Exon size distribution and the origin of introns.

Since it was first recognised that eukaryotic genes are fragmented into coding segments (exons) separated by non-coding segments (introns), the reason for this phenomenon has been debated. There are two dominant theories: that the piecewise arrangement of genes allows functional protein domains, represented by exons, to recombine by shuffling to form novel proteins with combinations of functions; or that introns represent parasitic DNA that can infest the eukaryotic genome because it does not interfere grossly with the fitness of its host. Differing distributions of exon lengths are predicted by these two theories. In this paper we examine distributions of exon lengths for six different organisms and find that they offer empirical evidence that both theories may in part be correct.

Modelling errors in scoring the darkness of staining.

OBJECTIVE: To construct a statistical model for the agreements and disagreements between two observers on darkness of staining. STUDY DESIGN: Data from an earlier observer-agreement study by van Diest et al were reanalyzed. RESULTS: A model in which the random variation in error is permitted to depend upon the true darkness of staining wasfound tofit the data much better than does one in which the random variation is constant. CONCLUSION: For the dataset analyzed, error tends to be greater (that is, correlation between observers tends to be less) when staining is darker.