IL-17A as a new circulating bioindicator for non-small cell lung cancer diagnosis and prognosis.

OBJECTIVE: Lung cancer (LC) is the highest contributor to cancer-associated mortality worldwide. Approximately 85% of all LC incidences involve non-small cell LC (NSCLC). Unfortunately, owing to a significant lack of sensitive and robust bioindicators, most patient diagnoses occur at advanced stages of the disease, thereby resulting in extremely poor patient outcomes. Herein, we elucidated the role of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) among NSCLC patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Circulating IL-17A content was measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and its diagnostic and prognostic abilities were assessed using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and Kaplan-Meier analysis, respectively. RESULTS: Our analysis revealed that circulating IL-17A levels were significantly augmented among NSCLC vs. control samples. Moreover, based on our area under the curve (AUC) analysis, circulating IL-17A levels fared considerably better than the standard bioindicator carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in both testing and validation cohorts. Notably, we also revealed that the circulating IL-17A levels were accurately and reliably predicted in early-stage NSCLC patients. Besides, we demonstrated a strong correlation between elevated circulating IL-17A expression and worse prognosis among NSCLC patients. CONCLUSIONS: Herein, we demonstrated that circulating IL-17A levels can serve as reliable and potent diagnostic and prognostic bioindicators for NSCLC.

Scenario analysis of carbon emissions' anti-driving effect on Qingdao's energy structure adjustment with an optimization model, Part II: Energy system planning and management.

In this study, an inexact multistage stochastic mixed-integer programming (IMSMP) method was developed for supporting regional-scale energy system planning (EPS) associated with multiple uncertainties presented as discrete intervals, probability distributions and their combinations. An IMSMP-based energy system planning (IMSMP-ESP) model was formulated for Qingdao to demonstrate its applicability. Solutions which can provide optimal patterns of energy resources generation, conversion, transmission, allocation and facility capacity expansion schemes have been obtained. The results can help local decision makers generate cost-effective energy system management schemes and gain a comprehensive tradeoff between economic objectives and environmental requirements. Moreover, taking the CO2 emissions scenarios mentioned in Part I into consideration, the anti-driving effect of carbon emissions on energy structure adjustment was studied based on the developed model and scenario analysis. Several suggestions can be concluded from the results: (a) to ensure the smooth realization of low-carbon and sustainable development, appropriate price control and fiscal subsidy on high-cost energy resources should be considered by the decision-makers; (b) compared with coal, natural gas utilization should be strongly encouraged in order to insure that Qingdao could reach the carbon discharges peak value in 2020; (c) to guarantee Qingdao's power supply security in the future, the construction of new power plants should be emphasised instead of enhancing the transmission capacity of grid infrastructure.