Supporting ethnic minority students learning the Chinese language in multilingual Hong Kong

This paper examines progress made in four schools in Hong Kong over a two-year period in providing for students with markedly different language backgrounds and competence learning Chinese in the same classrooms. It centres in particular on ways of delivering the curriculum to classes containing immigrant and local children, a growing issue in Hong Kong where the number of non-Chinese speaking school-age children has doubled since the year 2000. The Hong Kong Equal Opportunities Commission has ex-pressed concern about the impact on the indigenous local students of steps taken to integrate their non-Chinese speaking immigrant peers into Hong Kong’s schools. This paper considers a number of intervention strategies, including streaming by ability, grouping students according to their mother tongue, providing differentiated instructional materials and learning objectives and deploying resources specifically designed for linguistically disadvantaged students. Shortcomings in provision are discussed as well as problems faced by children who speak a “foreign” language in school and go home to envi-ronments in which only their mother tongue is spoken. Comment is directed at opportunities for non-Chinese speaking students to learn their mother tongue in school and at steps taken by schools to engi-neer multicultural environments.published_or_final_versio

Free-breathing 2D time-of-flight pulmonary MRA at 3T

This study aims to optimize and evaluate a free-breathing 2D TOF PMRA protocol at 3T. The protocol was based on a T1-weighted turbo field echo sequence with static tissue suppression using magnetization transfer plus selective inverse recovery, spectral fat saturation, cardiac gating, respiratory navigator gating, and parallel imaging. Satisfactory pulmonary MRAs were demonstrated in volunteer subjects (N=12). The proposed protocol is clinically relevant for patients who are unable to provide long breath-holds during MRI scans.published_or_final_versio

MOTSA TOF-MRA using multi-oblique-stacks acquisition (MOSA)

One of the intrinsic advantages of current TOF MRA techniques is their insensitivity to in-plane blood flow or turbulent flow, causing hypointense signal or discontinuity in blood vessels in MRA images. To overcome this problem, a multi-oblique-stacks acquisition (MOSA) technique is proposed to improve the visualization of in-plane blood flows in MRA. The results showed that TOF-MRA obtained from MOSA was improved as compared to that of conventional MOTSA for the same amount of scan time.published_or_final_versio

MRI characterization of trabecular bone structure by exploring bone microscopic susceptibility effect

Bone strength depends on bone mineral density (BMD) as well as properties related to bone quality, such as the microarchitecture of trabecular bone. Structural parameters, such as trabecular thickness, can also critically influence the mechanical competence and thus resistance to fracture of bone. Complex bone structure can induce microscopic susceptibility effect and alter the bone transverse relaxation properties, which are expected to become more prominent at high field. This study aims to examine such susceptibility effect at 3T and explore the possibility of using bone as an endogenous contrast agent to derive the structural information in human trabecular bone.published_or_final_versio

Methylation of E-caderin gene in gastric cancer and in normal gastric mucosa from patients with and without Helicobacter pylori infection

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A simplified but equally accurate C-13 urea breath test for Helicobacter pylori

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Change in endogenous nitric oxide production in the healing of gastric ulcer induced by acetic acid

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Early changes of auditory brain stem evoked response after radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma - A prospective study

A prospective study of the effect of radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma on hearing was carried out on 49 patients who had pure tone, impedance audiometry and auditory brain stem evoked response (ABR) recordings before, immediately, three, six and 12 months after radiotherapy. Fourteen patients complained of intermittent tinnitus after radiotherapy. We found that 11 initially normal ears of nine patients developed a middle ear effusion, three to six months after radiotherapy. There was mixed sensorineural and conductive hearing impairment after radiotherapy. Persistent impairment of ABR was detected immediately after completion of radiotherapy. The waves I-III and I-V interpeak latency intervals were significantly prolonged one year after radiotherapy. The study shows that radiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma impairs hearing by acting on the middle ear, the cochlea and the brain stem auditory pathway.published_or_final_versio

A study on the effect of COX-2 inhibitors on gastric mucosal prostaglandin synthesis

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Diffusional Kurtosis and Diffusion Tensor Imaging Reveal Different Time-Sensitive Stroke-Induced Microstructural Changes

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