Liquid biopsy genotyping in lung cancer: ready for clinical utility?

Liquid biopsy is a blood test that detects evidence of cancer cells or tumor DNA in the circulation. Despite complicated collection methods and the requirement for technique-dependent platforms, it has generated substantial interest due, in part, to its potential to detect driver oncogenes such as epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutants in lung cancer. This technology is advancing rapidly and is being incorporated into numerous EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) development programs. It appears ready for integration into clinical care. Recent studies have demonstrated that biological fluids such as saliva and urine can also be used for detecting EGFR mutant DNA through application other user-friendly techniques. This review focuses on the clinical application of liquid biopsies to lung cancer genotyping, including EGFR and other targets of genotype-directed therapy and compares multiple platforms used for liquid biopsy

Low Intensity of Running Favors for Anabolic Response after Resistance Exercise

Purpose: Whether active or passive recovery after resistance exercise may affect anabolic and catabolic response is not clear. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of active (moderate or low intensity running) and passive (rest) recovery after resistance exercise on testosterone, cortisol and testosterone/cortisol ratio (T/C) responses. Methods: By counter-balanced design, nine recreationally active males (age: 23.89 ± 0.86 yrs of age; height: 172.89 ± 1.30 cm; weight: 68.37 ± 2.72 kg; VO2max: 56.56 ± 1.70 ml/kg/min) completed three tests including: 65% VO2max running (moderate intensity, RM), 40% VO2max running (low intensity, RL) and passive rest (RR) following 3sets of four resistance exercises (bench press, leg extension, front lat pulldown and leg curl, 12 repetitions at 60%1RM with 2min rest among all sets and exercises). In order to evaluate the systemic anabolic status, we measured plasma testosterone, cortisol and T/C ratio before resistance exercise (baseline), immediately after either active or passive recovery (post), and 30min after recovery (rest). Results: In RM group, T/C was significantly lower (decrease 18.5%, p\u3c.05) than baseline at rest. In RL group, T/C was significantly higher (increase 79.1% at post and increase 123.2% at rest, p\u3c.05) than baseline at post and rest, respectively. At rest, the T/C of RL was higher than RM (RM: 0.49 ± 0.12, RL: 1.08 ± 0.19, p\u3c.05). Conclusions: Resistance exercise and low intensity aerobic exercise is more favorable to enhance anabolic response during post-exercise recovery

A Simple Model for Cavity Enhanced Slow Lights in Vertical Cavity Surface Emission Lasers

We develop a simple model for the slow lights in Vertical Cavity Surface Emission Lasers (VCSELs), with the combination of cavity and population pulsation effects. The dependences of probe signal power, injection bias current and wavelength detuning for the group delays are demonstrated numerically and experimentally. Up to 65 ps group delays and up to 10 GHz modulation frequency can be achieved in the room temperature at the wavelength of 1.3 $\mu$m. The most significant feature of our VCSEL device is that the length of active region is only several $\mu$m long. Based on the experimental parameters of quantum dot VCSEL structures, we show that the resonance effect of laser cavity plays a significant role to enhance the group delays

Security weaknesses in two multi-server password based authentication protocols

In 2004 and 2005, Tsaur et al. proposed a smart card based password authentication schemes for multi-server environments, respectively. They claimed that their protocols are safe and can withstand various kinds of attacks. However, after analysis, we found their schemes each have some secure loopholes. In this article, we will show the security flaws in these two protocols

Donorâ Acceptorâ Acceptor’s Molecules for Vacuumâ Deposited Organic Photovoltaics with Efficiency Exceeding 9%

Three vacuumâ deposited donorâ acceptorâ acceptor (dâ aâ a’) small molecule donors are studied with different side chains attached to an asymmetric heterotetracene donor block for use in high efficiency organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The donor with an isobutyl side chain yields the highest crystal packing density compared to molecules with 2â ethylhexyl or nâ butyl chains, leading to the largest absorption coefficient and short circuit current in an OPV. It also exhibits a higher fill factor, consistent with its preferred outâ ofâ plane molecular Ï â Ï stacking arrangement that facilitates charge transport in the direction perpendicular to the substrate. A power conversion efficiency of 9.3 ± 0.5% is achieved under 1 sun intensity, AM 1.5 G simulated solar illumination, which is significantly higher than 7.5 ± 0.4% of the other two molecules. These results indicate that side chain modification of dâ aâ a’ small molecules offers an effective approach to control the crystal packing configuration, thereby improving the device performance.Three vacuumâ deposited donorâ acceptorâ acceptor’s small molecule donors with different alkyl chain configurations (R1â R3) are synthesized and characterized to understand the side chain effect on organic photovoltaic (OPV) performance. The donor with an isobutyl (R3) chain yields the highest crystal packing density and largest short circuit current among the three molecules. Its preferred faceâ on molecular stacking orientation on the substrate leads to the highest fill factor. The optimized OPV structure achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) = 9.3 ± 0.5%.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144608/1/aenm201703603.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144608/2/aenm201703603-sup-0001-S1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144608/3/aenm201703603_am.pd

Short-Term High-Dose Vitamin C and E Supplementation Attenuates Muscle Damage and Inflammatory Responses to Repeated Taekwondo Competitions: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial

Background: Exercise-induced muscle damage during intensive sport events is a very common issue in sport medicine. Therefore, the purpose is to investigate the effects of short-term high-dose vitamin C and E supplementation on muscle damage, hemolysis, and inflammatory responses to simulated competitive Olympic Taekwondo (TKD) matches in elite athletes. Methods: Using a randomized placebo-controlled and double-blind study design, eighteen elite male TKD athletes were weight-matched and randomly assigned into either a vitamin C and E group (Vit C+E; N = 9) or placebo group (PLA; N = 9). Vit C+E or PLA supplements were taken daily (Vit C+E: 2000 mg/d vitamin C; 1400 U/d vitamin E) for 4 days (3 days before and on competition day) before taking part in 4 consecutive TKD matches on a single day. Plasma samples were obtained before each match and 24-hours after the first match for determination of markers of muscle damage, hemolysis, and systemic inflammatory state. Results: Myoglobin was lower in the Vit C+E group, compared to PLA, during the match day (area under curve, AUC -47.0% vs. PLA, p = 0.021). Plasma creatine kinase was lower in the Vit C+E group (AUC -57.5% vs. PLA, p = 0.017) and hemolysis was lower in the Vit C+E group (AUC -40.5% vs. PLA, p = 0.034). Conclusions: We demonstrated that short-term (4-days) vitamin C and E supplementation effectively attenuated exercise-induced tissue damage and inflammatory response during and after successive TKD matches

Temporal Arteritis

Temporal arteritis, a chronic inflammatory vasculitis involving medium- and large-sized arteries, has rarely been reported in Asia. However, we report 2 cases, in which the patients initially presented with headache. Physical examination disclosed engorged, hard and palpable vessels in the temporal areas. Temporal-artery biopsy revealed 2 different types of arteritis: the multinucleated giant cell type and the panarteritis type without multinucleated giant cells. One patient was positive for immunoglobulin G anticardiolipin antibody. The pathologic findings of the different subsets of temporal arteritis, and the relationship between anticardiolipin antibody and the extent of vascular complications of temporal arteritis, are discussed

A Simple Noncommutative UOV Scheme

In this paper, we propose a simple noncommutative-ring based UOV signature scheme with key-randomness alignment: Simple NOVA, which can be viewed as a simplified version of NOVA[48]. We simplify the design of NOVA by skipping the perturbation trick used in NOVA, thus shortens the key generation process and accelerates the signing and verification. Together with a little modification accordingly, this alternative version of NOVA is also secure and may be more suitable for practical uses. We also use Magma to actually implement and give a detailed security analysis against known major attacks

NOVA, a Noncommutative-ring Based Unbalanced Oil and Vinegar Signature Scheme with Key-randomness Alignment

In this paper, we propose a noncommutative-ring based unbalanced oil and vinegar signature scheme with key-randomness alignment: NOVA (Noncommutative Oil and Vinegar with Alignment). Instead of fields or even commutative rings, we show that noncommutative rings can be used for algebraic cryptosystems. At the same or better level of security requirement, NOVA has a much smaller public key than UOV (Unbalanced Oil and Vinegar), which makes NOVA practical in most situations. We use Magma to actually implement and give a detailed security analysis against known major attacks