Côme Huré, Huyên Pham and Xavier Warin
Math. Comp. 89 (2020), 1547-1579.
Abstract, references and article information

Nivedita Bhaskhar and Bastian Haase
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3709-3732.
Abstract, references and article information

Jungang Li, Guozhen Lu and Qiaohua Yang
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3483-3513.
Abstract, references and article information

L. Bernal-González, H. J. Cabana-Méndez, G. A. Muñoz-Fernández and J. B. Seoane-Sepúlveda
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3063-3083.
Abstract, references and article information

Hilaf Hasson and Jeffrey Yelton
Trans. Amer. Math. Soc. 373 (2020), 3009-3030.
Abstract, references and article information

T. Bodnar, S. Mazur, S. Muhinyuza and N. Parolya
Theor. Probability and Math. Statist. 99 (2020), 39-52.
Abstract, references and article information

Xiaodong Cao, Bennett Chow and Yongjia Zhang
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 148 (2020), 2595-2600.
Abstract, references and article information

Qingying Bu
Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 148 (2020), 2459-2467.
Abstract, references and article information

Required reading for any academic is Philip Roth’s “The Human Stain.” In the first few pages an older, tenured professor is “forced to retire.” Why? There were two students who never were present when he called roll. Even after roll … Continue reading →

The Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) today announced the launch of the Subsidy Scheme for Encouraging Early Deployment of the fifth-generation mobile technology.

Launched under the second round of the Anti-epidemic Fund, the scheme is open for applications until November 30 on a first come, first served basis.

It encourages various sectors to deploy 5G technology early to foster innovation and smart city applications and to improve the efficiency of their operations and the quality of their services that enhance Hong Kong's competitiveness.

The scheme will subsidise 50% of the actual cost directly relevant to the deployment of 5G technology in an approved project, subject to a cap of $500,000.

About 100 qualified projects will be subsidised.

Click here for more details.

For enquiries, call 2961 6333 or send an email to the OFCA.

The Development Bureau today announced that the Land Sharing Pilot Scheme will open for applications tomorrow to help unleash the development potential of qualified private land.

The private land must be with consolidated ownership that is outside specified environmentally sensitive areas and not covered by the Government's development studies.

In connection with the pilot scheme’s launch, the Chief Executive has appointed 10 members from a wide spectrum of sectors to a Panel of Advisors to offer independent opinions on the applications received and advise on the scheme's operation.

Chaired by Dr David Wong, the panel members will serve a term of 3.5 years starting May 1.

Secretary for Development Michael Wong said while government-led planning and land resumption remains the mainstream and continues to dominate its land creation agenda, the pilot scheme seeks to complement such efforts by tapping into market resources and efficiencies to boost both public and private housing in the short to medium term.

Under the scheme, the Government will facilitate infrastructural improvements that will enhance the development intensity of the private lots under application.

In return, the applicants are required to hand over part of the lots they own in the form of formed land that is capable of delivering at least 70% of the increased domestic gross floor area for public housing or Starter Homes developments intended by the Government.

Each project under the scheme should be capable of delivering an increased domestic gross floor area of no less than 50,000 sq m in total and at least 1,000 additional housing units.

The application period lasts for three years until May 5, 2023, subject to a cap of 150 hectares on the total area of private land to be approved.

The development chief added that the Government’s target is to convert the agricultural lots into spade-ready sites ready for housing construction within four to 6.5 years from the time applications are received.

The Government will ensure absolute transparency of the Employment Support Scheme, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung said today.

Mr Cheung made the statement after attending a radio programme this morning, and reiterated that under the new $80 billion scheme, eligible employers have to undertake that they cannot implement redundancy and that the subsidy will go towards paying staff.

"We have got two very important criteria. One is, no redundancy at all. The second thing is, all the subsidy from the Government for that particular purpose must go to paying staff salaries and not other purposes. A very restrictive approach."

He added that the list of applicants for the scheme would be open for public inspection.

"We will ensure absolute transparency of the scheme. For any successful applicant, their amount of subsidy disbursed and so on will be released to the public, and also particularly to the employees concerned, so they know whether the employers have applied for the scheme and whether they are successful indeed.

"And finally in Hong Kong, we have got a very active media and also a very active trade union movement here."

Mr Cheung also said that imposing a penalty against those who did not comply with the scheme's regulations would be discussed.

"If there is any criminal element involved - conspiracy, dishonesty and so on - we will act in accordance with the law. Any outstanding sum that is not used will be clawed back. We are also considering imposing a penalty for any deviation from the so-called regulation or rules imposed by the scheme. Now, all these need to be thrashed out in the next few days.

"We will be going to the Finance Committee coming Friday. A special Finance Committee meeting will be lined up. Then the whole thing will go firm, because there are still some minor details yet to be thrashed out."

Pasquale Passarella
Aug 1, 2018; 31:218-224
From Research to Practice

The Mortgage Corporation today announced that the pilot scheme for fixed-rate mortgages will start receiving applications from May 7.

The aggregate loan amount of the Fixed-rate Mortgage Pilot Scheme is $1 billion, subject to a maximum loan amount of each private residential mortgage of $10 million.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the pilot scheme, announced in the 2020-21 Budget, provides an alternative financing option to homebuyers for mitigating their risks arising from interest rate volatility, thereby promoting the development of the mortgage market in the long run.

In response to the change in market interest rates, mortgage interest rates under the pilot scheme have been lowered, as compared to the levels previously announced in the Budget. The interest rates per annum for 10, 15 and 20 years are 2.55%, 2.65% and 2.75%.

Mortgages under the pilot scheme will be offered through Bank of China, Chong Hing Bank, Dah Sing Bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Shanghai Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and The Bank of East Asia.

At the end of the fixed-rate period, borrowers may either re-fix the mortgage rate under fixed-rate mortgages or convert the mortgage to a loan on a floating rate, which is the prime rate minus 2.35%.

The pilot scheme will be effective until October 31.

The Tour Service Coach Drivers (Mainly Serving Tourists) Support Scheme, under the second round of the Anti-epidemic Fund, is open for applications from today to June 5, the Government announced.

The scheme will provide each tour service coach driver with a one-off subsidy of $10,000 and aims to benefit about 9,300 drivers.

In addition, the Government explained that the second round of the Anti-epidemic Fund includes other tourism industry support measures. 

Applications for the Hotel Sector Support Scheme are being accepted until May 18, while the deadline to apply for the Travel Agents & Practitioners Support Scheme is June 15.

Click here for more details.

(To watch the full press conference with sign language interpretation, click here.)

Chief Executive Carrie Lam today said that Hong Kong’s needy and disadvantaged will receive masks as part of the Government’s new mask distribution programme.

Mrs Lam made the announcement during a press conference this afternoon and explained that millions of donated masks will also be distributed to those in need.

“I have outlined six measures to distribute masks freely to the people of Hong Kong, and of course in so doing, we will take special account of the disadvantaged, the elderly and street sleepers. 

“So apart from being a member of the Hong Kong population, they will receive reusable masks. They will receive disposable masks. We have this mask distribution program together with a large number of non-governmental organisations, charity groups and self-help groups.

“So we will continue to work with them to distribute another three million masks, which were donated to us.”

Mrs Lam emphasised that should there be a shortage of masks set aside for the needy, the Government will use its own supply to cover the shortfall.

“I am announcing that if we run out of donated masks, but there is still a need from this disadvantaged groups, we will use the government masks - the masks that we procured which are supposed to be for our own use - and share these with the needy groups in society.

“That's a way to ensure that, in a public health situation that we are now in, the needs of the disadvantaged groups will be fully taken care of.”

In addition to distributing donated masks, the Government announced other measures on mask supplies that include handing out single-use and reusable masks to all Hong Kong residents and students in need.

Such measures also call for increasing the supply of masks to staff of elderly homes and cleaning workers employed by the Government's outsourced service contractors, as well as providing masks to private medical practitioners.

Telomeres are specific nucleoprotein structures that are located at the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes and play crucial roles in genomic stability. Telomere DNA consists of simple repeats of a short G-rich sequence: TTAGGG in mammals and TTTAGGG in most plants. In recent years, the mammalian telomeric G-rich repeats have been shown to form G-quadruplex (G4) structures, which are crucial for modulating telomere functions. Surprisingly, even though plant telomeres are essential for plant growth, development, and environmental adaptions, only few reports exist on plant telomeric G4 DNA (pTG4). Here, using bulk and single-molecule assays, including CD spectroscopy, and single-molecule FRET approaches, we comprehensively characterized the structure and dynamics of a typical plant telomeric sequence, d[GGG(TTTAGGG)3]. We found that this sequence can fold into mixed G4s in potassium, including parallel and antiparallel structures. We also directly detected intermediate dynamic transitions, including G-hairpin, parallel G-triplex, and antiparallel G-triplex structures. Moreover, we observed that pTG4 is unfolded by the AtRecQ2 helicase but not by AtRecQ3. The results of our work shed light on our understanding about the existence, topological structures, stability, intermediates, unwinding, and functions of pTG4.

Lens proteins become increasingly cross-linked through nondisulfide linkages during aging and cataract formation. One mechanism that has been implicated in this cross-linking is glycation through formation of advanced glycation end products (AGEs). Here, we found an age-associated increase in stiffness in human lenses that was directly correlated with levels of protein–cross-linking AGEs. α-Crystallin in the lens binds to other proteins and prevents their denaturation and aggregation through its chaperone-like activity. Using a FRET-based assay, we examined the stability of the αA-crystallin–γD-crystallin complex for up to 12 days and observed that this complex is stable in PBS and upon incubation with human lens–epithelial cell lysate or lens homogenate. Addition of 2 mm ATP to the lysate or homogenate did not decrease the stability of the complex. We also generated complexes of human αA-crystallin or αB-crystallin with alcohol dehydrogenase or citrate synthase by applying thermal stress. Upon glycation under physiological conditions, the chaperone–client complexes underwent greater extents of cross-linking than did uncomplexed protein mixtures. LC-MS/MS analyses revealed that the levels of cross-linking AGEs were significantly higher in the glycated chaperone–client complexes than in glycated but uncomplexed protein mixtures. Mouse lenses subjected to thermal stress followed by glycation lost resilience more extensively than lenses subjected to thermal stress or glycation alone, and this loss was accompanied by higher protein cross-linking and higher cross-linking AGE levels. These results uncover a protein cross-linking mechanism in the lens and suggest that AGE-mediated cross-linking of α-crystallin–client complexes could contribute to lens aging and presbyopia.

T-type (Cav3) Ca2+ channels are important regulators of excitability and rhythmic activity of excitable cells. Among other voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, Cav3 channels are uniquely sensitive to oxidation and zinc. Using recombinant protein expression in HEK293 cells, patch clamp electrophysiology, site-directed mutagenesis, and homology modeling, we report here that modulation of Cav3.2 by redox agents and zinc is mediated by a unique extracellular module containing a high-affinity metal-binding site formed by the extracellular IS1–IS2 and IS3–IS4 loops of domain I and a cluster of extracellular cysteines in the IS1–IS2 loop. Patch clamp recording of recombinant Cav3.2 currents revealed that two cysteine-modifying agents, sodium (2-sulfonatoethyl) methanethiosulfonate (MTSES) and N-ethylmaleimide, as well as a reactive oxygen species–producing neuropeptide, substance P (SP), inhibit Cav3.2 current to similar degrees and that this inhibition is reversed by a reducing agent and a zinc chelator. Pre-application of MTSES prevented further SP-mediated current inhibition. Substitution of the zinc-binding residue His191 in Cav3.2 reduced the channel's sensitivity to MTSES, and introduction of the corresponding histidine into Cav3.1 sensitized it to MTSES. Removal of extracellular cysteines from the IS1–IS2 loop of Cav3.2 reduced its sensitivity to MTSES and SP. We hypothesize that oxidative modification of IS1–IS2 loop cysteines induces allosteric changes in the zinc-binding site of Cav3.2 so that it becomes sensitive to ambient zinc.

The cellular energy sensor AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is a metabolic regulator that mediates adaptation to nutritional variations to maintain a proper energy balance in cells. We show here that suckling-weaning and fasting-refeeding transitions in rodents are associated with changes in AMPK activation and the cellular energy state in the liver. These nutritional transitions were characterized by a metabolic switch from lipid to glucose utilization, orchestrated by modifications in glucose levels and the glucagon/insulin ratio in the bloodstream. We therefore investigated the respective roles of glucose and pancreatic hormones on AMPK activation in mouse primary hepatocytes. We found that glucose starvation transiently activates AMPK, whereas changes in glucagon and insulin levels had no impact on AMPK. Challenge of hepatocytes with metformin-induced metabolic stress strengthened both AMPK activation and cellular energy depletion under limited-glucose conditions, whereas neither glucagon nor insulin altered AMPK activation. Although both insulin and glucagon induced AMPKα phosphorylation at its Ser485/491 residue, they did not affect its activity. Finally, the decrease in cellular ATP levels in response to an energy stress was additionally exacerbated under fasting conditions and by AMPK deficiency in hepatocytes, revealing metabolic inflexibility and emphasizing the importance of AMPK for maintaining hepatic energy charge. Our results suggest that nutritional changes (i.e. glucose availability), rather than the related hormonal changes (i.e. the glucagon/insulin ratio), sensitize AMPK activation to the energetic stress induced by the dietary transition during fasting. This effect is critical for preserving the cellular energy state in the liver.

(Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center) A study conducted at LSU Health New Orleans has shown for the first time that chronic exposure to inhaled nicotine alone increases blood pressure in both the body's general circulation and in the lungs that can lead to pulmonary hypertension. The study also found that nicotine-induced pulmonary hypertension is accompanied by changes in the size, shape and function (remodeling) of the blood vessels in the lung and the right lower chamber of the heart.

(Michigan Medicine - University of Michigan) They know it's addictive. They know it's linked to dangerous lung diseases. And they know it delivers more nicotine than the cigarettes it's supposed to replace. But the social aspects of vaping drives young people to use Juul and other e-cigarettes, according to nearly two-thirds of teens and young adults in a new study. Less than 5% say the availability of fruity flavors drives use of e-cigarettes by members of their generation, and only 10% say addiction does.

Carlos Gustavo T. Moreira, Maria José Pacifico and Sergio Romaña Ibarra
Bull. Amer. Math. Soc. 57 (2018), 269-292.
Abstract, references and article information

(American Association for Cancer Research) Combining intratumoral electroporation of interleukin-12 (IL-12) DNA (tavokinogene telseplasmid, or TAVO) with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab (Keytruda) led to clinical responses in patients with immunologically quiescent advanced melanoma, according to results from a phase II trial.

(King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)) Optical fibers wrapped around date palm trunks could help detect this tree's most destructive pest early enough to save it.

(University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture) David Mercker, an Extension forestry specialist with the University of Tennessee Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, has been named 2020 Extension Forester of the Year by the Forest Landowners Association (FLA). FLA is a national organization that promotes and protects the interests of private forest landowners and bestows this award annually as determined by its board of directors.

(American Association for the Advancement of Science) Ice sheet losses from Greenland and Antarctica have outpaced snow accumulation and contributed approximately 14 millimeters to sea level rise over 16 years (2003 to 2019), a new analysis of data from NASA's laser-shooting satellites has revealed.

(Virginia Institute of Marine Science) New study indicates the increase in rainfall forecast by global climate models is likely to hasten the release of carbon dioxide from tropical soils, further intensifying global warming by adding to human emissions of this greenhouse gas into Earth's atmosphere.

Tammie M. Johnson
Jan 1, 2010; 23:41-46
Feature Articles

A single tweet on the weekend about a possible collaboration between dancehall princess Shenseea and US rap sensation Nicki Minaj has left fans of the Romeich Entertainment singer bursting with excitement. Rumours of a pending project between...

Bokai Song
Apr 28, 2020; 0:RA120.001981v1-mcp.RA120.001981
Research

Taewook Kang
Apr 7, 2020; 0:RA119.001882v1-mcp.RA119.001882
Research

Samuel W Entwisle
Apr 6, 2020; 0:RA120.001946v2-mcp.RA120.001946
Research

1 May 2020

1 May 2020