It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, October 14, 2023
Pfizer cuts earnings outlook on lower COVID-19 drug sales
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain
The US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer sharply scaled back its earnings outlook for the year, blaming lower-than-expected sales of two drugs used to treat COVID-19, the company said Friday.
It now "anticipates full-year 2023 revenues to be in the range of $58.0 to $61.0 billion, versus its previous guidance range of $67.0 to $70.0 billion," Pfizer announced in a statement.
Earnings per share—the benchmark for the markets—should come in at between 1.45 and 1.65 dollars, compared with 3.25 to 3.45 dollars previously anticipated.
The cut to Pfizer's guidance was "solely due to its COVID products," the company said.
"Full-year 2023 revenues for Paxlovid and Comirnaty are expected to be approximately $12.5 billion, a decline of $9.0 billion versus original expectations," it added.
The sharp revision to expected sales of Paxlovid, an oral antiviral drug, and the COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty sent Pfizer's stock tumbling.
The company's shares were more than three percent lower in after hours trading at 5:30pm local time in New York (2130 GMT).
After a late summer surge, COVID-19 rates have since come down sharply.
Test positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths due to the virus are all down over the last week, according to CDC data.
In the statement, Pfizer's chief executive, Albert Bourla, insisted that the company's non-COVID product portfolio is still on track for robust growth this year.
"Pfizer's non-COVID product portfolio remains strong, and we continue to expect these products to achieve year-over-year operational revenue growth in the range of 6% to 8% in 2023," he said.
Researchers from King's College London used real-world data of fatal opioid overdoses where a bystander was present to show that commercial-off-the-shelf drones could have reached 78% of cases within seven minutes—the benchmark time for the arrival of emergency services for Category 1 calls in England—a huge increase on the 14% reached by ambulances.
The researchers also found that by increasing the speeds of the drones and designing specialist cargo cradles, an estimated 98% of overdoses could be reached within seven minutes. The study, "An evaluation of naloxone transit for opioid overdose using drones: A case study using real-world coroner data" is published today (Oct. 13) in Addiction.
Naloxone is a life-saving drug which reverses or blocks the effect of opioids and rapidly restores normal breathing. "Take-home" naloxone kits are increasingly available from community pharmacies and drug treatment services, but a supply is not always readily accessible. Paramedics routinely carry naloxone and aim to attend emergencies in seven minutes, however this can be impacted by factors such as ambulance waiting times or the location of a patient, such as a music festival.
The modeling suggests the naloxone kit would be delivered to the site of the overdose, and the bystander would administer the medicine by nasal spray. Paramedics would attend the scene as usual and deliver the patient to urgent care.
"When a person overdoses and stops breathing, every second counts. Naloxone is very effective when given at the first signs of overdose and is easy to use. This study shows that drones can get naloxone to the site of an opioid overdose more quickly than paramedics in an ambulance. This could make a huge difference to people's survival," says lead author Dr. Caroline Copeland, from the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
She added, "Bystanders leaving the scene of overdoses occurs due to fear of prosecution as illegal drugs are often present at the scene. If naloxone can reach those who need it before paramedics and law enforcement, bystanders may be encouraged to help before leaving."
Dr. Paul Royall, from the School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, first author and co-founder of Drone Mat Lab said, "Drones have the potential to revolutionize medicine delivery. A robust drone network can deliver naloxone kits efficiently. The drones under evaluation have collision detection technology so they don't fly into buildings or through air space, and are deployed using a standalone drone station."
More information: Paul G. Royall et al, An evaluation of naloxone transit for opioid overdose using drones: A case study using real‐world coroner data, Addiction (2023). DOI: 10.1111/add.16361
Worries that surgery patients would have a tougher recovery if their doctors had to abide by a five-day limit on opioid pain medication prescriptions didn't play out as expected, a new study finds.
Instead, patient-reported pain levels and satisfaction didn't change at all for Michigan adults who had their appendix or gallbladder removed, a hernia repaired, a hysterectomy or other common operations after the state's largest insurer put the limit in place, the study shows.
At the same time, the amount of opioid pain medication patients covered by that insurer received dropped immediately after the limit went into effect. On average, patients having these operations received about three fewer opioid-containing pills.
The study, which merges two statewide databases on patients covered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM), is the first large study to evaluate whether opioid prescribing limits change patient experience after surgery.
The study has been published in JAMA Health Forum by a team from Michigan Medicine, the University of Michigan's academic medical center.
Measuring the impact of limits from patients' perspectives
The BCBSM limit of five days' supply, which went into effect in early 2018, is even stricter than the seven-days' supply limit put in place a few months later by the state of Michigan. Other major insurers and states have also implemented limits, most of which allow are seven-day limits.
Limits are designed to reduce the risk of long-term opioid use and opioid use disorder, as well as to reduce the risk of accidental overdose and the risk of unauthorized use of leftover pills.
"Opioid prescribing limits are now everywhere, so understanding their effects is crucial," said Kao-Ping Chua, M.D., Ph.D., the study's lead author. "We know these limits can reduce opioid prescribing, but it hasn't been clear until now whether they can do so without worsening patient experience."
He noted that even the 15% of patients who had been taking opioids for other reasons before having their operations didn't show an increase in pain or a decrease in satisfaction after the limit was put in place, even though opioid prescribing for these patients decreased. That decrease was actually contrary to the intent of the limit, which was only designed to reduce prescribing to patients who hadn't taken opioids recently.
Chua and several of his co-authors belong to the U-M Opioid Research Institute and Institute for Health Care Policy and Innovation. In addition to his work on opioids, Chua is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the U-M Medical School and a member of the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center at U-M.
For the new study, Chua and colleagues used data from the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative, which collects data on patients having common operations at 70 Michigan hospitals. MSQC surveys patients about their pain, level of satisfaction and level of regret after their operations.
In all, they were able to look at opioid prescribing and patient experience data from 1,323 BCBSM patients who had common operations in the 13 months before the five-day limit went into effect, and 4,722 patients who had operations in the 20 months after the limit went into effect.
About 86% of both groups were non-Hispanic white, patients' average age was just under 49, and just under a quarter of both groups had their operations on an emergency or urgent basis. Just under half were admitted to the hospital for at least one night.
About 27% of both groups had their gallbladders taken out laparoscopically, and a similar percentage had minor hernia repairs. About 10% had an appendectomy done laparoscopically, and a similar percentage had laparoscopic hysterectomies. The rest had more invasive procedures, like open hysterectomies major hernia repairs, or colon removal.
The percentage of prescribers who prescribed opioids to their patients having these operations did not change, but the percentage of patients who filled a prescription for an opioid did, possibly because pharmacists rejected prescriptions that weren't compliant with the BCBSM limit, Chua speculates.
Jennifer Waljee, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., senior author of the study, notes that the MSQC database doesn't include all types of procedures, such as knee replacements and spine surgery, which typically require larger postoperative opioid prescriptions because of their associated pain.
She indicated that it's important to understand the impact of opioid prescribing limits on the experiences of such patients, because limits have the most potential to worsen pain for these individuals.
"Opioid prescribing limits may not worsen patient experience for common, less-invasive procedures like those we studied, because opioid prescriptions for most of these procedures were already under the maximum allowed by limits. But this may not be the case for painful operations where opioid prescribing was suddenly cut from an eight- to 10-day supply to a five-day supply," said Waljee, an associate professor of surgery at the Medical School and director of the U-M Center for Health care Outcomes & Policy.
She added, "The message of this study is not that we can simply go to five days' supply across the board for operations. We need to understand the effects of these limits across a broad range of procedures and patients given how much pain needs vary in order to right size prescribing to patient need without resulting in additional harms."
More information: Changes in Surgical Opioid Prescribing and Patient-Reported Outcomes After Implementation of an Insurer Opioid Prescribing Limit, JAMA Health Forum (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.3541
Monkey survives for two years with genetically engineered pig kidney
by Bob Yirka , Medical Xpress
a, The porcine donor kidney, 3KO.7TG.RI, was engineered to eliminate three glycan antigens (3KO), overexpress seven human transgenes (PL15S) and inactivate PERV elements (RI) through three rounds of editing and cloning. The donor kidney, 3KO.7TG, carries 3KO and PL15S, without RI. KI, knock in; RMCE, recombinase-mediated cassette exchange. b, Reads from Nanopore long-read whole-genome sequencing of the 3KO.7TG.RI donor, A9161, were aligned to a custom chromosome carrying PL15S inserted at the AAVS1 genomic safe harbor site (top). Reads from Nanopore direct RNA-seq of A9161 kidney mRNA were aligned to the custom chromosome (bottom). All three transcription units were transcribed. Credit: Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06594-4
A large team of medical researchers affiliated with multiple institutions in the U.S. reports that genetically altering the genome of pigs can reduce the chance of rejection of their organs when transplanted into a primate.
In their study, published in the journal Nature, the group altered the genomes of several miniature pigs and transplanted their kidneys into cynomolgus monkeys to see if they could reduce the chances of rejection. Muhammad Mohiuddin with the University of Maryland School of Medicine, has published a News & Views piece in the same journal issue outlining the work done by the team on this new effort.
One of the primary means for treating people with organ failure is transplantation of an organ from a human donor. Unfortunately, the demand for such organs far outstrips the supply. So scientists have been looking for alternatives, such as growing new organs using stem cells, creating new organs using nonbiological materials, or using animal organs.
The latter option has shown promise but organ rejection, in which the immune system of the recipient attacks the organ, is still an issue. In this new effort, the research team tested a new approach: Altering the genome of the donating animal so that its organs will be less likely to be rejected.
CRISPR Kidney Supported Life in the NHP for 758 Days Legend: Working from the hostile NHP environment, CRISPR-edited porcine kidney survived and supported life for 758 days. Green: CD31+ endothelial cells; fuchsia, human CD46; C4d, red; blue, nucleus. Credit: Violette Paragas, eGenesis.
In their work, the researchers edited 69 of the pig's genes. Three were involved in producing rejection-related molecules and 59 were related to retroviral DNA that became embedded in the pig genome many generations ago. The final seven involved adding human genes that are known to promote healthy organ growth, such as by preventing improper blood clotting.
The research team allowed the pigs to grow to maturity, then harvested kidneys from 15 of them, which were placed into cynomolgus macaques—each of the monkeys also received immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection. Other monkeys that did not receive edited kidneys lived for less than two months. Of the monkeys that received the kidneys from the genetically altered pigs, nine lived longer than two months; five of those lived for over a year, and one survived for two years. Testing showed that the organs performed just as well as native organs.
The researchers suggest that they are on the right track, but more testing is required. But the team is confident that their approach will one day lead to a method for safely transplanting animal organs into humans.
More information: Ranjith P. Anand et al, Design and testing of a humanized porcine donor for xenotransplantation, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06594-4
Muhammad M. Mohiuddin, Pig-to-primate organ transplants require genetic modifications of donor, Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/d41586-023-02817-w
CDC study on depression and mortality finds wealth, smoking, and exercise reduce risk of death
by Justin Jackson , Medical Xpress
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers in Atlanta have examined the association between depressive symptoms and mortality in a large, diverse, nationally representative sample of US adults.
In a paper, "Depressive Symptoms and Mortality Among US Adults," published in JAMA Network Open, the CDC team found a higher risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and ischemic heart disease mortality among adults with moderate to severe depressive symptoms compared to those without depressive symptoms.
The study utilized data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 2005 to 2018, which included 23,694 participants aged 20 and older (mean age 44.7). Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), a validated screening instrument for measuring depressive symptoms.
The cohort's characteristics included education, marital status, poverty-to-income ratio, health insurance, family history of cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, antidepressant use and alcohol consumption. The NHANES dataset was cross-referenced with the National Death Index through 2019 to track mortality outcomes.
Mild depressive symptoms were found in 14.9% of participants, while moderate to severe depressive symptoms were seen in 7.2%.
For all-cause mortality, the adjusted base model found mild depressive symptoms were associated with a hazard ratio of 1.42 compared to those with no depressive symptoms, while moderate to severe depressive symptoms had a hazard ratio of 1.78.
For cardiovascular disease mortality, the overall hazard ratios were 1.49 for mild depressive symptoms and 1.79 for moderate to severe depressive symptoms. For ischemic heart disease mortality, mild depressive symptoms showed no impact, while moderate to severe depressive symptoms had a hazard ratio of 2.21. Both were strongly correlated with poverty levels.
Lifestyle factors like smoking, physical activity, and sleep health were identified as important mediators of the association between depressive symptoms and mortality. The associations were largely consistent across different subgroups.
Not highlighted in the CDC study and unlikely to be recommended, smoking caused the most significant reduction in mortality from all causes (HR 1.65) in both the mild and moderate to severe depression groups compared to the base model (HR 1.78). This was followed closely by physical activity (HR 1.67), which is much more likely to be encouraged.
The study suggests that addressing depressive symptoms and associated risk factors could be important for reducing the burden of depression and its impact on mortality. It is unclear and unstated in the report how to address specific risk factors, such as the most significant driver of depression-related mortality in the data—income inequality.
Johns Hopkins-led research has revealed an extensive network of connections between the right and left sides of the brain when mice are exposed to different sounds. The researchers also found that some areas of the brain are specialized to recognize certain sounds, such as "calls" from the animals. Further, the researchers also found that deaf mice had far fewer right and left brain connections, suggesting that the brain needs to "hear" and process sound during early ages to spur development of left-right brain connections.
The findings, say the researchers, may eventually help scientists pinpoint the time period when such brain connections and specialization form, and offer potential insights into how to restore hearing loss. The findings have been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"The auditory system is a collection of parts, which need to be connected properly," says Johns Hopkins neuroengineer Patrick Kanold, Ph.D., a professor of biomedical engineering.
"Using a novel microscope that enabled us to see both brain hemispheres at the same time, we found that some of those connections are between the right and left brain hemispheres, allowing functional specialization. When the brain does not get the right inputs, for example in hearing loss, these brain connections are missing. This obviously is an issue if we hope to restore hearing at a later age."
In efforts to find new ways to restore hearing, Kanold's team will continue its work to identify the specific time period when brain connections form in response to sound and how to restore abnormal connections.
The team is also continuing research to understand how the brain adapts to and modulates sound processing to filter out distracting signals, such as its recent work indicating that the brain's frontal cortex provides specific signals to the auditory system during behaviors that might help in this filtering process.
More information: Georgia Calhoun et al, Bilateral widefield calcium imaging reveals circuit asymmetries and lateralized functional activation of the mouse auditory cortex, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2219340120
Prevalence of Acinetobacter baumannii, Carbapenem-Resistant A baumannii, and Candida auris Colonization Stratified by Type of Facility. Credit: JAMA (2023). DOI: 10.1001/jama.2023.21083
University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) researchers conducted a statewide survey of all patients on breathing machines in hospitals and long-term care facilities and found that a significant percentage of them harbored two pathogens known to be life-threatening in those with compromised immune systems.
One pathogen, Acinetobacter baumannii, was identified in nearly 31 percent of all patients on ventilators to assist with their breathing; Candida auris was identified in nearly 7 percent of patients on ventilators, according to the study which was published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
They conducted the study with colleagues at the Maryland Department of Health and presented their findings at this week's Infectious Disease Society of America annual meeting in Boston.
"We found patients in long-term care facilities, like skilled nursing homes, were more likely to be colonized with these pathogens than those getting treated in hospitals," said study leader Anthony Harris, MD, MPH, Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health at UMSOM and infectious disease specialist at University of Maryland Medical Center.
"We were the first in the nation to get a statewide survey of all ventilated patients, and I think it points to the stringency of the infection control programs in place in the state of Maryland and the excellent collaboration between the University of Maryland and the State Health Department."
Both A. baumannii and C. auris have been highlighted by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as emerging pathogens that present a global health threat. C. auris is a fungus that spreads within and among local health care facilities—usually in those hospitalized and on breathing machines (ventilators).
Older people with weakened immune systems are particularly susceptible to this infection, which resists treatment with common anti-fungal medications. A. baumannii, a bacteria, also poses a threat to these same types of patients and has become very resistant through the years to treatment with most antibiotics.
To conduct the study, Dr. Harris and his colleagues obtained culture swabs from all 482 patients receiving mechanical ventilation in Maryland health care facilities between March and June of this year. All eligible health care facilities, 51 in total, participated in the survey. They identified A. baumannii from at least one patient in one-third of the acute care hospitals and from 94 percent of the long-term care facilities. They identified C. auris in nearly 5 percent of hospitalized patients and in 9 percent of patients in long-term care facilities.
"Testing positive, however, does not mean that patients have symptoms or active infections that are potentially life-threatening," said study co-author J. Kristie Johnson, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology at UMSOM whose lab did the A. baumannii testing for the study. "But knowing which patients are colonized with these pathogens can help contain their spread to other patients."
Over the course of 2022, state and local health departments around the country reported 2,377 clinical cases, according to the CDC, nearly five times the number infections in 2019, which was less than 500 cases. Maryland alone had 46 cases in 2022. While these infections don't normally pose much of health risk to hospital workers, they pose a significant risk of death in patients with weakened immune systems. Often the infections can be spread from patient to patient by health care workers carrying the germs on their hands, equipment or clothing.
"There is a need for more health care facilities nationwide to be aware of the extent of the problem through surveillance testing," Dr. Harris said. Certain measures can be implemented to help reduce spread of these pathogens including more stringent use of disposable gloves and gowns between patients and the use of chlorhexidine bathing of the critically ill to disinfect their skin.
"Emerging pathogens that are resistant to available therapeutics present a growing challenge in our country, especially with a projected increased growth in our aging population entering long term care facilities," said UMSOM Dean Mark Gladwin, MD, who is also Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, UM Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor at UMSOM. "Nearly half of patients who contract C. auris infections die within 90 days, according to the CDC, and this pathogen is now found in nearly 50 states. This is why it is critical for these surveillance studies to be conducted nationwide, not just in Maryland."
UMSOM faculty members Lisa Pineles, MA, Lyndsay O'Hara, Ph.D., Leigh Smith, MD, and Indira French, MS, were co-authors on this study.
An article on the workplace as a major determinant of health has been published today in The Lancet, and reveals a global picture of the work-related causes of mental health conditions.
Carried out by University College Cork (UCC), the paper illustrates that major progress in population health can be made by an increased focus on improving people's work environments.
The paper, "Work-related causes of mental health conditions and interventions for their improvement in workplaces," presents sound epidemiological evidence based on large-scale international cohort studies that adverse working conditions contribute to an increased risk of onset of depressive disorders and outlines critical interventions to improve mental health conditions in workplaces.
Dr. Birgit Greiner and Professor Ella Arensman, UCC School of Public Health, co-authored the article with academics from universities in Europe, Japan and Australia. Dr. Birgit Greiner will present the findings at the World Health Summit in Berlin on Sunday, 15 October.
Mental health problems and mental disorders are common
The report finds that mental health problems and mental disorders are common in the working population. Researchers cite that 15% of adults of working age experience mental health disorders, with depression, anxiety and substance abuse being the most common.
Workers with mental health disorders are at increased risk of sickness absence, unemployment, permanent exit from employment, and lower lifetime income, which in turn can exacerbate mental disorders. Mental disorders incur substantial costs for workers, employers and the whole of society.
The article finds that most interventions focus on the individual level only and recommends that more proactive interventions need to be developed to protect and promote workers' mental health and well-being.
Ahead of her address at the World Health Summit, Dr. Birgit Greiner said, "We know mental health problems and disorders are common in our working population. Workplaces have huge potential to influence mental health by promoting the positive aspects of work and providing safe, non-discriminatory support for those showing signs of mental health problems."
"Modifying psychosocial working conditions is key. Workplace mental health should be made a collective concern at all levels of an organization."
Professor Ella Arensman, Head of School of Public Health UCC and Chief Scientist, National Suicide Research Foundation, said, "Work-related mental health is an issue of society and public health importance. We know burnout and distress are common particularly within the health care sector, leading to difficulties in attracting new workers, their retention and turnover. Interventions must include the prevention of mental health problems along with helping affected individuals regardless of cause. They must also include the pro-active promotion of positive mental health, well-being and recovery."
Key recommendations
The report outlines recommendations for decision-makers to support healthy and safe work for diverse populations. Key recommendations include:
Governments need to ensure that the workplace is an integral part of their mental health strategies.
Policymakers at local, national and international levels need to regulate and control working environments—evidence suggests an increased risk of mental health problems and mental disorders in adverse conditions.
Policymakers should develop and improve policy on mentally healthy work, with a particular focus on the work environments of low-wage or marginalized workers.
Policymakers need to develop guidance on how to create and maintain mentally healthy work at all levels of an organization—this includes promoting training programs.
Governments should improve support and workplace conditions to enable individuals with mental health problems and disorders to be part of the workforce.
Health care providers should routinely include information on working conditions in the clinical assessment, diagnosis and management of mental health problems and mental disorders.
Professor Ella Arensman said, "Workplace mental health promotion practice and policy gained a lot of traction in many sectors during the past few years. Several large organizations implemented Employee Assistance Programs and Peer support systems to offer support for those with mental health problems."
"Organizations now need to take a second step and augment these programs with proactive initiatives to improve work organizations and working conditions. This is not just a moral imperative but necessary for employers to meet legal and ethical mandates on psychologically safe work environments."
These recommendations are currently being investigated in the ongoing EU Horizon 2020 MENTUPP project: Mental Health Promotion and Intervention in Occupational Settings and the new EU Horizon Europe PROSPERH project: Promoting Positive Mental and Physical Health at Work in a Changing Environment—A Multi-level Approach, led by the UCC School of Public Health and the National Suicide Research Foundation.
More information: Reiner Rugulies et al, Work-related causes of mental health conditions and interventions for their improvement in workplaces, The Lancet (2023). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00869-3
French taxi drivers bring unfair competition case against Uber
Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Around 2,480 taxi drivers will embark on another round of their latest legal fight against Uber in Paris on Friday accusing the American giant of unfair competition as they seek around 455 million euros in damages.
Uber has had to battle a slew of legal challenges in the 12 years since it first began operating in France and this latest one pits them against some eight percent of the French profession with the plaintiffs backed by nine associations and unions out to secure victory over Uber France and Uber BV.
The French drivers launched the action in the wake of an earlier court of cassation decision recognizing the existence of a relationship of subordination between the Uber platform and one of its former drivers. The court on that occasion determined the driver had a contract of employment with the platform rather than freelance status.
"By refusing to apply French labor and tax law, Uber is therefore indulging in unfair competition," the taxi drivers' representatives maintain.
They added they "intend to demonstrate that Uber has set up a system where illegality has been established as an operating principle, a system where violation of the law is used as a way to trample over the market, to the detriment of competition," one of the drivers' lawyers, Cedric Dubucq, said.
The drivers believe they are each out of pocket annually to the tune of 9,300 euros per year and also want damages and interest from Uber, which says the action is unfounded and "anachronistic".
"Today, more than 35,000 VTC and taxi drivers use our app to generate revenue. This action goes against the interest of an entire sector and drivers who wish to remain independent," an Uber spokeswoman said.
In a different case, the Paris Court of Appeal earlier this month ordered Uber to compensate 149 taxi drivers over unfair competition linked to the activity of its former app UberPop.
A replica of the US army combat ground vehicle used in the AI experiment. Credit: Fendy Santoso, Charles Sturt University
Australian researchers have designed an algorithm that can intercept a man-in-the-middle (MitM) cyberattack on an unmanned military robot and shut it down in seconds.
In an experiment using deep learning neural networks to simulate the behavior of the human brain, artificial intelligence experts from Charles Sturt University and the University of South Australia (UniSA) trained the robot's operating system to learn the signature of a MitM eavesdropping cyberattack. This is where attackers interrupt an existing conversation or data transfer.
The algorithm, tested in real time on a replica of a United States army combat ground vehicle, was 99% successful in preventing a malicious attack. False positive rates of less than 2% validated the system, demonstrating its effectiveness.
UniSA autonomous systems researcher, Professor Anthony Finn, says the proposed algorithm performs better than other recognition techniques used around the world to detect cyberattacks.
Professor Finn and Dr. Fendy Santoso from Charles Sturt Artificial Intelligence and Cyber Futures Institute collaborated with the US Army Futures Command to replicate a man-in-the-middle cyberattack on a GVT-BOT ground vehicle and trained its operating system to recognize an attack.
"The robot operating system (ROS) is extremely susceptible to data breaches and electronic hijacking because it is so highly networked," Prof Finn says.
"The advent of Industry 4, marked by the evolution in robotics, automation, and the Internet of Things, has demanded that robots work collaboratively, where sensors, actuators and controllers need to communicate and exchange information with one another via cloud services.
"The downside of this is that it makes them highly vulnerable to cyberattacks.
"The good news, however, is that the speed of computing doubles every couple of years, and it is now possible to develop and implement sophisticated AI algorithms to guard systems against digital attacks."
Dr. Santoso says despite its tremendous benefits and widespread usage, the robot operating system largely ignores security issues in its coding scheme due to encrypted network traffic data and limited integrity-checking capability.
"Owing to the benefits of deep learning, our intrusion detection framework is robust and highly accurate," Dr. Santoso says. "The system can handle large datasets suitable to safeguard large-scale and real-time data-driven systems such as ROS."
Prof Finn and Dr. Santoso plan to test their intrusion detection algorithm on different robotic platforms, such as drones, whose dynamics are faster and more complex compared to a ground robot.
More information: Fendy Santoso et al, Trusted Operations of a Military Ground Robot in the Face of Man-in-the-Middle Cyber-Attacks Using Deep Learning Convolutional Neural Networks: Real-Time Experimental Outcomes, IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing (2023). DOI: 10.1109/TDSC.2023.3302807
