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The effects of written corrective feedback (WCF) have long been debated. While several studies found that WCF improved students’ overall L2 writing accuracy, much remains unknown as to specific linguistic structures. Additionally, the majority of WCF research was situated at the tertiary level; its effects on younger learners are elusive. Therefore, this study explored the effects of WCF on 60 students in a Chinese secondary school, focusing on the third person singular structure. The participants were randomly assigned to one of the groups: (1) direct written corrective feedback (DCF, n = 20), (2) direct corrective feedback plus metalinguistic explanation (DCF + META, n = 20) and (3) control (CON, n = 20). The picture description tasks and the blank-filling tasks were used to evaluate their L2 writing accuracy. The results demonstrated an overall positive impact of WCF over time, but the impact did not reach statistical significance in the delayed post-test. DCF + META was found statistically significant in both task types in the post-test, but DCF was only found significant in the picture description tasks. No superiority was found in DCF + META over DCF alone. The research questions were discussed, and implications on instruction and research were offered.

In this work, a poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(1H,1H,7H-dodecafluoroheptyl methacrylate) (PEG-b-PDFMA) block copolymer was first synthesized by the reversible addition−fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization. Then a novel facile approach was developed to fabricate oval cuboid TiO2 particles with mesoporous structure by using the PEG-b-PDFMA block copolymer as a template and titanium tetrabutoxide (TBOT) as a precursor, followed by evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process and calcination process. The results show that the PEG-b-PDFMA block copolymer can control the oriented assembly of nanoparticles and act as templates for the formation of a mesopore. It is found that the mass ratio of TBOT/PEG-b-PDFMA and water content in the solution have a significant influence on the morphology of TiO2 particles. When the mass ratio of TBOT/PEG-b-PDFMA is 0.25/1, oval cuboid TiO2 particles with mesopores are obtained, which exhibits a high photocatalytic activity for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye under UV light irradiation.

Although previous research has elaborated on the ways that students can learn from giving or receiving feedback, few qualitative classroom-based studies have examined the ways that students can learn (or not learn) from acting as both a reviewer and a receiver in a feedback group. This qualitative case study focused on the peer feedback experiences and practices of five groups of Chinese EFL university students and explored their perceptions of learning from giving and receiving feedback and the factors that meditated their learning. Data were collected from multiple sources, including drafts of essays, peer feedback, semi-structured interviews, video recordings of peer feedback activities and stimulated recall sessions. The findings showed that the participants perceived different levels of learning from giving and receiving peer feedback and displayed four distinct patterns of value placement: benefit from both giving and receiving feedback, benefit from receiving feedback only, benefit from neither giving nor receiving feedback and benefit from giving feedback only. The participants’ learning was mediated by four factors: engagement with evaluation criteria, motivation for peer feedback, within-group differences in writing ability and group dynamics. Situated in an authentic L2 writing context at the tertiary level, this study provides insights into the ways that students learn from (or do not learn from) giving and receiving feedback and the potential factors that promote or limit students’ learning from the reciprocal peer feedback process.

BACKGROUND Diabetes causes damage to the soft tissue and bone structure of the foot, referred to as "diabetic foot". Ibrutinib is a Bruton tyrosine kinase (Btk) inhibitor, and the role and mechanism of ibrutinib on the diabetic foot have not been elucidated. MATERIAL AND METHODS Male Wister rats were randomly divided into 3 groups: control group, model group, and ibrutinib group. After 14 days, the ulcer wound size of each group was measured, and the ulcer healing rate was calculated. The level of inflammatory factors interleukin (IL)-1s, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, and IL-6 was detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to analyze the changes of Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) and TLR4. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the RAGE (receptor for advanced glycation end product/NF-kappaB (nuclear factor-kappa B) pathway was detected by western blot. RESULTS Blood glucose, blood lipids, serum creatinine, and urea nitrogen (BUN) levels were increased in the model group, together with increased levels of IL-1s, TNF-alpha, IL-6, as well as TLR2 and TLR4 expression, and there were significant differences compared with the control group (P

The diverse morphologies of aggregates formed by the self-assembly of block copolymers in selective solvents have attracted widespread attention, but the design of aggregate shapes is still limited owing to the thermodynamic favorability of sphere formation. In this paper, we report our discovery that polyhedral aggregates can be formed by the self-assembly of 1H,1H,2H,2H-perfluoro-1-dodecanol (PFD)-grafted amphiphilic polystyrene-b-poly(acrylic acid) (PS-b-PAA-g-PFD) copolymers in water at room temperature. It is determined that the crystallization of fluorocarbon side chains at the surface of PS-b-PAA-g-PFD aggregates induces the formation of a polyhedral shape. The morphology of aggregates can be controlled by the dialysis temperature, the grafting ratio of PFD in PS-b-PAA-g-PFD copolymers, and the initial copolymer concentration. The layers of polyhedral aggregates show excellent antibacterial adhesion properties. We anticipate that this method will expand the promise of self-assembly for the synthesis of a series of nonspherical micellar nanoparticles, which have promising applications in various fields.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a common degenerative joint disease in the elderly. Increasing evidence suggested that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) played vital roles in OA progression. This study aimed to explore the role and mechanism of lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 5 (SNHG5) in OA development.Chondrocytes were stimulated with interleukin-1β (IL-1β)SNHG5 and H3F3B were downregulated, while miR-10a-5p was upregulated in OA cartilage tissues. Knockdown of SNHG5 enhanced IL-1β-induced apoptosis in chondrocytes. Rescue experiments verified that SNHG5 hindered apoptosis in IL-1β-stimulated chondrocytes by sponging miR-10a-5p. Moreover, H3F3B was a target of miR-10a-5p, and miR-10a-5p promoted IL-1β-induced chondrocyte apoptosis by regulating H3F3B. In addition, SNHG5 regulated H3F3B expression via sponging miR-10a-5p in IL-1β-treated chondrocytes.SNHG5 suppressed chondrocytes apoptosis in OA by regulating the miR-10a-5p/H3F3B axis, which provided a promising biomarker for OA treatment.

BACKGROUND Osteoarticular tuberculosis is an osteolytic lesion caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Inflammatory factors such as TNF-α play a critical role in anti-tuberculosis immunity by regulating osteoblast and osteoclast functions. Both TGF-β and IL-10 have immune suppression effects to downregulate secretion and release of inflammatory factors, such as TNF-α, that play roles in regulating osteoblast and osteoclast functions. This study thus investigated the effects of osteoclast with modified TGF-β and IL-10 gene expression on MTB-induced osteoclast formation and bone absorption. MATERIAL AND METHODS Bone marrow mononuclear cells were induced to differentiate into osteoblasts and osteoclasts in vitro to generate a co-culture system. MTB powder lysed by ultrasound (Mt sonicate) were added in gradients to observe osteoblast formation and osteoclast absorption. Cell apoptosis was measured by flow cytometry, while ELISA was used assess TNF-α, TGF-β, and IL-10. Viral vectors carrying TGF-β or IL-10 gene were used to transfect osteoclasts, followed by ELISA assay. Bone absorption and osteoblast apoptosis were compared among groups. RESULTS Mt sonicate significantly facilitated osteoclast formation and bone formation. It upregulated contents of TNF-α, TGF-β, and IL-10, induced osteoblast apoptosis, enhanced RANKL expression in osteoblasts, and decreased OPG expression. Overexpression of TGF-β and/or IL-10 significantly decreased its upregulation effect on TNF-α by Mt sonicate, and hindered Mt sonicate-induced osteoblast apoptosis, osteoclast formation, and bone absorption. CONCLUSIONS Overexpression of TGF-β and IL-10 significantly inhibits TMB-induced TNF-α synthesis and release, suppresses osteoblast apoptosis, and hinders osteoclast formation and bone absorption.

In this paper, mesoporous Cu2O–CeO2 nanospheres were fabricated via a facile, low-temperature solution route in the presence of poly(2-vinylpyridine)-b-poly(ethylene Oxide) (P2VP-b-PEO) block copolymers. The prepared mesoporous Cu2O–CeO2 nanospheres were characterized systematically by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and nitrogen adsorption/desorption. The formation mechanism of mesoporous Cu2O–CeO2 nanospheres was discussed. The results show that the molar ratios of Ce3+/Cu2+ and the reaction time have an important influence on the nanostructure of Cu2O–CeO2 composite spheres. The resultant Cu2O–CeO2 nanospheres exhibit superior catalytic activities in the reduction of 4-nitrophenol to 4-aminophenol by NaBH4. The activity factor (K = k/m) for the Cu2O–CeO2 nanospheres prepared with the molar ratio of Ce3+/Cu2+ of 5/1 is 3006.6 s−1 g−1, which is much higher than reported values. This paper demonstrates a highly controllable approach to the production of mesoporous Cu2O–CeO2 nanospheres, which have potential applications in the areas of catalysis, adsorption, sensors and so on.

Photocatalytic SiO2–TiO2 composite coatings with excellent self-cleaning properties have attracted much attention in recent years due to their promising applications in many areas such as automobile windshields, window glasses, and solar cell panel covers, etc. However, most of these coatings are of low self-cleaning capability in the visible light region due to TiO2 only absorbing ultraviolet light, which limit their practical application. Here, highly transparent coatings of the rod-like TiO2–SiO2 nanoparticles on glass substrates were prepared by a simple dip-coating process. The photocatalytic activity and self-cleaning property of the coatings were evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) and methyl stearate (MS) under visible light irradiation. It was found that the coatings exhibited ~4% enhancement in the optical transmission of glass and a good mechanical stability. The as-prepared and annealed rod-like TiO2–SiO2 nanoparticle coatings show excellent self-cleaning properties. The results mean that the coatings have a high potential for self-cleaning applications in removal of organic pollutants under visible light such as solar cell panels, architectural glasses and optical devices, etc.

Mesoporous titania has gained increasing interest because of its outstanding properties and promising applications in a wide range of fields. Herein, highly ordered mesoporous titania with a hexagonal mesostructure has successfully been synthesized via the solvent evaporation induced micelle fusion–aggregation assembly method by using polystyrene-b-poly(2-vinyl pyridine) (PS-b-P2VP) diblock copolymer as a template, titanium citrate (TIC) as a precursor and a mixture of pyridine and ethanol as the solvent. It is worth noting that addition of pyridine to the system can generate the synergistic interactions among titanium precursor, block copolymer templates and solvent and give the PS-b-P2VP/TIC composite micelles enough time to assemble into the ordered structures during the evaporation-induced self-assembly (EISA) process. The prepared highly ordered mesoporous TiO2 samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometry and N2 adsorption analysis etc. By using the highly ordered mesoporous titania as photocatalysts in degradation of methylene blue (MB) under visible light irradiation, a high photocatalytic performance can be achieved and enhanced via further doping, which show that the highly ordered mesoporous titania have a potential application in wastewater treatment.

To investigate the role of Wnt5a in the mechanism of radiculopathy and the relation between Wnt5a and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) by observing the change of the expression of Wnt5a in the rat model of chronic compression of dorsal root ganglia (CCD).A total of 192 adult male Sprague Dawley rats were allocated into 4 groups: shame group (group A, n = 48), CCD group (group B, n = 48), CCD + saline group (group C, n = 48), and CCD + etanercept group (group D, n = 48). An L-shaped needle (about 3.5 mm in length, 0.6 mm in diameter) was inserted into the L5 intervertebral foramen, and the dorsal root ganglia (DRG) was compressed by the needle to prepare the CCD model in groups B, C, and D, and then normal saline (5.5 mg/kg) or etanercept was injected intraperitoneally in groups C and D. The intervertebral foramen was exposed in group A. The mechanical pain threshold of the posterior paw was tested by the von Frey filaments at 1, 3, 5, and 7 days after operation; the expressions of Wnt5a protein and mRNA were detected at 3 and 7 days after operation by immunohistochemical staining and RT-PCR, respectively.The mechanical pain threshold of groups B and C was significantly lower than that of groups A and D, and in group D than in group A (P0.05), but no significant difference was found between groups B and C (P0.05). The Wnt5a positive cells and the mRNA expression of Wnt5a at 7 days were significantly more than those at 3 days in groups B, C, and D (P0.05). The Wnt5a positive cells and the mRNA expression of Wnt5a in groups B and C were significantly more than in groups A and D, and in group D than in group A (P0.05), but no significant difference was shown between groups B and C (P0.05).The expression of Wnt5a in the DRG is increased after CCD. The expression of Wnt5a in the DRG is decreased after the administration of the inhibitor of TNF-α.