Threshold Implementations of all 3x3 and 4x4 S-boxes

Side-channel attacks have proven many hardware implementations of cryptographic algorithms to be vulnerable. A recently proposed masking method, based on secret sharing and multi-party computation methods, introduces a set of sufficient requirements for implementations to be provably resistant against first-order DPA with minimal assumptions on the hardware. The original paper doesn\u27t describe how to construct the Boolean functions that are to be used in the implementation. In this paper, we derive the functions for all invertible $3 \times 3$, $4 \times 4$ S-boxes and the $6 \times 4$ DES S-boxes. Our methods and observations can also be used to accelerate the search for sharings of larger (e.g. $8 \times 8$) S-boxes. Finally, we investigate the cost of such protection

Some remarks on the geometry of the Standard Map

We define and compute hyperbolic coordinates and associated foliations which provide a new way to describe the geometry of the standard map. We also identify a uniformly hyperbolic region and a complementary 'critical' region containing a smooth curve of tangencies between certain canonical 'stable' foliations.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figure

Mitochondrial and endoplasmic reticulum stress pathways cooperate in zearalenone-induced apoptosis of human leukemic cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Zearalenone (ZEA) is a phytoestrogen from <it>Fusarium </it>species. The aims of the study was to identify mode of human leukemic cell death induced by ZEA and the mechanisms involved.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Cell cytotoxicity of ZEA on human leukemic HL-60, U937 and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was performed by using 3-(4,5-dimethyl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Reactive oxygen species production, cell cycle analysis and mitochondrial transmembrane potential reduction was determined by employing 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate, propidium iodide and 3,3'-dihexyloxacarbocyanine iodide and flow cytometry, respectively. Caspase-3 and -8 activities were detected by using fluorogenic Asp-Glu-Val-Asp-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (DEVD-AMC) and Ile-Glu-Thr-Asp-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (IETD-AMC) substrates, respectively. Protein expression of cytochrome c, Bax, Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL was performed by Western blot. The expression of proteins was assessed by two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel-electrophoresis (PAGE) coupled with LC-MS2 analysis and real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) approach.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>ZEA was cytotoxic to U937 > HL-60 > PBMCs and caused subdiploid peaks and G1 arrest in both cell lines. Apoptosis of human leukemic HL-60 and U937 cell apoptosis induced by ZEA was via an activation of mitochondrial release of cytochrome c through mitochondrial transmembrane potential reduction, activation of caspase-3 and -8, production of reactive oxygen species and induction of endoplasmic reticulum stress. Bax was up regulated in a time-dependent manner and there was down regulation of Bcl-xL expression. Two-dimensional PAGE coupled with LC-MS2 analysis showed that ZEA treatment of HL-60 cells produced differences in the levels of 22 membrane proteins such as apoptosis inducing factor and the ER stress proteins including endoplasmic reticulum protein 29 (ERp29), 78 kDa glucose-regulated protein, heat shock protein 90 and calreticulin, whereas only <it>ERp29 </it>mRNA transcript increased.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>ZEA induced human leukemic cell apoptosis via endoplasmic stress and mitochondrial pathway.</p

Metabolites of Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (NP) in Serum Have the Potential to Delineate Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma

Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PDAC), the fourth highest cause of cancer related deaths in the United States, has the most aggressive presentation resulting in a very short median survival time for the affected patients. Early detection of PDAC is confounded by lack of specific markers that has motivated the use of high throughput molecular approaches to delineate potential biomarkers. To pursue identification of a distinct marker, this study profiled the secretory proteome in 16 PDAC, 2 carcinoma in situ (CIS) and 7 benign patients using label-free mass spectrometry coupled to 1D-SDS-PAGE and Strong Cation-Exchange Chromatography (SCX). A total of 431 proteins were detected of which 56 were found to be significantly elevated in PDAC. Included in this differential set were Parkinson disease autosomal recessive, early onset 7 (PARK 7) and Alpha Synuclein (aSyn), both of which are known to be pathognomonic to Parkinson's disease as well as metabolic enzymes like Purine Nucleoside Phosphorylase (NP) which has been exploited as therapeutic target in cancers. Tissue Microarray analysis confirmed higher expression of aSyn and NP in ductal epithelia of pancreatic tumors compared to benign ducts. Furthermore, extent of both aSyn and NP staining positively correlated with tumor stage and perineural invasion while their intensity of staining correlated with the existence of metastatic lesions in the PDAC tissues. From the biomarker perspective, NP protein levels were higher in PDAC sera and furthermore serum levels of its downstream metabolites guanosine and adenosine were able to distinguish PDAC from benign in an unsupervised hierarchical classification model. Overall, this study for the first time describes elevated levels of aSyn in PDAC as well as highlights the potential of evaluating NP protein expression and levels of its downstream metabolites to develop a multiplex panel for non-invasive detection of PDAC

Oxidative protein labeling in mass-spectrometry-based proteomics

Oxidation of proteins and peptides is a common phenomenon, and can be employed as a labeling technique for mass-spectrometry-based proteomics. Nonspecific oxidative labeling methods can modify almost any amino acid residue in a protein or only surface-exposed regions. Specific agents may label reactive functional groups in amino acids, primarily cysteine, methionine, tyrosine, and tryptophan. Nonspecific radical intermediates (reactive oxygen, nitrogen, or halogen species) can be produced by chemical, photochemical, electrochemical, or enzymatic methods. More targeted oxidation can be achieved by chemical reagents but also by direct electrochemical oxidation, which opens the way to instrumental labeling methods. Oxidative labeling of amino acids in the context of liquid chromatography(LC)–mass spectrometry (MS) based proteomics allows for differential LC separation, improved MS ionization, and label-specific fragmentation and detection. Oxidation of proteins can create new reactive groups which are useful for secondary, more conventional derivatization reactions with, e.g., fluorescent labels. This review summarizes reactions of oxidizing agents with peptides and proteins, the corresponding methodologies and instrumentation, and the major, innovative applications of oxidative protein labeling described in selected literature from the last decade

PLD fabrication of oriented nanowires in magnetic field

This paper presents an experimental investigation on laser-assisted fabrication of oriented nanowires composed by magnetic nanoparticles. The nanowires were produced by implementation of pulsed laser deposition in presence of a magnetic field. The application of an external magnetic field led to the formation of nanowires with a length of several micrometers whose orientation is influenced by the direction of the magnetic field lines. The influence of the type of ambient gas and its pressure on morphology and phase composition of the deposited samples was investigated. It was found that the ambient gas has direct influence on both the degree of orientation and the phase composition of the nanowires. SEM analysis of samples deposited at different targetsubstrate distances showed that the density of the nanowires decreases with the increase of the distance. A preliminary result on the magnetic properties of the produced nanowires is also reported

Chemistry for Sustainable Development 21 (2013) 8390 83 Effect of Reaction Conditions on the Formation of the Products of Oxidative Pyrolysis of Methane on the Resistive Fechral Catalyst

Abstract The effect of reaction conditions (methane concentration, flow rate, catalyst position, gas dyn amic mode) on methane pyrolysis within temperature range 7001200°Ñ on preliminarily annealed Fechral wire heated with electric current, at a ratio ÑÍ 4 /Î 2 = 15 : 1 was investigated. It was shown that independently of conditions the process runs in two temperature regions differing in the selectivity of the formation of major products Ñ 2 hydrocarbons. Reaction conditions have a substantial effect on methane conversion and selectivity with respect to reaction products. The maximal selectivity with respect to Ñ 2 products can be achieved with the transversal coil position to the gas flow and with the use of flow-circulation set-up instead of flow one. An increase in methane concentration in the initial mixture has ambiguous effect on the selectivity with respect to Ñ 2 hydrocarbons within different temperature ranges: for temperature not higher than 1000°Ñ, this causes an increase in selectivity with respect to ethylene and acetylene, while at 1000°Ñ and above this causes a decrease in selectivity with respect to these components