World's first entry-level certification is now available in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German and Spanish. exam and education available free to one million people worldwide.

ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- (ISC)² – the world's largest nonprofit association of certified cybersecurity professionals – today announced that the Certified in Cybersecurity℠ exam is available in five additional languages, including Chinese, Japanese, Korean, German and Spanish. Previously, the entry-level certification was only offered in English. This update follows recent language adaptations to the SSCP, CCSP and CISSP certifications in the last year. The certification, part of the association's global One Million Certified in Cybersecurity pledge, offers free Certified in Cybersecurity exams and self-paced education courses for one million people.

"We are facing a global cybersecurity workforce gap of 3.4 million professionals, and one of the greatest challenges is providing entry- and junior-level candidates with the right resources to enter the field," said Clar Rosso, CEO, (ISC)². "By expanding the Certified in Cybersecurity language offerings combined with our One Million Certified in Cybersecurity pledge, our association is taking meaningful and impactful strides to remove barriers and enable more people around the world to start a cybersecurity career."

The 2022 Cybersecurity Workforce Study revealed that more than 464,000 cybersecurity workers joined the profession in 2022. Despite the growth, the demand for cybersecurity workers outpaces the supply. In fact, China faces a shortage of 1.4 million cybersecurity professionals, and Germany needs over 100,000 cybersecurity professionals.

The Certified in Cybersecurity certification prepares a new generation of cybersecurity practitioners to enter the field – from recent university graduates to career changers to IT professionals – seeking to validate their security skills and access pursue a new career.

Story continues

One Million Certified in Cybersecurity

One Million Certified in Cybersecurity pledges to provide free, entry-level cybersecurity certification exams and self-paced training and educational program courses to one million new professionals starting a career in cybersecurity. 500,000 of the one million exams and course enrollments have been set aside for those within underrepresented demographics, including women and minorities. The Certified in Cybersecurity self-paced training and educational program is now available in Chinese, German and Spanish, with Japanese and Korean coming soon.

Learn more about Certified in Cybersecurity at https://www.isc2.org/Certifications/CC.

About (ISC)²

(ISC)² is an international nonprofit membership association focused on inspiring a safe and secure cyber world. Best known for the acclaimed Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP^®) certification, (ISC)² offers a portfolio of credentials that are part of a holistic, pragmatic approach to security. Our association of candidates, associates and members, nearly 330,000 strong, is made up of certified cyber, information, software and infrastructure security professionals who are making a difference and helping to advance the industry. Our vision is supported by our commitment to educate and reach the general public through our charitable foundation – The Center for Cyber Safety and Education™. For more information on (ISC)², visit www.isc2.org, follow us on Twitter or connect with us on Facebook and LinkedIn.

© 2022 (ISC)² Inc., (ISC)², CISSP, SSCP, CAP, CSSLP, HCISPP, CISSP-ISSAP, CISSP-ISSEP, CISSP-ISSMP and CBK are registered marks, and CC is a service mark of (ISC)², Inc.

Media Contact: 
communications@isc2.org

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/isc-makes-certified-in-cybersecurity-exam-available-in-more-languages-to-address-global-workforce-shortage-301741963.html

SOURCE (ISC)2

Butylphthalide, a medication derived from celery seed, may Excellerate outcomes after an acute ischemic stroke when given in addition to thrombolysis or endovascular treatment, a new report suggests.

Patients treated with butylphthalide had fewer severe neurologic symptoms and better function 90 days after the stroke compared with those receiving placebo.

Butylphthalide is approved and available for use in China, where the study was conducted. However, the medication hasn't been approved for use by the US Food and Drug Administration.

"Patients who received butylphthalide had less severe neurological symptoms and a better living status at 90 days post stroke compared to those who received the placebo," said co-author Baixue Jia, MD, an attending physician in interventional neuroradiology at the Beijing Tiantan Hospital of Capital Medical University and a faculty member at the China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases in Beijing. "If the results are confirmed in other trials, this may lead to more options to treat strokes caused by clots."

The study was presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference (ISC) 2023.

Studying Stroke Outcomes

The researchers describe butylphthalide as a cerebroprotective drug that was originally extracted from seeds of Apium graveolens. In China, previous studies have shown that the drug has cerebroprotective effects in animal models of ischemia-reperfusion, they noted.

In this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, Jia and colleagues evaluated whether treatment with butylphthalide could Excellerate 90-day outcomes for adults with acute ischemic stroke who received intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), endovascular treatment, or both.

The participants were treated at one of 59 medical centers in China between July 2018 and February 2022. Those who had minimal stroke symptoms on their initial exam, defined as a score of 0–3 on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), or had severe stroke symptoms, defined as having a score of 26 or higher on the NIHSS, were excluded from the study.

Along with an initial revascularization intervention chosen by their physician, participants were randomly selected to receive either butylphthalide or a placebo daily for 90 days. The drug was administered through daily intravenous injections for the first 14 days, after which patients received oral capsules for 76 days.

The research team defined the outcomes as "favorable" if a patient fell into one of the following categories 90 days after the stroke:

• an initially mild to moderate stroke (NIHSS, 4–7) and no symptoms after treatment, defined as a score of 0 on the Modified Rankin Scale (mRS), which measures disability and dependence;

• an initially moderate to serious stroke (NIHSS, 8–14) and no residual symptoms or mild symptoms that don't impair the ability to perform routine activities of daily living without assistance (mRS, 0–1); or

• an initially serious to severe stroke (NIHSS, 15–25) and no remaining symptoms or a slight disability that impairs some activities but allows one to conduct daily living without assistance (mRS, 0–2).

Secondary outcomes included symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, recurrent stroke, and mortality.

Among the 1216 participants, 607 were assigned to the treatment group, and 609 were assigned to the placebo group. The average age was 66 years, and 68% were men.

Overall, participants in the butylphthalide group were 70% more likely to have a favorable 90-day outcome, as compared with the placebo group. Favorable outcomes occurred in 344 patients (56.7%) in the butylphthalide group, as compared with 268 patients (44%) in the placebo group (odds ratio [OR], 1.70; 95% CI, 1.35 – 2.14; P < .001).

In addition, butylphthalide improved function equally well for the patients who initially received tPA, those who received endovascular treatment, and those who received both tPA and endovascular treatment.

Secondary events, such as recurrent stroke and intracranial hemorrhage, weren't significantly different between the butylphthalide and placebo groups.

Ongoing Questions

Jia and colleagues noted the need to understand how butylphthalide works in the brain. Animal studies have suggested several possible mechanisms, but it remains unclear.

"The next step should be investigating the exact mechanisms of butylphthalide in humans," Jia said.

Additional research should assess the medication in other populations, the authors noted, particularly because the study involved participants who received initial treatment with tPA, endovascular treatment, or both. The results may not be generalizable to stroke patients who receive other treatments or to populations outside of China.

"While these are interesting results, this is only one relatively small study on a fairly select population in China. Butylphthalide, a medication initially compounded from celery seed, is not ready for use in standard stroke treatment," said Daniel Lackland, DrPH, a professor of neurology and director of the Division of Translational Neurosciences and Population Studies at the Medical University of South Carolina.

Lackland, who wasn't involved with the study, is a member of the American Stroke Association's Stroke Council. Although butylphthalide was originally extracted from seeds, he noted, it's not what patients would find commercially available.

"The medication used in this study is not the same as celery seed or celery seed extract supplements," he said. "Stroke survivors should always consult with their neurologist or healthcare professional regarding diet after a stroke."

The study was funded by the National Key Technology Research and Development Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China and Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group dl-3-butylphthalide Pharmaceutical. Several authors are employed with Beijing Tiantan Hospital and the Beijing Institute of Brain Disorders. Lackland reported no relevant financial relationships.

International Stroke Conference (ISC) 2023: Abstract 90. Published February 2, 2023.

Carolyn Crist is a health and medical journalist who reports on the latest studies for Medscape, MDedge, and WebMD.

For more news, follow Medscape on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

DALLAS -- Uric acid was shown to be the most successful neuroprotectant among rodents in a study from the Stroke Preclinical Assessment Network (SPAN), a nationwide trial platform that applies clinical research practices to preclinical studies in hopes of better informing human studies.

Of the six interventions studied in the randomized rodent trial, uric acid 16 mg/kg administered intravenously at the time of reperfusion exceeded the efficacy boundaries, reported Lauren H. Sansing, MD, of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues during the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference.

The other interventions included the Rho-associated kinase inhibitor fasudil, the PARP inhibitor veliparib, the immunosuppressive drug tocilizumab (Actemra), the S1P analogue fingolimod (Gilenya), and remote ischemic conditioning, which were analyzed via corner test at 28 days.

Three interventions fell below SPAN's inferiority barriers after just the first stage. Only uric acid remained within the study's efficacy boundaries after four stages, ultimately surpassing their original acceptable outcomes.

The study showed that SPAN is an effective preclinical research tool, noted James C. Grotta, MD, a vascular neurologist at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, who was not involved in the study.

"The SPAN project entailed a tremendous amount of careful planning and meticulous work by a large team, and kudos to the network for a successful result. The 'winner,' e.g., uric acid, has withstood rigorous testing and the stroke community is now looking forward to the clinical trial of this approach that may complement existing reperfusion strategies," he told MedPage Today.

During a press conference, Sansing explained that "experimental rigor is something we can control. SPAN embraced all of the rigor of a clinical trial."

The study also aimed to "embrace heterogeneity," allowing for some variation in its subjects in an effort to mimic clinical trials, she and her colleagues noted.

Sansing cited growing public distrust in scientific research, recently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, as part of the reason behind the development of SPAN. Stroke research is no exception. Several neuroprotectant agents have performed well during the course of preclinical trials, but failed to prove effective when introduced in human trials -- a trend that has been documented for decades.

Sansing also pointed to an opinion piece published in Trends in Neurosciences in 2007 that cited research that showed that as the quality or rigor of a preclinical study on treatments for stroke increased, their efficacy decreased, with the authors noting that animal models for stroke research were "profoundly biased by aspects of study design."

More recent research compiled evidence listing albumin, the potassium channel activator BMS-204352, and the sodium channel blocker lubeluzole as just a few of many therapies that showed promise as neuroprotectors in animal studies, which then fell short in clinical research on humans.

For this National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)-funded study, six independent labs were used to conduct the research, including Yale University, Massachusetts General Hospital, Johns Hopkins University, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, and the University of Iowa.

A total of 2,651 rodents were included in the study, including young mice, aging mice, mice experiencing diet-induced obesity or hyperglycemia, young rats, and spontaneously hypertensive rats, with an equal number of male and female rodents.

After receiving more funding from NINDS, SPAN 2.0 will continue to test neuroprotectants, utilizing six more experimental sites.

The positive results for uric acid, the experimental rigor present in the trials, and the renewal of the SPAN program may bring change to years of issues regarding neuroprotectants, commented Gregory Albers, MD, director of the Stanford Stroke Center in Palo Alto, California, during a Q&A session on SPAN's results.

"I think it's really exciting that the winning drug had a lot of clinical data prior to going into SPAN," he said. "We have seen a number of these agents that have gotten into the human trials where the trial was close but didn't quite make it, some subgroups looked great, and then you repeat, focusing on those subgroups, and then again they didn't make it. What I think we now have is a much higher level of enthusiasm for this drug than what we just had from the prior clinical work that was done for that."

The ISC exam began on Monday and for many students it will continue till the end of March.

The one-and-a-half month period would be a challenge where students would be expected to retain their mental alertness and physical fitness, said teachers and mental health professionals.

A psychiatrist said that in the run-up to the boards he has had several examinees coming for consultation because their parents think they “are not studying enough”. 

The exam began on Monday with English language and about 21,000 students appeared on the first day of the school-leaving exam in Bengal. The second paper, English Paper II (literature), is on Tuesday. The exam will end on March 31. 

Students have gaps of as long as nine to 16 days in between two exams depending on their combination. 

For example, after English Paper II on Tuesday, some students will write their next exam on March 3 (Indian languages).

A student who will write Economics on February 24 will appear for the next paper (Accounts) on March 13.

Terence Ireland, principal, St James’ School, said that with so many subjects on offer at the ISC level it becomes difficult to prepare an exam schedule which could be completed in a shorter duration.

“The big gaps because of their subject combination works to their disadvantage because they find it difficult to concentrate over a long period of time,” he said.

“It is all the more difficult when you are going through the same content over and over again,” said psychiatrist Sanjay Garg.

Garg advises that instead of studying the entire syllabus over and over again which could lead to boredom and exhaustion, students should prepare flow charts so that they do not lose touch with a particular subject.

“Students look for more structured gaps but when they do not have that we tell them that they should split a long gap to study two subjects rather than one,” said Jessica Gomes Surana, principal of Loreto Convent Entally.

Parents and teachers fear about the tendency to relegate the subject before which there is a long gap.

Basanti Biswas, principal of Calcutta Girls’ High School, said that since students got the timetable about three months in advance there is a tendency to leave a paper with the longest gap for the last minute.

Deepshikha Bihani gave her son’s example.

“My son has a 16-day-gap before his accounts paper. Till the pre-boards he was studying all papers but after that I noticed that he is concentrating more on math and other subjects and is going easy with accounts thinking he will study entirely during the gap, which could be risky.” 

The concern for many parents is that the child remains fit for this long period, a concern especially exaggerated and relevant after the scars of the Covid pandemic.

The ISC 2023 batch is writing their first board exam physically because their Class X boards had been scrapped.

Several schools have told their students to try and keep themselves fit because people are falling sick with fever, cold and sustained cough.

“Our teachers and counsellors have spoken to our students about the need to stay fit because a viral fever can continue for seven to 10 days,” said Seema Sapru, principal of The Heritage School. Psychiatrist Garg also insisted that students “take breaks in between studies and do activities that they enjoy”.

TOKYO – i-Pro is coming to ISC-West this year with a new product, a camera they claim is the industry’s smallest and lightest outdoor multi-directional + PTZ camera.

Scheduled to be at booth #10037 i-PRO Co. Ltd. will be expanding their multi-sensor camera line with the WV-X86531-Z2, which i-Pro said is the smallest and lightest outdoor rated multi-PTZ of its kind in the industry featuring powerful edge AI capabilities, advanced cybersecurity, and vandal resistance for the widest possible deployment options.

“Multi-directional plus PTZ cameras are not new to the market, but i-PRO set out to make one that was more suitable to deployment in a variety of beneficial situations,” said Bill Brennan, President, i-PRO Americas. “We believe we’ve created the smallest, lightest, outdoor and vandal proof option on the market. The fact that it’s also packed with AI-enabled analytics, makes it the best camera of its type we’ve ever seen.”

The camera supports up to four 5MP multi-sensors in addition to the 2MP PTZ sensor, and boasts A.I. analytics, auto-tracking, low light performance, and resilient cybersecurity elements. For more information on this and other i-Pro products you can visit i-pro.com.

DALLAS -- Certain social determinants of health may dilute the contribution of genetics to acute ischemic stroke susceptibility in some people, according to a large-scale study.

Based on the NIH's All of Us program, an initiative to enroll 1 million people in a diverse health database for research, acute ischemic stroke risk correlated significantly with both community deprivation and personal genetic factors as indexed by the Deprivation Index and a polygenic risk score, respectively.

However, there was a significant interaction between genetic risk and neighborhood deprivation: only people in the lowest tertile of deprivation saw an effect of genetics on stroke risk (OR 1.08, 95% CI 1.02-1.15), whereas the intermediate and high deprivation groups did not see such genetic susceptibility play out in genuine events (P=0.02 for interaction), reported Cyprien Rivier, MD, a postdoctoral researcher at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, during the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference.

As only residents of privileged areas "were more susceptible to the effects of polygenic variation on the risk of ischemic stroke," Rivier speculated "that in areas of high deprivation, the environmental risk factors become more important than genetic predisposition."

Randolph Marshall, MD, of Columbia University Irving Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, called it a "reasonable hypothesis that the genetic component is overshadowed perhaps by the other factors related to neighborhood deprivation."

Yet epigenetics may also play a role in stroke risk, given that such gene activity can be explained by socially structured stressors, suggested Marshall, speaking at the audience Q&A.

Rivier agreed with Marshall's hypothesis and said that All of Us, which includes electronic health records, biospecimens, surveys, and wearables data, doesn't include the data for epigenetic analysis.

The present cross-sectional analysis included nearly 150,000 individuals, split evenly by tertiles of neighborhood deprivation.

The Deprivation Index used in the study -- based on the Census Bureau's American Community Survey -- quantifies a neighborhood's standard of living, health, education, economic security, housing quality, and neighborhood quality.

Meanwhile, genetic factors predisposing an individual to acute ischemic stroke were aggregated in a polygenic risk score that covers 530 variants associated with important stroke risk factors, namely blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, BMI, diet, physical activity, and smoking. These seven domains come from the American Heart Association's old "Life's Simple 7" framework, recently replaced by "Life's Essential 8" to include sleep health.

Rivier reported that compared with residents of the most privileged neighborhoods, the most deprived individuals tended to be younger (49.3 vs 54.4 years for least deprived, P<0.001) and more likely Black (34.3% vs 6.9%, P<0.001) or Hispanic (27.1% vs 7.7%, P<0.001). They also had a higher polygenic risk score (0.11 vs -0.13, P<0.001).

The incidence of acute ischemic stroke was 1.5% in the most deprived group, significantly lower than the 2.0% for intermediate and low deprivation groups (P<0.001). However, Rivier said high deprivation actually corresponded with more strokes upon adjustment for age and other factors.

"It is important to note that our results are specific to this particular risk score and condition. We expect other combinations of genetic factors and environment to be evaluated," he cautioned.

During the session Q&A, another audience member asked if there is any implementation plan in place or next steps to put study findings into action.

Rivier acknowledged that his group does not have the expertise to implement this, but encouraged others to take this on.

TOKYO –At ISC-West this year i-PRO is poised to introduce the latest release of the MonitorCast Access Control software, which adds the Mercury-based intrusion detection solution.

It’s inclusion means that users will have a unified solution without requiring third party hardware or integrations i-PRO said. The addition of an intrusion detection system (IDS) to access control lets users control physical access to building or locations while monitoring them. The IDS monitors entry points like windows and doors and in so doing mimics a burglary system providing more alerts during forced entries and similar events.

“Intrusion detection is supported by other systems, but they typically rely on third-party hardware and integration to support the feature,” says Jason Garcia, Product Manager at i-PRO Americas Inc. “MonitorCast uses the functionality within the Mercury SDK to utilize the existing supported hardware. Since third-party party hardware or software is not required, it simplifies design and implementation for both integrator and the end-user.” 

Other features in MonitorCast includes active directory synchronization, custom server-based rules, video insight Integration, and free badge printing software. “Overall, the latest release (v4.8) of MonitorCast access control software provides users with a comprehensive solution for both access control and intrusion detection, all within a single, easy-to-use platform,” says Garcia.

More information available at www.downloadvi.com. i-PRO will be available during ISC-West at booth # 10037.