This research communication describes associations between variation in the fatty acid binding protein 4 gene (FABP4) and milk fat composition in New Zealand Holstein-Friesian × Jersey cross dairy cows. After correcting for the effect of the amino acid substitution p.K232A in diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), which is associated with variation in many milk fatty acid (FA) component levels, the effect of FABP4 c.328A/G on milk FA levels was typically small. For the five genotypes analysed, the AB cows produced more medium-chain fatty acids than CC cows (P < 0.05), and more C14:0 FA than AA and AC cows (P < 0.05). The AA and AC cows produced less C22:0 FA (P < 0.01) than the BC cows, and the AC cows produced more C24:0 FA (P < 0.05) than was produced by the BC cows. Cows of genotype CC produce more long-chain fatty acids than cows of genotype BC (P < 0.05).

We examine the impact of managerial ability on the shareholder tax sensitivity of dividends. We find that managerial ability increases the sensitivity of dividends to the dividend tax penalty. In addition, the positive association between managerial ability and the shareholder tax sensitivity of dividends decreases in institutional ownership. Further, managerial ability increases the shareholder tax sensitivity of the substitution of dividends with share repurchases. Finally, evidence from tax reforms reveals that high ability managers are more responsive to a reduction in dividend tax penalty than to an increase. We conclude that managerial ability influences the formation of tax-efficient dividend policies.

We made dynamical black hole mass measurements from nineteen Seyfert 2 galaxies which host sub-parsec H2O maser disks using the H2O megamaser technique. The nearly perfect Keplerian rotation curves in many of these maser systems guarantee the high accuracy and precision of the black hole mass measurements. With the stellar velocity dispersion (σ∗) of the galaxy bulges measured with the Dupont 2.5 m telescope at Las Campanas Observatory in the South and the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5m telescope in the North, we found that H2O maser galaxies, most of which host pseudo bulges rather than classical bulges, do not all follow the MBH–σ∗ relation shown in the literature. This result is well consistent with the latest findings by Kormendy & Ho (2013) that only early type galaxies and galaxies with classical bulges follow a tight MBH–σ∗ relation. Such a tight correlation may not exist in pseudo bulge galaxies.

Let D be the punctured unit disk. It is easy to see that no pair x, y in D can cover D in the sense that D cannot be contained in the union of the unit disks centred at x and y. With this fact in mind, let V n = {X 1, X 2, …, X n }, where X 1, X 2, … are random points sampled independently from a uniform distribution on D. We prove that, with asymptotic probability 1, there exist two points in V n that cover all of V n .

We report the first outbreak of vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium colonization and infection among inpatients in the hematology ward of an acute tertiary care public hospital in Singapore. Two cases of bacteremia and 4 cases of gastrointestinal carriage were uncovered before implementation of strict infection control measures resulted in control of the outbreak.