Effective Motion Self-Learning Genre Using 360° Virtual Reality Content on Mobile Device: A Study Based on Taichi Training Platform.

Online fitness training, with its affordability and flexibility, offers a convenient way for individuals to engage in regular workouts that promote physical and mental health. Yet, learning fitness motions in this way presents various challenges and may not always be as effective as in-person training. To address the practical demands of motion learning, we conducted a systematic survey and accordingly proposed a four-stage self-learning genre that integrates immersive virtual reality (VR) environments with motion skill learning theories, strategies, and expert experience. Herein, we merged progressive structures and multi-level visual cues to enhance instruction, and proposed a fine-grained motion analysis method to provide adaptive correction feedback during training. Utilizing a Taichi training platform with the genre embedded, we systematically validated the effectiveness of the genre, and examined the potential impact of VR content presentation form on motion learning among different age groups, as well as their preferences and focus on VR fitness training genre design. Results from the quantitative analysis, qualitative evaluation, and case study showed that the 360° video-based VR content brought more positive motion learning performance and user experiences than the fully-simulated VR used in many previous studies. The proposed genre demonstrated outstandingly performance, experience, and usability, with each stage and design playing an effective role. Moreover, we offer several design considerations for VR fitness systems targeting diverse age groups, providing beneficial insights for VR development in the sports and health-related fields.

Self-Guided DMT: Exploring a Novel Paradigm of Dance Movement Therapy in Mixed Reality for Children with ASD.

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often exhibit motor disorders. Dance Movement Therapy (DMT) has shown great potential for improving the motor control ability of children with ASD. However, traditional DMT methods often lack vividness and are difficult to implement effectively. To address this issue, we propose a Mixed Reality DMT approach, utilizing interactive virtual agents. This approach offers immersive training content and multi-sensory feedback. To improve the training performance of children with ASD, we introduce a novel training paradigm featuring a self-guided mode. This paradigm enables the rapid creation of a virtual twin agent of the child with ASD using a single photo to embody oneself, which can then guide oneself during training. We conducted an experiment with the participation of 24 children diagnosed with ASD (or ASD propensity), recording their training performance under various experimental conditions. Through expert rating, behavior coding of training sessions, and statistical analysis, our findings revealed that the use of the twin agent for self-guidance resulted in noticeable improvements in the training performance of children with ASD. These improvements were particularly evident in terms of enhancing movement quality and refining overall target-related responses. Our study holds clinical potential in the field of medical treatment and rehabilitation for children with ASD.

NADPH Oxidase-Like Nanozyme for High-Efficiency Tumor Therapy Through Increasing Glutathione Consumption and Blocking Glutathione Regeneration.

To counteract the high level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) caused by rapid growth, tumor cells resist oxidative stress by accelerating the production and regeneration of intracellular glutathione (GSH). Numerous studies focus on the consumption of GSH, but the regeneration of GSH will enhance the reduction level of tumor cells to resist oxidative stress. Therefore, inhibiting the regeneration of GSH; while, consuming GSH is of great significance for breaking the redox balance of tumor cells. Herein, a simple termed MnOx-coated Au (AMO) nanoflower, as a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase (NOX) nanoenzyme, is reported for efficient tumor therapy. Au nanoparticles exhibit the capability to catalyze the oxidation of NADPH, hindering GSH regeneration; while, concurrently functioning as a photothermal agent. During the process of eliminating intracellular GSH, MnOx releases Mn2+ that subsequently engages in Fenton-like reactions, ultimately facilitating the implementation of chemodynamic therapy (CDT). Overall, this NOX enzyme-based nanoplatform enhances ROS generation and disrupts the state of reduction equilibrium, inducing apoptosis and ferroptosis by blocking GSH regeneration and increasing GSH consumption, thereby achieving collaborative treatments involving photothermal therapy (PTT), CDT, and catalytic therapy. This research contributes to NADPH and GSH targeted tumor therapy and showcases the potential of nanozymes.

NIR-Activatable Heterostructured Nanoadjuvant CoP/NiCoP Executing Lactate Metabolism Interventions for Boosted Photocatalytic Hydrogen Therapy and Photoimmunotherapy.

Near-infrared (NIR) laser-induced photoimmunotherapy has aroused great interest due to its intrinsic noninvasiveness and spatiotemporal precision, while immune evasion evoked by lactic acid (LA) accumulation severely limits its clinical outcomes. Although several metabolic interventions have been devoted to ameliorate immunosuppression, intracellular residual LA still remains a potential energy source for oncocyte proliferation. Herein, an immunomodulatory nanoadjuvant based on a yolk-shell CoP/NiCoP (CNCP) heterostructure loaded with the monocarboxylate transporter 4 inhibitor fluvastatin sodium (Flu) is constructed to concurrently relieve immunosuppression and elicit robust antitumor immunity. Under NIR irradiation, CNCP heterojunctions exhibit superior photothermal performance and photocatalytic production of reactive oxygen species and hydrogen. The continuous heat then facilitates Flu release to restrain LA exudation from tumor cells, whereas cumulative LA can be depleted as a hole scavenger to improve photocatalytic efficiency. Subsequently, potentiated photocatalytic therapy can not only initiate systematic immunoreaction, but also provoke severe mitochondrial dysfunction and disrupt the energy supply for heat shock protein synthesis, in turn realizing mild photothermal therapy. Consequently, LA metabolic remodeling endows an intensive cascade treatment with an optimal safety profile to effectually suppress tumor proliferation and metastasis, which offers a new paradigm for the development of metabolism-regulated immunotherapy.

Tumor Microenvironment-Activated Nanocomposite for Self-Amplifying Chemodynamic/Starvation Therapy Enhanced IDO-Blockade Tumor Immunotherapy.

Disrupting intracellular redox homeostasis combined with immune checkpoint blockade therapy is considered as an effective way to accelerate tumor cell death. However, suppressed tumor immune microenvironment and lower cargo delivery restrict the efficiency of tumor therapy. In this study, a multifunctional tumor microenvironment (TME)-responsive nanocomposite is constructed using manganese tetroxide (Mn3 O4 )-decorated disulfide-bond-incorporated dendritic mesoporous organosilica nanoparticles (DMONs) to co-deliver indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) inhibitor Epacadostat (IDOi) and glucose oxidase (GOx) following modification with polyethylene glycol. Owing to the responsiveness of Mn3 O4 -decorated DMONs to the mildly acidic and glutathione (GSH) overexpressed TME, the nanocomposite can rapidly decompose and release inner contents, thus substantially improving the cargo release ability. Mn3 O4 can effectively catalyze hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) decomposition to generate oxygen, enhance the ability of GOx to consume glucose to produce H2 O2 , and further promote the generation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) by Mn2+ . Furthermore, Mn2+ -mediated GSH depletion and the production of •OH can disrupt intracellular redox homeostasis, contributing to immunogenic cell death. Simultaneously, IDOi can inhibit IDO to reverse inhibited immune response. The results show that self-amplifying chemodynamic/starvation therapy combined IDO-blockade immunotherapy synergistically inhibits tumor growth and metastasis in vivo.

Exploring user experience and performance of a tedious task through human-agent relationship.

Positive human-agent relationships can effectively improve human experience and performance in human-machine systems or environments. The characteristics of agents that enhance this relationship have garnered attention in human-agent or human-robot interactions. In this study, based on the rule of the persona effect, we study the effect of an agent's social cues on human-agent relationships and human performance. We constructed a tedious task in an immersive virtual environment, designing virtual partners with varying levels of human likeness and responsiveness. Human likeness encompassed appearance, sound, and behavior, while responsiveness referred to the way agents responded to humans. Based on the constructed environment, we present two studies to explore the effects of an agent's human likeness and responsiveness to agents on participants' performance and perception of human-agent relationships during the task. The results indicate that when participants work with an agent, its responsiveness attracts attention and induces positive feelings. Agents with responsiveness and appropriate social response strategies have a significant positive effect on human-agent relationships. These results shed some light on how to design virtual agents to improve user experience and performance in human-agent interactions.

Fe(III)-Naphthazarin Metal-Phenolic Networks for Glutathione-Depleting Enhanced Ferroptosis-Apoptosis Combined Cancer Therapy.

Nowadays, Fenton chemistry-based chemodynamic therapy (CDT) is an emerging approach to killing tumor cells by converting endogenous H2 O2 into cytotoxic hydroxyl radicals (·OH). However, the elimination of ·OH by intracellular overexpressed glutathione (GSH) results in unsatisfactory antitumor efficiency. In addition, the single mode of consuming GSH and undesirable drug loading efficiency cannot guarantee the efficient cancer cells killing effect. Herein, a simple one-step strategy for the construction of Fe3+ -naphthazarin metal-phenolic networks (FNP MPNs) with ultrahigh loading capacity, followed by the modification of NH2 -PEG-NH2 , is developed. The carrier-free FNP MPNs can be triggered by acid and GSH, and rapidly release naphthazarin and Fe3+ , which is further reduced to Fe2+ that exerts Fenton catalytic activity to produce abundant ·OH. Meanwhile, the Michael addition between naphthazarin and GSH can lead to GSH depletion and thus achieve tumor microenvironment (TME)-triggered enhanced CDT, followed by activating ferroptosis and apoptosis. In addition, the reduced Fe2+ as a T1 -weighted contrast agent endows the FNP MPNs with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) functionality. Overall, this work is the debut of naphthazarin as ligands to fabricate functional MPNs for effectively depleting GSH, disrupting intracellular redox homeostasis, and enhancing CDT effects, which opens new perspectives on multifunctional MPNs for tumor synergistic therapy.

Rational Design of Platinum-Bismuth Sulfide Schottky Heterostructure for Sonocatalysis-Mediated Hydrogen Therapy.

Conventional sonodynamic therapy is unavoidably limited by the tumor microenvironment, although many sonosensitizers have been developed to improve them to a certain extent. Given this, a concept of sonocatalytic hydrogen evolution is proposed, which is defined as an oxygen-independent therapeutics. To demonstrate the feasibility of the concept, the narrow-bandgap semiconductor bismuth sulfide (Bi2 S3 ) is selected as the sonocatalyst and platinum (Pt) nanoparticles are grown in situ to optimize their catalytic performance. In this nanocatalytic system, the Pt nanoparticles help to capture sonoexcited electrons, whereas intratumoral overexpressed glutathione (GSH), as a natural hole sacrificial agent, can consume sonoexcited holes, which greatly improves the charge-separation efficiency and promotes controllable and sustainable H2  generation. Even under hypoxic conditions, the Pt-Bi2 S3  nanoparticles can also produce sufficient H2  under ultrasound irradiation. Mechanistically, mitochondrial dysfunction caused by H2  and intratumoral redox homeostasis destruction by GSH depletion synergistically damage DNA to induce tumor cells apoptosis. At the same time, the Pt nanoparticles and holes can also trigger the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide into O2  to relieve tumor hypoxia, thus being synergistic with GSH depletion to reverse tumor immunosuppressive microenvironment. The proposed sonocatalysis-mediated therapy will provide a new direction to realize facile and efficient cancer therapy.

L-buthionine sulfoximine encapsulated hollow calcium peroxide as a chloroperoxidase nanocarrier for enhanced enzyme dynamic therapy.

The appropriate design of multifunctional nanocarriers for chloroperoxidase (CPO) delivery and the simultaneous improvement of the efficiency of enzyme dynamic therapy (EDT) remain significant challenges. Herein, we report a facile one-step route to obtain a multifunctional nanocarrier for the formation of sodium hyaluronate-modified hollow calcium peroxide spheres with encapsulated L-buthionine sulfoximine (BSO), followed by delivery of CPO for enhanced EDT. After effective accumulation at the tumor sites, the nanocomposite rapidly decomposes and releases Ca2+, BSO molecules, CPO, and concurrently generates a large volume of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in the endogenous tumor microenvironment (TME). BSO molecules inhibit the biosynthesis of glutathione (GSH) by inactivating γ-glutamyl cysteine synthetase. Due to BSO-induced GSH depletion and self-supply of H2O2, the EDT efficiency of CPO was significantly enhanced to achieve high tumor therapy efficiency. Additionally, overloaded Ca2+ caused mitochondrial damage and amplified the oxidative stress. Moreover, calcification resulted from the unbalanced calcium transport channel caused by enhanced oxidative stress, accelerating tumor apoptosis and improving the efficacy of computed tomography (CT) imaging visual tumor therapy. This simple and efficient design for multifunctional nanocomposites will likely take an important place in the field of combined tumor therapeutics.

Tumor Microenvironment-Responsive Cu/CaCO3 -Based Nanoregulator for Mitochondrial Homeostasis Disruption-Enhanced Chemodynamic/Sonodynamic Therapy.

The efficiency of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-mediated cancer therapy is restrained by intrinsic characteristics in the tumor microenvironment (TME), such as overexpressed glutathione (GSH), hypoxia and limited efficiency of H2 O2 . In this work, intelligent copper-dropped calcium carbonate loading sonosensitizer Ce6 nanoparticles (Cu/CaCO3 @Ce6, CCC NPs) are established to realize TME-responsive self-supply of oxygen and successively Ca2+ -overloading-strengthened chemodynamic therapy/sonodynamic therapy (CDT/SDT). CCC NPs release Ca2+ , Cu2+ , and Ce6 in weakly acid and GSH-excessive TME. Released Cu2+ can not only consume GSH and turn into Cu+ via a redox reaction, but also provide CDT-creating hydroxyl radicals through the Fenton-like reaction. Under ultrasound irradiation, the intracellular oxidative stress is amplified profoundly relying on singlet oxygen outburst from SDT. Moreover, Ca2+ influx aggravates the mitochondrial disruption, which further accelerates the oxidation level. The facile and feasible design of the Cu-dropped CaCO3 -based nanoregulators will be further developed as a paradigm in ROS-contributed cancer therapy.

Mn2+ /Fe3+ /Co2+ and Tetrasulfide Bond Co-Incorporated Dendritic Mesoporous Organosilica as Multifunctional Nanocarriers: One-Step Synthesis and Applications for Cancer Therapy.

Enriching the application of multifunctional dendritic mesoporous organosilica (DMOS) is still challenging in anti-cancer research. Herein, manganese ions, iron ions, or cobalt ions and tetrasulfide bonds are co-incorporated into the framework of DMOS to yield multifunctional nanoparticles denoted as Mn-DMOS, Fe-DMOS, or Co-DMOS by directly doping metal ions during the synthetic process. Due to co-incorporation of metal ions and tetrasulfide bonds, these designed nanocarriers have more functions rather than only for cargo delivery. As proof of concept, the nanocomposite is established based on Mn-DMOS as an efficient nanocarrier for indocyanine green (ICG) delivery and modification with polyethylene glycol. In the tumor microenvironment, the generated hydrogen sulfide (H2 S) arising from the reaction between tetrasulfide bond and over-expressed glutathione (GSH) causes mitochondrial injury to reduce cellular respiration. The released Mn2+ from the rapidly decomposed nanocomposite catalyzes the endogenous hydrogen peroxide to produce oxygen (O2 ). The photothermal effect from the released ICG initiated by the near-infrared light induces cancer cells apoptosis and simultaneously enhances the content of blood O2 at tumor sites. Therefore, due to the GSH depletion and trimodal O2 compensation, the photodynamic therapy efficiency of ICG has significantly improved. In brief, these designed nanocarriers will play advanced roles in cancer therapy.

One-Step Integration of Tumor Microenvironment-Responsive Calcium and Copper Peroxides Nanocomposite for Enhanced Chemodynamic/Ion-Interference Therapy.

Recently, various metal peroxide nanomaterials have drawn increasing attention as an efficient hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) self-supplying agent for enhanced tumor therapy. However, a single kind of metal peroxide is insufficient to achieve more effective antitumor performance. Here, a hyaluronic acid modified calcium and copper peroxides nanocomposite has been synthesized by a simple one-step strategy. After effective accumulation at the tumor site due to the enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect and specific recognition of hyaluronate acid with CD44 protein on the surface of tumor cells, plenty of Ca2+, Cu2+, and H2O2 can be simultaneously released in acid and hyaluronidase overexpressed tumor microenvironment (TME), generating abundant hydroxyl radical through enhanced Fenton-type reaction between Cu2+ and self-supplying H2O2 with the assistance of glutathione depletion. Overloaded Ca2+ can lead to mitochondria injury and thus enhance the oxidative stress in tumor cells. Moreover, an unbalanced calcium transport channel caused by oxidative stress can further promote tumor calcification and necrosis, which is generally defined as ion-interference therapy. As a result, the synergistic effect of Fenton-like reaction by Cu2+ and mitochondria dysfunction by Ca2+ in ROS generation is performed. Therefore, a TME-responsive calcium and copper peroxides nanocomposite based on one-step integration has been successfully established and exhibits a more satisfactory antitumor efficiency than any single kind of metal peroxide.

Exploring the effect of virtual reality relaxation environment on white coat hypertension in blood pressure measurement.

A phenomenon called White Coat Hypertension (WCH) often occurs when measuring blood pressure (BP) in a real medical environment. Utilizing virtual reality (VR) technology to present appropriate relaxation scenes can isolate the real medical environments and may provide a new method to avoid WCH and improve the accuracy of BP measurement. In this study, we designed four immersive VR relaxation scenes and conducted an experiment to explore the role of VR scenes in eliminating/detecting WCH in BP measurement. Results from the current sample showed that both systolic BP and diastolic BP measured in the simulated medical environment were significantly higher than the baseline level and the VR scene condition, while there were no significant differences between the BPs measured in VR scenes and the baseline level. It can be concluded that VR provides an effective approach to avoid WCH in BP measurement by visually and aurally isolating the real environment and assisting relaxation and provides a new approach to detect the occurrence of WCH by the comparison of BPs measured in the VR scene condition and real medical environments.

Employing Shadows for Multi-Person Tracking Based on a Single RGB-D Camera.

Although there are many algorithms to track people that are walking, existing methods mostly fail to cope with occluded bodies in the setting of multi-person tracking with one camera. In this paper, we propose a method to use people's shadows as a clue to track them instead of treating shadows as mere noise. We introduce a novel method to track multiple people by fusing shadow data from the RGB image with skeleton data, both of which are captured by a single RGB Depth (RGB-D) camera. Skeletal tracking provides the positions of people that can be captured directly, while their shadows are used to track them when they are no longer visible. Our experiments confirm that this method can efficiently handle full occlusions. It thus has substantial value in resolving the occlusion problem in multi-person tracking, even with other kinds of cameras.

Class Collective Efficacy and Class Size as Moderators of the Relationship between Junior Middle School Students' Externalizing Behavior and Academic Engagement: A Multilevel Study.

This study examined the relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement, and tested the possibility of class collective efficacy and class size moderating this relationship. Data were collected from 28 Chinese classrooms (N = 1034 students; grades 7, 8, and 9) with student reports. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to test all hypotheses and results revealed a negative relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement; class collective efficacy was also significantly related to academic engagement. Additionally, class collective efficacy and class size moderated the relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement: For students in a class with high collective efficacy or small size (≤30 students), the relationship between externalizing behavior and academic engagement was weaker than for those in a class with low collective efficacy or large size (≥43 students). Results are discussed considering self-regulatory mechanisms and social environment theory, with possible implications for teachers of students' learning provided.

Physiological Signal Analysis for Evaluating Flow during Playing of Computer Games of Varying Difficulty.

Flow is the experience of effortless attention, reduced self-consciousness, and a deep sense of control that typically occurs during the optimal performance of challenging tasks. On the basis of the person-artifact-task model, we selected computer games (tasks) with varying levels of difficulty (difficult, medium, and easy) and shyness (personality) as flow precursors to study the physiological activity of users in a flow state. Cardiac and respiratory activity and mean changes in skin conductance (SC) were measured continuously while the participants (n = 40) played the games. Moreover, the associations between self-reported psychological flow and physiological measures were investigated through a series of repeated-measures analyses. The results showed that the flow experience is related to a faster respiratory rate, deeper respiration, moderate heart rate (HR), moderate HR variability, and moderate SC. The main effect of shyness was non-significant, whereas the interaction of shyness and difficulty influenced the flow experience. These findings are discussed in relation to current models of arousal and valence. The results indicate that the flow state is a state of moderate mental effort that arises through the increased parasympathetic modulation of sympathetic activity.

Influence of Ongoing Task Difficulty and Motivation Level on Children's Prospective Memory in a Chinese Sample.

Prospective memory (PM) is the process associated with the task of realizing delayed intentions in the future. Researchers distinguish two types of PM, namely time-based PM (tbPM) and event-based PM (ebPM). Experiment 1 investigated the developmental trajectory of 3- to 5-year-old preschool children's PM ability, and the occurrence of delayed retrieval (children execute the PM task in a larger window of opportunity) in both tbPM and ebPM tasks. Results revealed that the 5-year-old children outperformed the 3- and 4-year-old children in PM. Moreover, delayed retrieval was more likely to occur in tbPM task than in ebPM task. In Experiment 2, the influence of ongoing task (OT) difficulty on PM performance was investigated with a sample of 5-year-old children. Results revealed no significant effect of OT difficulty on PM performance. In Experiment 3, we improved children's motivation level to complete the OT, then explored the influence of OT difficulty on children's PM performance. Results revealed that the effect of OT difficulty on PM performance became significant after increasing the children's motivation to complete the OT. These results provide insights into the mechanism of attentional resource allocation in PM tasks and have crucial educational and social implications.