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BackgroundThe emergence of e-learning had an intense, immediate, and disruptive transformation in the education system. While education aims to seek more interactions and learning engagement between teachers and students, it turns out that it takes lots of work to achieve the goal in the online classroom.AimsThis study aims to explore the underlying mechanisms and implications that emerge from the influence of the new features of online learning, drawing on students' real-life experiences, to construct a comprehensive theoretical model.SampleFrom July 2023 to October 2023, 56 undergraduates, including 18 male and 38 female, participated in the data collection process either face-to-face or online.MethodsThe study constructs a substantive theoretical model by employing the approaches of The Grounded Theory, three level-coding constant comparative method, theoretical sampling, core category distillation and storyline collation.Results(1) The elements involved in the process of online learning exhibit underlying logical correlations, driven by profound underlying factors, ultimately resulting in a parallel experience akin to Schrödinger's Cat. (2) Online features lead to students' motivation mainly depending on whether they are self-regulated. (3) Teacher-student interactions and self-regulation shape different learning contexts and types by being moderated by internal and external effects.ConclusionsStudents had a parallel experience similar to that of Schrödinger's Cat: they were constantly dissatisfied with “rational” learning and “perceptually” satisfied with online learning. The variation in the satisfaction of the three basic psychological needs necessities college students in online learning leads to parallel experiences.

In the context of constructing regional education and talent hub, Macao’s higher education talent development strategy impacts the creation of a regional talent hub and the process of industrial diversification. This study adopts a text analysis approach. Through the analysis of 118 texts and the construction of the game model, it reveals that Macao’s talent development has been passing through a “market-controlled” and “policy-driven” stage due to the uniqueness of economic and social development. The model of cooperative game based on endosymbiosis implicates that the talent attraction strategy of higher education can play a leading role in socio-economic development to form a cooperative and symbiotic equilibrium with the region as a whole through the “climbing period” when the “actual state” catches up with the “expected value.” This paper proposes some policy recommendations, including: prospective discipline layout, breaking down of institutional barriers, cooperation and exchange of talent cultivation, and the creation of a talent-sharing mechanism for promoting the construction of a regional talent hub.

This paper investigates the temporal trend and regional disparity of China’s agricultural green total factor productivity (AGTFP) during 1997-2016. Combined with the green Luenberger productivity indicator, two different data envelopment analysis models with the biennial environmental technology are constructed for robust checks. Compared with the existing literature, more agricultural carbon emissions are used as the undesirable outputs in the models. It is found that AGTFP in the whole of China and all of its sub-regions (the east, the middle, and the west) showed an overall increase, with the drive of high technical progress. The east had the largest AGTFP, and the middle experienced the largest AGTFP growth. More specifically, with respect to AGTFP, the total difference and the gross difference among the three regions as well as the specific difference within regions widened during these periods. There was an absolute convergence trend of AGTFP in the whole of China as well as the middle and the west. The speed of convergence was highest in the west.

With the popularity of online education, multiple technology-based educational tools are gradually being introduced into online learning. The role of gamification in online education has been of interest to researchers. Based on learners’ visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (VAK) learning styles, this study uses an empirical research method to investigate the behavioral intention of students to participate in online gamified classrooms in selected universities located in Guangdong province and Macao. The main contributions of this study are to focus on the impact that differences in learning styles may have on the behavioral intentions of learners and to include the “perceived learning task” as an external variable in the theoretical framework. The main research findings are: perceived usefulness and enjoyment are partially mediated between VAK learning styles and the intention to participate in online gamified classrooms; and perceived learning tasks are partially mediated between perceived usefulness and the intention to participate in online gamified classrooms. According to the findings and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study constructs the Technology-Learning Behavior Acceptance Model (T-LBAM) to explore the intrinsic influencing factors of students’ intention to participate in gamified online classes and makes suggestions for future online gamification teaching.

This study aimed to explore students’ effectiveness in scientific courses that have adopted the framework of constructive alignment. The researchers conducted an experimental study in the education sector to compare two different teaching models—traditional and following constructive alignment—and used statistical tools to analyse differences in students’ learning effectiveness. The course “Management Information System” (MIS) was specifically chosen to investigate how constructive alignment initiatives used in the course influenced students’ learning effectiveness. Two groups of students were selected as the control group and the experimental group, respectively. In the experimental group, the intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks were always aligned by the instructor. The learning effectiveness of the two groups was evaluated by the Course Experience Questionnaire Survey and academic grades. After this study, it was found that significant improvement—in terms of students’ learning experience scores and academic grades—was seen in the experimental group compared with the control group. This study has further verified that implementing a constructive alignment template can significantly improve students’ learning effectiveness in scientific courses, hence providing theoretical and practical references for teaching and learning in scientific courses.

Abstract To investigate the gut microbiota distribution and its functions in children with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). A total of 135 children were enrolled in the study, including 102 children with ARFID and 33 healthy children. Fecal samples were analyzed to explore differences in gut microbiota composition and diversity and functional differences between the ARFID and healthy control (HC) groups via 16S rDNA and metagenomic sequencing. The gut microbiota composition and diversity in children with ARFID were different from those in heathy children, but there is no difference in the composition and diversity of gut microbiota between children at the age of 3–6 and 7–12 with ARFID. At the phylum level, the most abundant microbes in the two groups identified by 16S rDNA and metagenomic sequencing were the same. At the genus level, the abundance of Bacteroides was higher in the ARFID group (P > 0.05); however, different from the result of 16SrDNA sequencing, metagenomic sequencing showed that the abundance of Bacteroides in the ARFID group was significantly higher than that in the HC group (P = 0.041). At the species level, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lachnospira eligens were the most abundant taxa in the ARFID group, and Prevotella copri, Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum, and Ruminococcus gnavus were the top three microbial taxa in the HC group; there were no statistically significant differences between the abundance of these microbial taxa in the two groups. LefSe analysis indicated a greater abundance of the order Enterobacterales and its corresponding family Enterobacteriaceae, the family Bacteroidaceae and corresponding genus Bacteroides, the species Bacteroides vulgatus in ARFID group, while the abundance of the phylum Actinobacteriota and its corresponding class Actinobacteria , the order Bifidobacteriales and corresponding family Bifidobacteriaceae, the genus Bifidobacterium were enriched in the HC group. There were no statistically significant differences in the Chao1, Shannon and Simpson indices between the Y1 and Y2 groups (P = 0.1, P = 0.06, P = 0.06). At the phylum level, Bacillota, Bacteroidota, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteriota were the most abundant taxa in both groups, but there were no statistically significant differences among the abundance of these bacteria (P = 0.958, P = 0.456, P = 0.473, P = 0.065). At the genus level, Faecalibacterium was more abundant in the Y2 group than in the Y1 group, and the difference was statistically significant (P = 0.037). The KEGG annotation results showed no significant difference in gut microbiota function between children with ARFID and healthy children; however, GT26 was significantly enriched in children with ARFID based on the CAZy database. The most abundant antibiotic resistance genes in the ARFID group were the vanT, tetQ, adeF, ermF genes, and the abundance of macrolide resistance genes in the ARFID group was significantly higher than that in the HC group (P = 0.041). Compared with healthy children, children with ARFID have a different distribution of the gut microbiota and functional genes. This indicates that the gut microbiome might play an important role in the pathogenesis of ARFID. Clinical trial registration: ChiCTR2300074759

The standard third-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) includes the small-molecule anti-vascular drugs (Regofenib and Fruquintinib) and the chemotherapy drug trifluridine and tipiracil hydrochloride (TAS-102). There is no standard treatment for mCRC if the third-line treatment failed. Therefore, it is a pressing need to develop new therapeutic approaches to improve the survival of patients who developed drug resistance to the third-line treatment. In this study, we report a case of mCRC with RAS/BRAF wild-type, who was successfully treated using cetuximab in combination with fruquintinib after resistance to chemotherapy, bevacizumab, cetuximab and regorafenib. This patient responded to this combination regimen. Then, we discuss the mechanisms of action of this combination. Furthermore, we introduce the clinical trials on the combination regimens of anti-EGFR with anti-vascular monoclonal antibodies. Finally, we discuss the clinical explorations of using combination of anti-EGFR with small-molecule anti-VEGF drugs and their potential benefits. The clinical effects of small-molecule anti-vascular drugs in combination with anti-EGFR in the treatment of CRC warrant further explored.

Objective: The objective of our current research is to compare the different psychological interventions and distinguish the most effective way to treat psychological crisis according to different clinical manifestations in people affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). No previous systematic review has provided a comprehensive overview by performing a Bayesian network meta-analysis of this current topic.Method: A systematic review and a Bayesian network meta-analysis were conducted on randomized controlled trials (RCTs), non-RCTs, case–control studies, self-controlled case series (SCCS), cohort studies, and cross-sectional studies of all the available interventions for psychological crisis in people affected by COVID-19. We searched the electronic databases EMBASE, PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library, as well as the Chinese databases such as Sinomed, Chinese Biomedicine Literature (CBM), Chinese Scientific Journal Database (VIP), WanFang Database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), from 2019 to April 30, 2020. The main outcomes were self-rating anxiety scale (SAS), self-rating depression scale (SDS), patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9), and symptom checklist (SCL-90). The study is registered with Inplasy, number 202050076.Result: Sixteen self-controlled case series (SCCS) comprising 1,147 participants compared five different psychological interventions with four different measurement scales were included in this study. For effectiveness, all the psychological therapies were significantly more effective than before intervention. Our results showed that supportive therapy (ST), which is adjusted to the COVID-19-related mental crisis, is the best treatment compared with behavioral therapy (BT), nursing-based psychological therapy (NBPT), traditional Chinese medicine therapy (TCMT), and COVID-19-related standard training (CRST) at reducing the anxiety-related symptoms assessed by SAS. When measured by SDS, BT was better than ST and NBPT treatment for reducing the depression symptoms. And ST was better than BT and ST+BT as assessed by PHQ-9. In the end, the last network meta-analysis indicated that NBPT was more effective than ST by the measurement of SCL-90.Conclusion: Our research suggested the potential effectiveness of psychological interventions for decreasing psychological crisis in people affected by COVID-19 and try to introduce the best effective treatment options for clinical practice according to the clinical manifestations of psychological problems, but further confirmation from high-quality RCTs is needed.