An Intelligent Agriculture Network Security System Based on Private Blockchains

Hsin-Te Wu,Chun-Wei Tsai 한국통신학회 2019 Journal of communications and networks Vol.21 No.5

Countries around the world are nowadays actively promotingdevelopment in intelligent agriculture. Each of them mustdevelop a specific plan tailored to environmental farming indices ofeach individual farm, and such information would be both importantand sensitive. This is why information in intelligent agriculturerequires protection from network security to ensure data privacyand integrity. This study proposes applying dark web technologyto ensure the privacy of blockchains and servers. The study willmonitor packet transmission frequency in intelligent agriculture toprevent distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks. The mainfeatures of system include: (1) An identity authentication mechanism,(2) secure transmission of information, (3) establishment ofprivate blockchains, (4) a faster, improved authentication systemfor blockchain information, and (5) resistance against DDOS attacks. The proposed scheme can safeguard network security for theIoT as well as the servers by way of applying dark web technology,which can avoid exposure of blockchains and server ID addressesand thus in turn lower the risks of DDOS attack damages. Experimentresults indicate that the application of lightweight encryptionof proposed scheme does indeed improve the authentication speedwhile also satisfying requirements of network security.

Light-Emitting Diode-Assisted Narrow Band Imaging Video Endoscopy System in Head and Neck Cancer

Hsin-Jen Chang,Wen-Hung Wang,Yen-Liang Chang,Tzuan-Ren Jeng,Chun-Te Wu,Ludovic Angot,Chun-Hsing Lee,Pa-Chun Wang 대한소화기내시경학회 2015 Clinical Endoscopy Vol.48 No.2

Background/Aims: To validate the effectiveness of a newly developed light-emitting diode (LED)-narrow band imaging (NBI) system for detecting early malignant tumors in the oral cavity. Methods: Six men (mean age, 51.5 years) with early oral mucosa lesions were screened using both the conventional white light and LED-NBI systems. Results: Small elevated or ulcerative lesions were found under the white light view, and typical scattered brown spots were identified after shifting to the LED-NBI view for all six patients. Histopathological examination confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. The clinical stage was early malignant lesions (T1), and the patients underwent wide excision for primary cancer. This is the pilot study documenting the utility of a new LED-NBI system as an adjunctive technique to detect early oral cancer using the diagnostic criterion of the presence of typical scattered brown spots in six high-risk patients. Conclusions: Although large-scale screening programs should be established to further verify the accuracy of this technology, its lower power consumption, lower heat emission, and higher luminous efficiency appear promising for future clinical applications.

Use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Evaluating Residual Breast Tissue After Robotic-Assisted Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy in Women With Early Breast Cancer

Wu Wen-Pei,Lai Hung-Wen,Liao Chiung-Ying,Lin Joseph,Huang Hsin-I,Chen Shou-Tung,Chou Chen-Te,Chen Dar-Ren 대한영상의학회 2023 Korean Journal of Radiology Vol.24 No.7

Objective: Prospective studies on postoperative residual breast tissue (RBT) after robotic-assisted nipple-sparing mastectomy (R-NSM) for breast cancer are limited. RBT presents an unknown risk of local recurrence or the development of new cancer after curative or risk-reducing mastectomies. This study investigated the technical feasibility of using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to evaluate RBT after R-NSM in women with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: In this prospective pilot study, 105 patients, who underwent R-NSM for breast cancer at Changhua Christian Hospital between March 2017 and May 2022, were subjected to postoperative breast MRI to evaluate the presence and location of RBT. The postoperative MRI scans of 43 patients (age, 47.8 ± 8.5 years), with existing preoperative MRI scans, were evaluated for the presence and location of RBT. In total, 54 R-NSM procedures were performed. In parallel, we reviewed the literature on RBT after nipple-sparing mastectomy, considering its prevalence. Results: RBT was detected in 7 (13.0%) of the 54 mastectomies (6 of the 48 therapeutic mastectomies and 1 of the 6 prophylactic mastectomies). The most common location for RBT was behind the nipple-areolar complex (5 of 7 [71.4%]). Another RBT was found in the upper inner quadrant (2 of 7 [28.6%]). Among the six patients who underwent RBT after therapeutic mastectomies, one patient developed a local recurrence of the skin flap. The other five patients with RBT after therapeutic mastectomies remained disease-free. Conclusion: R-NSM, a surgical innovation, does not seem to increase the prevalence of RBT, and breast MRI showed feasibility as a noninvasive imaging tool for evaluating the presence and location of RBT.

Unusual Exchange Bias Effects Induced in NiFe/Mn Thin Films via Ion-beam Bombardment: Superlattice vs. Nanocomposite

Chi-Hsin Liu,Chin Shueh,Tien-Chi Lan,Ko-Wei Lin,Wen-Chen Chen,Te-Ho Wu,R. D. Desautels,J. van Lierop 한국물리학회 2013 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.62 No.12

The interplay between interlayer coupling and exchange bias coupling in [NiFe/Mn] multilayerbasedthin films was investigated by using ion-beam bombardment during deposition to control theconfigurations from superlattice to nanocomposite or hybrid-structured thin films. Results showedthat well-defined interfaces in the superlattice [NiFe/Mn] thin film exhibited an interlayer couplingbehavior. In contrast, an enhanced coercivity was observed in the nanocomposite [NiFe-Mn] thinfilm. However, the hybrid [NiFe-Mn]/[NiFe/Mn] thin film with an intermixed NiFeMn alloyed filmcomponent gave rise to unusual positive exchange bias coupling.

Virtual Screening and Testing of GSK-3 Inhibitors Using Human SH-SY5Y Cells Expressing Tau Folding Reporter and Mouse Hippocampal Primary Culture under Tau Cytotoxicity

Lin Chih-Hsin,Hsieh Yu-Shao,Sun Ying-Chieh,Huang Wun-Han,Chen Shu-Ling,Weng Zheng-Kui,Lin Te-Hsien,Wu Yih-Ru,Chang Kuo-Hsuan,Huang Hei-Jen,Lee Guan-Chiun,Hsieh-Li Hsiu Mei,Lee-Chen Guey-Jen 한국응용약물학회 2023 Biomolecules & Therapeutics(구 응용약물학회지) Vol.31 No.1

Glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β) is an important serine/threonine kinase that implicates in multiple cellular processes and links with the neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In this study, structure-based virtual screening was performed to search database for compounds targeting GSK-3β from Enamine’s screening collection. Of the top-ranked compounds, 7 primary hits underwent a luminescent kinase assay and a cell assay using human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells expressing Tau repeat domain (TauRD) with pro-aggregant mutation ΔK280. In the kinase assay for these 7 compounds, residual GSK-3β activities ranged from 36.1% to 90.0% were detected at the IC50 of SB-216763. In the cell assay, only compounds VB-030 and VB-037 reduced Tau aggregation in SH-SY5Y cells expressing ΔK280 TauRD-DsRed folding reporter. In SH-SY5Y cells expressing ΔK280 TauRD, neither VB-030 nor VB-037 increased expression of GSK-3α Ser21 or GSK-3β Ser9. Among extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), AKT serine/threonine kinase 1 (AKT), mitogen-activated protein kinase 14 (P38) and mitogenactivated protein kinase 8 (JNK) which modulate Tau phosphorylation, VB-037 attenuated active phosphorylation of P38 Thr180/ Tyr182, whereas VB-030 had no effect on the phosphorylation status of ERK, AKT, P38 or JNK. However, both VB-030 and VB-037 reduced endogenous Tau phosphorylation at Ser202, Thr231, Ser396 and Ser404 in neuronally differentiated SH-SY5Y expressing ΔK280 TauRD. In addition, VB-030 and VB-037 further improved neuronal survival and/or neurite length and branch in mouse hippocampal primary culture under Tau cytotoxicity. Overall, through inhibiting GSK-3β kinase activity and/or p-P38 (Thr180/Tyr182), both compounds may serve as promising candidates to reduce Tau aggregation/cytotoxicity for AD treatment.

Isolating and Concentrating Rare Cancerous Cells in Large Sample Volumes of Blood by Using Dielectrophoresis and Stepping Electric Fields

Guang-Hong Chen,Chun-Ping Jen,Ching-Te Huang,Hsin-Hui Wu,Tatyana N. Zamay,Anna S. Zamay 한국바이오칩학회 2014 BioChip Journal Vol.8 No.2

Detecting rare cells, such as circulatingtumor cells (CTCs), circulating fetal cells, and stemcells, is vital during medical diagnostics and characterization. During carcinogenesis, cancer cells detachfrom the primary tumor into the blood stream, becomingCTCs. Typical rare cell samples are consideredany sample that contains less than 1000 target cellsper milliliter. The volumes of microfluidic devicestypically range from several microliters to nanoliters;this is excessively small for experimenting using lowconcentrationsamples. This study involved isolatingcancerous cells in an open-top chamber with sub-millilitervolumes (0.1 mL) of blood samples by using alysis buffer solution for red blood cells (RBCs), as wellas concentrating cells employing the dielectrophoreticforce generated using stepping electric fields,which were produced using a handheld electric modulethat comprised a voltage-frequency converterand an operational amplifier. To increase the samplevolume, an open-top chamber was fabricated on andbonded to a glass substrate by using circular microelectrodes. The concentrations of cancer cells andRBCs were adjusted to 500 cells/mL and 4×105 cell/mL, respectively, for the experiments. To reduce theinterference of blood cells during detection and isolateCTCs, the RBCs in the sample were lysed in alysis buffer solution before the proposed chip wasused to dielectrophoretically manipulate the rare cancerouscells. The findings indicated that the lysis bufferlysed the erythrocytes and the survivability levelsof the cancerous cells (HeLa and MCF-7) remainedhigh in the lysis buffer. The positive dielectrophoreticcancerous cells were guided based on the direction ofthe stepping electric field because of movement in thehigh-electric-field region; hence, the cancerous cellsconcentrated and collected at the central electrode.