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We aim to investigate whether the current high housing price in Hong Kong contains a bubble and to identify the causes of such housing bubble if it exists by combining the generalised sup augmented Dickey-Fuller (GSADF) test and dynamic probit models. Empirical results indicate that the current Hong Kong housing market contains a bubble, and it's the investors' speculative demand and the increase of monetary supply that lead to the housing bubbles in Hong Kong. Moreover, speculative investors would prefer the mass markets to the luxury ones considering the outstanding performance of the former. Such preference would contribute to more bubbles in the mass markets than in the luxury ones. In view of these, Hong Kong Government should retrospect the linked exchange rate system and be alert to the impacts of the US monetary policies on Hong Kong residential market. To offset the housing bubble, a targeted and effective approach to the Hong Kong Government is to constrict the speculative demand from investors particularly in the mass markets.

This study analyzes the factors influencing the bilateral trade between Mongolia and China using the trade gravity model, principle component analysis (PCA), unit root test, bound test, and the estimation of coefficients in a panel data set from 1996–2019. A total of 9 variables including exports, gross domestic product (GDP), population, geographical distance, cultural distance, trade agreements, tariffs, trade facilitation index of China and Mongolia-China trade cost were considered for all models. The results indicate that the cultural distance between Mongolia and China and the population of Mongolia are stationary at level. The coefficient of GDP (income) of both countries is positive and statistically significant with exports. Moreover, trade facilitation has significant positive impact on exports of both countries. These findings reveal that efforts in improving excellence of border administration, arrangements would make a positive contribution in trade of goods. Another major influencing factor is tariffs, which was negatively significant for exports, suggesting that if China imposes 1% tariffs on Mongolian exports, it will result in 24% decrease of Mongolian exports. The results of regression coefficients show that there is long run association between variables. This indicates that China adopted a more restrictive trade policy on the flow of goods from Mongolia with an increase population of China. The study suggests a free trade agreement and relaxation of export/import procedures for Mongolia in order to increase the GDP of Mongolia.

Defensins are critical components of the innate immune system and play an important role in the integration of innate and adaptive immune responses. Although information on the immunomodulatory properties of peptidoglycan from bacteria is abundant, little is known about the β-defensin induction effect of peptidoglycan from the probiotic Lactobacillus. This study investigated the effect of intact peptidoglycan from L. rhamnosus MLGA on the induction of avian β-defensin 9 in chicken immune cells and intestinal explants. Peptidoglycan from Lactobacillus rhamnosus MLGA dose dependently promoted avian β-defensin 9 mRNA expression in chicken PBMCs, splenocytes, thymocytes, hepatocytes, and chicken embryo jejunum, ileum, and cecum explants and increased the capacity of PBMC or splenocyte lysates to inhibit the growth of Salmonella Enteritidis. In contrast to the effect of L. rhamnosus MLGA-derived peptidoglycan, peptidoglycan derived from pathogenic Staphylococcus aureus reduced avian β-defensin 9 mRNA expression in chicken PBMCs and splenocytes. The inducible effect of peptidoglycan from L. rhamnosus MLGA on avian β-defensin 9 expression in PBMCs and splenocytes was observed without activation of the expression of associated pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-8, and IL-12p40, whereas these cytokine expressions were suppressed by peptidoglycan hydrolysate obtained by lysozyme digestion. The results of the present study show the capability of peptidoglycan derived from L. rhamnosus MLGA to induce the antimicrobial peptide defensin while simultaneously avoiding the deleterious risks of an inflammatory response.

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