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The implementation of a research-based curriculum that enables students to develop essential capabilities for this complex world is challenging. There is limited understanding of the implementation of a research-based curriculum in a whole degree programme, and few studies examined how faculty members and students perceived such a curriculum. This study explored faculty members' perceptions and students' experiences of four research-based curricula in two research-intensive universities in Hong Kong. Based on document review, 18 faculty interviews, and 113 student interviews, we discovered an overall positive view of research-based curricula but also substantial differences between faculty members' perceptions and students' experiences. For example, faculty members emphasised the learning and critical evaluation of knowledge. In comparison, students focused on exploring specific interesting issues and collecting and analysing information without fully recognising the potential of research in generating, applying, and validating knowledge. Moreover, students' experiences of research-based curricula contained a broader scope of activities than the curriculum perceived by faculty members. These gaps demonstrate that the fundamental goals of research-based curricula to develop 'powerful knowledge' and induct students into disciplinary ways of thinking have yet to be fully achieved. The study implies a need to enhance communication between students and faculty members and build a consensus on designing and supporting undergraduate research across the curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Affirming spaces have been associated with improved mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents. METHODS: With data from adolescents currently enrolled in middle or high school across the United States, this study used topic modeling methods to examine students' reports of what they were looking for in LGBTQ-affirming schools and, separately, the association of LGBTQ-affirming schools with suicide risk reduction. RESULTS: Topic models demonstrated consistent themes in how students determined that their school was affirming, such as LGBTQ clubs, teachers requesting pronouns, pride flags, and accepting peers. Students of color uniquely looked for actionable responses in addressing LGBTQ issues. Transgender and nonbinary students required explicit mention of support for transgender issues. Quantitatively, LGBTQ students who reported that their school was LGBTQ-affirming had 20% lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year (adjusted odds ratio = 0.80). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that schools must be safe for all youth and implementing policies that make LGBTQ students feel seen and supported in their identities is a protective factor for mental health. IMPLICATIONS: School policies must ensure that youth have access to supportive people, symbols of support, and LGBTQ clubs and that they are also salient to LGBTQ students of color and transgender and nonbinary students.

Teachers' well-being and self-efficacy are two important factors linked to quality education. Recent research examining their bidirectionality has revealed inconsistent findings, while those examining the relationships among pre-service and in-service teachers are scarce. This study investigates the reciprocal relationships between teachers' well-being and self-efficacy in a sample of Hong Kong early childhood education teachers. Participants were 155 pre-service (n = 77) and in-service (n = 78) teachers (M[subscript age] = 23.97, SD = 4.46, female = 92.9%). Participants reported their teachers' well-being (PERMA model including positive emotion, engagement, relationship, meaning, and accomplishment) and teachers' self-efficacy at two-time points. The results from the cross-lagged panel model revealed that teachers' self-efficacy at baseline significantly predicted all aspects of prospective well-being except for engagement. In contrast, none of the teachers' well-being components significantly predicted later teachers' self-efficacy, except for accomplishment. The associations between teachers' self-efficacy and well-being were invariant across pre-service and in-service teachers. The results underscored the importance of teachers' self-efficacy in facilitating teachers' well-being. The findings also highlight the utility of intervention efforts targeting teachers' self-efficacy and well-being, especially in promoting teachers' accomplishment, at an early stage of their careers.

A text recommendation system helps language learners find suitable reading materials. Similar to graded readers, most systems assign difficulty levels or school grades to the documents in their database, and then identify the documents that best match the language proficiency of the learner. This graded approach has two main limitations. First, the common grade scale assumes that all learners find the same words difficult, ignoring different orders in vocabulary acquisition. Second, it cannot cater to the incremental vocabulary expansion typical of language learners, since discrete grades do not facilitate fine-grained adaptation in text recommendation. This article evaluates a personalized and adaptive method for text recommendation that aims to mitigate these limitations. This method recommends documents according to the new-word density preferred by the user. It estimates a document's new-word density with an open learner model that predicts the user's vocabulary knowledge. Users can dynamically update the learner model as they acquire new vocabulary. We conducted a user study involving ten learners of Chinese as a foreign language. Results shows that this method can estimate the learner model at 77.6% accuracy, outperforming the graded approach. Further, a user simulation demonstrates that it can recommend documents within 0.22% of the target new-word density, satisfying user preferences more accurately than the graded approach.

Successful problem-based learning (PBL) often requires students to collectively regulate their learning processes as a group and engage in socially shared regulation of learning (SSRL). This paper focuses on how facilitators supported SSRL in the context of middle-school game-based PBL. Using conversation analysis, this study analyzed text-based chat messages of facilitators and students collected during gameplay. The analysis revealed direct modeling strategies such as performing regulative processes, promoting group awareness, and dealing with contingency as well as indirect strategies including prompting questions and acknowledgment of regulation, and the patterns of how facilitation faded to yield responsibilities to students to regulate their own learning. The findings will inform researchers and practitioners to design prompts and develop technological tools such as adaptive scaffolding to support SSRL in PBL or other collaborative inquiry processes.

Scientific communication (SC) has important social-cognitive, behavioral, and career-related benefits for emerging researchers, but both mentors and mentees find development of SC skills challenging. Whether training mentors to effectively mentor development of SC skills could have a meaningful impact on mentees was not clear. The Scientific Communication Advances Research Excellence (SCOARE) project has conducted faculty training workshops in techniques for mentoring SC skills since 2018. To study indirect workshop effects of mentors' attendance at the SCOARE workshop on their matched PhD and postdoctoral mentees (N = 477), we surveyed mentees before and 6 months after their mentors attended and measured their social-psychological and behavioral outcomes. To examine the effectiveness of the workshop and to explore whether workshop effects vary based on mentee demographic characteristics, including home language variety (speaker of standardized English [STE], non-standardized English [NSTE], or another language [L2]), we conducted multilevel models. After adjusting baseline scores, mentees of mentors who attended SCOARE workshops (W +) were more engaged in speaking activities ([beta] =0 .30, p = 0.016), had higher science identity ([beta] = 0.20, p = 0.048), and were less likely to reconsider their career due to SC skills ([beta] = -- 0.39, p = 0.004) than mentees in the W-- group. Across demographic groups, mentees of mentors who attended SCOARE workshops showed similar improvements in SC outcomes. Postdoctoral mentees, compared to doctoral mentees, had higher science identity and lower intention to pursue a non-research-intensive career. Comparing mentees of the 3 categories of home language variety, both the NSTE and L2 groups, compared to the STE group, were more likely to reconsider their careers due to SC skills and had a higher intention to pursue non-research-intensive careers both at baseline and post-workshop, suggesting the possibility of language background as a barrier to mentee career progression. Mentor training for SC skill development can improve social-psychological and behavioral outcomes for mentees, including science identity, frequency of speaking, and reconsideration of research careers due to concerns about SC.

Single-case research design is a useful methodology to investigate counseling treatment effects through a time-series graph. A systematic review of 42 counseling journals was conducted, yielding 50 studies, including 272 graphs. Most graphs did not meet recommended guidelines. How graphs impact visual analysis and suggestions to enhance interpretability are discussed.

Electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation are always a challenging topic for students studying metabolism. We had adopted blended learning in metabolism teaching and evaluated the learning experiences of students. In this project, a pre-class learning aid the "Story Mode" and a post-class learning aid the "Revision Mode" in the "Powerland" was developed that facilitated students learning electron transport chain and oxidative phosphorylation. In the "Story Mode," pathways were presented by short animations and simplified diagram that allowed students to understand basic concepts and recall simple facts of the topic. Students were asked to watch the animations before class to acquire lower level of cognitive learning first, and this facilitated students in understanding more complicated concepts later on during class. Another challenge that students faced was that they were especially weak at integrating metabolic pathways and understand the relationships between these pathways. A metro map was designed in the "Revision Mode" that aided students in knowledge integration, and the functions of biomolecules were summarized in flashcards that helped students in revising the concepts. This interactive self-learning tool was packaged as a courseware using the Articulate Storyline.

School transportation may have important implications for academic success, but few studies examine how these variables are related. This systematic review is the first that synthesizes research linking school transportation with academic outcomes. Using the PRISMA framework, the authors conducted a literature search across multiple data sources and screened articles for the following eligibility criteria: 1) Design is quantitative or mixed methods; 2) Sample consists of primary or secondary school students; 3) Variables include school transportation and academic outcomes. Two reviewers independently screened each study for inclusion criteria. Two reviewers also independently rated each study on methodological quality in five dimensions using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (MMAT). Throughout the process, reviewers consulted to resolve any discrepancies between ratings. The search revealed 249 abstracts that were screened for inclusion criteria. This resulted in 61 relevant articles after duplicates were removed. After screening, reviewers determined that 26 studies met inclusion criteria. Most took place in the United States, although studies were also conducted in Canada, Croatia, England, Nepal, Pakistan, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain. Thirteen studies met all MMAT methodological quality standards. Longer travel times and transportation challenges were associated with adverse academic outcomes except when they provided access to higher-quality schools. School bus transportation had a mixed relationship with academic outcomes. The authors conclude that research points to the importance of transportation as it relates to academic success, especially for students of color and those from low-income households.

This study investigated the cross-sectional relationships between reading-related affective and cognitive factors and reading skills among adolescents with and without dyslexia. Participants were 120 Chinese-speaking eighth graders, including 60 adolescents with dyslexia and 60 typically developing adolescents from Hong Kong, China. Adolescents completed questionnaires on general anxiety, reading anxiety, and reading self-concept. They were also assessed on measures of rapid digit naming, verbal working memory, word reading, reading fluency, and reading comprehension. The results showed that readers with dyslexia reported higher levels of general anxiety and reading anxiety and lower levels of reading self-concept than typical readers. They also showed difficulties in rapid digit naming and verbal working memory. Importantly, controlling for rapid digit naming and verbal working memory, reading self-concept was uniquely associated with word reading and reading fluency for readers with and without dyslexia. Furthermore, reading anxiety and reading self-concept were uniquely associated with reading comprehension for the two groups of readers. The findings point to the importance of considering affective factors when examining the reading skills of Chinese readers and the utility of targeting these factors when supporting the learning of adolescents with and without dyslexia.

Abstract Various methods of evaluating a humectant’s moisture retention have unique mechanisms. Hence, for designing advanced or efficient ingredients of cosmetic products, a clear understanding of differences among methods is required. The aim of this study was to analyze the moisture-retention capacity of glycerin, a common ingredient in cosmetic products. Specifically, this study applied gravimetric analysis, transepidermal water loss (TEWL) analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to examine the evaporation of glycerin solutions of different concentrations. The results revealed that the moisture-retention capacity of glycerin increased with the glycerin concentration from 0 to 60 wt%, and glycerin at concentration of 60–70 wt% did not exhibit weight change during the evaporation process. When the glycerin concentration exceeded 70 wt%, moisture sorption occurred in the glycerin solution. Furthermore, the results revealed a deviation between the evaporation rates measured using gravimetric analysis and those measured using TEWL analysis. However, normalizing the results of these analyses yielded the relative evaporation rates to water, which were consistent between these two analyses. DSC thermograms further confirmed the consistent results and identified two hydrated water microstructures (nonfreezable water and free water) in the glycerin solutions, which explained why the measured evaporation rate decreased with the glycerin concentration. These findings can be applied to prove the moisture-retention capacity of a humectant in cosmetic products by different measuring methods.

Abstract Background Limited health literacy among people with asthma is associated with poor adherence to self-management activities, thus poor clinical outcomes. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of health literacy level and its determinants among people with asthma in the Malaysian primary healthcare settings. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted among participants aged > 18 years with asthma who attended five primary health clinics in Malaysia. Systematic random sampling was employed with a final sample of 550 participants. The questionnaires included the validated Malay version of Health Literacy Scale (HLS) and asthma control questionnaire (ACQ). Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 25. Multiple logistic regression was performed to determine the determinants for limited health literacy. Results The participants mean age of the participants was 48 (SD15.4) years. Most of the participants were women (64%) and of Malay ethnicity (51.1%). Nearly half had a secondary level of education, n = 112, (45.8%). Mean duration of asthma diagnosis is 20.6 (SD 15.9) years. More than half (62.5%) had a family history of asthma. About half (50.9%) had uncontrolled asthma, with 87.3% self-rated themselves as having controlled asthma. About a third (29.1%) received education on of asthma action plan, but only 7.1% of these owned a written version an asthma action plan. Limited health literacy accounts for 60.5% of the participants. The significant determinants for limited health literacy included lower educational attainment (p

Studying the spatial mutational and gene expression alterations in breast cancer could impact our understanding of breast cancer development. Here, the authors analyse a unique dataset of epithelial samples that highlight potential field cancerisation surrounding the primary tumour.

Cancer cells can affect cancer progression by producing systemic effects. Here, the authors show that IGF2 produced by oesophageal cancer cells increases secretion of VEGF from cancer-associated fibroblasts resulting in systemic mobilization of bone marrow-derived cells and increased metastases.

Abstract Tumorigenesis involves multistep genetic alterations. To elucidate the microRNA (miRNA)–gene interaction network in carcinogenesis, we examined their genome‐wide expression profiles in 96 pairs of tumor/non‐tumor tissues from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Comprehensive analysis of the coordinate expression of miRNAs and mRNAs reveals that miR‐122 is under‐expressed in HCC and that increased expression of miR‐122 seed‐matched genes leads to a loss of mitochondrial metabolic function. Furthermore, the miR‐122 secondary targets, which decrease in expression, are good prognostic markers for HCC. Transcriptome profiling data from additional 180 HCC and 40 liver cirrhotic patients in the same cohort were used to confirm the anti‐correlation of miR‐122 primary and secondary target gene sets. The HCC findings can be recapitulated in mouse liver by silencing miR‐122 with antagomir treatment followed by gene‐expression microarray analysis. In vitro miR‐122 data further provided a direct link between induction of miR‐122‐controlled genes and impairment of mitochondrial metabolism. In conclusion, miR‐122 regulates mitochondrial metabolism and its loss may be detrimental to sustaining critical liver function and contribute to morbidity and mortality of liver cancer patients.

BackgroundIn hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) genes predictive of survival have been found in both adjacent normal (AN) and tumor (TU) tissues. The relationships between these two sets of predictive genes and the general process of tumorigenesis and disease progression remains unclear.Methodology/principal findingsHere we have investigated HCC tumorigenesis by comparing gene expression, DNA copy number variation and survival using ∼250 AN and TU samples representing, respectively, the pre-cancer state, and the result of tumorigenesis. Genes that participate in tumorigenesis were defined using a gene-gene correlation meta-analysis procedure that compared AN versus TU tissues. Genes predictive of survival in AN (AN-survival genes) were found to be enriched in the differential gene-gene correlation gene set indicating that they directly participate in the process of tumorigenesis. Additionally the AN-survival genes were mostly not predictive after tumorigenesis in TU tissue and this transition was associated with and could largely be explained by the effect of somatic DNA copy number variation (sCNV) in cis and in trans. The data was consistent with the variance of AN-survival genes being rate-limiting steps in tumorigenesis and this was confirmed using a treatment that promotes HCC tumorigenesis that selectively altered AN-survival genes and genes differentially correlated between AN and TU.Conclusions/significanceThis suggests that the process of tumor evolution involves rate-limiting steps related to the background from which the tumor evolved where these were frequently predictive of clinical outcome. Additionally treatments that alter the likelihood of tumorigenesis occurring may act by altering AN-survival genes, suggesting that the process can be manipulated. Further sCNV explains a substantial fraction of tumor specific expression and may therefore be a causal driver of tumor evolution in HCC and perhaps many solid tumor types.