Overcoming resistance to radiation is a great challenge in cancer therapy. Here, we highlight that targeting valosin‐containing protein (VCP) improves radiation sensitivity in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) cell lines and show the potential of using VCP as a prognosis marker in locally advanced ESCC treated with radiation therapy. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cell lines with high VCP expression were treated with VCP inhibitor combined with radiotherapy. Cell proliferation, colony formation, cell death, and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling were evaluated. Moreover, patients with newly diagnosed locally advanced ESCC who were treated with radiotherapy were analyzed. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of VCP. The correlation between overall survival and VCP was investigated. Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma cells treated with VCP inhibitor and radiotherapy showed attenuated cell proliferation and colony formation and enhanced apoptosis. Further investigation showed this combined strategy activated the ER stress signaling involved in unfolded protein response, and inhibited the ER‐associated degradation (ERAD) pathway. Clinical analysis revealed a significant survival benefit in the low VCP expression group. Targeting VCP resulted in antitumor activity and enhanced the efficacy of radiation therapy in ESCC cells in vitro. Valosin‐containing protein is a promising and novel target. In patients with locally advanced ESCC who received radiotherapy, VCP can be considered as a useful prognostic indicator of overall survival. Valosin‐containing protein inhibitors could be developed for use as effective cancer therapies, in combination with radiation therapy.
Nondestructive testing of substation grounding grids is an issue that has increasing importance. The traditional EMI method transforms the condition of the undergrounding conductors to the surficial induced electric signal in the sensing coil. However, The EMI signals excited by multiple coexisted faults combining with other unknown noises surrounding the substation often cause the failure of detection. Therefore, the observed EMI signals rather complex and cannot be used directly. To address this problem, the separation of individual signatures from the mixture is posed as an SCBSS problem. To extract the induced signal, an EEMD-based EMI method is proposed. The desired signal is then reconstructed to visualize the structure of the grounding grids by a virtual instrument that consists of DAQ and digital signal processing modules. The numerical simulation and practical experiments are employed. The results show the proposed method can be used to effectively detect the topological structure of grounding grid in real substations' electromagnetic environment.INDEX TERMS Grounding grid, electromagnetic induction (EMI), ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), single channel blind source separation (SCBSS), nondestructive testing (NDT).
When attempting to detect faults in grounding grids, the electromagnetic induction method is hampered by the failure of fault diagnosis based on magnetic flux density detection. An electromagnetic induction impedance method is proposed to diagnose corrosion faults by detecting the induced impedance. A non-destructive testing prototype was developed. The sensor of the prototype consists of biaxial sensing coils, a frequency selection module, and a dual-channel synchronous demodulator. The biaxial sensing coils are configured as four identical coils forming a cross. This symmetrical structure realizes the detection of unknown topological structures in grounding grids. The frequency selection module improves the signal-to-noise ratio of the system. The digital demodulator synchronously extracts the phase information in two orthogonal directions. The key technical indicators of the prototype, such as the frequency characteristics, the amplitude accuracy, the phase accuracy, the interference resistance, and the amplitude consistency between channels are tested. Experiments were carried out on a real-size physical model, corroded samples, and an actual operating substation. The results confirm the feasibility of the method and the prototype for the detection of topological structures, disconnections, and faults in grounding grids.
A lock-in amplifier (LIA) is designed and optimized to recover weak magnetic signals from noise. The proposed LIA is based on phase-sensitive detection technique (PSD), obtain needed signal at the specific reference frequency and reject noise signals at other frequencies. A measurement system applies this LIA to operate at a particular reference frequency which avoids interferences. The application of the LIA is the weak magnetic signal detection in a high noise level environment. The desired signal is in voice frequency. In this system the LIA acts as a detector and programmable low pass filter combined. Experiments are performed to verify the feasibility of the LIA. The result of the test shows that very small signals can be detected in the presence of large amounts of uncorrelated noise when the frequency and phase of the desired signal are known.
Aim: Treatment schedules of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for patients with early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are varied. The aim of this study was to clarify the optimal biologically effective dose (BED) for the treatment of stage I NSCLC. Methods: Research findings published after 1990 detailing the effects of SBRT on early-stage NSCLC patients were compiled from the Medline, Embase, Web of Science and Cochrane Library. For comparative analyses, two groups were divided into moderate BED (100–150 Gy) and high BED (BED ≥150 Gy). Results: Two moderate BED studies and four high BED studies were selected for analysis. The results from the analysis of four moderate and high groups suggest that the 2-year local control rate was significantly lower in moderate BED group than that of high BED group (p = 0.04). Subgroup analysis by tumor size was also conducted. For patients with Stage IA disease, no difference in overall survival (OS) was found. No statistically significant difference was achieved in the instance of Stage IB tumor; however, the 2-year OS showed a trend in favor of high BED (p = 0.08). The remaining two studies, comparing 106 Gy (Stage IA) to 120-132 Gy (Stage IB) treatment, indicated a significantly higher 3-year OS in the 106 Gy group than that of 120–132 Gy group (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In patients with early-stage NSCLC treated with SBRT, our analyses suggested that a moderate BED, especially 106 Gy, is sufficient for the treatment of Stage IA tumor; although a high BED conferred no significant benefit to OS for the treatment of Stage IB tumor, a higher local control rate was achieved. Further detailed studies should be performed to explore the optimal BED for the treatment of Stage IB tumor.
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