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Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), an extremely invasive and high-grade (grade IV) glioma, is the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer. It has a poor prognosis, with a median overall survival of only 11 months in the general GBM population and 14.6 to 21 months in clinical trial participants with standard GBM therapies, including maximum safe craniotomy, adjuvant radiation, and chemotherapies. Therefore, new approaches for developing effective treatments, such as a tool for assessing tumor cell drug response before drug treatments are administered, are urgently needed to improve patient survival. To address this issue, we developed an improved brain cancer chip with a diffusion prevention mechanism that blocks drugs crossing from one channel to another. In the current study, we demonstrate that the chip has the ability to culture 3D spheroids from patient tumor specimen-derived GBM cells obtained from three GBM patients. Two clinical drugs used to treat GBM, temozolomide (TMZ) and bevacizumab (Avastin, BEV), were applied and a range of relative concentrations was generated by the microfluidic channels in the brain cancer chip. The results showed that TMZ works more effectively when used in combination with BEV compared to TMZ alone. We believe that this low-cost brain cancer chip could be further developed to generate optimal combination of chemotherapy drugs tailored to individual GBM patients.

Stressed steel tendons have been used to strengthen hydraulic structures and to improve their serviceability and stability. Over the past three decades, the US Army Corps of Engineers has worked to upgrade its projects by installing high-capacity, post-tensioned foundation anchors. The goal has been to achieve structural stability for Corps hydraulic concrete structures and/or to remediate cracked concrete monoliths. Substantial improvements to protect multistrand anchor systems from corrosion have been made since they were first used at Corps projects more the 50 years ago. Corrosion of older multistrand units is of concern.Researchers at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) are looking to develop engineering procedures to estimate the current state of load-carrying capacity of the ground anchorage, to estimate remaining life of the tendon, and to establish the deterioration of anchorage capacity (with time) so costly replacement of ground anchorage can be delayed until absolutely needed. Analytical, laboratory, and field-testing efforts will be used to develop a methodology and analytical models. Probabilistic procedures will be used to quantify uncertainties for the primary variables and will be carried into the analytical model. Procedures to extend the life of deteriorating multistrand tendons also will be investigated.A review of Corps projects using multistrand anchors and a literature review of corrosion of the anchors are summarized in this report. Also included are the history and performance of the multistrand anchors at the John Day Navigation Lock (Columbia River, Portland District), along with postinstallation lift-off test results. A summary of a review of nondestructive testing (NDT) to identify defects in the anchors is part of this report, too.

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