Under China’s current Marriage Law amended and enacted in 2001, its post–divorce financial relief system comprises three disparate component parts.  The principal part and the one analogous to the American concept of “alimony” or “spousal support” is the “post–divorce financial assistance system,” as authorized under Article 42.  The other two parts, “economic compensation at divorce” and “divorce damage claims system,” as authorized under Article 40 and Article 46, respectively, complement the principal part.  After a brief historical overview of China’s alimony legislations, this Article offers a doctrinal analysis of the two more straightforward components as embodied by Article 40 and Article 46.  Then it delves into an in-depth textual criticism of Article 42, and its concomitant 1984 SPC’s Judicial Opinions and Article 27 of the 2001 SPC’s Judicial Interpretations, the three constituents of the entire corpus of China’s “alimony laws.”  Through the lenses of California’s divorce laws, focusing on the current judicial interpretations and practices, the author candidly critiques the Chinese sui generis body of “alimony laws.”  The author arrives at such significant findings: (1) The statutes and judicial interpretations are too vague to be of much practical guidance when judges decide issues such as the eligibility prerequisites for invoking the law and the criteria for rendering financial assistance; (2) The law is fraught with loopholes; (3) The law is obsolete and does not suit the current socioeconomic reality of China.  The author observes that such vague, defective and obsolete laws leave too many key issues to the judges’ vagaries.  The author makes concrete recommendations and suggests specific remedies to close the loopholes and fill the gaps in the current post–divorce financial assistance system.  The author advances the theory that the absence of an elaborate, systematic set of alimony laws and procedural rules is the direct result of the Party-state’s overemphasis on mediation and a diehard feature of the rule of man, to the detriment of the rule of law.  The author describes this trait as the corollary of the triumph of Confucianism over Legalism as manifested in contemporary China.  The author marks out the stumbling blocks to reforming China’s current alimony laws and cautions that the eventual reification of the proposed rules and legal remedies will hinge upon the outcome of the rivalry between the synthesists’ views of rule of law and the thin theories of rule of law.

Memory formation is a fundamental feature of the brain which relies upon poorly understood mechanisms in the entorhinal-hippocampal circuit. We investigated specific components of the entorhinal cortex and interconnected regions to identify how naïve stimuli acquire associative meaning through learning. Using cell-type-specific electrophysiological recording, we first found that dopaminergic inputs control the encoding of cue-reward association rules in layer 2a fan cells of the lateral entorhinal cortex (LEC). When mice learned novel olfactory cue-reward associations, LEC fan cells dynamically merged the representations of novel cues with those of familiar cues, mirroring the learning process. Optogenetic inhibition of fan cells impaired the learning of new associations while sparing the retrieval of pre-learned memory. Using fiber photometry, we found that dopamine sends novelty-induced reward expectation signals to the LEC. Inhibition of LEC dopamine signals disrupted the associative encoding of fan cells and impaired learning performance. These results suggested that LEC fan cells represent a cognitive map of abstract task rules, and that LEC dopamine facilitates the incorporation of new memories into this map. We then investigated the roles of LEC deep layer 5/6 and its target neocortical areas in associative learning. With the same techniques, we demonstrated that neurons in LECL5/6 and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) encode cue-outcome associations in a mutually dependent manner. LECL5/6 neurons project to and receive axons from the mPFC, forming a reciprocal circuit. Activity representations of both LECL5/6 and mPFC neurons classified novel and familiar cues into a dichotomy of rewarded vs. unrewarded. When LECL5/6 neurons were optogenetically inhibited, tangled mPFC representations of novel cues failed to split into rewarded vs. unrewarded groups, impairing new learning. Conversely, when mPFC neurons were inhibited, LECL5/6 representations of individual cues were held separate, disrupting both learning and retrieval of associations. These results suggested the critical role of LECL5/6–mPFC reciprocal circuit in encoding associative memory as a cognitive map of outcome rules.

Patient memory for treatment information is poor, and worse memory for treatment information is associated with poorer clinical outcomes. Memory support techniques have been harnessed to improve patient memory for treatment. However, a measure of treatment provider use of memory support during treatment sessions has yet to be established. The present study reports on the development and psychometric properties of the Memory Support Rating Scale (MSRS) – an observer-rated scale designed to measure memory support. Forty-two adults with major depressive disorder (MDD) were randomized to either cognitive therapy plus memory support (CS+MS; n = 22) or cognitive therapy as-usual (CT-as-usual; n = 20). At post-treatment, patients freely recalled treatment points via the Patient Recall Task. Sessions (n = 171) were coded for memory support using the MSRS, 65% of which were also assessed for the quality of cognitive therapy via the Cognitive Therapy Rating Scale (CTRS). A unidimensional scale composed of 8 items was developed using exploratory factor analysis on a random half of the sessions (n = 86), and supported with confirmatory factor analysis on the remaining half (n = 85). Seven trained MSRS coders exhibited high inter-rater and test-retest reliabilities. MSRS scores were higher in the CT+MS condition compared to CT-as-usual, demonstrating group differentiation ability. MSRS scores were positively associated with Patient Recall Task scores but not associated with CTRS scores, demonstrating convergent and discriminant validity, respectively. Results indicate that the MSRS yields reliable and valid scores for measuring treatment providers’ use of memory support while delivering cognitive therapy.

Molecular imaging diagnostics such as Positron Emission Tomography (PET) have significantly improved cancer patient management. PET allows the non-invasive, whole body imaging of metabolic processes and has been extensively used to detect lesions and monitor patient response to therapeutic intervention. Despite the development of a large number of PET probes, only a limited few find utility for imaging cancer. Furthermore, complex probe metabolism may render image interpretation difficult. With these factors in mind, my work focuses on improving PET imaging of nucleoside metabolism for cancer detection and prediction of treatment response.

The thymidine analog, 3‘-deoxy-3‘-¹⁸F-fluorothymidine (¹⁸F-FLT), is extensively used as a measurement of tumor proliferation. However, its use is limited in tissues of murine origin, which do not avidly take up ¹⁸F-FLT. Here, we describe a pharmaceutical intervention using dipyridamole (DPA) to extend the utility of ¹⁸F-FLT PET for imaging mice tissues and tumors. Administration of DPA ten minutes prior to injection of probe allowed visualization of thymus, bone marrow and spleen tissues in C57/BL6 mice and murine tumor models of melanoma, lung carcinoma, and leukemia.

The recent development of 1-(2‘-deoxy-2‘-18F-fluoro-β-D-arabinofuranosyl)cytosine (¹⁸F-FAC), a PET probe for deoxyctidine kinase (dCK), provides a new tool to measure the other arm of salvage metabolism. We show that, in addition to phosphorylation by dCK, ¹⁸F-FAC is highly susceptible to deamination and limits the utility of the probe for measuring dCK activity. We describe the development of a panel of L-analog probes that maintain affinity for dCK, low susceptibility to deamination, high uptake in dCK-expressing cell lines, and biodistribution in mice reflective of the tissue-expression pattern of dCK. Two lead compounds, 1-(2‘-deoxy-2‘-¹⁸F-fluoro-β-L-arabinofuranosyl)cytosine (L-¹⁸F-FAC) and 1-(2‘-deoxy-2‘-¹⁸F-fluoro-β-L-arabinofuranosyl)-5-methylcytosine (L-¹⁸F-FMAC), were validated in mice models of leukemia and autoimmunity.

We show that (i) ¹⁸F-FAC tumor uptake is influenced by cytidine deaminase (CDA), a determinant of gemcitabine resistance; (ii) PET imaging with ¹⁸F-FAC and L-¹⁸F-FMAC can stratify tumors for dCK and CDA activities; and (iii) application of this PET assay can predict differential tumor responses to dCK-dependent nucleoside analog prodrugs, gemcitabine and clofarabine, the latter being resistant to deamination. These results support PET in patient stratification and predictive medicine.

Findings here demonstrate the complexities of nucleoside analog probe metabolism and their effect on image interpretation. Understanding the biological relevance of these measurements, combined with complementary modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can provide new opportunities for personalized medicine.

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