Outsourced Symmetric Private Information Retrieval

In the setting of searchable symmetric encryption (SSE), a data owner D outsources a database (or document/file collection) to a remote server E in encrypted form such that D can later search the collection at E while hiding information about the database and queries from E. Leakage to E is to be confined to well-defined forms of data-access and query patterns while preventing disclosure of explicit data and query plaintext values. Recently, Cash et al presented a protocol, OXT, which can run arbitrary Boolean queries in the SSE setting and which is remarkably efficient even for very large databases. In this paper we investigate a richer setting in which the data owner D outsources its data to a server E but D is now interested to allow clients (third parties) to search the database such that clients learn the information D authorizes them to learn but nothing else while E still does not learn about the data or queried values as in the basic SSE setting. Furthermore, motivated by a wide range of applications, we extend this model and requirements to a setting where, similarly to private information retrieval, the client\u27s queried values need to be hidden also from the data owner D even though the latter still needs to authorize the query. Finally, we consider the scenario in which authorization can be enforced by the data owner D without D learning the policy, a setting that arises in court-issued search warrants. We extend the OXT protocol of Cash et al to support arbitrary Boolean queries in all of the above models while withstanding adversarial non-colluding servers (D and E) and arbitrarily malicious clients, and while preserving the remarkable performance of the protocol

Rich Queries on Encrypted Data: Beyond Exact Matches

We extend the searchable symmetric encryption (SSE) protocol of [Cash et al., Crypto\u2713] adding support for range, substring, wildcard, and phrase queries, in addition to the Boolean queries supported in the original protocol. Our techniques apply to the basic single-client scenario underlying the common SSE setting as well as to the more complex Multi-Client and Outsourced Symmetric PIR extensions of [Jarecki et al., CCS\u2713]. We provide performance information based on our prototype implementation, showing the practicality and scalability of our techniques to very large databases, thus extending the performance results of [Cash et al., NDSS\u2714] to these rich and comprehensive query types

Enhancement of Silymarin Anti-fibrotic Effects by Complexation With Hydroxypropyl (HPBCD) and Randomly Methylated (RAMEB) β-Cyclodextrins in a Mouse Model of Liver Fibrosis

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Chrysin-based supramolecular cyclodextrin-calixarene drug delivery system: a novel approach for attenuating cardiac fibrosis in chronic diabetes

Introduction: Cardiac fibrosis is strongly induced by diabetic conditions. Both chrysin (CHR) and calixarene OTX008, a specific inhibitor of galectin 1 (Gal-1), seem able to reduce transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β)/SMAD pro-fibrotic pathways, but their use is limited to their low solubility. Therefore, we formulated a dual-action supramolecular system, combining CHR with sulfobutylated β-cyclodextrin (SBECD) and OTX008 (SBECD + OTX + CHR). Here we aimed to test the anti-fibrotic effects of SBECD + OTX + CHR in hyperglycemic H9c2 cardiomyocytes and in a mouse model of chronic diabetes.Methods: H9c2 cardiomyocytes were exposed to normal (NG, 5.5 mM) or high glucose (HG, 33 mM) for 48 h, then treated with SBECD + OTX + CHR (containing OTX008 0.75–1.25–2.5 µM) or the single compounds for 6 days. TGF-β/SMAD pathways, Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases (MAPKs) and Gal-1 levels were assayed by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays (ELISAs) or Real-Time Quantitative Reverse Transcription Polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Adult CD1 male mice received a single intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of streptozotocin (STZ) at a dosage of 102 mg/kg body weight. From the second week of diabetes, mice received 2 times/week the following i.p. treatments: OTX (5 mg/kg)-SBECD; OTX (5 mg/kg)-SBECD-CHR, SBECD-CHR, SBECD. After a 22-week period of diabetes, mice were euthanized and cardiac tissue used for tissue staining, ELISA, qRT-PCR aimed to analyse TGF-β/SMAD, extracellular matrix (ECM) components and Gal-1.Results: In H9c2 cells exposed to HG, SBECD + OTX + CHR significantly ameliorated the damaged morphology and reduced TGF-β1, its receptors (TGFβR1 and TGFβR2), SMAD2/4, MAPKs and Gal-1. Accordingly, these markers were reduced also in cardiac tissue from chronic diabetes, in which an amelioration of cardiac remodeling and ECM was evident. In both settings, SBECD + OTX + CHR was the most effective treatment compared to the other ones.Conclusion: The CHR-based supramolecular SBECD-calixarene drug delivery system, by enhancing the solubility and the bioavailability of both CHR and calixarene OTX008, and by combining their effects, showed a strong anti-fibrotic activity in rat cardiomyocytes and in cardiac tissue from mice with chronic diabetes. Also an improved cardiac tissue remodeling was evident. Therefore, new drug delivery system, which could be considered as a novel putative therapeutic strategy for the treatment of diabetes-induced cardiac fibrosis

Non-Standard Errors

In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence-generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: Non-standard errors (NSEs). We study NSEs by letting 164 teams test the same hypotheses on the same data. NSEs turn out to be sizable, but smaller for better reproducible or higher rated research. Adding peer-review stages reduces NSEs. We further find that this type of uncertainty is underestimated by participants

Processor Controlled Off-Processor I/O

The performance of modern RISC processors on operating system code is well below application code performance. The kernel code implementing communication services across the network is not an exception. Modern networking technologies are characterized by a small packet size, which further increases the communication overhead. We took the approach of removing the kernel layer from the cross-machine communication path while still providing protection. The presence of a programmable communication processor on the network adapter made this experiment possible. The firmware running on the communication processor implements a Virtual Communication Machine (VCM); applications communicate with the VCM through shared memory without having to switch to kernel mode. Data is transferred directly between application buffers and the network without any intermediate buffering in the user or kernel spaces. The VCM architecture makes this possible; in particular, the VCM can be programmed to..

Communication support for cluster computing

Ph.D.Karsten Schwa