Background Suicide gene therapy for malignant gliomas has shown encouraging results in the latest clinical trials. However, prodrug application was most often restricted to short-term treatment (14 days), especially when replication-defective vectors were used. We previously showed that a substantial fraction of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) transduced tumor cells survive ganciclovir (GCV) treatment in an orthotopic glioblastoma (GBM) xenograft model. Here we analyzed whether these TK+ tumor cells are still sensitive to prodrug treatment and whether prolonged prodrug treatment can enhance treatment efficacy. Methods Glioma cells positive for TK and green fluorescent protein (GFP) were sorted from xenograft tumors recurring after suicide gene therapy, and their sensitivity to GCV was tested in vitro. GBM xenografts were treated with HSV-TK/GCV, HSV-TK/valganciclovir (valGCV), or HSV-TK/valGCV + erlotinib. Tumor growth was analyzed by MRI, and survival as well as morphological and molecular changes were assessed. Results TK-GFP+ tumor cells from recurrent xenograft tumors retained sensitivity to GCV in vitro. Importantly, a prolonged period (3 mo) of prodrug administration with valganciclovir (valGCV) resulted in a significant survival advantage compared with short-term (3 wk) application of GCV. Recurrent tumors from the treatment groups were more invasive and less angiogenic compared with primary tumors and showed significant upregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression. However, double treatment with the EGFR inhibitor erlotinib did not increase therapeutic efficacy. Conclusion Long-term treatment with valGCV should be considered as a replacement for short-term treatment with GCV in clinical trials of HSV-TK mediated suicide gene therapy.
The correlation between the antennas of multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) systems in limited spaces and size degrades the performance and capacity by either using complex coupling or decoupling structures. For isolation improvement, this paper presents the simple design of a compact high-isolation ultra-wideband (UWB) MIMO antenna with a circular parasitic element at the back side of the radiating patch, thereby creating the reverse coupling and helping reduce the mutual coupling at the upper part of the frequency bands, and a small rectangular notch at the ground plane to extend the impedance bandwidth of the monopole antenna. This approach eliminates the use of complex coupling or decoupling structures and complex feeding networks. A novel feature of our design is that the MIMO antenna exhibits a very low envelope correlation coefficient (ECC < 0.007) with high diversity gain (DG > 9.99) and wide impedance bandwidth of 139 % from 3.1 to 17.5 GHz applicable for not only UWB application, but also next generation wireless communication, 5G. The high peak gain over the entire UWB and the upper part of the overall frequency band ensure that the antenna can be used in MIMO applications owing to the close agreement between the simulated and measured results.
Interference between ultrawideband (UWB) antennas and other narrowband communication systems has spurred growth in designing UWB antennas with notch characteristics and complicated designs consisting of irregular etched slots and larger physical size. This article presents a simplified notched design method for existing UWB antennas exhibiting four frequency-band-rejecting characteristics. The investigation has been conducted by introducing four semicircular U-shaped slot structures based on a theoretical formulation. The formulation is validated with the equivalent LC lumped parameters responsible for yielding the notched frequency. A novel feature of our approach is that the frequency notch can be adjusted to the desired values by changing the radial length based on the value calculated using a derived formula for each semietched U-slot, which is very simple in structure and design. Additionally, by introducing the rectangular notch at the ground plane, the upper passband spectrum is suppressed while maintaining the wide impedance bandwidth of the antenna applicable for next-generation wireless communications, 5G. The measured result shows that the antenna has a wide impedance bandwidth of 149% from 2.9 to 20 GHz, apart from the four-notched frequencies at 3.49, 3.92, 4.57, and 5.23 GHz for a voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) of <2 rejecting the Worldwide Interoperability for microwave Access (WiMAX) band at (3.38-3.7 GHz), the European C-band at (3.84-4.29 GHz), the Indian national satellite (INSAT) at (4.47-4.92 GHz), and wireless local area networks (WLANs) at (5.09-5.99 GHz). Measured and simulated experimental results reveal that the antenna exhibits nearly an omnidirectional pattern in the passband, low gain at the stopband, and good radiation efficiency within a frequency range. The LC equivalent notched frequency has been proposed by analyzing the L and C equivalent formula, and it has been validated with simulated and measured results. The measurement and simulated results correspond well at the LC equivalent notch band rejecting the existing narrowband systems.
This paper describes a novel feed system for compact, wideband, high gain six-slot Vivaldi antenna arrays on a single substrate layer using a unique combination of power splitters based on binary T-junction power splitter topology, frequency-independent phase shifter, and a T-branch. The proposed antenna system consists of six Vivaldi antennas, three on the left, and three on the right arm. Each arm connects with T-junction power divider splitter topology, given that the right arm is linked through a frequency-independent phase shifter. Phase shifters ensure that the beam is symmetrical without splitting in a radiating plane so that highly directive radiation patterns occur. The optimal return losses (S-parameters) are well enriched by reforming Vivaldi’s feeding arms and optimizing Vivaldi slots and feeds. A novel feature of our design is that the antenna exhibits the arrangements of a T-junction power splitter with an out-of-phase feeding mechanism in one of the arms, followed by a T-branching feeding to even arrays of proper Vivaldi antenna arrangement contributing high realized gain and front-to-back ratio up to 14.12 dBi and 23.23 dB respectively applicable for not only ultra-wideband (UWB) application, also for sensing and position detecting. The high directivity over the entire UWB frequency band in both higher and lower frequency ranges ensures that the antenna can be used in microwave through-wall imaging along with resolution imaging for ground penetration radar (GPR) applications. The fabricated antenna parameters are in close agreement with the simulated and measured results and are deployed for the detection of targets inside the voids of the concrete brick.
Recently, wireless telecommunication networks have become a promising alternative for rainfall measuring instruments that complement existing monitoring devices. Due to big dataset of rainfall and telecommunication networks data, empirical computational methods are less adequate representation of the actual data. Therefore, deep learning models are proposed for the analysis of big data and give more accurate representation of real measurements. In this study, we investigated rainfall monitoring results from experimental measurements and deep learning approaches such as artificial neural networks and long short-term memory. The experimental setups were in South Korea over terrestrial and satellite links, and in Ethiopia over terrestrial link for different frequency bands and link distances. The received signal level and rainfall data measurement covered four years in South Korea and the data were sampled at intervals of 10 seconds. In Ethiopia, the data were recorded over 10 months and sampled at intervals of 15 minutes. The received signal power data were used to derive the rainfall rate distribution and compared to actual rainfall measurements over the same time periods. Our results demonstrate that the proposed deep learning-based models generally have a good fit with the measured rainfall rates. The rainfall rate generated from terrestrial links was a better fit to the actual rainfall rate data than that generated from satellite links.
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