Recent Progress on Anomalous X-ray Pulsars

I review recent observational progress on Anomalous X-ray Pulsars, with an emphasis on timing, variability, and spectra. Highlighted results include the recent timing and flux stabilization of the notoriously unstable AXP 1E 1048.1-5937, the remarkable glitches seen in two AXPs, the newly recognized variety of AXP variability types, including outbursts, bursts, flares, and pulse profile changes, as well as recent discoveries regarding AXP spectra, including their surprising hard X-ray and far-infrared emission, as well as the pulsed radio emission seen in one source. Much has been learned about these enigmatic objects over the past few years, with the pace of discoveries remaining steady. However additional work on both observational and theoretical fronts is needed before we have a comprehensive understanding of AXPs and their place in the zoo of manifestations of young neutron stars.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures; to appear in proceedings of the conference "Isolated Neutron Stars: From the Interior to the Surface" eds. S. Zane, R. Turolla, D. Page; Astrophysics & Space Science in pres

Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths

We review observations of several classes of neutron-star-powered outflows: pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe) inside shell supernova remnants (SNRs), PWNe interacting directly with interstellar medium (ISM), and magnetar-powered outflows. We describe radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray observations of PWNe, focusing first on integrated spectral-energy distributions (SEDs) and global spectral properties. High-resolution X-ray imaging of PWNe shows a bewildering array of morphologies, with jets, trails, and other structures. Several of the 23 so far identified magnetars show evidence for continuous or sporadic emission of material, sometimes associated with giant flares, and a few possible "magnetar-wind nebulae" have been recently identified.Comment: 61 pages, 44 figures (reduced in quality for size reasons). Published in Space Science Reviews, "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release

Obesity And Asthma: Association Or Coincidence?

Objective: Asthma and obesity are among the major causes of morbidity in childhood and adolescence. Early obesity increases the chances of chronic degenerative diseases in adults. Although the concomitance or both clinical situations are being demonstrated in various studies, the intrinsic mechanisms of this association are still very little known. Therefore, the objective of this article was to review the main studies on the association of obesity and asthma and check if there is a cause-effect relation between them. Sources: Systematic review based on indexed data bases MEDLINE (PubMed) and SciELO. Original articles (cross-sectional, case-control, and prospective studies) and meta-analysis published in the period that ranges from January 1998 to January 2008 were reviewed. Studies published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese were researched. Summary of the findings: Although there are various studies on growing prevalence of asthma and obesity, few of them establish cause-effect relations between them. Physiopathological mechanisms and factors involved in this process are still little known. Conclusion: Methodological rigor in future studies must seek for answers to better understand if there is association between asthma and obesity or if the relationship between both diseases is a coincidence. Copyright © 2010 by Sociedade Brasileira de Pediatria.861614[IV Brazilian Guidelines for the Management of Asthma]. J Bras Pneumol. 2006;32 Suppl 7:S447-74Tantisira KG, Weiss ST. Complex interactions in complex traits: obesity and asthma. 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(2002) J Pediatr (Rio J), 78, pp. 335-340Silveira, D., Taddei, J.A., Escrivão, M.A., Oliveira, F.L., Ancona-Lopez, F., Risk factors for overweight among Brazilian adolescents of low-income families: A case-control study (2006) Public Health Nutr, 9, pp. 421-428Leão, L.S., Araújo, L.M., de Moraes, L.T., Assis, A.M., Prevalence of obesity in school children from Salvador, Bahia (2003) Arq Bras Endocrinol Metab, 47, pp. 151-157Goran, M.I., Gower, B.A., Relation between visceral fat and disease risk in children and adolescents (1999) Am J Clin Nutr, 70, pp. 149S-156SGortmaker, S.L., Dietz Jr, W.H., Sobol, A.M., Wehler, C.A., Increasing pediatric obesity in the United States (1987) Am J Dis Child, 141, pp. 535-540Verma, M., Chhatwal, J., George, S.M., Obesity and hypertension in children (1994) Indian Pediatr, 31, pp. 1065-1069Gerber, Z.R., Zielinsky, P., Risk factors of atherosclerosis in children: An epidemiologic study (1997) Arq Bras Cardiol, 69, pp. 231-236Guillaume, M., Lapidus, L., Lambert, A., Obesity and nutrition in children. The Belgian Luxembourg Child Study IV (1998) Eur J Clin Nutr, 52, pp. 323-328Physical status: The use and interpretation of anthropometry. Report of a WHO Expert Committee (1995) World Health Organ Tech Rep Ser, 854, pp. 1-452Anjos, L.A., Body mass index (body mass.body height-2) as indicator of nutritional status in adults: Review of the literature (1992) Rev Saude Publica, 26, pp. 431-436Heyward, V.H., Stolarczyk, L.M., (1996) Applied Body Composition Assessment, , Champaign: Human Kinetics;López-Jaramillo, P., Pradilla, L.P., Bracho, Y., Papel del adipocito en la inflamación del síndrome metabólico. (2005) Acta Med Colomb, 30, pp. 137-140Ribeiro Filho, F.F., Mariosa, L.S., Ferreira, S.R., Zanella, M.T., Visceral fat and metabolic syndrome: More than a simple association. Arq Bras Endocrinol (2006) Metabol, 50, pp. 230-238de Carvalho, M.H., Colaço, A.L., Fortes, Z.B., Cytokines, endothelial dysfunction, and insulin resistance. Arq Bras Endocrinol (2006) Metabol, 50, pp. 304-312Beuther, D.A., Weiss, S.T., Sutherland, E.R., Obesity and Asthma (2006) Am J Respir Crit Care Med, 174, pp. 112-119Castro-Rodríguez, J.A., Relación entre obesidad y asma. (2007) Arch Bronconeumol, 43, pp. 171-175Mai, X.M., Gäddlin, P.O., Nilsson, L., Leijon, I., Early rapid weight gain and current overweight in relation to asthma in adolescents born with very low birth weight (2005) Pediatr Allergy Immunol, 16, pp. 380-385von Mutius, E., Schwartz, J., Neas, L.M., Dockery, D., Weiss, S.T., Relation of body mass index to asthma and atopy in children: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Study III (2001) Thorax, 56, pp. 835-838van Gent, R., van der Ent, C.K., Rovers, M.M., Kimpen, J.L., van Essen-Zandvliet, L.E., de Meer, G., Excessive body weight is associated with additional loss of quality of life in children with asthma (2007) J Allergy Clin Immunol, 119, pp. 591-596Schachter, L.M., Peat, J.K., Salome, C.M., Asthma and atopy in overweight children (2003) Thorax, 58, pp. 1031-1035Antonio, M.A., Ribeiro, J.D., Toro, A.A., Piedrabuena, A.E., Morcillo, A.M., Evaluation of the nutritional status of the children and adolescents with asthma (2003) Rev Assoc Med Bras, 49, pp. 367-371Leung, T.F., Li, C.Y., Lam, C.W., Au, C.S., Yung, E., Chan, I.H., The relation between obesity and asthmatic airway inflammation (2004) Pediatr Allergy Immunol, 15, pp. 344-350Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) [http://www.ginasthma.com]. http://www.ginasthma.com. 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Interplay between Developmental Flexibility and Determinism in the Evolution of Mimetic Heliconius Wing Patterns

"To what extent can we predict how evolution occurs? Do genetic architectures and developmental processes canalize the evolution of similar outcomes in a predictable manner? Or do historical contingencies impose alternative pathways to answer the same challenge? Examples of Müllerian mimicry between distantly related butterfly species provide natural replicates of evolution, allowing us to test whether identical wing patterns followed parallel or novel trajectories. Here, we explore the role that the signaling ligand WntA plays in generating mimetic wing patterns in Heliconius butterflies, a group with extraordinary mimicry-related wing pattern diversity. The radiation is relatively young, and numerous cases of wing pattern mimicry have evolved within the last 2.5–4.5 Ma. WntA is an important target of natural selection and is one of four major effect loci that underlie much of the pattern variation in the group. We used CRISPR/Cas9 targeted mutagenesis to generate WntA-deficient wings in 12 species and a further 10 intraspecific variants, including three co-mimetic pairs. In all tested butterflies, WntA knockouts affect pattern broadly and cause a shift among every possible scale cell type. Interestingly, the co-mimics lacking WntA were very different, suggesting that the gene networks that pattern a wing have diverged considerably among different lineages. Thus, although natural selection channeled phenotypic convergence, divergent developmental contexts between the two major Heliconius lineages opened different developmental routes to evolve resemblance. Consequently, even under very deterministic evolutionary scenarios, our results underscore a surprising unpredictability in the developmental paths underlying convergence in a recent radiation. © 2019 Elsevier LtdConcha et al. use CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to knock out a major wing patterning gene, WntA, in mimetic species of Heliconius butterflies and report that WntA is used in divergent gene regulatory networks in co-mimics and that resemblance is achieved through differential expression of WntA and its interaction with the specific genetic background. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd

Interplay between Developmental Flexibility and Determinism in the Evolution of Mimetic Heliconius Wing Patterns

To what extent can we predict how evolution occurs? Do genetic architectures and developmental processes canalize the evolution of similar outcomes in a predictable manner? Or do historical contingencies impose alternative pathways to answer the same challenge? Examples of Müllerian mimicry between distantly related butterfly species provide natural replicates of evolution, allowing us to test whether identical wing patterns followed parallel or novel trajectories. Here, we explore the role that the signaling ligand WntA plays in generating mimetic wing patterns in Heliconius butterflies, a group with extraordinary mimicry-related wing pattern diversity. The radiation is relatively young, and numerous cases of wing pattern mimicry have evolved within the last 2.5–4.5 Ma. WntA is an important target of natural selection and is one of four major effect loci that underlie much of the pattern variation in the group. We used CRISPR/Cas9 targeted mutagenesis to generate WntA-deficient wings in 12 species and a further 10 intraspecific variants, including three co-mimetic pairs. In all tested butterflies, WntA knockouts affect pattern broadly and cause a shift among every possible scale cell type. Interestingly, the co-mimics lacking WntA were very different, suggesting that the gene networks that pattern a wing have diverged considerably among different lineages. Thus, although natural selection channeled phenotypic convergence, divergent developmental contexts between the two major Heliconius lineages opened different developmental routes to evolve resemblance. Consequently, even under very deterministic evolutionary scenarios, our results underscore a surprising unpredictability in the developmental paths underlying convergence in a recent radiation. © 2019 Elsevier LtdConcha et al. use CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to knock out a major wing patterning gene, WntA, in mimetic species of Heliconius butterflies and report that WntA is used in divergent gene regulatory networks in co-mimics and that resemblance is achieved through differential expression of WntA and its interaction with the specific genetic background. © 2019 Elsevier Lt