A new species of Ceroplastes from Florida (Hemiptera: Coccoidea: Coccidae)

Previous literature recognized twenty species of wax scales occurring in the Neartic region with nine of those occurring in Florida. This number has grown recently with the establishment of the Ceroplastes rusci and the discovery of C. feltyii (new species). A description and illustration of C. feltyii is provided along with a key to all of the wax scales currently found in Florida

New records of whiteflies (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) from Korea

Five species of whiteflies, Aleurolobus iteae Takahashi, Aleurolobus vitis Danzig, Asterobemisia takahashii Danzig, Bemisiella artemisiae Danzig, and Massilieurodes euryae (Takahashi), are newly recorded from Korea

Eight species of whiteflies (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) newly recorded from Korea

Aleuroclava magnoliae (Takahashi), Aleurotrachelus ishigakiensis (Takahashi), Aleyrodes lonicerae Walker, Asterobemisia carpini (Koch), Bemisia afer (Priesner and Hosny), Dialeurolobus pulcher Danzig, Pealius polygoni Takahashi, and Pealius rubi Takahashi are newly recorded from Korea

New Records of Whiteflies (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) from Korea

Five species of whiteflies, Aleurolobus iteae Takahashi, Aleurolobus vitis Danzig, Asterobemisia takahashii Danzig, Bemisiella artemisiae Danzig, and Massilieurodes euryae (Takahashi), are newly recorded from Korea

Strategic value-directed learning and memory in Alzheimer's disease and behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia

In healthy adults, the ability to prioritize learning of highly valued information is supported by executive functions and enhances subsequent memory retrieval for this information. In Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), marked deficits are evident in learning and memory, presenting in the context of executive dysfunction. It is unclear whether these patients show a typical memory bias for higher valued stimuli. We administered a value-directed word-list learning task to AD (n = 10) and bvFTD (n = 21) patients and age-matched healthy controls (n = 22). Each word was assigned a low, medium or high point value, and participants were instructed to maximize the number of points earned across three learning trials. Participants’ memory for the words was assessed on a delayed recall trial, followed by a recognition test for the words and corresponding point values. Relative to controls, both patient groups showed poorer overall learning, delayed recall and recognition. Despite these impairments, patients with AD preferentially recalled high-value words on learning trials and showed significant value-directed enhancement of recognition memory for the words and points. Conversely, bvFTD patients did not prioritize recall of high-value words during learning trials, and this reduced selectivity was related to inhibitory dysfunction. Nonetheless, bvFTD patients showed value-directed enhancement of recognition memory for the point values, suggesting a mismatch between memory of high-value information and the ability to apply this in a motivationally salient context. Our findings demonstrate that value-directed enhancement of memory may persist to some degree in patients with dementia, despite pronounced deficits in learning and memory

Updates to the RMAP short-read mapping software

Summary: We report on a major new version of the RMAP software for mapping reads from short-read sequencing technology. General improvements to accuracy and space requirements are included, along with novel functionality. Included in the RMAP software package are tools for mapping paired-end reads, mapping using more sophisticated use of quality scores, collecting ambiguous mapping locations and mapping bisulfite-treated reads

Which exercise for low back pain? (WELBack trial) Predicting response to exercise treatments for patients with low back pain : a validation randomized controlled trial protocol

Introduction Exercise therapy is the most recommended treatment for chronic low back pain (LBP). Effect sizes for exercises are usually small to moderate and could be due to the heterogeneity of people presenting with LBP. Thus, if patients could be better matched to exercise based on individual factors, then the effects of treatment could be greater. A recently published study provided evidence of better outcomes when patients are matched to the appropriate exercise type. The study demonstrated that a 15-item questionnaire, the Lumbar Spine Instability Questionnaire (LSIQ), could identify patients who responded best to one of the two exercise approaches for LBP (motor control and graded activity). The primary aim of the current study isill be to evaluate whether preidentified baseline characteristics, including the LSIQ, can modify the response to two of the most common exercise therapies for non-specific LBP. Secondary aims include an economic evaluations with a cost-effectiveness analysis. Methods and analysis Participants (n=414) will be recruited by primary care professionals and randomised (1:1) to receive motor control exercises or graded activity. Participants will undergo 12 sessions of exercise therapy over an 8-week period. The primary outcome will be physical function at 2 months using the Oswestry Disability Index. Secondary outcomes will be pain intensity, function and quality of life measured at 2, 6 and 12 months. Potential effect modifiers will be the LSIQ, self-efficacy, coping strategies, kinesiophobia and measures of nociceptive pain and central sensitisation. We will construct linear mixed models with terms for participants (fixed), treatment group, predictor (potential effect modifier), treatment group×predictor (potential effect modifier), physiotherapists, treatment group×physiotherapists and baseline score for the dependent variable

Proof-of-possession for KEM certificates using verifiable generation

Certificate authorities in public key infrastructures typically require entities to prove possession of the secret key corresponding to the public key they want certified. While this is straightforward for digital signature schemes, the most efficient solution for public key encryption and key encapsulation mechanisms (KEMs) requires an interactive challenge-response protocol, requiring a departure from current issuance processes. In this work we investigate how to non-interactively prove possession of a KEM secret key, specifically for lattice-based KEMs, motivated by the recently proposed KEMTLS protocol which replaces signature-based authentication in TLS 1.3 with KEM-based authentication. Although there are various zero-knowledge (ZK) techniques that can be used to prove possession of a lattice key, they yield large proofs or are inefficient to generate. We propose a technique called verifiable generation, in which a proof of possession is generated at the same time as the key itself is generated. Our technique is inspired by the Picnic signature scheme and uses the multi-party-computation-in-the-head (MPCitH) paradigm; this similarity to a signature scheme allows us to bind attribute data to the proof of possession, as required by certificate issuance protocols. We show how to instantiate this approach for two lattice-based KEMs in Round 3 of the NIST post-quantum cryptography standardization project, Kyber and FrodoKEM, and achieve reasonable proof sizes and performance. Our proofs of possession are faster and an order of magnitude smaller than the previous best MPCitH technique for knowledge of a lattice key, and in size-optimized cases can be comparable to even state-of-the-art direct lattice-based ZK proofs for Kyber. Our approach relies on a new result showing the uniqueness of Kyber and FrodoKEM secret keys, even if the requirement that all secret key components are small is partially relaxed, which may be of independent interest for improving efficiency of zero-knowledge proofs for other lattice-based statements

Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination III: Psychometric Characteristics and Relations to Functional Ability in Dementia

Objectives: The Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination (ACE) is a common cognitive screening test for dementia. Here, we examined the relationship between the most recent version (ACE-III) and its predecessor (ACE-R), determined ACE- III cutoff scores for the detection of dementia, and explored its relationship with functional ability. Methods: Study 1 included 199 dementia patients and 52 healthy controls who completed the ACE-III and ACE-R. ACE-III total and domain scores were regressed on their corresponding ACE-R values to obtain conversion formulae. Study 2 included 331 mixed dementia patients and 87 controls to establish the optimal ACE-III cutoff scores for the detection of dementia using receiver operator curve analysis. Study 3 included 194 dementia patients and their carers to investigate the relationship between ACE-III total score and functional ability. Results: Study 1: ACE-III and ACE-R scores differed by ≤1 point overall, the magnitude varying according to dementia type. Study 2: a new lower bound cutoff ACE-III score of 84/100 to detect dementia was identified (compared with 82 for the ACE-R). The upper bound cutoff score of 88/100 was retained. Study 3: ACE-III scores were significantly related to functional ability on the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale across all dementia syndromes, except for semantic dementia. Conclusions: This study represents one of the largest and most clini- cally diverse investigations of the ACE-III. Our results demonstrate that the ACE-III is an acceptable alternative to the ACE-R. In addition, ACE-III performance has broader clinical implications in that it relates to carer reports of functional impairment in most common dementias. (JINS, 2018, 24, 854–863

Are there new models of computation? Reply to Wegner and Eberbach

Wegner and Eberbach[Weg04b] have argued that there are fundamental limitations to Turing Machines as a foundation of computability and that these can be overcome by so-called superTuring models such as interaction machines, the [pi]calculus and the $-calculus. In this paper we contest Weger and Eberbach claims