Recognition of and interventions for Mibyeong (subhealth) in South Korea: a national web-based survey of Korean medicine practitioners

AbstractBackgroundMedically unexplained symptoms (MUSs) are common in primary care. At present, there are no proven, comprehensive treatments available in primary care for patients with MUSs. However, MUS has parallels with “subhealth” or Mibyeong from traditional East-Asian medicine, and thus, Mibyeong interventions could be effective in treating MUS. Unfortunately, studies on Mibyeong and its intervention methods are relatively rare.MethodsWe administered a web-based survey to 17,279 Korean medicine (KM) practitioners registered with the Association of Korean Medicine. The response rate was 4.9% (n=849). Based on the responses received, we assessed how much they agreed with concepts related to Mibyeong on a 7-point scale from “do not agree” to “strongly agree.” Respondents were also asked to indicate how frequently they encountered various subtypes and patterns of Mibyeong, and how frequently they use listed intervention methods.ResultsData from 818 respondents were analyzed after excluding those with no clinical experience. On average, respondents were male general practitioners aged between 30 years and 49 years, working or living in metropolitan areas such as Seoul, Incheon, and Gyeonggi-do. Responses did not differ by demographics. Respondents generally thought that Mibyeong referred to subjective or borderline findings without certain disease, and that Mibyeong has various subtypes and patterns. Subtypes included fatigue, pain, and digestion problems; patterns were either deficiencies (e.g., qi, blood, and yin deficiency) or stagnations (e.g., liver qi depression and qi stagnation). Decoction was the most frequently used type of intervention for Mibyeong of all items listed, followed by acupuncture and moxibustion. Patient education was also recommended, suggesting healthy eating, promoting healthy environment, and exercise.ConclusionWe were able to provide preliminary results on KM practitioners’ recognition of and interventions for Mibyeong, but further research is needed to develop a detailed definition of Mibyeong and its myriad subtypes and patterns, and evaluations of the efficacy of Mibyeong interventions

LEA Block Cipher in Rust Language: Trade-off between Memory Safety and Performance

Cryptography implementations of block cipher have been written in C language due to its strong features on system-friendly features. However, the C language is prone to memory safety issues, such as buffer overflows and memory leaks. On the other hand, Rust, novel system programming language, provides strict compile-time memory safety guarantees through its ownership model. This paper presents the implementation of LEA block cipher in Rust language, demonstrating features to prevent common memory vulnerabilities while maintaining performance. We compare the Rust implementation with the traditional C language version, showing that while Rust incurs a reasonable memory overhead, it achieves comparable the execution timing of encryption and decryption. Our results highlight Rust’s suitability for secure cryptographic applications, striking the balance between memory safety and execution efficiency

Grover on GIFT

Grover search algorithm can be used to find the $n$-bit secret key at the speed of $\sqrt{n}$, which is the most effective quantum attack method for block ciphers. In order to apply the Grover search algorithm, the target block cipher should be implemented in quantum circuits. Many recent research works optimized the expensive substitute layer to evaluate the need for quantum resources of AES block ciphers. Research on the implementation of quantum circuits for lightweight block ciphers such as SIMON, SPECK, HIGHT, CHAM, LEA, and Gimli, an active research field, is also gradually taking place. In this paper, we present optimized implementations of GIFT block ciphers for quantum computers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first implementation of GIFT in quantum circuits. Finally, we estimate quantum resources for applying the Grover algorithm to the our optimized GIFT quantum circuit

Analysis of Parallel Implementation of Pilsung Block Cipher On Graphics Processing Unit

This paper focuses on the GPU implementation of the Pilsung block cipher used in the Red Star 3.0 operating system developed in North Korea. The Pilsung block cipher is designed based on AES. One notable feature of the Pilsung block cipher is that the table calculations required for encryption take longer than the encryption process itself. This paper emphasizes the parallel implementation of the Pilsung block cipher by leveraging the parallel processing capabilities of GPUs and evaluates the performance of the Pilsung block cipher. Techniques for optimization are proposed, including the use of Pinned memory to reduce data transfer time and work distribution between the CPU and GPU. Pinned memory helps optimize data transfer, and work distribution between the CPU and GPU needs to be considered for efficient parallel processing. Performance measurements were performed using the Nvidia GTX 3060 laptop for evaluation, comparing the results of applying Pinned memory usage and work distribution optimization. As a result, optimizing memory transfer costs was found to have a greater impact on performance improvement. When both techniques were applied together, approximately a 1.44 times performance improvement was observed

Effects of municipal smoke-free ordinances on secondhand smoke exposure in the Republic of Korea

ObjectiveTo reduce premature deaths due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, the Republic of Korea (ROK) adopted changes to the National Health Promotion Act, which allowed local governments to enact municipal ordinances to strengthen their authority to designate smoke-free areas and levy penalty fines. In this study, we examined national trends in SHS exposure after the introduction of these municipal ordinances at the city level in 2010.MethodsWe used interrupted time series analysis to assess whether the trends of SHS exposure in the workplace and at home, and the primary cigarette smoking rate changed following the policy adjustment in the national legislation in ROK. Population-standardized data for selected variables were retrieved from a nationally representative survey dataset and used to study the policy action’s effectiveness.ResultsFollowing the change in the legislation, SHS exposure in the workplace reversed course from an increasing (18% per year) trend prior to the introduction of these smoke-free ordinances to a decreasing (−10% per year) trend after adoption and enforcement of these laws (β2 = 0.18, p-value = 0.07; β3 = −0.10, p-value = 0.02). SHS exposure at home (β2 = 0.10, p-value = 0.09; β3 = −0.03, p-value = 0.14) and the primary cigarette smoking rate (β2 = 0.03, p-value = 0.10; β3 = 0.008, p-value = 0.15) showed no significant changes in the sampled period. Although analyses stratified by sex showed that the allowance of municipal ordinances resulted in reduced SHS exposure in the workplace for both males and females, they did not affect the primary cigarette smoking rate as much, especially among females.ConclusionStrengthening the role of local governments by giving them the authority to enact and enforce penalties on SHS exposure violation helped ROK to reduce SHS exposure in the workplace. However, smoking behaviors and related activities seemed to shift to less restrictive areas such as on the streets and in apartment hallways, negating some of the effects due to these ordinances. Future studies should investigate how smoke-free policies beyond public places can further reduce the SHS exposure in ROK

Optimized Implementation of Encapsulation and Decapsulation of Classic McEliece on ARMv8

Recently, the results of the NIST PQC contest were announced. Classic McEliece, one of the 3rd round candidates, was selected as the fourth round candidate. Classic McEliece is the only code-based cipher in the NIST PQC finalists in third round and the algorithm is regarded as secure. However, it has low efficiency. In this paper, we propose an efficient software implementation of Classic McEliece, a code-based cipher, on 64-bit ARMv8 processors. Classic McEliece can be divided into Key Generation, Encapsulation, and Decapsulation. Among them, we propose an optimal implementation for Encapsulation and Decapsulation. Optimized Encapsulation implementation utilizes vector registers to perform 16-byte parallel operations, and optimize using the specificity of the identity matrix. Decapsulation implemented efficient Multiplication and Inversion on $F_2^m$ field. Compared with the previous results, Encapsulation showed the performance improvement of up-to 1.99× than the-state-of-art works

Copy number variations (CNVs) identified in Korean individuals

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Copy number variations (CNVs) are deletions, insertions, duplications, and more complex variations ranging from 1 kb to sub-microscopic sizes. Recent advances in array technologies have enabled researchers to identify a number of CNVs from normal individuals. However, the identification of new CNVs has not yet reached saturation, and more CNVs from diverse populations remain to be discovered.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We identified 65 copy number variation regions (CNVRs) in 116 normal Korean individuals by analyzing Affymetrix 250 K Nsp whole-genome SNP data. Ten of these CNVRs were novel and not present in the Database of Genomic Variants (DGV). To increase the specificity of CNV detection, three algorithms, CNAG, dChip and GEMCA, were applied to the data set, and only those regions recognized at least by two algorithms were identified as CNVs. Most CNVRs identified in the Korean population were rare (<1%), occurring just once among the 116 individuals. When CNVs from the Korean population were compared with CNVs from the three HapMap ethnic groups, African, European, and Asian; our Korean population showed the highest degree of overlap with the Asian population, as expected. However, the overlap was less than 40%, implying that more CNVs remain to be discovered from the Asian population as well as from other populations. Genes in the novel CNVRs from the Korean population were enriched for genes involved in regulation and development processes.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>CNVs are recently-recognized structural variations among individuals, and more CNVs need to be identified from diverse populations. Until now, CNVs from Asian populations have been studied less than those from European or American populations. In this regard, our study of CNVs from the Korean population will contribute to the full cataloguing of structural variation among diverse human populations.</p

Grover on SPEEDY

With the advent of quantum computers, revisiting the security of cryptography has been an active research area in recent years. In this paper, we estimate the cost of applying Grover\u27s algorithm to SPEEDY block cipher. SPEEDY is a family of ultra-low-latency block ciphers presented in CHES\u2721. It is ensured that the key search equipped with Grover\u27s algorithm reduces the $n$-bit security of the block cipher to $\frac{n}{2}$-bit. The issue is how many quantum resources are required for Grover\u27s algorithm to work. NIST estimates the post-quantum security strength for symmetric key cryptography as the cost of Grover key search algorithm. SPEEDY provides 128-bit security or 192-bit security depending on the number of rounds. Based on our estimated cost, we present that increasing the number of rounds is insufficient to satisfy the security against attacks on quantum computers. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first implementation of SPEEDY as a quantum circuit

Optimized Implementation of SM4 on AVR Microcontrollers, RISC-V Processors, and ARM Processors

The SM4 block cipher is a Chinese domestic crpytographic that was introduced in 2003. Since the algorithm was developed for the use in wireless sensor networks, it is mandated in the Chinese National Standard for Wireless LAN WAPI (Wired Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure). The SM4 block cipher uses a 128-bit block size and a 32-bit round key. This consists of 32 rounds and one reverse translation \texttt{R}. In this paper, we present the optimized implementation of the SM4 block cipher on 8-bit AVR microcontrollers, which are widely used in wireless sensor devices, the optimized implementation of the SM4 block cipher on 32-bit RISC-V processors, which are open-source based computer architectures, and the optimized implementation of SM4 on 64-bit ARM processors with the parallel computation, which are widely used in smartphone and tablet. In the AVR microcontroller, it is implemented in three versions, including speed-optimization, memory-optimization, and code-optimization. As a result, speed-optimization, memory-optimization, and code-optimization achieved 205.2 cycles per byte, 213.3 cycles per byte and 207.4 cycles per byte, respectively. This is faster than the reference implementation written in C (1670.7 cycles per byte). The implementation on 32-bit RISC-V processors 128.8 cycles per byte. This is faster than the reference C code implementation (345.7 cycles per byte). The implementation on 64-bit ARM processors is 8.62 cycles per byte. This is faster than the reference C code implementation (120.07 cycles per byte)