Homologous chromosomes are stably conjoined for Drosophila male meiosis I by SUM, a multimerized protein assembly with modules for DNA-binding and for separase-mediated dissociation co-opted from cohesin.

For meiosis I, homologous chromosomes must be paired into bivalents. Maintenance of homolog conjunction in bivalents until anaphase I depends on crossovers in canonical meiosis. However, instead of crossovers, an alternative system achieves homolog conjunction during the achiasmate male meiosis of Drosophila melanogaster.

Teflon promotes chromosomal recruitment of homolog conjunction proteins during Drosophila male meiosis.

Meiosis in males of higher dipterans is achiasmate. In their spermatocytes, pairing of homologs into bivalent chromosomes does not include synaptonemal complex and crossover formation. While crossovers preserve homolog conjunction until anaphase I during canonical meiosis, an alternative system is used in dipteran males.

Chromosome separation during Drosophila male meiosis I requires separase-mediated cleavage of the homolog conjunction protein UNO.

Regular chromosome segregation during the first meiotic division requires prior pairing of homologous chromosomes into bivalents. During canonical meiosis, linkage between homologous chromosomes is maintained until late metaphase I by chiasmata resulting from meiotic recombination in combination with distal sister chromatid cohesion. Separase-mediated elimination of cohesin from chromosome arms at the end of metaphase I permits terminalization of chiasmata and homolog segregation to opposite spindle poles during anaphase I.

MNM and SNM maintain but do not establish achiasmate homolog conjunction during Drosophila male meiosis.

The first meiotic division reduces genome ploidy. This requires pairing of homologous chromosomes into bivalents that can be bi-oriented within the spindle during prometaphase I. Thereafter, pairing is abolished during late metaphase I, and univalents are segregated apart onto opposite spindle poles during anaphase I.

Sharecropper's Tuberculosis: Pathologies of Power in a Fatal Outbreak.

Tuberculosis Bacilli (TB) is a global scourge that affects poor people and regions. Drawing on Farmer's (2003) pathologies of power, and a case study approach, we examine the sociostructural landscape of a fatal outbreak of Sharecropper's TB among African Americans in rural Alabama. In a mixed-method qualitative approach involving oral history, surveys, interviews and documentary analysis, we identified three pathologies that contribute to TB susceptibility: corporate power, land wealth, and structural racism.

Losing Ground: Racial Disparities in Medical Debt and Home Foreclosure in the Deep South.

Medical debt is a persistent problem in the United States. This study examined the role of medical debt in relation to home foreclosure in a Deep South county with high rates of poverty, health disparities, and a racial gap in homeownership. Statistical analysis and geographic information systems mapping of municipal court records for 890 foreclosees indicated disproportionately high rates of medical debt among African Americans who lived in racially distinct neighborhoods.

A spatial analysis of student binge drinking, alcohol-outlet density, and social disadvantages.

Background And Objectives: This paper examined whether and how student binge drinking at the individual level was influenced by population disadvantages, community instability, alcohol-outlet density, and protective factors generated by community and school.

Methods: We used a dataset collected in 2002 by the Alabama Department of Mental Health, with additional materials generated by the 2000 Census and from the Alabama State Department of Education. School-catchments were employed as geographic units of analysis.

Urban-rural differentials: a spatial analysis of Alabama students' recent alcohol use and marijuana use.

Background And Objectives: This study of Alabama public school students sought urban-rural differences in social and spatial mechanisms connecting structural factors to recent use of alcohol and marijuana.

Methods: Its dataset comprised a state-sponsored 2002 need-assessment survey of Alabama students; Alabama education department data; U. S.

Tomorrow's transcription tools: what new technology means for healthcare.

The year is 2006, and there are just a few hundred medical transcriptionists (MTs) still transcribing reports, serving only those older physicians who haven't changed with the times--and the times have definitely changed. Physicians have finally recognized the power of electronic health records (EHRs) as well as the fact that this power is realized only if they input clinical data directly into the EHR. The vast majority of physicians are using empirically refined templates, pick lists, and other methods of structured, codified input through the evolved progeny of today's Palm PCs, Pocket PCs, and Tablet PCs.