(Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona) Expansions by groups of humans were common during prehistoric times, after the adoption of agriculture. Among other factors, this is due to population growth of farmers which was greater than of that hunter-gatherers. We can find one example of this during the Neolithic period, when farming was introduced to Europe by migrations from the Middle East.

(Texas A&M University) Spoiling foods, souring wine and worsening wounds have a common culprit -- a process called oxidation. Although the ill effects of these chemical reactions can be curtailed by antioxidants, creating a sturdy platform capable of providing prolonged antioxidant activity is an ongoing challenge.

(American Chemical Society) When a dead body is found, one of the first things a forensic pathologist tries to do is estimate the time of death. There are several ways to do this, including measuring body temperature or observing insect activity, but these methods don't always work for corpses found in water. Now, researchers are reporting a mouse study in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research showing that certain proteins in bones could be used for this determination.

(University of Washington) By comparing new measurements from NASA's ICESat-2 mission with the original ICESat mission, which operated from 2003 to 2009, scientists were able to measure precisely how the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have changed over 16 years.

(Earth Institute at Columbia University) A uniquely resilient organism all but unheard of in the Arabian Sea 20 years ago has been proliferating and spreading at an alarming pace. New research describes how the continued loss of snow over the Himalayan-Tibetan Plateau region is fueling the expansion of this destructive algal bloom.

(University of Hawaii at Manoa) In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, found in the next few decades, sea level rise will likely cause large and increasing percentages of land area to be impacted simultaneously by the three flood mechanisms. Further, they found direct marine inundation represents the least extensive--only three percent of the predicted flooding, while groundwater inundation represents the most extensive flood source.

(Oregon State University) The world's oceans play a critical role in climate regulation, mitigation and adaptation and should be integrated into comprehensive 'green new deal' proposals being promoted by elected officials and agency policymakers.

(Florida State University) Florida State University and partner universities investigated current baseline conditions in the southern Gulf to create a series of maps and guides that detail the distribution of carbon, nitrogen and the carbon-14 isotope.

Chief Justice Patience Roggensack faced backlash for her comment, with some people calling it "elitist" to separate meatpackers from "regular folks."

As businesses slowly reopen, experts warn that social distancing may need to be dialed back up: ‘It’s not an on-off switch’ * Coronavirus – latest US updates * Coronavirus – latest global updatesSome California businesses on Friday began opening their doors for business – at least partially.As states and counties across the nation contend with pressure to lift the stay-at-home measures that have destroyed local economies, California is taking an especially cautious approach, walking a fine line between political and economic pressure to reopen and the public health imperative to stop the spread of disease.Public health experts told the Guardian that while no US state was equipped with enough coronavirus testing and surveillance to feel fully confident reopening, California’s slow, piecemeal recovery plan – though far from perfect – seemed like the least risky option. The planSeven weeks after the governor, Gavin Newsom, ordered his 40 million constituents to shelter in place and all non-essential businesses to close, California on Friday entered phase two of its grand reopening plan.Some retail stores, including bookshops, florists, music stores, clothing and sporting goods retailers, can reopen if they organize curbside pickup. Some manufacturing and logistics in the retail supply chain can restart as well, as long as they follow safety and hygiene protocols. And local authorities are allowed to ease regulations further than the state guidelines if they meet certain testing and sanitation requirements.Phase three of the plan – potentially months away – could see salons, gyms, movie theaters and in-person church services resume. Phase four would end all restrictions. The timingFriday’s reopenings come as California has avoided the surge of infections states like New York have seen. And although California has seen more than 61,000 cases and 2,500 deaths, its hospitals have not been overwhelmed.Last week, state officials reported the first week-over-week decline in Covid-19 deaths.The new guidelines also follow small but sustained protests across the state to demand a relaxation of regulations to revive the state’s crippled economy, and some rural counties have partially reopened in defiance of the lockdown measures. The caveatsHowever, California still hasn’t seen the two weeks of declining cases that the White House suggested as a criterion for easing restrictions and that several European countries have used as a benchmark.The state also lacks the robust testing and tracking systems that countries such as Germany and South Korea have used.The state has ramped up its ability to administer and process tests, although for now, its rate of 29,414 tests a day is below the figure required by some analyses.Authorities are working to put a robust contact tracing effort in place to make sure those who test positive get the care they need and are able to isolate themselves until they recover. Although some counties and communities have spearheaded community-wide testing and tracing programs, overall, the state isn’t at the point where its system is as widespread or efficient as a country like Germany’s.Experts say California should also have a system in place to make sure vulnerable, unhoused populations have access to shelter and medical care – to prevent infection flare-ups in homeless shelters and encampments. Progress on those measures heavily varies county by county.And ideally, there would be a treatment or a vaccine before reopening, said Dr Richard Jackson, a professor emeritus at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the former head of the California department of public health. While we await a cure, Jackson cautioned, “no one should feel completely safe as we remove restrictions.” The trade-offsCalifornia’s reopening strategy stands in sharp contrast to the approach of states like Georgia, which suddenly allowed gyms, barber shops, hair salons, tattoo parlors and bowling alleys to welcome customers last week.“What certain places have done, where they’ve just thrown open the doors and said, ‘OK, we don’t have to keep our distance any more,’ is a colossal mistake,” Jackson said. Reopening businesses that put lots of people into close contact and speed the spread of disease will reverse the success of shelter-in-place rules, he noted, and overwhelm hospitals as cases surge. “Doing it very cautiously and carefully does make sense at this point in time,” he said.“I get that governors have to balance the public health goals with the economic goals,” said Dr Robert Tsai, surgeon and health policy researcher at Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. “But this stage of the pandemic is really all about trade-offs,” he noted. The weeks aheadIn the coming weeks, state and local leaders will have to watch closely and prepare to dial the distancing back up if the number of cases surges, said Tsai.“Social distancing isn’t an on-off switch. What it needs to be is a dial, which can be turned up or down depending on what the data show on the ground in terms of how the Covid-19 epidemic is progressing.“Reopening is going to be a very complicated process, and it should be complicated,” he added. “Because this is about making sure that people don’t end up in the hospital or dying.”That California’s plan allows for counties to maintain stricter distancing guidelines or ease up measures could be both a strength and a liability.The flexibility has allowed hotspots like the Bay Area and Los Angeles to take a more cautious approach, but it has also already caused confusion. In San Diego, where curbside shopping has already begun, business owners were unsure what, if anything, would change on Friday. In Bakersfield, restaurants allowed patrons to dine in on Monday and Tuesday, in defiance of the state’s guidelines.A hodgepodge reopening could cause surges in cases; Californians who travel between more lax and more strict counties could spread infections. Moreover, a rush to reopen fast in some areas could be counterproductive to economic recovery, said Alessandro Rebucci, an economist at the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business.“If you reopen when the pandemic is still out there, people and businesses will not just go back to normal,” Rebucci noted. Based on research from China, it seems clear that fear of contracting the illness will keep businesses owners and patrons home until they feel it’s safe enough, he said.

(École de technologie supérieure) The first ever standard for real-time calculation of pollutant emissions allocated to the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) was recently introduced, thanks to the work of the IEEE ICT Emissions Working Group Committe, chaired by Mohamed Cheriet, a Professor in the Systems Engineering Department at École de technologie supérieure. Under the auspices of the IEEE Standards Association, the Working Group Committee is made up of researchers from diverse backgrounds and many different countries.

Climate change could mean mosquitoes that can carry diseases like dengue, zika and yellow fever become established in southern Europe within 10 years.

Current regulations do not effectively prevent potentially misleading claims, says Imperial scientists

(George Mason University) Nathan Sleeter, Research Assistant Professor, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media (RRCHNM), is directing a project in which RRCHNM will create three classroom simulations based on events from the history of diplomacy for secondary education instructors.

(University of Texas at Austin) Global warming is approaching a tipping point that during this century could reawaken an ancient climate pattern similar to El Niño in the Indian Ocean, new research led by scientists from the University of Texas at Austin has found.

(University of Surrey) A new research study, investigating how service robots in hotels could help redefine leadership and boost the hospitality industry, has taken on new significance in the light of the seismic impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on tourism and business travel. The study by academics at The University of Surrey and MODUL University Vienna focuses on how HR experts perceive service robots and their impact on leadership and HR management in the hotel industry.

(University of Exeter) The public would comply with major changes to medical advice - but would then be less likely to follow other new guidelines in the future, research shows.

(Purdue University) New environmentally friendly technologies promise to be 'game changers' in the rare earth metals field and enable the US to create a more stable and reliable domestic source of these essential metals. Purdue University patented extraction and purifying processes using ligand-assisted chromatography are shown to remove and purify such metals from coal ash, recycled magnets and raw ore safely, efficiently and with virtually no detrimental environmental impact.

(American Geriatrics Society) The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unprecedented pressure on societies worldwide, given the pandemic's rapid, often deadly spread. In health care, the pandemic has raised the pressing question of how society should allocate scarce resources during a crisis. This is the question experts addressed today in a new position statement published by the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (DOI: 10.1111/jgs.16537).

(Penn State) A new process to harness multiple disease models for outbreak management has been developed by an international team of researchers. The team will immediately implement the process to help inform policy decisions for the COVID-19 outbreak.

(University of Huddersfield) A team of researchers received funding of almost £130,000 to work with a group of women in Zambia and create songs that warn against the dangers of the coronavirus -- and now New York wants to hear them.

Jan Pearson
Apr 1, 2001; 14:
Articles

Robert Mayberry
Jul 1, 2010; 23:171-176
Feature Articles

Ruban Dhaliwal
Feb 1, 2014; 27:9-20
Research to Practice

Emmy Suhl
Oct 1, 2006; 19:234-240
Articles

Rachel L. Derr
Jul 1, 2007; 20:177-185
Feature Articles

Toni Tripp-Reimer
Jan 1, 2001; 14:
Articles

Stephen L. Aronoff
Jul 1, 2004; 17:183-190
Feature Articles

He's celebrating 10 years of dancing both competitively and in the street, and the co-founder of Unruly Skankaz, Devon Brown, says he is looking to expand the brand. The once three-member male dance group has grown to five, he told THE WEEKEND...

It is possible that the next time you walk into a bar you may find that there is only standing room, and you are among a handful of persons allowed inside. Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that in addition to having a specific gathering rule,...

A Manchester mother is pleading with the authorities to provide her with the results of COVID-19 tests done on her and her week-old baby. The woman claims that she has been in isolation in hospital since April 27, a day after she gave birth to...

Businesses will benefit from clear policy guidance from lawmakers

12 June 2019

3 December 2019

There is no warning in force.

β-Glucocerebrosidase (GBA) hydrolyzes glucosylceramide (GlcCer) to generate ceramide. Previously, we demonstrated that lysosomal GBA1 and nonlysosomal GBA2 possess not only GlcCer hydrolase activity, but also transglucosylation activity to transfer the glucose residue from GlcCer to cholesterol to form β-cholesterylglucoside (β-GlcChol) in vitro. β-GlcChol is a member of sterylglycosides present in diverse species. How GBA1 and GBA2 mediate β-GlcChol metabolism in the brain is unknown. Here, we purified and characterized sterylglycosides from rodent and fish brains. Although glucose is thought to be the sole carbohydrate component of sterylglycosides in vertebrates, structural analysis of rat brain sterylglycosides revealed the presence of galactosylated cholesterol (β-GalChol), in addition to β-GlcChol. Analyses of brain tissues from GBA2-deficient mice and GBA1- and/or GBA2-deficient Japanese rice fish (Oryzias latipes) revealed that GBA1 and GBA2 are responsible for β-GlcChol degradation and formation, respectively, and that both GBA1 and GBA2 are responsible for β-GalChol formation. Liquid chromatography–tandem MS revealed that β-GlcChol and β-GalChol are present throughout development from embryo to adult in the mouse brain. We found that β-GalChol expression depends on galactosylceramide (GalCer), and developmental onset of β-GalChol biosynthesis appeared to be during myelination. We also found that β-GlcChol and β-GalChol are secreted from neurons and glial cells in association with exosomes. In vitro enzyme assays confirmed that GBA1 and GBA2 have transgalactosylation activity to transfer the galactose residue from GalCer to cholesterol to form β-GalChol. This is the first report of the existence of β-GalChol in vertebrates and how β-GlcChol and β-GalChol are formed in the brain.

Fatty acid transport protein 2 (FATP2) is highly expressed in the liver, small intestine, and kidney, where it functions in both the transport of exogenous long-chain fatty acids and the activation of very-long-chain fatty acids. Here, using a murine model, we investigated the phenotypic impacts of deleting FATP2, followed by a transcriptomic analysis using unbiased RNA-Seq to identify concomitant changes in the liver transcriptome. WT and FATP2-null (Fatp2−/−) mice (5 weeks) were maintained on a standard chow diet for 6 weeks. The Fatp2−/− mice had reduced weight gain, lowered serum triglyceride, and increased serum cholesterol levels and attenuated dietary fatty acid absorption. Transcriptomic analysis of the liver revealed 258 differentially expressed genes in male Fatp2−/− mice and a total of 91 in female Fatp2−/− mice. These genes mapped to the following gene ontology categories: fatty acid degradation, peroxisome biogenesis, fatty acid synthesis, and retinol and arachidonic acid metabolism. Targeted RT-quantitative PCR verified the altered expression of selected genes. Of note, most of the genes with increased expression were known to be regulated by peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor α (PPARα), suggesting that FATP2 activity is linked to a PPARα-specific proximal ligand. Targeted metabolomic experiments in the Fatp2−/− liver revealed increases of total C16:0, C16:1, and C18:1 fatty acids; increases in lipoxin A4 and prostaglandin J2; and a decrease in 20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid. We conclude that the expression of FATP2 in the liver broadly affects the metabolic landscape through PPARα, indicating that FATP2 provides an important role in liver lipid metabolism through its transport or activation activities.

Haploinsufficiency of Meis homeobox 2 (MEIS2), encoding a transcriptional regulator, is associated with human cleft palate, and Meis2 inactivation leads to abnormal palate development in mice, implicating MEIS2 functions in palate development. However, its functional mechanisms remain unknown. Here we observed widespread MEIS2 expression in the developing palate in mice. Wnt1Cre-mediated Meis2 inactivation in cranial neural crest cells led to a secondary palate cleft. Importantly, about half of the Wnt1Cre;Meis2f/f mice exhibited a submucous cleft, providing a model for studying palatal bone formation and patterning. Consistent with complete absence of palatal bones, the results from integrative analyses of MEIS2 by ChIP sequencing, RNA-Seq, and an assay for transposase-accessible chromatin sequencing identified key osteogenic genes regulated directly by MEIS2, indicating that it plays a fundamental role in palatal osteogenesis. De novo motif analysis uncovered that the MEIS2-bound regions are highly enriched in binding motifs for several key osteogenic transcription factors, particularly short stature homeobox 2 (SHOX2). Comparative ChIP sequencing analyses revealed genome-wide co-occupancy of MEIS2 and SHOX2 in addition to their colocalization in the developing palate and physical interaction, suggesting that SHOX2 and MEIS2 functionally interact. However, although SHOX2 was required for proper palatal bone formation and was a direct downstream target of MEIS2, Shox2 overexpression failed to rescue the palatal bone defects in a Meis2-mutant background. These results, together with the fact that Meis2 expression is associated with high osteogenic potential and required for chromatin accessibility of osteogenic genes, support a vital function of MEIS2 in setting up a ground state for palatal osteogenesis.

General Situation:
A trough of low pressure will edge towards the coast of Guangdong today and linger over the region in the following couple of days. There will be thundery showers over Guangdong. With the anticyclone aloft strengthening in the middle and latter parts of this week, the weather over southern China will improve and it will be hot.

Date/Month: 10/05 (Sunday)
Wind: South force 3.
Weather: Sunny intervals and a few showers. Isolated thunderstorms later.
Temp range: 28 - 32 C
R.H. range: 65 - 95 per Cent

Date/Month: 11/05 (Monday)
Wind: South force 2 to 3.
Weather: Mainly cloudy with occasional showers and a few squally thunderstorms.
Temp range: 26 - 30 C
R.H. range: 70 - 95 per Cent

Date/Month: 12/05 (Tuesday)
Wind: Light winds force 2.
Weather: Mainly cloudy with a few showers and thunderstorms.
Temp range: 25 - 29 C
R.H. range: 70 - 95 per Cent

Date/Month: 13/05 (Wednesday)
Wind: Southeast force 3.
Weather: Sunny intervals and one or two showers.
Temp range: 26 - 30 C
R.H. range: 65 - 90 per Cent

Date/Month: 14/05 (Thursday)
Wind: Southeast force 3.
Weather: Sunny periods.
Temp range: 26 - 31 C
R.H. range: 60 - 85 per Cent

Date/Month: 15/05 (Friday)
Wind: South to southeast force 3.
Weather: Sunny periods.
Temp range: 27 - 32 C
R.H. range: 60 - 85 per Cent

Date/Month: 16/05 (Saturday)
Wind: South force 3.
Weather: Sunny periods.
Temp range: 27 - 32 C
R.H. range: 60 - 85 per Cent

Date/Month: 17/05 (Sunday)
Wind: South force 3 to 4.
Weather: Sunny periods.
Temp range: 28 - 32 C
R.H. range: 70 - 90 per Cent

Date/Month: 18/05 (Monday)
Wind: South force 3 to 4.
Weather: Sunny periods and isolated showers.
Temp range: 28 - 32 C
R.H. range: 70 - 90 per Cent

Sea surface temperature at 2 P.M. 09/05/2020 at North Point was 25 degrees C.
Soil temperatures at 7 A.M. 09/05/2020 at Hong Kong Observatory :
0.5 M below surface was 27.6 degrees C
1.0 M below surface was 26.4 degrees C

An anticyclone aloft brought hot weather to southern China yesterday. Locally, it was hot with sunny periods and isolated showers. A trough of low pressure will edge towards the coast of Guangdong today and linger over the region in the following couple of days. There will be thundery showers over Guangdong.

Weather forecast for Hong Kong:
Mainly cloudy with a few showers. Sunny intervals during the day. There will be isolated thunderstorms later. Hot with temperatures ranging between 28 and 32 degrees. Moderate southerly winds.

Outlook: There will be showers and thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday. The weather will improve gradually in the following couple of days.

Lucía Trilla-Fuertes
Apr 1, 2020; 19:690-700
Research

David Cluet
Apr 1, 2020; 19:701-715
Technological Innovation and Resources

Elena Lorente
Apr 7, 2020; 0:RA120.002014v1-mcp.RA120.002014
Research

Daniella H Hock
Apr 21, 2020; 0:RA120.002076v1-mcp.RA120.002076
Research

Sonia Podvin
Apr 15, 2020; 0:RA120.002079v1-mcp.RA120.002079
Research

Liye Chen
May 1, 2020; 19:871-883
Research

Mona Radwan
Apr 1, 2020; 19:640-654
Research

Xing-Huang Gao
May 1, 2020; 19:852-870
Research

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

Research Event

Event participants

Andrew Sullivan, President and CEO Internet Society
Chair: Emily Taylor, Associate Fellow, International Security Department, Chatham House; Editor, Journal of Cyber Policy