Active authentication for mobile devices utilising behaviour profiling.

With nearly 6 billion subscribers around the world, mobile devices have become an indispensable component in modern society. The majority of these devices rely upon passwords and personal identification numbers as a form of user authentication, and the weakness of these point-of-entry techniques is widely documented. Active authentication is designed to overcome this problem by utilising biometric techniques to continuously assess user identity. This paper describes a feasibility study into a behaviour profiling technique that utilises historical application usage to verify mobile users in a continuous manner. By utilising a combination of a rule-based classifier, a dynamic profiling technique and a smoothing function, the best experimental result for a users overall application usage was an equal error rate of 9.8 %. Based upon this result, the paper proceeds to propose a novel behaviour profiling framework that enables a user’s identity to be verified through their application usage in a continuous and transparent manner. In order to balance the trade-off between security and usability, the framework is designed in a modular way that will not reject user access based upon a single application activity but a number of consecutive abnormal application usages. The proposed framework is then evaluated through simulation with results of 11.45 and 4.17 % for the false rejection rate and false acceptance rate, respectively. In comparison with point-of-entry-based approaches, behaviour profiling provides a significant improvement in both the security afforded to the device and user convenience

The iBRA (implant breast reconstruction evaluation) study: protocol for a prospective multi-centre cohort study to inform the feasibility, design and conduct of a pragmatic randomised clinical trial comparing new techniques of implant-based breast reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: Implant-based breast reconstruction (IBBR) is the most commonly performed reconstructive procedure in the UK. The introduction of techniques to augment the subpectoral pocket has revolutionised the procedure, but there is a lack of high-quality outcome data to describe the safety or effectiveness of these techniques. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) are the best way of comparing treatments, but surgical RCTs are challenging. The iBRA (implant breast reconstruction evaluation) study aims to determine the feasibility, design and conduct of a pragmatic RCT to examine the effectiveness of approaches to IBBR. METHODS/DESIGN: The iBRA study is a trainee-led research collaborative project with four phases:Phase 1 - a national practice questionnaire (NPQ) to survey current practicePhase 2 - a multi-centre prospective cohort study of patients undergoing IBBR to evaluate the clinical and patient-reported outcomesPhase 3- an IBBR-RCT acceptability survey and qualitative work to explore patients' and surgeons' views of proposed trial designs and candidate outcomes.Phase 4 - phases 1 to 3 will inform the design and conduct of the future RCT All centres offering IBBR will be encouraged to participate by the breast and plastic surgical professional associations (Association of Breast Surgery and British Association of Plastic Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons). Data collected will inform the feasibility of undertaking an RCT by defining current practice and exploring issues surrounding recruitment, selection of comparator arms, choice of primary outcome, sample size, selection criteria, trial conduct, methods of data collection and feasibility of using the trainee collaborative model to recruit patients and collect data. DISCUSSION: The preliminary work undertaken within the iBRA study will determine the feasibility, design and conduct of a definitive RCT in IBBR. It will work with the trainee collaborative to build capacity by creating an infrastructure of research-active breast and plastic surgeons which will facilitate future high-quality research that will ultimately improve outcomes for all women seeking reconstructive surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN37664281

Automated operative workflow analysis of endoscopic pituitary surgery using machine learning: development and preclinical evaluation (IDEAL stage 0)

OBJECTIVE: Surgical workflow analysis involves systematically breaking down operations into key phases and steps. Automatic analysis of this workflow has potential uses for surgical training, preoperative planning, and outcome prediction. Recent advances in machine learning (ML) and computer vision have allowed accurate automated workflow analysis of operative videos. In this Idea, Development, Exploration, Assessment, Long-term study (IDEAL) stage 0 study, the authors sought to use Touch Surgery for the development and validation of an ML-powered analysis of phases and steps in the endoscopic transsphenoidal approach (eTSA) for pituitary adenoma resection, a first for neurosurgery. METHODS: The surgical phases and steps of 50 anonymized eTSA operative videos were labeled by expert surgeons. Forty videos were used to train a combined convolutional and recurrent neural network model by Touch Surgery. Ten videos were used for model evaluation (accuracy, F1 score), comparing the phase and step recognition of surgeons to the automatic detection of the ML model. RESULTS: The longest phase was the sellar phase (median 28 minutes), followed by the nasal phase (median 22 minutes) and the closure phase (median 14 minutes). The longest steps were step 5 (tumor identification and excision, median 17 minutes); step 3 (posterior septectomy and removal of sphenoid septations, median 14 minutes); and step 4 (anterior sellar wall removal, median 10 minutes). There were substantial variations within the recorded procedures in terms of video appearances, step duration, and step order, with only 50% of videos containing all 7 steps performed sequentially in numerical order. Despite this, the model was able to output accurate recognition of surgical phases (91% accuracy, 90% F1 score) and steps (76% accuracy, 75% F1 score). CONCLUSIONS: In this IDEAL stage 0 study, ML techniques have been developed to automatically analyze operative videos of eTSA pituitary surgery. This technology has previously been shown to be acceptable to neurosurgical teams and patients. ML-based surgical workflow analysis has numerous potential uses-such as education (e.g., automatic indexing of contemporary operative videos for teaching), improved operative efficiency (e.g., orchestrating the entire surgical team to a common workflow), and improved patient outcomes (e.g., comparison of surgical techniques or early detection of adverse events). Future directions include the real-time integration of Touch Surgery into the live operative environment as an IDEAL stage 1 (first-in-human) study, and further development of underpinning ML models using larger data sets

Vulval elephantiasis as a result of tubercular lymphadenitis: two case reports and a review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Elephantiasis as a result of chronic lymphedema is characterized by gross enlargement of the arms, legs or genitalia, and occurs due to a variety of obstructive diseases of the lymphatic system. Genital elephantiasis usually follows common filariasis and lymphogranuloma venereum. It may follow granuloma inguinale, carcinomas, lymph node dissection or irradiation and tuberculosis but this happens rarely. Vulval elephantiasis as a consequence of extensive lymph node destruction by tuberculosis is very rare. We present two very unusual cases of vulval elephantiasis due to tuberculous destruction of the inguinal lymph nodes.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Two Indian women - one aged 40 years and the other aged 27 years, with progressively increasing vulval swellings over a period of five and four years respectively - presented to our hospital. In both cases, there was a significant history on presentation. Both women had previously taken a complete course of anti-tubercular treatment for generalized lymphadenopathy. The vulval swellings were extremely large: in the first case report, measuring 35 × 25 cm on the right side and 45 × 30 cm on the left side, weighing 20 lb and 16 lb respectively. Both cases were managed by surgical excision with reconstruction and the outcome was positive. Satisfactory results have been maintained during a follow-up period of six years in both cases.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Elephantiasis of the female genitalia is unusual and it has rarely been reported following tuberculosis. We report two cases of vulval elephantiasis as a consequence of extensive lymph node destruction by tuberculosis, in order to highlight this very rare clinical scenario.</p

Evolution and spread of Venezuelan equine encephalitis complex alphavirus in the Americas.

Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) complex alphaviruses are important re-emerging arboviruses that cause life-threatening disease in equids during epizootics as well as spillover human infections. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of VEE complex alphaviruses by sequencing the genomes of 94 strains and performing phylogenetic analyses of 130 isolates using complete open reading frames for the nonstructural and structural polyproteins. Our analyses confirmed purifying selection as a major mechanism influencing the evolution of these viruses as well as a confounding factor in molecular clock dating of ancestors. Times to most recent common ancestors (tMRCAs) could be robustly estimated only for the more recently diverged subtypes; the tMRCA of the ID/IAB/IC/II and IE clades of VEE virus (VEEV) were estimated at ca. 149–973 years ago. Evolution of the IE subtype has been characterized by a significant evolutionary shift from the rest of the VEEV complex, with an increase in structural protein substitutions that are unique to this group, possibly reflecting adaptation to its unique enzootic mosquito vector Culex (Melanoconion) taeniopus. Our inferred tree topologies suggest that VEEV is maintained primarily in situ, with only occasional spread to neighboring countries, probably reflecting the limited mobility of rodent hosts and mosquito vectors

Psammocarcinoma of ovary with serous cystadenofibroma of contralateral ovary: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Psammocarcinoma of ovary is a rare serous neoplasm characterized by extensive formation of psammoma bodies, invasion of ovarian stroma, peritoneum or intraperitoneal viscera, and moderate cytological atypia. Extensive medlar search showed presence of only 28 cases of psammocarcinoma of ovary reported till date.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We herein report a case of psammocarcinoma of ovary with serous cystadenofibroma of contralateral ovary in a 55 year old Asian Indian female.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>To the best of author's knowledge, ours is the rare case describing coexistence of this very rare malignant serous epithelial tumor with a benign serous cystadenofibroma of contralateral ovary.</p

Phase Ib study of CP-868,596, a PDGFR inhibitor, combined with docetaxel with or without axitinib, a VEGFR inhibitor

BACKGROUND: Tumoural interstitial hypertension, possibly modulated by platelet-derived and vascular endothelial growth factor receptors (PDGFR and VEGFR), may mediate resistance to chemotherapy. METHODS: Forty-eight patients with advanced solid tumours received oral PDGFR inhibitor CP-868,596 (60-100 mg twice daily (BID)) and docetaxel (75-100 mg m⁻²), or CP-868,596 (60 mg BID), docetaxel (75 mg m⁻²), and VEGFR inhibitor axitinib (5 mg BID). RESULTS: The CP-868,596/docetaxel was escalated as above. The CP-868,596/docetaxel/axitinib was not dose escalated because of increased incidence of mucositis-like adverse events (AEs) with concurrent neutropenia relative to that expected for docetaxel. All tested regimens were tolerable, including 100 mg BID CP-868,596 (recommended phase II dose) plus 100 mg m⁻² docetaxel (maximum approved dose). Most treatment-emergent AEs were mild-moderate and reversible, commonly including nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, constipation, fatigue, and anaemia (CP-868,596/docetaxel), and hypertension, lethargy, diarrhoea, and fatigue (CP-868,596/docetaxel/axitnib). Pharmacokinetics were unaffected by co-administration. Twenty-one patients achieved stable disease, including all seven evaluable on CP-868,596/docetaxel/axitinib. All nine CP-868,596/docetaxel/axitinib patients received therapy for a median of six (range, 3-16) cycles. CONCLUSIONS: The CP-868,596/docetaxel was well tolerated, but increased efficacy was not observed. Addition of axitinib delivered greater benefits than expected in the number of patients achieving prolonged stable disease with a moderate increase in AEs

Defining the expression hierarchy of latent T-cell epitopes in Epstein-Barr virus infection with TCR-like antibodies

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a gamma herpesvirus that causes a life-long latent infection in human hosts. The latent gene products LMP1, LMP2A and EBNA1 are expressed by EBV-associated tumors and peptide epitopes derived from these can be targeted by CD8 Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte (CTL) lines. Whilst CTL-based methodologies can be utilized to infer the presence of specific latent epitopes, they do not allow a direct visualization or quantitation of these epitopes. Here, we describe the characterization of three TCR-like monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting the latent epitopes LMP1[subscript 125–133], LMP2A[subscript 426–434] or EBNA1[subscript 562–570] in association with HLA-A0201. These are employed to map the expression hierarchy of endogenously generated EBV epitopes. The dominance of EBNA1[subscript 562–570] in association with HLA-A0201 was consistently observed in cell lines and EBV-associated tumor biopsies. These data highlight the discordance between MHC-epitope density and frequencies of associated CTL with implications for cell-based immunotherapies and/or vaccines for EBV-associated disease

The use of phylogeny to interpret cross-cultural patterns in plant use and guide medicinal plant discovery: an example from Pterocarpus (Leguminosae)

The study of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants has led to discoveries that have helped combat diseases and improve healthcare. However, the development of quantitative measures that can assist our quest for new medicinal plants has not greatly advanced in recent years. Phylogenetic tools have entered many scientific fields in the last two decades to provide explanatory power, but have been overlooked in ethnomedicinal studies. Several studies show that medicinal properties are not randomly distributed in plant phylogenies, suggesting that phylogeny shapes ethnobotanical use. Nevertheless, empirical studies that explicitly combine ethnobotanical and phylogenetic information are scarce.In this study, we borrowed tools from community ecology phylogenetics to quantify significance of phylogenetic signal in medicinal properties in plants and identify nodes on phylogenies with high bioscreening potential. To do this, we produced an ethnomedicinal review from extensive literature research and a multi-locus phylogenetic hypothesis for the pantropical genus Pterocarpus (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae). We demonstrate that species used to treat a certain conditions, such as malaria, are significantly phylogenetically clumped and we highlight nodes in the phylogeny that are significantly overabundant in species used to treat certain conditions. These cross-cultural patterns in ethnomedicinal usage in Pterocarpus are interpreted in the light of phylogenetic relationships.This study provides techniques that enable the application of phylogenies in bioscreening, but also sheds light on the processes that shape cross-cultural ethnomedicinal patterns. This community phylogenetic approach demonstrates that similar ethnobotanical uses can arise in parallel in different areas where related plants are available. With a vast amount of ethnomedicinal and phylogenetic information available, we predict that this field, after further refinement of the techniques, will expand into similar research areas, such as pest management or the search for bioactive plant-based compounds