170,371 research outputs found
Clock gene activities, metalloproteinase and TGFβ1 mRNA levels in human dental pulp fibroblasts treated with cyclosporin A
No full textIntroduction. Circadian rhythm of clock gene expression is linked to basic cellular functions and the dysregulation of the endogenous cell circadian time structure is associated with pathological conditions, including extracellular matrix (ECM) disorders. Circadian rhythmicity has been also demonstrated in transcripts that encode for cytokines and enzymes. Cyclosporin A (CsA), an effective immunosuppressive drug, affects ECM components and remodelling, also modifying the metalloproteinases (MMPs) and cytokines such as TGFβ1. Since both ECM and clock genes are important for maintaining normal cell and organ functions, we examined the clock gene expression, the MMPs and TGFβ1 mRNA levels in human dental pulp fibroblast cultures after CsA treatment. Materials and methods. Cells obtained from the dental pulp of three healthy third molars, extracted in 18-year-old orthodontic patients, were grown in culture flasks with 199 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) and antibiotics, at 37°C and 5% CO2. At the 4th passage, fully confluent cultures were treated with 50% FBS for 2 hours and then maintained in 199 medium containing 10% FBS alone or 800 ng/ml CsA for 24 hours. After this time we determined MMP-1, MMP-2, and TGFβ1 mRNA levels by RT-PCR analysis, while Bmal1, Clock, Per1 and Cry1 gene expression by microarray methods. Results and conclusions. The treated dental pulp fibroblasts showed a significant decrease of TGFβ1, and MMP-2 mRNA levels; microarrays showed the inactivation of Bmal1 and the stimulation of Clock gene expression. Since MMP-2 and TGFβ1 are involved in ECM remodelling, and clock genes regulate cell activities and tissue-specific processes, these modifications could affect the normal functions of tissues and organs. Considering that oncologic patients treated by chronomodulated therapy have good responses, the role of changes in circadian cell time structure and ECM turnover in multiple human diseases is an intriguing area for future studies
A model-based approach for vulnerability analysis of IoT security protocols: The Z-Wave case study
Get PDFIoT (Internet of Things) devices are extensively used in security-critical services, as for example home door opening, gas monitoring, alarm systems, etc. Often, they use communication protocols with no standardisation and no security guarantee. Unsecured use of connected devices can cause threats or damages to the users, so security assurance, which can be ensured by the use of formal methods, must be guaranteed. Unfortunately practical usage of formal methods during the protocol design is very limited or missing at all. To address the problem of providing the designer with a user-friendly but rigorous design approach based on the use of formal methods, supporting security assurance already at the model level, but hiding the complexity of formal notations and verification techniques, in this paper we propose an approach, based on the Abstract State Machine formal method, for the specification and verification of security protocols. Specifically, we introduce a set of built-in primitives to model communication protocols and their security properties. Security verification can be carried out under the hypothesis of either a passive or an active attacker. The effectiveness of this approach is shown by means of its application to the Z-Wave protocol, claimed to be one of the most secure protocol for IoT devices communication thanks to the addition of the S2 Security class. We show the formal specification of the Z-Wave protocol and the security verification process
Recurrence of hepatitis C virus infection after orthotopic liver transplantation: role of genotypes
No full textIn this study, we evaluated the correlation beetwen alanine aminotrasferase levels
and hepatitis C virus genotypes in liver transplant patients. We studied 18 patients
who had undergone orthotopic liver transplantation because of end-stage
cirrhosis (n=9) or hepatocellular carcinoma (n=9) hepatitis C virus related.
Serum HCV-RNA testing was performed monthly on ali the 18 series of serum
samples from the first week after liver transplant until the end of the follow up,
this period ranging from 1 to 39 months.
After liver transplantation, serum HCV-RNA was detected in 14 patients
(78%). Of the 8 patients infected with subtype lb, 1 remained asymptomatic, 2
developed acute liver failure and 5 developed chronic hepatitis.
In patients infected with types la (Choo et al, 1989), 2a (Choo et al, 1989), with
a mixed infection lb/3 (Kuo et al, 1989) or with an undetermined genotype, significant
laboratory abnormalities were not observed.
Recurrence of hepatitis C virus infection after liver transplantation is common,
and recurrent hepatitis occurs in 50% of cases. Genotype lb appears to be associated
with a higher rate of recurrent hepatitis, compared to other genotypes
Die Geschichte meiner Kindheit und Jugend : 1882-1903.
No full textThe memoir was written in 1962 in Chicago. Childhood in well-to-do Jewish family. Description of turn-of-the-century Prague and its culture. Living circumstances in a bourgeois household with maids and nannies at the end of the 19th century. Lilli Hammerschlag was enrolled in a German girl's school (Maedchenlyceum), which was mainly attended by Jewish children. Excellent education. First influential friendships with schoolmates. Strict societal rules of contacts between the sexes. Cultural activities and evenings at the German theater of Prague. Summer vacations with hiking tours in the Austrian alps. Religious life limited to the high Jewish holidays, despite the fact that her father was in the executive board of the temple. Recollections of her pious maternal grandmother. Memories of Christmas celebrations with her nanny. Description of historical events such as the tragic death of crown prince Rudolph in 1889. Engagement of her sister Gertrud and romance with the brother of the groom, who became her husband in 1903.Lilli Hammerschlag was born in Prague in 1882 as the second daughter of the lawyer Moritz Hammerschlag, who was the president of all Austrian B'nai B'rith lodges. After her marriage to the brother of her sister's husband in 1903, Lilli Prerauer left Prague for Landshut.Synopsis in fileBrief summary in Max Kreutzberger: "Leo Baeck Institute New York, Bibliothek und Archiv; Katalog": C 314SalzburgCzechoslovakiaChildhoodstmasDomestic life, 19th centuryEducation, primary and secondary, 1871-1918FriendshipHolidays, JewishTheate
Towards ASM-Based Automated Formal Verification of Security Protocols
No full textIn the security protocols domain, formal verification is more and more highly demanded to guarantee security assurance: humans increasingly depend on the use of connected devices in their daily life, so they must be protected against possible threats and accidents. However, formal verification, and in general the use of formal methods, is slowed by myths and misconceptions, mainly due to their mathematical base, which discourages many designers or engineers from their adoption. In this paper, we pose the basis for the long-term development of an ASM-based user-friendly framework for the formal verification of security protocols. We introduce a mathematical-based set of templates to formalise common patterns in security protocols and a set of security properties. These templates facilitate the protocol formal verification by providing built-in functions and domains, as well as transition rules and property schema, to be customised according to the specific protocol to be verified. The effectiveness of this approach is shown by means of their application to a number of well-known cryptographic security protocols
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