Protezione del traffico aereo civile dalla minaccia cibernetica

L’impiego dell’Ict ha caratterizzato in maniera crescente l’evoluzione dell’aviazione civile. La digitalizzazione e la messa in rete di strumenti tecnologici complessi implicano delle problematiche rilevanti per la sicurezza cibernetica del settore. Il Government Accountability Office ha recentemente sottolineato come alcune vulnerabilità riscontrate nei sistemi statunitensi di gestione e controllo del traffico aereo civile possano, se sfruttate, avere serie conseguenze per la sicurezza. Da tali considerazioni scaturiscono una serie di domande sul caso italiano: su quali tecnologie si basano i nostri sistemi di gestione e controllo del traffico aereo civile? Qual è il loro livello di vulnerabilità? Quali attori possono minacciare tali sistemi? E questi attori hanno le capacità tecnologiche per condurre attacchi cibernetici tali da compromettere queste infrastrutture critiche? Le limitate risorse tecniche e i diversi obiettivi degli attori non statali esaminati in questo studio, le misure messe in campo da Enav e la funzione di prevenzione delle autorità italiane consentono di affermare che il livello di rischio a cui sono esposti nel breve periodo i sistemi Atc italiani è relativamente basso. È tuttavia necessario sottolineare la necessità di mantenere un livello di attenzione alto.The use of ICT in civil aviation has increased exponentially in the last years. Digitalisation and the technological tools and systems often connected to the internet constitute serious risks for aviation cyber security. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has recently stated that air traffic management and control (ATM/ATC) vulnerabilities could be used to undermine national security. Against this backdrop, several related questions arise: what technologies do air traffic management and control systems rely on? Are these systems vulnerable? Which actors could pose a threat to these systems? Do they have the technological skills to conduct attacks that could compromise them? The low technical skills of the non-state actors analysed in this research, the cyber security countermeasures adopted by ENAV and the preventive activities conducted by Italian authorities make the risk for Italian ATM/ATC systems low. However, it is necessary to keep a high level of attention and awareness on possible future developments of the cyber threat

Evaluation of Physical-Chemical and Microbiological Stability of Fluconazole Oral Suspensions for Hospital Use

Fluconazole is an important drug in the treatment of cutaneous and systemic mycoses. The Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre performs a derivation of fluconazole capsules to obtain an oral liquid formulation that is easily administered and whose dose can be adjusted. In order to replace the derivation for a formulation produced from an active pharmaceutical ingredient, this study sought to develop a liquid oral formulation, evaluate its physical chemical and microbiological stability and demonstrate suitability of the analytical method for the formulation assay. Seven different formulations of pharmaceutical suspension form were produced and evaluated for pH, viscosity, sedimentation volume and assay. The analytical method by High Performance Liquid Chromatography was demonstrated. Two most promising formulations were manipulated in the Farmácia Semi-Industrial do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre and stored in amber PET bottles under three different conditions: room temperature, under refrigeration (2 to 8 ºC) and in an oven (40 ° C). Samples were collected after 0, 7 and 14 days to evaluate physical-chemical stability, assay, pH and macroscopic aspects. Samples were collected after 0 and 21 days to evaluate microbiological stability. It was possible to demonstrate stability for one of the formulations for a 14-day period. Throughout the study, the chosen formulation presented adequate quantification of fluconazole, constant pH, no organoleptic changes and no microbial growth. The results suggest the incorporation of a new formulation for fluconazole to the Farmacia Semi-Industrial portfolio)

Possible role of oral ibandronate administration in Osteonecrosis of the Jaw: a case report.

We describe a case of Osteonecrosis of the Jaw (ONJ) that developed in a 65-year-old Caucasian woman with osteopenia and other risk factors who was receiving low doses of oral bisphosphonate therapy (ibandronate, 150 mg monthly). Computed tomography (CT), panoramic radiographs (OPT), 99mTc-Sn-MDP scintigraphy, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed to study the diseased area; cytological examination also revealed the presence of suppurative material around the area of exposed bone. A diagnosis of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw complicated by osteomyelitis was made. The patient was prescribed a drug protocol consisting of metronidazole 250 mg 2 times daily, chlorhexidine mouthwashes 3 times daily and chewing exercises for two months. Ibandronate was stopped and replaced with strontium ranelate. The symptoms improved and the patient is still under close follow-up. Assessment of the benefits versus risks is particularly necessary in patients with several risk factors to ascertain their eligibility for treatment with antiresorptive drugs and when this is not possible to choose alternative medications

Stem-like and highly invasive prostate cancer cells expressing CD44v8-10 marker originate from CD44-negative cells

In human prostate cancer (PCa), the neuroendocrine cells, expressing the prostate cancer stem cell (CSC) marker CD44, may be resistant to androgen ablation and promote tumor recurrence. During the study of heterogeneity of the highly aggressive neuroendocrine PCa cell lines PC3 and DU-145, we isolated and expanded in vitro a minor subpopulation of very small cells lacking CD44 (CD44neg). Unexpectedly, these sorted CD44neg cells rapidly and spontaneously converted to a stable CD44high phenotype specifically expressing the CD44v8-10 isoform which the sorted CD44high subpopulation failed to express. Surprisingly and potentially interesting, in these cells expression of CD44v8-10 was found to be induced in stem cell medium. CD44 variant isoforms are known to be more expressed in CSC and metastatic cells than CD44 standard isoform. In agreement, functional analysis of the two sorted and cultured subpopulations has shown that the CD44v8-10pos PC3 cells, resulting from the conversion of the CD44neg subpopulation, were more invasive in vitro and had a higher clonogenic potential than the sorted CD44high cells, in that they produced mainly holoclones, known to be enriched in stem-like cells. Of interest, the CD44v8-10 is more expressed in human PCa biopsies than in normal gland. The discovery of CD44v8-10pos cells with stem-like and invasive features, derived from a minoritarian CD44neg cell population in PCa, alerts on the high plasticity of stem-like markers and urges for prudency on the approaches to targeting the putative CSC

Video-Assisted Thyroidectomy for Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

Background. The results of video-assisted thyroidectomy (VAT) were evaluated in a large series of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC), especially in terms of completeness of the surgical resection and short-to-medium term recurrence. Methods. The medical records of all patients who underwent video-assisted thyroidectomy for PTC between June 1998 and May 2009 were reviewed. Results. Three hundred fifty-nine patients were included. One hundred twenty-six patients underwent concomitant central neck node removal. Final histology showed 285 pT1, 26 pT2, and 48 pT3 PTC. Lymph node metastases were found in 27 cases. Follow-up was completed in 315 patients. Mean postoperative serum thyroglobulin level off levothyroxine was 5.4 ng/mL. Post operative ultrasonography showed no residual thyroid tissue in all the patients. Mean post-operative 131I uptake was 1.7%. One patient developed lateral neck recurrence. No other recurrence was observed

The GOS4M Knowledge Hub: A web-based effectiveness evaluation platform in support of the Minamata Convention on Mercury

Abstract The Minamata Convention on Mercury was established to reduce the pressure on the environment caused by mercury by significantly reducing its emissions from anthropogenic activities. However, knowledge gaps still exist concerning emission inventories, emission factors and their integration in modelling frameworks. In addition, tools to facilitate communication between decision-makers and research groups providing measurement and modelling data are still scarce. This work presents the GOS4M Knowledge Hub, a public web application that provides an interactive and user friendly experience to access state-of-the-art modelling tools and data available in the literature. The Knowledge Hub currently integrates a Chemical Transport Model emulator, HERMES, coupled with a biogeochemical model, although it has been designed to house and deploy any number of different modelling components. Using the integrated dashboard, non-experts can perturb mercury releases from different anthropogenic emission sectors, simulating, for example, the application of Best Available Technologies, and then visualise in real-time the short- and long-term effects of the consequent reductions within a source-receptor framework. The dashboard also furnishes an estimate of the statistical significance of the changes in the model results. The analysis of a set of anthropogenic Hg emission reduction scenarios shows how an internationally coordinated effort would be necessary to achieve significant policy goals. It is important to note that the GOS4M Knowledge Hub yields the analysis presented here in a matter of seconds, compared to the days or weeks required by traditional modelling tools

An Architecture for Securing Communications in Critical Infrastructure

7th International Conference on Data Communication Networking - DCNET 2016, , 26/07/2016-28/07/2016, Lisboa, PortugalThe disruption of communications in critical infrastructures could have a serious impact on the health, safety, security or economic well-being of citizens or even prevent the effective functioning of governments or other agencies. For this reason, in this paper we present a distributed architecture, named CYBERSENS, aimed at preventing, early detecting, and mitigating cyber attacks to critical infrastructure networks. CYBERSENS is an advanced IDS/IPS system specially tailored for securing communications in critical infrastructures. It"s federated architecture, the combination of misuse detection techniques and novel anomaly detection approaches, and the inclusion of mechanisms for self-obfuscation and self-protection, makes our proposal specially suitable for these scenarios.European Commissio

A Chemical Transport Model Emulator for the Interactive Evaluation of Mercury Emission Reduction Scenarios

Implementation of the Minamata Convention on Mercury requires all parties to "control, and where feasible, reduce" mercury (Hg) emissions from a convention-specified set of sources. However, the convention does not specify the extent of the measures to be adopted, which may only be analysed by decision-makers using modelled scenarios. Currently, the numerical models available to study the Hg atmospheric cycle require significant expertise and high-end hardware, with results which are generally available on a time frame of days to weeks. In this work we present HERMES, a statistical emulator built on the output of a global Chemical Transport Model (CTM) for Hg (ECHMERIT), to simulate changes in anthropogenic Hg (Hganthr) deposition fluxes in a source-receptor framework, due to perturbations to Hganthr emissions and the associated statistical significance of the changes. The HERMES emulator enables stakeholders to evaluate the implementation of different Hganthr emission scenarios in an interactive and real-time manner, simulating the application of the different Best Available Technologies. HERMES provides the scientific soundness of a full CTM numerical framework in an interactive and user-friendly spreadsheet, without the necessity for specific training or formation and is a first step towards a more comprehensive, and integrated, decision support system to aid decision-makers in the implementation of the Minamata Convention