Phish Finders: Improving Cybersecurity Training Tools Using Citizen Science

Malicious web content includes phishing emails, social media posts, and websites that imitate legitimate sites. Phishing attacks are rising, and human-centered phishing risk mitigation is often an afterthought eclipsed by technical system-centric efforts like firewalls. Training tools can be deployed for combating phishing but often lack sufficient labeled training content. Using signal detection theory, this paper assesses the feasibility of using citizen science and crowdsourcing volunteers to label images for use in cybersecurity training tools. Crowd volunteer performance was compared to gold standard content and prior studies of Fortune 500 company employees. Findings show no significant statistical differences between crowd volunteers and corporate employees\u27 performance on gold standard content in identifying phishing. Based on these findings, citizen scientists can be valuable for generating annotated images for cybersecurity training tools

Jugular venous oximetry

The measurement of saturation of venous blood as it drains out of brain by sampling it from the jugular bulb provides us with an estimate of cerebral oxygenation, cerebral blood flow and cerebral metabolic requirement. Arterio-jugular venous difference of the oxygen content (AVDO2) and jugular venous oxygen saturation (SjVO2) values per se helps clinicians in identifying the impairment of cerebral oxygenation due to various factors thereby prompting implementation of corrective measures and the prevention of secondary injury to the brain due to ischaemia. SjVO2 values are also used for prognostication of patients after traumatic brain injury and in other clinical situations. Sampling and measuring SjVO2 intermittently or continuously using fibreoptic oximetry requires the tip of the catheter to be placed in the jugular bulb, which is a relatively simple bedside procedure. In the review below we have discussed the relevant anatomy, physiology, techniques, clinical applications and pitfalls of performing jugular venous oximetry as a tool for measurement of cerebral oxygenation

What is optimal in patients with myasthenic crisis: Invasive or non-invasive ventilation?

Myasthenia gravis is an immune disorder involving the neuromuscular junction. The consequent weakness of respiratory muscles leads to variable disorders of ventilation in patients with myasthenia gravis. This article reviews the options of invasive and non-invasive ventilation in patients with advanced form of the disease

Mannitol versus hypertonic saline for intra-operative brain relaxation during aneurysm surgery

Background: The study was designed to compare the effects of equiosmolar and equivolemic 3% hypertonic saline (HTS) and 20% mannitol (M) on brain relaxation during aneurysm surgery. Materials and Methods: A prospective, randomised, double-blind study was undertaken in patients scheduled for surgical clipping of intracranial aneurysms presenting with Fisher grade I, II or III. The patients received either 300 mL of 3% hypertonic saline (HTS group) or 300 mL of 20% mannitol infusion (M group) during a period of 15 minutes at the start of scalp incision. The PaCO2 was maintained at 3.4-4.7 kilo Pascal, arterial blood pressure was maintained within ± 20% of baseline and central venous pressure was maintained at 5-10 cm of water. The haemodynamics, arterial blood gases and serum sodium concentration were compared. Surgeons assessed the condition of the brain as bulging, firm, satisfactorily relaxed and perfectly relaxed. An anaesthesiologist also assessed intra-operative brain relaxation. Results: The brain relaxation achieved with hypertonic saline was as good as that with mannitol. Urine output with mannitol was higher than with hypertonic saline (P < 0.04). Hypertonic saline caused an increase in serum sodium over one hour (P < 0.001) but resolved in 24 hours. Conclusions: The brain relaxation was equal in both the groups as assessed by the anaesthesiologist as well as the surgeon while the transient rise in serum sodium in hypertonic saline group returned to normal within 24 hours

Genetic epidemiology of pharmacogenetic variations in CYP2C9, CYP4F2 and VKORC1 genes associated with warfarin dosage in the Indian population

Aim: Warfarin, a widely used anticoagulant, exhibits large interindividual variability in dose requirements. CYP2C9 and VKORC1 polymorphisms in various ethnic groups have been extensively studied as genetic markers associated with variable drug response. However, allele frequencies of these variants have not been assessed in major ethnic groups in the Indian population. Materials &#38; Methods: To study the functional variants known to affect warfarin dosing, we reanalyzed genotype microarray datasets generated as a part of genome-wide association studies as well as data from the Indian Genome Variation database. We examined data from 2680 individuals across 24 ethnically diverse Indian subpopulations. Results: Allelic distribution of VKORC1 (-1639G&#62;A) showed a greater degree of variation across Indian subpopulations, with frequencies as low as 6.5% in an out-group subpopulation to &#62;70% in Tibeto–Burmans. Risk allele frequency of CYP4F2*3 (V433M) was higher in north Indians (0.30–0.44), as compared with other world populations, such as African–American (0.12), Caucasian (0.34) and Hispanic (0.23). The VKORC1 variant (-1639A) was shown to be prevalent amongst Tibeto–Burmans, whereas CYP2C9 (R144C, I359L) and CYP4F2 (V433M) variants were observed in considerable variability amongst Indo–Europeans. The frequency of CYP2C9*3 (I359L) in north Indians was found to be higher than in most Asian populations. Furthermore, geographical distribution patterns of these variants in north India showed an increased trend of warfarin extensive metabolizers from the Himalayan to Gangetic region. Combined allele frequency (CYP2C9*3 and CYP4F2*3) data suggest that poor metabolizers varied in the range of 0.38–1.85 % in Indo–Europeans. Conclusion: Based on genotypic distribution, the majority of the Indian subpopulation might require higher doses for stable anticoagulation, whereas careful assessment is required for Tibeto–Burmans who are expected to have intermediate dose requirement. This is the largest global genetic epidemiological study examining variants associated with warfarin that could potentially be valuable to clinicians in optimizing dosage strategies

Towards achievement of universal health care in India by 2020: a call to action.

To sustain the positive economic trajectory that India has had during the past decade, and to honour the fundamental right of all citizens to adequate health care, the health of all Indian people has to be given the highest priority in public policy. We propose the creation of the Integrated National Health System in India through provision of universal health insurance, establishment of autonomous organisations to enable accountable and evidence-based good-quality health-care practices and development of appropriately trained human resources, the restructuring of health governance to make it coordinated and decentralised, and legislation of health entitlement for all Indian people. The key characteristics of our proposal are to strengthen the public health system as the primary provider of promotive, preventive, and curative health services in India, to improve quality and reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure on health care through a well regulated integration of the private sector within the national health-care system. Dialogue and consensus building among the stakeholders in the government, civil society, and private sector are the next steps to formalise the actions needed and to monitor their achievement. In our call to action, we propose that India must achieve health care for all by 2020