Saturday, October 28, 2006

An Introduction to Medicine in Melbourne University

My exams are 9 days away, and as usual I am wasting time in front of my laptop.

Earlier today, Eric talked to me about some of the nostalgic moments we had together in International Education Centre (INTEC). While we were chatting about life and all that, we "reviewed" some of the documents that witnessed our time in INTEC - the stressful yet memorable ones.

So began my historic journey. I started browsing through my documents for a trace of the bygone times. In doing so, I discovered a document titled "A Letter to Keat Hwa Magazine". It was a Chinese letter I wrote last year, and initially it was intended to be a "School leaver's Letter" for the school magazine of my secondary school - Keat Hwa Secondary School. It turned out that the "school leavers' letters" section was not published for some editorial reasons, so my toil and sweat all went down the drain.

Update: I was told that this letter was published in the latest edition of school magazine, though I haven't had the chance to read it.

I had a quick look at the letter and found that it's still a rather accurate description of my course as of today. Since I have never written any official introduction to my study here, I thought I might just put it up here for your interest:

朋友及同学们:

收到一个邀请,希望我能够写一封校友回函,我忽然有一种参杂的心情。还记得以前我总是羡慕那些校友回函里的学兄学姐们,希望自己有一天也能像他们一样,所以有这个机会我也是蛮高兴的。但是,来到这里,人生地不熟,连学校历史和我课程的结构都还没完全搞清楚。所以要向大家介绍我的大学,感觉自己好像还不是很够资格,恐怕写出来的东西都不完全正确……无论如何,既然有这个荣幸,我一定会在这篇文章里好好分享我在这里求学的情形,好让大家有一个参考。我也好久没用中文书写了,如果写出来的东西杂然无章、错误百出的话,希望各位别见怪哦!

首先先介绍我自己吧!我在二零零二年修毕中五毕业后,就在公共服务局(JPA)的赞助下于莎亚南就读澳洲大学预备课程(South Australia Matriculation, 或在我学校那儿称为 Australian Matriculation)。SAM 通常是一年的课程,但由于我在莎亚南开课时已经是二零零四年六月了,所以我们必须读到二零零四年尾才毕业。毕业后,我们得用自己的成绩来申请所属意的科系,而有关大学则会考虑面试表现及考试成绩来决定录取学生。我成功地被几间大学录取了,几经考虑后我选择了墨尔本大学的医学系。

要谈墨尔本大学,我也蛮惭愧的,因为我几乎一无所知!所以请恕我写不到很仔细的介绍。墨大是澳洲历史第二久的大学,只比悉尼大学短一些。墨大的位置可说是再好不过了,我们这里离城市只要步行十五分钟,有什么事情都好办。这大学的范围可以说是超小的,面积只有吉华国中的四五倍大,所以所有建筑物可以说都是比邻而建的。由于大学历史悠久,所以有许多古色古香的建筑物,每天走在校园里就好像探访历史古迹似的。在这间大学就读可以深深地感受到那种充满朝气的氛围,除了有书香的环境,还有多得数不尽的学会与活动,所以每天的生活都可以变得很充实。如果我没记错的话,如果对巧克力有兴趣的人,甚至可以参加巧克力爱好者学会呢!

基本上,在澳洲就读医科和在本地就读有一些差别。在这里,除了Monash 以外,几乎所有大学的医学系都长达六年。哈哈,是呀,六年好长呀,闷都闷死了!为什么这里的医学系会比马来西亚长一年呢?其实,那多出来的一年是拿来做学术研究(Research)的。在第二年半至第三年半的时间,每一个人都要选一个自己喜欢的课题来研究,探索,试验,调查等等,最后交上一个长达三万字的论文(Thesis)。澳洲嘛,教育制度蛮注重研究的,从中学起,无论什么科目他们都希望学生们能够自己摸索,从自己的角度及别人的研究结果作出一个结论来。虽然这种方针对学生是一种不错的锻炼,但对我这种事事都拖到最后一分钟的学生而言,等到要交论文时我就糟糕了!哈哈……

目前我在读的是第一年,所修读的东西都还是医学的基本知识,所以我可还没本事去救人。在这头两年半里,我们将会在讲课里学习不同学术领域的知识,如生物化学(Biochemistry)、生理学(Physiology)、病理学(Pathology)、胚胎学(Embryology)、微生物(Microbiology)、人体结构(Anatomy) 等等。但是,和中学不同,这些科目我们可不是照着课本的排法学的。在我的大学,我们的学习方式是以身体系统为主轴,然后引申至有关的化学、器官、疾病及医疗。举个例子吧,在我目前的学期里,我们的学习主题是营养、消化及新陈代谢 (Nutrition, Digestion & Metabolism)。我们的讲课里首先介绍了身体所需要的养分,然后提及有关的器官、身体吸取养分及运作的方式,之后还教导了消化系统及各种影响身体功能的疾病。讲课呢,是三百个人一起在课堂上听讲的,所以气氛和中学的班级截然不同。在遇到一些超闷无比的讲师时,几乎一半以上的人都会睡着(也没有人会管你是醒着还是睡着);如果是很生动的讲课的话,我们的哄笑声几乎可以弄垮整个课堂的天花板!

除了一星期五次的讲课之外,我们还有两个重要的学习环节,那就是个案研究(Problem Based Learning) 及实验 (Practical)。PBL 是我大学每天拿来打广告的招牌之一,因为“据说”这是医学系最有效的学习方式,而我大学又是其中一个搞PBL搞得最成功的大学。简单来说,PBL就是“纸上谈医”,主要就是讨论一个病人的疾病与医疗。每一个星期一及五,我们都会有两小时的PBL课,以十个人的小组讨论进行。周一时,我们会得到一个个案,说明一个病人的故事、其征兆、病情等等。当然啦,我们这些才读了几个星期的所谓医学生,看到这些内容是都是摸不着脑袋,一只眼瞪另一只眼的。不过这就正是PBL的目的—学习我们不懂的知识。所以,在周一时,我们会在小组里讨论及评估那病人可能患上的病、他所显示的征兆的根源、医生应该问的问题、应该做的事情等等。最后我们会自己决定那个星期的学习课题,以便在课余时间里可以自己探讨。到了周五,就是大家呈现学习成果的时候了。每一个人都会轮流呈现自己所学到的知识,然后大家互相交换意见,取长补短,互补互进。交流之后,我们又会继续讨论那病人的情形。这一次,大家腹里已有了一些墨水,所以我们可以拿病人到底是患上什么病,而应该给于什么治疗等等。说起来,PBL也相当好玩的,因为可以尝尝当一个小医生的滋味;虽然是假的,但在学习诊断的方式及搞清楚疾病的来龙去脉,这过程中却让我有了很大的满足感。

哦对了,忘了谈实验。实验是我们几乎每个星期都有的活动。我们的实验种类可多了,又是化学试验,又是解剖尸体,又是身体功能测试,又是电脑虚拟试验的,学都学不完!不过,实验有时也蛮好玩的,我们所做的东西平时根本没机会接触到。还记得有一次的化学实验室有关于荷尔蒙和酒精对于排尿的影响,猜猜这实验是怎么做的?当然是拿我们的尿啦!所以,首先会有些人吸荷尔蒙,有些人喝酒;然后我们每半小时要去厕所一次,把尿液从不同的容器倒来倒去做测量。哈哈,这实验是远近驰名的,所以每个人一提到“尿尿实验”(Wee Wee Prac)都会不禁莞尔一笑。除此之外,我们还轮流解剖尸体,把尸体的肚里的每一个器官都拿出来看看。开始时有些人还怕怕的,但几次之后大家也都习惯了和尸体相处—我想,有些人会因为对血及器官的恐惧感而对医科避而远之,但是,习惯这些东西都是所有医学生的必经之途吧!除此以外,我们还有好多有趣的试验,单说也说不完,我想我也就不赘言了。

除了医学知识之外,我们的课程里有大半的时间都是在教学生们当一个好医生。一个医生怎么样才算好呢?好多人都认为一个好医生只要把整个课本倒背如流,诊断一针见血就对了。小时候,我自己也是这么想的,但现在我才知道这完完全全地错了!在这几个月的学习中,我领悟到当医生的,不单是要医好病人生理上的问题,更需要照顾到病人心理上的需求。我们把健康看成是生理,心理和人际关系的联系,俗称Biopsychosocial Model,医病就要全部组件都医好来。从第一天起,我们就学习如何录取病人的病历,但由于对医学认识太浅,注重的是与病人建立起信任以及安抚病人。在这几年里,我们会逐渐巩固我们的医学知识,久而久之,我们也将会学习一个专业医生和病人沟通、询问及检验的方式。到了最后两年半,我们将会离开大学校园,全部时间在医院里学习。如果成功修完六年,我们才能成为执业医生。

好了,看来我越写越长,再写也没人要读了!最后,我想借此机会向我的老师们致最高的谢意,因为没有他们,我也不会有机会来到这里。希望老师们生活愉快,而同学们求学顺利。如果有什么疑问,欢迎大家用电邮联络我:[email censored].


零二年毕业生,
尤长扬
Hope you enjoyed reading it.

p/s: This should be my last blog post before the final exams. I wish everyone best of luck and let's not forget the actual purpose of exams! :)

9 comments:

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Enable Cleartype on Your Computer

For a long time, I have always wondered why computer fonts always look so jaggy on my laptop, but on some other computers it always looks so clean and smooth. I always liked the way my blog appeared on other computers - they just look "ugly" on my laptop, and I never knew why.


Example: On my laptop the computer fonts always look like the one at the bottom; while in some other computers it looks smoother, like the one at the top.

(Credit: Wikipedia - ClearType)


After a very long time, thanks to Casper, I have finally found out the reason - and I think everyone should know it - it's because for some inane reason, Windows XP doesn't enable one of its feature called "ClearType", and it's this ClearType feature that makes the whole difference. To know how ClearType works, goto the link I gave for more information.

So, how do we turn on ClearType? It's easy.
  1. Goto your desktop and right click on an empty space.
  2. Select "Properties"
  3. On the tabs, select "Appearance"
  4. Select the "Effects..." button
  5. For "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts", choose "ClearType".
  6. Select "OK", then "OK" again.
  7. You will see the difference immediately!

Sometimes ClearType doesn't work as well as it should, and if this is the case, you might have to try out some more advanced setting by one of the following:
  1. Use the Microsoft ClearType Tuner Powertoy.
  2. If you like, you can even try out the online tuner which will work without any downloads.

7 comments:

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Firefox 2 is out!

This is a "community message":

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Firefox 2 is released today! Go get it now!


In case you don't know, Firefox is one of the most popular up-and-coming free Internet browsers in the market today. If you have been frustrated by the strings of problems (spyware, pop-up advertisements inadequate browsing features etc) experienced in Internet Explorer, you should really try out Firefox. Back in 2003, my brother introduced me to the Firefox (which was at version 0.9 back then), and since then, I had been so amazed by it that I had never used Internet Explorer again. I even made it a point to install Firefox before I start surfing on any computer which doesn't come pre-installed with Firefox.

In the future, I am going to write a feature-length account of how Firefox helps me tremendously in my daily surfing. However, for the time being, I am only going to write a short note of what Firefox is capable of:


Tab-Browsing - This has been there for quite a long time, but if you have been using the old Internet Explorer all the time, this might be new to you. Basically tabs are like individual sub-pages in the Firefox, and in each tab is the different websites you are viewing.
  • Open a new tab - Ctrl-T
  • Open a link in a new tab - middle-click the link OR Ctrl-Left Click.
  • Close a tab - middle-click the tab OR click Ctrl-W / Ctrl-F4.
  • Goto a particular tab - Ctrl-<tab-number> (e.g. Ctrl-2 for the second tab, Ctrl-5 for the fifth tab etc)
  • Goto the last tab - Ctrl-9
  • Un-close a tab (in other words, reopen a tab that you have just closed) - click Ctrl-Shift-T
    (Why Ctrl-Shift-T? Haha, open new tab is Ctrl-T, so reopen tab becomes Ctrl-Shift-T lohh... :P)


In-page Searching - Also a long-time feature of Firefox which is absent in Internet Explorer. It doesn't take long to explain how this works - just follow my instructions below:
  1. Type Ctrl-F
  2. A search bar will pop up at the bottom of Firefox - now type a word in it, say, firefox
  3. Now the first "firefox" in the page will be highlighted. To find other instances of firefox, just click on F3 or Shift-F3.
I can guarantee you: in no time you will hate IE for the lack of this feature.


Built-in Search Box - At the upper right corner of your browser, a loyal search box awaits for your incessant search. Want to Google for internal globus pallidus? Type it in and blast it! Checking out the latest book by your favourite author? Amazon it with the same search box! The best thing at all, if you are using Google, Yahoo or Answers.com, the search box actually gives you suggestions while you are typing. Neat feature.

Tips: When you have already installed Firefox 2, try this while setting the search box to Google: 3^20, 1 kilogram in pound, 2.5 mile in km, the answer to life, the universe and everything!


Smart keyword - This gotta be one of my favourite features of Firefox. In the most rudimentary form, this feature means "replacing a website URL with a simple keyword". For example, there is an online portal called Topclass which I visit everyday, with a long URL (http://learning.mdhs.unimelb.edu.au/) Of course I can simply save it as a bookmark and click on the bookmark whenever I want to visit it. However, smart keyword gives me a good alternative: after some simple set-up, the next time I will only need to type gtopclass (or any other word to your liking) in the address field and I will be there in no time.

If you are impressed by this, you are going to be impressed further by other possibilities provided by smart keyword. The clever thing is: smart keyword works best when used for searching! Firefox will do the following when you type those words in the address bar:
  • google university of melbourne - Does a Google search on "university of melbourne"
  • university of melbourne - Goes straight to my uni's homepage (http://www.unimelb.edu.au). This is actually the "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature of Google, that means it will do a Google search and bring you to the first result that comes up.
  • malaysian food recipe - Brings you to the google search result for "malaysian food recipe". This is actually the same as the previous example, but in this case Google aren't as confident about the result as it was with regard to the University of Melbourne. So this time, instead of bringing you straight to the first result, it actually lets you see the search results. Nicely thought feature!
  • dict conflagration - Look up the word in an online dictionary / encyclopedia.

After some simple set-ups, you can make even better use of the smart keywords. Note: The following examples will not work if you do not set up the configurations by yourselves. I will talk about it when I am free, probably after the exam.

  • wiki parkinson disease - Display the list of wikipedia articles which is related to the Parkinson disease.
  • wikil parkinson disease - Similar to the previous search, but goes straight to the first result instead of displaying the list of articles.
  • med internal globus pallidus - Look up the definition of internal globus pallidus in online medical dictionary. (one of my most-used features)
  • emed parkinson disease - Display the list of eMedicine articles related to Parkinson disease. Best for my weekly Problem-Based Learning.
  • anagram fulrdenow - Look up the solution of the anagram in this anagram solver.
Tips: Use Ctrl-L or F6 to enter the address, and Ctrl-K for search box.


SpellCheckSpell-check - Newly introduced feature in Firefox 2 - no typo in the future! As demonstrated in the picture on your right, when you make a typing error in Firefox, it will automatically underline it and make some useful suggestions. Very handy indeed.


Infinite extensibility - If there is one feature that distinguish Firefox from all other Internet browsers, it has to be its availability of extensions (or add-ons). Basically add-ons are additional features that you can install in your Firefox that greatly enhances your browsing experience and provide useful features. For example, are you getting annoyed with all those stupid advertisements in the Internet nowadays? Install adblock plus and your problem will be gone - no more advertisements seen! Do you want to know your local weather info and forecast right inside your browser? Forecastfox is the solution! Ever wished for a one-click encyclopedia in your computer? Answers is the tool built for that - it gives you an encyclopedic information for any word you clicked on!

For more information on add-ons, check out the add-ons portal here. If you feel overwhelmed with the hundreds of options, you can begin with the recommended add-ons. They are all worth a try.

And have I told you that everything is free?

Other features - There are thousands of online websites dedicated to the tips and tricks on using Firefox, so if you are interested in it just google for "firefox tips". You might want to begin with the feature page of the Firefox's official website.

I can continue for hours if I have enough free time, but I guess I will leave it for next time. Go get Firefox 2 now and learn to use it to the max, and you will begin to mourn the time you had surfed the Internet without it.


p/s: This ended up longer than I expected it to be. If you are adventurous, you might want to try out another browsers like Opera and Internet Explorer 7. To be frank Opera is *on average* faster than Firefox and has a lot of the above mentioned features built-in the software. Therefore if you emphasize speed over features you might want to try out Opera. The latest Internet Explorer 7 is pretty good too, but personally it still lacks a lot of features that I love, like some of those mentioned in this article. Therefore I still stick to Firefox most of the time and use Opera occasionally.

15 comments:

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Exam Luck

Is it just me, or does everyone face this problem? Whenever I have two possible answers for an exam question, the one I choose always turns out to be wrong. Or worse still, sometimes I chose the right answer initially, only to change to the wrong one at the last minute.

I am starting to suspect there are spells in all my exam papers.

8 comments:

Saturday, October 07, 2006

RAS Syndrome

How many times in a day do we hear sentences, or say sentences like this?

"There was a report about a thief in CNN news today. Early this morning, the thief hacked into an ATM machine and stole two thousand dollars by changing someone's personal PIN number. In the process, he was electrocuted and rendered unconscious by the AC current, which was leaked by the LCD display of the machine. When discovered, he was immediately sent to the nearest hospital. The police captured him when he regained consciousness three hours later. Upon interrogation, he admitted to have watched the Da Vinci code on DVD video earlier and learnt about the hacking of MS-DOS operating system. While the inspector became befuddled by the thief's ridiculous statement, the thief suddenly assaulted the inspector with a syringe and tried to escape. The experienced inspector successfully foiled the escape attempt by the foolish thief, however while struggling with the thief he was unfortunately stabbed by the syringe a few times on his body. To his horror, this syringe had been used on the thief beforehand and he claimed to be an AIDS patient. The unlucky inspector will have his blood tested in one month's time, and statistically, there is a 10% chance that he will be infected by the HIV virus."
Do you want to count the word count of repeated redundancy in the paragraph above? If you want to know more about what I am talking about, read more here in Wikipedia's article - RAS Syndrome. But if you want to be redundant, or doubly repeated, there is a funny (humorous) version in this funny article called "Redundancy".

Updated 8 October 2006:
1. CNN News: Cable Network News News
2. ATM Machine: Automatic Teller Machine Machine
3. Personal PIN Number: Personal Personal Identification Number Number
4. AC Current: Alternating Current Current
5. LCD Display: Liquid Crystal Display Display
6. MS-DOS Operating System: MicroSoft - Disk Operating System Operating System
7. HIV Virus: Human Immunodeficiency Virus Virus
8. Repeated Redundancy
9. Count the word count
10. RAS Syndrome: Redundant Acronym Syndrome Syndrome
11. Redundant, or double repeated
12. funny (humorous)

6 comments:

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Airplane Safety Instruction

Chris Pirillo teaching airplane safety
This is Chris Pirillo, a well-known computer geek and the host of the famous TechTV program "Call for Help". I can't believe he can be so funny! :)

2 comments: