Impacts of the socio-political instability in Hong Kong on university students’ learning experience

[EN] Since the Anti-Extradition Law Social Movement in 2019, Hong Kong has entered an era of socio-political instability. The conflict between student protestants and the government has become increasingly intense, whereas several universities even became the battlefield of the protest and were abruptly shut down in November 2019. To add fuel to the fire, the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020 has prompted all universities in the territory to suspend all face-to-face classes and activities for two semesters. All these have impacted university students in Hong Kong socially, academically and psychologically.In light of this, this study aims to explore the ways to which the learning experience of university students in Hong Kong have been impacted by the socio-political challenges. Through conducting a mixed-methods study at a public university in Hong Kong, it was found that university have a high perceived level of stress, high political involvements, unsatisfactory learning experience and poor learning motivation under this socio-political instability. It is hoped that this study can provide informed insights for teachers to understand students’ burdens, stresses, and emotional instability associated with socio-political unrest.Fung, HT. (2021). Impacts of the socio-political instability in Hong Kong on university students’ learning experience. En 7th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'21). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 863-872. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd21.2021.12834OCS86387

Social media, interactivity and radio production in the digital age : a case study of Commercial Radio Hong Kong

published_or_final_versionMedia, Culture and Creative CitiesMasterMaster of Social Sciences in Media, Culture and Creative Citie

Asian Americans respond less favorably to excitement (vs. calm)-focused physicians compared to European Americans

OBJECTIVES: Despite being considered a model minority, Asian Americans report worse health care encounters than do European Americans. This may be due to affective mismatches between Asian American patients and their European American physicians. We predicted that because Asian Americans value excitement (vs. calm) less than European Americans, they will respond less favorably to excitement-focused (vs. calm) physicians. METHOD: In Study 1, 198 European American, Chinese American, and Hong Kong Chinese community adults read a medical scenario and indicated their preference for an excitement-focused versus calm-focused physician. In Study 2, 81 European American and Asian American community college students listened to recommendations made by an excitement-focused or calm-focused physician in a video, and later attempted to recall the recommendations. In Study 3, 101 European American and Asian American middle-aged and older adults had multiple online encounters with an excitement-focused or calm-focused physician and then evaluated their physicians\u27 trustworthiness, competence, and knowledge. RESULTS: As predicted, Hong Kong Chinese preferred excitement-focused physicians less than European Americans, with Chinese Americans falling in the middle (Study 1). Similarly, Asian Americans remembered health information delivered by an excitement-focused physician less well than did European Americans (Study 2). Finally, Asian Americans evaluated an excitement-focused physician less positively than did European Americans (Study 3). CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that while physicians who promote and emphasize excitement states may be effective with European Americans, they may be less so with Asian Americans and other ethnic minorities who value different affective states

Lessons Learned from the Pandemic: The Need for Further Development of Information and Communication Technology Enhanced Mental Health Services in Hong Kong

The COVID-19 pandemic not only leads to more mental health problems because of its stressful nature but it also increases the challenges of providing services for people with mental health needs in the community This paper discusses the limitations of conventional mental health services and the potential use of information and communication technology ICT to increase service accessibility in the context of Hong Kong We review some of the local studies and services and explain why ICT-enhanced services should play a more important role in the local service system especially when there is a lack of resources and a need for social physical distancing Some future development directions have been highlighted We argue that it is necessary to further discuss the use of ICT in mental health services and develop more evidence-based web-based resources that can be incorporated into the local service syste

Gastrointestinal side effects and adequacy of enteral intake in hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients

BACKGROUND: Patients undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) can experience gastrointestinal (GI) side effects as a complication of the treatment. Limited research exists describing how the duration and severity of GI side effects influence the consumption of adequate calorie intake in this population. The purpose of this study was to assess differences in GI side effects between patients who consumed adequate calories compared with those who did not. METHODS: The MD Anderson Symptom Inventory-Gastrointestinal (MDASI-GI) tool was used to record daily GI side effects of 72 HSCT patients. Daily calorie intake was determined via calorie counts. Data were collected from day of transplant until engraftment. RESULTS: Median percentage of caloric needs consumed for all patients was 49.2% (interquartile range, 35.1-66.6). Calorie intake decreased from baseline to transplant day 8 as severity of GI symptoms increased. An inverse relationship between percentage of caloric needs met and MDASI-GI component score, MDASI-GI symptom score, and lack of appetite score was observed. The only significant difference in MDASI-GI symptom scores between those who consumed adequate calories and those who consumed inadequate calories was for diarrhea; subjects who consumed >60% of caloric needs had significantly lower median diarrhea scores. CONCLUSION: Most patients consumed <60% of their caloric needs from time of transplant to time of engraftment. More research is needed to provide insight into strategies to increase intake and to describe the implications of prolonged inadequate intake in HSCT patients

Assessment of Extracts from Red Yeast Rice for Herb-Drug Interaction by in-vitro and in-vivo assays

Red yeast rice (RYR) is made by fermenting the yeast Monascus purpureus over rice. It is a source of natural red food colorants, a food garnish and a traditional medication. Results of the current study demonstrated that polar fractions of the RYR preparations contained herbal-drug interaction activity, which if left unremoved, enhanced P-glycoprotein activity and inhibited the major drug metabolizing cytochromes P450, i,e, CYP 1A2, 2C9 and 3A4. The data from Caco-2 cell absorption and animal model studies further demonstrated that the pharmacokinetic modulation effect by RYR preparations containing the polar fractions (“untreated” preparation) was greater than that from RYR preparations with the polar fractions removed (“treated” preparation). The data indicates a potential for herb-drug interactions to be present in RYR commonly sold as nutritional supplements when the polar fractions are not removed and this should be taken into consideration when RYR is consumed with medications, including verapamil

Molecular characterisation of rice tungro bacilliform virus isolated from Bario, Sarawak

Rice tungro disease is one of the most damaging and destructive diseases of rice in South and Southeast Asia. The disease is caused by the co-infection of two viruses, the Rice tungro bacilliform virus (RTBV) and Rice tungro spherical virus (RTSV). The symptoms and severity of the disease depend on these two viral agents, if rice is coinfected by both viruses, it will show the typical severe symptoms of yellow-orange leaf discoloration, plant stunting and reduced in yield. On the other hand, if rice is infected only with RTBV, it shows milder symptoms and in contrast, rice plants will show no symptoms if they are infected only with RTSV. The disease had been detected in Malaysia since the 1930s. However, the first incursion of the disease was only reported in Sarawak in 2012. Since the disease was not seen in the Sarawak until recently, very little information on local virus isolate is available. This study was conducted to obtain and record the nucleotide sequence of partial coat protein gene of two primary isolates of RTBV collected from Bario, Sarawak in 2012 and 2013. Methodology and results: Based on the phylogenetic analysis, the isolates cluster with the Southeast Asia group with sequence identity at nucleotide and amino acid level of 91.1 to 95.1% and 98.6 to 99.5% respectively. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: This study provide the first genetic information on RTBV isolates from Sarawak. This data is important for future reference of the virus variants and diversity for epidemiological and diagnosis purposes

No. 6 - 30th Anniversary Issue

With this issue of the Occasional Papers, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Dean Rusk Center, which bears the name of the late School of Law faculty member who served as secretary of state under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 until 1969. Our purpose in hosting the conference and lectures published in this volume was to provide a forum for developing the comprehensive new focus necessary to met the American foreign policy demands of the 21st century. In so doing, it is our intent that the advice and counsel of the former secretaries of state and speakers in this volume—each of whom has been, directly or indirectly, impacted by the life of Dean Rusk—will bring us closer to being “present at the creation” of a post-modern American foreign policy equipped to deal with the challenges ahead. We hope that this publication, under the auspices of the Center that bears his name, will have an impact that is worthy of the legacy of Dean Rusk