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Shanghai Immortal. By A. Y. Chao. Oct. 2023. 352p. Hodderscape, $28.99 (9781399717410). Half hulijing, half vampire, and full of sass, Jing readily flaunts the social mores of 1930s Shanghai and [...]

Majority. By Abby Goldsmith. Sept. 2023. 590p. Podium, paper, $18.99 (9781039442726); e-book (9781039442733) An eidetic mind reader who absorbs knowledge through memories, Thomas regularly achieves feats requiring preternatural mental prowess: [...]

The Saint of Bright Doors. By Vajra Chandrasekera. July 2023.368p. Tor.com, $27.99 (9781250847386); e-book (9781250847393). Fetter is enmeshed in a cycle of violence as his mother severs his shadow from [...]

Yin Shuqiang, a corn farmer in hardscrabble Sichuan province, sits on a rough-hewn wooden bench, surrounded by concrete walls. The only splash of color in his house is a crimson [...]

CASE #1 Pemphigus vulgaris A 60-year-old man with a history of Hashimoto thyroiditis and rheumatoid arthritis presents with a 3-month history of painful blisters and erosions, which initially presented in [...]

A healthy 16-year-old girl presents with six tan patches on her trunk and upper arms, freckles in her axillae, and a reddish discoloration under the tip of her thumbnail. The [...]

End-capped peptides modified with reactive functional groups on the N-terminus provide a route to prepare peptide–polymer conjugates for a broad range of applications. Unfortunately, current chemical methods to construct modified peptides rely largely on solid-phase peptide synthesis (SPPS), which lacks green preparative characteristics and is costly, thus limiting its applicability to specialty applications such as regenerative medicine. This work evaluates N-terminally modified N-acryloyl-glutamic acid diethyl ester, N-acryloyl-leucine ethyl ester, and N-acryloyl-alanine ethyl ester as grafters and papain as the protease for the direct addition of amino acid ethyl ester (AA-OEt) monomers via protease-catalyzed peptide synthesis (PCPS) and the corresponding formation of N-acryloyl-functionalized oligopeptides in a one-pot aqueous reaction. It was hypothesized that by building N-acryloyl grafters from AA-OEt monomers that are known to be good substrates for papain in PCPS, the corresponding grafters would yield high grafter conversions, high ratio of grafter-oligopeptide to free NH2-oligopeptide, and high overall yield. However, this work demonstrates based on the grafter/monomers studied herein that the dominant factor in N-acryloyl-AA-OEt grafter conversion is the co-monomer used in co-oligomerizations. Computational modeling using Rosetta qualitatively recapitulates the results and provides insight into the structural and energetic bases underlying substrate selectivity. The findings herein expand our knowledge of factors that determine the efficiency of preparing N-acryloyl-terminated oligopeptides by PCPS that could provide practical routes to peptide macromers for conjugation to polymers and surfaces for a broad range of applications.

A 30-year-old healthy Hispanic woman presents with a slowly progressive facial deformity present since early childhood. She denies any new lesions during this time, any history of trauma to the [...]

A healthy 45-year-old woman presents with a several-month history of a small papule at the corner of her right eye. The lesion is asymptomatic and is not enlarging, but she [...]

A 60-year-old man presents with rapidly growing lesions on his face, trunk, axillae, flexural areas, and groin. The lesions appeared 3 months earlier in his perianal area and extended rapidly [...]

A 50-year-old woman presents with a 5-day history of progressive, painful rash on her face, trunk, extremities, nasal tip, and ears, as well as fever and arthralgia. She has a [...]

A 7-month-old male who had been born prematurely presents with a 2-month history of diarrhea, failure to thrive, alopecia, and rash involving the perioral, perianal, and acral areas. He had [...]

We'd mobilize to block the United States, too.'" That binary worldview may partly explain why Xi thinks Biden is surrounding China with groups such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which includes Australia, India, Japan, and the United States. Features JOE BIDEN HAS HAD MORE FACE TIME with Chinese leaders than any other U.S. president. For Biden's first year in office, Xi's aides saw little benefit in having their president talk with his U.S. counterpart in person - especially if there was a risk of Xi losing face in the eyes of his audience back home. [Extracted from the article]

The Iraqi protestors against Americans are increasing day by day, and the U.S. enemies seem to be multiplying in Iraq. The Iraqis are not ready to accept the leadership of the U.S. government in Iraq but the United States is making every effort to rule in Iraq.

Melinda Liu narrates about the wartime at the Palestine hotel, Baghdad. He says that he saw an American warplane A-10 'Warthog', firing 3,900 rounds a minute at an unknown target and the most famous hotel Palestine in the world was shattered.

Iraq's capital city of Baghdad now has little law or order, with looters taking whatever they can from government buildings. Residents of the Baghdad slum called Saddam City are largely Shiites, who have been oppressed by Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated government for the past 30 years. Reprisal killings, perhaps even by Iranians or other outsiders, could be widespread.

Political protests in China between 1989 and 1999 have changed from those in Tiananmen Square in support of westernized democracy to those outside of the US embassy protesting the NATO bombing of a Chinese embassy during the Kosovo conflict. The chilled relations between the US and China affect economic negotiations and have infused the Chinese idealism of the 1980s with cynicism.

The Indonesian military was a major force in the events that forced Suharto to resign. Suharto finally gave in when he lost all political support. The new government headed by Suharto crony B.J. Habibie may be as unstable and ineffective at solving economic problems as the old one. Economic reforms will be the real test of Habibie's government.

U.S. intelligence seeks to correct its monitoring procedures after India's tested nuclear devices with three simultaneous 30-kiloton explosions which occurred without CIA knowledge. Economic pressure had been applied by the U.S. government, but Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee defied warnings.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan left Baghdad on Feb 22, 1998 with an agreement with Saddam Hussein that Iraq will give UNSCOM, the UN weapons-inspection team, access to all sensitive sites. The UN officials and member countries greeted Annan with cheers and applause, but some in Congress argue that President Clinton and his administration have undermined US foreign policy. The possibility of force still remains high since Saddam has a habit of breaking deals.

The behind-the-scenes story of how Kofi Annan and the Americans shaped the accord that averted a war over Baghdad. Now, can the pact hold? Kofi Annan had heard stories about [...]

Ever since Operation Desert Storm, standoffs with Saddam Hussein have played out with a kind of unthreatening predictability. He huffs and puffs; the United States lobs a few cruise missiles [...]

At a windswept grave outside Shanghai, villagers still gossip about the day D.H. Tung came home. In 1990, more than four decades after the future leader of Hong Kong sailed [...]

IF THERE WAS A SINGLE moment when Madeleine Albright took her place in the Old Boys' Club, it came in March 1998. She was throwing a party for the new [...]

A LIGTHOUSE KEEPER ON A LONELY coastal headland may have been the only civilian witness to the event. Shortly after midnight, at his post on Taiwan's northeastern tip, Su Teh-tsun [...]

Hue, Vietnam has become a tourist destination because it is an ancient capital with many major restaurants and hotels. The area was opened to visitors in 1990 and many people go to attend festivals. There are also historic sites to visit.

The personal narrative of an ethnic Chinese woman's visit to China is presented. The woman, born in the US of Chinese parents, finds that China has a weird and surreal rhythm that distorts time and space. In China, the old culture and thought patterns endure, which gives the country its unique flavor.

A healthy 30-year-old man presents with a 3-year history of an asymptomatic, fleshy papule at the base of his great toe. He denies any new lesions during this time, a [...]

Byline: Melinda Liu Pastor Bob Fu knows about life on the run. Back in 1996, when he and his wife lived in Beijing, they spent two months behind bars because [...]

According to an internal survey by China's Communist Party, corrupt officials and their spouses are second on the list of citizens' grievances, after abusive police officers. The relatives of top leaders--frequently referred to as 'princelings'--can accumulate vast wealth from the privatization of state assets and poorly regulated financial markets.

This article examines China's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic. Relevant points include Chinese leader Jiang Zemin's warning the US that China seeks good relations but will not tolerate the separation of Taiwan.

Ten years after the massacre at Tiananmen Square, Chinese protestors have taken to the streets with the same slogans, but this time 'Blood for Blood' is directed toward US-led NATO forces who claim to have accidentally dropped a bomb on the Chinese embassy in Belgrade. The Chinese government provided buses and permits for the protesters and President Jiang Zemin praised the anti-American demonstrations.

A 700-page report given to the US Congress by Congressman Christopher Cox details a 20-year-long spying campaign by the Chinese to steal US information on making nuclear warheads and satellites. The report advises US conduct surprise inspections to investigate whether China has been diverting computers from civilians for military purposes. Protection of sensitive technology has already led to the rejection of several trade deals between the US and China.

Chinese officials are concerned about the many couples who hope to have a child just after midnight on Jan 1, 2000. Promoters have been advertising gifts for the infants who are born first in the new millennium. Officials fear a surge in births will strain medical services, eventually crowd schools, and aggravate China's population problem. China's population increases annually by 13 mil.

Each day in Iraq, bodyguards knock on the front doors of more than a half-dozen homes. Then they announce: 'You'll have a guest tonight.' They allow the startled residents a [...]

Byline: Melinda Liu A top diplomat on a tough assignment. Wang Yi is urbane, multilingual, pragmatic, and, when needed, a wily negotiator. In short: he is everything a top diplomat [...]

Byline: Melinda Liu Car ownership is out of control. So is pollution. 'Killer smog' has overtaken the Chinese capital. Authorities blamed the shockingly high pollution levels--the worst since records began [...]

Last week's summit, dominated by the debate on human rights, demonstrates just how far apart Washington and Beijing remain on key issues IT BEGAN, AS POSTSUMMIT PRESS conferences are apt [...]

At next week's summit, the Chinese president is determined to make America love him JIANG ZEMIN IS CURSED BY HIS cue cards. Under their spell he sounds like the Soviet-trained [...]

The early line on Albright: a secretary with great style, less substance. Now the Mideast looms. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is known for meetings as long and [...]

BY THE TIME THE flight to Hong Kong had reached 30,000 feet, Jerry Stuchiner's right eye bad stopped its nervous twitching. The 45-year-old officer for the Immigration and Naturalization Service [...]

The article focuses on the blind Chinese human rights lawyer and political dissident Chen Guangcheng. Topics include Chen's escape from house arrest to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, the involvement of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in negotiations for his relocation to the U.S., and Chen's political activities in China.

The article discusses the visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the U.S. and China's intentions for it. Hu is profiled regarding his political ambitions and enigmatic nature. The history of the Hu clan is discussed. The author opines regarding the purpose of Hu's visit and whether substantive issues will be addressed or resolved.

The article discusses the emerging influence of China in various areas including security, international trade, and global financial markets. China played a pivotal role in creating the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and has helped establish a $120 billion regional reserve fund for Asian nations. China is pushing to make the yuan a rival to the U.S. dollar as a trading currency.

Byline: Melinda Liu China's fabled Mogao Grottoes turn to digital tourism. Among China's greatest art treasures are the Buddhist caves near Dunhuang, a Gobi Desert oasis on the fabled Silk [...]

Byline: Melinda Liu And how holograms can help. among china's greatest art treasures are the Buddhist caves near Dunhuang, an oasis on the fabled Silk Road that once linked China [...]