Tissue necrosis after chemotherapy in osteosarcoma as the important prognostic factor

Objective: To determine the histological response to preoperative chemotherapy of the percentage of tumor necrosis, and to assess the relationship between the histological response and the oncological result. Methods: Eighty patients with osteosarcoma were managed with preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy and operative resection at Shafa Yahyaceyan Hospital, Tehran, Iran between 2003-2005. Sections of each operative specimen were examined, and the histological response to chemotherapy was graded. Grade 1 indicated necrosis of 50 of the tumor or less; grade 2, necrosis of more than 50 yet lea than 90; grade 3, necrosis of more than 90. Results: The mean duration of the follow-up of the surviving patients, who were continuously free from disease was 1044 days. The histological response to preoperative chemotherapy (p=0.016) was the most important predictor of even-free survival. The rate of event-free short-term survival for the 80 patients entering this study was 86 (69 patients) at 12 months, 50 (24 patients) at 24 months, and 21 (5 patients) at 40 months, with 5 patients surviving for a median of 1096 days. Conclusion: The histological response to preoperative chemotherapy is an important clinical predictor of the result of operative treatment of osteosarcoma. This indicator should be used to identify patients who are at high risk for metastasis, as such patients may be candidates for more intensive or novel therapy

Interocular differences of the Pentacam measurements in normal subjects

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the interocular differences of the Pentacam corneal measurements in a normal population. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 550 eyes of 275 consecutive subjects evaluated for refractive surgery at the Rassoul Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences. A Pentacam Scheimpflug camera was used for corneal measurements. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the normal levels of the difference between the two eyes. Results: One hundred and four men and 171 women with a mean age of 29.1 ± 7.73 years were evaluated. The mean (range) interocular difference was 2.17 (zero to 21) μm for maximum anterior elevation (AEmax), 3.62 (zero to 31) μm for maximum posterior elevation (PEmax), 8.42 (zero to 30) μm for minimum corneal thickness (CTmin), 0.06 (zero to 0.4) mm3 for three millimetre corneal volume (CV3), 0.19 (zero to 1.2) mm3 for five millimetre corneal volume (CV5), 0.44 (zero to 2.9) mm3 for seven millimetre corneal volume (CV7), 0.24 (zero to 2.5) dioptres for the mean keratometry (Km) and 0.39 (zero to 2.5) D for measurements of the corneal dioptric power in the steepest meridian (Kmax). Conclusions: Individuals with differences greater than 17.4 μm in AEmax, 29.1 μm in PEmax, 29.6 μm in CTmin, 2 D in Km, 2.27 D in Kmax, 0.32 in CV3, 1.05 in CV5, and 2.6 in CV7 between eyes represent less than 0.5 per cent of the population. An interocular difference outside the normal range should alert the clinician to examine for other parameters that are more predictive of post-refractive surgical ectasia. © 2009 Optometrists Association Australia

Search based software engineering: Trends, techniques and applications

© ACM, 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version is available from the link below.In the past five years there has been a dramatic increase in work on Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE), an approach to Software Engineering (SE) in which Search-Based Optimization (SBO) algorithms are used to address problems in SE. SBSE has been applied to problems throughout the SE lifecycle, from requirements and project planning to maintenance and reengineering. The approach is attractive because it offers a suite of adaptive automated and semiautomated solutions in situations typified by large complex problem spaces with multiple competing and conflicting objectives. This article provides a review and classification of literature on SBSE. The work identifies research trends and relationships between the techniques applied and the applications to which they have been applied and highlights gaps in the literature and avenues for further research.EPSRC and E

AES-Based Security Coprocessor IC in 0.18-um CMOS with Resistance to Differential Power Analysis Side-Channel Attacks

Security ICs are vulnerable to side-channel attacks (SCAs) that find the secret key by monitoring the power consumption or other information that is leaked by the switching behavior of digital CMOS gates. This paper describes a side-channel attack resistant coprocessor IC fabricated in 0.18-mu m CMOS consisting of an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) based cryptographic engine, a fingerprint-matching engine, template storage, and an interface unit. Two functionally identical coprocessors have been fabricated on the same die. The first coprocessor was implemented using standard cells and regular routing techniques. The second coprocessor was implemented using a logic style called wave dynamic differential logic (WDDL) and a layout technique called differential routing to combat the differential power analysis (DPA) side-channel attack. Measurement-based experimental results show that a DPA attack on the insecure coprocessor requires only 8000 encryptions to disclose the entire 128-bit secret key. The same attack on the secure coprocessor does not disclose the entire secret key even after 1500 000 encryptions.status: publishe

Prototype IC with WDDL and Differential Routing - DPA Resistance Assessment

Wave dynamic differential logic combined with differential routing is a working, practical technique to thwart side-channel power attacks. Measurement-based experimental results show that a differential power analysis attack on a prototype IC, fabricated in 0.18 mu m CMOS, does not disclose the entire secret key of the AES algorithm at 1,500,000 measurement acquisitions. This makes the attack de facto infeasible. The required number of measurements is larger than the lifetime of the secret key in most practical systems.status: publishe

A side-channel leakage free coprocessor ic in 0.18um cmos for embedded aes-based cryptographic and biometric processing

Security ICs are vulnerable to side-channel attacks (SCAs) that find the secret key by monitoring the power consumption and other information that is leaked by the switching behavior of digital CMOS gates. This paper describes a side-channel attack resistant coprocessor IC and its design techniques. The IC has been fabricated in 0.18µm CMOS. The coprocessor, which is used for embedded cryptographic and biometric processing, consists of four components: an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) based cryptographic engine, a fingerprint-matching oracle, a template storage, and an interface unit. Two functionally identical coprocessors have been fabricated on the same die. The first, ‘secure’, coprocessor is implemented using a logic style called Wave Dynamic Digital Logic (WDDL) and a layout technique called differential routing. The second, ‘insecure’, coprocessor is implemented using regular standard cells and regular routing techniques. Measurement-based experimental results show that a differential power analysis (DPA) attack on the insecure coprocessor requires only 8,000 acquisitions to disclose the entire 128b secret key. The same attack on the secure coprocessor still does not disclose the entire secret key at 1,500,000 acquisitions. This improvement in DPA resistance of at least 2 orders of magnitude makes the attack de facto infeasible. The required number of measurements is larger than the lifetime of the secret key in most practical systems