3rd Round Research Articles

Green utilization of sorghum straw by coupled hydrothermal pretreatment and cellulase hydrolysis for bacillomycin D production under fed-batch mode

The present work explored the coupled hydrothermal pretreatment and cellulase hydrolysis (HPCH) for production of bacillomycin D from sorghum straws by Bacillus subtilis NS-174. The results indicated that HPCH treated sorghum straws had weaker absorption, heavier mass loss and higher crystallinity, and displayed loose and destructive fiber structures. Degradation of hemicellulose and lignin contributhed to yielding glucose and 68.94g/L of glucose was obtained in HPCH treated hydrolysate. High level of glucose in pretreated sorghum straw hydrolysate was helpful for improving bacillomycin D production. When performed by 3rd round (feeding at 144h) fed-batch fermentation, bacillomycin D production and production rate were obtained to be 2351.07mg/L and 113.36mg/L.h in B. subtilis NS-174, respectively.

Delphi-driven consensus definition for MSCs and clinical reporting guidelines for MSC-based therapeutics

BackgroundDespite promising results in preclinical studies, mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) face significant challenges in clinical translation. A scoping review by our group highlighted two key issues contributing to this gap: i) the lack of clear and consensus definition for MSCs and ii) under reporting of critical parameters in MSC clinical studies. To address these issues, we conducted a modified Delphi study to establish and implement a consensus definition for MSCs and develop reporting guidelines for MSC clinical studies. MethodsA steering committee of 22 international experts including stakeholders from different MSC research fields participated in the 3 Delphi rounds. For the first round, to obtain a broad perspective, additional investigators recommended by the steering committee were invited to participate. The first 2 rounds consisted of online surveys, while the 3rd round took the form of a virtual meeting. Participants were asked to rate a series of potential defining characteristics of MSCs and items for reporting guidelines. Consensus was defined as at least 80% of the participants rating the item in the same category of importance. ResultsEighty-seven international participants participated in the first-round survey (Spring 2023), 17 participants in the second online survey (Fall 2023) and 15 participants in the final virtual consensus meeting (January 2024). For the MSC definition, 20 items were considered and 9 reached consensus. Items included terminology (1 item), cell marker expression (5 items), tissue origin (1 item), stemness (1 item) and description of critical quality attributes (1 item). For the reporting guidelines, on the 28 initial items and with additional items suggested during round 1, a total of 33 items to report were included. This included items on MSC intervention group and control (i.e., MSC product, dose, and administration, etc.), MSC characteristics (i.e., MSCs provenance, “fitness and viability, immune compatibility, etc.), and MSC culture conditions (i.e., oxygen environment, culture medium, use of serum, etc.). ConclusionBy applying a Delphi method to establish a consensus definition for MSCs and reporting guidelines for MSC-based clinical, this work represents a significant advance in improving transparency and reproducibility in the conduct and reporting of MSC research.

Zero-valent iron on graphite-cellulose biochar catalysts for the Fenton degradation of tetracycline from water

Tetracycline (TC), an antibiotic widely used in the treatment of animal and human diseases and promotion of animal growth. However, its uncontrolled discharge to water sources can also cause the promotion of antibiotic resistant bacteria and genes. In this study, graphite and cellulose were used as raw materials to construct a graphite-biochar (G-BC) by carbothermal reactions. This graphite-biochar was subsequently mixed with ZVI with various mass ratios by ball milling to produce graphite-biochars supported ZVI (ZVI/G-BC) catalysts, further used in the heterogeneous Fenton degradation of tetracycline. The materials were fully characterized by different techniques. The removal of TC by BC, G-BC and ZVI/G-BC was tested under different reaction conditions. The best synthesis conditions were achieved at a heating temperature of 700 °C, a graphite content of 20 %, a ball milling speed of 500 rpm, a ball milling time of 5 h, as well as a G-BC and ZVI mass ratio of 1:3. Graphite improves the conductivity and micropore area of the material, which enhances the removal of TC by ZVI/G-BC catalysts in Fenton-like reactions. TC was first oxidized to intermediate products and then further mineralized to CO2 and H2O. The best TC removal performance was obtained with a catalyst dosage of 1.1 g·L1, a hydrogen peroxide concentration of 140 mM and an initial pH value of 3. The reaction data fitted properly a pseudo first-order kinetic equation. TC removal as high as 91 % was achieved even in the 3rd round of reuse. This study reports a novel ZVI material with high conductivity and good TC removal performance.

Multifactor and multidimensional data quality analysis of judge scoring in diving competition.

In sports competitions, judge scoring data serve as an objective measure of an athlete's performance level. However, research has indicated the unreliability of objective measurements. Controversy often arises regarding the quality of judge scoring data, undermining fairness and justice in sports competitions. This paper proposes a method utilizing the Kendall covariance coefficient and the Kendall correlation coefficient for the thorough evaluation of judging data quality in diving events. The analysis is structured around four key elements: overall competition, individual divers, specific rounds, and distinct diving techniques. Each element is analyzed across three dimensions: the collective data quality from the judging panel, interjudge data quality comparisons, and the alignment of individual judges' scores with the final tallied scores. Two case studies serve to illustrate the application of this method. The Kendall covariance coefficient is employed to assess the data quality from the judges as a unified entity, whereas the Kendall correlation coefficient is utilized to evaluate the data quality from individual judges. Results show that the data quality of the judge group's scoring is high, while the data quality of the judge group's scoring for the 6th diver, the 5th round, Dive No. 5152B, Judge 5 and 6 in the Competition 1, and the 1st diver, the 3rd round, Dive No. 6245D, Judge 4 in the Competition 2 is inconsistent with the others. This approach uncovers disparities in data quality attributed to the judges' panel across each diver, each round, and the various diving maneuvers. However, the Kendall correlation coefficient may not be suitable for evaluating data quality when both the data differences and the sample size are small.

Construction and validation of checklist for referral to the hyperbaric oxygen therapy unit

The objective was to build and validate a checklist for referring hospitalized patients to the hyperbaric oxygen therapy unit. This is a methodological study with a quantitative approach carried out in three stages: 1) scoping review on the topic, including the taxonomies of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association and Nursing Interventions Classification; 2) construction of the instrument based on the characterization of the checklist items with the cross-mapping between the results of the scoping review and the titles of the diagnoses from the NANDA I taxonomy, choosing the NIC interventions; and 3) content and appearance validation process using the Delphi technique composed of a panel of judges. Items with a Content Validity Index ≥ 0.90 and checklist reliability based on Kappa agreement ≥ 0.80 were considered valid. After constructing and structuring the checklist, the Delphi stage was carried out with the responses of 10 judges, to validate the content and appearance. The checklist was categorized into 14 items. The 1st round evaluated the individual content of the items, the 2nd round evaluated the attributes of the instrument and the 3rd round the appearance and general evaluation. The level of agreement between the judges and the validation of content and appearance reached final values of 1.00. The checklist for referral to Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Units was considered an important support instrument and favors the communicative process between health teams.

Single-Trace Side-Channel Attacks on NTRU Implementation

Most of the currently used cryptosystems are not secure in the presence of cryptographically relevant quantum computers. As the research in quantum technologies proceeds, a need for quantum-safe cryptography is imminent. NTRU is a post-quantum public-key cryptosystem based on lattices and was a finalist in the 3rd round of the post-quantum standardization process organized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This paper aims to study the implementation security of the cryptosystem with respect to an attacker with access to power leakage. Such a threat model is relevant especially, but not only, for embedded devices. We studied a countermeasure implementation of the NTRU decryption algorithm from An et al. (Appl Sci https://doi.org/10.3390/app8112014, 2018) that claimed its security against power attacks. This paper revisits an attack presented in as reported by Rabas (In: Proceedings of the9th International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy,ICISSP 2023, Lisbon, 2023) that shows it is in fact vulnerable even in the case of just a single trace available to the enemy for extracting the key. We then describe a new profiling template attack on the implementation and show experimental results of the attack using the same datasets, resulting in a comparison of these two methods and further confirmation of the vulnerability of the algorithm even to generic profiling attacks. Several possible types of countermeasures are discussed.

Adolescent marriage a violation of sexual and reproductive health rights: Trend, spatial variation and covariate analysis from national family health survey

IntroductionTen-to-Nineteen-year adolescent period is a very sensitive time for both boys and girls. Especially adolescent girls suffer more due to early marriage and its consequences of unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortion, high risk for sexually transmitted disease etc. ObjectiveThis study tried to analyse trend and spatial variation of adolescent girls' marriage practice in India. Further, this study is also tried to identify major socio-economic factors responsible for adolescent girl's marriage. MethodsPresent study utilized different rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data. Trend analysis carried out with the help of 3rd, 4th and 5th round of NFHS data. Bivariate distribution and logistic regression are used for identifying determining factors for adolescent girls’ marriage. ResultsTrend analysis result reveals the declining trend of early adolescent girls' marriage in India. However, the data reveals early girl's marriage practice is still very high. This practice is more in the states of Tripura (31%) followed by West Bengal (28%). Place of residence, wealth status, education status and mass media exposure are the main determining factors in early marriage. ConclusionMost of the states in Eastern and North-Eastern states are having high prevalence of adolescent marriage. Thus, there is an urgent need to focus on these states along with addressing socio-economic disparities. Further, there is a need of effective interventions of girl specific programmes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Balika Samridhi yojana etc. working for empowerment and wellbeing of adolescent girls.

Changes in Technical Attempts According to Round Progression in No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu Sparring Assuming a Tournament

The purpose of this study was to conduct 3 rounds of 5-minute high-intensity sparring assuming an actual game to find out the degree of use and the number of attempts of the five techniques used in tournament No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu competition. The subjects of the study were 8 male high school students (17.0±1.6 years) at the blue belt level who had more than 2 years of Jiu-Jitsu training experience and participated in competitions, and were randomly assigned to participate in the experiment. The research method is divided into 5 categories: Takedown(TA), Guard pass(GA), Sweep(SW), Mount(MO) and Submission(SU) according to the rule book of the International Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Federation. The subjects were classified, and video was taken to identify the number of attempts of the five techniques used during three rounds of 5 minutes. If the intention of surrender (tap-out) came out during the round, both fighters were trained in advance to return to the original (standing) position and continue sparring until the end of the remaining time. After the experiment was finished, the number of attempts for each technique was manually measured through the video footage taken, and recorded by a measurer qualified to judge a jiu-jitsu competition to increase reliability. Based on the measured data, descriptive statistics (frequency analysis) were used, and the techniques used between each round and the number of attempts were examined. The techniques used and the number of attempts during the three 5-minute rounds are as follows. However, since the type of technique used between rounds, the irregularity of trials, and the number of trials are different, it is judged that comparing the significant difference between rounds by the number of times can cause statistical errors. Therefore, it is judged appropriate to present the contribution (%) by converting the use of techniques and the number of attempts according to the progress of the round into a percentage(%). The technique types and contributions(%) used between each round are as follows.
 First, In the contribution of technique type(%), guard pass showed the highest contribution(30%) in the 3 rounds total, and submission showed the second-highest contribution. Takedown was the third with 22%, Mount was the fourth with 15%, and Sweep was the lowest with 9%. Also, takedown in the 1st round, guard pass in the 2nd round, and contribution(%) in the submission technique in the 3rd round were the highest, and the change contribution(%) from the standing to the ground technique type was confirmed as the round progressed. Second, in the No-gi method, the takedown attempt of the stand technique type was dominant in the initial round. However, the attempts of ground technique type guard pass, submission, mount, and sweep gradually increased from 2nd to 3rd round. It would be unreasonable to infer the results of this study as the type and contribution of techniques used in the official No-gi Jiu-Jitsu tournament. However, based on the results of this study, it is judged that predicting the type and importance of techniques used in official tournament matches can be helpful in improving performance.

Influence of biological maturation on cardiac autonomic recovery in female volleyball players during & after repeated sprints training: An experimental trial

Previously, it was suggested that biological maturation (BM) could be linked to cardiac autonomic recovery (CAR) in the pediatric population. However, this influence hasn’t been confirmed yet. Our aim was to investigate the impact of BM on CAR in female volleyball players. Experimental study with a sample of 38 volleyball players, comprising 20 girls (age: [11.6 ​± ​2.1] years) and 18 women (age: [24.5 ​± ​5.5] years), we analyzed BM, comparing maturing subjects (girls) with mature subjects (women). Additionally, we assessed peak height velocity (PHV) in girls. We conducted a training session involving repeated sprints (3 rounds of 6 sprints interspersed by 5 ​min [min] of passive rest). Using short-range radio telemetry, we analyzed CAR during (at the end of the 1st and 2nd rounds) and after (following the 3rd round) the training session of repeated sprints by applying the 60-s to 300-s heart rate recovery index (HRR-Index). Girls exhibited superior CAR compared to women (round 2: 60-s, 120-s, 240-s, and 300-s, p ​< ​0.005). Subgroup analyses of BM indicated that individuals in the Late-PHV stage demonstrated superior CAR compared to those in the Early-PHV and During-PHV groups. (60-s to 300-s, η2p ​> ​0.4, p ​< ​0.05). Subjects in the During-PHV stage were superior to those in the Early-PHV stage (240-s á 300-s, η2p ​> ​0.4, p ​< ​0.05). We have concluded that biological maturation has a significant impact on cardiac autonomic recovery.

Pulmonary tuberculosis case notification and burden of drug resistance among children under 15 years of age in Ethiopia: sub-analysis from third-round drug resistance tuberculosis survey

IntroductionData on the burden of bacteriologically confirmed childhood Tuberculosis (PTB) and drug-resistant TB in Ethiopia is limited due to difficulties related to its diagnosis in this population. Therefore, this study aimed to assess bacteriologically confirmed childhood PTB Case Notification Rates (CNRs) and the burden of Drug Resistant-Tuberculosis among children in Ethiopia.MethodRetrospective secondary clinical and laboratory data were obtained from 3rd round national DR-TB survey which was conducted between August 2017 and January 2019. We used IBM SPSS 24 for sub-analysis of 3rd round Drug Resistant-Tuberculosis data. Descriptive statistics were used in computing the association between the sociodemographic characteristics and PTB CNRs, and the strength of the associations was determined using binary logistic regression with Odds ratios (OR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI).ResultOverall, 102 bacteriologically confirmed childhood PTB cases were identified with a median age of 12 (range 1–14) years. Of these, 54 (52.9%) were females and 81 (79.4%) lived in rural areas. HIV-TB co-infection cases were 5/102 (4.3%) and the majority (98%) of cases were newly diagnosed children. Nationally, the incidence of bacteriologically confirmed childhood PTB was calculated to be 5.1 per 100,000 children. The burden of Drug Resistant-Tuberculosis to at least one of the five first-line anti-TB drugs tested was five (6.5%) cases and one (1.3%) was found to be a Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis case. Drug-resistant tuberculosis was significantly associated with the age group 10–14 years (P = 0.002; [AOR] 29.76; [95% CI, 3.51-252.64]) and children living in urban areas (P = 0.027; [AOR] 5.76; 95% CI, 1.22–27.09).ConclusionBacteriologically confirmed childhood PTB cases increased as the age of the children increased. Most of the bacteriologically confirmed childhood PTB and the identified drug Resistant-Tuberculosis cases were new cases. Also, rural children were more affected by TB than their urban, counterparts Drug Resistant-Tuberculosis was higher in urban resident children.

Xanthium strumarium seed as a potential source of heterogeneous catalyst and non-edible oil for biodiesel production

A sustainable process has been developed for synthesis of biodiesel by utilizing seed shell ash and non-edible seed oil from Xanthium strumarium seeds. The catalyst prepared by open air burning (UC), calcinations at 550 °C (C550) and 700 °C (C700) was characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), field emission scaning electron microscope (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), field emission transmission electron microscope (FETEM), X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (XPS), thermogravimetric (TG) and brunauer-emmett-teller (BET) analysis. Elemental analysis by XPS and EDX displayed the presence of potassium (34 wt%) in high concentrations that can contribute effectively to the transesterification process. The derived catalyst provides a high biodiesel yield (98.3%) at optimum operating conditions viz. 6 wt% catalyst concentrations, 9:1 methanol to oil ratio at 60 °C within 70 min. FFA content reduced from 5.63 mg in the oil to 0.28 mg in the biodiesel due to presence of considerable amount of amphoteric SiO2 and acidic P2O5 in the catalyst. The catalyst prepared at 550 °C showed the highest pH value of 11.78. The Hammett indicator test provides higher basicity for C550 (0.513 mmol/g) than that of C700 and uncalcined catalyst. The reaction follows pseudo-first-order kinetics and the activation energy was found to be 37.413 kJ mol−1. The reusability study also showed satisfactory biodiesel yield (82.3%) at 3rd round of transesterification reaction. The prepared biodiesel was characterized by 1H and 13C NMR, GC-MS analysis and the fuel parameters are evaluated by the standard protocols.

Consensus on technical procedures for simulation-based training in thoracic surgery: an international needs assessment.

To identify and prioritize technical procedures for simulation-based training to be integrated into the thoracic surgical curriculum. A 3-round Delphi survey was conducted from February 2022 to June 2022 among 34 key opinion leaders in thoracic surgery from 14 countries worldwide. The 1st round was a brainstorming phase to identify technical procedures that a newly qualified thoracic surgeon should be able to perform. All the suggested procedures were categorized, qualitatively analysed and sent to the 2nd round. The second round investigated: the frequency of the identified procedure at each institution, the number of thoracic surgeons that should be able to perform these procedures, the degree of risk to the patient if the procedure is performed by a non-competent thoracic surgeon and the feasibility of simulation-based education. In the 3rd round, elimination and re-ranking of the procedures from the 2nd round were performed. Response rates in the 3 iterative rounds were 80% (28 out of 34), 89% (25 out of 28) and 100% (25 out of 25) in the 1st, 2nd and 3rd round, respectively. Seventeen technical procedures were included for simulation-based training in the final prioritized list. The top 5 procedures were Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) lobectomy, VATS segmentectomy, VATS mediastinal lymph node dissection, diagnostic flexible bronchoscopy and robotic-assisted thoracic surgery port placement, robotic-assisted thoracic surgery docking and undocking. The prioritized list of procedures represents a consensus of key thoracic surgeons worldwide. These procedures are suitable for simulation-based training and should be integrated in the thoracic surgical curriculum.

291: DEVELOPING DELPHI EXPERT CONSENSUS RULES FOR A DIGITAL TWIN MODEL OF THE NEURO CRITICAL CARE UNIT

Introduction: In the past 20 years, the concept of the digital twin has been utilized in other fields to track the operations of wind turbines, monitor the status of spacecraft, and even create a model of the Earth for climate research While artificial intelligence holds much promise for the neurocritical care unit, these models should be clearly based on an understanding of underlying physiological variables rather than be opaque “black box” models. Our group has previously created such a digital twin model to predict acute response to treatment of sepsis. This project expands on our previous work by developing a similar model for the critical care of acute ischemic stroke. Methods: A panel of 18 experts in the field of critical care reviewed the clinical practice and pathophysiological statements related to neurology critical care. The core group of investigators developed statements based on a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) describing pathophysiology surrounding acute neurological issues encountered in the practice of Neurocritical Care (NCC). A modified Delphi method (3 rounds) was used to gauge agreement on 20 statements (120 sub statements) using a 7-point Likert scale. Agreement was defined a-priori by >80% selection of a 6 (“agree”) or 7 (“strongly agree”). Results: Consensus was achieved on 58 (48.3%) expert statements after completion of 2 rounds. After completion of 3rd round, the level of consensus increased to 93 (77.5%) expert statements. Some statements garnered 100% consensus in the first round of DELPHI such as “Reperfusion of ischemic stroke can lead to improvement of stroke.” Other statements required revision to capture the nuances of clinical practice before gaining consensus. For example, when the severity of infection was incorporated into the statement “Infection can lead to low blood pressure.” consensus increased from 56% to 100%. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the feasibility of application of the DELPHI process to generate consensus among experts for use in development of a “digital twin” artificial intelligence model for use in the Neuro ICU. Compared to other models which rely on “black-box” associative artificial intelligence, our proposed causal AI model is based on a solid foundation of expert rules and casual mechanisms.

Ultra High-Speed Polynomial Multiplications for Lattice-Based Cryptography on FPGAs

Lattice-based cryptography (LBC) has emerged as the most viable substitutes to the classical cryptographic schemes as 5 out of 7 finalist schemes in the 3rd round of the NIST post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization process are lattice based in construction. This work explores novel architectural optimizations in the FPGA-based hardware implementation of polynomial multiplication, which is a bottleneck in every LBC construction. To target ultra-high throughput, both schoolbook polynomial multiplication (SPM) and number theoretic transform (NTT) are explored: a completely parallel architecture of an SPM is undertaken while for NTT, radix-2 and radix- <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^2$</tex-math></inline-formula> multi-path delay commutator (MDC) based pipelined architectures are adopted. Our proposed high-speed SPM (HSPM) structure on latest Xilinx UltraScale+ FPGA is 5× faster than the state-of-the-art LBC designs. Whereas, the proposed high-speed NTT (HNTT) structure (i.e., R <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^2$</tex-math></inline-formula> MDC) takes only 0.63 <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu$</tex-math></inline-formula> s for the encryption, hence achieving the highest throughput of 408 Mbps. Moreover, all of the proposed designs achieve highest design efficiencies (i.e., throughput per slice (TPS)) in comparison to available LBC designs.

Comparative characteristics of Crystals-Kyber and Skelya key encapsulation algorithms (DSTU 8961-2019)

In recent years, there has been a significant amount of research related to the development of quantum computers. If such a computer were to be built, it would be able to break existing public-key cryptosystems that are currently used for many purposes. This will seriously affect the privacy and integrity of digital communications, etc. That is why special attention is currently being paid to post-quantum cryptography, the main goal of which is the development of cryptographic systems that are protected from both quantum and classical attacks, and will also be able to interact with existing communication protocols and networks. In view of the significant importance of the practical application of directional encryption algorithms, at the international and state level, special attention was paid to the implementation of the proposed requirements for key encapsulation protocols. Key-establishment algorithms (KEA) form a common secret – the key for a symmetric encryption algorithm. The paper considers two KEA algorithms that use algebraic lattices: one of the finalists of the 3rd round Crystals-Kyber and the Skelya algorithm (DSTU 8961-2019). The Kyber algorithm first performs asymmetric encryption of a 32-byte message, and then generates a shared secret. The Skelya algorithm performs the same actions, but for asymmetric encryption, it uses messages of any length that do not exceed the maximum possible. That is why the last algorithm can be used not only as a KEA algorithm, but also as an asymmetric encryption algorithm. According to the NIST Security level, the Kyber algorithm provides cryptographic 1, 3, and 5 security levels, and the Rock algorithm provides cryptographic 3, 5, and 7 security levels. The cryptographic stability that is ensured for both algorithms is determined by a set of parameters. Thus, the purpose of this work is to review the details of the implementation of each of the mentioned algorithms, to compare the speed of the key generation, encapsulation and decapsulation algorithms for the Kyber and Skelya algorithms in terms of key data lengths, and the encapsulation result and computational complexity of both algorithms.

Revisiting Cryptanalysis on ChaCha From Crypto 2020 and Eurocrypt 2021

ChaCha has been one of the most prominent ARX designs of the last few years because of its use in several systems. The cryptanalysis of ChaCha involves a differential attack that exploits the idea of Probabilistic Neutral Bits (PNBs). For a long period, the single-bit distinguisher in this differential attack was found up to 3rd round. At Crypto 2020, Beierle et al. introduced for the first time the single bit distinguishers for 3.5th round, which contributed significantly to regaining the flow of the research work in this direction. This discovery became the primary factor behind the huge improvement in the key recovery attack complexity in that work. This was followed by another work at Eurocrypt 2021, where a single bit distinguisher at 3.5th round helped to produce a 7th round distinguisher of ChaCha and a further improvement in the key recovery. In this paper, first, we provide the theoretical framework for the distinguisher given by Beierle et al. We mathematically derive the observed differential correlation for the particular position where the output difference is observed at 3.5th round. Also, Beierle et al. mentioned the issue of the availability of proper IVs to produce such distinguishers, and pointed out that not all keys have such IVs available. Here we provide a theoretical insight of this issue. Next, we revisit the work of Coutinho <italic xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">et al.</i> (Eurocrypt 2021). Using Differential-Linear attacks against ChaCha, they claimed the distinguisher and the key recovery with complexities 2 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">218</sup> and <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2^{228.51}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> respectively. We show that the differential correlation for the 3.5th round is much smaller than the claim of Coutinho et al. This makes the attack complexities much higher than their claim.

Factors Affecting Borrowers’ Intention in Peer-To-Peer Lending Platform in Mongolia

The current paper aims to examine factors that influence borrowers’ intention to borrow from Peer-to-Peer lending platform in Mongolia. This topic has been attracting researchers’ interest especially since 2008 when the 3rd round of fintech development starts over the developed countries. The most of those studies focus on investigating the factors that explain borrowers’ intention to borrow, and a few of them research this perspective from the investors’ side. It is hardly to find the study that explain intentions of parties to participate in a P2P lending platform in Mongolia. Our research tries to fill this gap by studying factors influencing borrowers’ intention in Mongolian fintech market. We have used the TAM model as a theoretical framework and have collected survey questionnaires from investors and borrowers from all fintech companies in Mongolia. The result shows that borrowers’ intention is mostly driven by initial trust and perceived risk. Other variables, perceived ease of use and perceived security, have no impact on borrowers’ decisions to participate in P2P platform.

Factors Affecting Borrowers’ Intention in Peer-To-Peer Lending Platform in Mongolia

The current paper aims to examine factors that influence borrowers’ intention to borrow from Peer-to-Peer lending platform in Mongolia. This topic has been attracting researchers’ interest especially since 2008 when the 3rd round of fintech development starts over the developed countries. The most of those studies focus on investigating the factors that explain borrowers’ intention to borrow, and a few of them research this perspective from the investors’ side. It is hardly to find the study that explain intentions of parties to participate in a P2P lending platform in Mongolia. Our research tries to fill this gap by studying factors influencing borrowers’ intention in Mongolian fintech market. We have used the TAM model as a theoretical framework and have collected survey questionnaires from investors and borrowers from all fintech companies in Mongolia. The result shows that borrowers’ intention is mostly driven by initial trust and perceived risk. Other variables, perceived ease of use and perceived security, have no impact on borrowers’ decisions to participate in P2P platform.

P-604 Improving IVF treatment outcomes via intraovarian injection of autologous platelet rich plasma: a prospective clinical trial

Abstract Study question Does the intraovarian injection of autologous platelet rich plasma (A-PRP) improve the outcomes of subsequent in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments. Summary answer Intraovarian injection of A-PRP improves embryological performance and pregnancy outcomes in subsequent IVF treatments, but the beneficial effects may be lost with time. What is known already A-PRP has been widely used in other medical fields to optimise treatment outcomes. In IVF, emerging evidence has shown its potential benefit in promoting endometrial quality via release of a range of growth factors and cytokines. More recently it has been proposed that intraovarian injection of A-PRP may have the potential to “activate” some resting follicles in a selected group of patients. In this registered clinical trial, we aimed to evaluate embryology performance and pregnancy outcomes following ovarian injection of A-PRP in patients with poor ovarian function or premature ovarian failure. Study design, size, duration This is a registered (ID= ACTRN126190012061128) prospective clinical trial with recruitment commencing in November 2019. All participating women undergoing A-PRP treatment due to poor ovarian function or premature ovarian failure were reviewed for eligibility for this study. Inclusion criteria were restricted to women who had completed at least one IVF cycle before and after A-PRP injection as of January 2022. Participants/materials, setting, methods All A-PRP treatments were prepared using a commercial kit (Alocuro) approved by the Australian Therapeutic Goods Agency. Up to 3 subsequent IVF cycles post A-PRP injection were included for analysis. Embryological parameters included numbers of follicles, oocytes and embryos yielded per cycle. Paired comparisons were performed between cycles of the same patients before and after A-PRP injection. Cumulative ongoing pregnancy outcomes were also evaluated up to 3 IVF cycles post A-PRP injection. Main results and the role of chance 36 women were included in the analysis, average age 41.14±3.56 years with 4.61±2.91 unsuccessful previous IVF attempts at the time of A-PRP injection. Their serum FSH was reduced from 13.04±8.97 mIU/mL before A-PRP injection to 11.06±.56 mIU/mL post injection. In reference to the IVF cycle immediately before A-PRP injection, an improving trend in the embryology parameters was identified in the subsequent 1st, 2nd, and 3rd IVF cycles; as demonstrated in the numbers of follicles (2.39±1.76, 2.86±2.06, 2.52±1.65 and 2.46±1.66), oocytes (1.86±1.48, 2.56±2.08, 2.43±1.90 and 2.08±1.93) and embryos (1.30±1.03, 1.45±1.39, 1.80±1.67 and 1.20±1.48). Although the comparisons above did not reach statistical significance, the rise in oocyte numbers in the 1st IVF cycle was close to statistical significance (P = 0.08). It should also be noted that the highest improvement in follicle and oocyte numbers was seen in the 1st IVF cycle after A-PRP injection, while embryo number peaked at the 2nd IVF cycle. Three out of 36 women (P = 0.08) achieved ongoing pregnancies after the 1st round IVF cycles with inclusion of associated frozen embryo transfers as applicable. After the 2nd round, 4 out of the 36 women (P = 0.04) achieved ongoing pregnancy but no additional pregnancies from the 3rd round. Limitations, reasons for caution Comparisons performed in this study were not randomised, with the patients themselves used as their own controls. Therefore cycle associated variations may not be eliminated. Sample size was relatively small, and findings were restricted to a selected patient group. Wider implications of the findings Ovarian injection of A-PRP seems to improve both embryology performance and cumulative pregnancy outcomes. However the beneficial effect post injection seems to fade with time. A further randomised study is warranted to specify the timeframe of this diminishing effect in order to better guide clinical practice. Trial registration number ACTRN126190012061128

P1412: UNCOUPLING INK4 PROTEINS FROM CDK4/CDK6 IN HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELLS

Background: Cell-cycle progression is governed by regulatory proteins including cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs), cyclins and CDK inhibitors. The INK4 family comprises p16INK4a, p15INK4b, p18INK4c and p19INK4d which are CDK4/6 specific inhibitors. Different tumor types display deletion, mutation, or promoter hypermethylation of the INK4 proteins resulting in enhanced CDK4/6 activity. The INK4a-ARF-INK4b locus encodes for p16INK4a and p15INK4b and for the tumor suppressor protein p14ARF (p19ARF in the mouse) and is one of the most frequently mutated or epigenetically silenced site in human malignancies. CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C double knock-in mice, where R24C and R31C mutations make CDK4/6 fully insensitive to INK4 mediated inhibition, show a shortened survival caused by the onset of a variety of tumors including hematopoietic malignancies. This shows the vital importance of a tight controlled inhibition of CDK4/6 activity in hematopoiesis. Aims: We here explore the consequences of INK4 inhibitory loss on CDK4/6 on the hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) compartment using CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C mice. We propose that INK factors regulate important functions in HSCs by direct binding to CDK4/6. This knowledge is required to understand how to best employ CDK inhibitors in therapeutic settings. Methods: We analyzed the composition of the hematopoietic compartment of CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C double knock-in mice under homeostatic conditions. Long-term self-renewal capacity of CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C bone marrow (BM) cells was assessed by serial bone marrow transplantation (BMT). RNAseq was used to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying the improved self-renewal of CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C HSCs. Using the stem/progenitor cell line HPCLSK enabled us to perform ChIP qPCR to understand the involvement of CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C for Id1 transcriptional regulation. Results: Upon inhibition of CDK4/6 binding to INK4 proteins, HSC numbers in the BM of CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C mice were reduced. Despite the cell number reduction, CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C HSCs displayed an enhanced self-renewal potential during serial BMT. Transcriptome analysis pointed to the involvement of Id1 in enhanced self-renewal. We indeed found Id1 down-regulated in CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C HSCs at the 3rd round of BMT. CDK6 ChIP experiments confirmed that INK4 binding alters binding of CDK6 to the Id1 promoter, which is significantly reduced in CDK6R31C cells. Summary/Conclusion: Despite reduced qHSCs/MPP1 content under homeostatic conditions, CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C HSCs possess an enhanced self-renewal potential elucidated in serial BMT. We propose that a reduced Id1 expression in qHSCs/MPP1 CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C cells explains this phenotype and underlines improved repopulation ability of CDK4R24C/CDK6R31C BM cells. Our data indicate that INK4 binding to CDK6 dictates its function in regulating transcription.