Search

The purposes of this study were to explore students' learning performance, knowledge construction, and behavioral patterns in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) online discussions with/without using Form+Theme+Context (FTC) model guidance scaffolding in visual imagery education. In the online learning activities, the control group did not use the FTC model guidance scaffolding, while the experimental group did. This study employed quantitative content analysis and sequential analysis to investigate the discussion content and behavioral patterns of 63 students from a private university in Taiwan during online discussion learning activities. Results showed that the learning performance of the students in the experimental group outperformed that of students in the control group. Moreover, the study revealed that the two groups of students were primarily sharing or comparing information during discussion. More behaviors of exploring opinions and concepts and communicating or constructing knowledge among group members were observed in the experimental group. Secondly, students in the experimental group participated more in knowledge construction than did students in the control group, and their behavioral patterns were more diverse. Accordingly, this study shows that incorporating the FTC model into learning with sufficient guidance from the instructor could be useful for improving students' visual imagery analysis abilities.

Abstract This single-arm phase 2 trial (ChiCTR2100046715) examined previously untreated patients with advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) who received four cycles of paclitaxel with carboplatin every 3 weeks. Toripalimab was infused intravenously every 3 weeks for 12 months, or until disease progression or intolerable toxicity. Radiotherapy that encompassed the primary lesions and metastases commenced in the third cycle. The median progression-free survival time was 9.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 6.8–not estimable) in the intent-to-treat population, failing to meet the pre-specified primary endpoints. Secondary endpoints included an objective response rate of 45.5%, a disease control rate of 57.6%, and a median duration of response of 11.5 months (interquartile range, 6.4–15.0). The 1-year progression-free survival and overall survival rates were 41.9% (95% CI: 27.7–63.5) and 69.7% (95% CI: 55.7–87.3), respectively. Lymphopenia was the most frequent grade ≥3 adverse event (82%), and an esophageal fistula developed in three patients (9.1%). No treatment-related deaths occurred. In prespecified exploratory biomarker analysis, higher densities of CD8 + T cells, CD11c+ dendritic cells, and CD68+ macrophages correlated with improved tumor response and prognosis. Radiotherapy supplementation to first-line chemo-immunotherapy for treatment-naive advanced ESCC demonstrated some antitumor activity and manageable safety profiles, warranting further randomized controlled trials.

Abstract Background The significance of A-to-I RNA editing in nervous system development is widely recognized; however, its influence on retina development remains to be thoroughly understood. Results In this study, we performed RNA sequencing and ribosome profiling experiments on developing mouse retinas to characterize the temporal landscape of A-to-I editing. Our findings revealed temporal changes in A-to-I editing, with distinct editing patterns observed across different developmental stages. Further analysis showed the interplay between A-to-I editing and alternative splicing, with A-to-I editing influencing splicing efficiency and the quantity of splicing events. A-to-I editing held the potential to enhance translation diversity, but this came at the expense of reduced translational efficiency. When coupled with splicing, it could produce a coordinated effect on gene translation. Conclusions Overall, this study presents a temporally resolved atlas of A-to-I editing, connecting its changes with the impact on alternative splicing and gene translation in retina development.

Monkeypox (Mpox) is an acute febrile rash illness caused by the Mpox virus. The ongoing international outbreak since mid-2022 has spread worldwide, including Taiwan. Ocular involvement in Mpox infection is uncommon, including external and ocular surface lesions. Here, we describe a man who developed unilateral blepharoconjunctivitis and preseptal cellulitis, followed by the appearance of skin symptoms 6 days after the ocular manifestations. Samples taken from his oropharynx and skin lesions tested positive for the Mpox virus through a polymerase chain reaction test. He was hospitalized for isolation with topical lubricant, antibiotic, and acyclovir eye ointment until the skin lesions healed. However, on the day of discharge, punctate epithelial keratitis was observed in the same eye. The corneal lesion also tested positive for the Mpox virus. His keratitis progressed to dendritic ulceration, and treatment with tecovirimat was initiated. Initially, his corneal ulcer responded well to tecovirimat, but 12 days later, it deteriorated along with cells in the anterior chamber. To treat his condition, low-dose steroid and ganciclovir eye drops were administered. Eventually, the patient experienced resolution of the corneal lesion, leaving a scar.

With the increasing bandwidth, videos have been gradually used as submissions for online peer assessment activities. However, their transient nature imposes a high cognitive load on students, particularly lowability students. Therefore, reviewers' ability is a key factor that may affect the reviewing process and performance in an online video peer assessment activity. This study examined how reviewers' ability affected the comments they provided and their reviewing behaviors and performance. Thirty-eight first-year undergraduate students participated in an online video peer assessment activity for 3 weeks. This study analyzed data collected from the teacher's and peer reviewers' ratings, comments provided by peer reviewers, and system logs. Several findings are significant. First, low-ability reviewers preferred to rate higher scores than high-ability reviewers did. Second, low-ability reviewers had higher review errors than high-ability reviewers. Third, high-ability reviewers provided more high-level comments, while low-ability reviewers provided more low-level comments. Finally, low- and high-ability reviewers showed different behavior patterns when reviewing peers' videos. In particular, low-ability reviewers invested more time and effort in understanding video content, while high-ability reviewers invested more time and effort in detecting and diagnosing problems. These findings are discussed, and several suggestions for improving the instructional and system design of online video peer assessment activities are provided.

The study explores the effects of an interdisciplinary learning approach on developing students' English learning (EL) and computational thinking (CT) through two different game-based learning approaches. A quasi-experiment is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of this approach in terms of enhancing students' CT knowledge and their EL achievement in an elementary school English as a foreign language (EFL) learning context. A total of 52 Grade 3 students take part in the experiment, of whom 28 are assigned to the experimental group learned with a machine educational robot (machine-ER) board game and 24 are assigned to the control group learned with a character educational robot (character-ER) board game. Results indicate that both groups made significant improvements in learning achievement: 1) in English-language achievement of learning vocabulary and sentence patterns; and 2) in CT concepts, although the machine-ER board game produces a greater increase than the character-ER board game in both language learning achievement and CT knowledge, their learning anxieties are also lower than those of the control group. The analysis of behavioral patterns also reveals that students playing the machine-ER board game demonstrate better language-learning interaction, whereas the students playing character-ER board game present greater CT development in finding solutions.

Abstract Cancer cells can evade immune elimination by activating immunosuppressive signaling pathways in the tumor microenvironment (TME). Targeting immunosuppressive signaling pathways to promote antitumor immunity has become an attractive strategy for cancer therapy. Aurora-A is a well-known oncoprotein that plays a critical role in tumor progression, and its inhibition is considered a promising strategy for treating cancers. However, targeting Aurora-A has not yet got a breakthrough in clinical trials. Recent reports have indicated that inhibition of oncoproteins may reduce antitumor immunity, but the role of tumor-intrinsic Aurora-A in regulating antitumor immunity remains unclear. In this study, we demonstrated that in tumors with high lymphocyte infiltration (hot tumors), higher tumor-intrinsic Aurora-A expression is associated with a better prognosis in CRC patients. Mechanically, tumor-intrinsic Aurora-A promotes the cytotoxic activity of CD8+ T cells in immune hot CRC via negatively regulating interleukin-16 (IL-16), and the upregulation of IL-16 may impair the therapeutic effect of Aurora-A inhibition. Consequently, combination treatment with IL-16 neutralization improves the therapeutic response to Aurora-A inhibitors in immune hot CRC tumors. Our study provides evidence that tumor-intrinsic Aurora-A contributes to anti-tumor immunity depending on the status of lymphocyte infiltration, highlighting the importance of considering this aspect in cancer therapy targeting Aurora-A. Importantly, our results suggest that combining Aurora-A inhibitors with IL-16-neutralizing antibodies may represent a novel and effective approach for cancer therapy, particularly in tumors with high levels of lymphocyte infiltration.

The differences in the proteomes of camel meat from different age groups were analyzed by tandem mass tag (TMT)-based quantitative proteomics and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to identify the key quality-related proteins of camel meat. The results showed that differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) had an important effect on the quality of camel meat. A total of 311 DEPs were identified in the longissimus dorsi muscle of camels from three age groups, 3–4 (I), 6–7 (II), and 9–10 (III) years old. Altogether 245 DEPs were identified in groups I versus II, 16 in groups II versus III, and 139 in groups I versus III. In addition, 194, 1, and 110 DEPs were up-regulated, and 51, 15, and 29 DEPs were down-regulated in the three comparison groups, respectively. Gene Ontology (GO) functional annotation analysis indicated that structural proteins, metabolic proteins, and heat stress proteins could be used as biomarkers for discrimination among camel meat from different ages. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis showed that the DEPs were mainly involved in fatty acid metabolism, glycolysis/glucose production, amino acid biosynthesis, and the hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) signaling pathway. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis showed that metabolic enzyme proteins were key network-connecting proteins that affect camel meat from different ages. Correlation analysis showed that 16 DEPs were correlated closely with meat tenderness. The tenderness of camel meat from the three age groups was mainly influenced by actin, histone and protein kinases. The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the grading and evaluation of camel meat, the selection of optimal slaughter age, and the study of camel meat quality characteristics.

Abstract Background The tumor microenvironment is characterized by inflammation-like and immunosuppression situations. Although cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are among the major stromal cell types in various solid cancers, including colon cancer, the interactions between CAFs and immune cells remains largely uncharacterized. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is responsive to proinflammatory cytokines and modulates immunity and tissue remodeling, but its involvement in tumor progression appears to be context-dependent and is unclear. Methods Open-access databases were utilized to examine the association of PTX3 expression and the fibroblast signature in colon cancer. Loss-of-function assays, including studies in tamoxifen-induced Ptx3 knockout mice and treatment with an anti-PTX3 neutralizing antibody (WHC-001), were conducted to assess the involvement of PTX3 in colon cancer progression as well as its immunosuppressive effect. Finally, bioinformatic analyses and in vitro assays were performed to reveal the downstream effectors and decipher the involvement of the CREB1/CEBPB axis in response to PTX3 and PTX3-induced promotion of M2 macrophage polarization. Results Clinically, higher PTX3 expression was positively correlated with fibroblasts and inflammatory response signatures and associated with a poor survival outcome in colon cancer patients. Blockade of PTX3 significantly reduced stromal cell-mediated tumor development. The decrease of the M2 macrophage population and an increase of the cytotoxic CD8+ T-cell population were observed following PTX3 inactivation in allografted colon tumors. We further revealed that activation of cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein 1 (CREB1) mediated the PTX3-induced promotion of M2 macrophage polarization. Conclusions PTX3 contributes to stromal cell-mediated protumor immunity by increasing M2-like macrophage polarization, and inhibition of PTX3 with WHC-001 is a potential therapeutic strategy for colon cancer.

ABSTRACT: Nutritional therapy, which may have advantages over medication, is being investigated as a novel treatment for pregnancy-induced hypertension. Several studies have shown that probiotic yogurt supplementation during pregnancy has beneficial effects on maternal and fetal health. In this study, fermented buffalo milk was produced with yogurt culture and Lactobacillus plantarum B, a probiotic isolated from healthy breast milk with high angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitory activity. The fermentation conditions under which the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity reached 84.51% were optimized by the response surface method as follows: 2 × 106 cfu/mL of L. plantarum B, yogurt culture 2.5 × 105 cfu/mL, and 8 h at 37°C. The distribution of ACE inhibitory peptides from fermented buffalo milk and fermented cow milk were further analyzed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. By searching according to the structural features of ACE inhibitory peptides, 29 and 11 peptides containing ACE inhibitory peptide features were found in fermented buffalo milk and fermented cow milk, respectively. To investigate the in vivo antihypertensive activity of fermented buffalo milk, 18 pregnant rats were divided into 3 groups (n = 6 in each group) and administered 10 mL of normal saline, yogurt (20 mg/kg), or labetalol hydrochloride (4 mg/kg) daily from the beginning of pregnancy to parturition. To induce hypertension, methyl nitrosoarginine (125 mg/kg) was injected subcutaneously every day from d 15 of pregnancy to the day of delivery. Blood pressure was not significantly changed in the yogurt and labetalol groups after induction of hypertension and was lower compared with the normal saline group, but there was no difference between the yogurt and labetalol groups. This implied that the buffalo yogurt had a preventive and antihypertensive effect in the pregnancy-induced hypertensive rat model. Further studies to determine the mechanism of action, as well as a randomized control trial, are warranted.

The purposes of this study were to explore students’ learning performance, knowledge construction, and behavioral patterns in computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) online discussions with/without using Form+Theme+Context (FTC) model guidance scaffolding in visual imagery education. In the online learning activities, the control group did not use the FTC model guidance scaffolding, while the experimental group did. This study employed quantitative content analysis and sequential analysis to investigate the discussion content and behavioral patterns of 63 students from a private university in Taiwan during online discussion learning activities. Results showed that the learning performance of the students in the experimental group outperformed that of students in the control group. Moreover, the study revealed that the two groups of students were primarily sharing or comparing information during discussion. More behaviors of exploring opinions and concepts and communicating or constructing knowledge among group members were observed in the experimental group. Secondly, students in the experimental group participated more in knowledge construction than did students in the control group, and their behavioral patterns were more diverse. Accordingly, this study shows that incorporating the FTC model into learning with sufficient guidance from the instructor could be useful for improving students’ visual imagery analysis abilities.

Reading expository text is essential in educational settings but can present challenges. eBooks bring several advantages: they are portable, searchable and efficiently stored. However, eBooks have disadvantages compared to natural books. eBooks are more rigid and fragile than natural books. Although reading on a mobile phone is more flexible than on PC (desktop or laptop), it still lacks the flexibility of a natural book. Further, mobile phones can only handle relatively small texts and are not suitable for texts with high-resolution graphics or multimedia. This study developed SlideIt+, an eBook reader for PC to target reading comprehension while drawing on eBook advantages. Thirty-four participants were grouped into three conditions: an experimental group that used the eBook reader; a control group who read natural books, and an experimental group who read natural books with a structured reading strategy that was also incorporated into the eBook reader. The eBook reader outperformed natural book reading, and performance was equivalent for the eBook reader and natural books when the reading strategy was used. SlideIt+ effectively helps comprehension of expository text on PC. The SlideIt+ eBook reader mechanism could be adapted for other eBook readers, supporting research into the integration of reading strategies into eBooks.