Elevated fatty acid synthase (FASN) has been reported in both androgen-dependent and -independent prostate cancers. Conventional treatment for prostate cancer is radiotherapy (RT); however, the following radiation-induced radioresistance often causes treatment failure. Upstream proteins of FASN such as Akt and NF-κB are found increased in the radioresistant prostate cancer cells. Nevertheless, whether inhibition of FASN could improve RT outcomes and reverse radiosensitivity of prostate cancer cells is still unknown. Here, we hypothesised that orlistat, a FASN inhibitor, could improve RT outcomes in prostate cancer. Orlistat treatment significantly reduced the S phase population in both androgen-dependent and -independent prostate cancer cells. Combination of orlistat and RT significantly decreased NF-κB activity and related downstream proteins in both prostate cancer cells. Combination effect of orlistat and RT was further investigated in both LNCaP and PC3 tumour-bearing mice. Combination treatment showed the best tumour inhibition compared to that of orlistat alone or RT alone. These results suggest that prostate cancer treated by conventional RT could be improved by orlistat via inhibition of FASN.

BackgroundTo compare the RapidArc plan for primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with 3-D conformal radiotherapy (3DCRT) and intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans using dosimetric analysis.MethodsNine patients with unresectable HCC were enrolled in this study. Dosimetric values for RapidArc, IMRT, and 3DCRT were calculated for total doses of 45~50.4 Gy using 1.8 Gy/day. The parameters included the conformal index (CI), homogeneity index (HI), and hot spot (V107%) for the planned target volume (PTV) as well as the monitor units (MUs) for plan efficiency, the mean dose (Dmean) for the organs at risk (OAR) and the maximal dose at 1% volume (D1%) for the spinal cord. The percentage of the normal liver volume receiving ≥ 40, > 30, > 20, and > 10 Gy (V40 Gy, V30 Gy, V20 Gy, and V10 Gy) and the normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) were also evaluated to determine liver toxicity.ResultsAll three methods achieved comparable homogeneity for the PTV. RapidArc achieved significantly better CI and V107% values than IMRT or 3DCRT (p < 0.05). The MUs were significantly lower for RapidArc (323.8 ± 60.7) and 3DCRT (322.3 ± 28.6) than for IMRT (1165.4 ± 170.7) (p < 0.001). IMRT achieved a significantly lower Dmean of the normal liver than did 3DCRT or RapidArc (p = 0.001). 3DCRT had higher V40 Gy and V30 Gy values for the normal liver than did RapidArc or IMRT. Although the V10 Gy to the normal liver was higher with RapidArc (75.8 ± 13.1%) than with 3DCRT or IMRT (60.5 ± 10.2% and 57.2 ± 10.0%, respectively; p < 0.01), the NTCP did not differ significantly between RapidArc (4.38 ± 2.69) and IMRT (3.98 ± 3.00) and both were better than 3DCRT (7.57 ± 4.36) (p = 0.02).ConclusionsRapidArc provided favorable tumor coverage compared with IMRT or 3DCRT, but RapidArc is not superior to IMRT in terms of liver protection. Further studies are needed to establish treatment outcome differences between the three approaches.

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BackgroundRecent refinements of lung MRI techniques have reduced the examination time and improved diagnostic sensitivity and specificity. We conducted a study to assess the feasibility of MRI for the detection of primary lung cancer in asymptomatic individuals.MethodsA retrospective chart review was performed on images of lung parenchyma, which were extracted from whole-body MRI examinations between October 2000 and December 2007. 11,766 consecutive healthy individuals (mean age, 50.4 years; 56.8% male) were scanned using one of two 1.5-T scanners (Sonata and Sonata Maestro, Siemens Medical Solutions, Erlangen, Germany). The standard protocol included a quick whole-lung survey with T2-weighted 2-dimensional half Fourier acquisition single shot turbo spin echo (HASTE) and 3-dimensional volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE). Total examination time was less than 10 minutes, and scanning time was only 5 minutes. Prompt referrals and follow-ups were arranged in cases of suspicious lung nodules.ResultsA total of 559 individuals (4.8%) had suspicious lung nodules. A total of 49 primary lung cancers were diagnosed in 46 individuals: 41 prevalence cancers and 8 incidence cancers. The overall detection rate of primary lung cancers was 0.4%. For smokers aged 51 to 70 years, the detection rate was 1.4%. TNM stage I disease accounted for 37 (75.5%). The mean size of detected lung cancers was 1.98 cm (median, 1.5 cm; range, 0.5-8.2 cm). The most histological types were adenocarcinoma in 38 (77.6%).ConclusionRapid zero-dose MRI can be used for lung cancer detection in a healthy population.

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Abstract-Inferring human activity is often achieved using specialized sensors and beacons such as accelerometers, pedometers and motion sensors on wireless nodes. These sensor nodes compose a Wireless Sensor Network in a coordinated way. However, these sensors are too expensive for large deployment, which affects performance. In addition, the transmission accuracy of wireless communications suffers from radio irregularities caused by obstacles such as human bodies in the environment. The human body selectively reflects, diffracts and scatters the radio signal which affects the received signal strength. This paper presents an approach to detecting human activity using fluctuations in the received signal strength. These fluctuations are detected using an overcomplete dictionary based pattern recognition algorithm. Performance results are presented which show that the proposed system has an accuracy of 86% in detecting human activity. Moreover, the detection algorithm can be implemented in software without modifying the existing infrastructure. As result, this is a promising technology for security and surveillance applications.