Existence of Dependency-Based Attacks in NodeJS Environment

Node.js is an open source server-side run-time platform for JavaScript applications. Node.js applications are dependent on several, even hundreds, packages, which in turn have many dependencies. There is always a risk of malicious code hidden in one of these dependencies. This work analyzes vulnerabilities found in Node.js based applications, discusses basic types of attacks and reports about the assessment of five frequently-used Node.js packages

A Comparative Analysis of Anterior & Lateral Cranial Base CSF Leaks

Introduction The optimal strategy for management of Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension (IIH) in anterior and lateral cranial base meningoencephaloceles remains debated. The purpose of this study is to present a comparison of the surgical management of anterior and lateral cranial base meningoencephalocele and a treatment algorithm for the diagnosis and management of IIH in this patient population. Methods Retrospective study of 109 patients who underwent anterior or lateral CSF leak repair at TJU from 2004-2020. Epic & RedCap were utilized to record data. Patient demographics, presenting symptoms, imaging, Beta-2 Transferring testing, surgery, repair, and post-op data were collected. Two-sided Chi-squared tests and Independent t-test were performed via SPSS Statistics 26. Results 49 anterior cranial base (ACB) and 60 lateral cranial base (LCB) defects were included. Anterior cohort had significantly more women (N=77, 85.7%, p=0.02). Anterior cohort presented with significantly higher multiple leak sites (24.5% vs 15.0%, p=0.036). Six patients, 3 in each cohort, none of whom received Ventriculoperitoneal shunts (VPS) developed recurrence. VPS were placed for long-term CSF diversion in 23 ACB cases (46.9%) and 10 LCB cases (16.7%), (p\u3c0.01). Discussion ACB cases had a higher incidence of females, multiple site leaks, and more likely to undergo VPS placement. No patients developed recurrence after placement of a VPS. Long-term CSF diversion via VPS, in addition to surgical repair, should be considered in patients with elevated intracranial pressure and other high-risk factors to prevent recurrence of CSF leaks

LEARN: A multi-centre, cross-sectional evaluation of Urology teaching in UK medical schools

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the status of UK undergraduate urology teaching against the British Association of Urological Surgeons (BAUS) Undergraduate Syllabus for Urology. Secondary objectives included evaluating the type and quantity of teaching provided, the reported performance rate of General Medical Council (GMC)-mandated urological procedures, and the proportion of undergraduates considering urology as a career. MATERIALS AND METHODS: LEARN was a national multicentre cross-sectional study. Year 2 to Year 5 medical students and FY1 doctors were invited to complete a survey between 3rd October and 20th December 2020, retrospectively assessing the urology teaching received to date. Results are reported according to the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys (CHERRIES). RESULTS: 7,063/8,346 (84.6%) responses from all 39 UK medical schools were included; 1,127/7,063 (16.0%) were from Foundation Year (FY) 1 doctors, who reported that the most frequently taught topics in undergraduate training were on urinary tract infection (96.5%), acute kidney injury (95.9%) and haematuria (94.4%). The most infrequently taught topics were male urinary incontinence (59.4%), male infertility (52.4%) and erectile dysfunction (43.8%). Male and female catheterisation on patients as undergraduates was performed by 92.1% and 73.0% of FY1 doctors respectively, and 16.9% had considered a career in urology. Theory based teaching was mainly prevalent in the early years of medical school, with clinical skills teaching, and clinical placements in the later years of medical school. 20.1% of FY1 doctors reported no undergraduate clinical attachment in urology. CONCLUSION: LEARN is the largest ever evaluation of undergraduate urology teaching. In the UK, teaching seemed satisfactory as evaluated by the BAUS undergraduate syllabus. However, many students report having no clinical attachments in Urology and some newly qualified doctors report never having inserted a catheter, which is a GMC mandated requirement. We recommend a greater emphasis on undergraduate clinical exposure to urology and stricter adherence to GMC mandated procedures

The global burden of adolescent and young adult cancer in 2019 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background In estimating the global burden of cancer, adolescents and young adults with cancer are often overlooked, despite being a distinct subgroup with unique epidemiology, clinical care needs, and societal impact. Comprehensive estimates of the global cancer burden in adolescents and young adults (aged 15-39 years) are lacking. To address this gap, we analysed results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019, with a focus on the outcome of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), to inform global cancer control measures in adolescents and young adults. Methods Using the GBD 2019 methodology, international mortality data were collected from vital registration systems, verbal autopsies, and population-based cancer registry inputs modelled with mortality-to-incidence ratios (MIRs). Incidence was computed with mortality estimates and corresponding MIRs. Prevalence estimates were calculated using modelled survival and multiplied by disability weights to obtain years lived with disability (YLDs). Years of life lost (YLLs) were calculated as age-specific cancer deaths multiplied by the standard life expectancy at the age of death. The main outcome was DALYs (the sum of YLLs and YLDs). Estimates were presented globally and by Socio-demographic Index (SDI) quintiles (countries ranked and divided into five equal SDI groups), and all estimates were presented with corresponding 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). For this analysis, we used the age range of 15-39 years to define adolescents and young adults. Findings There were 1.19 million (95% UI 1.11-1.28) incident cancer cases and 396 000 (370 000-425 000) deaths due to cancer among people aged 15-39 years worldwide in 2019. The highest age-standardised incidence rates occurred in high SDI (59.6 [54.5-65.7] per 100 000 person-years) and high-middle SDI countries (53.2 [48.8-57.9] per 100 000 person-years), while the highest age-standardised mortality rates were in low-middle SDI (14.2 [12.9-15.6] per 100 000 person-years) and middle SDI (13.6 [12.6-14.8] per 100 000 person-years) countries. In 2019, adolescent and young adult cancers contributed 23.5 million (21.9-25.2) DALYs to the global burden of disease, of which 2.7% (1.9-3.6) came from YLDs and 97.3% (96.4-98.1) from YLLs. Cancer was the fourth leading cause of death and tenth leading cause of DALYs in adolescents and young adults globally. Interpretation Adolescent and young adult cancers contributed substantially to the overall adolescent and young adult disease burden globally in 2019. These results provide new insights into the distribution and magnitude of the adolescent and young adult cancer burden around the world. With notable differences observed across SDI settings, these estimates can inform global and country-level cancer control efforts. Copyright (C) 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

A scalable wavelength-hopping, time-spreading optical-CDMA system

In this paper, we have shown that optical code division multiplexing (O-CDMA) systems at 10 Gb/s that can support at least 10 simultaneous users with BER<10-9 can be effectively designed for implementation in real networks. The carrier-hopping prime code is chosen to offer the optimum correlation values and maximum cardinality while providing a satisfactory bit error rate (BER). The encoder design can be advantageous of scalability allowed by increasing the code matrix size and the complementary decoder reduces cardinality limitations

A Comprehensive Review on the Role of Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2) as a Biomarker in Extra-Mammary and Extra-Gastric Cancers

The human epidermal growth factor receptors (HERs) are expressed abundantly in the human body. The tumorigenic potential of HER2/neu is linked to its overexpression, amplification or somatic mutation. The HER2 gene amplification leading to protein overexpression has been reported in 25–30% of breast cancers and 10–30% of gastric/gastroesophageal cancers. While HER2 is a well-documented predictive, prognostic, and therapeutic marker in breast and gastric/gastroesophageal cancers, its relevance has also been demonstrated in multiple other malignancies. In this article, we will conduct an extensive review of current data pertaining to HER2 amplification, overexpression, or mutation in cancers other than breast and gastric cancers

Racial Differences in Disease Characteristics: Understanding Multiple Myeloma in Hispanics

Abstract Background:Racial disparities in multiple myeloma (MM) outcomes are well established. Clinical characteristics and cytogenetic abnormalities dictate outcomes in MM but historically they have been mostly defined in White patients with paucity of information regarding racial-ethnic minorities. Hispanics are the fastest growing racial-ethnic subgroup in United States and have the worst overall survival (OS) in MM but differences in disease presentation among Hispanics compared to Whites, the historical control, are undefined. Methods: MM patients seen at Mayo Clinic in Florida (MCF) and Arizona (MCA) between 1/1/2000-06/15/2017 were included. Patient and disease characteristics including gender, age at diagnosis, bone marrow (BM) plasmacytosis, laboratory data [M spike, creatinine (Cr), beta-2-microglobulin (B2M), Hemoglobin (Hb), calcium (Ca)], MM subtype [IgG, IgA, light chain (LC), other], LC subtype (κ, λ, biclonal), presence of lytic bone lesions, disease stage (DS, ISS, R-ISS), mSMRT cytogenetic risk category, presence of individual cytogenetic mutations (deletions, translocations, gains, trisomy/hyperdiploidy) was collected. Comparisons between Hispanic study cohort characteristics and historical control were made by Chi-square, Fischer's exact and Signed rank tests, where applicable, using data from previous publications [Kyle et al, 2003 (n=1027) and Fonseca et al, 2003 (n=351)]. Patients with missing data on a certain clinical or disease feature were not included in the statistical analysis of that specific characteristic. Results: A total of 1705 MM patients were screened and 266 Hispanic patients seen at either site between the specified dates were identified for the analysis. These included equal number of males and females (n=133 each) with a median age of 58 years (range 25-87). IgG disease was seen in 52% with IgA and LC subtypes in 23% each. LC subtype was κ in 67%, λ in 31% and biclonal in 2% cases. Lytic and extramedullary disease were noted in 71% and 44% patients, respectively. DS and R-ISS stage at the time of MM diagnosis was not available in most patients while ISS stage among 150 patients showed stage 1, 2 and 3 in 48%, 28% and 24% patients, respectively. mSMART risk categories were present in 226 patients and included high, intermediate and standard risk in 12%, 11% and 77% patients, respectively. Of these 226 patients, cytogenetic disease prior to starting any MM treatment was available in 153 patients with similar risk category distribution. Median follow up for the whole Hispanic cohort was 38.6 months with a median OS 10.7 years (Figure 1). Comparison with historical control datasets which were 97% or greater comprised of White patients showed some significant differences for the Hispanic cohort including gender distribution, median age, BM plasmacytosis at the time of diagnosis, median Hb, Cr or M spike at presentation, light chain subtype, presence of lytic bone disease and certain cytogenetic alterations including t(4;14) and del13q/monosomy (Table 1). We did not note differences in high-risk cytogenetics between Hispanics and historical White controls. Conclusions: We report the first description of clinical and cytogenetic characteristics of Hispanic MM patients. The current and historical datasets that we have used are all from Mayo Clinic experience, thus making reasonable comparisons possible. We were able to confirm previous reports of demographic differences in Hispanics e.g., younger age at diagnosis. While some characteristics were significantly different, the clinical and cytogenetic differences we note do not clearly explain the inferior OS noted for Hispanics in population-based studies. Significant differences that we report warrant continued exploration in larger institutional and public databases in addition to a continued look into healthcare access and utilization. An ongoing collaborative analysis with data from Mayo Clinic, University of Miami and University of Southern California, Los Angeles is ongoing. Disclosures Fonseca: AMGEN: Consultancy; Jansen: Consultancy; Mayo Clinic & Dr Fonseca: Patents & Royalties: Prognostication of myeloma via FISH, ~$2000/year; Celgene Corporation: Consultancy, Research Funding; Merck: Consultancy; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Bayer: Consultancy; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Takeda: Consultancy; Sanofi: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy. Kelly: Pharmacyclics: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Jannsen: Honoraria. Sher: LAM Therapeutics, Inc: Research Funding. Ailawadhi: Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria