The capture of circulating tumor cells by Labyrinth system as a tool for early stage lung cancer detection

ObjectivesWe focus on utilizing the Labyrinth system for the detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in patients with lung nodules. Our aim is to evaluate CTCs isolated through the Labyrinth system as a biomarker for early-stage lung cancer (LC) detection.Methods167 patients with low dose computed tomography (LDCT) diagnostic results for lung nodules and 31 healthy volunteers (HV) were enrolled. Blood samples were processed for CTC detection. LDCT positive (LDCT+) patients underwent surgery and were categorized into those with LC and those with benign lung diseases (BLD) based on their biopsy results. BLD Patients, LDCT negative (LDCT-) patients and HV served as controls. The correlation of CTC counts with LC, BLD, LDCT- and HV was investigated. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to assess the Labyrinth system’s diagnostic potential for early-stage LC.ResultsMedian CTC counts for LC, BLD, LDCT- and HV were 2.7 CTC/mL, 0.6 CTC/mL, 0.4 CTC/mL, 0 CTC/mL, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated CTC counts could distinguish LC from BLD, LDCT- and HV (p-Values < 0.001). Using a cut-off of 1 CTC/mL, the study showed 84.4% sensitivity and 82.4% specificity for LDCT+ patients. Specificity increased to 85.9% for patients with lung nodules and 88.2% for all participants. In conclusion, CTCs detected by the Labyrinth system can serve as a biomarker for early-stage LC detection for patients with lung nodules.ConclusionsCTCs identified by the Labyrinth system are a promising biomarker for early-stage LC detection in clinical practice

A novel silicon carbide plate-fin heat exchanger and its thermal and hydraulic performance for SOFC cathode air preheater application

This paper focuses on a novel silicon carbide (SiC) plate-fin heat exchanger (PFHE) for the cathode air preheater application of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs). An innovative assembly method and a reliable connection structure with the system's metal pipelines were proposed, and then a prototype of the SiC PFHE with offset strip fins was developed. Additionally, a performance testing apparatus for the SOFC cathode air preheater was built. Based on this testing setup, experimental studies and application validation on the heat transfer and flow characteristics of the SiC PFHE were conducted. Finally, the application prospect of SiC PFHE in SOFC systems was further evaluated and compared with metallic plate heat exchangers. The results indicate that the assembly structure and test procedure of the SiC PFHE not only realize the reliable high temperature sealing, but also effectively reduce the thermal stress of SiC ceramic material. Essential parameters such as overall heat transfer coefficient, Colburn factor, and friction factor reveal consistent trends with existing literature under various operating conditions at average Reynolds number in the range from 84 to 361. The SiC PFHE has significant advantages in upper operating temperature limit and high temperature structural integrity and reliability

Challenging the Stateless Quo of Programmable Switches

© 2020 ACM. Programmable switches based on the Protocol Independent Switch Architecture (PISA) have greatly enhanced the flexibility of today's networks by allowing new packet protocols to be deployed without any hardware changes. They have also been instrumental in enabling a new computing paradigm in which parts of an application's logic run within the network core (in-network computing). The characteristics and requirements of in/-network applications, however, are quite different from those of packet protocols for which programmable switches were originally designed. Packet protocols are typically stateless, while in-network applications require frequent operations on shared state maintained in the switch. This mismatch increases the developing complexity of in-network computing and hampers widespread adoption. In this paper, we describe the key obstacles to developing in-network applications on PISA and propose rethinking the current switch architecture. Rather than changing the existing architecture, we propose augmenting it with a Stateful Data Plane (SDP). The SDP supports the requirements of stateful applications, while the conventional data plane (CDP) performs packet-protocol functions