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Background: As adequate support, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly introduced into the classroom to help students learn a new language. However, empirical studies exploring the educational potential of using 360° spherical video-based virtual reality (SVVR) in high-school Chinese language classrooms are still lacking. Objectives: A mind mapping-based SVVR learning system is proposed for international high-school students' Chinese courses and examines its effects on improving Chinese learning achievements and perceptions among Grade 10 students who learn Chinese as a foreign language. Methods: This study adopted a quasi-experiment design. Participants (N = 66) were assigned to one of three conditions: mind mapping-based SVVR (MMBSVVR), conventional SVVR (CSVVR), or traditional lecturing (TL). Our mixed-method approach employed pre-and post-tests to measure Chinese learning achievements, questionnaires to measure Chinese learning motivation, problem-solving ability, and self-efficacy, and semi-structured interviews to further explore students' feelings and attitudes about Chinese courses in corresponding learning environments. Results and Conclusions: The results showed that the MMBSVVR classroom significantly improved high students' Chinese learning achievements in Chinese vocabulary and making sentence, problem-solving ability, and self-efficacy. Moreover, SVVR stimulates students' learning interest and class participation, and mind mapping provides students with a clear guide to arrange the knowledge. These findings help interpret the relationships between MMBSVVR and learning achievements, Chinese learning motivation, problem-solving ability, and self-efficacy in an international high school Chinese courses, thus providing insight on integrating MMBSVVR into existing classrooms.

According to previous studies, traditional laboratory safety courses are delivered in a classroom setting where the instructor teaches and the students listen and read the course materials passively. The course content is also uninspiring and dull. Additionally, the teaching period is spread out, which adds to the instructor's workload. As a result, students become less motivated to learn. In contrast, artificially intelligent educational robots (AIERs), help students learn while lessening the workload on instructors by enhancing teaching strategies, using robots to substitute for teachers, giving students access to a variety of instructional content, and improving interaction with students through the use of intelligent voice interactions and Q&A systems to promote student engagement in learning. If the robot is used for a long time for learning, it may lead to a decrease in students' interest in learning. Therefore, this study introduces the GAFCC model (the theory-driven gamification goal, access, feedback, challenge, collaboration design model) as an instructional design model to guide the development of a gamified AIER system, aiming to improve students' motivation and learning effectiveness for laboratory safety courses. To test the effectiveness of the system, this study conducted an experimental study at a university in China in the summer of 2022. 53 participants participated in the research, with a random sample taken from each group. Each participant was able to choose the time of their free time to engage in the experiment. There were 18, 19, and 16 participants in experimental group 1, experimental group 2, and the traditional group, respectively. Students in experimental group 1 learned using the gamified AIER system, students in experimental group 2 learned on a general anthropomorphic robot system and the control group received traditional classroom learning. The experimental results showed that compared to the other two groups, the gamified AIER system guided by the GAFCC model significantly improved students' learning achievement and enhanced their learning motivation, flow experience, and problem-solving tendency. In addition, students who adopted this approach exhibited more positive behaviors and reduced cognitive load in the learning process.

In science education, chemistry is a discipline that involves macroscopic matter and microscopic particles. It is difficult for the traditional teaching approach to help learners comprehend abstract chemical knowledge. Researchers have attempted to use Virtual Reality (VR) to help learners realize meaningful knowledge via visualizing the learning content. However, merely engaging students in experiencing the scientific contexts is not enough. To fill this gap, the present study adopted Spherical Video-based Virtual Reality (SVVR) to create authentic learning contexts for learners, and proposed an exploration-based SVVR approach which aimed to promote students' understanding of abstract concepts and improve their competence of completing chemistry experiments. A quasi-experimental design was employed to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. A total of 136 junior high school students from three classes were recruited for the experiment. The experimental group adopted the exploration-based SVVR approach, control group I adopted the conventional SVVR approach, and control group II adopted traditional instruction. The results showed that the exploration-based SVVR approach not only improved students' learning achievement, but also increased their learning motivation, learning attitude, and creative thinking tendency. Besides, students adopting this approach had more positive behaviors, including finding problems, making assumptions, investigating and verifying, and discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have suggested English classrooms with sufficient context and fun activities to increase English performance and promote learning motivation. With the rapid growth of technology-enhanced learning, virtual reality (VR) has become increasingly popular in English learning. Using VR without a well-designed learning environment, however, may not guide students to focus on the learning content to achieve the learning goals. Hence, this study proposed a self-regulated-based gamified VR learning system to trigger students to monitor their learning process to achieve their learning goals. To examine the effectiveness of the proposed system, a quasi-experiment was conducted in a middle school in China involving three groups: students who adopted the self-regulated-based gamified VR system, students who learned with the gamified VR system, and those who learned with a conventional VR system. The results showed that the self-regulated-based gamified VR system significantly improved the students’ English learning performance regarding their English vocabulary and speaking, self-regulation, learning motivation, learning attitudes, and meta-cognition tendency. Moreover, their reflections on the self-regulated-based gamified VR system were revealed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Whether patients can benefit from three-field lymphadenectomy (3-FL) in minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) remains unclear. This study retrospectively compared short-term outcomes between 3-FL and two-field lymphadenectomy (2-FL) in MIE for patients with esophageal cancer (EC) and aimed to evaluate the clinical significance of 3-FL., Methods: There were 284 patients enrolled in the study (124 patients with 3-FL and 160 patients with 2-FL). The cases were matched based on their propensity scores using a matching ratio of 1:1, the nearest neighbor matching protocol, and a caliper of 0.02. Patients were propensity-score matched for sex, cancer location, Age-adjusted Charlson Comorbidity Index (ACCI), and neoadjuvant treatment. The short-term outcomes were postoperative complications, operation characteristics, pathology results and postoperative hospital stay., Results: There were no significant differences in intraoperative hemorrhage, postoperative hospital stay, or postoperative complications between the 2-FL and 3-FL groups. The operation time of the two groups was significantly different (227.1±46.2 vs. 248.5±45.9 min, P=0.001); the operation time of the 3-FL group was about 20 minutes longer than that of the 2-FL group. The number of lymphatic nodes (LNs) obtained in the 3-FL group was significantly higher than that in the 2-FL group (31.3±12.9 vs. 54.6±18.0, P<0.001). Pathological N stage was also significantly different (P=0.002); the 3-FL group was more advanced than the 2-FL group., Conclusions: Compared to 2-FL MIE, 3-FL MIE does not increase postoperative complications, can obtain more LNs, and improves the accuracy of tumor LN staging., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://tcr.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/tcr-23-2356/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2024 Translational Cancer Research. All rights reserved.)

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease(sCJD)is a prion-caused degenerative disease of the central nervous system,with the typical clinical manifestation of rapidly progressive dementia.The course of disease is less than 1 year in most patients and more than 2 years in only 2% to 3% patients.We reported a case of sCJD with expressive language disorder and slow progression in this paper.By summarizing the clinical manifestations and the electroencephalograhpy,MRI,and pathological features,we aimed to enrich the knowledge about the sCJD with slow progression.

Background: Neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy seems to be a promising treatment option for stage III non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Sintilimab, as a programmed death receptor-1 inhibitor, has exhibited a fine performance in treating NSCLC. However, the efficiency of sintilimab combined with chemotherapy for stage IIIA/IIIB NSCLC remains inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to share our experience on sintilimab in neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy for stage III NSCLC., Methods: This study retrospectively reviewed patients who received surgical resection following 1-3 cycles of neoadjuvant sintilimab (200 mg) with chemotherapy for stage III NSCLC between June 2020 and March 2022 in our center. Patients characteristics, surgical factors, surgery-related complications 30 days postoperatively, and treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) before surgery were recorded through reviewing medical record data and telephone follow-up., Results: A total of eight patients were enrolled, including six cases of squamous cell carcinoma and two cases of adenocarcinoma. All of the patients received 1-3 cycles of neoadjuvant therapy. There were no treatment-related surgical delays. All patients underwent lobectomy, among which two underwent sleeve lobectomy and one received bronchoplasty. Five patients underwent open thoracotomy. Fibrosis of the primary tumor and lymph nodes was observed in all the cases. There were no surgery-related complications > grade 2 at 30 days postoperatively. According to the radiographic findings, one patient had stable disease and all of the others achieved a partial response. The median of maximum standardized uptake value change from baseline was a 52.75% reduction (range, 37.2-68.8%). Five patients achieved a major pathological response. R0 resection was achieved in all eight cases. One grade 4 event was observed. Neutropenia was the most common TRAE > grade 2 (3/8). There were no cases of treatment discontinuation or dose reduction due to TRAEs., Conclusions: The current study found that neoadjuvant sintilimab plus chemotherapy bring a high rate of major pathological response and acceptable TRAEs. Even though it increased the difficulties of surgery, there is still no evidence suggesting that it will brings additional surgical death. We believe that neoadjuvant sintilimab plus chemotherapy might be feasible for stage III NSCLC., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://tcr.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/tcr-22-1194/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Translational Cancer Research. All rights reserved.)