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COVID-19 affected various aspects of our life. Many college students were forced to take courses remotely. It was not clear how they adapted to this new environment and how their mental health was affected. The objective of this study is to understand college students' learning experience one year after the outbreak of COVID-19. An online survey was developed to investigate students' overall learning process, mental health, perception of the learning community and student support. Sixty-two college students in the U.S. were recruited through an online survey platform. Findings of this study revealed: (1) improved mental health of college students compared to the beginning of the pandemic; (2) an overall positive learning experience and perceived belongingness to their learning community, as well as high satisfaction with the student support; (3) the major hindrance in the online learning environment was the lack of interactions with teachers and classmates; (4) a relationship between family income and perception of the learning community was discovered, and the students from low-income families were found to feel more belonging to the learning community; (5) hybrid was the optimum learning mode during COVID-19; and (6) on-campus students perceived more student support than off-campus students. These findings provided a guideline for future research to further explore, and improve, the online learning environment.

In this paper, a new pyrroloquinoline-derivative-based fluorescent probe, PQP-1, was prepared for the selective detection of Lys in living cells and natural mineral water for drinking. PQP-1 exhibited high selectivity, low limit of detection, and a wide pH range. PQP-1 could be successfully applied for imaging Lys in living cells and in natural mineral water for drinking. We expect that PQP-1 will expand the detection reaction mechanism and the practical biological applications of Lys.

Integrin subunit alpha 3 (ITGA3) expression correlates with the development and prognosis of human cancers. This study aimed to investigate the association of ITGA3 expression with pancreatic cancer (PCa) prognosis. The ITGA3 gene expression data were extracted from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAAD) cohort and 14 Gene Expression Omnibus microarray datasets. The differences in ITGA3 expression levels between tumor and non-tumor tissues were compared using the Mann–Whitney U test. Cox regression analysis and meta-analysis were performed to detect the association of ITGA3 expression with PCa prognosis. ITGA3 expression was higher in tumors than in controls. Tumors with advanced grades (3/4) had higher ITGA3 levels compared with early-grade tumors (1/2). The meta-analysis of the TCGA PAAD cohort and seven microarray datasets (GSE28735, GSE62452, GSE79668, GSE71729, GSE57495, GSE78229, and GSE21501) showed that ITGA3 was a prognostic biomarker in PCa (hazard ratio (HR) = 1.38, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26–1.51, p < 0.00001). Five ITGA3-related genes, including ITGB1 (HR = 1.6), ITGB5 (HR = 1.6), ITGB6 (HR = 1.6), LAMA3 (HR = 2.1), and CD9 (HR = 2.3), correlated with PCa prognosis significantly (p < 0.05). Functional enrichment analysis showed that ITGA3 was related to “hsa04151: PI3K-Akt signaling pathway” and “hsa04510: Focal adhesion.” We concluded that high ITGA3 expression was a potential prognostic biomarker in PCa.

Low critical solution temperature (LCST) of commonly used thermoresponsive polymers in water is basically dominated by hydrophobic interactions. Herein, a novel thermoresponsive system based on electrostatic interactions is reported. By simply loading aluminum chloride (AlCl3) into non‐responsive poly(2‐hydroxyethyl acrylate) (PHEA) hydrogels, PHEA‐Al gels turn to have reversible thermoresponsive behavior between transparent and opaque without any volume change. Further investigations by changing metal ion‐polymer compositions unravel the necessity of specific electrostatic interactions, namely, cation‐dipole bonding interactions between hydroxy groups and trivalent metal ions. The thermoresponsive hydrogel demonstrates high transparency (≈95%), excellent luminous modulation capability (>98%), and cyclic reliability, suggesting great potential as an energy‐saving material. Although LCST control by salt addition is widely known, salt‐induced expression of thermoresponsiveness has barely been discussed before. This design provides a new approach of easy fabrication, low cost, and scalability to develop stimuli‐responsive materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]