Comparison of solitary and collective foraging strategies of in patchy food distributions.

Collective foraging has been shown to benefit organisms in environments where food is patchily distributed, but whether this is true in the case where organisms do not rely on long-range communications to coordinate their collective behaviour has been understudied. To address this question, we use the tractable laboratory model organism , where a social strain ( mutant) and a solitary strain (N2) are available for direct comparison of foraging strategies. We first developed an on-lattice minimal model for comparing collective and solitary foraging strategies, finding that social agents benefit from feeding faster and more efficiently simply owing to group formation.

Neutrophil dysfunction in a family with a SAPHO syndrome-like phenotype.

SAPHO syndrome (synovitis, acne, pustulosis, hyperostosis, osteitis) is an inflammatory disorder of the bone, skin, and joints. We describe a family with multiple affected members who segregate a SAPHO syndrome-like phenotype, and we report the results of neutrophil studies and candidate gene analysis. We obtained written informed consent and a family history and reviewed medical records.