Digital physiological signals in telecare medicine information systems have been widely applied in remote medical applications, such as telecare, tele-examination, and telediagnosis, via computer ...networking transmission or wireless communication. However, these medical records need to ensure authorization demands in the channel model for human body communication and remote medical servers and enhance the confidentiality, recoverability, and availability of transmission data. Hence, this study proposes a symmetric cryptography scheme with a chaotic map and a multilayer machine learning network (MMLN) to achieve physiological signal infosecurity. A chaotic pseudorandom number generator within specific control parameters can dynamically produce unordered sequence numbers to set the secret keys for a regular secret key update, thereby improving the security of private cipher codes. The chaotic map is quickly iterated to produce a pseudorandom key stream for real-time applications, and the private cipher codes are selected using the initial and specific control parameters at the data emitter and receiver ends. A general regression neural network is used to map the high-dimensional input-output pair of cipher codes for substitution and permutation processes. Its adaptive MMLN with an optimization algorithm can rapidly train the random cipher code protocol to achieve an encryptor and a decryptor for a regular encrypted communication. Using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) Arrhythmia Database, 100 electrocardiogram fragments are used to verify the proposed model, and the peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) as a quantitative quality metric is used to evaluate the visual quality after encryption and decryption processes for further diagnosis applications. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme has a higher mean PSNR (35.26 ± 3.77 dB) and shorter mean executing time (0.16 ± 0.01 s) compared with traditional cryptography protocol schemes.
BACKGROUNDWestern mothers with breast cancer find themselves struggling with parenting responsibilities. Because parenting is culturally shaped, literature on ill mothersʼ experiences of parenting ...young children from a collectivist culture is limited.
OBJECTIVEThe aim of this study was to examine Taiwanese mothersʼ experiences of and cultural practices embedded in parenting young children while in treatment for breast cancer.
METHODSSixteen mothers with at least 1 child younger than 12 years were recruited from a breast cancer organization in Taiwan. Data were collected from November 2016 to June 2017 via a semistructured individual interview and analyzed using a content analysis technique.
RESULTSFive themes, namely, “maternal limited disclosure, complementary with childrenʼs tacit knowledge,” “the scar is no longer a scar but a symbol for intimate bonding,” “issues of maternal absence for young children and school-aged children,” “the power of ‘We are a family’,” and “to live a simple life and to live for oneʼs self,” elucidate how cultural beliefs and practices shape maternal parenting experiences during treatment of breast cancer.
CONCLUSIONSThe findings illustrate how Taiwanese mothers interpret their illness, contextualize illness-related messages in daily life, and maintain family ties while coping with breast cancer. The will to maintain the familyʼs integrity, including the extended family, can empower mothers throughout the trajectory.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICEIll mothers may benefit from nursesʼ guidance on daily routines and cultural practices that they can exploit to frame illness messages for their children. Maternal efforts to change their outlook on life, vocalize their needs, and become more assertive should be acknowledged and supported.
Endometriosis shares similarities with several autoimmune diseases. The human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-C genotype is associated with several human autoimmune diseases. HLA-C is a ligand of killer cell ...immunoglobulin receptors (KIRs) and is an essential regulator of natural killer cell activity, which is associated with endometriosis progression. Polymorphisms in HLA-C and KIR affect the activity of NK cells and susceptibility to several diseases. Therefore, we attempted to investigate an association between HLA-C genotype and KIR polymorphism and the occurrence of endometriosis. We tested the association of certain KIR and HLA-C combinations and the development of endometriosis by characterizing both KIR and HLA-C genes in 147 women with endometriosis and 117 controls. The HLA-C genotypes and KIR polymorphisms were analyzed via DNA-based method for higher-resolution genotyping. We found that the occurrence of HLA-C*03:03*01 was increased in endometriosis than in control groups. Analysis of various KIR haplotypes revealed differences between the endometriosis and control cohorts. The number of KIR centromeric A/A haplotypes was increased in the endometriosis group than controls. Moreover, the endometriosis cohort was characterized by reduced number of KIR2DS2-positive individuals in the Han Chinese population. Our current findings suggest that the KIR and HLA-C genotypes are associated with the pathogenesis of endometriosis.
Sulfur oxides (SO
), particularly SO
emitted by coal-fired power plants, produce long-term risks for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We estimated the relative risks of CVD and ischemic heart disease ...(IHD) attributable to SO
emission globally. National SO
reduction achieved by emissions control systems was defined as the average SO
reduction percentage weighted by generating capacities of individual plants in a country. We analyzed the relative risk of CVD incidence associated with national SO
reduction for 13,581 coal-fired power-generating units in 79 countries. A 10% decrease in SO
emission was associated with 0.28% (males; 95%CI = -0.39%~0.95%) and 1.69% (females; 95%CI = 0.99%~2.38%) lower CVD risk. The effects on IHD were > 2 times stronger among males than females (2.78%, 95%CI = 1.99%~3.57% vs. 1.18%, 95%CI = 0.19%~2.17%). Further, 1.43% (males) and 8.00% (females) of CVD cases were attributable to suboptimal SOx reduction. Thus, enhancing regulations on SO
emission control represents a target for national and international intervention to prevent CVD.
We present a three-dimensional patterned (3DP) multifunctional substrate with the functions of ultra-thin layer chromatography (UTLC) and surface enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), which ...simultaneously enables mixture separation, target localization and label-free detection. This multifunctional substrate is comprised of a 3DP silicon nanowires array (3DP-SiNWA), decorated with silver nano-dendrites (AgNDs) atop. The 3DP-SiNWA is fabricated by a facile photolithographic process and low-cost metal assisted chemical etching (MaCE) process. Then, the AgNDs are decorated onto 3DP-SiNWA by a wet chemical reduction process, obtaining 3DP-AgNDs@SiNWA multifunctional substrates. With various patterns designed on the substrates, the signal intensity could be maximized by the excellent confinement and concentrated effects of patterns. By using this 3DP-AgNDs@SiNWA substrate to scrutinize the mixture of two visible dyes, the individual target could be recognized and further boosted the Raman signal of target 15.42 times comparing to the un-patterned AgNDs@SiNWA substrate. Therefore, such a three-dimensional patterned multifunctional substrate empowers rapid mixture screening, and can be readily employed in practical applications for biochemical assays, food safety and other fields.
The purpose of this study was to compare how the two different methods of food processing, high pressure processing (HPP) under 300–500 MPa for 3 min and freezing, affect the microbiological, ...chemical, and organoleptic qualities of soy sauce-marinated freshwater clams (Corbicula fluminea) during refrigeration. The aerobic plate count (APC), psychotropic bacteria count (PBC), Salmonella spp., and coliform of high pressure processed soy sauce-marinated clams (HPP marinated-clams) were obviously lower than conventionally frozen soy sauce-marinated clams (frozen marinated-clams), or were not detected. In addition, after all samples’ 15-day refrigeration period, HPP was found to significantly inhibit the growth of APC, PBC, Salmonella spp., and coliform, while the microbial counts of frozen marinated-clams increased gradually with time. However, the surface areas, moisture contents, and salt contents of all samples of both HPP marinated-clams and frozen marinated-clams slightly increased during refrigeration. Furthermore, the results of organoleptic analyses exhibited that the storage life of marinated clams can be increased from 9 days under freezing treatment to 15 days under HPP (300 MPa and 500 MPa). Using high-throughput sequencing, HPP treatment significantly changed the microbiota of marinated clam and delayed the spoilage process. Therefore, the study suggests using HPP at least 300 MPa for 3 min to effectively inhibit the microbial growth and significantly extend the storage life of the samples during the refrigeration period. This is a first study to use HPP technology to replace the traditional freezing technology in the application of raw soy sauce-marinated freshwater clam products, and at the same time, HTS was used to evaluate the changes of microbiota during refrigeration.
•High pressure treatment on marinated clam significantly reduce bacterial loads.•High pressure can delay the microbial growth in marinated clam at 4 °C storage.•HPP at 300 or 500 MPa extended self life from 9 to 15 days via organoleptic test.•Using HTS, HPP changed the microbiota of clam and delayed the spoilage process.•Pressurization ≧300 MPa for 3 min can replace the freezing method for clam shucking.
Human skeletal muscle contraction is triggered by activation of Nav1.4 channels. Nav1.4 channels can generate resurgent currents by channel reopening at hyperpolarized potentials through a gating ...transition dependent on the intracellular Navβ4 peptide in the physiological conditions. Tefluthrin (TEF) is a pyrethroid insecticide that can disrupt electrical signaling in nerves and skeletal muscle, resulting in seizures, muscle spasms, fasciculations, and mental confusion. TEF can also induce tail currents through other voltage-gated sodium channels in the absence of Navβ4 peptide, suggesting that muscle spasms may be caused by resurgent currents. Further, intracellular Navβ4 peptide and extracellular TEF may show competitive or synergistic effects; however, their binding sites are still unknown. To address these issues, electrophysiological recordings were performed on CHO-K1 cells expressing Nav1.4 channels with intracellular Navβ4 peptide, extracellular TEF, or both. TEF and Navβ4 peptide induced a hyperpolarizing shift of activation and inactivation curves in the Nav1.4 channel. TEF also substantially prolonged the inactivation time constants, while simultaneous application of Navβ4 peptide partially reversed this effect. Resurgent currents were enhanced by TEF and Navβ4 peptide at negative potentials, but TEF more potently enhances resurgent currents and dampens decay of resurgent currents. With longer depolarization, peak resurgent currents decay was fastest with the TEF alone. Molecular docking suggested that TEF and Navβ4 peptide binding site(s) are not in the narrowest part of the channel pore, but rather in the bundle-crossing regions and in the domain linkers, respectively. TEF can induce resurgent currents independently and synergistically with Navβ4 peptide, which may explain the muscle spasms observed in TEF intoxication.
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•TEF prolongs fast inactivation time constant whereas Navβ4 peptide shortens it.•TEF synergistically with Navβ4 peptide enhances the Nav1.4 resurgent currents.•The decay time constant of Nav1.4 resurgent currents is shorter with TEF.•The binding sites of TEF are in the bundle-crossing regions of Nav1.4 channel.
Myotonia congenita (MC) is a rare disorder characterized by stiffness and weakness of the limb and trunk muscles. Mutations in the SCN4A gene encoding the alpha-subunit of the voltage-gated sodium ...channel Nav1.4 have been reported to be responsible for sodium channel myotonia (SCM). The Nav1.4 channel is expressed in skeletal muscles, and its related channelopathies affect skeletal muscle excitability, which can manifest as SCM, paramyotonia and periodic paralysis. In this study, the missense mutation p.V445M was identified in two individual families with MC. To determine the functional consequences of having a mutated Nav1.4 channel, whole-cell patch-clamp recording of transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells was performed. Evaluation of the transient Na+ current found that a hyperpolarizing shift occurs at both the activation and inactivation curves with an increase of the window currents in the mutant channels. The Nav1.4 channel’s co-expression with the Navβ4 peptide can generate resurgent Na+ currents at repolarization following a depolarization. The magnitude of the resurgent currents is higher in the mutant than in the wild-type (WT) channel. Although the decay kinetics are comparable between the mutant and WT channels, the time to the peak of resurgent Na+ currents in the mutant channel is significantly protracted compared with that in the WT channel. These findings suggest that the p.V445M mutation in the Nav1.4 channel results in an increase of both sustained and resurgent Na+ currents, which may contribute to hyperexcitability with repetitive firing and is likely to facilitate recurrent myotonia in SCM patients.
Medical images can be constructed in two-dimensional (2D) or three-dimensional (3D) view imaging to be applied in disease detection and diagnosis inside the body, such as cancer/tumor, heart, or ...lung-related diseases. These images may contain patients' privacy information and clinical diagnosis records. Hence, these images need to ensure authorization demands among hospitals, medical service organizations, or physicians in a picture archiving and communication system. This study presents an intelligent symmetric cryptography with a chaotic map and quantum-based key generator (KG) for medical image encryption and decryption. Overall scheme processes include (1) random cipher code generation, (2) training gray relational analysis (GRA)-based encryptor and decryptor, and (3) decrypted image evaluation. The hybrid chaotic map and quantum-based KG are used to increase the chaotic complexity and unpredictable levels to produce cipher codes for changing pixel values (substitution method) in a 2D image by 256 key-space cipher codes. The first and second GRA models are used to train the cipher codes to achieve an encryptor and a decryptor, respectively. Through the methodology validation using a chest X-ray database, the structural similarity index measurement is employed to evaluate the decryption quality between the plain image and decrypted image. The encrypted images show a visual uncorrelation with the plain images, and experimental results indicate higher confidences against the passive eavesdropper.
Paramyotonia congenita (PMC) is a rare skeletal muscle disorder characterized by muscle stiffness upon repetitive exercise and cold exposure. PMC was reported to be caused by dominant mutations in ...the SCN4A gene encoding the α subunit of the Nav1.4 channel. Recently, we identified two missense mutations of the SCN4A gene, p.V781I and p.A1737T, in two PMC families. To evaluate the changes in electrophysiological properties caused by the mutations, both mutant and wild-type (WT) SCN4A genes were expressed in CHO-K1 and HEK-293T cells. Then, whole-cell patch-clamp recording was employed to study the altered gating of mutant channels. The activation curve of transient current showed a hyperpolarizing shift in both mutant Nav1.4 channels as compared to the WT channel, whereas there was a depolarizing shift in the fast inactivation curve. These changes confer to an increase in window current in the mutant channels. Further investigations demonstrated that the mutated channel proteins generate significantly larger resurgent currents as compared to the WT channel and take longer to attain the peak of resurgent current than the WT channel. In conclusion, the current study demonstrates that p.V781I and p.A1737T mutations in the Nav1.4 channel increase both the sustained and the resurgent Na+ current, leading to membrane hyperexcitability with a lower firing threshold, which may influence the clinical phenotype.
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