Though Rumors of Its Demise Might Be Exaggerated…

The Human Y Chromosome Rumors of Its Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated

Recent papers by David Page and his collaborators present an intriguing new face to the human Y chromosome, including eight massive palindromic arrays, most of which contain multi-copy pairs of testis-specific genes. Sequence pairs within the arms of these palindromic sequences retain a high degree of similarity, suggesting that intrachromosomal gene conversion is frequent, perhaps providing a ...

Though not Reservoirs, Dogs might Transmit Leptospira in New Caledonia

Leptospira has been a major public health concern in New Caledonia for decades. However, few multidisciplinary studies addressing the zoonotic pattern of this disease were conducted so far. Here, pig, deer and dog samples were collected. Analyses were performed using molecular detection and genotyping. Serological analyses were also performed for dogs. Our results suggest that deer are a reserv...

Rumors of Its Disassembly Have Been Greatly Exaggerated: The Secret Life of the Synaptonemal Complex at the Centromeres

The synaptonemal complex (SC) and the centromeres have long been thought to play their roles at quite different, nonoverlapping periods during meiosis. The SC is viewed as a hallmark structure that connects homologous chromosomes and is functionally critical for early prophase (zygotene and pachytene), while centromeres are known to assemble the kinetochore, act as a target for microtubules, an...

How to Be Happy Though Human

Wondering What Might Be

This paper explores the possibility of supplementing the suppositional view of indicative conditionals with a corresponding view of epistemic modals. The most striking feature of the suppositional view consists in its claim that indicative conditionals are to be evaluated by conditional probabilities. On the basis of a natural link between indicative conditionals and epistemic modals, a corresp...