The roles of instructional practices and motivation in writing performance

The authors investigated what and how instructional practices are related to students' motivation and performance in writing. The participants were 6 teacher interns and their (N = 209) secondary-school students in Hong Kong. In a 3session instruction unit, the teacher interns taught their students how to write an expository essay. The students completed the essay and then a questionnaire to report their motivation in the task and their perception of the instruction. Results of structural equation modeling showed that students' motivation mediated the effects of instructional practices on writing performance. The authors found that when the teachers adopted more motivating teaching strategies, the students were more motivated. When the students were more motivated, they, in turn, had better performance in writing. Copyright © 2006 Heldref Publications.published_or_final_versio

A Data Structure Using Hashing and Tries For Efficient Chinese Lexical Access

A lexicon is needed in many applications. In the past, different structures such as tries, hash tables and their variants have been investigated for lexicon organization and lexical access. In this paper, we propose a new data structure that combines the use of hash table and tries for storing a Chinese lexicon. The data structure facilitates an efficient lexical access yet requires less memory than that of a trie lexicon. Experiments are conducted to evaluate its performance for in-vocabulary lexical access, out-of-vocabulary word rejection, and substring matching. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is confirmed.published_or_final_versio

FXN promoter silencing in the humanized mouse model of Friedreich Ataxia

Background - Friedreich ataxia is caused by an expanded GAA triplet-repeat sequence in intron 1 of the FXN gene that results in epigenetic silencing of the FXN promoter. This silencing mechanism is seen in patient-derived lymphoblastoid cells but it remains unknown if it is a widespread phenomenon affecting multiple cell types and tissues. Methodology / Principal Findings - The humanized mouse model of Friedreich ataxia (YG8sR), which carries a single transgenic insert of the human FXN gene with an expanded GAA triplet-repeat in intron 1, is deficient for FXN transcript when compared to an isogenic transgenic mouse lacking the expanded repeat (Y47R). We found that in YG8sR the deficiency of FXN transcript extended both upstream and downstream of the expanded GAA triplet-repeat, suggestive of deficient transcriptional initiation. This pattern of deficiency was seen in all tissues tested, irrespective of whether they are known to be affected or spared in disease pathogenesis, in both neuronal and non-neuronal tissues, and in cultured primary fibroblasts. FXN promoter function was directly measured via metabolic labeling of newly synthesized transcripts in fibroblasts, which revealed that the YG8sR mouse was significantly deficient in transcriptional initiation compared to the Y47R mouse. Conclusions / Significance- Deficient transcriptional initiation accounts for FXN transcriptional deficiency in the humanized mouse model of Friedreich ataxia, similar to patient-derived cells, and the mechanism underlying promoter silencing in Friedreich ataxia is widespread across multiple cell types and tissues.This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 NS072418), and the Muscular Dystrophy Association to S.I.B. Y.K.C. is supported by a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Million Dollar Bike Ride Grant Program of the Orphan Disease Center at University of Pennsylvania. T.T.H. was supported by the American College of Medical Genetics Foundation. A.C.P. and M.G.M. were supported by the SURE and OSCTR programs at OUHSC, respectively

Mental health first aid training for the Chinese community in Melbourne, Australia: effects on knowledge about and attitudes toward people with mental illness

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to investigate in members of the Chinese community in Melbourne the impact of Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training on knowledge about mental disorders and on attitudes to people with mental illness. The hypotheses were that at the end of the training participants would have increased knowledge of mental disorders and related treatments, and decreased negative attitudes towards people with mental disorders.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Respondents were 108 participants of three MHFA training workshops for the Chinese community in Melbourne conducted by a qualified MHFA trainer. Participants completed the research questionnaire prior to the commencement of the training (pre-test) and at its completion (post-test). The questionnaires assessed participants' ability to recognize a mental disorder (depression and schizophrenia) described in the vignettes, knowledge about the professional help and treatment, and negative attitudes towards people with mental illness.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Between pre- and post-test there was significant improvement in the recognition of mental disorders, beliefs about treatment became more concordant with health professionals, and negative attitudes reduced.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The MHFA training course for general members of the Chinese community in Melbourne produced significant positive change in the level of mental health literacy and reductions in stigmatizing attitudes. The evidence from this study, together with the accumulated evidence of the benefits of MHFA training in the general Australian community, suggests that this approach should be scaled up to a level where it can have an impact on the whole of the Chinese community in Australia.</p

Implementation of secondary stroke prevention protocol for ischaemic stroke patients in primary care

published_or_final_versio

Atypical focal cortical dysplasia in a patient with Cowden syndrome

published_or_final_versio

Risk factors and outcomes of childhood obesity in Hong Kong: a retrospective cohort study

published_or_final_versio

Contributos do Ensino - Aprendizagem do Inglês, nos 3º e 4º anos do Ensino Básico, para os resultados obtidos pelos alunos na disciplina de Inglês, no 5º ano do Ensino Básico, no distrito de Évora.

O presente artigo dá conta da investigação que verificou a relação entre a frequência da Atividade de Enriquecimento Curricular (AEC) de Inglês, pelos alunos dos 3º e 4º anos do Ensino Básico, dos agrupamentos de escolas do distrito de Évora, no biénio 2005-2007 e os resultados obtidos, pelos mesmos, no final do ano letivo 2007/2008, na disciplina de Inglês, no 5º ano do Ensino Básico, nos agrupamentos de escolas do distrito de Évora que frequentaram. Dá, ainda, conta das relações entre esses resultados, a assiduidade, as retenções, o desenvolvimento cognitivo e o género desses mesmos alunos, nos resultados observados no referido 5ºAno

Hong Kong domestic health spending: Financial years 1989/90 to 2008/09

published_or_final_versio

Reliability and validity of alternate step test times in subjects with chronic stroke

OBJECTIVE: (i) To investigate the intra-rater, inter-rater and test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change of the Alternate Step Test (AST) when assessing people with chronic stroke. (ii) To quantify the correlation between AST times and stroke-specific impairments. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: University-based rehabilitation centre. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 86 participants: 45 with chronic stroke, and 41 healthy elderly subjects. METHODS: The AST was administered along with the Fugl-Meyer Lower Extremity Assessment (FMA-LE), the Five Times Sit-To-Stand Test (FTSTS), limits of stability (LOS) measurements, Berg Balance Scale (BBS) scores, Chinese-translated Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC-C) ratings, and the Timed “Up and Go” test (TUG). RESULTS: Excellent intra-rater, inter-rater and test-retest reliability were found, with a minimal detectable change of 3.26 s. AST times were significantly associated with FMA-LE assessment, FTSTS times, LOS in the forward and backward directions and to the affected side, BBS ratings and TUG times. CONCLUSION: AST time is a reliable assessment tool that correlates with different stroke-specific impairments in people with chronic stroke.published_or_final_versio