Encouraging users to improve password security and memorability

Security issues in text-based password authentication are rarely caused by technical issues, but rather by the limitations of human memory, and human perceptions together with their consequential responses. This study introduces a new user-friendly guideline approach to password creation, including persuasive messages that motivate and influence users to select more secure and memorable text passwords without overburdening their memory. From a broad understanding of human factors-caused security problems, we offer a reliable solution by encouraging users to create their own formula to compose passwords. A study has been conducted to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed password guidelines. Its results suggest that the password creation methods and persuasive message provided to users convinced them to create cryptographically strong and memorable passwords. Participants were divided into two groups in the study. The participants in the experimental group who were given several password creation methods along with a persuasive message created more secure and memorable passwords than the participants in the control group who were asked to comply with the usual strict password creation rules. The study also suggests that our password creation methods are much more efficient than strict password policy rules. The security and usability evaluation of the proposed password guideline showed that simple improvements such as adding persuasive text to the usual password guidelines consisting of several password restriction rules make significant changes to the strength and memorability of passwords. The proposed password guidelines are a low-cost solution to the problem of improving the security and usability of text-based passwords

Patients with Essential thrombocythaemia have an increased prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies which may be associated with thrombosis

A significant proportion of patients with Essential Thrombocythaemia (ET) have thrombotic complications which have an important impact upon the quality, and duration of their life. We performed a retrospective cross sectional study of the prevalence of antiphospholipid antibodies (APA) in 68 ET patients. Compared to 200 elderly controls (> 50 years) there was a significant increase in anticardiolipin IgM (p < 0.0001) and anti β2 glycoprotein I (anti-β2GPI) IgM (p < 0.0001) antibodies in ET. Thrombosis occurred in 10/20 with APA and 12/48 without, p = 0.04, relative risk 2.0 (95% confidence intervals 1.03-3.86); these patients did not differ in terms of other clinical features. The prevalence of thrombosis in patients with dual APA (6/7) was significant when compared to those with single APA (p = 0.02) and the remaining patients (p < 0.0002). Also anti-β2GPI IgM antibodies either alone, or in combination with another APA, were associated with thrombosis (p = 0.02). These results suggest that the prevalence of APA in ET and their influence upon thrombotic risk merit investigation in a larger study

Degradation of two novel congenital TTP ADAMTS13 mutants by the cell proteasome prevents ADAMTS13 secretion

INTRODUCTION: Over 150 mutations have been identified in the ADAMTS13 gene in patients with congenital thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP). The majority of these (86%), lead to reduced (<50%) secretion of mutant recombinant ADAMTS13. The mechanism by which this occurs has not been investigated in vitro. Two novel ADAMTS13 mutations (p.I143T and p.Y570C) identified in two congenital adolescence onset TTP patients were studied, to investigate their effects on ADAMTS13 secretion and subcellular localisation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HEK293T cells were transiently transfected with wild type or mutant ADAMTS13 cDNA. Immunofluorescence and confocal microscopy were used to study localisation within the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and Golgi. The cell proteasome and lysosomes were inhibited in cells stably expressing ADAMTS13 to investigate degradation of ADAMTS13 by either organelle. RESULTS: Both mutations severely impaired secretion and both mutants localised within the ER and Golgi. Proteasome inhibition led to the intracellular accumulation of both mutants, suggesting proteasome degradation. Lysosome inhibition on the other hand did not lead to increased intracellular accumulation of the mutants. CONCLUSIONS: Proteasome degradation of these ADAMTS13 mutants contributed to their reduced secretion

Ensuring high standards of British Society for Rheumatology clinical guidelines: reflections from the coalface

Clinical guideline development by the Standards Audit Guidelines Working Group (SAGWG) is one of the most valued activities of the British Society for Rheumatology (BSR). In this article, based on a webinar [1], we reflect on our experiences of involvement in guidelines from working group membership to leadership of SAGWG to explain the process and highlight reasons why anyone can and should get involved. This editorial represents the opinion of the authors and not necessarily those of the National Health Service, National Institute for Health Research or Department of Healt

Contrasting Observed Atmospheric Responses to Tropical Sea Surface Temperature Warming Patterns

AM was funded by a NERC doctoral training partnership grant (NE/L002558/1). This study was funded as part of NERC's support of the National Center for Earth Observation: HB and PIP were supported by grant number NE/R016518/1.Equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) is a theoretical concept which describes the change in global mean surface temperature that results from a sustained doubling of atmospheric CO2. Current ECS estimates range from ∼1.8 to 5.6 K, reflecting uncertainties in climate feedbacks. The sensitivity of the lower (1,000–700 hPa) and upper (500–200 hPa) troposphere to changes in spatial patterns of tropical sea surface temperature (SST) have been proposed by recent model studies as key feedbacks controlling climate sensitivity. We examine empirical evidence for these proposed mechanisms using 14 years of satellite data. We examine the response of temperature and humidity profiles, clouds, and top‐of‐the‐atmosphere radiation to relative warming in tropical ocean regions when there is either strong convection or subsidence. We find warmer SSTs in regions of strong subsidence are coincident with a decrease in lower tropospheric stability (−0.9 ± 0.4 KK−1) and low cloud cover (∼−6% K−1). This leads to a warming associated with the weakening in the shortwave cooling effect of clouds (4.2 ± 1.9 Wm−2K−1), broadly consistent with model calculations. In contrast, warmer SSTs in regions of strong convection are coincident with an increase in upper tropospheric humidity (3.2 ± 1.5% K−1). In this scenario, the dominant effect is the enhancement of the warming longwave cloud radiative effect (3.8 ± 3.0 Wm−2K−1) from an increase in high cloud cover (∼7% K−1), though changes in the net (longwave and shortwave) effect are not statistically significant (p < 0.003). Our observational evidence supports the existence of mechanisms linking contrasting atmospheric responses to patterns in SST, mechanisms which have been linked to climate sensitivity.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Atom-molecule coherence in a one-dimensional system

We study a model of one-dimensional fermionic atoms that can bind in pairs to form bosonic molecules. We show that at low energy, a coherence develops between the molecule and fermion Luttinger liquids. At the same time, a gap opens in the spin excitation spectrum. The coherence implies that the order parameters for the molecular Bose-Einstein Condensation and the atomic BCS pairing become identical. Moreover, both bosonic and fermionic charge density wave correlations decay exponentially, in contrast with a usual Luttinger liquid. We exhibit a Luther-Emery point where the systems can be described in terms of noninteracting pseudofermions. At this point, we provide closed form expressions for the density-density response functions.Comment: 5 pages, no figures, Revtex 4; (v2) added a reference to cond-mat/0505681 where related results are reported; (v3) Expression of correlation functions given in terms of generalized hypergeometric function

Hormone replacement therapy after surgery for stage 1 or 2 cutaneous melanoma

A total of 206 women were followed for a minimum of 5 years after primary melanoma surgery to establish if hormone replacement therapy (HRT) adversely affected prognosis. In all, 123 had no HRT and 22 have died of melanoma; 83 had HRT for varying periods and one has died of melanoma. After controlling for known prognostic factors, we conclude that HRT after melanoma does not adversely affect prognosis

Simulating human digestion: developing our knowledge to create healthier and more sustainable foods

The gold standard for nutrition studies is clinical trials but they are expensive and variable, and do not always provide the mechanistic information required, hence the increased use of in vitro and increasingly in silico simulations of digestion. In this review, we give examples of the main simulations being used to model upper gastrointestinal tract digestion. This review ranges from the selection of enzymes to the interpretation of results from static models to fully dynamic models. We describe the modifications made to accommodate different demographic groups (infants, the elderly, etc.). We list examples of the application of the different models as well as giving the advantages and disadvantages. A model is only useful if it predicts or aids the understanding of physiological behaviour. Thus, the final section of the review makes a comparison of results obtained from experiments undertaken using in vitro simulations with those obtained in vivo. This comparison will help the reader understand the appropriateness of each model for the type of measurement to be undertaken. In particular, human studies tend to measure bioactive concentrations in blood and not in the gastrointestinal tract whereas in vitro studies often only produce data on release of nutrients into the gut lumen. This is the difficulty of comparing bioaccessibility as generated in vitro with bioavailability as generated in vivo. It is apparent that the models being used are increasingly being validated with in vivo data and this bodes well for the future

Response of Archaeal Communities in the Rhizosphere of Maize and Soybean to Elevated Atmospheric CO2 Concentrations

BACKGROUND: Archaea are important to the carbon and nitrogen cycles, but it remains uncertain how rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations ([CO(2)]) will influence the structure and function of soil archaeal communities. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We measured abundances of archaeal and bacterial 16S rRNA and amoA genes, phylogenies of archaeal 16S rRNA and amoA genes, concentrations of KCl-extractable soil ammonium and nitrite, and potential ammonia oxidation rates in rhizosphere soil samples from maize and soybean exposed to ambient (∼385 ppm) and elevated (550 ppm) [CO(2)] in a replicated and field-based study. There was no influence of elevated [CO(2)] on copy numbers of archaeal or bacterial 16S rRNA or amoA genes, archaeal community composition, KCl-extractable soil ammonium or nitrite, or potential ammonia oxidation rates for samples from maize, a model C(4) plant. Phylogenetic evidence indicated decreased relative abundance of crenarchaeal sequences in the rhizosphere of soybean, a model leguminous-C(3) plant, at elevated [CO(2)], whereas quantitative PCR data indicated no changes in the absolute abundance of archaea. There were no changes in potential ammonia oxidation rates at elevated [CO(2)] for soybean. Ammonia oxidation rates were lower in the rhizosphere of maize than soybean, likely because of lower soil pH and/or abundance of archaea. KCl-extractable ammonium and nitrite concentrations were lower at elevated than ambient [CO(2)] for soybean. CONCLUSION: Plant-driven shifts in soil biogeochemical processes in response to elevated [CO(2)] affected archaeal community composition, but not copy numbers of archaeal genes, in the rhizosphere of soybean. The lack of a treatment effect for maize is consistent with the fact that the photosynthesis and productivity of maize are not stimulated by elevated [CO(2)] in the absence of drought