Quantum Query Lower Bounds for Key Recovery Attacks on the Even-Mansour Cipher

The Even-Mansour (EM) cipher is one of the famous constructions for a block cipher. Kuwakado and Morii demonstrated that a quantum adversary can recover its $n$-bit secret keys only with $O(n)$ nonadaptive quantum queries. While the security of the EM cipher and its variants is well-understood for classical adversaries, very little is currently known of their quantum security. Towards a better understanding of the quantum security, or the limits of quantum adversaries for the EM cipher, we study the quantum query complexity for the key recovery of the EM cipher and prove every quantum algorithm requires $\Omega(n)$ quantum queries for the key recovery even if it is allowed to make adaptive queries. Therefore, the quantum attack of Kuwakado and Morii has the optimal query complexity up to a constant factor, and we cannot asymptotically improve it even with adaptive quantum queries

siRNA Design Software for a Target Gene-Specific RNA Interference

RNA interference (RNAi) is a mechanism through which small interfering RNA (siRNA) induces sequence-specific posttranscriptional gene silencing. RNAi is commonly recognized as a powerful tool not only for functional genomics but also for therapeutic applications. Twenty-one-nucleotide-long siRNA suppresses the expression of the intended gene whose transcript possesses perfect complementarity to the siRNA guide strand. Hence, its silencing effect has been assumed to be extremely specific. However, accumulated evidences revealed that siRNA could downregulate unintended genes with partial complementarities mainly to the seven-nucleotide seed region of siRNA. This phenomenon is referred to as off-target effect. We have revealed that the capability to induce off-target effect is strongly correlated to the thermodynamic stability in siRNA seed-target duplex. For understanding accurate target gene function and successful therapeutic application, it may be critical to select a target gene-specific siRNA with minimized off-target effect. Here we present our siRNA design software for a target-specific RNAi. In addition, we also introduce the software programs open to the public for designing functional siRNAs

Diagnostic utility of measuring lactate dehydrogenase levels and its isoenzyme activities for the evaluation of malignancy in feline pleural effusion and ascitic fluid

Background: Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isoenzymes may be useful in the differential diagnosis of pleural effusion (PE) and ascitic fluid (AF) etiologies in cats since tissue damage induces their release, changing the pattern of their activity. Aim: This study aimed to determine the diagnostic utility of measuring LDH levels and isoenzyme activities in PE or AF in cats with malignancy. Methods: LDH levels and isoenzyme activities in the serum, PE, and AF were compared among cats in the malignant, infectious, and non-malignant, non-infectious groups. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to assess the accuracy in diagnosing feline malignancy. Results: Significant differences in LDH level and LDH isoenzyme activities in the PE and AF were observed among the three groups. The combination of LDH level and LDH-1 activity in PE or AF had the highest area under the ROC (AUC) values for discriminating malignant effusion from non-malignant effusion. The AUC of the combination of LDH level and LDH-1 activity in PE or AF was 0.874. The sensitivity and specificity of using the combination of LDH level (cut-off: <2,269 U/l) and LDH-1 activity (cut-off: <4.8%) in PE or AF for predicting malignancy with the highest AUC value were 94.4% and 72.7%, respectively. Conclusion: Our results suggest that the combination of LDH level and LDH-1 activity in PE or AF is a potential factor for diagnosing malignancy. Considering that LDH isoenzymes can be measured inexpensively and easily, LDH tests can be readily accommodated in veterinary clinical practice

Essential Notes Regarding the Design of Functional siRNAs for Efficient Mammalian RNAi

Short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are widely used to bring about RNA interference (RNAi) in mammalian cells. Numerous siRNAs may be designed for any target gene though most of which would be incapable of efficiently inducing mammalian RNAi. Certain highly functional siRNAs designed for knockout of a particular gene may render unrelated endogenous genes nonfunctional. These major bottlenecks should be properly eliminated when RNAi technologies are employed for any experiment in mammalian functional genomics. This paper thus presents essential notes and findings regarding the proper choice of siRNA-sequence selection algorithms and web-based online software systems

A case of non-invasive serous adenocarcinoma at unilateral fimbria with spread to the peritoneal/uterine cavity: case report

Recently, fimbriae have been identified as a possible arising site for the pelvic serous carcinoma (PSC) both in BRCA-positive and BRCA-negative women. Although non-invasive (intraepithelial) serous adenocarcinoma of the fimbria has been found in specimens obtained from prophylactic salphingo-oophorectomies in BRCA-positive women, there has not been any case report in clinical situation, since this type of tumor is usually detected after stromal invasion/widespread dissemination. We describe a 67-year-old woman with non-invasive serous adenocarcinoma located solely in the left fimbria. This case may suggest the benefit of endometrial cytology and detailed gross examination of fimbria for the early detection of fimbrial carcinoma. This case may provide evidence suggesting fimbrial intraepithelial adenocarcinoma is one cause of PSC

siVirus: web-based antiviral siRNA design software for highly divergent viral sequences

siVirus () is a web-based online software system that provides efficient short interfering RNA (siRNA) design for antiviral RNA interference (RNAi). siVirus searches for functional, off-target minimized siRNAs targeting highly conserved regions of divergent viral sequences. These siRNAs are expected to resist viral mutational escape, since their highly conserved targets likely contain structurally/functionally constrained elements. siVirus will be a useful tool for designing optimal siRNAs targeting highly divergent pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), influenza virus and SARS coronavirus, all of which pose enormous threats to global human health

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早大学位記番号:新8579早稲田大