The Influence of Closed-Cell W-Shaped Liner Parameters on the Penetration Performance of Integral Annular Shaped Charge.

To further enhance the hole-opening ability of the metal jet formed by the annular shaped charge on the armored steel target, a new annular shaped charge structure of a closed-cell W-shaped charge liner is designed based on a certain penetration depth. The impact of the length-diameter ratio of the charge, the inverted cone angle, and the cone angle of the liner on the opening diameter of the annular metal jet are studied through the orthogonal optimization of the annular shaped charge structures carried out by numerical simulation, which shows that the inverted cone angle and the cone angle of the liner are among the main factors that affect penetration depth and the opening diameter of the annular jet, respectively. According to this, an optimum annular charge structure considering both penetration depth and opening diameter is designed and tested by experiments. According to the results, the optimized annular jet records an opening diameter of 0.83 CD (Charge Diameter) when it penetrates the armored steel target with a thickness of 0.53 CD. The experimental results are consistent with the numerical simulation. The research results have certain practical engineering significance for guiding the design of the front-stage annular shaped charge structure of the multi-effect destructive warhead.

Study on the Penetration Power of ZrO2 Toughened Al2O3 Ceramic Composite Projectile into Ceramic Composite Armor.

This work aims to improve the penetration ability of a 14.5 mm standard armor-piercing projectile into ceramic/armor steel (Al2O3/RHA) composite armor. To this end, ZrO2 toughened Al2O3(ZTA) is prepared as the material for bullet tips, utilizing in situ solidification injection molding that is realized via ceramic dispersant hydrolytic degradation. The penetration power of ZTA ceramic composite projectile, compared with standard armor, against 15 mm armor steel (RHA) and 30 mm Al2O3/RHA composite armor, is studied by ballistics testing combined with numerical simulation. The Tate theory is optimized and then employed to calculate the penetration depth and bullet core's residual mass when ZTA ceramic composite projectile penetrates into Al2O3/RHA composite armor. The results show that when penetrating RHA of 15 mm, the penetration area of ZTA ceramic composite projectile into RHA increases by 27.59% and the exit area by 42.93%. While the standard projectile fails to penetrate the 30 mm Al2O3/RHA composite armor, the ZTA ceramic composite armor-piercing projectile succeeds, with the mass loss reduced by 66.67% over the standard one. The ZTA ceramic composite bullet has a better performance than the standard bullet in penetrating RHA and Al2O3/RHA composite armors. The test results, simulation, and theoretical analysis are consistent. This study has practical values for engineering applications to design new ceramic composite bullets.

Prognostic Significance of Membranous Carbonic Anhydrase IX Expression in Patients with Nonmetastatic Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma of Different Tumor Stages.

Background: There are paradoxical results regarding whether carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) is a prognostic biomarker for patients with clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC). The objective of this study was to evaluate prognostic significance of CAIX in nonmetastatic ccRCC patients of different stages. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective study on 1263 patients with nonmetastatic ccRCC from January 2005 to June 2018. Patients were stratified into eight subgroups (pT1a, pT1b, pT2a, pT2b, pT3a, pT3b, pT3c, and pT4) according to the 2016 TNM classification system. Immunohistochemical staining of membranous CAIX was quantified. Cancer-specific survival (CSS) rates in patients with high (>85%) and low (<85%) CAIX expressions were compared by Kaplan-Meier curves with log-rank test. Results: There were 220 tumors (17.42%) with low CAIX expression and 1043 tumors (82.58%) with high CAIX expression. The cumulative CSS rates were statistically significant between all patients with low and high CAIX expression (p-value <0.001). In pT2a, pT2b, and pT3a subgroups, the patients with low CAIX expression exhibited markedly decreased cumulative CSS rates compared to patients with high CAIX expression (p-value <0.05). Univariable and multivariable Cox regression analysis showed that CAIX expression was an independent predictor of prognosis in patients with pT2a, pT2b, and pT3a ccRCC (p-value <0.05), rather than in all nonmetastatic patients. Conclusion: CAIX expression is of independent prognostic value for ccRCC patients in pT2a, pT2b, and pT3a stages. CAIX expression combined with tumor stage would further improve risk stratification of nonmetastatic ccRCC patients and provide directions for therapies.

Study on the Penetration Performance of a 5.8 mm Ceramic Composite Projectile.

The penetration ability of a 5.8 mm standard projectile can be improved by inserting a ZrO2 ceramic ball with high hardness, high temperature, and pressure resistance at its head. Thereby, a ceramic composite projectile can be formed. A depth of penetration (DOP) experiment and numerical simulation were conducted under the same condition to study the armor-piercing effectiveness of a standard projectile and ceramic composite projectile on 10 mm Rolled Homogeneous Armor (RHA) and ceramic/Kevlar composite armor, respectively. The results show that both the ceramic composite and standard projectiles penetrated the armor steel target at the same velocity (850 m/s). The perforated areas of the former (φ5 mm & φ2 mm) were 2.32 and 2.16 times larger, respectively, than those of the latter. The residual core masses of these two projectiles (φ5 mm & φ2 mm) were enhanced by 30.45% and 22.23%. Both projectiles penetrated the ceramic/Kevlar composite armor at the same velocity (750 m/s). Compared with the standard projectile, the residual core masses of the ceramic composite one (Ø5 mm & Ø2 mm) were enhanced by 12.4% and 3.6%, respectively. This paper also analyzes the penetration mechanism of the ceramic composite projectile on target plates by calculating its impact pressure. The results show that the ceramic composite projectile outperformed the standard projectile in penetration tests. The research results are instructive in promoting the application of the ZrO2 ceramic composite in an armor-piercing projectile design.

Expression of miR-23a and miR-135 and tumor markers in gastric cancer patients and the significance in diagnosis.

Correlation between the expression of miR-23a and miR-135 and tumor markers in gastric cancer patients and their significance in diagnosis was investigated. A total of 78 patients with gastric cancer admitted to Dongying People's Hospital from July 2015 to June 2017 were enrolled, and 80 healthy patients were selected as the control group during the same period. The expression levels of miR-23a and miR-135 in the serum of the two groups were detected by RT-qPCR, and the expression levels of tumor markers CEA and carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199) were detected by ELISA. The receiver operating characteristic curve and area under the curve (AUC) were used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of miR-23a and miR-135 as diagnostic indicators. There was no significant difference between the observation and the control group (P>0.05). The expression levels of miR-23a and miR-135 in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The expression levels of CEA and CA199 in serum of patients in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). Pearson's correlation test showed that the expression levels of miR-23a and miR-135 were positively correlated with CEA and CA199 (P<0.05). The specificity, sensitivity and AUC of miR-23a in the diagnosis of gastric cancer were 67.95, 87.50 and 0.805%, respectively. The specificity, sensitivity and AUC of miR-135 in the diagnosis of gastric cancer were 73.08, 82.50 and 0.824%, respectively. Both could be used in the diagnosis of gastric cancer. In conclusion, miR-23a and miR-135 are highly expressed in gastric cancer patients and positively correlated with tumor markers, which can be used in diagnosis for gastric cancer.

Carcinogenic ability quantification of human papilloma virus subtypes in eastern China.

Human papilloma virus (HPV) infection is a precursor of cervical cancer. This study aimed to introduce a method to quantify the risk of cervical cancer resulting from infection by different HPV subtypes, to help guide patient treatment. Nucleic acid molecule flow-through hybridization and gene chip technology were used to test 6,510 non-cervical cancer healthy volunteers (≤CIN-I) and 204 cervical cancer patients (≥CIN-III) from Dongying City for 21 HPV subtypes (HPV-16, 18, 31, 33, 35, 39, 45, 51, 52, 56, 58, 59, 68, 6, 11, 42, 43, 44, 53, 66 and CP8304) in exfoliated cervical cells. The positive proportion of HPV subtypes was calculated, excluding or including patients with multiple subtype infections. The lower (L) and upper (H) limits of the carcinogenic risk score range were calculated, respectively. The values of carcinogenic index ± uncertainty in the carcinogenic ability (CI ± U) were also calculated. CI = (H + L)/2 represents the carcinogenic risk of the different subtypes, and U =(H - L)/2 represents the probability of each subtype being present in multiple infections. Infection rates were 15.87 and 96.57%, and HPV subtypes with high infection rates were HPV-16, 52, 58, 33, 18, and 31 and HPV-16, 31, 58, 18, 68, and 33 in the non-cervical cancer and cervical cancer groups, respectively. HPV subtypes with high risk of cervical cancer were HPV-31 (3.71 ± 0.68), 51 (2.65 ± 0.44), 18 (2.03 ± 0.43), 68 (1.76 ± 0.40), 58 (1.68 ± 0.49), and 16 (1.39 ± 0.33). We have provided a quantitative method for expressing HPV subtype carcinogenic risk.

Value of Combined Detection of Serum CEA, CA72-4, CA19-9 and TSGF in the Diagnosis of Gastric Cancer.

BACKGROUND: To explore whether combined detection of serum tumor markers (CEA, CA72-4, CA19-9 and TSGF) improve the sensitivity and accuracy in the diagnosis of gastric cancer (GC). MATERIALS AND METHODS: An automatic chemiluminescence immune analyzer with matched kits were used to determine the levels of serum CEA, CA72-4, CA19-9 and TSGF in 45 patients with gastric cancer (GC group), 40 patients with gastric benign diseases (GBD group) hospitalized in the same period and 30 healthy people undergoing a physical examination. The values of those 4 tumor markers in the diagnosis of gastric cancer was analyzed. RESULTS: The levels of serum CEA, CA72-4, CA19-9 and TSGF of the GC group were higher than those of the GBD group and healthy examined people and the differences were significant (P<0.001). The area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for single detection of CEA, CA72-4, CA19-9 and TSGF in the diagnosis of GC was 0.833, 0.805, 0.810 and 0.839, respectively. The optimal cutoff values for these 4 indices were 2.36 ng/mL, 3.06 U/mL, 5.72 U/ mL and 60.7 U/mL, respectively. With combined detection of tumor markers, the diagnostic power of those 4 indices was best, with an area under the ROC curve of 0.913 (95%CI 0.866~0.985), a sensitivity of 88.9% and a diagnostic accuracy of 90.4%. CONCLUSIONS: Combined detection of serum CEA, CA72-4, CA19-9 and TSGF increases the sensitivity and accuracy in diagnosis of GC, so it can be regarded as the important means for early diagnosis.