International league of associations for rheumatology recommendations for the management of psoriatic arthritis in resource-poor settings

Background Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a challenging heterogeneous disease. The European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and the Group for Research and Assessment of Psoriasis and PsA (GRAPPA) last published their respective recommendations for the management of PsA in 2015. However, these guidelines are primarily based on studies conducted in resource replete countries and may not be applicable in countries in the Americas (except Canada and USA) and Africa. We sought to adapt the existing recommendations for these regions under the auspices of the International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR). Process The ADAPTE Collaboration (2009) process for guideline adaptation was followed to adapt the EULAR and GRAPPA PsA treatment recommendations for the Americas and Africa. The process was conducted in three recommended phases: set-up phase; adaptation phase (defining health questions, assessing source recommendations, drafting report), and finalization phase (external review, aftercare planning, and final production). Result ILAR recommendations have been derived principally by adapting the GRAPPA recommendations, additionally, EULAR recommendations where appropriate and supplemented by expert opinion and literature from these regions. A paucity of data relevant to resource-poor settings was found in PsA management literature. Conclusion The ILAR Treatment Recommendations for PsA intends to serve as reference for the management of PsA in the Americas and Africa. This paper illustrates the experience of an international working group in adapting existing recommendations to a resource-poor setting. It highlights the need to conduct research on the management of PsA in these regions as data are currently lacking

Vision of the Unseen: Current Trends and Challenges in Digital Image and Video Forensics

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Digital images are everywhere-from our cell phones to the pages of our online news sites. How we choose to use digital image processing raises a surprising host of legal and ethical questions that we must address. What are the ramifications of hiding data within an innocent image? Is this an intentional security practice when used legitimately, or intentional deception? Is tampering with an image appropriate in cases where the image might affect public behavior? Does an image represent a crime, or is it simply a representation of a scene that has never existed? Before action can even be taken on the basis of a questionable image, we must detect something about the image itself. Investigators from a diverse set of fields require the best possible tools to tackle the challenges presented by the malicious use of today's digital image processing techniques. In this survey, we introduce the emerging field of digital image forensics, including the main topic areas of source camera identification, forgery detection, and steganalysis. In source camera identification, we seek to identify the particular model of a camera, or the exact camera, that produced an image. Forgery detection's goal is to establish the authenticity of an image, or to expose any potential tampering the image might have undergone. With steganalysis, the detection of hidden data within an image is performed, with a possible attempt to recover any detected data. Each of these components of digital image forensics is described in detail, along with a critical analysis of the state of the art, and recommendations for the direction of future research.434Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)United States Air Force STTR [FA9550-05-C-0172]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)FAPESP [2008/08681-9, 05/58103-3, 07/52015-0, 2010/05647-4]CNPq [309254/2007-8, 551007/2007-9]United States Air Force STTR [FA9550-05-C-0172

The Unseen Challenge Data Sets

Nowadays, it is paramount to study and develop robust algorithms to detect the very existence of hidden messages in digital images. In this paper, we provide two data sets for the Unseen Challenge of the First IEEE Workitorial on Vision of the Unseen (WVU). Example usage of the data sets is demonstrated with the stegdetect analysis tool, with surprising results reported. Our objective is to challenge researchers to assess their Digital Image Steganalysis state-of-the-art algorithms. © 2008 IEEE.Petitcolas, F., Anderson, R., Kuhn, M., Information hiding - a survey (1999) Proceedings of the IEEE, 87 (7), pp. 1062-1078. , JulyS. V. Hart, Forensic examination of digital evidence: a guide for law enforcement, National Institute of Justice NIJ-US, Washington DC, USA, Tech. Rep. NCJ 199408, September 2004Morris, S., (2004) The future of netcrime now: Part 1 - threats and challenges, , Home Office Crime and Policing Group, Washington DC, USA, Tech. Rep. 62/04Rocha, A., Goldenstein, S., Steganography and steganalysis in digital multimedia: Hype or hallelujah? (2007) Journal of Theoretical and Applied Computing (RITA), 14 (2)Norman, B., (1980) Secret warfare, the battle of Codes and Ciphers, , lst ed. Acropolis BooksKahn, D., The history of steganography (1996) Intl. Workshop in Information Hiding (IHW), pp. 1-5Wayner, P., (2002) Disappearing Cryptography - Information Hiding: Steganography & Watermarking, , 2nd ed. Morgan KaufmannWallich, P., Getting the message (2003) IEEE Spectrum, 40 (4), pp. 38-40. , AprilCass, S., Listening in (2003) IEEE Spectrum, 40 (4), pp. 32-37. , AprilKumagai, J., Mission impossible? (2003) IEEE Spectrum, 40 (4), pp. 26-31. , AprilProvos, N., Honeyman, P., Hide and seek: An introduction to steganography (2003) IEEE Security & Privacy Magazine, 1 (3), pp. 32-44. , MarchAnderson, R., Petitcolas, F., On the limits of steganography (1998) Journal of Selected Areas in Communications (JSAC), 16 (4), pp. 474-481. , MayRocha, A., Goldenstein, S., Progressive randomization for steganalysis (2006) Intl. Workshop on Multimedia and Signal Processing (MMSP), pp. 314-319Gonzalez, R., Woods, R., (2007) Digital Image Processing, , 3rd ed. Prentice-HallRocha, A., Goldenstein, S., Costa, H.A.X., Chaves, L.M., Camaleão: Um software de esteganografia para proteção e seguranca digital (2004) Simpósio de Segurança em Informática (SSI)A. Westfeld, F5 - a steganographic algorithm: High capacity despite better steganalysis, in Intl. Workshop in Information Hiding (IHW), 2001, pp. 289?-302Westfeld, A., Pfitzmann, A., Attacks on steganographic systems (1999) Intl. Workshop in Information Hiding (IHW), pp. 61-76Provos, N., Defending against statistical steganalysis (2001) Usenix Security Symposium, 10, pp. 24-3

Microbial lipids reveal carbon assimilation patterns on hydrothermal sulfide chimneys

Sulfide chimneys' characteristic of seafloor hydrothermal venting are diverse microbial habitats. C-13/C-12 ratios of microbial lipids have rarely been used to assess carbon assimilation pathways on these structures, despite complementing gene- and culture-based approaches. Here, we integrate analyses of the diversity of intact polar lipids (IPL) and their side-chain C-13 values (C-13(lipid)) with 16S rRNA gene-based phylogeny to examine microbial carbon flow on active and inactive sulfide structures from the Manus Basin. Surficial crusts of active structures, dominated by Epsilonproteobacteria, yield bacterial C-13(lipid) values higher than biomass C-13 (total organic carbon), implicating autotrophy via the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle. Our data also suggest C-13(lipid) values vary on individual active structures without accompanying microbial diversity changes. Temperature and/or dissolved substrate effects - likely relating to variable advective-diffusive fluxes to chimney exteriors - may be responsible for differing C-13 fractionation during assimilation. In an inactive structure, C-13(lipid) values lower than biomass C-13 and a distinctive IPL and 16S rRNA gene diversity suggest a shift to a more diverse community and an alternate carbon assimilation pathway after venting ceases. We discuss here the potential of IPL and C-13(lipid) analyses to elucidate carbon flow in hydrothermal structures when combined with other molecular tools