216 research outputs found
An Improved BKW Algorithm for LWE with Applications to Cryptography and Lattices
In this paper, we study the Learning With Errors problem and its binary
variant, where secrets and errors are binary or taken in a small interval. We
introduce a new variant of the Blum, Kalai and Wasserman algorithm, relying on
a quantization step that generalizes and fine-tunes modulus switching. In
general this new technique yields a significant gain in the constant in front
of the exponent in the overall complexity. We illustrate this by solving p
within half a day a LWE instance with dimension n = 128, modulus ,
Gaussian noise and binary secret, using
samples, while the previous best result based on BKW claims a time
complexity of with samples for the same parameters. We then
introduce variants of BDD, GapSVP and UniqueSVP, where the target point is
required to lie in the fundamental parallelepiped, and show how the previous
algorithm is able to solve these variants in subexponential time. Moreover, we
also show how the previous algorithm can be used to solve the BinaryLWE problem
with n samples in subexponential time . This
analysis does not require any heuristic assumption, contrary to other algebraic
approaches; instead, it uses a variant of an idea by Lyubashevsky to generate
many samples from a small number of samples. This makes it possible to
asymptotically and heuristically break the NTRU cryptosystem in subexponential
time (without contradicting its security assumption). We are also able to solve
subset sum problems in subexponential time for density , which is of
independent interest: for such density, the previous best algorithm requires
exponential time. As a direct application, we can solve in subexponential time
the parameters of a cryptosystem based on this problem proposed at TCC 2010.Comment: CRYPTO 201
The rate of X-ray-induced DNA double-strand break repair in the embryonic mouse brain is unaff ected by exposure to 50 Hz magnetic fi elds
Following in utero exposure to low dose radiation
(10 – 200 mGy), we recently observed a linear induction of DNA
double-strand breaks (DSB) and activation of apoptosis in the
embryonic neuronal stem/progenitor cell compartment. No
signifi cant induction of DSB or apoptosis was observed following
exposure to magnetic fi elds (MF). In the present study, we
exploited this in vivo system to examine whether exposure to MF
before and after exposure to 100 mGy X-rays impacts upon DSB
repair rates.
Materials and methods : 53BP1 foci were quantifi ed following
combined exposure to radiation and MF in the embryonic neuronal
stem/progenitor cell compartment. Embryos were exposed
in utero to 50 Hz MF at 300 m T for 3 h before and up to 9 h after
exposure to 100 mGy X-rays. Controls included embryos exposed
to MF or X-rays alone plus sham exposures.
Results : Exposure to MF before and after 100 mGy X-rays did not
impact upon the rate of DSB repair in the embryonic neuronal
stem cell compartment compared to repair rates following radiation
exposure alone.
Conclusions : We conclude that in this sensitive system MF do not
exert any signifi cant level of DNA damage and do not impede
the repair of X-ray induced damage
Twisting Lattice and Graph Techniques to Compress Transactional Ledgers
International audienceKeeping track of financial transactions (e.g., in banks and blockchains) means keeping track of an ever-increasing list of exchanges between accounts. In fact, many of these transactions can be safely " forgotten " , in the sense that purging a set of them that compensate each other does not impact the network's semantic meaning (e.g., the accounts' balances). We call nilcatenation a collection of transactions having no effect on a network's semantics. Such exchanges may be archived and removed, yielding a smaller, but equivalent ledger. Motivated by the computational and analytic benefits obtained from more compact representations of numerical data, we formalize the problem of finding nilcatenations, and propose detection methods based on graph and lattice-reduction techniques. Atop interesting applications of this work (e.g., decoupling of centralized and distributed databases), we also discuss the original idea of a " community-serving proof of work " : finding nilcatenations constitutes a proof of useful work, as the periodic removal of nilcatenations reduces the transactional graph's size
Child-report measures of occupational performance: A systematic review
© Copyright 2016 Cordier et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Introduction Improving occupational performance is a key service of occupational therapists and client-centred approach to care is central to clinical practice. As such it is important to comprehensively evaluate the quality of psychometric properties reported across measures of occupational performance; in order to guide assessment and treatment planning. Objective To systematically review the literature on the psychometric properties of child-report measures of occupational performance for children ages 2-18 years. Methods A systematic search of the following six electronic databases was conducted: CINAHL; Psy-cINFO; EMBASE; PubMed; the Health and Psychosocial Instruments (HAPI) database; and Google Scholar. The quality of the studies was evaluated against the COSMIN taxonomy of measurement properties and the overall quality of psychometric properties was evaluated using pre-set psychometric criteria. Results Fifteen articles and one manual were reviewed to assess the psychometric properties of the six measures-the PEGS, MMD, CAPE, PAC, COSA, and OSA- which met the inclusion criteria. Most of the measures had conducted good quality studies to evaluate the psychometric properties of measures (PEGS, CAPE, PAC, OSA); however, the quality of the studies for two of these measures was relatively weak (MMD, COSA). When integrating the quality of the psychometric properties of the measures with the quality of the studies, the PAC stood out as having superior psychometric qualities. Conclusions The overall quality of the psychometric properties of most measures was limited. There is a need for continuing research into the psychometric properties of child-report measures of occupational performance, and to revise and improve the psychometric properties of existing measures
Automated telephone follow-up after breast cancer: an acceptability and feasibility pilot study
Traditional clinical follow-up after breast cancer is inefficient at detecting relapse and is poorly suited to detecting and ameliorating psychological problems. There is interest in developing more effective and efficient methods of follow-up. We report a prospective cohort study of the acceptability and feasibility of remote, automated telephone follow-up after breast cancer. Women with a history of breast cancer were approached at their annual follow-up visit. For participants, the follow-up questionnaire was administered on paper at baseline. In place of a clinic visit following year, the women completed the same questionnaire using an automated telephone system. All patients were given mammograms. A semi-structured interview was then conducted to assess the acceptability. The potential impact on clinic usage was assessed. In all, 110 of 121 women (91%) agreed to participate. Seventy-five patients (71%) completed follow-up using the new automated system 1 year later. Seventy-one of the 75 patients found the system easy to use. Forty-nine of the 75 (65.33%) liked the system and were happy to use it as their sole method of follow-up. A further 12% were happy to use it as part of their follow-up. In only 10.66% of participants were concerns raised which led to clinic attendance. Automated questionnaire-based telephone follow-up is acceptable to women and has the potential to reduce attendance at clinic. Further studies to validate this method further are planned
Management of high-risk corneal grafts
MACMILLAN BUILDING,4 CRINAN ST, LONDON,
ENGLAND, N1 9X
Low documentation of chronic kidney disease among high-risk patients in a managed care population: a retrospective cohort study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Early detection of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is sub-optimal among the general population and among high risk patients. The prevalence and impact of major CKD risk factors, diabetes (DM) and hypertension (HTN), on CKD documentation among managed care populations have not been previously reported. We examined this issue in a Kaiser Permanente Georgia (KPG) CKD cohort.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>KPG enrollees were included in the CKD cohort if they had eGFRs between 60 and 365 days apart that were <90 ml/min during 1999-2006. The current analysis is restricted to participants with eGFR 10-59 ml/min/1.73 m<sup>2</sup>. CKD documentation was defined as a presenting diagnosis of CKD by a primary care physician or nephrologist using ICD-9 event codes. The association between CKD documentation and DM and HTN were assessed with multivariate logistic regression models.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 50,438 subjects within the overall KPG CKD cohort, 20% (N = 10,266) were eligible for inclusion in the current analysis. Overall, CKD diagnosis documentation was low; only 14.4% of subjects had an event-based CKD diagnosis at baseline. Gender and types 2 diabetes interacted on CKD documentation. The prevalence of CKD documentation increased with the presence of hypertension and/or type 2 diabetes, but type 2 diabetes had a lower effect on CKD documentation. In multivariate analysis, significant predictors of CKD documentation were eGFR, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, congestive heart failure, peripheral artery disease, statin use, age and gender. CKD documentation was lower among women than similarly affected men.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Among patients with an eGFR 10-59, documentation of CKD diagnosis by primary and subspecialty providers is low within a managed care patient cohort. Gender disparities in CKD documentation observed in the general population were also present among KPG CKD enrollees.</p
No evidence for involvement of SDHD in neuroblastoma pathogenesis
BACKGROUND: Deletions in the long arm of chromosome 11 are observed in a subgroup of advanced stage neuroblastomas with poor outcome. The deleted region harbours the tumour suppressor gene SDHD that is frequently mutated in paraganglioma and pheochromocytoma, which are, like neuroblastoma, tumours originating from the neural crest. In this study, we sought for evidence for involvement of SDHD in neuroblastoma. METHODS: SDHD was investigated on the genome, transcriptome and proteome level using mutation screening, methylation specific PCR, real-time quantitative PCR based homozygous deletion screening and mRNA expression profiling, immunoblotting, functional protein analysis and ultrastructural imaging of the mitochondria. RESULTS: Analysis at the genomic level of 67 tumour samples and 37 cell lines revealed at least 2 bona-fide mutations in cell lines without allelic loss at 11q23: a 4bp-deletion causing skip of exon 3 resulting in a premature stop codon in cell line N206, and a Y93C mutation in cell line NMB located in a region affected by germline SDHD mutations causing hereditary paraganglioma. No evidence for hypermethylation of the SDHD promotor region was observed, nor could we detect homozygous deletions. Interestingly, SDHD mRNA expression was significantly reduced in SDHD mutated cell lines and cell lines with 11q allelic loss as compared to both cell lines without 11q allelic loss and normal foetal neuroblast cells. However, protein analyses and assessment of mitochondrial morphology presently do not provide clues as to the possible effect of reduced SDHD expression on the neuroblastoma tumour phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides no indications for 2-hit involvement of SDHD in the pathogenesis of neuroblastoma. Also, although a haplo-insufficient mechanism for SDHD involvement in advanced stage neuroblastoma could be considered, the present data do not provide consistent evidence for this hypothesis
- …