Synchronous primary cancer of the rectum and lung:a case report

Multiple primary cancers refer to the condition where more than two cancers occur independently in an individual. The incidence of lung cancer in cases of colorectal cancer is rare and synchronous rectal cancer and lung cancer is even rare. A 61-year-old man was referred to our hospital with a 2-month history of blood in his stool, tenesmus, and mucous discharge in July 2010. Colonoscopy showed an irregular ulcerated rectal mass and histological examination of biopsy material showed a poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma. Computed tomography （CT） scan of the chest and abdomen showed a mass in the posterior segment of the right upper lobe of the lung and a mass in the right rectal wall of upper rectum. The rectal tumor was diagnosed as primary cancer based on the findings of immunohistochemical stain. An anterior resection （AR） and video assisted thoracoscopic （VAT） wedge resection were performed and histological findings of resected rectal and lung tumor specimen showed synchronous primary rectal cancer and lung cancer. A combination chemotherapy regimen with docetaxel and Iobaplatin was used and the patient was successfully discharged from hospital in August 2010. Although the incidence of synchronous multiple primary cancers is very low, we need to remain suspicious, when faced with two or even multiple organ lesions, and employ the necessary examination methods to confirm the diagnosis. For synchronous multiple primary cancers, if conditions allow, surgical resection for all the cancers can be performed in a single operation.

Plasmonic metafibers electro-optic modulators

Digitalizing optical signals through electric driving signals,electro-optic modulators(EOMs)are one of the cardinal elements in modern optical communications.Most of current EOM devices are targeting on-chip integrations,which routinely suffer from high coupling losses,complex optical alignments and single-band operations.In this study,we for the first time integrate a lumped EOM device on the endfaces of a single-mode optical fiber jumper for fast amplitude modulations.Profiting from ultrathin and high quality-factor plasmonic metasurfaces,nanofabrication-friendly and highly efficient EO polymers and coupling-free connections with fiber networks,our EOM is demonstrated to allow dual-band operations(telecom O band and S band)and high-speed modulations(~1 GHz at a bias voltage of±9 V).This work offers an avenue to‘plug-and-play’implementations of EO devices and ultracompact“all-in-fibers”optical systems for communications,imaging,sensing and many others.

Comparative Genome Analysis of Scutellaria baicalensis and Scutellaria barbata Reveals the Evolution of Active Flavonoid Biosynthesis

Scutellaria baicalensis(S.baicalensis)and Scutellaria barbata(S.barbata)are common medicinal plants of the Lamiaceae family.Both produce specific flavonoid compounds,including baicalein,scutellarein,norwogonin,and wogonin,as well as their glycosides,which exhibit antioxidant and antitumor activities.Here,we report chromosome-level genome assemblies of S.baicalensis and S.barbata with quantitative chromosomal variation(2 n=18 and 2 n=26,respectively).The divergence of S.baicalensis and S.barbata occurred far earlier than previously reported,and a whole-genome duplication(WGD)event was identified.The insertion of long terminal repeat elements after speciation might be responsible for the observed chromosomal expansion and rearrangement.Comparative genome analysis of the congeneric species revealed the species-specific evolution of chrysin and apigenin biosynthetic genes,such as the S.baicalensis-specific tandem duplication of genes encoding phenylalanine ammonia lyase and chalcone synthase,and the S.barbata-specific duplication of genes encoding 4-Co A ligase.In addition,the paralogous duplication,colinearity,and expression diversity of CYP82 D subfamily members revealed the functional divergence of genes encoding flavone hydroxylase between S.baicalensis and S.barbata.Analyzing these Scutellaria genomes reveals the common and species-specific evolution of flavone biosynthetic genes.Thus,these findings would facilitate the development of molecular breeding and studies of biosynthesis and regulation of bioactive compounds.

Saturable plasmonic metasurfaces for laser mode locking

Metamaterials are artificial materials made of subwavelength elementary cells that give rise to unexpected wave properties that do not exist naturally.However,these properties are generally achieved due to 3D patterning,which is hardly feasible at short wavelengths in the visible and near-infrared regions targeted by most photonic applications.To overcome this limitation,metasurfaces,which are the 2D counterparts of metamaterials,have emerged as promising platforms that are compatible with planar nanotechnologies and thus mass production,which platforms the properties of a metamaterial into a 2D sheet.In the linear regime,wavefront manipulation for lensing,holography,and polarization control has been achieved recently.Interest in metasurfaces operating in the nonlinear regime has also increased due to the ability of metasurfaces to efficiently convert incident light into harmonic frequencies with unusual polarization properties.However,to date,the nonlinear absorption of metasurfaces has been mostly ignored.Here,we demonstrate that plasmonic metasurfaces behave as saturable absorbers with modulation performances superior to the modulation performance of other 2D materials and exhibit unusual polarimetric nonlinear transfer functions.We quantify the link between saturable absorption,the plasmonic resonances of the unit cell and their distribution in a 2D metasurface,and finally provide a practical implementation by integrating the metasurfaces into a fiber laser cavity operating in pulsed regimes driven by the metasurface properties.As such,this work provides new perspectives on ultrathin nonlinear saturable absorbers for applications where tunable nonlinear transfer functions are needed,such as in ultrafast lasers or neuromorphic circuits.

Micro-scale opto-thermo-mechanical actuation in the dry adhesive regime

Realizing optical manipulation of microscopic objects is crucial in the research fields of life science,condensed matter physics,and physical chemistry.In non-liquid environments,this task is commonly regarded as difficult due to strong adhesive surface force(~µN)attached to solid interfaces that makes tiny optical driven force(~pN)insignificant.Here,by recognizing the microscopic interaction mechanism between friction force—the parallel component of surface force on a contact surface—and thermoelastic waves induced by pulsed optical absorption,we establish a general principle enabling the actuation of micro-objects on dry frictional surfaces based on the opto-thermo-mechanical effects.Theoretically,we predict that nanosecond pulsed optical absorption with mW-scale peak power is sufficient to tameµN-scale friction force.Experimentally,we demonstrate the two-dimensional spiral motion of gold plates on micro-fibers driven by nanosecond laser pulses,and reveal the rules of motion control.Our results pave the way for the future development of micro-scale actuators in non-liquid environments.

‘Plug-and-play’ plasmonic metafibers for ultrafast fibre lasers

Metafibers expand the functionalities of conventional optical fibres to unprecedented nanoscale light manipulations by integrating metasurfaces on the fibre tips,becoming an emerging light-coupling platform for both the nanoscience and fibre optics communities.Current metafibers remain proof-of-concept demonstrations that mostly explore isolated bare fibres owing to the lack of standard interfaces with universal fibre networks.Here,we develop methodologies for fabricating well-defined plasmonic metasurfaces directly on the end facets of commercial single-mode fibre jumpers using standard planar technologies and provide the first demonstration of their practical applications in the nonlinear plasmonic regime.Featuring plug-and-play connections with fibre circuitry and arbitrary metasurface landscapes,the metafibers with tunable plasmonic resonances are implemented into fibre laser cavities,yielding all-fibre sub-picosecond(minimum 513 fs)soliton mode locked lasers at optical wavelengths of 1.5μm and 2μm,demonstrating their unusual polarimetric nonlinear transfer functions and superior saturation absorption responses.The nanofabrication process flow is compatible with existing cleanroom technologies,offering metafibers an avenue to become a regular member of functionalised fibre components.This work paves the way toward the next generation of ultrafast lasers,optical frequency combs,and ultracompact‘all-in-fibre’optical systems.