An Improved Integrity-Based Hybrid Multi-User Data Access Control for Cloud Heterogeneous Supply Chain Databases

Cloud-based supply chain applications play a vital role in the multi-user data security framework for heterogeneous data types. The majority of the existing security models work effectively on small to medium-sized datasets with a homogenous data structure. In contrast, Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems in the real world utilize heterogeneous databases. The heterogeneous databases include a massive quantity of raw SCM data and a scanned image of a purchase quotation. In addition, as the size of the database grows, it becomes more challenging to provide data security on multi-user SCM databases. Multi-user datatypes are heterogeneous in structure, and it is complex to apply integrity and confidentiality models due to high computational time and resources. Traditional multi-user integrity algorithms are difficult to process heterogeneous datatypes due to computational time and variation in hash bit size. Conventional attribute-based encryption models such as "Key-policy attribute-based encryption" (KP-ABE), "Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption" (CP-ABE) etc., are used to provide strong data confidentiality on large textual data. Providing security for heterogeneous databases in a multi-user SCM system requires a significant computational runtime for these conventional models. An enhanced integrity-based multi-user access control security model is created for heterogeneous databases in the cloud infrastructure to address the problems with heterogeneous SCM databases. A non-linear integrity model is developed to provide strong integrity verification in the multi-user communication process. A multi-user based access control model is implemented by integrating the multi-user hash values in the encoding and decoding process. Practical results proved that the multi-user non-linear integrity-based multi-access control framework has better runtime and hash bit variation compared to the conventional models on large cloud-based SCM databases

POPcorn: An Online Resource Providing Access to Distributed and Diverse Maize Project Data

The purpose of the online resource presented here, POPcorn (Project Portal for corn), is to enhance accessibility of maize genetic and genomic resources for plant biologists. Currently, many online locations are difficult to find, some are best searched independently, and individual project websites often degrade over time—sometimes disappearing entirely. The POPcorn site makes available (1) a centralized, web-accessible resource to search and browse descriptions of ongoing maize genomics projects, (2) a single, stand-alone tool that uses web Services and minimal data warehousing to search for sequence matches in online resources of diverse offsite projects, and (3) a set of tools that enables researchers to migrate their data to the long-term model organism database for maize genetic and genomic information: MaizeGDB. Examples demonstrating POPcorn's utility are provided herein

Apoptotic Engulfment Pathway and Schizophrenia

Background: Apoptosis has been speculated to be involved in schizophrenia. In a previously study, we reported the association of the MEGF10 gene with the disease. In this study, we followed the apoptotic engulfment pathway involving the MEGF10, GULP1, ABCA1 and ABCA7 genes and tested their association with the disease. Methodology/Principal Findings: Ten, eleven and five SNPs were genotyped in the GULP1, ABCA1 and ABCA7 genes respectively for the ISHDSF and ICCSS samples. In all 3 genes, we observed nominally significant associations. Rs2004888 at GULP1 was significant in both ISHDSF and ICCSS samples (p = 0.0083 and 0.0437 respectively). We sought replication in independent samples for this marker and found highly significant association (p = 0.0003) in 3 Caucasian replication samples. But it was not significant in the 2 Chinese replication samples. In addition, we found a significant 2-marker (rs2242436 * rs3858075) interaction between the ABCA1 and ABCA7 genes in the ISHDSF sample (p = 0.0022) and a 3-marker interaction (rs246896 * rs4522565 * rs3858075) amongst the MEGF10, GULP1 and ABCA1 genes in the ICCSS sample (p = 0.0120). Rs3858075 in the ABCA1 gene was involved in both 2- and 3-marker interactions in the two samples. Conclusions/Significance: From these data, we concluded that the GULP1 gene and the apoptotic engulfment pathway are involved in schizophrenia in subjects of European ancestry and multiple genes in the pathway may interactively increase the risks to the disease. © 2009 Chen et al

Metabolomics of Oxidative Stress in Recent Studies of Endogenous and Exogenously Administered Intermediate Metabolites

Aerobic metabolism occurs in a background of oxygen radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that originate from the incomplete reduction of molecular oxygen in electron transfer reactions. The essential role of aerobic metabolism, the generation and consumption of ATP and other high energy phosphates, sustains a balance of approximately 3000 essential human metabolites that serve not only as nutrients, but also as antioxidants, neurotransmitters, osmolytes, and participants in ligand-based and other cellular signaling. In hypoxia, ischemia, and oxidative stress, where pathological circumstances cause oxygen radicals to form at a rate greater than is possible for their consumption, changes in the composition of metabolite ensembles, or metabolomes, can be associated with physiological changes. Metabolomics and metabonomics are a scientific disciplines that focuse on quantifying dynamic metabolome responses, using multivariate analytical approaches derived from methods within genomics, a discipline that consolidated innovative analysis techniques for situations where the number of biomarkers (metabolites in our case) greatly exceeds the number of subjects. This review focuses on the behavior of cytosolic, mitochondrial, and redox metabolites in ameliorating or exacerbating oxidative stress. After reviewing work regarding a small number of metabolites—pyruvate, ethyl pyruvate, and fructose-1,6-bisphosphate—whose exogenous administration was found to ameliorate oxidative stress, a subsequent section reviews basic multivariate statistical methods common in metabolomics research, and their application in human and preclinical studies emphasizing oxidative stress. Particular attention is paid to new NMR spectroscopy methods in metabolomics and metabonomics. Because complex relationships connect oxidative stress to so many physiological processes, studies from different disciplines were reviewed. All, however, shared the common goal of ultimately developing “omics”-based, diagnostic tests to help influence therapies

The Transcriptional and Protein Profile From Human Infected Neuroprogenitor Cells Is Strongly Correlated to Zika Virus Microcephaly Cytokines Phenotype Evidencing a Persistent Inflammation in the CNS

Submitted by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2019-09-27T17:34:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Lima, C. M The Transcriptional....pdf: 3509801 bytes, checksum: 454f6b43052365e7fcc8eec4efcf6676 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Ana Maria Fiscina Sampaio ([email protected]) on 2019-09-27T17:57:48Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Lima, C. M The Transcriptional....pdf: 3509801 bytes, checksum: 454f6b43052365e7fcc8eec4efcf6676 (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2019-09-27T17:57:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lima, C. M The Transcriptional....pdf: 3509801 bytes, checksum: 454f6b43052365e7fcc8eec4efcf6676 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2019Fundação de Amparo à Ciência e Tecnologia de Pernambuco/FACEPE, grant agreement nos. APQ-0055.2.11/16 and APQ-0044.2.11/16, and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico/CNPq grant agreement 439975/2016-6 under RF coordination and responsibility. UK Medical Research Council Grants MC_UU_12014/8 and MR/N017552/1 under AK’s coordination. VN received grant support from the Stanley Medical Research Institute (07R-1712), National Institutes of Health (MH63480 and D43 TW009114) and Cura Zika—University of Pittsburgh.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.University of Liverpool. Institute of Infection and Global Health. Liverpool, United Kingdom.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.University of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine. Department of Psychiatry. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.University of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine. Department of Psychiatry. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.University of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine. Department of Psychiatry. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.University of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine. Department of Psychiatry. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.University of Liverpool. Institute of Infection and Global Health. Liverpool, United Kingdom.Federal University of Pernambuco. Recife, PE, Brazil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Gonçalo Moniz. Salvador, BA, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil / University of Pittsburgh. Center for Vaccine Research. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.University of Pittsburgh. Center for Vaccine Research. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research. Glasgow, United Kingdom.University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research. Glasgow, United Kingdom.University of Pittsburgh. School of Medicine. Department of Psychiatry. Pittsburgh, PA, United States / University of Pittsburgh. Graduate School of Public Health. Department of Human Genetics. Pittsburgh, PA, United States.Fundação Oswaldo Cruz. Instituto Aggeu Magalhães. Recife, PE, Brasil.Zika virus (ZIKV) infection during pregnancy is associated with microcephaly, a congenital malformation resulting from neuroinflammation and direct effects of virus replication on the developing central nervous system (CNS). However, the exact changes in the affected CNS remain unknown. Here, we show by transcriptome analysis (at 48 h post-infection) and multiplex immune profiling that human induced-neuroprogenitor stem cells (hiNPCs) respond to ZIKV infection with a strong induction of type-I interferons (IFNs) and several type-I IFNs stimulated genes (ISGs), notably cytokines and the pro-apoptotic chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10. By comparing the inflammatory profile induced by a ZIKV Brazilian strain with an ancestral strain isolated from Cambodia in 2010, we observed that the response magnitude differs among them. Compared to ZIKV/Cambodia, the experimental infection of hiNPCs with ZIKV/Brazil resulted in a diminished induction of ISGs and lower induction of several cytokines (IFN-α, IL-1α/β, IL-6, IL-8, and IL-15), consequently favoring virus replication. From ZIKV-confirmed infant microcephaly cases, we detected a similar profile characterized by the presence of IFN-α, CXCL10, and CXCL9 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples collected after birth, evidencing a sustained CNS inflammation. Altogether, our data suggest that the CNS may be directly affected due to an unbalanced and chronic local inflammatory response, elicited by ZIKV infection, which contributes to damage to the fetal brain

Evaluation of a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia: Genotype based meta-analysis of RGS4 polymorphisms from thirteen independent samples

Background: Associations between schizophrenia (scz) and polymorphisms at the regulator of g-protein signaling 4 (rgs4) gene have been reported (single nucleotide polymorphisms [snps] 1, 4, 7, and 18). Yet, similar to other scz candidate genes, studies have been inconsistent with respect to the associated alleles. Methods: In an effort to resolve the role for rgs4 in scz susceptibility, we undertook a genotype-based meta-analysis using both published and unpublished family-based and case-control samples (total n = 13,807). Results: The family-based dataset consisted of 10 samples (2160 families). Significant associations with individual snps/haplotypes were not observed. In contrast, global analysis revealed significant transmission distortion (p = .0009). Specifically, analyses suggested overtransmission of two common haplotypes that account for the vast majority of all haplotypes. Separate analyses of 3486 cases and 3755 control samples (eight samples) detected a significant association with snp 4 (p = .01). Individual haplotype analyses were not significant, but evaluation of test statistics from individual samples suggested significant associations. Conclusions: Our collaborative meta-analysis represents one of the largest scz association studies to date. No individual risk factor arose from our analyses, but interpretation of these results is not straightforward. Our analyses suggest risk due to at least two common haplotypes in the presence of heterogeneity. Similar analysis for other putative susceptibility genes is warranted