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An Operational Flood Risk Assessment System for Better Resilience Against Rain‐Induced Impacts Under Climate Change in Hong Kong
Under the background of climate change, extreme weather events are apparently becoming more frequent. In Hong Kong, a record‐breaking ‘Black’ Rainstorm on 7–8 September 2023 brought widespread flooding and caused landslides, paralysing the entire community. To enhance the community's response and resilience in coping with extreme weather, the Hong Kong Observatory has developed the Flood Risk Assessment System (FRAS), which embraces an impact‐based forecasting method and a risk‐based warning strategy. The main inputs are real‐time rainfall data from rain gauges and the in‐house developed probabilistic rainfall nowcast. The process from rain falling through the air to flooding observed on the ground is complicated, involving many non‐meteorological and random factors. As a result, the corresponding impact assessment is highly non‐trivial. The key technique adopted by FRAS is the use of a district‐scale ‘rainfall‐flooding impact’ statistical model, developed through in‐depth study of historical flood reports and rainfall records. The risk‐based warning strategy is designed largely based on the risk matrix recommended by the World Meteorological Organization. The performance of FRAS has been optimised in accordance with users' operational needs under the premises of a high safety margin and early alert. FRAS was launched in May 2024 for trial by government departments/bureaux, operating continuously in real‐time and offering automatic flood risk assessment for all districts every minute during rainy seasons. This paper briefly presents the design, key techniques, and warning products of FRAS. Its performance as an early warning service is also examined through objective verification results and user feedback. Flood Risk Assessment System (FRAS) was developed to enhance the community’s resilience in coping with extreme weather. The key technique adopted by FRAS is the use of a district‐scale ‘rainfall‐flooding impact’ statistical model, developed with historical flood and rainfall records. This paper presents the design, techniques, and performance of FRAS.
Journal Article
Reinventing Chinese tradition : the cultural politics of late socialism
\"Yan-an, China was the main organizing site of Chinese communism from 1935 to 1949. As the final destination of the Long March and center of the 'red bases,' it acquired mythical status during the Maoist period as the symbol and epitome of the Communist Party's triumph. Yet in the post-Mao period, Yan-an's significance diminished, along with its role as an emblem of revolutionary heroism. In this study, Ka-ming Wu presents an ethnographic account of contemporary Yan-an. She looks at Yan-an today to see what happened to that society and culture in the post-socialism era. Wu examines new dynamics between state and society in light of how rural residents in northwest China make sense of rapid social changes. Under Mao, Yan'an's rural culture was stripped of its spiritual contents and reorganized around socialist, anti-imperial rhetoric to glorify communists' socioeconomic reforms. Since the 1980s, rural Ya'an has been reimagined as a hinterland of ancient cultural traditions. Wu documents how revivals of rural practices are reworked within the socialist legacy, including folk paper-cutting, a local form of musical storytelling, and spiritual cults of local deities. Even though Mao had repressed these practices, surprisingly their current revival has brought out the sacredness or urgency of the revolution's legacy. Instead of assuming that ascendent market forces have replaced state socialism, the dominant line about post-Mao China today, Wu probes the various cultural practices in contemporary Yan'an that evade total commercialization. She contends that this public realm contains powerful religious and ritual practices that produce new forms of meaning out of turbulent rural conditions and new dynamics of state-society relations in the post-socialist era\"-- Provided by publisher.
Book
SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant replication in human bronchus and lung ex vivo
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern with progressively increased transmissibility between humans is a threat to global public health. The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 also evades immunity from natural infection or vaccines
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, but it is unclear whether its exceptional transmissibility is due to immune evasion or intrinsic virological properties. Here we compared the replication competence and cellular tropism of the wild-type virus and the D614G, Alpha (B.1.1.7), Beta (B.1.351), Delta (B.1.617.2) and Omicron (B.1.1.529) variants in ex vivo explant cultures of human bronchi and lungs. We also evaluated the dependence on TMPRSS2 and cathepsins for infection. We show that Omicron replicates faster than all other SARS-CoV-2 variants studied in the bronchi but less efficiently in the lung parenchyma. All variants of concern have similar cellular tropism compared to the wild type. Omicron is more dependent on cathepsins than the other variants of concern tested, suggesting that the Omicron variant enters cells through a different route compared with the other variants. The lower replication competence of Omicron in the human lungs may explain the reduced severity of Omicron that is now being reported in epidemiological studies, although determinants of severity are multifactorial. These findings provide important biological correlates to previous epidemiological observations.
Omicron replicates faster than the wild-type, D614G, Alpha, Beta and Delta SARS-CoV-2 variants in the bronchi but less efficiently in the lung parenchyma.
Journal Article
Makkaḷ cēvaiyil malarnta tēāl̲ar en̲. varatarājan̲
On the life and works of En̲. Varatarājan̲, b. 1928, communist leader (Marxist) and politicians from Tamil Nadu, India.
Book
Comprehensive single-cell sequencing reveals the stromal dynamics and tumor-specific characteristics in the microenvironment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma
The tumor microenvironment (TME) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) harbors a heterogeneous and dynamic stromal population. A comprehensive understanding of this tumor-specific ecosystem is necessary to enhance cancer diagnosis, therapeutics, and prognosis. However, recent advances based on bulk RNA sequencing remain insufficient to construct an in-depth landscape of infiltrating stromal cells in NPC. Here we apply single-cell RNA sequencing to 66,627 cells from 14 patients, integrated with clonotype identification on T and B cells. We identify and characterize five major stromal clusters and 36 distinct subpopulations based on genetic profiling. By comparing with the infiltrating cells in the non-malignant microenvironment, we report highly representative features in the TME, including phenotypic abundance, genetic alternations, immune dynamics, clonal expansion, developmental trajectory, and molecular interactions that profoundly influence patient prognosis and therapeutic outcome. The key findings are further independently validated in two single-cell RNA sequencing cohorts and two bulk RNA-sequencing cohorts. In the present study, we reveal the correlation between NPC-specific characteristics and progression-free survival. Together, these data facilitate the understanding of the stromal landscape and immune dynamics in NPC patients and provides deeper insights into the development of prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets in the TME.
The tumor microenvironment can influence patient survival response to therapy. Here, the authors used single-cell sequencing to investigate the microenvironment of nasopharyngeal cancer and identify tumor-specific signatures in five stromal clusters of cells that may influence patient survival.
Journal Article
Makkaḷ cēvaiyil malarnta tēāl̲ar en̲. varatarājan̲
On the life and works of En̲. Varatarājan̲, b. 1928, communist leader (Marxist) and politicians from Tamil Nadu, India.
The establishment of kidney cancer organoid line in drug testing
Introduction Kidney cancer is a common urological malignancy worldwide with an increasing incidence in recent years. Among all subtypes, renal cell carcinoma (RCC) represents the most predominant malignancy in kidney. Clinicians faced a major challenge to select the most effective and suitable treatment regime for patients from a wide range of modalities, despite improved understanding and diagnosis of RCC. Objective Recently, organoid culture gained more interest as the 3D model is shown to be highly patient specific which is hypothetically beneficial to the investigation of precision medicine. Nonetheless, the development and application of organotypic culture in RCC is still immature, therefore, the primary objective of this study was to establish an organoid model for RCC. Materials and Methods Patients diagnosed with renal tumor and underwent surgical intervention were recruited. RCC specimen was collected and derived into organoids. Derived organoids were validated by histological examminations, sequencing and xenograft. Drug response of organoids were compared with resistance cell line and patients' clinical outcomes. Results Our results demonstrated that organoids could be successfully derived from renal tumor and they exhibited high concordance in terms of immunoexpressional patterns. Sequencing results also depicted concordant mutations of driver genes in both organoids and parental tumor tissues. Critical and novel growth factors were discovered during the establishment of organoid model. Besides, organoids derived from renal tumor exhibited tumorigenic properties in vivo. In addition, organoids recapitulated patient's in vivo drug resistance and served as a platform to predict responsiveness of other therapeutic agents. Conclusion Our RCC organoid model recaptiluated histological and genetic features observed in primary tumors. It also served as a potential platform in drug screening for RCC patients, though future studies are necessary before translating the outcomes into clinical practices.
Journal Article
Patient‐Derived Bladder Cancer Organoids as a Valuable Tool for Understanding Tumor Biology and Developing Personalized Treatment
Bladder cancer (BC) is a heterogeneous disease with high recurrence rates and variable treatment responses. To address these clinical challenges, the world's first bladder cancer patient‐derived organoids (PDOs) biobank is established based on an Asian population. Thirty‐six BC‐PDOs are generated from 56 patients and demonstrated that the BC‐PDOs can replicate the histological and genomic features of parental tumors. Drug screening tests are conducted with a broad spectrum of conventional chemotherapeutic and targeted therapy drugs and identified differential drug sensitivities among the BC‐PDOs. These in vitro results are consistently supported by the PDO xenograft animal studies and patients’ clinical treatment outcomes, thereby verifying the predictive power of PDOs for drug responses in BC patients. By analyzing the genetic profiles of the PDOs, specific driver genes that correlate with drug sensitivity to two stand‐of‐care chemotherapeutics, cisplatin, and gemcitabine, are identified. Additionally, the practicality of PDOs in investigating the tumor microenvironment has been demonstrated. This study underscores the utility of PDOs in advancing the understanding of bladder cancer and the development of personalized therapeutic strategies. The BC‐PDOs biobank provides an ideal preclinical platform for supporting the development of personalized treatment strategies for BC patients. This study also provides insights into the potential mechanisms of drug resistance, paves the way for subsequent region‐specific research, and demonstrates the possibility of using PDO‐related models to direct future research in developing drugs targeting tumor microenvironments. We have established the first Asian‐based bladder cancer PDOs biobank, demonstrating their accuracy in mirroring parental tumors’ properties. Drug screening reveals diverse sensitivities to chemotherapies and targeted therapies, validated by PDO xenografts and patient outcomes. Genetic profiling identifies key genes associated with response to standard chemotherapies. Co‐culture model highlights the potential of PDOs in exploring the tumor microenvironment.
Journal Article