Synchronous Node Research Articles

Retrospective study of the differences of biomarker expression between primary lesions of breast cancer and corresponding lymph node metastases

Objective To investigate the difference of the expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 and Ki-67 protein between primary lesions of breast cancer and its synchronous ipsilateral lymph node metastasis, as well as its clinical implications. Methods Retrospectively analyze invasive breast cancer patients treated in Peking University First Hospital from January 2012 to May 2016. The IHC expressions of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 and Ki-67 protein in both the primary and lymph node metastatic lesions are compared and analyzed statistically. The count data were represented as n(%), and comparsion between groups were evaluated using the McNemar test. Results One hundred and fifty-six patients were included, of which on 2 cases (1.3%), estrogen receptor status of primary lesions is different from that of lymph node metastases(P=0.500); on 10 cases(6.4%), progesterone receptor status of primary lesions is different from that of lymph node metastases(P=0.344); on 28 cases (18.0%), Ki-67 protein status of primary lesions is different from that of lymph node metastases(P=0.000 18); on 3 cases (1.9%), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 status of primary lesions is different from that of lymph node metastases (P=1.000). Conclusion There may be difference between primary lesions and lymph node metastases in the expression of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 and Ki-67 protein, which can provide a reference for individualized treatment of breast cancer patients. Key words: Breast neoplasms; Lymph nodes; Genetic heterogeneity; Biomarker

Joint time synchronisation and localisation of multiple source nodes in wireless sensor networks

Time synchronisation and localisation should be jointly conducted for time-based source location estimates in an asynchronous network. In this paper semidefinite programming (SDP), complexity-reduced SDP and linear least square (LLS) estimator are proposed for time synchronisation and localisation of multiple source nodes. The proposed algorithms provide joint estimates for the source locations and clock parameters and avoid the shortcoming of maximum likelihood (ML) estimator that requires an initial solution. Then, a location refinement (LR) technique is designed to improve the accuracy performance of the estimated parameters. The simulations show that the original SDP algorithm provides better accuracy performance than the complexity-reduced SDP. However, the complexity-reduced SDP runs faster than the original SDP. Although the complexity of LLS estimator is lowest among three proposed algorithms, the convex optimisation algorithms, including the original SDP and complexity-reduced SDP, have more robust performance compared with the LLS estimator.

A Case with Tumor, Tuberculosis and Chylothorax

Chylothorax is a rare clinical condition caused by the accumulation of lymphatic fluid in the pleural space. Chylothorax often results in thoracic trauma and malignant obstruction. More rare causes are tuberculosis, infanjiomiyomatosis, venous thrombosis, congenital lymphatic malformation, nephrotic syndrome, hypothyroidism, cirrhosis, chemotherapeutic drugs, sarcoidosis and idiopathic chylothorax. A 77-year-old female patient with a one year history of colon cancer and post-op chemotherapy was referred to us with the suspicion of metastasis upon detection of lymphadenomas and pleural effusion during a thoracic CT in follow-up. Thoracentesis was performed for the pleural effusion of the patient and chylous fluid was aspirated. The diagnosis of chylothorax was confirmed by pleural fluid biochemical analysis. Results were consistent with tuberculosis from the biopsy performed on synchronous lymph nodes. Due to multiple causes in the etiology of chylothorax, we presented our case.

Approaches to Front-End IoT Application Development for the Ethereum Blockchain

There are several distributed ledger protocols potentially suitable for the Internet of things (IoT), including the Ethereum, Hyperledger Fabric and IOTA. This paper briefly presents and compares them from the IoT application development perspective. The IoT applications based on blockchain (BC) can incorporate the on-chain logic –the smart contracts– and Web, mobile or embedded client front-end application parts. We present three possible architectures for the IoT front-end BC applications. They differ in positioning of Ethereum blockchain clients (local device, remote server) and in positioning of key store needed for the management of outgoing transactions. The practical constraints of these architectures, which utilize the Ethereum network for trusted transaction exchange, are the data volumes, the location and synchronization of the full blockchain node and the location and the access to the Ethereum key store. Results of these experiments indicate that a full Ethereum node is not likely to reliably run on a constrained IoT devices. Therefore the architecture with remote Ethereum clients seems to be a viable approach, where two sub-options exist and differ in key store location/management. In addition, we proposed the use of architectures with a proprietary communication between the IoT device and remote blockchain client to further reduce the network traffic and enhance security. We expect it to be able to operate over low-power, low-bitrate mobile technologies, too. Our research clarifies differences in architectural approaches, but final decision for a particular ledger protocol and front-end application architecture is at strongly based on the particular intended use case.

An internet of software defined cognitive radio ad-hoc networks based on directional antenna for smart environments

In opportunistic radio access based Software defined Cognitive-MAC protocols, Common Control Channel (CCC) plays a significant role in providing node synchronization, legitimate channel access and exchanging cognitive control message. State of the art research in existing CR-MAC protocols design CCC in overlay based In-band or out-of-band spectrum with Omni-directional mode of control and data transmission. However, directional antenna based MAC protocol for software defined CR Ad-hoc networks offer great potential to reduce interference, efficiently reuse spatial spectrum, conserve node transmits power consumption, and extend directional communication range. To achieve above-mentioned features, this paper proposes a “Directional antenna Hybrid CCC based CR-MAC protocol for Smart Environments”. The present study proposes Directional Hybrid control channel with GPS which is used to exchange cognitive control information whereas directional opportunistic PU free channel is used for application data transmission. Experimental results reveal that proposed Directional antenna based Hybrid CCC-CR-MAC protocol has increased link throughput and reduced link delays with minimized node power consumption when compared with Omni-directional antenna based software defined CR-MAC protocols.

Estimation of Frequency Offset for Time Synchronization With Immediate Clock Adjustment in Multihop Wireless Sensor Networks

The clock synchronization problem for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is inherently related to parameter estimation. Nowadays, extensive studies on time synchronization have been conducted by adopting statistical signal processing methods. However, most estimation schemes do not readjust clock offset during the process of synchronization parameter estimation, and it would lead to unsatisfactory clock accuracy during synchronization. Thus, the applications of these methods are greatly limited in WSNs. This paper analyzes time synchronization of sensor nodes with immediate clock adjustment at every cycle under multihop scenario, and presents an estimator of clock skew under the Gaussian linear delay model and the corresponding algorithms for finding the estimator in detail. Simulation results verify that the proposed estimator is efficient.

Using ANT Communications for Node Synchronization and Timing in a Wireless Ultrasonic Ranging System

Indoor localization and tracking of persons and assets for gaming, augmented reality, medical monitoring, training, security, and inventory is an emerging technology. Localization can be computed from multiple distance measurements between reference beacons and sensors. Low cost, small, light, tiny-battery, or even batteryless operated sensors are required. Ranging can be carried out by measuring the time of flight of an ultrasonic chirp traveling from an emitting beacon to receiving sensors. That requires a tight synchronization between the beacon and the sensors. In this article, we present a ranging system based on miniature commercial modules featuring ANT wireless personal area network communication plus onboard microprocessor. A protocol is developed for microseconds synchronization and accurate onboard ranging computations are carried out through ultrasonic signal cross correlation. The sensor privately computes its own range. The ranging system is composed of a synchronizing unit, a beacon emitting ultrasonic chirps, and a battery-operated distance sensor. The sensor shows low average power consumption (less than 22 mW) and a ranging accuracy of about 1.8 mm for distances up to 2.5 m, under stable environmental conditions.

Random Mobility and Heterogeneity-Aware Hybrid Synchronization for Wireless Sensor Network

Random mobility of a node in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) causes the frequent changes in the network dynamics with increased cost in terms of energy and bandwidth. During data collections and transmission, they need the additional efforts to synchronize and schedule the activities of nodes. A key challenge is to maintain the global clock scale for synchronization of nodes at different levels to minimize the energy consumption and clock skew. It is also difficult to schedule the activities for effective utilization of slots allocated for aggregated data transmission. The paper proposes the Random Mobility and Heterogeneity-aware Hybrid Synchronization Algorithm (MHS) for WSN. The proposed algorithm uses the cluster-tree for efficient synchronization of CH and nodes in the cluster and network, level-by-level. The network consists of three nodes with random mobility and are heterogeneous regarding energy with static sink. All the nodes and CH are synchronized with the notion of the global timescale provided by the sink as a root node. With the random mobility of the node, the network structure frequently changes causing an increase in energy consumption. To mitigate this problem, MHS aggregate data with the notion of a global timescale throughout the network. Also, the hierarchical structure along with pair-wise synchronization reduces the clock skews hence energy consumption. In the second phase of MHS, the aggregated data packets are passed through the scheduled and synchronized slots using TDMA as basic MAC layer protocol to reduce the collision of packets. The results are extended by using the hybrid approach of scheduling and synchronization algorithm on the base protocol. The comparative results show that MHS is energy and bandwidth efficient, with increased throughput and reduced delay as compared with state-of-the-art solutions.

Hub-driven remote synchronization in brain networks

The phenomenon of “remote synchronization” (RS), first observed in a star network of oscillators, involves synchronization of unconnected peripheral nodes through a hub that maintains independent dynamics. In the RS regime the central hub was thought to serve as a passive gate for information transfer between nodes. Here, we investigate the physical origin of this phenomenon. Surprisingly, we find that a hub node can drive remote synchronization of peripheral oscillators even in the presence of a repulsive mean field, thus actively governing network dynamics while remaining asynchronous. We study this novel phenomenon in complex networks endowed with multiple hub-nodes, a ubiquitous feature of many real-world systems, including brain connectivity networks. We show that a change in the natural frequency of a single hub can alone reshape synchronization patterns across the entire network, and switch from direct to remote synchronization, or to hub-driven desynchronization. Hub-driven RS may provide a mechanism to account for the role of structural hubs in the organization of brain functional connectivity networks.

Probabilistic issues in the node synchronization problem for large distributed systems

We introduce a class of stochastic networks in which synchronization between nodes is modelled by a message passing mechanism with heterogeneous Markovian routing. We present a series of results about probability distributions related to steady states of such models.

Spatial intratumoural heterogeneity in the expression of GIT1 is associated with poor prognostic outcome in oestrogen receptor positive breast cancer patients with synchronous lymph node metastases

Background: The outcome for oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer patients has improved greatly in recent years largely due to targeted therapy. However, the presence of involved multiple synchronous lymph nodes remains associated with a poor outcome. Consequently, these patients would benefit from the identification of new prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The expression of G-protein-coupled receptor kinase-interacting protein 1 (GIT1) has recently been shown to be an indicator of advanced stage breast cancer. Therefore, we investigated its expression and prognostic value of GIT1 in a cohort of 140 ER+ breast cancer with synchronous lymph node involvement. Methods: Immunohistochemistry was employed to assess GIT1 expression in a tissue microarray (TMA) containing duplicate non-adjacent cores with matched primary tumour and lymph node tissue (n=140). GIT1 expression in tumour cells was scored and statistical correlation analyses were carried out. Results: The results revealed a sub-group of patients that displayed discordant expression of GIT1 between the primary tumour and the lymph nodes (i.e. spatial intratumoural heterogeneity). We observed that loss of GIT1 expression in the metastasis was associated with a shorter time to recurrence, poorer overall survival, and a shorter median survival time. Moreover, multivariate analysis demonstrated that GIT1 expression was an independent prognostic indicator. Conclusions: GIT1 expression enabled the identification of a sub-class of ER+ patients with lymph node metastasis that have a particularly poor prognostic outcome. We propose that this biomarker could be used to further stratify ER+ breast cancer patients with synchronous lymph node involvement and therefore facilitate adjuvant therapy decision making.

Invariant Subset and Set Stability of Boolean Networks Under Arbitrary Switching Signals

This study investigates the set stability of switched Boolean networks (BNs) with arbitrary switching signals, based on invariant subsets. Set stability determines whether a BN converges to a given subset, while arbitrary switching signals can be used to characterize uncertainties and disturbances. An algorithm is proposed to calculate the largest invariant subset contained in any given set, as this is the key step in establishing the set stability criterion. Based on this algorithm, A necessary and sufficient condition for set stability is obtained. The result is then used to solve the robust output synchronization problem and the robust node synchronization problem for BNs in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances. Examples are presented to demonstrate the use of the proposed approach.

Blinded review of archival radical prostatectomy specimens supports that contemporary Gleason score 6 prostate cancer lacks metastatic potential.

Retrospective identification of Gleason pattern 4 in metastatic Gleason score 3 + 3 = 6 (GS6) radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens has suggested true GS6 prostate cancer (CaP) lacks metastatic potential. However, pathologist awareness of study design and metastasis outcomes at the time of RP review might have introduced upgrading bias. We used pathologist-blinded methodology for unbiased characterization of metastasis rates for contemporarily defined pathologic GS6 (pGS6) CaP. An institutional RP database was queried to identify pGS6 patients with metastasis or concern for micrometastasis based on: 1) biochemical failure (BF) despite negative surgical margins or 2) incomplete biochemical response to salvage/adjuvant radiation. RP specimens were regraded independently by two genitourinary pathologists blinded to study aims or clinical outcomes. Additional blinding was performed by random inclusion of pGS6 control specimens from BF-free patients. Only upgrading identified independently by both pathologists was considered. Among 451 pGS6 patients identified, none had synchronous lymph node metastases and 43/451 (10%) suffered BF. Two patients (0.4%) developed metachronous metastasis during a 110-month median follow-up for BF patients. Both metastatic cases had Gleason pattern 4 on blinded RP review, as did 88% of cases with concern for micrometastasis versus 38% of control cases (P = 0.02). All BF patients (29/29) undergoing postoperative radiation had a complete biochemical response or Gleason pattern 4 on blinded RP review. Unbiased pathologist review of archival RP specimens supports absent metastatic potential for contemporarily defined GS6 CaP. Reduced postoperative monitoring is appropriate for pGS6, but may require pathology review to confirm absent Gleason pattern 4.

Research on Time Synchronization Algorithm of High Precision and Low Power Consumption Based on IRBRS WSNs

Based on the study of RBS algorithm in wireless sensor network, an improved algorithm named RBRS is presented, to solve the time synchronization problem of multi hop networks. On the basis of RBS, the broadcast group and least square linear regression methods were used to realize entire network time synchronization in the algorithm. Synchronization error and overhead with the existing improved BRS are compared in the article. The result shows that the algorithm has certain superiority in many algorithms, which is suitable for light and low power consumption network load. Through an emulation with the matlab software, the result indicates that error accumulation is lower in the optimized algorithm, the synchronization overhead is significantly reduced and can realize the time synchronization of the whole network. A time synchronization algorithm based on RBRS algorithm is proposed for multi-hop and the low power consumption. A variable period synchronization method is introduces in the algorithm: in line with Bias maximum a posterior estimation principle, the maximum phase offset is estimated to determine the synchronization period, which can reduce the number of node synchronization, and with the least square linear regression method, the periodic fitting clock offset. The Simulation in matlab indicate that RBRS algorithm can improve the synchronization accuracy and reduce energy consumption significantly, which is conducive to extend the life of the network.

Synchronization of application-driven WSN

The growth of wireless sensor networks (WSN) has resulted in part from requirements for connecting sensors and advances in radio technologies. WSN nodes may be required to save energy and therefore wake up and sleep in a synchronized way. In this paper, we propose an application-driven WSN node synchronization mechanism which, by making use of cross-layer information such as application ID and duty cycle, and by using the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) technique, enables nodes to wake up and sleep without losing synchronization. The results obtained confirm that this mechanism maintains the nodes in a mesh network synchronized according to the applications they run, while maintaining a high packet reception ratio.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy for patients with relapsing prostate cancer with bones or nodes oligometastases.

263 Background: To analyze patients treated by stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for node or bone oligometastatic recurrence of a prostate cancer previously locally treated, To identify possible pronostic factors of early biochemical failure (BF) after SBRT. Methods: We reviewed patients with a rising PSA treated by SBRT between November 2011 and April 2016 for bone or node oligometastases, diagnosed on a 18F Fluorocholine positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) following biochemical failure of a prostate cancer after a local curative treatment. Recurrence-free survival (RFS) was the primary end-point defined as the time interval between SBRT and biochemical failure. Biochemical failure was defined as 2 consecutive elevations of PSA with last dosage superior to PSA dosage before treatment, or clinical failure. PSA value before SBRT, location of metastases, number of lesions treated, concomitant androgen deprivation therapy were analyzed to identify pronostic factors of poor response to SBRT. Results: With a median follow-up from time of SBRT of 12 months, we treated 40 patients and 56 metastatic lesions, with a local-control rate of 85%. 19 patients were treated for 1 to 3 bone lesions and 21 patients for 1 to 3 node lesions. 8 patients with bone oligometastases and 13 patients with node oligometastases had a recurrence (p=0.55). The main sites of failure after SBRT were lymph nodes only (7 ; 33%), bone only (7 ; 33 %), and synchronous node and bone (4 ; 19%). A 2nd and 3rdcourse of radiotherapy was delivered in 8 and 1 patients. Median RFS was 345 days (134-426) in the node SBRT group and 494 days (85-877) in the bone SBRT group (p=0.27). On bivariate analysis, a PSA nadir up to 0.51 ng/mL after SBRT was identified as a pronostic factor of a worse RFS (p=0.0038). This result was not confirmed in multivariate analysis (p=0.87). Conclusions: SBRT for node oligometastases showed a non significant lower rate of RFS when compared to SBRT in bone oligometastases. A larger cohort with a longer follow up is needed to determine whether node and bone oligometastases have similar outcomes after SBRT.

Papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: the significance of high risk features

BackgroundPapillary carcinomas that measure 1.0cm or less are diagnosed as papillary thyroid microcarcinomas (PTMs). The clinical significance and recommendations for management of these PTMs is still evolving. The objective of the study was to compare the characteristics of small (<5mm) to large (≥ 5mm) papillary thyroid microcarcinomas.MethodsAmongst 1459 sequential patients undergoing thyroid surgery at a single center, 132 (9%) cases were diagnosed with PTM. We performed a retrospective analysis of these cases using Fisher’s Exact Test. The statistical significance was set at p < 0.05 a priori.ResultsA relationship between large PTM and high risk features was observed only for extra-thyroidal cancer extension (ETE). Six of 57 large PTM (11%) but none of the 75 small PTM had ETE (p < 0.01). Lymph node metastases were associated with both small PTM (5/9 cases) and large PTM (4/9 cases). A distant metastases was diagnosed in association with a small PTM.ConclusionsFor PTM, neither small cancer size, nor the absence of high-risk features, excluded the possibility of synchronous lymph node metastases.

Abstract P1-01-09: Comparison of HER2, estrogen and progesterone receptor expression profiles of primary tumor, synchronous axillary lymph node metastases and circulating tumor cells in early breast cancer patients

Abstract Background:Targeted systemic therapy in early breast cancer with synchronous lymph node metastasis is currently based on the expression of the hormone receptors (ER/PR ≥1%) and overexpression of HER2 in the primary tumor. However, the expression of these predictive markers on lymph node metastases as well as on circulating tumor cells (CTCs), the precursors of metastatic disease, has not yet been taken into account. The aim of the present study was to compare the HER2/ER/PR expression profiles of primary tumors, synchronous lymph node metastases and circulating tumor cells in early breast cancer patients and relate the results to 5-year overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Patients and Methods:76 patients with early breast cancer diagnosed between 2006 and 2010 were enrolled in this study. Blood was obtained at the time of first diagnosis of disease and analyzed for CTCs using the AdnaTest BreastCancer (Qiagen Hannover GmbH) for the expression of EpCAM, MUC-1, HER2, ER and PR respectively. Formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded archival tissues of the primary tumors and the lymph node metastases were analyzed by two pathologists. ER, PR and HER2 expression was assessed by fully-automated immunohistochemistry (Ventana medical Systems, Tucson, AZ, USA) and HER2/CEN17 dual chromogenic in situ hybridization (Zytomed Systems, Berlin, Germany) according to modified ASCO/CAP guidelines (2010 and 2013, respectively). Results: The detection rate for CTCs was 22% (17/76 patients). In the primary tumors, the expression rate of HER2 was 16% (13/76 patients), 78% for ER (61/76 patients) and 75% for PR (57/76 patients) respectively. Changes in biomarker profiles between primary tumors, metastases and CTCs, as a whole, were observed in 89% of the cases (68/76). The discordance rates between primary tumors and lymph node metastases were 10% for HER2 (p&amp;lt;0.001), 5% for ER (p= p&amp;lt;0.001) and 11% for PR (p&amp;lt;0.001). The intrinsic subtypes between primary tumors and lymph node metastases changed in 16% of all cases (12/76 patients; gain of HER2 in four, activation of HRs in three cases, loss of HER2 in three and loss of HRs in one case becoming triple negative). Of note, both OS and DFS of patients with subtype discordance were reduced to a median of 41 months (mean: 39) vs 56 months (mean: 51). CTCs were either triple negative or HER2 positive. Discordance rates for HER2, ER and PR status compared to the primary tumors were 16% (12/76 patients), 83% (63/76 patients)and 72% (55/76 patients), respectively. Discordant rates between lymph node metastases and CTCs were 25% for HER2 (19/76 patients), 82% for ER (62/76 patients) and 72% for PR (55/76 patients). Conclusion: Our preliminarily results demonstrate, that changes in molecular profiles are the rule rather than the exception throughout tumour progression in breast cancer. In cases with discordant biomarker profiles, prognosis seems to follow the subtype of lymph node metastasis. Biomarker or subtype shift may be of essential therapeutic significance for individual patients. Citation Format: Aktas B, Westerwick D, Mairinger F, Kasimir-Bauer S, Kimmig R, Schmid K, Bankfalvi A. Comparison of HER2, estrogen and progesterone receptor expression profiles of primary tumor, synchronous axillary lymph node metastases and circulating tumor cells in early breast cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-01-09.

Abstract P1-06-04: Molecular characterisation, subtype concordance and prognostic group assignment between patient-matched primary breast tumours and axillary lymph node metastases

Abstract Introduction Currently the primary breast tumour is used for prognostic profiling and as a monitor of response to therapy but how often does the molecular profile of the primary cancer reflect the molecular profile of nodal metastases? No previous study has investigated in detail the genomic profile of matched primary breast cancer (P) and nodal metastases (N) and correlated these with outcome. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the mRNA profiles of matched P and N differ significantly. Methods RNA was extracted from core biopsies from primary breast tumours and paired metastatic axillary lymph node samples from both FFPE blocks and fresh frozen samples. RNA was labelled and hybridised to Illumina HT-12 BeadChips to create a dataset consisting of one primary and one or two matched nodal metastasis, totalling 68 samples from 31 patients. Data was processed and corrected for batch effects, then analysed using the statistical programming language R. Clinical data on progression free and overall survival was collected from electronic and medical case note review. Results Unsupervised hierarchical clustering of the 500 most variable genes in each sample grouped only 12 of 31 P&amp;Ns (39%) together, meaning in the majority of patients their P or N more resembled a cancer from another patient than its own paired P or N. The number of genes with greater than 2 fold change (&amp;gt;2FC) between P&amp;N was used to categorise paired samples into 'least changed' (&amp;lt;130 genes with &amp;gt;2 FC) and 'most changed' (&amp;gt;370 genes with &amp;gt;2FC) groups. Multidimensional scaling of the 500 most variable genes in the most changed group (n-=10) showed consistently that nodal metastases differed molecularly from the primary cancer. When categorised by Sorlie centroid, 12 of 31 patients (39%) had a different molecular subtype in N compared with P. N tended to be a poorer prognostic subtype than P. 50% had luminal A primaries paired with luminal B nodes. The remaining 50% changed in other non-consistent patterns. 6 patients had 2 N samples to analyse alongside P. 4 of these (67%) had the same subtype in all 3 samples, and a further 1 the same 2Ns (luminal B) which differed from P (luminal A). The final had luminal A P paired with 1 luminal A and 1 luminal B Ns. There was no evident correlation between the least changed and most changed groups and progression free and overall survival. This may however reflect the short term follow up. Discordance between P and N in expression of ESR1 was 32%; PGR 19% and ERBB2 16%. Conclusions This study of gene expression change in matched primary breast cancers and synchronous metastatic paired axillary lymph nodes shows that molecular subtype differs in 39%. 50% of nodes had a poorer prognostic subtype than their primary. Expression of ESR, PGR and ERBB2 differs in up to 32% Classifying cancer molecular phenotype and estimating prognosis based only on the primary cancer misclassifies significant numbers of patients. Classification of prognosis, and treatment based on the nodal metastasis may provide better information on which to base treatment. Citation Format: Arthur LM, Turnbull AK, Pearce DA, Renshaw L, Thomas JS, Sims AH, Dixon JM. Molecular characterisation, subtype concordance and prognostic group assignment between patient-matched primary breast tumours and axillary lymph node metastases [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P1-06-04.

Exponential Synchronization for Second-Order Nodes in Complex Dynamical Network with Communication Time Delays and Switching Topologies

This paper is devoted to the study of exponential synchronization problem for second-order nodes in dynamical network with time-varying communication delays and switching communication topologies. Firstly, a decomposition approach is employed to incorporate the nodes’ inertial effects into the distributed control design. Secondly, the sufficient conditions are provided to guarantee the exponential synchronization of second-order nodes in the case that the information transmission is delayed and the communication topology is balanced and arbitrarily switched. Finally, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results, it is applied to the typical second-order nodes in dynamical network, as a case study. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method has a high performance in synchronization of such network.