Educational duties of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions: past, present and future

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Human germline heterozygous gain-of-function STAT6 variants cause severe allergic disease

STAT6 (signal transducer and activator of transcription 6) is a transcription factor that plays a central role in the pathophysiology of allergic inflammation. We have identified 16 patients from 10 families spanning three continents with a profound phenotype of early-life onset allergic immune dysregulation, widespread treatment-resistant atopic dermatitis, hypereosinophilia with esosinophilic gastrointestinal disease, asthma, elevated serum IgE, IgE-mediated food allergies, and anaphylaxis. The cases were either sporadic (seven kindreds) or followed an autosomal dominant inheritance pattern (three kindreds). All patients carried monoallelic rare variants in STAT6 and functional studies established their gain-of-function (GOF) phenotype with sustained STAT6 phosphorylation, increased STAT6 target gene expression, and TH2 skewing. Precision treatment with the anti-IL-4Rα antibody, dupilumab, was highly effective improving both clinical manifestations and immunological biomarkers. This study identifies heterozygous GOF variants in STAT6 as a novel autosomal dominant allergic disorder. We anticipate that our discovery of multiple kindreds with germline STAT6 GOF variants will facilitate the recognition of more affected individuals and the full definition of this new primary atopic disorder

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Workers\u27 education in Hong Kong: educational duties of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions: past, present and future

The author argues that workers\u27 trade unions have an important role to play in promoting Lifelong Learning for working people. The book demonstrates that trade unions in Hong Kong once did play a strong role in workers\u27 education and that role became less important as time passed. Under the very special circumstances of Hong Kong since 1997, the function and political position of trade unions has also been altered - They are now in a position to develop their work in workers\u27 education once again. But it cannot be as it was in the past. This book concludes that trade unions should assist the workers to develop and embrace a Lifelong Learning attitude, not by simply providing educational programmes, but by exercising its political power to influence the curriculum of the primary and secondary schools in the territory, and to provide guidelines and advice for educational and vocational advancement for the workers while they are young. The book should be useful for professionals in workers\u27 education, union movement, or anyone who are interested in policy of vocational education

Effect of streaming on students\u27 achievement in vocational training of pharmaceutical technology

We present the findings of a study carried out to determine the effect of streaming on students\u27 preferences and their academic results in pharmaceutical technology. In the study we analyzed achievement scores on examination results in the two semesters of the academic year 2005/2006 of a sample of 85 students in the first year of a Higher Diploma in Pharmaceutical Technology in the Department of Applied Science of the Hong Kong Institution of Vocational Education. Raw data were analyzed statistically and the hypotheses tested. Generally, the results indicated that streaming based on academic results and students\u27 preference impaired overall students\u27 achievements, after the streaming exercise, for the students who were streamed to the less popular division

Educational Research and Reviews Effect of streaming on students' achievement in vocational training of pharmaceutical technology

We present the findings of a study carried out to determine the effect of streaming on students' preferences and their academic results in pharmaceutical technology. In the study we analyzed achievement scores on examination results in the two semesters of the academic year 2005/2006 of a sample of 85 students in the first year of a Higher Diploma in Pharmaceutical Technology in the Department of Applied Science of the Hong Kong Institution of Vocational Education. Raw data were analyzed statistically and the hypotheses tested. Generally, the results indicated that streaming based on academic results and students' preference impaired overall students' achievements, after the streaming exercise, for the students who were streamed to the less popular division

A study of the acute and chronic effects of morphine on autonomic activities in rats

published_or_final_versionPharmacologyDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph

Fighting tobacco smoking: a difficult but not impossible battle

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco-related disease is the single largest preventable cause of death in the world today, killing around 5.4 million people a year – an average of one person every six seconds. The total number of death caused by tobacco consumption is higher than that of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Unlike other communicable diseases, however, tobacco-related disease has a man-made consensus vector – the tobacco companies that play an active role to promote tobacco consumption, which directly heightens the disease morbidity. Any public health policy designed to curb smoking behavior has to prepare for opposite lobbying actions from tobacco companies that undermine the effects of the health measures. Another unique nature of the tobacco epidemic is that it can be cured, not by medicines or vaccines, but on the concerted actions of government and civil society. Many countries with a history of tobacco control measures indeed experienced a reduction of tobacco consumption. As most of these governments launched a range of measures simultaneously, it is hard to quantify the relative merits of different control strategies that contributed to the drop in the number of smokers. These packages of strategies can come in different forms but with some common features. Political actions with government support, funding, and protection are crucial. Without these, antismoking efforts in any part of the world are unlikely to be successful

Fighting Tobacco Smoking - a Difficult but Not Impossible Battle

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco-related disease is the single largest preventable cause of death in the world today, killing around 5.4 million people a year – an average of one person every six seconds. The total number of death caused by tobacco consumption is higher than that of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria combined. Unlike other communicable diseases, however, tobacco-related disease has a man-made consensus vector – the tobacco companies that play an active role to promote tobacco consumption, which directly heightens the disease morbidity. Any public health policy designed to curb smoking behavior has to prepare for opposite lobbying actions from tobacco companies that undermine the effects of the health measures. Another unique nature of the tobacco epidemic is that it can be cured, not by medicines or vaccines, but on the concerted actions of government and civil society. Many countries with a history of tobacco control measures indeed experienced a reduction of tobacco consumption. As most of these governments launched a range of measures simultaneously, it is hard to quantify the relative merits of different control strategies that contributed to the drop in the number of smokers. These packages of strategies can come in different forms but with some common features. Political actions with government support, funding, and protection are crucial. Without these, antismoking efforts in any part of the world are unlikely to be successful

Over-expression of the truncated ghrelin receptor polypeptide attenuates the constitutive activation of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C by ghrelin receptors but has no effect on ghrelin-stimulated extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 activity

In addition to regulating growth hormone release from the pituitary, ghrelin receptors also influence cell proliferation and apoptosis. By studying mitogen-activated protein kinase activity in human embryonic kidney 293 cells over-expressing ghrelin receptors, we aimed to identify the specific cell signalling pathways used by ghrelin receptors, and to determine if the truncated ghrelin receptor polypeptide had any influence on the functional activity of ghrelin receptors. We found that ghrelin activated extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 with an EC50 value of 10 nM, and that this response was inhibited by the ghrelin receptor antagonists d-Lys(3)-GHRP-6 and [d-Arg1,d-Phe5,d-Trp7,9,Leu11 ]-substance P. Ghrelin had little or no effect on the activity of c-Jun N-terminal kinase, p38 kinase or Akt. Ghrelin appeared to activate extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 through a calcium-independent novel protein kinase C isoform which may utilize diacylglycerol derived from hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine rather than from phosphatidylinositol. Ghrelin-stimulated extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 activity was independent of transactivation of epidermal growth factor receptors, and even when ghrelin receptor internalization was blocked by concanavalin A or a β-arrestin mutant, there was no decrease in phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2, suggesting this is a G protein-dependent process. The truncated ghrelin receptor polypeptide had no effect on ghrelin receptor signalling to extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2, but decreased the constitutive activation of phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase C by ghrelin receptors. In conclusion, our results suggest that any up-regulation of the truncated ghrelin receptor polypeptide might preferentially attenuate functional activity dependent on the constitutive activation of ghrelin receptors, while leaving ghrelin-dependent signalling unaffected. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex