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In Europe, most HTLV-1-infected individuals originate from highly endemic regions such as West Indies, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America. The only genuine endemic region for HTLV-1 in Europe is Romania where ATL series have been reported among Romanian patients. Our objective is to better understand the origin of this endemic focus based on a study of the genetic diversity of HTLV-1 in Romanians. DNA was obtained from PBMCs/buffy coats of 11 unrelated HTLV-1-infected individuals of Romanian origin. They include 9 ATL cases and 2 asymptomatic carriers. LTR sequences were obtained for all specimens. Complete genomic HTLV-1 sequences were obtained using four PCR series on 10 specimens. Phylogenetic trees were generated from multiple alignments using HTLV-1 prototypic sequences and the new generated sequences. Most of the complete LTR sequences (756-bp) showed low nucleotide diversity, ranging from 0% to 0.8% difference, and were closely related (less than 0.8% divergence) to the only previously characterized Romanian strain, RKI2. One strain, ROU7, diverged slightly (1.5% on average) from the others. Phylogenetic analyses both on partial LTR and the complete genome demonstrate that the 11 sequences belong to the HTLV-1a cosmopolitan genotype and 10 of them belong to the previously denominated a-TC Mozambique–Southern Africa A subgroup. In this study, we demonstrated that the HTLV-1 present in Romania most probably originated in Southern Africa. As most Romanian HTLV-1 strains are very closely related, we can assume that HTLV-1 has been introduced into the Romanian population recently. Further studies are ongoing to decipher the routes of arrival and dissemination of these HTLV-1 strains, and to date the emergence of this endemic focus in Central Europe. Author summary: In Europe, HTLV-1 infections mainly originate in regions such as the West Indies, sub-Saharan Africa and South America. However, Romania has been identified as a true endemic area, due to reported cases of ATL among Romanian patients. To understand this situation, we analyzed the genetic diversity of HTLV-1 in Romanians and collected DNA from 11 infected individuals, most of them ATL cases. The results showed a close genetic relationship between most of the sequences, closely matching the previously identified Romanian RKI2 strain. However, one strain, ROU7, showed a slight divergence. Phylogenetic analysis positioned these sequences in the cosmopolitan HTLV-1a genotype, belonging mainly to the a-TC Mozambique-Southern Africa subgroup. This suggests a probable origin of HTLV-1 in Romania from South Africa, perhaps recently introduced. Further studies aim to elucidate the transmission routes and emergence of this HTLV-1 endemicity in Central Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the case of a 62-year old patient who presented a rare association of Mycosis fungoides, a subtype of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and sensorimotor axonal neuropathy. Usually, leptomeningeal dissemination and central nervous system involvement are much more frequently encountered in cases of Mycosis fungoides with extracutaneous spread and only few case reports describe the involvement of peripheral nerves. The challenge in our case was to correlate a possible etiopathogenic factor with the polyneuropathy. Although, it was most probably a paraneoplastic manifestation, the associated neuropathy could have had other possible pathogenic mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The username/password paradigm is a well-known authentication mechanism. Probably the most common version in use is the password authentication via an HTML form. The user has to type his/her password directly into a web page from the site to which he/she wishes to authenticate himself/herself. The problem with using this approach is that it relies on the user to determine when it is safe to enter his/her password. If the user authenticates himself/herself to a phishing website by disclosing his/her password, the password is stolen even though the session is fully encrypted. In other words in traditional password authentication, passwords are used only for client-side authentication. Password- authenticated key exchange (PAKE) on the other hand, offers password-based mutual authentication. This mutual authentication is different because its client-side authentication cannot be separated from its server-side authentication part. This paper shows that PAKE can represent a practical alternative approach to protect passwords without relying on a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI). Therefore, the goal of this work was to study how to integrate PAKE into web applications, not to develop a standalone PAKE implementation. We analyzed the PAKE client-side implementation within a web browser and tested it with a server-side implementation on a web server. The developed extension is a Mozilla Firefox web browser extension. The implementation is just a proof of concept that shows that a password authenticated key exchange can be done over HTTP and can be used against phishing attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lot of the defects that are present in a program are not visible to the compiler. Static code analysis is a way to find bugs and reduce the defects in a software application. This paper gives you an overview on static code analysis, well-known tools and the benefits of this practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Atherosclerotic occlusion of the brachiocephalic artery is a very rare condition resulting in a distinctive pattern of hemodynamic disturbances in the cerebral circulation described as subclavian double steal syndrome. Case report. We present the case of a 66-year-old male patient with atherosclerotic occlusion of the brachiocephalic artery with double steal syndrome presenting with cognitive impairment and dizziness. The diagnosis was based on duplex ultrasound examination and was confi rmed with angiography. The patient was referred for revascularisation surgery, with extra-anatomical bypass. The outcome was favourable regarding the vertebrobasilar symptomatology, but mild cognitive impairment persisted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]