Effective information assurance with risk management

Today's businesses base their operation on their IT infrastructure, which consequently demands that it should be protected accordingly. Nevertheless, surveys tend to indicate that the number of IT security incidents is increasing, resulting in significant losses for the organisations concerned. Leading in poor security practices, and therefore frequent victims of related security incidents, are Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Even though there are a number of solutions, ranging from baseline guidelines to a detailed Risk Assessment (which can be followed to guide organisations through systematically selecting appropriate controls and practices to properly secure their networked assets), evidence suggests that these are not being employed by SMEs. Constraints such as lack of budget, security personnel and awareness are amongst the factors that are deterring SMEs from adopting such solutions, and therefore contributing to their continued problem with security incidents. This thesis specifically targets the problem of security risk assessment within SME environments. Following an examination of the aforementioned constraints, the investigation considers the existing solutions, establishing the reasons that they are not appropriate for SME users. The research identifies that SMEs are in need of a solution that represents a progression of current guidelines, but without being as complicated as existing forms of Risk Analysis. Therefore a new methodology is designed, known as PRAM (Profile-based Risk Analysis and Management), which enables SMEs to analyse and manage their risks in a way that is simple to use and understand, as well as providing economic considerations on threats, their likelihood, effect and the spending required to reduce them to an acceptable level. The methodology is then implemented within a working prototype, which is evaluated using a series of test scenarios. These scenarios are also used as the basis for evaluating existing SME-oriented Risk Analysis solutions, and the findings determine that the PRAM approach is able to deliver a more comprehensive solution. In addition, an evaluation of the PRAM prototype by a series of end-users suggests that it also succeeds in providing a more user-friendly solution than the current alternatives. Overall, this thesis presents a solution that can be adopted by SMEs lacking in-house security expertise. It can assist them in understanding the threats they are under, while at the same time presenting appropriate information to enable management to evaluate their organisation's current IT security situation and select appropriate countermeasures.A. G. Leventis foundatio

Adenosine for Unmasking Latent Pre-Excitation: an Unpleasant Surprise

A 33-year-old kickboxing athlete presented to the emergency room (ER) with an intermittent chest pain, which had started an hour earlier. ECG on arrival revealed q wave in the inferior leads, minimal ST elevation in the same leads, without depolarization abnormalities. The patient was able to recall having been kicked in the chest a few months back during training. While being in the ER the pain recurred. The second ECG had no repolarization changes, but revealed a positive QRS (R>S) in lead V1... (excerpt

New inflation in supersymmetric theories

A new inflationary universe scenario is considered based upon phase transitions in supersymmetric unified models where the Higgs potential is of the Witten-O'Raifeartaigh type.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25041/1/0000468.pd

A Randomized, Placebo-controlled Trial of Preemptive Antifungal Therapy for the Prevention of Invasive Candidiasis Following Gastrointestinal Surgery for Intra-abdominal Infections

Patients undergoing emergency gastrointestinal surgery for intra-abdominal infection are at high risk for invasive candidiasis. This exploratory clinical trial could not provide evidence that a preemptive antifungal treatment strategy was effective in this patient grou

Prognostic stratification of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma treated with sunitinib: comparison with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering prognostic factors model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The treatment paradigm in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) has changed in the recent years. Sunitinib has been established as a new standard for first-line therapy. We studied the prognostic significance of baseline characteristics and we compared the risk stratification with the established Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) model.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This is a retrospective analysis of patients treated in six Greek Oncology Units of HECOG. Inclusion criteria were: advanced renal cell carcinoma not amenable to surgery and treatment with Sunitinib. Previous cytokine therapy but no targeted agents were allowed. Overall survival (OS) was the major end point. Significance of prognostic factors was evaluated with multivariate cox regression analysis. A model was developed to stratify patients according to risk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>One hundred and nine patients were included. Median follow up has been 15.8 months and median OS 17.1 months (95% CI: 13.7-20.6). Time from diagnosis to the start of Sunitinib (<= 12 months vs. >12 months, p = 0.001), number of metastatic sites (1 vs. >1, p = 0.003) and performance status (PS) (<= 1 vs >1, p = 0.001) were independently associated with OS. Stratification in two risk groups ("low" risk: 0 or 1 risk factors; "high" risk: 2 or 3 risk factors) resulted in distinctly different OS (median not reached [NR] vs. 10.8 [95% confidence interval (CI): 8.3-13.3], p < 0.001). The application of the MSKCC risk criteria resulted in stratification into 3 groups (low and intermediate and poor risk) with distinctly different prognosis underlying its validity. Nevertheless, MSKCC model did not show an improved prognostic performance over the model developed by this analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Studies on risk stratification of patients with advanced RCC treated with targeted therapies are warranted. Our results suggest that a simpler than the MSKCC model can be developed. Such models should be further validated.</p