FrodoPIR: Simple, Scalable, Single-Server Private Information Retrieval

We design $\mathsf{FrodoPIR}$ — a highly configurable, stateful, single-server Private Information Retrieval (PIR) scheme that involves an offline phase that is completely client-independent. Coupled with small online overheads, it leads to much smaller amortized financial costs on the server-side than previous approaches. In terms of performance for a database of $1$ million $1$KB elements, $\mathsf{FrodoPIR}$ requires $< 1$ second for responding to a client query, has a server response size blow-up factor of $< 3.6\times$, and financial costs are $\sim \$1$ for answering $100,000$ client queries. Our experimental analysis is built upon a simple, non-optimized Rust implementation, illustrating that $\mathsf{FrodoPIR}$ is particularly suitable for deployments that involve large numbers of clients

Dermatite de Contacto Alérgica em Profissionais de Saúde

Introduction: Occupational allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is frequent among health care workers (HCW) and culprit allergens may vary with time, occupational setting and exposure hazards.Objectives and Methods: In order to characterize the main contact allergens in HCW with dermatitis and its occupational relevance, we performed a retrospective analysis of clinical data and patch test (PT) results from HCW who were studied in the Department of Dermatology of Coimbra Hospital and University Centre (CHUC) between 2010-2015. All patients were tested with a baseline and additional series, according to the tasks developed.Results: Among 1858 patch tested patients, 125 (6.7%) were HCW, 114 females/11 males, mean age 39,26±12,5 years, mainly nurses (56), technical assistants (48) and doctors (21), 71 with hand dermatitis (56,8%), 22 with atopic dermatitis and/or other atopic symptoms (17,6%). Ninety patients (72%) had at least one positive PT, 47 (37,6%) with occupational relevance. Patients with hand dermatitis were significantly more likely to have positive PT (76.1%). We observed 51 positive PT to metals (Ni-41, most with past relevance, Co-8; Cr -2), 30 to fragrances (FM-I-10; Myroxylon pereirae-8; lyral-5; FM-II-4; citronellol-3), 29 to preservatives (mostly methylisothiazolinone (MI) and/or chloromethylisothiazolinone (MCI)-20), 24 to rubber chemicals (P-phenylenediamine (PPD)/Isopropyl-PPD-9), and 14 to topical medicaments (iodopovidone - 5; caine mix - 4). The main occupational causes of ACD were hand soaps/disinfectants and patients’ hygiene products (15), protective gloves/shoes-9 and topical or systemic drugs (antiseptics-8 and parenteral antibiotics-3). Main allergens with occupational relevance were MI and/or MCI/MI (15), although isolated MI was tested only after mid 2012, lanolin and/or amerchol L101 (9), formaldehyde and/or formaldehyde releasers (7), iodopovidone (5), thiuram mix (5), carbamates (4), FM-I (3), cephalosporins (3) and (meth)acrylates (3 dentists/dental technicians). In 37 out of 42 evaluated cases there was marked improvement/resolution of the dermatitis, namely after eviction of the hospital hand soap which contains MCI/ MI under the designation of Acticide® MV.Conclusions: Hand dermatitis was the main presentation of ACD in HCW with no apparent relation with atopy. Isothiazolinones and formaldehyde releasers induced more positive PT and were more frequent among HCW than in the whole population studied very probably due to the cumulative exposure to these preservatives in personal and occupational hand soaps and hygiene products. PT was important to orient eviction in each individual case but also for the hospital community to understand the presence of moderate or potent sensitizers in the work place and, therefore, establish the most adequate preventive measures.Introdução: A dermatite de contacto alérgica (DCA) constitui patologia profissional particularmente frequente em profissionais de saúde. Os alergénios responsáveis podem variar ao longe do tempo, com a exposição ocupacional e com o tipo de trabalho.Objectivos e Métodos: Com o objetivo de avaliar a realidade local, foi feita uma análise retrospetiva dos profissionais de saúde que realizaram testes epicutâneos no Serviço de Dermatologia do Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (CHUC), num período de 6 anos (2010-2015), por suspeita de dermatite de contacto alérgica. Os doentes foram todos testados com uma Série Básica e com séries complementares orientadas pela história clínica.Resultados: Dos 1858 doentes testados, 125 (6,7%) eram profissionais de saúde, 114 de género feminino/11 masculino, idade média de 39,26±12,5 anos, maioritariamente enfermeiras (56), assistentes técnicos (48) e médicos (21), 71 com dermatite das mãos (56.8%), 22 com dermatite atópica e/ou outros sinais de atopia (17,6%). Noventa (72%) revelaram pelo menos um patch test (PT) positivo, 47 dos quais (52,2%) com relevância profissional. Doentes com dermatite das mãos tiveram mais frequentemente PT positivo (76,1%). Os metais causaram maior número de PT positivos (total 51; Ni-41, maioritariamente com relevância passada, Co-8; Cr-2), seguidos das fragrâncias (total 30; mistura de fragrâncias (FM)-I-10; Myroxylon pereirae-8; lyral-5; FM-II-4; citronellol-3), conservantes (total 29, dos quais 20 à metilisotiazolinona (MI) e/ou clorometilisotiazolinona/MI (MCI/MI)), borrachas (24; P-fenilenodiamina (PPD)/Isopropil-PPD-9) e medicamentos tópicos (total 14; iodopovidona 5). As principais causas da DCA profissional foram os desinfetantes/sabonetes líquidos e produtos de higiene dos doentes (15), borracha das luvas/calçado (12) e medicamentos sistémicos ou tópicos (8 antissépticos e 3 antibióticos parentéricos). Os principais alergénios com relevância profissional foram a MI e/ou MCI/MI (15), lanolina (9), formaldeído e/ou libertadores (7), iodopovidona (5), carbamatos (4), FM-I (3), cefalosporinas (3) e acrilatos (3 dentistas e/ou assistentes dentários). Em 37 dos 42 casos avaliados, houve uma melhoria franca ou resolução da DCA, após evicção do alergénio causal, nomeadamente o conservante MCI/ MI contido num sabonete líquido sob a designação de “Acticide® MV”.Conclusões: A dermatite das mãos, a principal apresentação da DCA em profissionais de saúde, não mostrou relação com atopia e foi mais frequentemente associada a PT positivos. PT positivos a isotiazolinonas e libertadores de formaldeído foram mais frequentes entre profissionais de saúde do que na população geral estudada, muito provavelmente devido à exposição cumulativa, pessoal e profissional, a estes conservantes em sabonetes líquidos de uso pessoal e hospitalar. O PT foi crucial para orientar individualmente os doentes e para alertar a comunidade hospitalar para a presença de alergénios no local de trabalho e estabelecer medidas preventivas mais adequadas

DiStefano: Decentralized Infrastructure for Sharing Trusted Encrypted Facts and Nothing More

We design DiStefano: an efficient framework for generating private commitments over TLS-encrypted web traffic for a designated, untrusted third-party. DiStefano provides many improvements over previous TLS commitment systems, including: a modular security model that is applicable to TLS 1.3 traffic, and support for generating verifiable claims using applicable zero-knowledge systems; inherent 1-out-of-n privacy for the TLS server that the client communicates with; and various cryptographic optimisations to ensure fast online performance of the TLS session. We build an open-source implementation of DiStefano integrated into the BoringSSL cryptographic library, that is used within Chromium-based Internet browsers. We show that DiStefano is practical for committing to facts in arbitrary TLS traffic, with online times that are comparable with existing TLS 1.2 solutions. We also make improvements to certain cryptographic primitives used inside DiStefano, leading to 3x and 2x improvements in online computation time and bandwidth in specific situations

Authors’ Response

Dear Editor, We would like to thank Dr. Madias for his valuable comment on our original article entitled “QT interval prolongation in Takotsubo Syndrome: a frightening feature with no major prognostic impact” published in Monaldi Archives for Chest Disease on December 6, 2023..

Letrinhas: ensinar, aprender e avaliar com conteúdos multimédia

[PT] Os dispositivos móveis criam oportunidades de aprendizagem às quais a escola não pode ficar alheia. Se aliarmos essas potencialidades a necessidades específicas de alunos e professores, estaremos a caminhar em direção ao sucesso educativo. Foi neste âmbito que surgiu o Letrinhas, sistema de informação que visa a melhoria da competência leitora dos alunos, desenvolvido pelo Instituto Politécnico de Tomar (IPT) em resposta a um desafio lançado pelo Agrupamento de Escolas Artur Gonçalves, em Torres Novas. A adesão dos professores e alunos a este sistema, bem como a avaliação já efetuada, aponta para um impacto positivo na melhoria da competência de leitura dos alunos envolvidos e criou um novo desafio aos seus autores: expandir o Letrinhas a outros conteúdos curriculares, colmatando uma necessidade evidenciada pelos professores do Agrupamento. Desta forma, apostando nas potencialidades do m-learning, foi desenvolvida uma nova versão do Letrinhas que disponibiliza novos recursos que permitem a criação de conteúdos sobre os programas curriculares de qualquer área disciplinar, bem como a sua avaliação automática. Desta forma, os docentes poderão construir cenários de aprendizagem interativos que favoreçam o desenvolvimento de competências, a reflexão e a autonomia dos seus alunos

Gut Microbiota Diversity and C-Reactive Protein Are Predictors of Disease Severity in COVID-19 Patients

Funding Information: We acknowledge support from the NOVA Medical School of Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, CINTESIS, and CHRC. Funding. This study was sponsored by the Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (FCT, project no. 268_596883842), BIOCODEX, and CINTESIS (reference UIDB/4255/2020). The funders had no role in study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, or manuscript writing. Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2021 Moreira-Rosário, Marques, Pinheiro, Araújo, Ribeiro, Rocha, Mota, Pestana, Ribeiro, Pereira, de Sousa, Pereira-Leal, de Sousa, Morais, Teixeira, Rocha, Silvestre, Príncipe, Gatta, Amado, Santos, Maltez, Boquinhas, de Sousa, Germano, Sarmento, Granja, Póvoa, Faria and Calhau.The risk factors for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) severity are still poorly understood. Considering the pivotal role of the gut microbiota on host immune and inflammatory functions, we investigated the association between changes in the gut microbiota composition and the clinical severity of COVID-19. We conducted a multicenter cross-sectional study prospectively enrolling 115 COVID-19 patients categorized according to: (1) the WHO Clinical Progression Scale—mild, 19 (16.5%); moderate, 37 (32.2%); or severe, 59 (51.3%), and (2) the location of recovery from COVID-19—ambulatory, 14 (household isolation, 12.2%); hospitalized in ward, 40 (34.8%); or hospitalized in the intensive care unit, 61 (53.0%). Gut microbiota analysis was performed through 16S rRNA gene sequencing, and the data obtained were further related to the clinical parameters of COVID-19 patients. The risk factors for COVID-19 severity were identified by univariate and multivariable logistic regression models. In comparison to mild COVID-19 patients, the gut microbiota of moderate and severe patients have: (a) lower Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio; (b) higher abundance of Proteobacteria; and (c) lower abundance of beneficial butyrate-producing bacteria such as the genera Roseburia and Lachnospira. Multivariable regression analysis showed that the Shannon diversity index [odds ratio (OR) = 2.85, 95% CI = 1.09–7.41, p = 0.032) and C-reactive protein (OR = 3.45, 95% CI = 1.33–8.91, p = 0.011) are risk factors for severe COVID-19 (a score of 6 or higher in the WHO Clinical Progression Scale). In conclusion, our results demonstrated that hospitalized patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 have microbial signatures of gut dysbiosis; for the first time, the gut microbiota diversity is pointed out as a prognostic biomarker of COVID-19 severity.publishersversionpublishe

Prognostic impact of acute pulmonary triggers in patients with Takotsubo syndrome : new insights from the International Takotsubo Registry

© 2021 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.Aims: Acute pulmonary disorders are known physical triggers of takotsubo syndrome (TTS). This study aimed to investigate prevalence of acute pulmonary triggers in patients with TTS and their impact on outcomes. Methods and results: Patients with TTS were enrolled from the International Takotsubo Registry and screened for triggering factors and comorbidities. Patients were categorized into three groups (acute pulmonary trigger, chronic lung disease, and no lung disease) to compare clinical characteristics and outcomes. Of the 1670 included patients with TTS, 123 (7%) were identified with an acute pulmonary trigger, and 194 (12%) had a known history of chronic lung disease. The incidence of cardiogenic shock was highest in patients with an acute pulmonary trigger compared with those with chronic lung disease or without lung disease (17% vs. 10% vs. 9%, P = 0.017). In-hospital mortality was also higher in patients with an acute pulmonary trigger than in the other two groups, although not significantly (5.7% vs. 1.5% vs. 4.2%, P = 0.13). Survival analysis demonstrated that patients with an acute pulmonary trigger had the worst long-term outcome (P = 0.002). The presence of an acute pulmonary trigger was independently associated with worse long-term mortality (hazard ratio 2.12, 95% confidence interval 1.33-3.38; P = 0.002). Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that TTS is related to acute pulmonary triggers in 7% of all TTS patients, which accounts for 21% of patients with physical triggers. The presence of acute pulmonary trigger is associated with a severe in-hospital course and a worse long-term outcome.C. T. has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa binHamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss HeartFoundation. The InterTAK Registry is supported by the BissDavies Charitable Trust. L. S. M. has been supported by EUHORIZON 2020(SILICOFCM ID777204)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Clinical correlates and prognostic impact of neurologic disorders in Takotsubo syndrome

© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Cardiac alterations are frequently observed after acute neurological disorders. Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) represents an acute heart failure syndrome and is increasingly recognized as part of the spectrum of cardiac complications observed after neurological disorders. A systematic investigation of TTS patients with neurological disorders has not been conducted yet. The aim of the study was to expand insights regarding neurological disease entities triggering TTS and to investigate the clinical profile and outcomes of TTS patients after primary neurological disorders. The International Takotsubo Registry is an observational multicenter collaborative effort of 45 centers in 14 countries (ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT01947621). All patients in the registry fulfilled International Takotsubo Diagnostic Criteria. For the present study, patients were included if complete information on acute neurological disorders were available. 2402 patients in whom complete information on acute neurological status were available were analyzed. In 161 patients (6.7%) an acute neurological disorder was identified as the preceding triggering factor. The most common neurological disorders were seizures, intracranial hemorrhage, and ischemic stroke. Time from neurological symptoms to TTS diagnosis was ≤ 2 days in 87.3% of cases. TTS patients with neurological disorders were younger, had a lower female predominance, fewer cardiac symptoms, lower left ventricular ejection fraction, and higher levels of cardiac biomarkers. TTS patients with neurological disorders had a 3.2-fold increased odds of in-hospital mortality compared to TTS patients without neurological disorders. In this large-scale study, 1 out of 15 TTS patients had an acute neurological condition as the underlying triggering factor. Our data emphasize that a wide spectrum of neurological diseases ranging from benign to life-threatening encompass TTS. The high rates of adverse events highlight the need for clinical awareness.The International Takotsubo Registry was supported by the Biss Davies Charitable Trust. Dr. Scheitz has been supported by the Corona Foundation. Dr. Templin has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss Heart Foundation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio