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There are more choices of overseas internship program with the increasing international communication. As an international language, English plays an important role in overseas internship program. The influence of short-term overseas internship is worthy of deep study. This study was designed to explore the possible influence of short-term Disney College Internship on interns' self-efficacy and intercultural communication apprehension. Questionnaires and follow-up interview were used to collect data. The results show that the internship experience has enhanced interns' intercultural self-efficacy and lowered their intercultural communication apprehension.

Extensive reading has been continuously studied as a promising instructional method for improving students' language proficiency, including reading proficiency, vocabulary acquisition, and grammar awareness. The present study is a meta-analysis, which synthesized the data of 21 empirical studies (N = 1268). It was designed to explore whether extensive reading instruction was effective in improving students' vocabulary acquisition, and if so, how the effectiveness varied in terms of the instruction length and teaching methods. Stata 14.0 was utilized to calculate the collected data. The results revealed that: (1) extensive reading has a significant effect on English vocabulary learning; (2) one semester (less than three months) is the most appropriate length of extensive reading instruction for vocabulary learning; (3) Graded Readers, comprehension questions and vocabulary exercise play significant roles as reading materials and education methods in promoting the vocabulary learning of EFL learners.

The International Society of Nephrology/Renal Pathology Society (ISN/RPS) lupus nephritis (LN) classification is under reconsideration, given challenges with inter-rater reliability and resultant inconsistent relationship with treatment response. Integration of molecular classifiers into histologic evaluation can improve diagnostic precision and identify therapeutic targets. This study described the relationship between histological and molecular phenotypes and clinical responses in LN. Renal compartmental mRNA abundance was measured in 54 biopsy specimens from LN patients and correlated to ISN/RPS classification and individual histologic lesions. A subset of transcripts was also evaluated in sequential biopsies of a separate longitudinal cohort of 36 patients with paired samples obtained at the time of flare and at follow up. Unsupervised clustering based on mRNA abundance did not demonstrate a relationship with the (ISN/RPS) classification, nor did univariate statistical analysis. Exploratory analyses suggested a correlation with individual histologic lesions. Glomerular FN1 (fibronectin), SPP1 (secreted phosphoprotein 1), and LGALS3 (galectin 3) abundance correlated with disease activity and changed following treatment. Exploratory analyses suggested relationships between specific transcripts and individual histologic lesions, with the important representation of interferon-regulated genes. Our findings suggested that the current LN classification could be refined by the inclusion of molecular descriptors. Combining molecular and pathologic kidney biopsy phenotypes may hold promise to better classify disease and identify actionable treatment targets and merits further exploration in larger cohorts.

Scar tissue formation following skin wound healing is a challenging public health problem. Skin regeneration and preventing the formation of scar tissue by currently available commercial products are largely ineffective. This study aimed to test the efficacy of a novel topical metformin lotion (ML) in inhibiting scar tissue formation during skin wound healing in rats and to determine the mechanisms of action involved. A 6% ML was prepared in our laboratory. A skin wound healing model in rats was used. The wounded rats were divided into two groups and treated daily for 10 days as follows: Group 1 received a daily application of 50 mg of control lotion, or 0% ML (totaling 100 mg of lotion per rat), and Group 2 received a daily application of 50 mg of 6% ML (totaling 100 mg of 6% ML per rat). Blood samples from the heart of each rat were analyzed for inflammatory markers, HMGB1 and IL-1β, using ELISA, and immunological and histological analyses were performed on skin tissue sections. ML decreased levels of inflammatory markers HMGB1 and IL-1β in the serum of rats and inhibited the release of HMGB1 from cell nuclei into the skin tissue matrix. Additionally, ML demonstrated anti-fibrotic properties by enhancing AMPK activity, decreasing the expression of TGF-β1, reducing the number of myofibroblasts, decreasing the production of collagen III, and increasing the expression of collagen I. ML promotes the regeneration of high-quality skin during wound healing by reducing scar tissue formation. This effect is mediated through the activation of AMPK, inhibition of TGF-β1, and a decrease in the number of myofibroblasts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, the surface modification methods of hollow glass microspheres and their applications in coatings were briefly introduced. The latest research progress in thermal insulation coatings, fireproof coatings, wave-absorbing coatings and anticorrosive coatings was summarized, and the future direction of the application of hollow glass microspheres in coatings was prospected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most lethal malignant cancers with high incidence and mortality. Current reliable effective diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers are very limited in clinic. Emerging evidence indicates that dysregulated expression of the long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) was examined in various types of cancer including ESCC. ESCC associated lncRNA _1 (ESCCAL_1) was first time identified to be increased expression in ESCC, and therefore named by our research team. However, its potential function in the progression of ESCC remains unclear. In this study, we investigated the effect of ESCCAL_1 knockdown on ESCC tumorigenicity using a xenograft mouse model and explored the underlying molecular mechanism. Here we showed that ESCCAL_1 knockdown significantly inhibited EC9706 cell growth in nude mice. Interestingly, we also found that reduced expression of ESCCAL_1 resulted in distinct alterations of relative phosphorylation level of kinases (p-p38α, p-JNK, p-FAK and p-Src), and significant changes of the expression level of apoptosis-related proteins (p53, BAX, Bcl-2 and Caspase-3). In summary, our results suggest that lncRNA ESCCAL_1 is a potential diagnostic and prognostic target of ESCC.