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[Butterfly vertebrae and scoliosis: Alagille syndrome].

INTRODUCTION: Alagille syndrome is a dominantly inherited disorder affecting the liver (arteriohepatic dysplasia), the heart, the eyes and the face. Butterfly vertebrae in the thoracic and lumbar spine are detectable in 50 to 80 per cent of the patients; most of them remain asymptomatic. The management of progressive cholestasis in early childhood is the main aspect of therapy. CASE: A 14-year-old female patient with Alagille syndrome was referred to our hospital for examination of a right thoracic scoliosis. Magnetic resonance imaging verified butterfly deformity in thoracic vertebrae 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, and lumbar vertebra 3. Asymmetries of thoracic vertebrae 6, 8 and especially, 7 were responsible for the scoliosis. CONCLUSION: The highly variable expression of these typical characteristics in mildly affected patients can cause some difficulties. When diagnosing a scoliosis with asymmetric butterfly vertebrae, an Alagille syndrome should be considered, especially if the patient shows a liver dysfunction.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1972

Pollen feeding and reproductive biology of heliconius butterflies.

Butterflies of the neotropical Genus Heliconius feed on pollen. This is the first known instance in butterflies of a habit that is well known for other insects. The butterflies remove amino acids and proteins from pollen; this feeding innovation plays a role in the reproductive and population biology of these insects. It is suggested that other animals may use pollen in a similar fashion.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Butterfly cartilage graft inlay tympanoplasty for large perforations.

OBJECTIVE: Butterfly graft inlay tympanoplasty is a well-established technique for the repair of small perforations. However, the efficacy of the technique for medium and large tympanic membrane perforations remains unknown. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective case series. METHODS: Postauricular tympanoplasty and tympanomastoidectomy using a large butterfly cartilage inlay graft (>4 mm diameter to total drum replacement) were analyzed in 90 pediatric patients (99 ears). RESULTS: Patient ages ranged from 2 to 20 years; mean follow-up duration was 27.6 months. Successful closure occurred in 92% of the ears. No graft lateralized nor displaced into the middle ear. No retraction pocket occurred during the follow-up period. In 62 cases, intact canal wall or canal wall window tympanomastoidectomy was performed; Fifty-one (82.2%) of the patients having mastoidectomy procedures had chronic otitis media with cholesteatoma. The mean preoperative to postoperative four-tone air-bone gap improved from 23 to 21 dB; the number of patients with 0 to 10 dB hearing results increased from 16 ears preoperatively to 32 ears postoperatively. Postoperative suboptimal results included eight patients with postoperative perforations in the residual tympanic membrane adjacent to an intact cartilage graft; two of these patients were the only individuals who exhibited otorrhea. CONCLUSIONS: Cartilage butterfly graft inlay tympanoplasty is effective in the vast majority of patients with moderate to large perforations. The closure rate exceeded 90% with no graft displacement, postoperative adverse events were respectably low, and hearing results improved or remained stable despite the need for concurrent mastoidectomy in the majority of patients.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1972

Variation in cardiac glycoside content of monarch butterflies from natural populations in eastern North America.

A new spectrophotometric assay has been used to determine the gross concentration of cardiac glycoside in individual monarch butterflies. Adults sampled during the fall migration in four areas of eastern North America exhibited a wide variation in cardiac glycoside concentration. The correlation between spectrophotometrically measured concentrations and emetic dose determinations supports the existence of a broad palatability spectrum in wild monarch butterflies. The cardiac gylcoside concentration is greater in females than in males and is independent of the dry weight of the butterflies; contrary to prediction, both the concentration mean and variance decrease southward. The defensive advantage of incorporating cardiac glycosides may be balanced by detrimental effects on individual viability.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2002

A prospective, within-patient comparison between metal butterfly needles and Teflon cannulae in subcutaneous infusion of drugs to terminally ill hospice patients.

We performed a prospective study of hospice in-patients requiring a syringe driver (SD), to determine the site duration and tolerability of metal butterfly needles compared to Teflon cannulae. Using patients as their own control, prescribed medications were divided equally between two SDs (Graseby MS16a), for delivery over 24 h. A butterfly infusion (Flosafer, 25 gauge) was connected to one SD and a Teflon cannula (Abbocath-T, 24 gauge), to the second. These were inserted subcutaneously (s.c.) on opposite sides of the body at comparable sites; oedematous, broken or painful sites were excluded. SD sites were examined at 4-hourly intervals. The study was terminated when both devices had required resiting. Needle and cannula times were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test. Thirty patients entered the study, 13 males and 17 females, mean age (standard deviation): 70 (11) years. Thirteen patients completed the study. Nine patients died and eight patients discontinued the study before both needle and cannula had been resited. All 30 patients are included in the analysis. The time from insertion to resiting of the cannula was significantly longer than the needle: P < 0.0002, median (range) 93.5 (22.8-263.5) h versus 42.8 (7.5-162.3) h, respectively. The cost of the needle versus cannula is 1.93 Pounds versus 2.51 Pounds, respectively. Teflon cannulae have a median life span twice that of metal butterfly needles and are a cost-effective alternative for administration of medications by s.c. infusion in terminally ill patients.

Aged↗

PubMed2000

A randomized trial of winged Vialon cannulae and metal butterfly needles.

The purpose of this parallel randomized study was to evaluate whether subcutaneous infusion sites initiated with winged vialon cannulae would have fewer skin reactions and longer site duration than metal butterfly needles and reduce needlestick injuries to staff. Data were collected on 42 hospice inpatients from the time of insertion of the first needle or cannula to the time of the first replacement of that device. A non-parametric survival plot for time (Kaplan-Meier method) was conducted and the survival time to replacement of the Vialon cannula was found to be longer than the metal butterfly needle. During the study period there were a total of four needlestick injuries to staff from metal butterfly needles. The authors conclude that Vialon cannulae reduce the frequency of site changes and are safer for staff to use because of the reduced risk of needlestick injuries.

Accidents, Occupational↗

PubMed2002

Grazing-incidence iridescence from a butterfly wing.

The Troides magellanus butterfly exhibits a specialized iridescence that is visible only when its hind wings are both illuminated and viewed at near-grazing incidence. The effect is due to the presence of a constrained bigrating structure in its wing scales that has been previously observed in only one other species of butterfly (Ancyluris meliboeus). However, whereas the Ancyluris presents wide-angle flickering iridescence, the Troides butterfly uses pigmentary coloration at all but a narrow tailored range of angles, producing a characteristic effect.

Animals↗

PubMed1991

[Use of a butterfly ventilation tube in the treatment of otitis media with effusion].

Sixty-three ears of 49 patients with serous otitis media were treated making use of butterfly ventilation tube in our 4 hospitals and 1 private office. The average time from intubation to extubation was 9 months and the longest case was 33 months. Main complications were infection and spontaneous extubation. The rate of hearing improvement after tympanostomy was more than 80% in all cases. The frequency of the most improvement was observed in 1kHz on the average. It was cleared that the butterfly ventilation tube was easy to use for the wide age patients and at any clinics. It was concluded that the butterfly ventilation tube was useful as a long-term ventilation tube.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1998

[Asymmetric confusability effects in recognition memory of butterfly pictures].

The relation between recognition of butterfly pictures involving feature changes (additions, deletions, or no change) and discordance to expectation for those pictures was examined. The addition of deletion of features was applied to original butterfly photographs to generate changed pictures. Forty subjects were asked to rate the discordance of these pictures to expected butterflies. Other subjects were shown original pictures and then given a recognition test of original pictures and changed pictures with features added or deleted. The results showed that (a) additions or deletions increased discordance more markedly than no changes; (b) additions were easier to correctly rejected than deletions; and (c) recognition performance was not dependent on discordance. It was concluded that addition superiority over deletion was not mediated by the factor of discordance to expectation.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

[Clinical research of a butterfly shaped mesh in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of a butterfly shaped mesh in treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). METHODS: From July 2003 to January 2004, 82 patients with SUI were treated with a butterfly shaped mesh. All patients were followed up at 1st, 3rd, 6th month after operation. According to their complaints, the cure standard of urinary incontinence is that the patient can control micturate by herself. The improved is that the times and volume of urinary incontinence is less than before. The inefficacy is that the patients' symptoms is not improved even more than before. RESULTS: All patients were operated under local anesthesia. Mean operation time was (27 +/- 9) min, and mean blood loss was (21 +/- 6) ml. Seventy two patients were able to micturate spontaneously at 2nd hour after operation and the volume of residual urine was less than 100 ml after 24 hour behind operation. They were discharged on the next day. 10 patients, an in-dwelling catheter had been used for 48 hours because the volume of residual urine was more than 100 ml. Seventy eight of 82 patients had no signs of stress incontinence. The remaining 4 patients with apoplexy history showed leakage of urine slightly. But their signs were improved obviously after a month. Seventy six patients had been followed up for from 1 to 6 month: 74 patients were completely cured, and the other 2 patients were improved. No urine retention, infection or bladder dysfunction were observed. CONCLUSION: A butterfly shaped mesh is effective, simple and safe procedure to treat stress urinary incontinence.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

[Transcanal butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty].

OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the long-term results of transcanal butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty technique in adult patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Transcanal butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty was performed in 11 adult patients (7 males, 4 females; mean age 30 years; range 21 to 45 years) with chronic otitis media. The operations were performed under general or local anesthesia. Perforation diameters ranged from 2 to 6 mm. The mean follow-up period was 9.5 months. RESULTS: At the end of the follow-up period, perforations closed in 10 patients (90.9%). In one patient, reperforation occurred in the second month. The mean preoperative and postoperative air-bone gaps obtained in 10 patients were 18 dB and 6.5 dB, respectively. CONCLUSION: Butterfly cartilage tympanoplasty technique was very effective to close central, small tympanic membrane perforations associated with minimal hearing loss.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

A bronchial butterfly.

We report on an asthmatic patient who accidentally inhaled the small metal backing ("butterfly") of a nose stud, which she wore daily. Despite administration of nebulized salbutamol, postural drainage, and the use of rigid and fibreoptic bronchoscopes, attempted removal of the butterfly remained unsuccessful. Spontaneous expulsion of the butterfly occurred two months following inhalation. We suggest that consideration should be given by nose stud jewelry manufacturers to a more secure fixing device.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Evidence of a butterfly-like configuration of structurally diverse allosteric inhibitors of the HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

Although many physicochemical properties of chemically diverse nonnucleoside inhibitors of HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (NNRTIs) differ, there is a common three-dimensional feature. This shape is a rigid butterfly-like configuration which fits well into a sizable internal cavity of the allosteric area of the enzyme. The number of amino acids of the allosteric receptor sites that contribute to NNRTIs binding correlates with the degree of the butterfly-like shape. It seems that molecular rigidity of the butterfly-like shape, the drug affinity and the probability of resistance development are closely related.

Antiviral Agents↗

PubMed2025

Tales of a Super Butterfly: Is Vanessa carye a Truly Migrant Species? Unraveling Migration Using Morphological and Genomics Approaches.

Among movement strategies, migratory behavior is particularly intriguing in insects. Home-breeding is often permanent, and return journeys can take several generations. Although migration is crucial to the ecological and evolutionary processes of the species involved, knowledge of insect migratory behavior needs to be better understood. Vanessa carye, a butterfly native to South America with a latitudinal range of ∼7,000 km, exemplifies this problem. This study analyzed samples collected across the species' range using single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to assess population structure, genetic diversity, and geometric morphometrics to examine wing shape variation. Results indicate that V. carye forms a genetically homogeneous unit composed of only two potential populations spanning ∼5,000 km, geographically correlated with the Pacific Ocean and the Andes, maintaining constant gene flow, and with a mean heterozygosity of 5.74% (SE: ±0.048%). Geometric morphometrics detected no geographic differentiation in wing shapes and sizes across ∼7,000 km, suggesting an absence of local adaptation and indicating a conserved wing shape adapted to flight throughout the species' range. Our findings support V. carye as a migratory species with the longest migratory journey among American butterflies, revealing two migratory routes. With these approaches, we provide a consistent methodological framework for migratory studies in species with important gaps in knowledge of their natural history.

Animals↗

PubMed2025

Novel genetic association with migratory diapause in Australian monarch butterflies.

BACKGROUND: Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are a charismatic and culturally important North American butterfly species famous for their unique, dramatic migratory life history. While non-migratory populations of the species are widespread and apparently stable, migratory populations in North America have recently seen declines, prompting concern that the migratory phenomenon in North America may be at risk of disappearing. In contrast, a relatively recently-established monarch population in Australia has rapidly re-acquired a migratory life history following hundreds of generations of residency and successive bottlenecks as the species island-hopped across the Pacific during the late 1800s and early 1900s. The process by which migration re-emerged in Australian monarchs is not currently known. RESULTS: We raised and sequenced individuals from Queensland, Australia under environmental conditions associated with migration initiation and found strong variance in reproductive diapause, a key migratory trait, between families which was associated with variation at the spectrin beta chain protein Karst. This protein is known to be involved in diapause termination in monarchs but has not previously been identified as associated with migratory life history variance. The most strongly associated migratory SNPs are also present at a low frequency in North America, suggesting that the Australian population is leveraging standing variation which persisted across repeated bottlenecks as Monarchs spread across the Pacific. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide an intriguing example of how the temporary loss of migration-in this case likely over hundreds of generations-may not entail the loss of genetic variation associated with this complex life history strategy.

Animals↗

PubMed1983

Invariance and sex-specific variations of the glomerular organization in the antennal lobes of a moth, Mamestra brassicae, and a butterfly, Pieris brassicae.

The glomerular organization of the antennal lobes was analyzed in the moth Mamestra brassicae and comparatively in the butterfly Pieris brassicae. The invariance of the lobes in number, position, and size of the glomeruli was verified quantitatively in the moth for all the glomeruli in individuals of the same sex (67 in males, 68 in females) and for 56 sex-invariant glomeruli which can be identified in all individuals whatever their sex. In the butterfly, the positional variability is greater than in the moth and hinders identification. The most conspicuous sex-variant glomeruli are two adjoining macroglomeruli in the male moth which have homologs of very small size in the female. No such dimorphism was observed in Pieris, a species in which males are attracted to female by visual stimuli and not by a sex pheromone as in Mamestra. There are other sex-variant glomeruli in Mamestra: four varying in location, three subdivided in the female, two found only in the male, and three found only in the female. Consequently, differing olfactory sensitivity related to species and sex could correlate with detectable modifications in the glomerular organization. A hypothesis on the function of glomeruli is discussed in which most of the glomeruli are viewed as "olfactory generalists" giving rise collectively to proposed "across-glomeruli patterns."

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Reorganization of visual interneurons during metamorphosis in the swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus.

The metamorphic fate of larval visual interneurons in the swallowtail butterfly Papilio xuthus has been examined by using reduced silver impregnation and immunocytochemistry of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA). Visual interneurons in the second larval optic neuropile (medulla) can be followed throughout metamorphosis because of large somata located in the anterior edge of the imaginal medulla. Ten to 12 neurons in the larval medulla were immunoreactive to a GABA-antiserum. They arborize in the larval medulla and extend dendritic processes to the first larval optic neuropile (lamina). After pupation, the medulla neurons lose GABA-immunoreactive larval processes and differentiate new processes that enter tangentially into the developing imaginal medulla. Axons of the surviving larval neurons follow an optic tract between the lobula and the lobula plate and extend to the lateral area of the protocerebrum. Thus, larval visual interneurons are incorporated into the imaginal optic lobe and may play a new role in the visual processing of the butterfly.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Eyespot development on butterfly wings: the focal signal.

The eyespot colour pattern on butterfly wings is specified in the early pupal epidermis by signals from a central "focus." In Bicyclus anynana we show that a small square of focal epidermis, grafted to a range of distal wing sites, induces eyespot formation in surrounding host tissue. Signaling is limited to the focus, and even an adjacent (parafocal) graft does not maintain its normal fate (of contributing to the eyespot) and does not influence its surroundings. Along the wing, there is an abrupt change in the epidermis, as a focus grafted to a proximal site provokes no host response. The results of several grafting experiments demonstrate that their different response properties are autonomous to small areas of the distal and proximal epidermis and that the nonresponding proximal tissue can nonetheless transmit the focal sign. The Bicyclus dorsal forewing has a small anterior and a large posterior eyespot, and we show that this results mainly from a difference in focal signals, not in the epidermal response. A grafted posterior focus induces a large eyespot, whereas an anterior focus induces a small eyespot. Furthermore, the anterior and posterior eyespots differ in proportions, and this difference also depends on the identity of the focus, not on the responding epidermis. Eyespots are specified over many cell diameters from the focus by a mechanism which could consist of one long-range signal, such as a morphogen gradient or of a cascade of short-range interactions initiated by the focus. Focal control of the difference in size and proportion between the anterior and posterior eyespot is more readily compatible with a gradient mechanism. Neither model, however, readily explains why the pattern induced by a grafted focus is smaller, but its peripheral gold annulus is broader than in the corresponding control eyespot. Also, there is no direct evidence for long-range gradients, in the butterfly wing or any other insect epithelium.

Animals↗