Improving the security of wireless sensor networks

With the rapid technological advancements of sensors, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have become the main technology for the Internet of Things (IoT). We investigated the security of WSNs in an environmental monitoring system with the goal to improve the overall security. We implemented a Secure Temperature Monitoring System (STMS), which served as our investigational environment. Our results revealed a security flaw found in the bootstrap loader (BSL) password used to protect firmware in the MSP430 MCU chips. We demonstrated how the BSL password could be brute forced in a matter of days. Furthermore, we illustrate how an attacker can reverse engineer firmware and obtain copies of cryptographic keys. We contributed a solution to improve the BSL password and better protect firmware found in the MSP430 chips. The Secure-BSL software we contributed allows the randomization of the BSL password. Our solution increases the brute force time to decades. The impractical brute force time improves the security of firmware and prevents future reverse engineering tactics. In addition, our Secure-BSL software supports two-factor authentication that allows developers to specify a user-defined passphrase to further protect the MSP430 MCU. Our research serves as proof that any security implemented in a WSN environment is broken if an attacker has access to firmware found in sensor devices

Investigating Security Attacks on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) via an IoT Environmental Monitoring System

To demonstrate our work, we have implemented a secure temperature monitoring system that makes use of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, AES-128 hardware encryption and TelosB sensor nodes. In our design, we consider one of the nodes to be a coordinator node, which plays the role of a central node that establishes network association requests, listens for incoming packets, decrypts the incoming packets and forwards any received packets to the monitoring device. Three other nodes act as end-devices, which play the role of collecting temperature measurements, encrypting the collected data and sending the encrypted packets to the coordinator node. A last one acts as packet sniffer, which plays the role of listening to packets sent over the network and forwarding the capture packets to Wireshark. We study the security used in WSNs and perform hacking scenarios on our environmental monitoring system

Potential therapeutic uses of opioid antagonists: Pathophysiology and preclinical evidence

El sistema opioide, del cual forman parte los peptidos opioides endogenos y sus receptores (Miu, Kappa, delta y ORL), tiene un papel importante en la fisiologia de diferentes sistemas. Existe una creciente evidencia de su participacion en la fisiopatologia de multiples trastornos del sistema nervioso central, endocrino e inmunologico. La modulacion del sistema opioide mediante el uso de antagonistas especificos o inespecificos de sus receptores puede tener un papel terapeutico en el manejo sintomatico de diferentes contextos, incluyendo la intoxicacion aguda por opiaceos, la dependencia a opioides, y la reduccion de reacciones adversas de agonistas opioides utilizados en el manejo del dolor cronico. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo revisar la farmacologia de los antagonistas opioides especificos e inespecificos, y realizar una actualizacion de sus posibles nuevas indicaciones y usos terapeuticos.Opioid system, which involved endogenous opioid peptides and their receptors (Miu, Kappa, delta and ORL), has a main role in the physiology of several systems. At the same time, there is cumulating evidence in the role of the opioid system in the physiopathology of several disorders in the central nervous, endocrine and immunological system. The modulation of the opioid system using nonspecific antagonists may have a therapeutic role in the symptomatic management of several diseases, as well as, in the emergency management of opioid analgesic overdose, opioid dependence and to reduce the drug side effects of the opioid agonists used in chronic pain. This paper aims to review the pharmacology of specific and nonspecific opioid antagonists, and update on possible new indications and therapeutic uses of such antagonists

Potential therapeutic uses of opioid antagonists: Pathophysiology and preclinical evidence

El sistema opioide, del cual forman parte los peptidos opioides endogenos y sus receptores (Miu, Kappa, delta y ORL), tiene un papel importante en la fisiologia de diferentes sistemas. Existe una creciente evidencia de su participacion en la fisiopatologia de multiples trastornos del sistema nervioso central, endocrino e inmunologico. La modulacion del sistema opioide mediante el uso de antagonistas especificos o inespecificos de sus receptores puede tener un papel terapeutico en el manejo sintomatico de diferentes contextos, incluyendo la intoxicacion aguda por opiaceos, la dependencia a opioides, y la reduccion de reacciones adversas de agonistas opioides utilizados en el manejo del dolor cronico. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo revisar la farmacologia de los antagonistas opioides especificos e inespecificos, y realizar una actualizacion de sus posibles nuevas indicaciones y usos terapeuticos.Opioid system, which involved endogenous opioid peptides and their receptors (Miu, Kappa, delta and ORL), has a main role in the physiology of several systems. At the same time, there is cumulating evidence in the role of the opioid system in the physiopathology of several disorders in the central nervous, endocrine and immunological system. The modulation of the opioid system using nonspecific antagonists may have a therapeutic role in the symptomatic management of several diseases, as well as, in the emergency management of opioid analgesic overdose, opioid dependence and to reduce the drug side effects of the opioid agonists used in chronic pain. This paper aims to review the pharmacology of specific and nonspecific opioid antagonists, and update on possible new indications and therapeutic uses of such antagonists

Visual features in Alzheimer's disease: From basic mechanisms to clinical overview

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. It compromises patients' daily activities owing to progressive cognitive deterioration, which has elevated direct and indirect costs. Although AD has several risk factors, aging is considered the most important. Unfortunately, clinical diagnosis is usually performed at an advanced disease stage when dementia is established, making implementation of successful therapeutic interventions difficult. Current biomarkers tend to be expensive, insufficient, or invasive, raising the need for novel, improved tools aimed at early disease detection. AD is characterized by brain atrophy due to neuronal and synaptic loss, extracellular amyloid plaques composed of amyloid-beta peptide (A?), and neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The visual system and central nervous system share many functional components. Thus, it is plausible that damage induced by A?, tau, and neuroinflammation may be observed in visual components such as the retina, even at an early disease stage. This underscores the importance of implementing ophthalmological examinations, less invasive and expensive than other biomarkers, as useful measures to assess disease progression and severity in individuals with or at risk of AD. Here, we review functional and morphological changes of the retina and visual pathway in AD from pathophysiological and clinical perspectives. Copyright © 2018 María Alejandra Cerquera-Jaramillo et al

Visual features in Alzheimer's disease: From basic mechanisms to clinical overview

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. It compromises patients' daily activities owing to progressive cognitive deterioration, which has elevated direct and indirect costs. Although AD has several risk factors, aging is considered the most important. Unfortunately, clinical diagnosis is usually performed at an advanced disease stage when dementia is established, making implementation of successful therapeutic interventions difficult. Current biomarkers tend to be expensive, insufficient, or invasive, raising the need for novel, improved tools aimed at early disease detection. AD is characterized by brain atrophy due to neuronal and synaptic loss, extracellular amyloid plaques composed of amyloid-beta peptide (A?), and neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The visual system and central nervous system share many functional components. Thus, it is plausible that damage induced by A?, tau, and neuroinflammation may be observed in visual components such as the retina, even at an early disease stage. This underscores the importance of implementing ophthalmological examinations, less invasive and expensive than other biomarkers, as useful measures to assess disease progression and severity in individuals with or at risk of AD. Here, we review functional and morphological changes of the retina and visual pathway in AD from pathophysiological and clinical perspectives. Copyright © 2018 María Alejandra Cerquera-Jaramillo et al

Visual Features in Alzheimer’s Disease: From Basic Mechanisms to Clinical Overview

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. It compromises patients’ daily activities owing to progressive cognitive deterioration, which has elevated direct and indirect costs. Although AD has several risk factors, aging is considered the most important. Unfortunately, clinical diagnosis is usually performed at an advanced disease stage when dementia is established, making implementation of successful therapeutic interventions difficult. Current biomarkers tend to be expensive, insufficient, or invasive, raising the need for novel, improved tools aimed at early disease detection. AD is characterized by brain atrophy due to neuronal and synaptic loss, extracellular amyloid plaques composed of amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ), and neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated tau protein. The visual system and central nervous system share many functional components. Thus, it is plausible that damage induced by Aβ, tau, and neuroinflammation may be observed in visual components such as the retina, even at an early disease stage. This underscores the importance of implementing ophthalmological examinations, less invasive and expensive than other biomarkers, as useful measures to assess disease progression and severity in individuals with or at risk of AD. Here, we review functional and morphological changes of the retina and visual pathway in AD from pathophysiological and clinical perspectives