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BackgroundThe impact of sarcopenia on the outcome of gastrointestinal (GI) oncological patients is still controversial. We aim to discuss the prevalence of sarcopenia and its relation to the oncological outcome.MethodsEmbase, Medline, PubMed, and the Cochrane library were systematically searched for related keywords. Studies using CT to assess sarcopenia and evaluate its relationship with the outcome of GI oncological patients were included. Long-term outcomes, including overall survival and disease-free survival, were compared by hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Short-term outcomes, including total complications and major complications (Clavien-Dindo ≥IIIa) after curable surgery, were compared by the risk ratio (RR) and 95% CI.ResultsA total of 70 studies including 21,875 patients were included in our study. The median incidence of sarcopenia was 34.7% (range from 2.1 to 83.3%). A total of 88.4% of studies used skeletal muscle index (SMI) in the third lumbar level on CT to define sarcopenia, and a total of 19 cut-offs were used to define sarcopenia. An increasing trend was found in the prevalence of sarcopenia when the cut-off of SMI increased (β = 0.22, 95% CI = 0.12–0.33, p < 0.001). The preoperative incidence of sarcopenia was associated both with an increased risk of overall mortality (HR = 1.602, 95% CI = 1.369–1.873, P < 0.001) and with disease-free mortality (HR = 1.461, 95% CI = 1.297–1.646, P < 0.001). Moreover, preoperative sarcopenia was a risk factor for both total complications (RR = 1.188, 95% CI = 1.083–1.303, P < 0.001) and major complications (RR = 1.228, 95% CI = 1.042–1.448, P = 0.014).ConclusionThe prevalence of sarcopenia depends mostly on the diagnostic cut-off points of different criteria. Preoperative sarcopenia is a risk factor for both long-term and short-term outcomes.

Although online tutorials are becoming commonplace for language teaching, very few studies to date have provided insights into learners' behaviours in synchronous online interactions from their own perspective.This study employs eyetracking technology to investigate ten learners' attention during synchronous online language learning in a multimodal environment. The participants were learners of Chinese as a Foreign Language at beginner's or lower-intermediate level. While learners took part in two different online activities, one focusing on reading, the other on interaction with others, their gaze focus was tracked, and in subsequent stimulated recall interviews the learners reflected on their engagement with the screen and their intentions while reading or speaking online.Our findings show that during reading tasks, when Pinyin transcriptions as well as Chinese characters were presented, all beginner and lower intermediate participants focused to some degree on the Pinyin. In the interactive task learners' gaze was drawn to elements of the screen that were not immediately necessary for technical or linguistic reasons but that could be interpreted as containing social presence information, e.g. names listed and emoticons employed by other users.

Computer-assisted language learning, or CALL, is an interdisciplinary area of research, positioned in tension between science and social science, computing and education, linguistics and applied linguistics. This paper argues that by appropriating methods originating in some areas of CALL-related research, for example, HCI or psycho-linguistics, the agenda of 'attention-focus' research can be shifted from a cognitive perspective to a learner-centred approach, understanding online language learning and teaching spaces as mediated by technology, second/foreign language, and online teaching culture.Taking a method that has traditionally been used within a positivist paradigm, the authors exemplify the potential of eyetracking to progress online language learning research -extending it in ways compatible with a sociocultural paradigm. This is evidenced by two pioneering studies in which an innovative combination of methods allows participants, whose gaze focus during synchronous computer-mediated communication (SCMC) has been recorded, to reflect back on their involvement. Eyetracking is combined with stimulated recall interviews that trigger deep reflection on learner and teacher strategies by directing participants' recollections on their attention focus.The rich, multifaceted results shown by this original and innovative use of eyetracking methods in a sociocultural framework direct a way forward in researching online learning by integrating insider and outside views coherently and systematically.