This study aimed to explore the impact of emotional feedback and elaborated feedback provided by a pedagogical agent (PA) on learners' emotions, intrinsic motivation, agent perception, cognitive load, and transfer performance in multimedia learning. The experiment was conducted based on an actual undergraduate course. Undergraduate students (N = 117) were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions, where PA's feedback differed by emotional feedback (with vs. without) and elaborated feedback (elaborated feedback vs. knowledge of results). Results revealed that emotional feedback reduced learners' confusion, activated intrinsic motivation, and enhanced agent perception. In addition, elaborated feedback improved intrinsic motivation, agent perception, and transfer performance but reduced germane cognitive load. Surprisingly, there was no significant interaction between emotional feedback and elaborated feedback. These findings had implications for designing a PA with a feedback fulfilling learners' emotional and cognitive needs to maximize multimedia learning.

Intestinal epithelial barrier (IEB) damage is an important aspect in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The objective of this study was to explore the protective effects and mechanisms of arabinogalactan (AG) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated IEB dysfunction. The results show that AG (1, 2, and 5 mg/mL) mitigated 100 μg/mL LPS-stimulated IEB dysfunction through increasing transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), reducing fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)–dextran (4 kDa) flux, and up-regulating the protein and mRNA expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins (Claudin-1, Zonula occludens-1 (ZO-1) and Occludin). In addition, AG ameliorated LPS-stimulated IEB dysfunction by reducing interleukin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and IL-1β levels, decreasing the reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, increasing superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, increasing the glutathione (GSH) level, and decreasing the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) and intracellular calcium ([Ca²⁺]_i). Furthermore, 2 mg/mL AG up-regulated the expression of silent information regulator 1 (SIRT1), the phosphorylated adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator (PGC)-1α and inhibited the phosphorylation of nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) and the inhibitor of NF-κBα (IκBα). Therefore, AG could maintain IEB integrity by activating AMPK/SIRT1 and inhibiting the NF-κB signaling pathway. In conclusion, AG can regulate the AMPK/SIRT1/NF-κB signaling pathway to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, thus alleviating LPS-stimulated IEB damage.

Soybean protein isolate (SPI) is a kind of plant derived protein with high nutritional value, but it is underutilized due to its structural limitations and poor functionalities. This study aimed to investigate the effects of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) treatment on SPI and sodium alginate (SA) conjugates prepared through the Maillard reaction. The physicochemical properties of the conjugate synthesized under 200 MPa at 60 °C for 24 h (SPI–SA–200) were compared with those of the conjugate synthesized under atmospheric pressure (SPI–SA–0.1), SPI-SA mixture, and SPI. The HHP (200 MPa) significantly hindered the Maillard reaction. This effect was confirmed by performing SDS-PAGE. The alterations in the secondary structures, such as α-helices, were analyzed using circular dichroism spectroscopy and the fluorescence intensity was determined. Emulsifying activity and stability indices of SPI-SA-200 increased by 33.56% and 31.96% respectively in comparison with the SPI–SA–0.1 conjugate. Furthermore, reduced particle sizes (356.18 nm), enhanced zeta potential (‒40.95 mV), and homogeneous droplet sizes were observed for the SPI-SA-200 emulsion. The present study details a practical method to prepare desirable emulsifiers for food processing by controlling the Maillard reaction and improving the functionality of SPI.