Impact of mobile virtual reality on EFL learners’ listening comprehension

Virtual reality (VR) has received increasing attention from researchers and practitioners in EFL listening. However, prior studies are primarily concerned with non-immersive desktop-based VR. Few studies examined the effects of VR via mobile-rendered head-mounted displays (mobile VR). Therefore, this study investigates the impact of mobile VR on EFL learners’ listening comprehension. Participants were 49 Taiwanese seventh-graders, randomly assigned to either the VR group or video group. The VR group played with a language learning VR app using mobile VR while the video group watched the walkthrough video of the VR app on personal computers. The effects of mobile VR were analyzed based on listening comprehension post-tests, recalls, and interviews. The results revealed the VR group’s listening comprehension and recall were significantly better than that of the video group. The interview data indicated that, for most VR players, mobile VR-mediated EFL listening was motivating, beneficial, and convenient. They felt more engaged in the listening tasks. Simulated real-life scenarios and interactivity, particularly the interaction with virtual characters, led to a stronger sense of presence and a higher degree of immersion, which enabled them to listen as a participant rather than overhearer. Interaction in an authentically fully-immersive context facilitated listening comprehension. The findings suggest that mobile VR may be a useful tool to promote EFL listening and underscore the necessity for additional research on the emerging technology for language learning

Application of biologics to feedstuff

The application of biologics additives from enzyme, prebiotics and probiotics to improve the feedstuff utilization and animal growth is an aim for safety and hygiene animal products. These additives are gradually replacing the antibiotics. As biotechnology develops to meet animal demand, high bioavailability and low production cost technological products will be novel feed additives, including high production efficiency transformed microorganism and probiotics of transformed enzyme gene or raw material of feedstuff using biotechnology (e.g. fermentation) to enhance nutritive value. However, the availability of these biotechnological products shall be proved by the animal feeding trial.Keywords: Enzyme, feed additives, fermentation, probioticsAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(6), pp. 526-53

Antibody-Based Therapies in Multiple Myeloma

The unmet need for improved multiple myeloma (MM) therapy has stimulated clinical development of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting either MM cells or cells of the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment. In contrast to small-molecule inhibitors, therapeutic mAbs present the potential to specifically target tumor cells and directly induce an immune response to lyse tumor cells. Unique immune-effector mechanisms are only triggered by therapeutic mAbs but not by small molecule targeting agents. Although therapeutic murine mAbs or chimeric mAbs can cause immunogenicity, the advancement of genetic recombination for humanizing rodent mAbs has allowed large-scale production and designation of mAbs with better affinities, efficient selection, decreasing immunogenicity, and improved effector functions. These advancements of antibody engineering technologies have largely overcome the critical obstacle of antibody immunogenicity and enabled the development and subsequent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of therapeutic Abs for cancer and other diseases

A Community-Based Walk-In Screening of Depression in Taiwan

Depression is a crucial public health problem because of its relatively high association with suicidal attempts, prolonged social isolation, poor physical health, and dementia. However, the available data and study on the prevalence of depression in Taiwan were mostly completed within the previous 1 to 2 decades, and these studies were limited to certain areas or populations. Little is known regarding the current status of depression in Taiwan. We used a brief tool, the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), to screen depression in 4 areas among the general and aged population. The results showed a higher CES-D score in the southern area among general (mean ± SD: 7.8 ± 8.4) or aged participants (mean ± SD: 7.2 ± 8.0) compared with other areas. The ratio of suspected depression patients was 16.4% of all recruited participants and 13.3% of aged participants. These results may provide information for this public health issue

An Analysis of ROI of Taiwan’s Stock Market: A Case Study in Light of the Chinese Tradition of Store in Winter

There is a Chinese saying that goes “plough in spring, hoe in summer, harvest in autumn, and store in winter”, which reflects the traditional farming practice of Taiwanese in response to the change of seasons and the ancient annual work-rest pattern of Chinese farmers. This lifestyle of Chinese, however, might be different from that of foreigners. In light of this, this study is carried out based on “Are there any regular variations in the Taiwan stock market: a case study of Taiwan stock exchange capitalization weighted stock Index (TAIEX) ”, a study by Yang and Yang (2015), in order to determine whether this Chinese idea has rendered Taiwan’s stock market any underlying characteristic which is different from other countries’ stock markets in terms of investment activities. The results do reveal a regular variation pattern of Taiwan’s stock market. In the study, the seasonal change of traditional Chinese farming work-rest schedule is investigated in conjunction with the seasonal variation of Taiwan’s stock market. The results reveal that the ROI of Taiwan’s stock market tends to be most significant in winter, i.e. there is a Winter Effect. The study also tries to determine whether this effect fits the January Effect in foreign countries. The results suggest the existence of a December Effect in ROI of Taiwan’s stock market

Targeting B Cell Maturation Antigen (BCMA) in Multiple Myeloma: Potential Uses of BCMA-Based Immunotherapy

The approval of the first two monoclonal antibodies targeting CD38 (daratumumab) and SLAMF7 (elotuzumab) in late 2015 for treating relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) was a critical advance for immunotherapies for multiple myeloma (MM). Importantly, the outcome of patients continues to improve with the incorporation of this new class of agents with current MM therapies. However, both antigens are also expressed on other normal tissues including hematopoietic lineages and immune effector cells, which may limit their long-term clinical use. B cell maturation antigen (BCMA), a transmembrane glycoprotein in the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily 17 (TNFRSF17), is expressed at significantly higher levels in all patient MM cells but not on other normal tissues except normal plasma cells. Importantly, it is an antigen targeted by chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, which have already shown significant clinical activities in patients with RRMM who have undergone at least three prior treatments, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory agent. Moreover, the first anti-BCMA antibody–drug conjugate also has achieved significant clinical responses in patients who failed at least three prior lines of therapy, including an anti-CD38 antibody, a proteasome inhibitor, and an immunomodulatory agent. Both BCMA targeting immunotherapies were granted breakthrough status for patients with RRMM by FDA in Nov 2017. Other promising BCMA-based immunotherapeutic macromolecules including bispecific T-cell engagers, bispecific molecules, bispecific or trispecific antibodies, as well as improved forms of next generation CAR T cells, also demonstrate high anti-MM activity in preclinical and even early clinical studies. Here, we focus on the biology of this promising MM target antigen and then highlight preclinical and clinical data of current BCMA-targeted immunotherapies with various mechanisms of action. These crucial studies will enhance selective anti-MM response, transform the treatment paradigm, and extend disease-free survival in MM

Identification of novel myeloma-specific XBP1 peptides able to generate cytotoxic T lymphocytes: A potential therapeutic application in multiple myeloma

The purpose of these studies was to identify HLA-A2+ immunogenic peptides derived from XBP1 antigens to induce a multiple myeloma (MM)-specific immune response. Six native peptides from non-spliced XBP1 antigen and three native peptides from spliced XBP1 antigen were selected and evaluated for their HLA-A2 specificity. Among them,$XBP1_{184–192}$, XBP1 $SP_{196–204}$ and XBP1 $SP_{367–375}$ peptides showed the highest level of binding affinity, but not stability to HLA-A2 molecules. Novel heteroclitic XBP1 peptides, YISPWILAV or YLFPQLISV, demonstrated a significant improvement in HLA-A2 stability from their native $XBP1_{184–192}$ or XBP1 $SP_{367–375}$ peptide, respectively. Cytotoxic T lymphocytes generated by repeated stimulation of CD3+ T cells with each HLA-A2-specific heteroclitic peptide showed an increased percentage of CD8+ (cytotoxic) and CD69+/CD45RO+ (activated memory) T cells and a lower percentage of CD4+ (helper) and CD45RA+/CCR7+ (naïve) T cells, which were distinct from the control T cells. Functionally, the CTLs demonstrated MM-specific and HLA-A2-restricted proliferation, IFN-γ secretion and cytotoxic acivity in response to MM cell lines and importantly, cytotoxicty against primary MM cells. These data demonstrate the distinct immunogenic characteristics of unique heteroclitic XBP1 peptides which induce MM-specific CTLs and highlights their potential application for immunotherapy to treat the patients with MM or its pre-malignant condition

Targeting homologous recombination and telomerase in Barrett’s adenocarcinoma: Impact on telomere maintenance, genomic instability, and tumor growth

Homologous recombination (HR), a mechanism to accurately repair DNA in normal cells, is deregulated in cancer. Elevated/deregulated HR is implicated in genomic instability and telomere maintenance, which are critical lifelines of cancer cells. We have previously shown that HR activity is elevated and significantly contributes to genomic instability in BAC. The purpose of this study was to evaluate therapeutic potential of HR inhibition, alone and in combination with telomerase inhibition, in BAC. We demonstrate that telomerase inhibition in BAC cells increases HR activity, RAD51 expression, and association of RAD51 to telomeres. Suppression of HR leads to shorter telomeres as well as markedly reduced genomic instability in BAC cells over time. Combination of HR suppression (whether transgenic or chemical) with telomerase inhibition, causes a significant increase in telomere attrition and apoptotic death in all BAC cell lines tested, relative to either treatment alone. A subset of treated cells also stain positive for β-galactosidase, indicating senescence. The combined treatment is also associated with decline in S-phase and a strong G2/M arrest, indicating massive telomere attrition. In a subcutaneous tumor model, the combined treatment resulted in the smallest tumors, which were even smaller (P=0.001) than those resulted from either treatment alone. Even the tumors removed from these mice had significantly reduced telomeres and evidence of apoptosis. We therefore conclude that although telomeres are elongated by telomerase, elevated RAD51/HR assist in their maintenance/stabilization in BAC cells. Telomerase inhibitor prevents telomere elongation but induces RAD51/HR, which contribute to telomere maintenance/stabilization and prevention of apoptosis, reducing the efficacy of treatment. Combining HR inhibition with telomerase, makes telomeres more vulnerable to degradation and significantly increases/expedites their attrition, leading to apoptosis. We therefore demonstrate that a therapy, targeting HR and telomerase, has potential to prevent both the tumor growth and genomic evolution in BAC

The monoclonal antibody nBT062 conjugated to maytansinoids has potent and selective cytotoxicity against CD138 positive multiple myeloma cells _in vitro_ and _in vivo_

CD138 (Syndecan1) is highly expressed on multiple myeloma (MM) cells. In this study, we examined the anti-MM effect of murine/human chimeric CD138-specific monoclonal antibody (mAb) nBT062 conjugated with highly cytotoxic maytansinoid derivatives _in vitro_ and _in vivo_. These agents significantly inhibited growth of CD138-positive MM cell lines and primary tumor cells from MM patients, without cytotoxicity against peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy volunteers. In MM cells, they induced G2/M cell cycle arrest followed by apoptosis associated with cleavage of PARP and caspase-3, -8 and -9. Non-conjugated nBT062 completely blocked cytotoxicity induced by nBT062-maytansinoid conjugate, confirming that binding is required for inducing cytotoxicity. Moreover, nBT062-maytansinoid conjugates blocked adhesion of MM cells to bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs). Co-culture of MM cells with BMSCs, which protects against dexamethasone-induced death, had no impact on the cytotoxicity of the immunoconjugates. Importantly, nBT062-SPDB-DM4 and nBT062-SPP-DM1 significantly inhibited MM tumor growth _in vivo_ in both human multiple myeloma xenograft mouse models and in SCID-human bone grafts (SCID-hu mouse model). These studies provide the preclinical framework supporting evaluation of nBT062-maytansinoid derivatives in clinical trials to improve patient outcome in MM