Adenovirus or naked plasmid DNA (pDNA) has been used to deliver the therapeutic gene into corpus cavernosum. However, the potential risks of viral vector and inefficiency of naked pDNA have limited their clinical application. In this study, water-soluble lipopolymer (WSLP) was evaluated as a gene carrier to corpus cavernosum. The WSLP/pDNA complex was transfected to smooth muscle cells in vitro. WSLP had high transfection efficiency, which was comparable to poly(ethylenimine) (PEI). In addition, WSLP had much less cytotoxicity than PEI, suggesting that WSLP is a safer carrier than PEI. To evaluate the transfection efficiency to corpus cavernosum, the WSLP/pDNA complex was injected into the rat corpus cavernosum. As a result, the WSLP/pDNA complex showed higher transfection efficiency than naked pDNA. In addition, the gene expression was dependent upon the dose of the complex. The results suggest that WSLP may be useful for gene therapy of erectile dysfunction.

We herein demonstrate a brain-inspired synaptic device using a poly(vinylidene fluoride) and trifluoroethylene (PVDF-TrFE)/silicon nanowire (Si NW) based ferroelectric field effect transistor (FeFET). The PVDF-TrFE/Si NW FeFET structure achieves reliable synaptic plasticity such as symmetrical potentiation and depression, thanks to the reversible dynamics of the PVDF-TrFE permanent dipole moment. The calculated asymmetric ratio of potentiation and depression is as low as 0.41 at the optimized bias condition, indicating a symmetrical synaptic plasticity behavior. Pattern recognition accuracy based on the actual synaptic plasticity data of the synaptic device can be estimated via the CrossSim simulation software. Our simulation result reveals a high pattern recognition accuracy of 85.1%, showing a potential feasibility for neuromorphic systems. Furthermore, the inverter-in-synapse transistor consisting of the Si NW FeFET synapse and resistor connected in series is able to provide energy-efficient logic circuits. A total noise margin [(NMH + NML)/VDD] of 41.6% is achieved, and the power consumption [Ps = VDD(ID,L + ID,H)/2] of the logic-in-synapse transistor is evaluated to be 0.6 µW per logic gate. This study would shed light on the way toward a brain-inspired neuromorphic computing system based on the FeFET synapse device.

Collaborative slide image viewing systems are becoming increasingly important in pathology applications such as telepathology and E-learning. Despite rapid advances in computing and imaging technology, current digital pathology systems have limited performance with respect to remote viewing of whole slide images on desktop or mobile computing devices. In this paper we present a novel digital pathology client-server system that supports collaborative viewing of multi-plane whole slide images over standard networks using multi-touch-enabled clients. Our system is built upon a standard HTTP web server and a MySQL database to allow multiple clients to exchange image and metadata concurrently. We introduce a domain-specific image-stack compression method that leverages real-time hardware decoding on mobile devices. It adaptively encodes image stacks in a decorrelated colour space to achieve extremely low bitrates (0.8 bpp) with very low loss of image quality. We evaluate the image quality of our compression method and the performance of our system for diagnosis with an in-depth user study.

Abstracts iii105 NEURO-ONCOLOGY • MAY 2017epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutation and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) translocation in 75 patients of lung cancer brain metastasis (LCBM) and molecular subtype of 33 patients of breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBM) at Seoul St. Mary's hospital between 2012 to 2016. RESULTS: The 50% of CCBM showed K-RAS mutation. The incidence of EGFR mutation and ALK translocation in LCBM were 34% and 16%, respectively. The proportions of luminal-A, luminal-B, Her-2 and triple negative subtypes of BCBM were 29%, 19%, 32% and 19%. The incidence of K-RAS mutation was higher (p=0.010) than primary colorectal cancer (32%). The incidence of EGFR mutation was equal, and the incidence of ALK translocation was significantly higher (p=0.011) than primary lung cancer (34% and 5%). And the proportions of Her-2 subtypes were significantly higher(p=0.000) and luminal-A subtypes was significantly lower (p=0.000) than primary breast cancer (10% and 62%). CONCLUSIONS: K-RAS mutation and ALK translocation elevates the metastatic potential of colorectal cancer and lung cancer, respectively. HER2-enriched breast cancer subtypes were associated with a significantly higher rate of brain metastasis. Luminal A subtypes was associated with a significantly lower rate of brain metastasis. This study sought to analyze the clinical features of gastric cancer and brain metastasis and prognostic factors for patient survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fourteen cases of histologically confirmed advanced gastric cancer with brain metastases treated at our center between January 1996 and June 2015 were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: The median patient age was 64 years (range 51-75 years), and half of the patients had poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) positivity by immunohistochemistry was observed in 5 patients. (35%) Ten patients had multiple brain lesions, and concurrent systemic metastases was found in 11 patients, commonly involving the liver. Twelve patients received steroids plus whole-brain radiation, and surgical resection of a single brain lesion was performed in 1 patient, who experienced a complete response. None of the patients received stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). The median survival after the detection of brain metastases was 12 weeks (range, 2-48.4 weeks). Univariate analysis revealed that poor survival was associated with increased levels of serum lactate dehydrogenase (p= 0.005), unfavorable performance status (p= 0.021), and worsening neurological function after treatment for brain metastasis (p= 0.007). In multivariate analysis, worsening neurological function after treatment for brain lesions (hazard ratio 5.5, 95% confidence interval 1.49-20.5, p= 0.011) was confirmed as a significant prognostic factor for poor survival. CONCLUSIONS: Deterioration in neurological function after treatment for brain metastases was an unfavorable prognostic factor for patient survival. HER-2 overexpression seems to be associated with higher risk ...