PURPOSE The role of IL28B gene variants and expression in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections are not well understood. Here, we evaluated whether IL28B gene expression and rs12979860 variations are associated with HBV outcomes. MATERIALS AND METHODS IL28B genetic variations (rs12979860) were genotyped by pyrosequencing of DNA samples from 137 individuals with chronic HBV infection [50 inactive...

Bertino, Ferrari and Atluri (BFA) have recently presented a model for specifying and enforcing authorization constraints for Workflow Management Systems (WFMS). The model is comprehensive and exhibits strong properties such as (1) a language to express constraints, (2) formal notions of constraint consistency and (3) algorithms for role-task and user-task assignments. In this paper, we extend t...

Recently, IACR ePrint archive posted two fully homomorphic encryption schemes without bootstrapping. In this note, we show that these schemes are trivially insecure. Furthermore, we also show that the encryption schemes of Liu and Wang [6] in CCS 2012 and the encryption scheme of Liu, Bertino, and Xun [5] in ASIACCS 2014 are insecure either.

Due to the widespread use and potential toxicity of avermectins (AVMs), multi-residue monitoring of AVMs in edible tissues, especially in milk, has become increasingly important. With the aim of developing a broad-selective immunoassay for AVMs, a broad-specific monoclonal antibody (Mab) was raised. Based on this Mab, a homologous indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the rapid...

In this study novel immunoconjugates were designed, synthesized and then used to develop a rapid, specific and sensitive indirect ELISA method to directly detect residues of 3,5-dinitrosalicyclic acid hydrazide (DNSH), a toxic metabolite of nifursol present in chicken tissues. The hapten DNSHA was first designed and used to covalently couple to BSA to form an immunogen which was immunized to ra...

A heparin-modified thermoresponsive surface bound with heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) was designed to allow creation of transferrable and functional hepatocyte sheets. A heparin-modified thermoresponsive surface was prepared by covalently tethering heparin onto poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-2-carboxyisopropylacrylamide)-grafted tissue culture polystyrene sur...

To determine ractopamine residues in animal food products (chicken muscle, pettitoes, pig muscle, and pig liver), we established a rapid direct competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a polyclonal antibody generated from ractopamine-linker-BSA. The antibody showed high sensitivity and specificity in phosphate buffer, with an IC(50) of 0.6 ng/mL, and the limit of detection wa...

In this paper, we present a provably secure redactable signature scheme allowing to independently redact structure and content. We identify the problems when structure is not separated from content, resulting in an attack on the scheme proposed at VLDB ’08 by Kundu and Bertino. The attack allows for changing the semantic meaning of a given tree. We introduce a rigid security model, including co...

A semi-quantitative ELISA for complement-fixing, IgG-containing immune complexes (IC) is described. The assay is based on the insolubilization of IC by polyethyleneglycol, their capture by solid-phase anti-C3 antibodies, reaction with peroxidase-labeled anti-IgG antibodies and incubation with a chromogenic peroxidase substrate. It was markedly improved by the use of a single-step procedure whic...

The antioxidant properties of extract from berries of Aronia melanocarpa (chokeberry) containing: anthocyanidines, phenolic acids and quercetine glycosides on oxidative/nitrative stress induced by peroxynitrite (ONOO(-), a powerful physiological oxidant, nitrating species and inflammatory mediator) in human blood platelets were studied in vitro. The extract from A. melanocarpa (5 - 50 microg/mL...