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In this letter, we propose and fabricate a waveguide Magic Tee with waveguide filter for Ka-band system. The proposed Magic Tee has a reduced z -axis arm, which must typically be long for impedance matching at the input port. A bridge iris is inserted at port 4 for signal application. The z -axis arm at port 4 is significantly shortened by the impedance matching tuning through the iris that is normally uses to connect the adaptor. Thus, the dimension of the proposed Magic Tee is reduced to 7.12 × 10 × 3.6 m m 3 , and the insertion loss shows good performance of 0.9 dB by applying the impedance matching tuning. The proposed Magic Tee also contains a 7th waveguide filter, which is used to verify the signal division performance. The results of excitation at each port of the Magic Tee show insertion loss less than 4.5 dB and return loss of over 18 dB.

Bevacizumab-containing chemotherapy constitutes an important salvage treatment for recurrent/refractory glioblastoma(r/rGBM).We retrospectively collected the data of r/rGBM patients treated with the combination of bevacizumab and irinotecan (BEV+IRI) as their salvage treatment from July 2013 and December 2021 in Konkuk Medical Center of Korea. Patients with available results from molecular diagnostic tests were eligible, and markers of interest were examined including the presence of MGMT methylation, IDH1/2 mutation, or 1p/19q co-deletion. Efficacy of BEV+IRI and its potential biomarker was explored.Among 21 patients, 38.1% demonstrated European Cooperative Oncology Group-Performance scale (ECOG-PS) ≥3. The majority (71.4%) received BEV+IRI as their second-line chemotherapies, and the median dose was 5 (range=1-25). Objective response rate (ORR) was 33.3% and disease-control rate (DCR) was 85.7%. Irrespective of objective response, early clinical response was achieved in 14(66.7%) patients. During the median follow-up of 16.4 months for survivors, median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 3.6 and 6.8 months, respectively. ECOG PS≥3 and TP53 loss were independent predictors of an unfavorable OS, while prompt clinical improvement could predict favorable OS. Any molecular aberration was associated with OS or PFS in the study.Salvage BEV+IRI treatment in r/rGBM conferred comparable clinical benefit. ECOG PS ≥3, TP53 loss, and lack of prompt clinical improvement after the treatment were significantly associated with an unfavorable OS.

In this study, we elucidated for the first time the role of anti-cancer drugs in transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) via direct visualization of the spatial distribution of drugs with respect to blood vessels in intact transparent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissues. To date, precise estimation of drug penetration into tumors using thin 3D tissue sections has been challenging. This study utilized the tissue optical clearing technique to resolve the lack of tissue clarity, thereby enabling deep tissue imaging for the quantitative assessment of drug delivery following TACE. We compared the drug delivery effect, time-dependent embolic effect, and immunogenic response following conventional TACE (cTACE), drug-eluting embolic TACE (DEE-TACE), and transarterial embolization (TAE) in a rat model of HCC. After each treatment, three-dimensional drug delivery was quantitatively evaluated via the transparent liver tumor imaging, and time-dependent tumor necrosis was analyzed by serial tumor harvesting and histological staining. The results showed that chemotherapeutic agents travel only short distances after cTACE (∼80µm) and DEE-TACE (∼110µm), whereas necrosis occurs extensively within 24 h of treatment (85.3-97.2% of tumor cells). In addition, the percentages of CD4 and IL-17+ CD4 T cells increased significantly following treatment; however, drug-loading did not appear to affect the immune response following TACE. In conclusion, transarterially delivered chemotherapeutic agents appeared to exert a limited role, owing to the rapid and overwhelming effect of embolization. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: TACE has been widely used for the treatment of HCC, especially for unresectable intermediate and advanced HCCs. Drug use in TACE is expected to provide patients with synergistic therapeutic benefits with the effect of embolic agents; however, the role of chemotherapeutic agents in TACE remains controversial. This study quantitatively verified that chemotherapeutic agents travel only short distances after TACE, while necrosis occurs extensively within 24h, and drug loading does not significantly affect immune responses following TACE. Three-dimensional imaging of intact transparent HCC can contribute to a better understanding of drug delivery mechanisms associated with TACE and also reveal that drug use in TACE may need to be reconsidered and limited to situations when embolization is expected to be insufficient.

BACKGROUND: Although lysyl-tRNA synthetase (KARS1) is predominantly located in the cytosol, it is also present in the plasma membrane where it stabilizes the 67-kDa laminin receptor (67LR). This physical interaction is strongly increased under metastatic conditions. However, the dynamic interaction of these two proteins and the turnover of KARS1 in the plasma membrane has not previously been investigated. OBJECTIVE: Our objective in this study was to identify the membranous location of KARS1 and 67LR and investigate if this changes with the developmental stage of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) and treatment with the inhibitor BC-K01. In addition, we evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of BC-K01 in combination with paclitaxel, as the latter is frequently used to treat patients with EOC. METHODS: Overall survival and prognostic significance were determined in EOC patients according to KARS1 and 67LR expression levels as determined by immunohistochemistry. Changes in the location and expression of KARS1 and 67LR were investigated in vitro after BC-K01 treatment. The effects of this compound on tumor growth and apoptosis were evaluated both in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: EOC patients with high KARS1 and high 67LR expression had lower progression-free survival rates than those with low expression levels of these two markers. BC-K01 reduced cell viability and increased apoptosis in combination with paclitaxel in EOC cell xenograft mouse models. BC-K01 decreased membranous KARS1 expression, causing a reduction in 67LR membrane expression in EOC cell lines. BC-K01 significantly decreased in vivo tumor weight and number of nodules, especially when used in combination with paclitaxel. CONCLUSIONS: Co-localization of KARS1 and 67LR in the plasma membrane contributes to EOC progression. Inhibition of the KARS1-67LR interaction by BC-K01 suppresses metastasis in EOC.

To establish a rabbit osteoarthritis model for genicular artery embolization (GAE) experiments and to investigate the cellular mechanism of action of this novel procedure for interventional radiologists.Rabbit knee osteoarthritis was surgically modeled by anterior cruciate ligament transection and medial partial meniscectomy of the bilateral hindlimbs followed by 10 weeks of incubation. Rabbits exhibiting synovitis on magnetic resonance imaging were randomly divided into two groups: the bilateral GAE group and the control (sham procedure) group. Four weeks later, the rabbits' mobility (moving time, sec/10 min) and the histopathological features of each knee were assessed, and inter-group differences were evaluated using Student's t-test and ordinal/linear logistic models with generalized estimating equations.Osteoarthritis modeling and endovascular procedures were successful in 15 of 20 rabbits (8 and 7 in the GAE and control groups, respectively). There was no significant difference in moving times between the two groups (p = .958). The degree of structural cartilage damage was similar in both groups (p = .780). However, the synovial proliferation (p = .016), synovial hypertrophy (p.001), and villous hyperplasia of the synovial stroma (p = .002) scores were significantly lower in the GAE group than in the control group. The CD3+ cell density (p = .018) and CD3 + cell-infiltrated area (p = .019) were also significantly lower in the GAE group than in the control group.GAE can limit inflammatory processes in the synovium of osteoarthritis-affected knees.Surgical transection of the anterior cruciate ligament and medial partial meniscectomy of rabbit knees provides a useful animal model for research of genicular artery embolization. Osteoarthritic knees treated by genicular artery embolization showed milder synovial proliferation (p = .016), synovial hypertrophy (p.001), and villous hyperplasia of the synovial stroma (p = .002) than the untreated knees. Osteoarthritic knees treated by genicular artery embolization presented lower CD3+ cell density (p = .018) and CD3+ cell-infiltrated area (p = .019) in the synovium than the untreated knees.

Solid-state fiber dye-sensitized solar cells (SS-FDSSCs) have been the subject of intensive attention and development in recent years. Although this field is only in its infancy, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are one such material that has been utilized to further improve the power conversion efficiency of solar cells. In this study, MOF-integrated DSSCs were shown to have potential in the development of solar cell devices with efficiency comparable to or better than that of conventional solar cells. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of SS-FDSSCs was improved by embedding MOF-801 into a mesoporous-TiO2 (mp-TiO2) layer, which was used as a photoanode in SS-FDSSCs, which are inherently flexible. The PCE of the MOF-integrated SS-FDSSCs was 6.50%, which is comparable to that of the reference devices (4.19%). The MOF-801 enhanced SS-FDSSCs decreased the series resistance (Rs) value, resulting in effective electron extraction with improved short-circuit current density (JSC), while also increasing the shunt resistance (Rsh) value to prevent the recombination of photo-induced electrons. The result is an improved fill factor and, consequently, a higher value for the PCE.

Supplementary Figure 1. Specific infection of Telomescan Supplementary Figure 2. Validity of the number of CTCs in the peritumoral regions Supplementary Figure 3. Comparison of the tumorigenic and metastatic properties of GFP- and RFP-expressing 4T1 cells Supplementary Table 1. Isolated nodules categorized into 3 groups Supplementary Table 2. Mice injected with a mixture of GFP- and RFP-positive

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Clusters of circulating tumor cells (CTC) exhibit more robust metastatic properties than single CTC. Thus, understanding the distinct behaviors of CTC clusters and how CTC clustering is regulated may offer new insights into how to limit metastasis. In this study, we utilized an in vivo confocal system to observe the clustering behavior of CTC in real time, finding that the number of clusters increased proportionally with the growth of the primary tumor. Our experiments also indicated that the flow rate of the CTC clusters in blood vessels was relatively slower than single CTC due to increased vessel wall adhesion. Depending on disease stage, 5% to 10% of total CTC in circulation were in clusters, with this proportion increasing to >24% within lung metastases examined. Notably, in the 4T1 mouse model of breast cancer metastasis, we found that injecting host animals with urokinase-type plasminogen activator, a clinical thrombolytic agent, was effective at preventing the assembly of CTC clusters and prolonging overall host survival by approximately 20% relative to control animals. Our results suggest a tractable approach to limit metastasis by suppressing the formation or stability of CTC clusters circulating in the blood of cancer patients. Cancer Res; 75(21); 4474–82. ©2015 AACR.

Foot pain is a common musculoskeletal disorder. Orthotic insoles are widely used in patients with foot pain. Inexperienced clinicians have difficulty prescribing orthotic insoles appropriately by considering various factors associated with the alteration of foot alignment. We attempted to develop deep-learning algorithms that can automatically prescribe orthotic insoles to patients with foot pain and assess their accuracy. In total, 838 patients were included in this study; 70% (n = 586) and 30% (n = 252) were used as the training and validation sets, respectively. The resting calcaneal stance position and data related to pelvic elevation, pelvic tilt, and pelvic rotation were used as input data for developing the deep-learning algorithms for insole prescription. The target data were the foot posture index for the modified root technique and the necessity of heel lift, entire lift, and lateral wedge, medial wedge, and calcaneocuboid arch supports. In the results, regarding the foot posture index for the modified root technique, for the left foot, the mean absolute error (MAE) and root mean square error (RMSE) of the validation dataset for the developed model were 1.408 and 3.365, respectively. For the right foot, the MAE and RMSE of the validation dataset for the developed model were 1.601 and 3.549, respectively. The accuracies for heel lift, entire lift, and lateral wedge, medial wedge, and calcaneocuboid arch supports were 89.7%, 94.8%, 72.2%, 98.4%, and 79.8%, respectively. The micro-average area under the receiver operating characteristic curves for heel lift, entire lift, and lateral wedge, medial wedge, and calcaneocuboid arch supports were 0.949, 0.941, 0.826, 0.792, and 0.827, respectively. In conclusion, our deep-learning models automatically prescribed orthotic insoles in patients with foot pain and showed outstanding to acceptable accuracy.

Microfluidic impedance cytometry has been demonstrated as an effective platform for single cell analysis, taking advantage of microfabricated features and dielectric cell sensing methods. In this study, we present a simple microfluidic device to improve the sensitivity, accuracy, and throughput of single suspension cell viability analysis using vertical sidewall electrodes fabricated by a widely accessible negative manufacturing method. A microchannel milled through a 75 µm platinum wire, which was embedded into poly-methyl-methacrylate (PMMA), created a pair of parallel vertical sidewall platinum electrodes. Jurkat cells were interrogated in a custom low-conductivity buffer (1.2 ± 0.04 mS/cm) to reduce current leakage and increase device sensitivity. Confirmed by live/dead staining and electron microscopy, a single optimum excitation frequency of 2 MHz was identified at which live and dead cells were discriminated based on the disruption in the cell membrane associated with cell death. At this frequency, live cells were found to exhibit changes in the impedance phase with no appreciable change in magnitude, while dead cells displayed the opposite behavior. Correlated with video microscopy, a computational algorithm was created that could identify cell detection events and determine cell viability status by application of a mathematical correlation method.