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The metaverse, a rapidly evolving virtual environment, offers new opportunities for healthcare education. The effectiveness of the metaverse as a learning tool depends on user readiness and platform characteristics. This study aimed to examine the current use of metaverse platforms among nurses and nursing students in South Korea and explore the relationship between user characteristics and their metaverse experience, focusing on presence, usability, and user experience. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Registered nurses and nursing students from various healthcare settings and educational institutions in South Korea participated in this study. This study included 428 participants, comprising 188 nurses and 240 nursing students. Between September and November 2022, participants provided voluntary informed consent. The participants engaged with one of the following two metaverse platforms: ZEPETO (mobile-based) or Gather (screen-based). After four structured exploration phases, the participants completed online questionnaires. These surveys assessed general characteristics, metaverse self-efficacy, sense of presence, usability, and user experience. Most participants had previous experience with the metaverse and rated their metaverse self-efficacy at 3.60. Nurses scored higher than nursing students in terms of presence, usability, and user experience in the metaverse. Higher work self-efficacy in nurses and academic self-efficacy in nursing students were associated with more positive experiences in the metaverse. Nurses consistently rated higher across all subdomains of presence, usability, and user experience than nursing students. The type of metaverse platform also significantly influenced user experience. A significant proportion of Korean nurses and nursing students are familiar with the metaverse, reflecting a global trend towards virtual environments in education and healthcare. Although the metaverse holds promise for healthcare education, its effectiveness depends on user readiness, platform characteristics, and the development of a reliable, structured, and user-friendly educational programme. • Effectiveness of metaverse depends on user readiness and platform characteristics. • Significant proportion of nurses and nursing students are familiar with metaverse. • Nurses reported their experience in metaverse more positively than nursing students. • User experience could be affected by the fidelity level of metaverse platforms. • Reliable and user-friendly programmes attribute to effective education on metaverse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The first electrochemical oxidative bromolactonization of unsaturated carboxylic acids. • Environmentally benign approach using bromide anion as bromine radical precursor without external oxidants. • Moderate to high yields of bromomethylated γ-lactones were observed. Electrochemical oxidative bromination and cyclization sequences of unsaturated carboxylic acids were developed in this study. This approach is environmentally-friendly, using bromide anion as bromine radical precursor without external oxidizing reagents. The electrochemical protocol offers a facile way to prepare bromomethylated γ-lactones derivatives in moderate to high yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The genetic deletion of mPGES-1 abolished 6-OHDA-induced PGE 2 production and dopaminergic neurodegeneration. • Compound 7s, a mPGES-1 inhibitor, exhibited potent neuroprotective activity against 6-OHDA-induced toxicity in PC12 cells. • Compound 7s (MPO-0144) as a small molecule could be a promising therapeutic agent for PD. • Compound 7s ameliorated motor impairments and dopaminergic neuronal damage in animal model of PD. mPGES-1 is found to be up-regulated in the dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) of postmortem brain tissue from Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA)-induced PD mice. Since the genetic deletion of mPGES-1 abolished 6-OHDA-induced PGE 2 production and 6-OHDA-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration in vitro and in vivo models, mPGES-1 enzyme has the potential to be an important target for PD therapy. In the present work, we investigated whether a small organic molecule as mPGES-1 inhibitor could exhibit the neuroprotective effects against 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity in in vitro and in vivo models. For this research goal, a new series of arylsulfonyl hydrazide derivatives was prepared and investigated whether these compounds may protect neurons against 6-OHDA-induced neurotoxicity in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Among them, compound 7s (MPO-0144) as a mPGES-1 inhibitor (PGE 2 IC 50 = 41.77 nM; mPGES-1 IC 50 = 1.16 nM) exhibited a potent neuroprotection (ED 50 = 3.0 nM) against 6-OHDA-induced in PC12 cells without its own neurotoxicity (IC 50 = >10 μM). In a 6-OHDA-induced mouse model of PD, administration of compound 7s (1 mg/kg/day, for 7 days, i.p.) ameliorated motor impairments and dopaminergic neuronal damage. These significant biological effects of compound 7s provided the first pharmacological evidence that mPGES-1 inhibitor could be a promising therapeutic agent for PD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]