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Pancreatic cancer is one of the common malignant tumors of digestive tract and is difficult to diagnose because it is characterized by insidious onset and asymptomatic early-stage. The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer mainly relies on imaging and serum tumor markers, and the main treatment method is surgery. However, due to being discovered in the advanced stage of the disease and missing the best opportunity for surgery, the prognosis is extremely poor and short-term survival. Studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs, miR) play a key role in the genesis and development of a variety of tumors, of which miR-107 is expressed in pancreatic cancer tissue and blood, which is related to the occurrence and invasion of pancreatic cancer. In some databases, it has been determined that miRNAs can target and regulate B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA). BTLA with its ligand transmits coinhibitory signals and plays a negative regulatory role in the body's anti-tumor immune response, which is related to the immune escape mechanism of tumors and is likely to become a potential target of tumor biotherapy. This article will elaborate miR-107 and BTLA to predict that they may be therapeutic targets of pancreatic cancer and are expected to become diagnostic and prognostic markers of pancreatic cancer.

Solid state lithium battery is expected to be one of the next generation of battery systems with high energy density in the field of high energy. Based on the constructure characteristics and related formation mechanism of interface between solid polymer electrolyte and lithium anode, the impact of interface contact, interface chemistry and electrochemical reaction, and moreover, the growing process of lithium dendrite and other problems on the interface stability and compatibility were systematically discussed in this review.Thus, the application of doping modification, structure design, and other methods for the interfaces between polymer matrix and lithium anode were also emphasized. In addition, the common interface characterization methods and their applications on the interface between solid polymer electrolyte and lithium anode were also reviewed. Finally, based on the relevant strategies of designing and constructing a stable polymer solid electrolyte-lithium anode interface, the development prospects of interface optimization methods such as doping and core layer design were analyzed and prospected in this paper.

A new unloading contact model of an elastic–perfectly plastic half-space indented by an elastic spherical indenter is presented analytically. The recovered deformation of the elastic indenter and the indented half-space has been found to be dependent on the elastic modulus ratio after fully unloading. The recovered deformation of the indented half-space can be calculated based on the deformation of the purely elastic indenter. The unloading process is assumed to be entirely elastic, and then the relationship of contact force and indentation can be determined based on the solved recovered deformation and conforms to Hertzian-type. The model can accurately predict the residual indentation and residual curvature radius after fully unloading. Numerical simulations are performed to demonstrate the assumptions and the unloading model. The proposed unloading model can cover a wide range of indentations and material properties and is compared with existing unloading models. The cyclic behavior including loading and unloading can be predicted by combining the proposed unloading law with the existing contact loading model. The combined model can be employed for low-velocity impact and nanoindentation tests and the comparison results are in good agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is a short‐day plant whose heading date is largely determined by photoperiod sensitivity (PS). Many parental lines used in hybrid rice breeding have weak PS, but their F1 progenies have strong PS and exhibit an undesirable transgressive late‐maturing phenotype. However, the genetic basis for this phenomenon is unclear. Therefore, effective methods are needed for selecting parents to create F1 hybrid varieties with the desired PS. In this study, we used bulked segregant analysis with F1 Ningyou 1179 (strong PS) and its F2 population, and through analyzing both parental haplotypes and PS data for 918 hybrid rice varieties, to identify the genetic basis of transgressive late maturation which is dependent on dominance complementation effects of Hd1, Ghd7, DTH8, and PRR37 from both parents rather than from a single parental genotype. We designed a molecular marker‐assisted selection system to identify the genotypes of Hd1, Ghd7, DTH8, and PRR37 in parental lines to predict PS in F1 plants prior to crossing. Furthermore, we used CRISPR/Cas9 technique to knock out Hd1 in Ning A (sterile line) and Ning B (maintainer line) and obtained an hd1‐NY material with weak PS while retaining the elite agronomic traits of NY. Our findings clarified the genetic basis of transgressive late maturation in hybrid rice and developed effective methods for parental selection and gene editing to facilitate the breeding of hybrid varieties with the desired PS for improving their adaptability. Significance Statement: We identified the genetic basis of transgressive late maturation in hybrid rice, which is dependent on dominance complementation effects of Hd1, Ghd7, DTH8, and PRR37 from both parents and developed effective methods for parental selection and gene editing to facilitate the breeding of hybrid varieties with the desired photoperiod sensitivity. Our study lays an important foundation for improving the breeding efficiency and latitude adaptability of hybrid rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clustering is an essential unsupervised technique when category information is not available. Although K-means and Max-min distance K-means clustering algorithms are widely used, they have some disadvantages such as dependence on the initial centers, sensitivity to outliers caused by using only distance as the clustering criterion. To overcome the problems, this paper proposes SMM-K-means algorithm which overcomes the dependence on the initial cluster centers and the initial number of clusters and the sensitivity to the outliers. First, the initial value K of the optimal cluster number is determined by the elbow method, and K-means is used for initial clustering. A new inter-cluster separation measure is then constructed based on the idea of q-nearest neighbors, which is constructed by comprehensive considering the separation between clusters and the distribution compactness of clusters themselves. Finally, the two sample points with highest degree of separation are brought into Max-min distance K-means algorithm as new initial centers for clustering. The definite determining method of cluster centers eliminates the complicated iterative calculation, and the construction of inter-cluster separation measure overcomes the sensitivity of clustering results to noise points and isolated points, and has good applicability and generalization. In addition, this algorithm is not limited by the shape and size of the clusters and has better flexibility. The experimental results show that the SMM-K-means algorithm has higher CH values, resulting in a better clustering effect and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper mainly studies the interdependence structure and risk transmission between China's north–south capital flow and the stock market and foreign exchange market. The results show that the correlation between southward capital and the mainland stock market is stronger, and the correlation between northward capital and the Hong Kong stock market is stronger. The correlation between northward capital and RMB exchange rate is greater than that between southward capital and RMB exchange rate. After the outbreak of COVID-19, the correlation between capital flows and the stock market has strengthened, while the correlation with the foreign exchange market has weakened. Furthermore, there is a bidirectional risk transmission between the north–south capital flow and China's stock market and foreign exchange market. In general, the north–south capital flow has a greater impact on the stock market, and the exchange rate of RMB/US dollar has a greater impact on the north–south capital flow. This study has implications for investors and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]