Weighting of sensory cues reflect changing patterns of visual investment during ecological divergence in butterflies.

Integrating information across sensory modalities enables animals to orchestrate a wide range of complex behaviours. The relative importance placed on one sensory modality over another reflects the reliability of cues in a particular environment and corresponding differences in neural investment. As populations diverge across environmental gradients, the reliability of sensory cues may shift, favouring divergence in neural investment and the weight given to different sensory modalities.

Genomic evidence reveals three W-autosome fusions in Heliconius butterflies.

Sex chromosomes are evolutionarily labile in many animals and sometimes fuse with autosomes, creating so-called neo-sex chromosomes. Fusions between sex chromosomes and autosomes have been proposed to reduce sexual conflict and to promote adaptation and reproductive isolation among species. Recently, advances in genomics have fuelled the discovery of such fusions across the tree of life.

The Andes as a semi-permeable geographical barrier: Genetic connectivity between structured populations in a widespread spider.

Geographical barriers like mountain ranges impede genetic exchange among populations, promoting diversification. The effectiveness of these barriers in limiting gene flow varies between lineages due to each species' dispersal modes and capacities. Our understanding of how the Andes orogeny contributes to species diversification comes from well-studied vertebrates and a few arthropods and plants, neglecting organisms unable to fly or walk long distances.

Adaptive introgression of a visual preference gene.

Visual preferences are important drivers of mate choice and sexual selection, but little is known of how they evolve at the genetic level. In this study, we took advantage of the diversity of bright warning patterns displayed by butterflies, which are also used during mate choice. Combining behavioral, population genomic, and expression analyses, we show that two species have evolved the same preferences for red patterns by exchanging genetic material through hybridization.

Divergent warning patterns influence male and female mating behaviours in a tropical butterfly.

Traits under divergent ecological selection that also function during mating can be important in maintaining species boundaries. Few studies have considered mutual mate choice, where both males and females base mating decisions on the same trait. Wing colouration in Heliconius butterflies evolved as a warning signal but also functions as a mating cue.

Parallel shifts in flight-height associated with altitude across incipient Heliconius species.

Vertical gradients in microclimate, resource availability, and interspecific interactions are thought to underly stratification patterns in tropical insect communities. However, only a few studies have explored the adaptive significance of vertical space use during the early stages of reproductive isolation. We analysed flight-height variation across speciation events in Heliconius butterflies, representing parallel colonizations of high-altitude forest.

Parallel evolution of behavior, physiology, and life history associated with altitudinal shifts in forest type in Heliconius butterflies.

Parallel evolution of morphological traits is widely reported, providing evidence for the role of local conditions in driving adaptive divergence. Comparatively, fewer studies have tested for parallelism in behavior, and it is less clear to what extent heritable behavioral shifts contribute to adaptive divergence. We exploit repeated incipient speciation across altitudinal gradients to explore behavior and physiology in Heliconius butterflies adapted to high-elevation.

Does sexual conflict contribute to the evolution of novel warning patterns?

Why warning patterns are so diverse is an enduring evolutionary puzzle. Because predators associate particular patterns with unpleasant experiences, an individual's predation risk should decrease as the local density of its warning pattern increases, promoting pattern monomorphism. Distasteful Heliconius butterflies are known for their diversity of warning patterns.

Repeated genetic adaptation to altitude in two tropical butterflies.

Repeated evolution can provide insight into the mechanisms that facilitate adaptation to novel or changing environments. Here we study adaptation to altitude in two tropical butterflies, Heliconius erato and H. melpomene, which have repeatedly and independently adapted to montane habitats on either side of the Andes.

Phylogenetic relationships and evolutionary patterns of the genus Psammolestes Bergroth, 1911 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Triatominae).

Background: The evolutionary history of biodiversity in South America has been poorly studied in the seasonal dry tropical forest (SDTF). Species diversification in this ecosystem may have a twofold explanation. First, intermittent connections in the middle and late Pleistocene promoted species dispersal and/or genetic connectivity between lineages isolated in disjunct patches of forest.

-regulatory switches establish scale colour identity and pattern diversity in .

In butterflies, wing colour pattern diversity and scale types are controlled by a few genes of large effect that regulate colour pattern switches between morphs and species across a large mimetic radiation. One of these genes, , has been repeatedly associated with colour pattern evolution in butterflies. Here we carried out CRISPR knockouts in multiple species and show that is a major determinant of scale cell identity.

Analysis of different affective state multimodal recognition approaches with missing data-oriented to virtual learning environments.

In this work, the affective state of users in virtual learning environments is assessed/recognized in terms of continuous arousal and valence dimensions, making use of multimodal information (audio, text and video), whenever any of these modalities are available. In general, virtual learning environments where these three modalities are all the time, are not common; at some moments only the video modality is available, while in others only text or/and video and/or audio. Different approaches using feature-level fusion and decision-level fusion are proposed for multimodal recognition with missing data.

Light environment influences mating behaviours during the early stages of divergence in tropical butterflies.

Speciation is facilitated when traits under divergent selection also act as mating cues. Fluctuations in sensory conditions can alter signal perception independently of adaptation to the broader sensory environment, but how this fine-scale variation may constrain or promote behavioural isolation has received little attention. The warning patterns of butterflies are under selection for aposematism and act as mating cues.

Deep Convergence, Shared Ancestry, and Evolutionary Novelty in the Genetic Architecture of Mimicry.

Convergent evolution can occur through different genetic mechanisms in different species. It is now clear that convergence at the genetic level is also widespread, and can be caused by either (i) parallel genetic evolution, where independently evolved convergent mutations arise in different populations or species, or (ii) collateral evolution in which shared ancestry results from either ancestral polymorphism or introgression among taxa. The adaptive radiation of butterflies shows color pattern variation within species, as well as mimetic convergence between species.

Association of traditional cardiovascular risk factors in adults younger than 55 years with coronary heart disease. Case-control study.

Objectives: The traditional cardiovascular risk factors associated with coronary artery disease in individuals younger than 55 years old was determined in this study.

Methods: A retrospective, paired case-control study comprised of patients younger than 55 years old who were admitted to the hospital due to acute coronary syndrome with coronary artery disease from 2011 to 2016. There were two controls per case, paired by age, gender, admission date, and health insurance.

An exploration of the complex biogeographical history of the Neotropical banner-wing damselflies (Odonata: Polythoridae).

Background: The New World Tropics has experienced a dynamic landscape across evolutionary history and harbors a high diversity of flora and fauna. While there are some studies addressing diversification in Neotropical vertebrates and plants, there is still a lack of knowledge in arthropods. Here we examine temporal and spatial diversification patterns in the damselfly family Polythoridae, which comprises seven genera with a total of 58 species distributed across much of Central and South America.

Species specificity and intraspecific variation in the chemical profiles of butterflies across a large geographic range.

In many animals, mate choice is important for the maintenance of reproductive isolation between species. Traits important for mate choice and behavioral isolation are predicted to be under strong stabilizing selection within species; however, such traits can also exhibit variation at the population level driven by neutral and adaptive evolutionary processes. Here, we describe patterns of divergence among androconial and genital chemical profiles at inter- and intraspecific levels in mimetic butterflies.

Müllerian mimicry of a quantitative trait despite contrasting levels of genomic divergence and selection.

Hybrid zones, where distinct populations meet and interbreed, give insight into how differences between populations are maintained despite gene flow. Studying clines in genetic loci and adaptive traits across hybrid zones is a powerful method for understanding how selection drives differentiation within a single species, but can also be used to compare parallel divergence in different species responding to a common selective pressure. Here, we study parallel divergence of wing colouration in the butterflies Heliconius erato and H.

Association of resuscitative endovascular balloon occlusion of the aorta (REBOA) and mortality in penetrating trauma patients.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the association of REBOA and mortality in a group of patients with penetrating trauma to the torso, treated in a level-I trauma center from Colombia.

Methods: In a retrospective cohort study, patients with penetrating trauma, requiring emergency surgery, and treated between 2014 and 2018, were included. The decision to use or not use REBOA during emergent surgery was based on individual surgeon's opinion.

Stump appendicitis, a case report and a review of the literature. Is it as uncommon as it is thought?

Introduction: Acute appendicitis (AA) is the most common cause of acute surgical abdomen. Complications from surgical appendectomy include intraabdominal abscess, bleeding, surgical site infections, ileus, and stump appendicitis (SA). This last one is one of the least common ones with a reported incidence of 1:50.

Selective sweeps on novel and introgressed variation shape mimicry loci in a butterfly adaptive radiation.

Natural selection leaves distinct signatures in the genome that can reveal the targets and history of adaptive evolution. By analysing high-coverage genome sequence data from 4 major colour pattern loci sampled from nearly 600 individuals in 53 populations, we show pervasive selection on wing patterns in the Heliconius adaptive radiation. The strongest signatures correspond to loci with the greatest phenotypic effects, consistent with visual selection by predators, and are found in colour patterns with geographically restricted distributions.

Bench Validation of a Handcrafted Prototype Catheter for Intra-gastric Pressure Monitoring.

Background: Abdominal compartment syndrome is a sustained intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) >20 mm Hg associated with new organ dysfunction. In order to prevent its development and related complications, IAP monitoring should be performed in patients with risk factors. Although techniques for its monitoring have been developed, they are of high cost and not always available in low- and lower-middle-income countries.