Invasive aspergillosis presenting as hilar masses with stenosis of bronchus: A case report

BACKGROUND Hilar masses with stenosis of the bronchus occur mainly due to malignant diseases,such as lung cancer.Hilar masses resulting from invasive aspergillosis are extremely rare and occur mostly in severely immunosuppressed patients.CASE SUMMARY In the current case report,we have documented a unique case of invasive aspergillosis presenting as a mass in the hilum and bronchial stenosis under bronchoscopy mimicking lung cancer in a 54-year-old man with diabetes mellitus.The histological analysis of bronchial membrane biopsy demonstrated fungal elements of 45°branching hyphae with positive Periodic Acid-Schiff and Grocott staining.After 3 mo of antifungal therapy,the symptoms,computed tomography scan and bronchoscopy manifestations all showed improvement.CONCLUSION We highlight that clinicians should consider a diagnosis of invasive aspergillosis when radiological examination shows pseudotumor appearance in diabetes mellitus patients.

Spectral Synthesis via Mean Field approach to Independent Component Analysis

We apply a new statistical analysis technique, the Mean Field approach to Independent Component Analysis（MF-ICA） in a Bayseian framework, to galaxy spectral analysis. This algorithm can compress a stellar spectral library into a few Independent Components（ICs）, and the galaxy spectrum can be reconstructed by these ICs. Compared to other algorithms which decompose a galaxy spectrum into a combination of several simple stellar populations, the MF-ICA approach offers a large improvement in efficiency. To check the reliability of this spectral analysis method, three different methods are used：（1） parameter recovery for simulated galaxies,（2） comparison with parameters estimated by other methods, and（3） consistency test of parameters derived with galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We find that our MF-ICA method can not only fit the observed galaxy spectra efficiently, but can also accurately recover the physical parameters of galaxies. We also apply our spectral analysis method to the DEEP2 spectroscopic data, and find it can provide excellent fitting results for low signal-to-noise spectra.

SoySNP618K array:A high-resolution single nucleotide polymorphism platform as a valuable genomic resource for soybean genetics and breeding

Innovations in genomics have enabled the development of low-cost,high-resolution,single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)genotyping arrays that accelerate breeding progress and support basic research in crop science.Here,we developed and validated the Soy SNP618 K array(618,888 SNPs)for the important crop soybean.The SNPs were selected from whole-genome resequencing data containing 2,214 diverse soybean accessions;29.34%of the SNPs mapped to genic regions representing 86.85%of the 56,044annotated high-confidence genes.Identity-by-state analyses of 318 soybeans revealed 17 redundant accessions,highlighting the potential of the Soy SNP618 K array in supporting gene bank management.The patterns of population stratification and genomic regions enriched through domestication were highly consistent with previous findings based on resequencing data,suggesting that the ascertainment bias in the Soy SNP618 K array was largely compensated for.Genome-wide association mapping in combination with reported quantitative trait loci enabled fine-mapping of genes known to influence flowering time,E2 and Gm PRR3 b,and of a new candidate gene,Gm VIP5.Moreover,genomic prediction of flowering and maturity time in 502 recombinant inbred lines was highly accurate(>0.65).Thus,the Soy SNP618 K array is a valuable genomic tool that can be used to address many questions in applied breeding,germplasm management,and basic crop research.