Reliability of arterial spin labelling measurements of perfusion within the quadriceps during steady-state exercise

Arterial spin labelling (ASL) provides a potential method to non-invasively determine muscle blood flow and examine the impact of interventions such as supplementation and training. However, it's a method with intrinsically low signal, leading to limitations in accuracy and temporal resolution. To examine these limitations, the current study measured perfusion via ASL on three occasions in the rectus femoris of 10 healthy adults, during light and moderate exercise, over three different exercise durations. For data sampled over 9 min, light intensity exercise gave an average perfusion of 35.0 ± 5.1 ml/min.100g^?1 with a coefficient of variation (COV) of 16% and single intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.67. For the moderate bout, perfusion was 51.3 ± 5.6 ml/min.100g^?1 (COV 10%, ICC 0.82). When the same data were analyzed over 5 min 24 s, perfusion was 37.8 ± 11.13 (COV 30%, ICC 0.13) during light and 49.5 ± 8.8 ml/min.100g^?1 (COV 18%, ICC 0.52) during moderate exercise. When sampling was reduced to 1 min 48 s, perfusion was 41.2 ± 13.7 (COV 33%, ICC 0.26) during light and 49.5 ± 13.6 ml/min.100g^?1 (COV 28%, ICC 0.04) during moderate exercise. For 9 min a significant perfusion difference was found between the exercise intensities; however, this was not the case for sampling over 5 min 24 s or 1 min 48 s. Such findings illustrate the potential of ASL to non-invasively monitor muscle perfusion under steady-state conditions, but highlight that extended exercise protocols are necessary in order to generate date of sufficient reliability to be able to discriminate intervention dependent perfusion differences.     

用手表达的语言--从语言学角度认识手语

许多人对于手语还存在着不少偏见和误解,认为它是一种不健全的语言表达形式,而非真正意义上的语言,认为世界上所有聋人使用同一种通用的手势语等等。这些误解是因为我们对聋人群体及其赖以交际的语言形式缺乏认识与了解造成的。本文以美国手语为例,从语言学角度对手语进行了分析和探讨:分别从音位、形态、句法层面描述了手语的语言特征;指出并强调手语跟口语一样具有人类语言的所有特征,是聋人群体在长期相互交流中发展起来的一种复杂的视觉空间语言;从语言学角度看,它是一种完全、自然的语言形式。     

美国手语语言独特性探究——以美国手语中的时间信息表达为例

北美聋人使用的美国手语作为人类语言之一有着与其他语言许多的共性,同时,作为一种独特的视觉空间语言,它也有着不同于有声语言的表达特点和语言特性。它不仅通过使用手势符号表词达意,还借助头部、面部表情和上身体态的变化辅助表达更为细腻的情感、语言和语法意义。美国手语中对时间信息的表达更是体现了其语言表达上的独特性。通过对美国手语时间信息表达方式较为系统的介绍和分析,探究其作为视觉空间语言所体现出的语言表达独特性。     

La historia corta para evaluar la competencia oral en el aula de inglés

Resumen

Este trabajo se sitúa en el contexto de la enseñanza secundaria obligatoria para realizar un estudio sobre el uso de estrategias en la producción de historias cortas orales. Este análisis ofrece una alternativa más aproximada que las pruebas escritas para evaluar la competencia oral de los alumnos, según el tipo de estrategias que éstos utilicen en su producción. Se analizó cualitativa y cuantitativamenteel uso de dos tipos distintos de estrategias por parte de 52 alumnos de segundo de E.S.O. al contar oralmente varias narraciones. El primer tipo de estrategias, denominadas narrativas, son aquellas que tienen que ver con las que los hablantes nativos usan para dar viveza a la narración. El segundo tipo, denominado estrategias no narrativas o no relacionadas, son aquellas que tienen que ver con el nivel de competencia estratégica de los alumnos, y en su mayoría están basadas en la lengua materna. Los resultados de la tarea indicaron que el nivel de competencia afecta a la elección de tipos de estrategias, ya que los alumnos de nivel bajo e intermedio-bajo usaron un mayor número de estrategias del segundo tipo (compensatorias y basadas en la lengua materna). En general, sin embargo, la tarea se muestra beneficiosa para el desarrollo de la competencia oral de los alumnos, ya que la producción constituye en sí misma una estrategia de aprendizaje.     

Exploring alternative assessments for signing deaf candidates

Attitudes to sign languages or language policies are often not overtly discussed or recorded but they influence deaf young people's educational opportunities and outcomes. Two qualitative studies from Scotland investigate the provision of British Sign Language as accommodation in public examinations. The first explores the views of deaf pupils and staff about the official system for face-to-face interpretation of exam papers. The second investigates a centrally translated digital paper with embedded video questions. Discussion focuses on contrasts between the USA and UK approaches to accommodations, raising issues of standardized technical terms in signed languages, the right to respond in sign, and candidate choice.