Post-quantum cryptography has attracted much attention from worldwide cryptologists. However, most research works are related to public-key cryptosystem due to Shor’s attack on RSA and ECC ciphers. ...At CRYPTO 2016, Kaplan et al. showed that many secret-key (symmetric) systems could be broken using a quantum period finding algorithm, which encouraged researchers to evaluate symmetric systems against quantum attackers. In this paper, we continue to study symmetric ciphers against quantum attackers. First, we convert the classical advanced slide attacks (introduced by Biryukov and Wagner) to a quantum one, that gains an exponential speed-up in time complexity. Thus, we could break 2/4K-Feistel and 2/4K-DES in polynomial time. Second, we give a new quantum key-recovery attack on full-round GOST, which is a Russian standard, with
2
114.8
quantum queries of the encryption process, faster than a quantum brute-force search attack by a factor of
2
13.2
.
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of stimulating the vagus nerve in patients with disorders of consciousness (DOCs).
Methods
A comprehensive systematic review ...was conducted, encompassing the search of databases such as PubMed, CENTRAL, EMBASE and PEDro from their inception until July 2023. Additionally, manual searches and exploration of grey literature were performed. The literature review was conducted independently by two reviewers for search strategy, selection of studies, data extraction, and judgment of evidence quality according to the American Academy of Cerebral Palsy and Developmental Medicine (AACPDM) Study Quality Scale.
Results
A total of 1,269 articles were retrieved, and 10 studies met the inclusion criteria. Among these, there were three case reports, five case series, and only two randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Preliminary studies have suggested that stimulation of vagus nerve can enhance the levels of DOCs in both vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness state (VS/UWS) and minimally conscious state (MCS). However, due to a lack of high-quality RCTs research and evidence-based medical evidence, no definitive conclusion can be drawn regarding the intervention’s effectiveness on consciousness level. Additionally, there were no significant adverse effects observed following stimulation of vagus nerve.
Conclusion
A definitive conclusion cannot be drawn from this systematic review as there was a limited number of eligible studies and low-quality evidence. The findings of this systematic review can serve as a roadmap for future research on the use of stimulation of vagus nerve to facilitate recovery from DOCs.
RIP1 regulates necroptosis and inflammation and may play an important role in contributing to a variety of human pathologies, including immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. Small-molecule ...inhibitors of RIP1 kinase that are suitable for advancement into the clinic have yet to be described. Herein, we report our lead optimization of a benzoxazepinone hit from a DNA-encoded library and the discovery and profile of clinical candidate GSK2982772 (compound 5), currently in phase 2a clinical studies for psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ulcerative colitis. Compound 5 potently binds to RIP1 with exquisite kinase specificity and has excellent activity in blocking many TNF-dependent cellular responses. Highlighting its potential as a novel anti-inflammatory agent, the inhibitor was also able to reduce spontaneous production of cytokines from human ulcerative colitis explants. The highly favorable physicochemical and ADMET properties of 5, combined with high potency, led to a predicted low oral dose in humans.
The Whirlwind hash function was proposed by Barreto et al. (Des Codes Cryptogr 56(2–3):141–162, 2010,
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10623-010-9391-y
). In this paper, we focus on preimage and collision ...attacks on reduced-round Whirlwind. With the help of MILP models, a 7-round pseudo-preimage attack is presented. Then we revisit the framework of Ma et al. and successfully improve the preimage attack on 4-round Whirlwind with time complexity reduced from
2
497
to
2
417
. Meanwhile, by using quantum algorithms, we find a quantum collision attack on 5-round Whirlwind, which improves running time from
2
190.5
to
2
127.15
comparing to standard BHT algorithm while using the same amount of quantum memory. Also, semi-free-start collision of Whirlwind compression function is improved from 6 round to 7 round, while keeping complexity unchanged.
This paper gives a new generalized key-recovery model of related-key rectangle attacks on block ciphers with linear key schedules. The model is quite optimized and applicable to various block ciphers ...with linear key schedule. As a proof of work, we apply the new model to two very important block ciphers, i.e. SKINNY and GIFT, which are basic modules of many candidates of the Lightweight Cryptography (LWC) standardization project by NIST. For SKINNY, we reduce the complexity of the best previous 27-round related-tweakey rectangle attack on SKINNY-128-384 from
2
331
to
2
294
. In addition, the first 28-round related-tweakey rectangle attack on SKINNY-128-384 is given, which gains one more round than before. For the candidate LWC SKINNY AEAD M1, we conduct a 24-round related-tweakey rectangle attack with a time complexity of
2
123
and a data complexity of
2
123
chosen plaintexts. For the case of GIFT-64, we give the first 24-round related-key rectangle attack with a time complexity
2
91.58
, while the best previous attack on GIFT-64 only reaches 23 rounds at most.
Eradication of oral Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) not only reduces the infection rate from the transmission route but also improves the success rate of intragastric eradication. MAXPOWER Biological ...Bacteriostatic Liquid, developed in our previous work, is a composite biological preparation with strong antibacterial ability and unique antibacterial mechanism. The present study evaluated the efficacy of the MAXPOWER biocontrol solution on H. pylori and its success rate in eradicating oral H. pylori in clinical patients.
Live-dead cell staining and hemolysis test were used to evaluate the cellular safety of MAXPOWER biocontrol solution; plate spreading, live-dead bacterial staining, and scanning electron microscopy methods were used to evaluate its antimicrobial effect against H. pylori. Transcriptomics was used to analyze the changes in H. pylori genes before and after treatment. After seven days of gavage treatment, H&E staining and mice feces were collected for 16SrDNA sequencing to evaluate the animals' safety. Oral H. pylori-positive patients were randomized to be given a placebo and MAXPOWER Bio-Bacteriostatic Liquid gargle for seven days to evaluate the effect on oral H. pylori eradication.
In vitro tests demonstrated that this product has excellent biocompatibility and hemocompatibility and can effectively eradicate oral H. pylori. In vivo tests further showed that it has good biosafety and virtually no adverse effect on intestinal microflora. Transcriptomics analysis revealed that it kills H. pylori cells mainly by disrupting their cell membranes and metabolism. Additionally, the results of randomized controlled trials on humans disclosed that the oral H. pylori eradication rates achieved by MAXPOWER Biological Antibacterial Liquid were 71.4% and 78.9% according to the intention-to-treat and the per-protocol analysis, respectively.
MAXPOWER Biological Antibacterial Liquid is both safe and efficacious in the eradication of oral H. pylori.
This study was retrospectively registered in the ClinicalTrials.gov Trial Registry on 21/09/2023 (NCT06045832).
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Early detection of caries is an urgent problem in the dental clinic. Current caries detection methods do not detect early enamel caries accurately, and do not show microstructural changes in the ...teeth. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) can provide imaging of tiny, demineralized regions of teeth in real time and noninvasively detect dynamic changes in lesions with high resolution and high sensitivity. Over the last 20 years, researchers have investigated different methods for quantitative assessment of early caries using OCT. This review provides an overview of the principles of enamel caries detection with OCT, the methods of characterizing caries lesion severity, and correlations between OCT results and measurements from multiple histological detection techniques. Studies have shown the feasibility of OCT in quantitative assessment of early enamel lesions but they vary widely in approaches. Only integrated reflectivity and refractive index measured by OCT have proven to have strong correlations with mineral loss calculated by digital microradiography or transverse microradiography. OCT has great potential to be a standard inspection method for enamel lesions, but a consensus on quantitative methods and indicators is an important prerequisite. Our review provides a basis for future discussions.
Exploiting high-performance and cost-effective non-noble metal catalysts for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is still greatly important for energy storage devices such as metal-air batteries and fuel ...cells. In this work, CeO
2
, NiCo
2
O
4
, and NiCo
2
O
4
/CeO
2
were synthetized by facile hydrothermal method and used as an ORR catalyst. The as-prepared CeO
2
, NiCo
2
O
4
, and NiCo
2
O
4
/CeO
2
samples were measured by XRD, XPS, SEM, and TEM. Electrochemical characterization tests exhibit that the ORR activity of NiCo
2
O
4
is evidently enhanced by blending with CeO
2
nanoparticles. The NiCo
2
O
4
/CeO
2
composite exhibits more superior electrocatalytic performances and stability in alkaline solution as compared to the pure CeO
2
and NiCo
2
O
4
. The electrochemical performance of composite is very near to that of 20 wt% Pt/C. Owing to the synergistic interactions, NiCo
2
O
4
/CeO
2
favors a four-electron pathway in ORR and exhibits a higher ORR activity than CeO
2
and NiCo
2
O
4
. The outstanding performance confirms the NiCo
2
O
4
/CeO
2
composite as a promising efficient ORR catalyst in metal-air batteries and fuel cells.
To fully tap the abilities of renewables in reactive power optimization, this paper develops a detailed model for the power regulation capabilities of wind turbines and photovoltaic units and studies ...their impact on the power system’s operation. First, the power system model with renewables integration is established using AC power flow. The wind turbines and photovoltaic units are modeled in detail according to their topologies and operating characteristics, and then further simplified according to the feasible region. An improved DC power flow model is adopted to handle the non-linear characteristics of the power system. On this basis, a multi-objective reactive power optimization model is constructed to minimize the power generation cost, wind and solar power curtailment, and voltage offset. Finally, comparisons between two types of models in different scenarios are designed. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the participation of renewables in reactive power regulation can improve the operational economy and voltage stability of power systems.
Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) has emerged as a potentially effective neuromodulation technique for addressing neurological disorders, including disorders of consciousness. ...Expanding upon our prior clinical study, which demonstrated the superior effectiveness of a 4-week taVNS treatment in patients with minimally conscious state (MCS) compared to those in a vegetative state/unresponsive wakefulness state, the aim of this investigation was to evaluate the safety and therapeutic efficacy of taVNS in individuals with MCS through a sham-controlled randomized double-blind clinical trial.
A cohort of 50 adult patients (male = 33, female = 17) diagnosed with a MCS were randomly assigned to either the active taVNS (
= 25) or sham taVNS (
= 25) groups. The treatment period lasted for 4 weeks, followed by an 8-week follow-up period. The Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) were administered at baseline and weekly during the initial 4 weeks. Additionally, the Disability Rating Scale (DRS) was used to assess the patients' functional abilities via telephone at week 12. Furthermore, various neurophysiological measures, including electroencephalogram (EEG), upper-limb somatosensory evoked potentials (USEP), brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEP), and P300 event-related potentials (P300), were employed to monitor changes in brain activity and neural conduction pathways.
The scores for the active taVNS group in the CRS-R and GCS showed greater improvement over time compared to the sham taVNS group (CRS-R: 1-week, Z = -1.248,
= 0.212; 2-week, Z = -1.090,
= 0.276; 3-week, Z = -2.017,
= 0.044; 4-week, Z = -2.267,
= 0.023. GCS: 1-week, Z = -1.325,
= 0.185; 2-week, Z = -1.245,
= 0.213; 3-week, Z = -1.848,
= 0.065; 4-week, Z = -1.990,
= 0.047). Additionally, the EEG, USEP, BAEP, and P300 also demonstrated significant improvement in the active taVNS group compared to the sham taVNS group at week 4 (EEG, Z = -2.086,
= 0.037; USEP, Z = -2.014,
= 0.044; BAEP, Z = -2.298,
= 0.022; P300 amplitude, Z = -1.974,
= 0.049; P300 latency, t = 2.275,
= 0.027). Subgroup analysis revealed that patients with MCS derived greater benefits from receiving taVNS treatment earlier (CRS-R, Disease duration ≤ 1-month, mean difference = 8.50, 95% CI = 2.22, 14.78,
= 0.027; GCS, Disease duration ≤ 1-month, mean difference = 3.58, 95% CI = 0.14, 7.03,
= 0.044). By week 12, the active taVNS group exhibited lower Disability Rating Scale (DRS) scores compared to the sham taVNS group (Z = -2.105,
= 0.035), indicating a more favorable prognosis for MCS patients who underwent taVNS. Furthermore, no significant adverse events related to taVNS were observed during treatment.
The findings of this study suggest that taVNS may serve as a potentially effective and safe intervention for facilitating the restoration of consciousness in individuals diagnosed with MCS. This therapeutic approach appears to enhance cerebral functioning and optimize neural conduction pathways.
http://www.chictr.org.cn, Identifier ChiCTR2200066629.
