An ensemble based approach for effective intrusion detection using majority voting

Of late, Network Security Research is taking center stage given the vulnerability of computing ecosystem with networking systems increasingly falling to hackers. On the network security canvas, Intrusion detection system (IDS) is an essential tool used for timely detection of cyber-attacks. A designated set of reliable safety has been put in place to check any severe damage to the network and the user base. Machine learning (ML) is being frequently used to detect intrusion owing to their understanding of intrusion detection systems in minimizing security threats. However, several single classifiers have their limitation and pose challenges to the development of effective IDS. In this backdrop, an ensemble approach has been proposed in current work to tackle the issues of single classifiers and accordingly, a highly scalable and constructive majority voting-based ensemble model was proposed which can be employed in real-time for successfully scrutinizing the network traffic to proactively warn about the possibility of attacks. By taking into consideration the properties of existing machine learning algorithms, an effective model was developed and accordingly, an accuracy of 99%, 97.2%, 97.2%, and 93.2% were obtained for DoS, Probe, R2L, and U2R attacks and thus, the proposed model is effective for identifying intrusion

Effects of Fertilizers on Copper and Nickel Accumulation and Human Health Risk Assessment of Vegetables and Food Crops

Despite the fact that fertilizers have been used for millennia for sustainable crop production, this high and considerable dependence on fertilizers heightens environmental concerns with the indirect human exposure due to accumulation of toxins in food chain via soil contamination. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the application of fertilizers to the soil and their effect on the accumulation of copper and nickel in spinach (Spinacia oleracea), garlic (Allium sativum), wheat (Triticum aestivum), maize (Zea mays), and barley (Hordeum vulgare); as well as potential health concerns associated with consuming vegetables cultivated on this contaminated land. Samples of available soil, food crops, and human blood were collected from three different Tehsils: Bhalwal, Sahiwal, and Silanwali and were regarded as site 1, site 2 and site 3 respectively. Urea, farmyard manure, and potassium chloride were delivered to Site 1; urea phosphate, manure, and ammonium sulphate were delivered to Site 2; and superphosphate, ammonium phosphate, and nitrate phosphate were delivered to Site 3. Data was subjected to statistical analysis for computing out ANOVA and correlation. Analysis revealed that minimum copper concentration was found in the soil of T. aestivum grown at Site-1 while the inhabitants of Site 3 had the highest concentration of Cu in their blood. The highest level of HIR was found in the human beings that ate the S. oleracea grown at Site 3. It is strongly advised that fertilizers be used sparingly, as their excessive use can cause human health risks

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: We did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124. Findings: Between July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98). Interpretation: We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial

Design, Synthesis and Mechanistic Studies of Novel Isatin-Pyrazole Hydrazone Conjugates as Selective and Potent Bacterial MetAP Inhibitors

Methionine aminopeptidases (MetAPs) are attractive drug targets due to their essential role in eukaryotes as well as prokaryotic cells. In this study, biochemical assays were performed on newly synthesized Isatin-pyrazole hydrazones (PS1–14) to identify potent and selective bacterial MetAPs inhibitors. Compound PS9 inhibited prokaryotic MetAPs, i.e., MtMetAP1c, EfMetAP1a and SpMetAP1a with Ki values of 0.31, 6.93 and 0.37 µM, respectively. Interestingly, PS9 inhibited the human analogue HsMetAP1b with Ki (631.7 µM) about ten thousand-fold higher than the bacterial MetAPs. The in vitro screening against Gram-positive (Enterococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli) bacterial strains also exhibited their antibacterial potential supported by minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), disk diffusion assay, growth curve and time-kill curve experiments. Additionally, PS6 and PS9 had synergistic effects when combined with ampicillin (AMP) and ciprofloxacin (CIP) against selective bacterial strains. PS9 showed no significant cytotoxic effect on human RBCs, HEK293 cells and Galleria mellonella larvae in vivo. PS9 inhibited the growth of multidrug-resistant environmental isolates as it showed the MIC lower than the standard drugs used against selective bacterial strains. Overall, the study suggested PS9 could be a useful candidate for the development of antibacterial alternatives

Dengue virus serotype 2 (DEN-2): the causative agent of 2011-Dengue epidemic in Pakistan

Abstract Introduction: Dengue virus (DENV) is an arthropod-borne virus that belonged to the Flaviviridae viral family. Four known serotypes DEN-1 through DEN-4 do exist and circulate in diverse geographical regions of the world causing epidemics. The management of dengue patients, and especially dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF)/Dengue shock syndrome (DSS) cases, has been a challenge in Pakistan now days. Method: We have carried out a comprehensive study of the current outbreaks of dengue virus infection on molecular level with the aim to find out the common serotype/s of DENV responsible for this outbreak using PCR, real-time PCR and nucleotide sequencing targeting the C-prM gene junction. For this purpose total 1129 serum samples received between from start of August till end of November 2011 from all the major hospitals of Lahore, Punjab at Division of Molecular Virology, National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology (CEMB) University of the Punjab Lahore were utilized for the DENV diagnosis and serotypes/genotypes analysis. Results: Male female ratio of the suspected dengue patients was 2.4:1. Their mean age were 31.14 + 16.03 (SD) years ranging from 9 months to 90 years. Out of these 1129 serum samples, total 930 (82.37%) were found infected with DENV. Out of the 930 DENV RNA positive samples, 893 (96.02%) had DEN-2 Am. J. Biomed. Sci. 2012, 4(4), 307-315; doi: 10.5099/aj120400307 © 2012 by NWPII. All rights reserved. 308 and 37 (3.97%) sample had concurrent infection with serotypes 2 and 3. Conclusion: Based on the results of this study we conclude that DEN-2 is the responsible genotype for the current dengue epidemic that started from the beginning of year 2011 and is continuing till now. The additional serotype detected in the current study was serotype 3 that remained in very low frequency in Pakistan for last several decades

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

BackgroundTranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding.MethodsWe did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124.FindingsBetween July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98).InterpretationWe found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial.</div