A conserved filamentous assembly underlies the structure of the meiotic chromosome axis.

The meiotic chromosome axis plays key roles in meiotic chromosome organization and recombination, yet the underlying protein components of this structure are highly diverged. Here, we show that 'axis core proteins' from budding yeast (Red1), mammals (SYCP2/SYCP3), and plants (ASY3/ASY4) are evolutionarily related and play equivalent roles in chromosome axis assembly. We first identify 'closure motifs' in each complex that recruit meiotic HORMADs, the master regulators of meiotic recombination. We next find that axis core proteins form homotetrameric (Red1) or heterotetrameric (SYCP2:SYCP3 and ASY3:ASY4) coiled-coil assemblies that further oligomerize into micron-length filaments. Thus, the meiotic chromosome axis core in fungi, mammals, and plants shares a common molecular architecture, and likely also plays conserved roles in meiotic chromosome axis assembly and recombination control

A New Approach to Time Domain Classification of Broadband Noise in Gravitational Wave Data

Broadband noise in gravitational wave (GW) detectors, also known as triggers, can often be a deterrant to the efficiency with which astrophysical search pipelines detect sources. It is important to understand their instrumental or environmental origin so that they could be eliminated or accounted for in the data. Since the number of triggers is large, data mining approaches such as clustering and classification are useful tools for this task. Classification of triggers based on a handful of discrete properties has been done in the past. A rich information content is available in the waveform or 'shape' of the triggers that has had a rather restricted exploration so far. This paper presents a new way to classify triggers deriving information from both trigger waveforms as well as their discrete physical properties using a sequential combination of the Longest Common Sub-Sequence (LCSS) and LCSS coupled with Fast Time Series Evaluation (FTSE) for waveform classification and the multidimensional hierarchical classification (MHC) analysis for the grouping based on physical properties. A generalized k-means algorithm is used with the LCSS (and LCSS+FTSE) for clustering the triggers using a validity measure to determine the correct number of clusters in absence of any prior knowledge. The results have been demonstrated by simulations and by application to a segment of real LIGO data from the sixth science run.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figure

Identifying cues for self-organized nest wall-building behaviour in the rock ant, Temnothorax rugatulus, using hidden Markov models

Funding: E.I.’s Ph.D. was funded by the John Templeton Foundation as part of the research collaboration grant ‘Putting the extended evolutionary synthesis to the test’ (grant no. 60501). The postdoctoral research project that followed this initial work was funded by an ASAB research grant to M.W. and E.I.European Temnothorax albipennis and its American counterpart Temnothorax rugatulus build circular walls to limit their nest area within a rock crevice. To determine wall position, workers are thought to rely on a distance template (from the cluster of brood and nurses at the nest centre) and on indirect social (i.e. stigmergic) information found in the aggregations of already-deposited building material. Analytical and simulation models of this behaviour predict that the combination of these two mechanisms can produce the observed wall structure, but there is so far no empirical evidence of either mechanism. Here, we find statistical evidence in support of the stigmergic relationship between stone density and deposition behaviour. We apply hidden Markov models (HMMs) to analyse wall-building data from four colonies of T. rugatulus. We show that material deposition activity changes following a parabolic relationship with the density of building material at building sites, different from the linear relationship hypothesized previously. This parabolic curve is similar to behavioural response curves identified in the nest enlargement process of several ant species. In addition, HMM analysis indicates the existence of two distinct states in T. rugatulus building activity. These states are associated with different mean building rates (that is, the two states can be described as a high and a low activity state) and might be caused by changes in task priorities during the colony process of settling into a new nest. This study updates one of the earliest models of self-organized animal behaviour.Peer reviewe

Qualitative Environmental Health Research: An Analysis of the Literature, 1991-2008

BACKGROUND. Recent articles have advocated for the use of qualitative methods in environmental health research. Qualitative research uses nonnumeric data to understand people's opinions, motives, understanding, and beliefs about events or phenomena. OBJECTIVE. In this analysis of the literature, I report the use of qualitative methods and data in the study of the relationship between environmental exposures and human health. DATA SOURCES. A primary search on ISI Web of Knowledge/Web of Science for peer-reviewed journal articles dated from 1991 through 2008 included the following three terms: qualitative, environ*, and health. Inclusion and exclusion criteria are described. DATA EXTRACTION. Searches resulted in 3,155 records. Data were extracted and findings of articles analyzed to determine where and by whom qualitative environmental health research is conducted and published, the types of methods and analyses used in qualitative studies of environmental health, and the types of information qualitative data contribute to environmental health. DATA SYNTHESIS. Ninety-one articles met inclusion criteria. These articles were published in 58 different journals, with a maximum of eight for a single journal. The results highlight a diversity of disciplines and techniques among researchers who used qualitative methods to study environmental health, with most studies relying on one-on-one interviews. Details of the analyses were absent from a large number of studies. Nearly all of the studies identified increased scientific understanding of lay perceptions of environmental health exposures. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. Qualitative data are published in traditionally quantitative environmental health studies to a limited extent. However, this analysis demonstrates the potential of qualitative data to improve understanding of complex exposure pathways, including the influence of social factors on environmental health, and health outcomes.National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (R25 ES012084, P42ES007381