Useful applications of earth-oriented satellites - Systems for remote-sensing information and distribution, panel 8

Problems and potential use of data gathered by remote sensing from satellites or aircraf

Arcobacter Species in Humans1

During an 8-year study period, Arcobacter butzleri was the fourth most common Campylobacter-like organism isolated from 67,599 stool specimens. Our observations suggest that A. butzleri displays microbiologic and clinical features similar to those of Campylobacter jejuni; however, A. butzleri is more frequently associated with a persistent, watery diarrhea

Developing a comprehensive information security framework for mHealth: a detailed analysis

It has been clearly shown that mHealth solutions, which is the use of mobile devices and other wireless technology to provide healthcare services, deliver more patient-focused healthcare, and improve the overall efficiency of healthcare systems. In addition, these solutions can potentially reduce the cost of providing healthcare in the context of the increasing demands of the aging populations in advanced economies. These solutions can also play an important part in intelligent environments, facilitating real-time data collection and input to enable various functionalities. However, there are several challenges regarding the development of mHealth solutions: the most important of these being privacy and data security. Furthermore, the use of cloud computing is becoming an option for the healthcare sector to store healthcare data; but storing data in the cloud raises serious concerns. This paper investigates how data are managed both on mHealth devices as well as in the cloud. Firstly, a detailed analysis of the entire mHealth domain is undertaken to determine domain-specific features and a taxonomy for mHealth, from which a set of security requirements are identified in order to develop a new information security framework. It then examines individual information security frameworks for mHealth devices and the cloud, noting similarities and differences. Furthermore, key mechanisms to implement the new framework are discussed and the new framework is then presented. Finally, the paper presents how the new framework could be implemented in order to develop an Advanced Digital Medical Platform

Human GLI3 Intragenic Conserved Non-Coding Sequences Are Tissue-Specific Enhancers

The zinc-finger transcription factor GLI3 is a key regulator of development, acting as a primary transducer of Sonic hedgehog (SHH) signaling in a combinatorial context dependent fashion controlling multiple patterning steps in different tissues/organs. A tight temporal and spatial control of gene expression is indispensable, however, cis-acting sequence elements regulating GLI3 expression have not yet been reported. We show that 11 ancient genomic DNA signatures, conserved from the pufferfish Takifugu (Fugu) rubripes to man, are distributed throughout the introns of human GLI3. They map within larger conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) that are found in the tetrapod lineage. Full length CNEs transiently transfected into human cell cultures acted as cell type specific enhancers of gene transcription. The regulatory potential of these elements is conserved and was exploited to direct tissue specific expression of a reporter gene in zebrafish embryos. Assays of deletion constructs revealed that the human-Fugu conserved sequences within the GLI3 intronic CNEs were essential but not sufficient for full-scale transcriptional activation. The enhancer activity of the CNEs is determined by a combinatorial effect of a core sequence conserved between human and teleosts (Fugu) and flanking tetrapod-specific sequences, suggesting that successive clustering of sequences with regulatory potential around an ancient, highly conserved nucleus might be a possible mechanism for the evolution of cis-acting regulatory elements

Gender Discrimination and Social Identity: Experimental Evidence from Urban Pakistan

Gender discrimination in South Asia is a well-documented fact. However, gender is only one of an individual's many identities. This paper investigates how gender discrimination depends on the social identities of interacting parties. We use an experimental approach to identify gender discrimination by randomly matching 2,836 male and female students pursuing bachelor's-equivalent degrees in three different types of institutions - Madrassas (religious seminaries), Islamic universities, and liberal universities - that represent distinct identities within the Pakistani society. Our main finding is that gender discrimination is not uniform in intensity and nature across the educated Pakistani society and varies as a function of the social identity of both individuals who interact. While we find no evidence of higher-socioeconomic-status men discriminating against women, men of lower socioeconomic status and higher religiosity tend to discriminate against women - but only women of lower socioeconomic status who are closest to them in social distance. Moreover, this discrimination is largely taste-based. Our findings suggest that social policies aimed at empowering women need to account for the intersectionality of gender with social identity

Fog computing security: a review of current applications and security solutions

Fog computing is a new paradigm that extends the Cloud platform model by providing computing resources on the edges of a network. It can be described as a cloud-like platform having similar data, computation, storage and application services, but is fundamentally different in that it is decentralized. In addition, Fog systems are capable of processing large amounts of data locally, operate on-premise, are fully portable, and can be installed on heterogeneous hardware. These features make the Fog platform highly suitable for time and location-sensitive applications. For example, Internet of Things (IoT) devices are required to quickly process a large amount of data. This wide range of functionality driven applications intensifies many security issues regarding data, virtualization, segregation, network, malware and monitoring. This paper surveys existing literature on Fog computing applications to identify common security gaps. Similar technologies like Edge computing, Cloudlets and Micro-data centres have also been included to provide a holistic review process. The majority of Fog applications are motivated by the desire for functionality and end-user requirements, while the security aspects are often ignored or considered as an afterthought. This paper also determines the impact of those security issues and possible solutions, providing future security-relevant directions to those responsible for designing, developing, and maintaining Fog systems

Reference programme: Diagnosis and treatment of headache disorders and facial pain. Danish Headache Society, 2nd Edition, 2012

Headache and facial pain are among the most common, disabling and costly disorders in Europe. Correct diagnosis and treatment is important for achieving a high quality of care. As a national organisation whose role is to educate and advocate for the needs of patients with primary headaches, the Danish Headache Society has set up a task force to develop a set of guidelines for the diagnosis, organisation and treatment of the most common types of headaches and for trigeminal neuralgia in Denmark. The guideline was published in Danish in 2010 and has been a great success. The Danish Headache Society decided to translate and publish our guideline in English to stimulate the discussion on optimal organisation and treatment of headache disorders and to encourage other national headache authorities to produce their own guidelines. The recommendations regarding the most common primary headaches and trigeminal neuralgia are largely in accordance with the European guidelines produced by the European Federation of Neurological Societies. The guideline provides a practical tool for use in daily clinical practice for primary care physicians, neurologists with a common interest in headache, as well as other health-care professionals treating headache patients. The guideline first describes how to examine and diagnose the headache patient and how headache treatment is organised in Denmark. This description is followed by individual sections on the characteristics, diagnosis, differential diagnosis and treatment of each of the major headache disorders and trigeminal neuralgia. The guideline includes many tables to facilitate a quick overview. Finally, the particular problems regarding headache in children and headache in relation to female hormones and pregnancy are described

Transient up- and down-regulation of expression of myosin light chain 2 and myostatin mRNA mark the changes from stratified hyperplasia to muscle fiber hypertrophy in larvae of gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.)

Hyperplasia and hypertrophy are the two mechanisms by which muscle develops and grows. We study these two mechanisms, during the early development of white muscle in Sparus aurata, by means of histology and the expression of structural and regulatory genes. A clear stage of stratified hyperplasia was identified early in the development of gilthead sea bream but ceased by 35 dph when hypertrophy took over. Mosaic recruitment of new white fibers began as soon as 60 dph. The genes mlc2a and mlc2b were expressed at various levels during the main phases of hyperplasia and hypertrophy. The genes myog and mlc2a were significantly up-regulated during the intensive stratified formation of new fibers and their expression was significantly correlated. Expression of mstn1 and igf1 increased at 35 dph, appeared to regulate the hyperplasia-to-hypertrophy transition, and may have stimulated the expression of mlc2a, mlc2b and col1a1 at the onset of mosaic hyperplasia. The up-regulation of mstn1 at transitional phases in muscle development indicates a dual regulatory role of myostatin in fish larval muscle growth

Determination of the spectroscopic properties of indium bromide

To develop a more efficient plasma light source, molecules are considered as the prime source of radiation because they can potentially avoid the conversion losses of the low-pressure mercury lamp as well as the thermal losses of the high-pressure mercury lamps. A candidate to serve as the prime radiator in such a lamp could be indium bromide, but spectroscopic data to assess its aptitude are largely unavailable. To increase the knowledge of the spectroscopic properties of these molecules and InBr in particular, an experiment was designed to acquire this information. Laser-induced fluorescence was used to study the radiative properties of InBr for lighting purposes. Using an innovative method to interpret the measured data, detection--excitation (detex) plots, more information can be obtained from the spectra. Also the effect of a background gas and plasma was investigated for both a capacitive and an inductive plasma. Mainly the electronic A-state of InBr was investigated. Results include newly identified rotational transitions, vibrational constants, rotational constants for different vibrational levels, band head wave numbers and Franck–Condon factors for various vibrational transition