HiGate (High Grade Anti-Tamper Equipment) Prototype and Application to e-Discovery

These days, most data is digitized and processed in various ways by computers. In the past, computer owners were free to process data as desired and to observe the inputted data as well as the interim results. However, the unrestricted processing of data and accessing of interim results even by computer users is associated with an increasing number of adverse events. These adverse events often occur when sensitive data such as personal or confidential business information must be handled by two or more parties, such as in the case of e-Discovery, used in legal proceedings, or epidemiologic studies. To solve this problem, providers encrypt data, and the owner of the computer performs decoding in the memory for encrypted data. The computer owner can be limited to performing only certain processing of data and to observing only the final results. As an implementation that uses existing technology to realize this solution, the processing of data contained in a smart card was considered, but such an implementation would not be practical due to issues related to computer capacity and processing speed. Accordingly, the authors present the concept of PC-based High Grade AntiTamper Equipment (HiGATE), which allows data to be handled without revealing the data content to administrators or users. To verify this concept, an eDiscovery application on a prototype was executed and the results are reported here

HiGate (High Grade Anti‐Tamper Equipment) Prototype and Application to e‐Discovery

These days, most data is digitized and processed in various ways by computers. In the past, computer owners were free to process data as desired and to observe the inputted data as well as the interim results. However, the unrestricted processing of data and accessing of interim results even by computer users is associated with an increasing number of adverse events. These adverse events often occur when sensitive data such as personal or confidential business information must be handled by two or more parties, such as in the case of e-Discovery, used in legal proceedings, or epidemiologic studies. To solve this problem, providers encrypt data, and the owner of the computer performs decoding in the memory for encrypted data. The computer owner can be limited to performing only certain processing of data and to observing only the final results. As an implementation that uses existing technology to realize this solution, the processing of data contained in a smart card was considered, but such an implementation would not be practical due to issues related to computer capacity and processing speed. Accordingly, the authors present the concept of PC-based High Grade Anti-Tamper Equipment (HiGATE), which allows data to be handled without revealing the data content to administrators or users. To verify this concept, an e-Discovery application on a prototype was executed and the results are reported here. Keyword: Anti-Tamper, e-Discovery, Bitlocker, APIHoo

Intracystic Papillary Carcinoma of Breast Harbors Significant Genomic Alteration Compared with Intracystic Papilloma: Genome-wide Copy Number and LOH Analysis Using High-Density Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Microarrays.

Purpose: Intracystic papillary breast tumors consist of benign papilloma, carcinoma in situ and carcinoma with invasion. Using high-density single-nucleotide polymorphism arrays, this study aimed to determine the profile of genomic alterations in these lesions and to identify novel diagnostic criteria. Methods: Ten samples of intracystic papillary tumor, which included five papillomas (Pap), three papillary carcinomas in situ (PurePC) and two papillary carcinomas with invasion (PCinv), were studied. DNA was extracted from tumor and normal tissues that were microdissected from the same formalin-fixed paraffin embedded blocks. Using probe intensity and genotype data from high-density oligonucleotide SNP microarrays (AffymetrixR GeneChip Genome-wide Human 5.0), paired copy number and LOH analysis was performed using Partek Genomic Suite Software. Results: Quality control (QC) call rate, which is an index measuring the quality of a SNP microarray experiment, ranged from 70.75% to 91.93%, mean 80.72%. The mean total genomic alteration rate (sum of amplifications, deletions and copy-neutral loss of heterogeneity) with respect to the whole genome was 2.87%, 15.4% and 35.3% in Pap, PC and IDC, respectively, and was significantly different between samples (Kruskal-Wallis chi-squared test, p = 0.043). The most commonly altered regions (. 4/5) in papillary carcinoma were copy-neutral loss of heterogeneity at 3p21.31 and 3p14.2 and amplification at 20q13.13. Genes altered only in invasive carcinoma included genes concerned with transcription. Conclusions: Among intracystic papillary breast tumors, malignant tumors, including non-invasive tumors, which are difficult to diagnose histopathologically, harbor significant genomic alteration. Our findings may aid clinical management of these tumors and may provide insight into their carcinogenesis

Detection of a bright burst from the repeating FRB 20201124A at 2 GHz

We present a detection of a bright burst from FRB 20201124A, which is one of the most active repeating FRBs, based on S-band observations with the 64-m radio telescope at the Usuda Deep Space Center/JAXA. This is the first FRB observed by using a Japanese facility. Our detection at 2 GHz in February 2022 is the highest frequency for this FRB and the fluence of $>$ 189 Jy ms is one of the brightest bursts from this FRB source. We place an upper limit on the spectral index $\alpha$ = -2.14 from the detection of the S band and non-detection of the X band at the same time. We compare an event rate of the detected burst with ones of the previous research, and suggest that the power-law of the luminosity function might be broken at lower fluence, and the fluences of bright FRBs distribute up to over 2 GHz with the power-law against frequency. In addition, we show the energy density of the burst detected in this work was comparable to the bright population of one-off FRBs. We propose that repeating FRBs can be as bright as one-off FRBs, and only their brightest bursts could be detected so some of repeating FRBs intrinsically might have been classified as one-off FRBs.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan (PASJ

Distinguishing intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma from poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma using precontrast and gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI

PURPOSEWe aimed to gain further insight in magnetic resonance imaging characteristics of mass-forming intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (mICC), its enhancement pattern with gadoxetic acid contrast agent, and distinction from poorly differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma (pHCC).METHODSFourteen mICC and 22 pHCC nodules were included in this study. Two observers recorded the tumor shape, intratumoral hemorrhage, fat on chemical shift imaging, signal intensity at the center of the tumor on T2-weighted image, fibrous capsule, enhancement pattern on arterial phase of dynamic study, late enhancement three minutes after contrast injection (dynamic late phase), contrast uptake on hepatobiliary phase, apparent diffusion coefficient, vascular invasion, and intrahepatic metastasis.RESULTSLate enhancement was more common in mICC (n=10, 71%) than in pHCC (n=3, 14%) (P < 0.001). A fat component was observed in 11 pHCC cases (50%) versus none of mICC cases (P = 0.002). Fibrous capsule was observed in 13 pHCC cases (59%) versus none of mICC cases (P < 0.001). On T2-weighted images a hypointense area was seen at the center of the tumor in 43% of mICC (6/14) and 9% of pHCC (2/22) cases (P = 0.018). Other parameters were not significantly different between the two types of nodules.CONCLUSIONThe absence of fat and fibrous capsule, and presence of enhancement at three minutes appear to be most characteristic for mICC and may help its differentiation from pHCC

Effects of HLA-DRB1 alleles on susceptibility and clinical manifestations in Japanese patients with adult onset Still’s disease

BackgroundHLA-DRB1 alleles are major determinants of genetic predisposition to rheumatic diseases. We assessed whether DRB1 alleles are associated with susceptibility to particular clinical features of adult onset Still’s disease (AOSD) in a Japanese population by determining the DRB1 allele distributions.MethodsDRB1 genotyping of 96 patients with AOSD and 1,026 healthy controls was performed. Genomic DNA samples from the AOSD patients were also genotyped for MEFV exons 1, 2, 3, and 10 by direct sequencing.ResultsIn Japanese patients with AOSD, we observed a predisposing association of DRB1*15:01 (p = 8.60 × 10−6, corrected p (Pc) = 0.0002, odds ratio (OR) = 3.04, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) = 1.91–4.84) and DR5 serological group (p = 0.0006, OR = 2.39, 95% CI = 1.49–3.83) and a protective association of DRB1*09:01 (p = 0.0004, Pc = 0.0110, OR = 0.34, 95% CI = 0.18–0.66) with AOSD, and amino acid residues 86 and 98 of the DRβ chain were protectively associated with AOSD. MEFV variants were identified in 49 patients with AOSD (56.3%). The predisposing effect of DR5 was confirmed only in patients with AOSD who had MEFV variants and not in those without MEFV variants. Additionally, DR5 in patients with AOSD are associated with macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) and steroid pulse therapy.ConclusionThe DRB1*15:01 and DR5 are both associated with AOSD susceptibility in Japanese subjects. A protective association between the DRB1*09:01 allele and AOSD was also observed in these patients. Our data also highlight the effects of DRB1 alleles in susceptibility to AOSD

Cerebral Blood Flow during Rest Associates with General Intelligence and Creativity

Recently, much scientific attention has been focused on resting brain activity and its investigation through such methods as the analysis of functional connectivity during rest (the temporal correlation of brain activities in different regions). However, investigation of the magnitude of brain activity during rest has focused on the relative decrease of brain activity during a task, rather than on the absolute resting brain activity. It is thus necessary to investigate the association between cognitive factors and measures of absolute resting brain activity, such as cerebral blood flow (CBF), during rest (rest-CBF). In this study, we examined this association using multiple regression analyses. Rest-CBF was the dependent variable and the independent variables included two essential components of cognitive functions, psychometric general intelligence and creativity. CBF was measured using arterial spin labeling and there were three analyses for rest-CBF; namely mean gray matter rest-CBF, mean white matter rest-CBF, and regional rest-CBF. The results showed that mean gray and white matter rest-CBF were significantly and positively correlated with individual psychometric intelligence. Furthermore, mean white matter rest-CBF was significantly and positively correlated with creativity. After correcting the effect of mean gray matter rest-CBF the significant and positive correlation between regional rest-CBF in the perisylvian anatomical cluster that includes the left superior temporal gyrus and insula and individual psychometric intelligence was found. Also, regional rest-CBF in the precuneus was significantly and negatively correlated with individual creativity. Significance of these results of regional rest-CBF did not change when the effect of regional gray matter density was corrected. The findings showed mean and regional rest-CBF in healthy young subjects to be correlated with cognitive functions. The findings also suggest that, even in young cognitively intact subjects, resting brain activity (possibly underlain by default cognitive activity or metabolic demand from developed brain structures) is associated with cognitive functions

A novel diagnostic method targeting genomic instability in intracystic tumors of the breast

Background: Even after needle biopsy, the preoperative differential diagnoses of intracystic tumors of the breast are challenging because of their nonspecific radiological characteristics and subtle cytological and histological appearance. The aim of this study is to investigate a novel diagnostic method, targeting genomic instability (GIN) in intracystic tumors of the breast, using tumor DNA from samples obtained by fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB). Methods: Thirteen consecutive intracystic tumors of the breast, including five cancers and eight benign tumors, were studied. Three FNAB passages per tumor were used for array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) analysis to quantify GIN in each tumor. Tumor DNA from the main tumor, taken from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) blocks corresponding to FNAB samples, was also analyzed to compare cytogenetic profiles between these sample types. Results: After three FNAB passages, an average of 7.09 μg (0.24?25.0 μg) of DNA was obtained. The quality of the DNA and the aCGH data was excellent, as judged by the mean derivative log ratio spread (DLRSpread) of 0.22 (0.15?0.29). The cytogenetic profiles of paired FNAB and main tumor FFPE samples were highly similar, with an average concordance rate of 97.7 % (81.2?100 %). aCGH analysis from FNAB samples showed significantly more GIN in cancers than in benign tumors, with mean frequencies of aberrant chromosomal regions of 17.5 and 0.34 %, respectively (Wilcoxon’s rank sum test, P = 0.0016). Conclusions: Our novel diagnostic method, which targets GIN, can clearly distinguish cancers from benign tumors of breast intracystic lesions with minimal invasion, thereby avoiding the need for surgical excisional biopsy