Newsletter No. 374

6 No. 374, 19.3.2011 ACHIEVEMENTS 成 就 《日落．韓國》 法律學院四年級區凱淇畫作 Sunset at Boryeong, Korea Painting by Candy Au, Year 4, Faculty of Law 藝 文 風 景 A TOUCH OF CLASS One little secret of the little comma It is a daily fact of life among copyeditors to deal with minutiae such as the comma. One is often asked if a second comma should be inserted before the and in the sentence: ‘Students are graded on the basis of their exams, tutorials and projects.’ As is often the case, a good reference work will give reassurances if not outright solutions, and fewer references are more dependable than H.W. Fowler’s A Dictionary of Modern English Usage , a classic style guide to British English usage since its first publication in 1926. Fowler notes that it is more common to leave the second comma out so that, formulaically, when listing a string of more than two items one should always write: a, b and c instead of a, b, and c . However, as with many a stylistic matter, there is no hard and fast rule. For the sake of communicating in a clear and unambiguous manner, Fowler also recommends the addition of a second comma as in: ‘Dr. Lynch is appointed jointly by the departments of Theology, Philosophy, German Language and Literature, and Classics.’ Without the comma before the last and , the reader may be at a loss over whether Dr. Lynch is appointed by three or by four departments. Editor 左起：魏軍城教授、于君教授、沈祖堯教授、陳振宇教授及黃聿教授 From left: Prof. Wei Juncheng, Prof. Yu Jun, Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung, Prof. Chen Zhenyu and Prof. Huang Yu 中大獲三國家科研獎 CUHK Receives Three National Scientific Research Awards 中 大三項研究榮獲國家教育部頒發2010年度高等學校科學研究優秀成果獎（科學 技術）自然科學界別兩個一等獎及一個二等獎，國家教育部科技發展中心副主任 周靜女士於3月1日親臨逸夫書院大講堂頒獎。 獲一等獎的研究項目分別是醫學院內科及藥物治療學系副教授于君教授及校長兼莫慶堯 醫學講座教授沈祖堯教授的「胃癌發生的生物學行為、分子機制及防治研究」，以及數學 系講座教授魏軍城教授之「非線性橢圓方程及方程組的凝聚現象」。 于君教授和沈祖堯教授及其研究團隊闡明了幽門螺旋菌與胃癌的密切關係，確定根除幽 門螺旋菌可有效預防胃癌。此外，亦發現了多種促使胃癌形成的原癌基因和多個新的腫瘤 抑制基因在胃癌中的功能，可作為早期診斷或預後判斷的重要標誌，也為胃癌的化學防 治帶來新契機。 魏教授深入研究凝聚現象，破解了多年來純粹科學及應用科學中的艱巨課題。他的研究 成果為數學界帶來突破，更獲著名數學雜誌 Annals of Mathematics 推崇，成為唯一於此 權威雜誌發表文章的香港數學家。魏教授的研究解釋了生物身上各種圖案的形成，並且有 助設計人造橡膠及醫學移植材料，對生物數學及材料科學領域帶來重大貢獻。 獲二等獎的是生命科學學院陳振宇教授及生物醫學學院黃聿教授之「天然產物對膽固醇 和脂肪酸代謝與心血管功能的影響」。 高等學校科學研究優秀成果獎以同行專家評審的基礎甄選，2010年授獎三百零四項，其 中自然科學獎一等獎四十八項，二等獎八十三項。 T hree remarkable scientific research projects at CUHK received the Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards (Science and Technology) in the category of natural sciences from the Ministry of Education (MOE). Two of them received the first-class awards and the other, a second-class award. Ms. Zhou Jing, deputy director- general of the Centre for Science and Technology Development of MOE, was invited to host the award presentation ceremony held in the Lecture Theatre of Shaw College on 1 March. The first-class award projects were: ‘Integrative Research on Molecular Basis and Potential Targets for Gastric Cancer’ conducted by Prof. Yu Jun, associate professor, Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, and Prof. Joseph J.Y. Sung, Vice-Chancellor and Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine; and ‘Concentration Phenomena in Nonlinear Elliptic Equations and Systems’ conducted by Prof. Wei Juncheng, Professor of Mathematics. Led by Professor Yu and Professor Sung, the research team demonstrated the close relation between H. pylori and gastric cancer and the eradication of H. pylori can help prevent gastric cancer. The team also identified novel proto-oncogenes that lead to gastric carcinogenesis, and revealed the functions of several novel tumour suppressors and their diagnostic values in gastric cancer. Findings of this research have led to new insights in the prevention of gastric cancer. Professor Wei’s exhaustive research in the concentration phenomenon has brought a complete solution to a long standing and unsolved problem in pure and applied science. Having won recognition from the leading mathematics journal Annals of Mathematics for his revolutionary research findings, he became the only mathematician from Hong Kong to have published in this journal. Professor Wei’s research has made great contributions to mathematical biology and materials science by explaining how diverse patterns in nature are formed and helping to design medical implantation of specific surface properties. The project receiving a second-class award was ‘Cholesterol-lowering and Cardiovascular Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals’ conducted by Prof. Chen Zhenyu of the School of Life Sciences and Prof. Huang Yu of the School of Biomedical Sciences. The Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards are granted to research selected by experts from the same fields as the candidates. In 2010, a total of 304 research projects were awarded, of which 48 and 83 projects received first-class and second-class awards respectively in the category of natural sciences.