Quality of life of healthy subjects and OSAS-patients using amandibular advancement device

Hintergrund: Der vorliegende Artikel beruht auf einer Dissertation von D. Gerlach zur Lebensqualität von OSAS-Patienten mit Protrusionsschiene [12]. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit war es, die Schlafgewohnheiten, die Tendenz zu depressiven Verstimmungen sowie die Tagesschläfrigkeit von OSAS-Patienten, die seit mindestens 6 Monaten mit einer Protrusionsschiene therapiert wurden, mit einer gesunden Kontrollgruppe zu vergleichen. Patienten und Methoden. Von den ursprünglich 124 teilnehmenden Probanden konnten die Daten von 87 verwendet werden, 41 stammten von schienentherapierten OSAS-Patienten und 46 von einer gesunden Kontrollgruppe. 37 Befragte füllten den Fragebogen unvollständig aus, so dass er nicht ausgewertet werden konnte. Es wurde überprüft, ob es signifikante Unterschiede in den Schlafgewohnheiten, der Tendenz zu depressiven Verstimmungen und Tagesschläfrigkeit zwischen den Gruppen gibt. Ergebnisse: Bei der Bewertung der Schlafgewohnheiten ergaben sich bei 59 Prozent der Mittelwerte signifikante Unterschiede zwischen OSAS-Gruppe und der gesunden Kontrollgruppe (p ≤ 0,05). Die OSAS-Patienten hatten in der Regel größere Probleme in ihren Schlafverhalten in Bezug auf Variable wie Dauer des Schlafes (p ≤ 0,001), Ruhebedürfnis vor dem Schlaf (p ≤ 0,001) und Beeinträchtigung durch den Partner (p ≤ 0,001). Nach sechsmonatiger Schienentherapie war laut der ESS (Epworth sleepiness scale) die Tendenz zu Tagesschläfrigkeit und laut des Beltz-Tests die Tendenz zu depressiven Verstimmungen bei OSAS-Patienten signifikant höher als bei Gesunden (p ≤ 0,001). Schlussfolgerung: Die Schlafgewohnheiten, die Tendenz zu depressiven Verstimmungen und Tagesschläfrigkeit von schienentherapierten OSAS- Patienten und Gesunden unterscheiden sich erheblich.Background: This article is based on Daniel Gerlach’s dissertation “Sleep Habits and Quality of Life of Healthy and OSAS-Patients with a Mandibular Advancement Device” [12]. The investigation compares sleep habits, tendencies toward depressive moods and daytime sleepiness of healthy people and OSAS-patients. The patients had been receiving therapy for at least six months. They were compared to a control group of healthy subjects. Objective: The goal was to empirically test whether or not the sleep apnea device improved sleep habits and thus quality of life. Patients and Methods: The empirical research was conducted with 124 participants. The data of 87 persons was utilized. 41 are OSAS-patients who have used the mandibular advancement device for at least six months, whereas 46 are healthy subjects. 37 questionnaires could not be used because they were not fully completed. Differences between the two groups were analyzed with respect to sleep habits, tendencies toward depressive moods and daytime sleepiness. Results: Concerning sleep habits, 59 percent of the mean showed a significant difference between the OSAS group and the control group (p ≤ 0.05). The OSAS-patients usually had greater problems concerning sleep duration (p ≤ 0.001), need for rest before sleep (p ≤ 0.001) and impairment by the partner (p ≤ 0.001). In spite of at least six months of mandibular advancement device therapy, OSAS-patients had a significantly higher tendency of daytime sleepiness and depressive moods as compared to healthy subjects (p ≤ 0.001). Conclusions: Sleep habits, inclinations toward depressive moods and daytime sleepiness differ considerably between healthy subjects and OSAS-patients using a mandibular advancement device

Indirect Meltdown: Building Novel Side-Channel Attacks from Transient-Execution Attacks

The transient-execution attack Meltdown leaks sensitive information by transiently accessing inaccessible data during out-of-order execution. Although Meltdown is fixed in hardware for recent CPU generations, most currently-deployed CPUs have to rely on software mitigations, such as KPTI. Still, Meltdown is considered non-exploitable on current systems. In this paper, we show that adding another layer of indirection to Meltdown transforms a transient-execution attack into a side-channel attack, leaking metadata instead of data. We show that despite software mitigations, attackers can still leak metadata from other security domains by observing the success rate of Meltdown on non-secret data. With LeakIDT, we present the first cache-line granular monitoring of kernel addresses. LeakIDT allows an attacker to obtain cycle-accurate timestamps for attacker-chosen interrupts. We use our attack to get accurate inter-keystroke timings and fingerprint visited websites. While we propose a low-overhead software mitigation to prevent the exploitation of LeakIDT, we emphasize that the side-channel aspect of transient-execution attacks should not be underestimated.Comment: published at ESORICS 202

Reviving Meltdown 3a

Since the initial discovery of Meltdown and Spectre in 2017, different variants of these attacks have been discovered. One often overlooked variant is Meltdown 3a, also known as Meltdown-CPL-REG. Even though Meltdown-CPL-REG was initially discovered in 2018, the available information regarding the vulnerability is still sparse. In this paper, we analyze Meltdown-CPL-REG on 19 different CPUs from different vendors using an automated tool. We observe that the impact is more diverse than documented and differs from CPU to CPU. Surprisingly, while the newest Intel CPUs do not seem affected by Meltdown-CPL-REG, the newest available AMD CPUs (Zen3+) are still affected by the vulnerability. Furthermore, given our attack primitive CounterLeak, we show that besides up-to-date patches, Meltdown-CPL-REG can still be exploited as we reenable performance-counter-based attacks on cryptographic algorithms, break KASLR, and mount Spectre attacks. Although Meltdown-CPL-REG is not as powerful as other transient-execution attacks, its attack surface should not be underestimated.Comment: published at ESORICS 202

Detection of small bunches of ions using image charges

A concept for detection of charged particles in a single fly-by, e.g. within an ion optical system for deterministic implantation, is presented. It is based on recording the image charge signal of ions moving through a detector, comprising a set of cylindrical electrodes. This work describes theoretical and practical aspects of image charge detection (ICD) and detector design and its application in the context of real time ion detection. It is shown how false positive detections are excluded reliably, although the signal-to-noise ratio is far too low for time-domain analysis. This is achieved by applying a signal threshold detection scheme in the frequency domain, which - complemented by the development of specialised low-noise preamplifier electronics - will be the key to developing single ion image charge detection for deterministic implantation

Diminished growth and vitality in juvenile Hydractinia echinata under anticipated future temperature and variable nutrient conditions

In a warming climate, rising seawater temperatures and declining primary and secondary production will drastically affect growth and fitness of marine invertebrates in the northern Atlantic Ocean. To study the ecological performance of juvenile hydroids Hydractinia echinata we exposed them to current and predicted water temperatures which reflect the conditions in the inter- and subtidal in combination with changing food availability (high and low) in laboratory experiments. Here we show, that the interplay between temperature stress and diminished nutrition affected growth and vitality of juvenile hydroids more than either factor alone, while high food availability mitigated their stress responses. Our numerical growth model indicated that the growth of juvenile hydroids at temperatures beyond their optimum is a saturation function of energy availability. We demonstrated that the combined effects of environmental stressors should be taken into consideration when evaluating consequences of climate change. Interactive effects of ocean warming, decreasing resource availability and increasing organismal energy demand may have major impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function

The function of copulatory plugs in Caenorhabditis remanei: hints for female benefits

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mating plugs that males place onto the female genital tract are generally assumed to prevent remating with other males. Mating plugs are usually explained as a consequence of male-male competition in multiply mating species. Here, we investigated whether mating plugs also have collateral effects on female fitness. These effects are negative when plugging reduces female mating rate below an optimum. However, plugging may also be positive when plugging prevents excessive forced mating and keeps mating rate closer to a females' optimum. Here, we studied these consequences in the gonochoristic nematode <it>Caenorhabditis remanei</it>. We employed a new CO₂-sedation technique to interrupt matings before or after the production of a plug. We then measured mating rate, attractiveness and offspring number.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The presence of a mating plug did not affect mating rate or attractiveness to roving males. Instead, females with mating plugs produced more offspring than females without copulatory plugs.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our experiment suggests that plugging might have evolved under male-male competition but represents a poor protection against competing males in our experiment. Even if plugging does not reduce mating rate, our results indicate that females may benefit from being plugged in a different sense than remating prevention.</p