Interpreting the Basic Law with Chinese characteristics

Written for the 29 November 1997 session of the Basic Law Series, sponsored by the University of Hong Kong Centre of Comparative and Public Law, in conjunction with the Hong Kong Bar Association. I am grateful for comments on an earlier draft graciously extended by Mr. Stephen Kai-yi Wong, Acting Solicitor General, HKSAR. Any remaining imperfections remain my sole responsibility

New world order and a new U.S. policy toward China

While domestic politics is divided between Congress and the White House, generally along partisan lines, President Bill Clinton’s al-out engagement policy toward China, announced shortly after he began his second term in office, is aimed at fostering a Sino-US partenship for the twenty-first century. Below, I shall explain that this policy came at the end of three separate policy reviews conducted since Clinton’s first term. Here, though, I would like to note that rationale of the new China policy is in keeping with the requirements of the new world order, to meet the challenge posed by the three attributes identified above. As is often noted, US policy toward China has followed two opposing pulls since 1972: When guided by the strategic icate, Washington would treat China as an ally in its own contention with an even more ominous threat, such as the former Soviet Union. But when the human-rights issue or other considerations won out, China would end up being a rogue state or, worse still, an enemy of the United States (cf. Wing Wan 1997). When geneconomic considerations entered into the picture, China would be seen as a threat or challenge, in its own right, to America’s economic security (witness the $50 billion deficit in America’s trade with China!). Beginning with his second term, however, Clinton opted to follow the strategic pull (Wing Wan, p. 249), for reasons I shall explain in due course

The paradox of Hong Kong as a non-sovereign international actor

In this paper, I shall not have the luxury of looking equally into the SAR’s domestic performances. Instead, I shall focus on the inchoate evidence of how the HKSAR has met with circumstances or treatment by foreign countries quite at variance with many pundits’ expectations regarding Hong Kong’s international status and capacity to act. To illustrate this point, we need to examine some existing cases. But, for an easier flow of discussion, I propose that we first look at some juridical cases that will demonstrate how Hong Kong’s international capacity to act has been given a short shrift by foreign tribunals and judicial organs. Following that, we shall extend our inquiry to non-legal cases and issues

Designing a Microcontroller Training Platform for Active Distance Learning Engineering and Technology Students

This is an active distance-learning project that addresses the hands-on microprocessor/ mi-crocontroller-related courses. A research team designed a low-cost training system with supporting instructional materials to assist the teaching of these concepts. Individual laboratory activities are being developed to reinforce student learning and skill development in programming concepts. This basic system format eventually will support an array of engineering and technology courses. This project involves two community colleges, Blue Ridge Community College (BRCC) and Olympic College (OC), and a four-year university, Old Dominion University (ODU), in a collaborative research team to design and develop a specific PIC microcontroller training system with custom-designed software and curriculum materials to support related engineering technology courses. The functions of the hardware and software cover different areas of engineering technology courses and majors to maximize the use of the microcon- troller training system

Toll-like receptor 4 mediates synergism between alcohol and HCV in hepatic oncogenesis involving stem cell marker Nanog

Alcohol synergistically enhances the progression of liver disease and the risk for liver cancer caused by hepatitis C virus (HCV). However, the molecular mechanism of this synergy remains unclear. Here, we provide the first evidence that Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is induced by hepatocyte-specific transgenic (Tg) expression of the HCV nonstructural protein NS5A, and this induction mediates synergistic liver damage and tumor formation by alcohol-induced endotoxemia. We also identify Nanog, the stem/progenitor cell marker, as a novel downstream gene up-regulated by TLR4 activation and the presence of CD133/Nanog-positive cells in liver tumors of alcohol-fed NS5A Tg mice. Transplantation of p53-deficient hepatic progenitor cells transduced with TLR4 results in liver tumor development in mice following repetitive LPS injection, but concomitant transduction of Nanog short-hairpin RNA abrogates this outcome. Taken together, our study demonstrates a TLR4-dependent mechanism of synergistic liver disease by HCV and alcohol and an obligatory role for Nanog, a TLR4 downstream gene, in HCV-induced liver oncogenesis enhanced by alcohol

Advances in lung bioengineering: Where we are, where we need to go, and how to get there

Lung transplantation is the only potentially curative treatment for end-stage lung failure and successfully improves both long-term survival and quality of life. However, lung transplantation is limited by the shortage of suitable donor lungs. This discrepancy in organ supply and demand has prompted researchers to seek alternative therapies for end-stage lung failure. Tissue engineering (bioengineering) organs has become an attractive and promising avenue of research, allowing for the customized production of organs on demand, with potentially perfect biocompatibility. While breakthroughs in tissue engineering have shown feasibility in practice, they have also uncovered challenges in solid organ applications due to the need not only for structural support, but also vascular membrane integrity and gas exchange. This requires a complex engineered interaction of multiple cell types in precise anatomical locations. In this article, we discuss the process of creating bioengineered lungs and the challenges inherent therein. We summarize the relevant literature for selecting appropriate lung scaffolds, creating decellularization protocols, and using bioreactors. The development of completely artificial lung substitutes will also be reviewed. Lastly, we describe the state of current research, as well as future studies required for bioengineered lungs to become a realistic therapeutic modality for end-stage lung disease. Applications of bioengineering may allow for earlier intervention in end-stage lung disease and have the potential to not only halt organ failure, but also significantly reverse disease progression

TIA1 Mutations in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia Promote Phase Separation and Alter Stress Granule Dynamics.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are age-related neurodegenerative disorders with shared genetic etiologies and overlapping clinical and pathological features. Here we studied a novel ALS/FTD family and identified the P362L mutation in the low-complexity domain (LCD) of T cell-restricted intracellular antigen-1 (TIA1). Subsequent genetic association analyses showed an increased burden of TIA1 LCD mutations in ALS patients compared to controls (p = 8.7 × 1

A target-based high throughput screen yields Trypanosoma brucei hexokinase small molecule inhibitors with antiparasitic activity. PLoS Negl Trop. Dis

Abstract Background: The parasitic protozoan Trypanosoma brucei utilizes glycolysis exclusively for ATP production during infection of the mammalian host. The first step in this metabolic pathway is mediated by hexokinase (TbHK), an enzyme essential to the parasite that transfers the c-phospho of ATP to a hexose. Here we describe the identification and confirmation of novel small molecule inhibitors of bacterially expressed TbHK1, one of two TbHKs expressed by T. brucei, using a high throughput screening assay