Sustainable Development in Hong Kong : a Review of Policy, Practices in Building Design and Construction

Stephen Siu Yu Lau, Jun Salie Wang, Lam Leslie Lu The University of Seoul 2003 International journal of urban sciences (IJUS) Vol. No.

Population wise, Hong Kong has too many people on too small a physical entity - 1,075 square kilometers divided by as many as 240 no. Islands. Natural resources-wise, Hong Kong has too little to offer, as almost all its agricultural lands have been converted into building land, leaving no alternative but to import drinking water and daily supplies from across the Hong Kong-Mainland border on a daily basis. Insatiable demands for housing due to an ever-increasing population growth left the government with little options but to embark on an unprecedented urban form of hyper-density. In 1997, the Hong Kong government commissioned a study known as Sustainable Development for the 21st Century in Hong Kong (SUSDEV 21). The Study jump-started the city`s participation in a worldwide endeavor to embrace sustainable development. The three years expedition guided the city through a world tour and studies on sustainable development from an international frontier, regional frontier, to a local frontier, and ended with a definition of sustainable development for Hong Kong, as well as a policy-making mechanism to achieve sustainability. Institutional efforts to promote sustainability has been complimented by efforts from professionals in the construction and building sector in an equally thorough and holistic manner, which include law-enforcers, developers, architects and builders. This paper presents a critical review and insight into recent works by each of the players mentioned in the text.

First Line Treatment for Liver Cancer

( Stephen Lam Chan ) 대한간학회 2018 춘·추계 학술대회 (KASL) Vol.2018 No.1

Sorafenib is the first drug treatment demonstrating survival benefits in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). From 2008 to 2016, a number of randomized clinical trials have been conducted to test novel agents in comparison to sorafenib but none was successful. In 2017, REFLECT study demonstrated that lenvatinib, another multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI), to be non-inferior to sorafenib in the first-line setting. At the time of writing, although Lenvatinib is still under awaiting US FDA approval, many clinicians consider Lenvatinib to be reasonable alternative to Sorafenib as the first-line agent in treating advanced HCC, especially for patients at risk of hand-foot skin complications. Apart from TKIs, a number of phase III clinical trials have been initiated to evaluate the first-line role of check-point inhibitors. In the lecture, the current status of 1st-line treatment as well as ongoing/future direction of drug development will be presented.

Predictions of Wake and Central Mixing Region of Double Horizontal Axis Tidal Turbine

Stephen Oppong,Wei-Haur Lam,Jianhua Guo,Leng Mui Tan,Zhi Chao Ong,Wah Yen Tey,Yun Fook Lee,Zaini Ujang,Ming Dai,Desmond Robinson,Gerard Hamill 대한토목학회 2020 KSCE JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING Vol.24 No.7

Predicting the velocity distribution of double horizontal axis tidal turbines (DHATTs) is significant for the effective development of tidal streams. This current research gives an account on double turbine wake theory and flow structure of DHATT connected to single support by using the joint axial momentum theory and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. Characteristics of single turbine wake were previously studied with two theoretical equations predicting the initial upstream velocity closer to the turbine, and it’s lateral distributions along the downstream of the turbine. This current works agreed with the previous wake equations, which was used for predicting the velocity region along the downstream of the turbines. Flow field separating the two turbines is complicated in nature due to the indirect disturbance of turbines and no report was found on this central region. The Central region in the downstream flow is initially suppressed due to the blockage effects with a high velocity close to the free stream. Lateral expansion of two turbine wakes penetrated the central region with velocity reduction and followed by the flow recovery further downstream. This work provides more understandings of the wake and its central mixing region for double turbines with a proposed theoretical model.

20(S)-protopanaxadiol and oleanolic acid ameliorate cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 transgenic mice by enhancing hippocampal neurogenesis

Kaili Lin,Stephen Cho-Wing Sze,Bin Liu,Zhang Zhang,Zhu Zhang,Peili Zhu,Ying Wang,Qiudi Deng,Ken Kin-Lam Yung,Shiqing Zhang 고려인삼학회 2021 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.45 No.2

Background: Alzheimer"s disease (AD) is one of the most prevalent neurodegenerative disorders. Enhancing hippocampal neurogenesis by promoting proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells (NSCs) is a promising therapeutic strategy for AD. 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PPD) and oleanolic acid (OA) are small, bioactive compounds found in ginseng that can promote NSC proliferation and neural differentiation in vitro. However, it is currently unknown whether PPD or OA can attenuate cognitive deficits by enhancing hippocampal neurogenesis in vivo in a transgenic APP/PS1 AD mouse model. Here, we administered PPD or OA to APP/PS1 mice and monitored the effects on cognition and hippocampal neurogenesis. Methods: We used the Morris water maze, Y maze, and open field tests to compare the cognitive capacities of treated and untreated APP/PS1 mice. We investigated hippocampal neurogenesis using Nissl staining and BrdU/NeuN double labeling. NSC proliferation was quantified by Sox2 labeling of the hippocampal dentate gyrus. We used western blotting to determine the effects of PPD and OA on Wnt/GSK3β/β-catenin pathway activation in the hippocampus. Results: Both PPD and OA significantly ameliorated the cognitive impairments observed in untreated APP/PS1 mice. Furthermore, PPD and OA significantly promoted hippocampal neurogenesis and NSC proliferation. At the mechanistic level, PPD and OA treatments resulted in Wnt/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway activation in the hippocampus. Conclusion: PPD and OA ameliorate cognitive deficits in APP/PS1 mice by enhancing hippocampal neurogenesis, achieved by stimulating the Wnt/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway. As such, PPD and OA are promising novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Bayesian ballast damage detection utilizing a modified evolutionary algorithm

Hu, Qin,Lam, Heung Fai,Zhu, Hong Ping,Alabi, Stephen Adeyemi Techno-Press 2018 Smart Structures and Systems, An International Jou Vol.21 No.4

This paper reports the development of a theoretically rigorous method for permanent way engineers to assess the condition of railway ballast under a concrete sleeper with the potential to be extended to a smart system for long-term health monitoring of railway ballast. Owing to the uncertainties induced by the problems of modeling error and measurement noise, the Bayesian approach was followed in the development. After the selection of the most plausible model class for describing the damage status of the rail-sleeper-ballast system, Bayesian model updating is adopted to calculate the posterior PDF of the ballast stiffness at various regions under the sleeper. An obvious drop in ballast stiffness at a region under the sleeper is an evidence of ballast damage. In model updating, the model that can minimize the discrepancy between the measured and model-predicted modal parameters can be considered as the most probable model for calculating the posterior PDF under the Bayesian framework. To address the problems of non-uniqueness and local minima in the model updating process, a two-stage hybrid optimization method was developed. The modified evolutionary algorithm was developed in the first stage to identify the important regions in the parameter space and resulting in a set of initial trials for deterministic optimization to locate all most probable models in the second stage. The proposed methodology was numerically and experimentally verified. Using the identified model, a series of comprehensive numerical case studies was carried out to investigate the effects of data quantity and quality on the results of ballast damage detection. Difficulties to be overcome before the proposed method can be extended to a long-term ballast monitoring system are discussed in the conclusion.

폐암 및 전구병변에서 Quantitative Nuclear Morphometry의 유용성에 관한 연구

박인원,유성재,허성호,( Calum E. MacAulay ),( Stephen Lam ) 대한결핵 및 호흡기학회 1999 대한결핵 및 호흡기학회 추계학술대회 초록집 Vol.89 No.0

The role of lenvatinib in the era of immunotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma

Matthew Man Pok Lee,Landon Long Chan,Stephen Lam Chan 대한간암학회 2023 대한간암학회지 Vol.23 No.2

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) frequently presents as advanced stage with poor prognosis and high mortality. Systemic treatment is the treatment of choice for advanced disease. In 2007, the first multi-kinase inhibitor (MKI) sorafenib was approved and shown to modestly prolong overall survival (OS). The progress of systemic therapy has been slow afterwards until 2018 when lenvatinib, another MKI, was shown to be non-inferior to sorafenib on median OS as the first-line therapy for HCC. Since then, remarkable progress has been achieved on the treatment of advanced HCC, including the development of second-line targeted treatment, including regorafenib, cabozantinib and ramucirumab from 2017 to 2019. A growing focus has been placed on immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) targeting programmed cell death-1 (PD-1), its ligand PD-L1, and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4. These ICIs have proven their potency in treating HCC as both initial and subsequent line of therapy. At present, both regimens of atezolizumab combined with bevacizumab, as well as the combination of tremelimumab and durvalumab, are recommended as the first-line treatments based on positive phase III clinical trials. With the advancement of ICIs, it is anticipated that the role of MKIs in the treatment of HCC will evolve. In this article, lenvatinib, one of the most commonly used MKIs in HCC, is chosen to be reviewed.

20(S)-protopanaxadiol promotes the migration, proliferation, and differentiation of neural stem cells by targeting GSK-3β in the Wnt/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway

Lin, Kaili,Liu, Bin,Lim, Sze-Lam,Fu, Xiuqiong,Sze, Stephen C.W.,Yung, Ken K.L.,Zhang, Shiqing The Korean Society of Ginseng 2020 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.44 No.3

Background: Active natural ingredients, especially small molecules, have recently received wide attention as modifiers used to treat neurodegenerative disease by promoting neurogenic regeneration of neural stem cell (NSC) in situ. 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PPD), one of the bioactive ingredients in ginseng, possesses neuroprotective properties. However, the effect of PPD on NSC proliferation and differentiation and its mechanism of action are incompletely understood. Methods: In this study, we investigated the impact of PPD on NSC proliferation and neuronal lineage differentiation through activation of the Wnt/glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3β/β-catenin pathway. NSC migration and proliferation were investigated by neurosphere assay, Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, and EdU assay. NSC differentiation was analyzed by Western blot and immunofluorescence staining. Involvement of the Wnt/GSK3β/β-catenin pathway was examined by molecular simulation and Western blot and verified using gene transfection. Results: PPD significantly promoted neural migration and induced a significant increase in NSC proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, a remarkable increase in anti-microtubule-associated protein 2 expression and decrease in nestin protein expression were induced by PPD. During the differentiation process, PPD targeted and stimulated the phosphorylation of GSK-3β at Ser9 and the active forms of β-catenin, resulting in activation of the Wnt/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway. Transfection of NSCs with a constitutively active GSK-3β mutant at S9A significantly hampered the proliferation and neural differentiation mediated by PPD. Conclusion: PPD promotes NSC proliferation and neural differentiation in vitro via activation of the Wnt/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway by targeting GSK-3β, potentially having great significance for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

20(S)-protopanaxadiol promotes the migration, proliferation, and differentiation of neural stem cells by targeting GSK-3b in the Wnt/ GSK-3b/b-catenin pathway

Kaili Lin,Bin Liu,Sze-Lam Lim,Xiuqiong Fu,Stephen C.-W. Sze,Ken K.-L. Yung,Shiqing Zhang 고려인삼학회 2020 Journal of Ginseng Research Vol.44 No.3

Background: Active natural ingredients, especially small molecules, have recently received wide attention as modifiers used to treat neurodegenerative disease by promoting neurogenic regeneration of neural stem cell (NSC) in situ. 20(S)-protopanaxadiol (PPD), one of the bioactive ingredients in ginseng, possesses neuroprotective properties. However, the effect of PPD on NSC proliferation and differentiation and its mechanism of action are incompletely understood. Methods: In this study, we investigated the impact of PPD on NSC proliferation and neuronal lineage differentiation through activation of the Wnt/glycogen synthase kinase (GSK)-3b/b-catenin pathway. NSC migration and proliferation were investigated by neurosphere assay, Cell Counting Kit-8 assay, and EdU assay. NSC differentiation was analyzed by Western blot and immunofluorescence staining. Involvement of the Wnt/GSK3b/b-catenin pathway was examined by molecular simulation and Western blot and verified using gene transfection. Results: PPD significantly promoted neural migration and induced a significant increase in NSC proliferation in a time- and dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, a remarkable increase in antimicrotubule- associated protein 2 expression and decrease in nestin protein expression were induced by PPD. During the differentiation process, PPD targeted and stimulated the phosphorylation of GSK-3b at Ser9 and the active forms of b-catenin, resulting in activation of the Wnt/GSK-3b/b-catenin pathway. Transfection of NSCs with a constitutively active GSK-3b mutant at S9A significantly hampered the proliferation and neural differentiation mediated by PPD. Conclusion: PPD promotes NSC proliferation and neural differentiation in vitro via activation of the Wnt/ GSK-3b/b-catenin pathway by targeting GSK-3b, potentially having great significance for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Nurse Led Smartphone Electrographic Monitoring for Atrial Fibrillation after Ischemic Stroke: SPOT-AF

Bernard Yan,Hans Tu,Christina Lam,Corey Swift,Ma Sze Ho,Vincent C.T. Mok,Yi Sui,David Sharpe,Darshan Ghia,Jim Jannes,Stephen Davis,Xinfeng Liu,Ben Freedman 대한뇌졸중학회 2020 Journal of stroke Vol.22 No.3

Background and Purpose Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) underlying acute stroke frequently evades detection by standard practice, considered to be a combination of routine electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring, and 24-hour Holter recordings. We hypothesized that nurse-led in-hospital intermittent monitoring approach would increase PAF detection rate. Methods We recruited patients hospitalised for stroke/transient ischemic attack, without history of atrial fibrillation (AF), in a prospective multi-centre observational study. Patients were monitored using a smartphone-enabled handheld ECG (iECG) during routine nursing observations, and underwent 24-hour Holter monitoring according to local practice. The primary outcome was comparison of AF detection by nurse-led iECG versus Holter monitoring in patients who received both tests: secondary outcome was oral anticoagulant commencement at 3-month following PAF detection. Results One thousand and seventy-nine patients underwent iECG monitoring: 294 had iECG and Holter monitoring. AF was detected in 25/294 (8.5%) by iECG, and 8/294 (2.8%) by 24-hour Holter recordings (P<0.001). Median duration from stroke onset to AF detection for iECG was 3 days (interquartile range [IQR], 2 to 6) compared with 7 days (IQR, 6 to 10) for Holter recordings (P=0.02). Of 25 patients with AF detected by iECG, 11 were commenced on oral anticoagulant, compared to 5/8 for Holter. AF was detected in 8.8% (69/785 patients) who underwent iECG recordings only (P=0.8 vs. those who had both iECG and 24-hour Holter). Conclusions Nurse-led in-hospital iECG surveillance after stroke is feasible and effective and detects more PAF earlier and more frequently than routine 24-hour Holter recordings. Screening with iECG could be incorporated into routine post-stroke nursing observations to increase diagnosis of PAF, and facilitate institution of guideline-recommended anticoagulation.