Towards Practical Multi-key TFHE: Parallelizable, Key-Compatible, Quasi-linear Complexity

Multi-key homomorphic encryption is a generalized notion of homomorphic encryption supporting arbitrary computation on ciphertexts, possibly encrypted under different keys. In this paper, we revisit the work of Chen, Chillotti and Song (ASIACRYPT 2019) and present yet another multi-key variant of the TFHE scheme. The previous construction by Chen et al. involves a blind rotation procedure where the complexity of each iteration gradually increases as it continuously operates on ciphertexts under different keys. Hence, the complexity of gate bootstrapping grows quadratically with respect to the number of associated keys. Our scheme is based on a new blind rotation algorithm which consists of two separate phases. We first split a given multi-key ciphertext into several single-key ciphertexts, take each of them as input to the blind rotation procedure, and obtain accumulators corresponding to individual keys. Then, we merge these single-key accumulators into a single multi-key accumulator. In particular, we develop a novel homomorphic operation between single-key and multi-key ciphertexts to instantiate our pipeline. Therefore, our construction achieves an almost linear time complexity since the gate bootstrapping is dominated by the first phase of blind rotation which requires only independent single-key operations. It also enjoys with great advantages of parallelizability and key-compatibility. We implement the proposed scheme and provide its performance benchmark. For example, our experiment of 16-key gate bootstrapping demonstrates about 4.75x speedup without parallelization, and 55.53x speedup with parallelization over prior work

In vitro inhibition of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase activity by acetaldehyde

Alcoholism has been associated with folate deficiency in humans and laboratory animals. Previous study showed that ethanol feeding reduces the dehydrogenase and hydrolase activity of 10-formyltetrahydrofolate dehydrogenase (FDH) in rat liver. Hepatic ethanol metabolism generates acetaldehyde and acetate. The mechanisms by which ethanol and its metabolites produce toxicity within the liver cells are unknown. We purified FDH from rat liver and investigated the effect of ethanol, acetaldehyde and acetate on the enzyme in vitro. Hepatic FDH activity was not reduced by ethanol or acetate directly. However, acetaldehyde was observed to reduce the dehydrogenase activity of FDH in a dose- and time-dependent manner with an apparent IC50 of 4 mM, while the hydrolase activity of FDH was not affected by acetaldehyde in vitro. These results suggest that the inhibition of hepatic FDH dehydrogenase activity induced by acetadehyde may play a role in ethanol toxicity

Effects of dietary supplementation of high-dose folic acid on biomarkers of methylating reaction in vitamin B12-deficient rats

Folate is generally considered as a safe water-soluble vitamin for supplementation. However, we do not have enough information to confirm the potential effects and safety of folate supplementation and the interaction with vitamin B12 deficiency. It has been hypothesized that a greater methyl group supply could lead to compensation for vitamin B12 deficiency. On this basis, the present study was conducted to examine the effects of high-dose folic acid (FA) supplementation on biomarkers involved in the methionine cycle in vitamin B12-deficient rats. Sprague-Dawley rats were fed diets containing either 0 or 100 µg (daily dietary requirement) vitamin B12/kg diet with either 2 mg (daily dietary requirement) or 100 mg FA/kg diet for six weeks. Vitamin B12-deficiency resulted in increased plasma homocysteine (p<0.01), which was normalized by dietary supplementation of high-dose FA (p<0.01). However, FA supplementation and vitamin B12 deficiency did not alter hepatic and brain S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) concentrations and hepatic DNA methylation. These results indicated that supplementation of high-dose FA improved homocysteinemia in vitamin B12-deficiency but did not change SAM and SAH, the main biomarkers of methylating reaction

Uncovering Biological Factors That Regulate Hepatocellular Carcinoma Growth Using Patient‐Derived Xenograft Assays

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162740/3/hep31096.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162740/2/hep31096-sup-0001-Suppinfo.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/162740/1/hep31096_am.pd

V2O5-Coated TiO2 Nanorod Electrodes

V2O5-coated TiO2 nanorods with a shell thickness of 6.5 nm were prepared by coating V2O5 on anatase TiO2 nanowires. These coated nanorods demonstrated a superior rate capability and capacity at higher C rates with respect to the TiO2 nanowires. The volumetric capacity of the core-shell nanorods were 426 and 329 mAh/cm(3) at 0.5 and 20C rates, respectively, while those of the TiO2 nanowires were 246 and 128 mAh/cm(3), respectively. The enhanced electrochemical properties were due to both a fully reversible phase transition of the nanoscale-V2O5 shell to the crystalline omega-LixV2O5 phase, in contrast to bulk V2O5 to the amorphous phase and its faster pathways for Li ions and electrons into the TiO2 core.close181

Warmer Antarctic summers in recent decades linked to earlier stratospheric final warming occurrences

Abstract Since the 2000s, the pause of the strong Antarctic cooling and later stratospheric final warming onset trends has been identified. Here we employ composite and congruence analysis using reanalysis and in-situ data to propose a linkage between pivotal changes in the surface temperature trends and the timing of stratospheric final warming events. In early stratospheric final warming events, the positive polar cap height anomaly developed in the stratosphere in early October, descending to the troposphere and surface in late spring and summer, resulting in high-pressure anomalies, which led to warmer surfaces in most of Antarctica. In late stratospheric final warming occurrences, opposing or weaker behaviors were observed. The trend toward earlier stratospheric final warming appears to play a considerable role in warmer summers over parts of interior Antarctica through the strengthening of the anti-cyclonic surface pressure anomaly. This could influence the regional sea-ice modulation over the Southern Ocean

Multi-tissue transcriptomic analysis reveals that L-methionine supplementation maintains the physiological homeostasis of broiler chickens than D-methionine under acute heat stress.

The objective of this study was to compare the effects of supplementation with two methionine isoforms, L-methionine (L-Met) or D-methionine (D-Met), on transcriptome expression in broiler chickens under acute heat stress. A total of 240 one-day-old chicks were randomly assigned to one of four treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement: thermo-neutral vs. acute heat-stress and L-Met vs. D-Met supplementation. On day 14, the heat-stressed group was exposed to 32°C for 5 h, while the others remained at 25°C. Six chicks were randomly selected per treatment and total RNA was isolated from whole blood, ileum, and liver tissues. Two RNA samples from each tissue of each treatment group were randomly selected and pooled in equal amounts. A total of 1.87 billion raw reads obtained from 36 samples (four treatments × three tissues × three composited replicates) were mapped to the reference genome build (Gallus_gallus-5.0) and used to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) using DESeq2. Functional enrichment of DEGs was tested using DAVID. Comparing the two isoforms of supplemented methionine, two, three, and ten genes were differentially expressed (> 1 or < -1 log2 fold change) in whole blood, ileum, and liver, respectively. A total of 38, 71, and 16 genes were differentially expressed in response to the interaction between heat stress and Met isoforms in the blood, ileum, and liver, respectively. Three-tissue-specific DEGs were functionally enriched for regulation of cholesterol homeostasis and metabolism, glucose metabolism, and vascular patterning. Chicks fed with L-Met had lower immune (e.g., IL4I1 and SERPINI1) and intestinal angiogenic responses (e.g., FLT1 and FGD5), and stable glucose and lipid metabolism (e.g., PCK1 and LDLR) under heat stress conditions. In conclusion, unlike D-Met, L-Met supplementation seems to help maintain physiological homeostasis and enhances cellular defense systems against external stresses like high environmental temperature

Recent weakening of the southern stratospheric polar vortex and its impact on the surface climate over Antarctica

The variability in the southern stratospheric polar vortex (SSPV) and its downward coupling with the troposphere are known to play a crucial role in driving climate variability over Antarctica. In this study, SSPV weakening events and their impacts on the surface climate of Antarctica are examined using in-situ observation and reanalysis data. Combining criteria from several previous studies, we introduce a new detection method for SSPV weakening events. Based on the new criteria, the occurrence frequency of SSPV weakening events has exhibited a systematic increasing trend since the 2000 s. However, the weakened anomalies of individual SSPV events are not statistically different (95% confidence level) between the earlier (1979–1999) and later (2000–2017) periods examined in this study. The recent increase in the occurrence of SSPV weakening events is largely controlled by tropospheric mechanisms, i.e. the poleward heat flux carried by southern hemispheric planetary waves and associated vertical wave propagation. Among the various scales of planetary waves, the wavenumber 1 contributes most of the poleward eddy heat flux. We show that SSPV weakening events induce statistically significant cooling over the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) region and warming over the rest of Antarctica. Typically, surface air temperature anomalies with large negative values smaller than − 0.6 °C and positive values larger than + 0.8 °C are observed over the east coast of the tip of the AP and King Edward VII Land, respectively. The influence of an SSPV weakening event on the surface lasts for approximately three months with higher height anomalies off western Antarctica, providing favorable conditions for the atmosphere to transport cold air from the interior of Antarctica to the AP via the Weddell Sea. Distinct positive surface air temperature anomalies over the rest of Antarctica are associated with the northerly circulation anomaly from the eastern Weddell Sea to east Antarctica