Solitary adrenal metastasis from invasive ductal breast cancer: an uncommon finding

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast usually metastasizes to the lungs, liver, bones and brain. Solitary adrenal metastasis is extremely rare. Due to the rarity of this condition, the optimal treatment is unclear. We report the first case of IDC of the breast metastasizing solely to the adrenal gland after a modified radical mastectomy but having a long-term disease-free survival while treated merely by a left adrenalectomy.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 64-year-old woman was found a left adrenal mass on a follow- up visit two years after taking a right modified radical mastectomy for the breast cancer. She was subsequently given a left adrenalectomy. Postoperative histopathology findings were compatible with invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) of the breast. Due to the patient's refusal, no further treatments were offered after the adrenalectomy. The patient now is still alive and has no sign of relapse. Survival time after taking the right modified radical mastectomy and the left adrenalectomy is more than five years and three years, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first case of a patient with solitary, metachronous adrenal metastasis from IDC of the breast to be reported. For patients in this condition, complete removal of metastasized organ may translate into survival benefit.</p

Mapping QTLs for oil traits and eQTLs for oleosin genes in jatropha

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The major fatty acids in seed oil of jatropha, a biofuel crop, are palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1) and linoleic acid (C18:2). High oleic acid and total oil content are desirable for jatropha breeding. Until now, little was known about the genetic bases of these oil traits in jatropha. In this study, quantitative trait locus (QTL) and expression QTL analyses were applied to identify genetic factors that are relevant to seed oil traits in jatropha.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Composite interval mapping identified 18 QTL underlying the oil traits. A highly significant QTL <it>qC18:1-1 </it>was detected at one end of linkage group (LG) 1 with logarithm of the odd (LOD) 18.4 and percentage of variance explained (PVE) 36.0%. Interestingly, the QTL <it>qC18:1-1 </it>overlapped with <it>qC18:2-1</it>, controlling oleic acid and linoleic acid compositions. Among the significant QTL controlling total oil content, <it>qOilC-4 </it>was mapped on LG4 a relatively high significant level with LOD 5.0 and PVE 11.1%. Meanwhile, oleosins are the major composition in oil body affecting oil traits; we therefore developed SNP markers in three oleosin genes <it>OleI</it>, <it>OleII </it>and <it>OleIII</it>, which were mapped onto the linkage map. <it>OleI </it>and <it>OleIII </it>were mapped on LG5, closing to QTLs controlling oleic acid and stearic acid. We further determined the expressions of <it>OleI</it>, <it>OleII </it>and <it>OleIII </it>in mature seeds from the QTL mapping population, and detected expression QTLs (eQTLs) of the three genes on LGs 5, 6 and 8 respectively. The eQTL of <it>OleIII</it>, <it>qOleIII-5</it>, was detected on LG5 with PVE 11.7% and overlapped with QTLs controlling stearic acid and oleic acid, implying a cis- or trans-element for the <it>OleIII </it>affecting fatty acid compositions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We identified 18 QTLs underlying the oil traits and 3 eQTLs of the oleosin acid genes. The QTLs and eQTLs, especially <it>qC18:1-1</it>, <it>qOilC-4 </it>and <it>qOleIII-5 </it>with contribution rates (R²) higher than 10%, controlling oleic acid, total oil content and oleosin gene expression respectively, will provide indispensable data for initiating molecular breeding to improve seed oil traits in jatropha, the key crop for biodiesel production.</p

Time-resolved boson sampling with photons of different colors

Interference of multiple photons via a linear-optical network has profound applications for quantum foundation, quantum metrology and quantum computation. Particularly, a boson sampling experiment with a moderate number of photons becomes intractable even for the most powerful classical computers, and will lead to "quantum supremacy". Scaling up from small-scale experiments requires highly indistinguishable single photons, which may be prohibited for many physical systems. Here we experimentally demonstrate a time-resolved version of boson sampling by using photons not overlapping in their frequency spectra from three atomic-ensemble quantum memories. Time-resolved measurement enables us to observe nonclassical multiphoton correlation landscapes. An average fidelity over several interferometer configurations is measured to be 0.936(13), which is mainly limited by high-order events. Symmetries in the landscapes are identified to reflect symmetries of the optical network. Our work thus provides a route towards quantum supremacy with distinguishable photons.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl