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Motivating students has been a key challenge facing instructors in non-face-to-face instructional contexts. Existing researches into motivation in online learning environment have revealed that there are learning motivation differences among students from different cultural backgrounds. The purpose of this study is to identify whether American and Chinese online learners' motivation differ in online learning environment and what characteristics of learners could exert influence on their motivation. This study, based on a survey of 162 students from West Virginia University and 210 students from Fudan University, China, revealed that there was a significant learning motivation difference between American and Chinese online learners. And it was also found that online learners' learning motivation were affected by such learners' characteristics as gender, employment status and marital status.

HPV16 is the predominant type of HPV causing invasive cervical cancer. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of the unparalleled carcinogenic power of HPV16 compared to other types of high‐risk (HR)‐HPV including HPV18 remains elusive. The PDZ binding motif (PBM) of high‐risk HPV E6 plays an important role in neoplasia and progression of cervical cancer. HPV16 E6 rather than HPV18 E6, interacted with NHERF1 by its PBM region, and induced degradation of NHERF1. NHERF1 retarded the assembly of cytoskeleton by downregulation of ACTN4, thereby inhibited the migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells in both cell and mouse model. HPV16 E6 was confirmed to enhance actin polymerization with increased ACTN4 level by downregulation of NHERF1, and result in enhanced migration and invasion of cervical cancer cells. GSEA analysis of cervical cancer specimens also showed that HPV16 E6 rather than HPV18 E6, was significantly associated with actin cytoskeleton assembly. That downregulation of NHERF1 by HPV16 E6 promoted cytoskeleton assembly and cell invasion, was an important cause in cervical cancer carcinogenesis. These findings provided the differential mechanism between HPV16 E6 and HPV18 E6 in the development and progression of cervical cancer, which may partially explain the differences of carcinogenic power between these two types of HR‐HPVs. What's new? Human papillomavirus 16 (HPV16) causes about 46–63% of invasive cervical cancers (ICCs) worldwide. The mechanisms underlying its carcinogenicity remain unknown. Our study shows that the PDZ‐binding motif of HPV E6 proteins, is required for HPV16 E6‐promoted cervical cell migration and invasion. HPV16 E6 interacted with the PDZ domain‐containing protein Na+/H+ exchanger regulatory factor 1 (NHERF1), downregulating its expression and thereby increasing levels of the actin cytoskeleton protein ACTN4 and facilitating cell migration and invasion. By contrast, the E6 proteins of HPV18, which causes 10–15% of ICCs, did not downregulate NHERF1, indicating that HPV16 E6 and HPV18 E6 act via different carcinogenic mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To explore the clinical manifestations and genetic basis for a rare case of Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI)., Methods: A 44-day-old female infant who was treated at Baoding Hospital of Beijing Children's Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University on August 26, 2022 was selected as the study subject. Clinical data of the child was collected, and Trio-whole exome sequencing (Trio-WES), whole genome copy number variation sequencing (CNV-seq) and minigene splicing assay were carried out to analyze the pathogenicity of the variants., Results: The child had presented with fever and high inflammatory indicators, for which treatment with various antibiotics was ineffective. Ultrasound had revealed extensive arterial calcification and arterial wall thickening. The child was suspected for GACI with arteritis related to the primary disease. Her fever was relieved by treatment with glucocorticoid and biological agents. Trio-WES revealed that she has harbored compound heterozygous variants of the ABCC6 gene, namely c.4404-1G>A and c.4041+5G>T, for which the latter was unreported previously. Based on the guidelines from the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, the variants were classified as likely pathogenic (PVS1+PM2_Supporting) and variant of unknown significance (PM2_Supporting+PM3+PP3), respectively. The result of CNV-seq was negative. And the minigene splicing assay has further verified that both variants can result in alternative splicing., Conclusion: For pyrexia with unknown causes and refractory to conventional treatment, it is necessary to recommend early genetic testing to avoid missed diagnosis of GACI.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common and aggressive malignancies. The current study is designed to explore the role of physcion, a major active ingredient in several traditional herbal medicinal plants, for the treatment of HCC. HCC cell lines, SMMC7721 and HepG2, were treated with physcion and its apoptosis-inducing effect was examined. Both in vitro and in vivo results from the present study demonstrated that physcion treatment resulted in apoptotic cell death in HCC cells via upregulation of miR-370. Furthermore, our findings showed that the physcion modulated the level of miR-370 through AMPK/Sp1/DNMT1 signaling. Taken together, these results showed that physcion exerts anti-tumor effect against HCC, which may be a potential agent for the adjunct chemotherapy.

Objective: To filtrate and prove the different microRNAs (miRs) profiles in nasopharyngeal carcinoma., Method: Screening the different expressions of miRs between nasopharyngeal carcinoma and the inflammatory tissues by the application of expression profiling of chip high-throughput and large-scale microarray analysis. Then we used RT-QPCR technology to prove the accuracy of screening results., Result: There were significant expression differences of miRs between nasopharyngeal carcinoma and the control tissues, 144 human miRs had 2 or more fold the difference ratio. Compared with the inflammatory tissues, we have found that miRs-34b, miRs-449b and miRs-7-1 significantly low expressed in nasopharyngeal carcinoma, yet miRs-125b, miRs-184, miRs-196b, miRs-205 and miRs-24-1 expressed high. The results were consistent with the microarray analysis., Conclusion: The difference expressed miRs might be closely related to the process of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and the research on miRs profiles maybe provide a powerful target basis for early diagnosis and therapy of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.