Dose and noise in abdominal computed tomography examinations

Background: Dose reduction in computed tomography (CT) examinations was an idea of the Co-rdinated Research Project (CRP) "Dose Reduction in Computed Tomography (CT) while maintaining Diagnostic Confidence", supported by the International Agency of Atomic Energy (IAEA) in the years 2003-2005. Participation in the CRP inspired the authors' attempts to elaborate a method for optimization of CT abdominal procedures allowing reduce a dose to patient with saving diagnostically satisfying image quality. The paper presents the algorithm together with clinical verification of the results of the study. Material/Methods: Two types of single-slice CT scanners were used for the investigations. The images recorded for patients undergoing routine abdomen examinations and then these obtained with modified exposure parameters were analyzed. The influence of the changed tube outputs on image quality was checked using Catphan 424 phantom. Results: As the result no statistically significant difference between the measured noise in clinical images for patients examined at routine and modified settings (within the same weight category) was observed. Conclusions: The conclusion was that at routine (screening) abdomen examinations, the dose may be reduced up to 50% with saving diagnostically satisfying image quality

Prevalence of antibodies against Neospora caninum in dogs from urban areas in Central Poland

Neospora caninum is a protozoan parasite which causes abortion in cattle as well as reproduction problems and neurological disorders in dogs. To assess the prevalence of the parasite in urban dogs in the Mazovian Voivodeship, Central Poland, serum samples from 257 dogs were analyzed for the presence of specific IgG antibodies. The examined dogs visited three private veterinary clinics located in Warsaw due to control tests, vaccinations, or other reasons not directly connected with neosporosis. Using ELISA and Western blot, antibodies against the parasite were detected in 56 out of 257 dogs, giving a prevalence of 21.7%. A greater prevalence was observed in female dogs than in males, 28% and 17.3%, respectively, and the differences were statistically significant (p < 0.05). There were no significant differences in seroprevalence of Neospora infection within the age groups (p > 0.05). This study indicates the presence of N. caninum in the Mazovian Voivodeship, in dogs which live in urban areas and exposure of these dogs to the parasite. The fact that seropositive dogs had no contact with cattle confirms the important role of dogs in the parasite’s epidemiology

Phenoxazine Based Units- Synthesis, Photophysics and Electrochemistry

A few new phenoxazine-based conjugated monomers were synthesized, characterized, and successfully used as semiconducting materials. The phenoxazine-based oligomers have low ionization potentials or high-lying HOMO levels (~4.7 eV), which were estimated from cyclic voltammetry. Conjugated oligomers offer good film—forming, mechanical and optical properties connected with their wide application. These results demonstrate that phenoxazine-based conjugated mers are a promising type of semiconducting and luminescent structures able to be used as thin films in organic electronics

On Deception-Based Protection Against Cryptographic Ransomware

In order to detect malicious file system activity, some commercial and academic anti-ransomware solutions implement deception-based techniques, specifically by placing decoy files among user files. While this approach raises the bar against current ransomware, as any access to a decoy file is a sign of malicious activity, the robustness of decoy strategies has not been formally analyzed and fully tested. In this paper, we analyze existing decoy strategies and discuss how they are effective in countering current ransomware by defining a set of metrics to measure their robustness. To demonstrate how ransomware can identify existing deception-based detection strategies, we have implemented a proof-of-concept anti-decoy ransomware that successfully bypasses decoys by using a decision engine with few rules. Finally, we discuss existing issues in decoy-based strategies and propose practical solutions to mitigate them

Comparative analysis of excretory-secretory antigens of Trichinella spiralis and Trichinella britovi muscle larvae by two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting

Abstract Background Trichinellosis is a zoonotic disease in humans caused by Trichinella spp. The present study was undertaken to discover excretory-secretory (E-S) proteins from T. spiralis and T. britovi muscle larvae (ML) that hold promise for species-specific diagnostics. To that end, the purified E-S proteins were analyzed by fluorescent two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis (2-D DIGE) coupled with protein identification by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). To search for immunoreactive proteins that are specifically recognized by host antibodies the E-S proteins were subjected to two-dimensional (2-DE) immunoblotting with antisera derived from pigs experimentally infected with T. spiralis or T. britovi. Results According to 2-D DIGE analysis, a total of twenty-two proteins including potentially immunogenic proteins and proteins produced only by one of the two Trichinella species were subjected to LC-MS/MS for protein identification. From these proteins seventeen could be identified, of which many were identified in multiple spots, suggesting that they have undergone post-translational modification, possibly involving glycosylation and/or proteolysis. These proteins included 5'-nucleotidase, serine-type protease/proteinase, and p43 glycoprotein (gp43) as well as 49 kDa E-S protein (p49). Our findings also suggest that some of the commonly identified proteins were post-translationally modified to different extents, which in certain cases seemed to result in species-specific modification. Both commonly and specifically recognized immunoreactive proteins were identified by 2-DE immunoblotting; shared antigens were identified as gp43 and different protease variants, whereas those specific to T. britovi included multiple isoforms of the 5'-nucleotidase. Conclusions Both 2-D DIGE and 2-DE immunoblotting approaches indicate that T. spiralis and T. britovi produce somewhat distinctive antigen profiles, which contain E-S antigens with potential as species-specific diagnostic markers for Trichinella. Our results also demonstrate the value of 2-D DIGE as a versatile tool to compare secretomes of different Trichinella species for pinpointing factors contributing to the interaction with the host

On improving 5G internet of radio light security based on led fingerprint identification method

Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. In this paper, a novel device identification method is proposed to improve the security of Visible Light Communication (VLC) in 5G networks. This method extracts the fingerprints of Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) to identify the devices accessing the 5G network. The extraction and identification mechanisms have been investigated from the theoretical perspective as well as verified experimentally. Moreover, a demonstration in a practical indoor VLC-based 5G network has been carried out to evaluate the feasibility and accuracy of this approach. The fingerprints of four identical white LEDs were extracted successfully from the received 5G NR (New Radio) signals. To perform identification, four types of machine-learning-based classifiers were employed and the resulting accuracy was up to 97.1%.EU Horizon 2020 program towards the Internet of Radio-Light project H2020-ICT 761992

Comparative Study of Alternating Low-band-Gap Benzothiadiazole Co-oligomers

The benzothiadiazole – arylene alternating conjugated oligomers have been designed and synthesized via Suzuki coupling reaction. The structures and properties of the conjugated oligomers were characterized by 1HNMR, 13CNMR, UV–vis absorption spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. The luminescent measurements demonstrate that polybenzothiadiazoles are good chromophores able to form thin films by Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) technique, making them suitable for further applications. Also the electrical properties of obtained films confirm the good potential of these novel aryl-based π-conjugated polymers for the development of various electrical and electrochemical solid-state devices

Fine-structural distribution of MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities in the rat skeletal muscle upon training: a study by high-resolution in situ zymography

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are key regulators of extracellular matrix remodeling, but have also important intracellular targets. The purpose of this study was to examine the activity and subcellular localization of the gelatinases MMP-2 and MMP-9 in skeletal muscle of control and physically trained rats. In control hind limb muscle, the activity of the gelatinases was barely detectable. In contrast, after 5 days of intense exercise, in Soleus (Sol), but not Extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscle, significant upregulation of gelatinolytic activity in myofibers was observed mainly in the nuclei, as assessed by high resolution in situ zymography. The nuclei of quiescent satellite cells did not contain the activity. Within the myonuclei, the gelatinolytic activity colocalized with an activated RNA Polymerase II. Also in Sol, but not in EDL, there were few foci of mononuclear cells with strongly positive cytoplasm, associated with apparent necrotic myofibers. These cells were identified as activated satellite cells/myoblasts. No extracellular gelatinase activity was observed. Gel zymography combined with subcellular fractionation revealed training-related upregulation of active MMP-2 in the nuclear fraction, and increase of active MMP-9 in the cytoplasmic fraction of Sol. Using RT-PCR, selective increase in MMP-9 mRNA was observed. We conclude that training activates nuclear MMP-2, and increases expression and activity of cytoplasmic MMP-9 in Sol, but not in EDL. Our results suggest that the gelatinases are involved in muscle adaptation to training, and that MMP-2 may play a novel role in myonuclear functions

A Scaleable and License Free 5G Internet of Radio Light Architecture for Services in Train Stations

In this paper we present a 5G Internet Radio- Light (IoRL) architecture for underground train stations that can be readily deployed because it utilizes unlicensed visible light and millimeter wave part of the spectrum, which does not require Mobile Network Operator (MNO) permission to deploy and which is used to provide travelers with accurate location, interaction, access to Internet and Cloud based Services, such as high resolution video on a Tablet PC. The paper describes the train station use cases and the IoRL architecture.European Commissio

A Scalable and License Free 5G Internet of Radio Light Architecture for Services in Homes & Businesses

In this paper we present a 5G Internet Radio-Light (IoRL) architecture for homes that can be readily deployed because it utilizes unlicensed visible light and millimeter wave part of the spectrum, which does not require Mobile Network Operator (MNO) permission to deploy and which is used to provide inhabitants of houses with accurate location, interaction, access to Internet and Cloud based services such as high resolution video on a Tablet PC. The paper describes the home use cases and the IoRL architecture.EU Horizon 202