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The Areny Formation is an Upper Cretaceous sandstone outcropping in the South Pre-Pyrenean area. It is composed of well-sorted quartz sand and gravel, cemented by calcite. It outcrops at a wide range of altitudes (400 to 1700 m). Soils developed on this formation in the Tremp basin (NE Iberian Peninsula) have xeric/ustic and mesic soil climate regimes. They display several soil characteristics corresponding to advanced stages of pedogenesis such as decarbonation, clay formation, and illuviation and rubefaction, ranging from Cambisols and Luvisols to Lixisols. These pedofeatures are absent in adjacent soil units of similar age, developed on finer materials, such as marls and calcareous conglomerates, where the dominant soil formation processes are carbonate translocation and weak cementation. These neighbouring soils are mainly Calcisols, some of them with a petrocalcic horizon. Six profiles formed on the Areny sandstone were selected for an in-depth study of their soil formation processes. A multi-scale approach, from geomorphological to micromorphological analyses, was employed. The soils have a neutral to slightly acidic reaction in the Bt horizons, with loamy sand textures and a clay content of 10 % that appears completely as illuviated clay in the thin section; reddish hues (2.5YR) and high chromas, the absence of calcite in the upper horizons or in the whole profile, and the presence of iron pans in some locations. Amorphous iron is found in low amounts compared to Fe in silicates and as finely crystalline forms. The latter increases with depth in the decarbonated profiles. The high weathering degree of the oldest profiles is shown by kaolinite being the dominant clay, which was probably inherited from the pre-Quaternary period. The clay fraction also contains remarkable amounts of mixed layers chlorite/smectite, chlorite/vermiculite or illite/smectite, which may be considered products of present-day pedogenesis. The geomorphological analyses allowed us to determine the ages of the surface formations of four of the profiles (50 to more than 350 ky), which indicated much faster soil formation rates than those reported in similar Mediterranean environments. Thus, the proposed stages of soil evolution in these sediments imply a fast decarbonation, followed by clay formation, and illuviation. These processes have strong implications in establishing the soil-landscape relationships in the area., This article is part of a book edited at the occasion of the Geoarchaeological meeting of Bruges: Soils as records of Past and Present: the geoarchaeological approach. Focus on: is there time for fieldwork today? - Bruges (Belgium), 6 and 7.11.2019. Editors Judit Deák, Carole Ampe and Jari Hinsch Mikkelsen Technical editor Mariebelle Deceuninck English language reviewer Caroline Landsheere Graphic design Frederick Moyaert Printing and binding Die Keure, Bruges

The incidence of cytotoxic antibodies in relation to histories of abortions was analyzed in sera from 474 nulliparous pregnant women. In patients with previous spontaneous abortions, there is a higher incidence of positive sera than in primigravidae. Furthermore, patients with two or more prior abortions show a greater incidence of cytotoxic activity in their sera than women who have had only one abortion.

We performed an individual patient meta-analysis to determine whether aspirin has a significant protective effect on the risk of first thrombosis among patients with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL). Five international cohort studies with available individual patient-level data, reporting on primary prophylaxis with continuous treatment with low-dose aspirin in patients with aPL were included. The main outcome was the occurrence of a first thrombotic in patients with aPL treated with low-dose aspirin compared to those not treated with low-dose aspirin. Pooled Hazard Ratios (HRs) and 95%CIs were calculated using frailty models. We pooled data from 497 subjects and 79 first thrombotic events (3469 patient-years of follow-up). After adjustment on cardiovascular risk factors, aPL profiles, and treatment with hydroxychloroquine, the HR for the risk of a first thrombosis of any type in aPL carriers treated with low-dose aspirin versus those not treated with aspirin was 0.43 (95%CI 0.25-0.75). Subgroup analysis showed a protective effect of aspirin against arterial (HR: 0.43 [95%CI: 0.20-0.93]) but not venous (HR: 0.49 [95%CI: 0.22-1.11]) thrombosis. Subgroup analysis according to underlying disease revealed a protective effect of aspirin against arterial thrombosis for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (HR: 0.43 [95%CI: 0.20-0.94]) and asymptomatic aPL carriers (HR: 0.43 [95%CI 0.20-0.93]). We found no independent protective effect of hydroxychloroquine. This individual patient data meta-analysis shows that the risk of first thrombotic event as well of first arterial thrombotic event is significantly decreased among SLE patients and asymptomatic aPL individuals treated by low-dose aspirin. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

We performed a meta-analysis to determine whether aspirin has a significant protective effect on risk of first thrombosis among patients with antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL+). Observational and interventional studies identified from the Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were selected if they assessed the incidence of first thrombosis in aPL+ patients treated with aspirin versus those without. Pooled effect estimates were obtained using a random-effects model. Of 1211 citation retrieved, 11 primary studies (10 observational and 1 interventional) met inclusion criteria, including a total of 1208 patients and 139 thrombotic events. The pooled odds ratio (OR) for the risk of first thrombosis in patients treated with aspirin (n=601) was 0.50 (95%CI: 0.27 to 0.93) compared to those without aspirin (n=607), with significant heterogeneity across studies (I2=46%, p=0.05). Subgroup analysis showed a protective effect of aspirin against arterial (OR: 0.48 [95%CI: 0.28-0.82]) but not venous (OR: 0.58 [95% CI: 0.32-1.06]) thrombosis, as well as in retrospective (OR: 0.23 [0.13-0.42]) but not prospective studies (OR: 0.91 [0.52-1.59]). Subgroup analysis according to underlying disease revealed a significant protective effect of aspirin for asymptomatic aPL+ individuals (OR: 0.50 [0.25-0.99]), for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (OR: 0.55 [0.31-0.98]) and obstetrical antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) (OR: 0.25 [0.10-0.62]). This meta-analysis shows that the risk of first thrombotic event is significantly decreased by low dose aspirin among asymptomatic aPL individuals, patients with SLE or obstetrical APS. Importantly, no significant risk reduction was observed when considering only prospective studies or those with the best methodological quality. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

(1997). The 'pill scare ll' two years later. The European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care: Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 149-159.

Atmel CryptoMemory devices offer non-volatile memory with access control and authenticated encryption. They are used in commercial and military applications e.g. to prevent counterfeiting, to store secrets such as biometric data and cryptographic keys, and in electronic payment systems. Atmel advertises the devices as "secure against all the most sophisticated attacks, [...] including physical attacks". We developed a successful power analysis attack on the authentication step of CryptoMemory devices. Despite the physical security claims by Atmel we found that the devices are not protected against power analysis attacks, except for counters that limit the number of (failed) authentication attempts, and thus power traces, to at most three. We examined the handling of these counters and discovered a flaw that allows us to bypass them, and to obtain power traces from an unlimited number of failed authentication attempts. Our attacks need as few as 100 power traces to recover the secret 64-bit authentication keys. From measurements to full key extraction, the attacks can be carried out in less than 20 minutes on a standard laptop. Once the keys are known, an adversary can read protected contents, clone devices, and manipulate the memory at will, e.g. to set the balance of an electronic wallet. To our knowledge, this is the first power analysis attack on Atmel CryptoMemory products reported in the literature. © 2012 Springer-Verlag. ispartof: pages:19-34 ispartof: Lecture Notes in Computer Science vol:7178 pages:19-34 ispartof: CT-RSA 2012 location:CA, San Francisco date:27 Feb - 2 Mar 2012 status: published