In our cohort, the prevalence of IBD-FAPD was 26%. This is the first study to assess all FAPDs using the Rome III criteria and to demonstrate increased anxiety, depression, and worse quality of life in children with IBD-FAPD. The identification of patients predisposed to IBD-FAPD may allow implementing strategies that could improve symptoms and quality of life.

Portal vein thrombosis is a relatively rare clinical entity that can result in substantial morbidity and mortality. Because of the risk of intestinal infarction, acute symptomatic portal vein thrombosis requires prompt intervention. Traditional treatment has included anticoagulation and/or systemic thrombolytic therapy. We report the successful management of acute portal vein thrombosis with percutaneous transphepatic thrombolytic therapy. In addition to the potential for improving regional clot lysis through direct infusion of the thrombolytic agent, this method may result in fewer systemic side effects than occur with other available treatment modalities.

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Vietnamese high school students have few opportunities to use English outside class and they are often reluctant to speak in class. This paper describes and explains the students' willingness to communicate (wtc) and relates this to varied perceptions of social presence. Eighteen high school students in Vietnam took a six-week online course using Facebook and Skype. They were interviewed individually before and after the course about their experiences, focusing on their perceptions of their own wtc. The results show that the students were more willing to use English spontaneously in the online environment in contexts where they perceived that they had less social presence. Text and audio chat were felt to be less face threatening than video chat, and consequently, students were more willing to speak in conditions of lower social presence. It can be concluded that the more social presence students felt they had in the online environment, the less their wtc. This was true for both synchronous and asynchronous online environments. Allowing students to control their social presence in online communication can embolden shy students and increase their wtc.

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Public opinion reflects a 'common sense' view that smaller classes improve student academic performance. This review reveals that the 'class size' effect of increased academic performance, although significant for disadvantaged students and students in the very early years of schooling, does not necessarily transfer to other student groups. Moreover, the literature indicates there are other more cost-effective variables that enhance student learning outcomes such as those associated with teacher quality. Internationally, large-scale interventions concluded that systematic class size reductions were more resource intensive requiring more personnel, training and infrastructure. From the large quantitative studies of the 1980s to the more qualitatively focused research in the last decade, there is a now an understanding that class size reductions function to provide opportunities for more student-focused pedagogies and that these pedagogies may be the real reason for improved student academic performance. Consequently, the impact of class size reductions on student performance can only be meaningfully assessed in conjunction with other factors, such as pedagogy.