean (or Near-Base Tertiary) Unconformity; and (6) Eridanos (or Mid-Miocene) Unconformity. These surfaces have been linked to regional causal factors ranging from orogenesis-related compressional uplifts, in either active plate margin settings (1) or foreland basin settings (2), to intra-plate dynamically supported uplifts associated with the development of mantle plumes (3, 5 and 6) and the end-of-rifting and associated widespread erosion of tilted fault block crests (4). The aforementioned megasequence boundaries punctuate the geodynamic evolution of the North Sea area and facilitate the subdivision of the entire the North Sea sedimentary basin fill into six megasequences, named here A–F. All of the lithostratigraphic units of the North Sea (formations and members) have been described within the context of this first-order tectono-stratigraphic framework. The correlation powers of certain stratigraphic markers are also compared and contrasted, together with the potential cross-border equivalence of sedimentary units on different sides of the political median lines.
Current synthesis of the penultimate icehouse and its imprint on the Upper Devonian through Permian stratigraphic record
Authors: Montañez Isabel Patricia
Published: September 2021

Icehouses are the less common climate state on Earth, and thus it is notable that the longest-lived (
c.
370 to 260 Ma) and possibly most extensive and intense of icehouse periods spanned the Carboniferous Period. Mid- to high-latitude glaciogenic deposits reveal a dynamic glaciation–deglaciation history with ice waxing and waning from multiple ice centres and possible transcontinental ice sheets during the apex of glaciation. New high-precision U–Pb ages confirm a hypothesized west-to-east progression of glaciation through the icehouse, but reveal that its demise occurred as a series of synchronous and widespread deglaciations. The dynamic glaciation history, along with repeated perturbations to Earth System components, are archived in the low-latitude stratigraphic record, revealing similarities to the Cenozoic icehouse. Further assessing the phasing between climate, oceanographic, and biotic changes during the icehouse requires additional chronostratigraphic constraints. Astrochronology permits the deciphering of time, at high resolution, in the late Paleozoic record as has been demonstrated in deep- and quiet-water deposits. Rigorous testing for astronomical forcing in low-latitude cyclothemic successions, which have a direct link to higher-latitude glaciogenic records through inferred glacioeustasy, however, will require a comprehensive approach that integrates new techniques with further optimization and additional independent age constraints given challenges associated with shallow-marine to terrestrial records.
Fortifying Vehicular Security through Low Overhead Physically Unclonable Functions
Authors: Labrado Carson , Thapliyal Himanshu , Mohanty Saraju P.
Published: September 2021

Within vehicles, the Controller Area Network (CAN) allows efficient communication between the electronic control units (ECUs) responsible for controlling the various subsystems. The CAN protocol was not designed to include much support for secure communication. The fact that so many critical systems can be accessed through an insecure communication network presents a major security concern. Adding security features to CAN is difficult due to the limited resources available to the individual ECUs and the costs that would be associated with adding the necessary hardware to support any additional security operations without overly degrading the performance of standard communication. Replacing the protocol is another option, but it is subject to many of the same problems. The lack of security becomes even more concerning as vehicles continue to adopt smart features. Smart vehicles have a multitude of communication interfaces an attacker could exploit to gain access to the networks. In this work, we propose a security framework that is based on physically unclonable functions (PUFs) and lightweight cryptography (LWC). The framework does not require any modification to the standard CAN protocol while also minimizing the amount of additional message overhead required for its operation. The improvements in our proposed framework result in major reduction in the number of CAN frames that must be sent during operation. For a system with 20 ECUs, for example, our proposed framework only requires 6.5% of the number of CAN frames that is required by the existing approach to successfully authenticate every ECU.
A Modular End-to-End Framework for Secure Firmware Updates on Embedded Systems
Authors: Falas Solon , Konstantinou Charalambos , Michael Maria K.
Published: September 2021

Firmware refers to device read-only resident code which includes microcode and macro-instruction-level routines. For Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices without an operating system, firmware includes all the necessary instructions on how such embedded systems operate and communicate. Thus, firmware updates are essential parts of device functionality. They provide the ability to patch vulnerabilities, address operational issues, and improve device reliability and performance during the lifetime of the system. This process, however, is often exploited by attackers in order to inject malicious firmware code into the embedded device. In this article, we present a framework for secure firmware updates on embedded systems. This approach is based on hardware primitives and cryptographic modules, and it can be deployed in environments where communication channels might be insecure. The implementation of the framework is flexible, as it can be adapted in regards to the IoT device’s available hardware resources and constraints. Our security analysis shows that our framework is resilient to a variety of attack vectors. The experimental setup demonstrates the feasibility of the approach. By implementing a variety of test cases on FPGA, we demonstrate the adaptability and performance of the framework. Experiments indicate that the update procedure for a 1183-kB firmware image could be achieved, in a secure manner, under 1.73 seconds.
EM-X-DL: Efficient Cross-device Deep Learning Side-channel Attack With Noisy EM Signatures
Authors: Danial Josef , Das Debayan , Golder Anupam , Ghosh Santosh , Raychowdhury Arijit , Sen Shreyas
Published: September 2021

This work presents a
Cross-device Deep-Learning based Electromagnetic (EM-X-DL) side-channel analysis (SCA)
on AES-128, in the presence of a significantly lower
signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
compared to previous works. Using a novel algorithm to intelligently select multiple training devices and proper choice of hyperparameters, the proposed 256-class
deep neural network (DNN)
can be trained efficiently utilizing pre-processing techniques like PCA, LDA, and FFT on measurements from the target encryption engine running on an 8-bit Atmel microcontroller. In this way, EM-X-DL achieves >90% single-trace attack accuracy. Finally, an efficient end-to-end SCA leakage detection and attack framework using EM-X-DL demonstrates high confidence of an attacker with <20 averaged EM traces.
PUF based Secure and Lightweight Authentication and Key-Sharing Scheme for Wireless Sensor Network
Authors: Mahalat Mahabub Hasan , Karmakar Dipankar , Mondal Anindan , Sen Bibhash
Published: September 2021

The deployment of wireless sensor networks (WSN) in an untended environment and the openness of the wireless channel bring various security threats to WSN. The resource limitations of the sensor nodes make the conventional security systems less attractive for WSN. Moreover, conventional cryptography alone cannot ensure the desired security against the physical attacks on sensor nodes. Physically unclonable function (PUF) is an emerging hardware security primitive that provides low-cost hardware security exploiting the unique inherent randomness of a device. In this article, we have proposed an authentication and key sharing scheme for the WSN integrating Pedersen’s verifiable secret sharing (Pedersen’s VSS) and Shamir’s secret sharing (Shamir’s SS) scheme with PUF which ensure the desired security with low overhead. The security analysis depicts the resilience of the proposed scheme against different active, passive and physical attacks. Also, the performance analysis shows that the proposed scheme possesses low computation, communication and storage overhead. The scheme only needs to store a polynomial number of PUF challenge-response pairs to the user node. The sink or senor nodes do not require storing any secret key. Finally, the comparison with the previous protocols establishes the dominance of the proposed scheme to use in WSN.
Polyhedral-Based Compilation Framework for In-Memory Neural Network Accelerators
Authors: Han Jianhui , Fei Xiang , Li Zhaolin , Zhang Youhui
Published: September 2021

Memristor-based processing-in-memory architecture is a promising solution to the memory bottleneck in the
neural network
(
NN
) processing. A major challenge for the programmability of such architectures is the automatic compilation of high-level NN workloads, from various operators to the memristor-based hardware that may provide programming interfaces with different granularities. This article proposes a source-to-source compilation framework for such memristor-based NN accelerators, which can conduct automatic detection and mapping of multiple NN operators based on the flexible and rich representation capability of the polyhedral model. In contrast to previous studies, it implements support for pipeline generation to exploit the parallelism in the NN loads to leverage hardware resources for higher efficiency. The evaluation based on synthetic kernels and NN benchmarks demonstrates that the proposed framework can reliably detect and map the target operators. Case studies on typical memristor-based architectures also show its generality over various architectural designs. The evaluation further demonstrates that compared with existing polyhedral-based compilation frameworks that do not support the pipelined execution, the performance can upgrade by an order of magnitude with the pipelined execution, which emphasizes the necessity of our improvement.
Device Hopping
Authors: Metzger Paul , Seeker Volker , Fensch Christian , Cole Murray
Published: September 2021

Existing OS techniques for homogeneous many-core systems make it simple for single and multithreaded applications to migrate between cores. Heterogeneous systems do not benefit so fully from this flexibility, and applications that cannot migrate in mid-execution may lose potential performance. The situation is particularly challenging when a switch of language runtime would be desirable in conjunction with a migration. We present a case study in making heterogeneous CPU + GPU systems more flexible in this respect. Our technique for fine-grained application migration, allows switches between OpenMP, OpenCL, and CUDA execution, in conjunction with migrations from GPU to CPU, and CPU to GPU. To achieve this, we subdivide iteration spaces into slices, and consider migration on a slice-by-slice basis. We show that slice sizes can be learned offline by machine learning models. To further improve performance, memory transfers are made migration-aware. The complexity of the migration capability is hidden from programmers behind a high-level programming model. We present a detailed evaluation of our mid-kernel migration mechanism with the First Come, First Served scheduling policy. We compare our technique in a focused evaluation scenario against idealized kernel-by-kernel scheduling, which is typical for current systems, and makes perfect kernel to device scheduling decisions, but cannot migrate kernels mid-execution. Models show that up to 1.33× speedup can be achieved over these systems by adding fine-grained migration. Our experimental results with all nine applicable SHOC and Rodinia benchmarks achieve speedups of up to 1.30× (1.08× on average) over an implementation of a perfect but kernel-migration incapable scheduler when migrated to a faster device. Our mechanism and slice size choices introduce an average slowdown of only 2.44% if kernels never migrate. Lastly, our programming model reduces the code size by at least 88% if compared to manual implementations of migratable kernels.
Spiking Neural Networks in Spintronic Computational RAM
Authors: Cılasun Hüsrev , Resch Salonik , Chowdhury Zamshed I. , Olson Erin , Zabihi Masoud , Zhao Zhengyang , Peterson Thomas , Parhi Keshab K. , Wang Jian-Ping , Sapatnekar Sachin S. , Karpuzcu Ulya R.
Published: September 2021

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) represent a biologically inspired computation model capable of emulating neural computation in human brain and brain-like structures. The main promise is very low energy consumption. Classic Von Neumann architecture based SNN accelerators in hardware, however, often fall short of addressing demanding computation and data transfer requirements efficiently at scale. In this article, we propose a promising alternative to overcome scalability limitations, based on a network of in-memory SNN accelerators, which can reduce the energy consumption by up to 150.25= when compared to a representative ASIC solution. The significant reduction in energy comes from two key aspects of the hardware design to minimize data communication overheads: (1) each node represents an in-memory SNN accelerator based on a spintronic Computational RAM array, and (2) a novel, De Bruijn graph based architecture establishes the SNN array connectivity.
The Software Industry IS STILL the Problem
Authors: Kamp Poul-Henning
Published: September 2021

The time is way overdue for IT engineers to be subject to professional liability, like almost every other engineering profession. Before you tell me that is impossible, please study how the very same thing happened with electricity, planes, cranes, trains, ships, automobiles, lifts, food processing, buildings, and, for that matter, driving a car.
FAST Proteins: Development and Use of Reverse Genetics Systems for Reoviridae Viruses
Authors: Kanai Yuta , Kobayashi Takeshi
Published: September 2021

Reverse genetics systems for viruses, the technology used to generate gene-engineered recombinant viruses from artificial genes, enable the study of the roles of the individual nucleotides and amino acids of viral genes and proteins in infectivity, replication, and pathogenicity. The successful development of a reverse genetics system for poliovirus in 1981 accelerated the establishment of protocols for other RNA viruses important for human health. Despite multiple efforts, rotavirus (RV), which causes severe gastroenteritis in infants, was refractory to reverse genetics analysis, and the first complete reverse genetics system for RV was established in 2017. This novel technique involves use of the fusogenic protein FAST (fusion-associated small transmembrane) derived from the bat-borne Nelson Bay orthoreovirus, which induces massive syncytium formation. Co-transfection of a FAST-expressing plasmid with complementary DNAs encoding RV genes enables rescue of recombinant RV. This review focuses on methodological insights into the reverse genetics system for RV and discusses applications and potential improvements to this system.
The Current Status of Latency Reversing Agents for HIV-1 Remission
Authors: Rodari Anthony , Darcis Gilles , Van Lint Carine M.
Published: September 2021

Combinatory antiretroviral therapy (cART) reduces human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) replication but is not curative because cART interruption almost invariably leads to a rapid rebound of viremia due to the persistence of stable HIV-1-infected cellular reservoirs. These reservoirs are mainly composed of CD4+T cells harboring replication-competent latent proviruses. A broadly explored approach to reduce the HIV-1 reservoir size, the shock and kill strategy, consists of reactivating HIV-1 gene expression from the latently infected cellular reservoirs (the shock), followed by killing of the virus-producing infected cells (the kill). Based on improved understanding of the multiple molecular mechanisms controlling HIV-1 latency, distinct classes of latency reversing agents (LRAs) have been studied for their efficiency to reactivate viral gene expression in in vitro and ex vivo cell models. Here, we provide an up-to-date review of these different mechanistic classes of LRAs and discuss optimizations of the shock strategy by combining several LRAs simultaneously or sequentially.
Historical Perspective on the Discovery of the Quasispecies Concept
Authors: Domingo Esteban , García-Crespo Carlos , Perales Celia
Published: September 2021

Viral quasispecies are dynamic distributions of nonidentical but closely related mutant and recombinant viral genomes subjected to a continuous process of genetic variation, competition, and selection that may act as a unit of selection. The quasispecies concept owes its theoretical origins to a model for the origin of life as a collection of mutant RNA replicators. Independently, experimental evidence for the quasispecies concept was obtained from sampling of bacteriophage clones, which revealed that the viral populations consisted of many mutant genomes whose frequency varied with time of replication. Similar findings were made in animal and plant RNA viruses. Quasispecies became a theoretical framework to understand viral population dynamics and adaptability. The evidence came at a time when mutations were considered rare events in genetics, a perception that was to change dramatically in subsequent decades. Indeed, viral quasispecies was the conceptual forefront of a remarkable degree of biological diversity, now evident for cell populations and organisms, not only for viruses. Quasispecies dynamics unveiled complexities in the behavior of viral populations,with consequences for disease mechanisms and control strategies. This review addresses the origin of the quasispecies concept, its major implications on both viral evolution and antiviral strategies, and current and future prospects.
Emerging role of MyomiRs as biomarkers and therapeutic targets in skeletal muscle diseases
Authors: Srivastava Sukanya , Rathor Richa , Singh Som Nath , Suryakumar Geetha
Published: September 2021

Several chronic diseases lead to skeletal muscle loss and a decline in physical performance. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs, which have exhibited their role in the development and diseased state of the skeletal muscle. miRNA regulates gene expression by binding to the 3′ untranslated region of its target mRNA. Due to the robust stability in biological fluids, miRNAs are ideal candidate as biomarker. These miRNAs provide a novel avenue in strengthening our awareness and knowledge about the factors governing skeletal muscle functions such as development, growth, metabolism, differentiation, and cell proliferation. It also helps in understanding the therapeutic strategies in improving or conserving skeletal muscle health. This review outlines the evidence regarding the present knowledge on the role miRNA as a potential biomarker in skeletal muscle diseases and their exploration might be a unique and potential therapeutic strategy for various skeletal muscle disorders.
CaMK4 is a downstream effector of the α1G T-type calcium channel to determine the angiogenic potential of pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells
Authors: Zheng Zhen , Wang Xuelin , Wang Yuxia , King Judy A. C. , Xie Peilin , Wu Songwei
Published: September 2021

Pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (PMVECs) uniquely express an α1G-subtype of voltage-gated T-type Ca2+ channel. We have previously revealed that the α1G channel functions as a background Ca2+ entry pathway that is critical for the cell proliferation, migration, and angiogenic potential of PMVECs, a novel function attributed to the coupling between α1G-mediated Ca2+ entry and constitutive Akt phosphorylation and activation. Despite this significance, mechanism(s) that link the α1G-mediated Ca2+ entry to Akt phosphorylation remain incompletely understood. In this study, we demonstrate that Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMK) 4 serves as a downstream effector of the α1G-mediated Ca2+ entry to promote the angiogenic potential of PMVECs. Notably, CaMK2 and CaMK4 are both expressed in PMVECs. Pharmacological blockade or genetic knockdown of the α1G channel led to a significant reduction in the phosphorylation level of CaMK4 but not the phosphorylation level of CaMK2. Pharmacological inhibition as well as genetic knockdown of CaMK4 significantly decreased cell proliferation, migration, and network formation capacity in PMVECs. However, CaMK4 inhibition or knockdown did not alter Akt phosphorylation status in PMVECs, indicating that α1G/Ca2+/CaMK4 is independent of the α1G/Ca2+/Akt pathway in sustaining the cells’ angiogenic potential. Altogether, these findings suggest a novel α1G-CaMK4 signaling complex that regulates the Ca2+-dominated angiogenic potential in PMVECs.
Pulmonary implications of acetaminophen exposures independent of hepatic toxicity
Authors: Dobrinskikh Evgenia , Al-Juboori Saif I. , Zarate Miguel A. , Zheng Lijun , De Dios Robyn , Balasubramaniyan Durga , Sherlock Laura G. , Orlicky David J. , Wright Clyde J.
Published: September 2021

Both preclinical and clinical studies have demonstrated that exposures to acetaminophen (APAP) at levels that cause hepatic injury cause pulmonary injury as well. However, whether exposures that do not result in hepatic injury have acute pulmonary implications is unknown. Thus, we sought to determine how APAP exposures at levels that do not result in significant hepatic injury impact the mature lung. Adult male ICR mice (8–12 wk) were exposed to a dose of APAP known to cause hepatotoxicity in adult mice [280 mg/kg, intraperitoneal (ip)], as well as a lower dose previously reported to not cause hepatic injury (140 mg/kg, ip). We confirm that the lower dose exposures did not result in significant hepatic injury. However, like high dose, lower exposure resulted in increased cellular content of the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and induced a proinflammatory pulmonary transcriptome. Both the lower and higher dose exposures resulted in measurable changes in lung morphometrics, with the lower dose exposure causing alveolar wall thinning. Using RNAScope, we were able to detect dose-dependent, APAP-induced pulmonary Cyp2e1 expression. Finally, using FLIM we determined that both APAP exposures resulted in acute pulmonary metabolic changes consistent with mitochondrial overload in lower doses and a shift to glycolysis at a high dose. Our findings demonstrate that APAP exposures that do not cause significant hepatic injury result in acute inflammatory, morphometric, and metabolic changes in the mature lung. These previously unreported findings may help explain the potential relationship between APAP exposures and pulmonary-related morbidity.