Evolution of a Novel Appendage Ground Plan in Water Striders Is Driven by Changes in the Hox Gene Ultrabithorax

Water striders, a group of semi-aquatic bugs adapted to life on the water surface, have evolved mid-legs (L2) that are long relative to their hind-legs (L3). This novel appendage ground plan is a derived feature among insects, where L2 function as oars and L3 as rudders. The Hox gene Ultrabithorax (Ubx) is known to increase appendage size in a variety of insects. Using gene expression and RNAi analysis, we discovered that Ubx is expressed in both L2 and L3, but Ubx functions to elongate L2 and to shorten L3 in the water strider Gerris buenoi. Therefore, within hemimetabolous insects, Ubx has evolved a new expression domain but maintained its ancestral elongating function in L2, whereas Ubx has maintained its ancestral expression domain but evolved a new shortening function in L3. These changes in Ubx expression and function may have been a key event in the evolution of the distinct appendage ground plan in water striders

Ubx Regulates Differential Enlargement and Diversification of Insect Hind Legs

Differential enlargement of hind (T3) legs represents one of the hallmarks of insect evolution. However, the actual mechanism(s) responsible are yet to be determined. To address this issue, we have now studied the molecular basis of T3 leg enlargement in Oncopeltus fasciatus (milkweed bug) and Acheta domesticus (house cricket). In Oncopeltus, the T3 tibia displays a moderate increase in size, whereas in Acheta, the T3 femur, tibia, and tarsus are all greatly enlarged. Here, we show that the hox gene Ultrabithorax (Ubx) is expressed in the enlarged segments of hind legs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that depletion of Ubx during embryogenesis has a primary effect in T3 legs and causes shortening of leg segments that are enlarged in a wild type. This result shows that Ubx is regulating the differential growth and enlargement of T3 legs in both Oncopeltus and Acheta. The emerging view suggests that Ubx was co-opted for a novel role in regulating leg growth and that the transcriptional modification of its expression may be a universal mechanism for the evolutionary diversification of insect hind legs

[Anthropometry as predictor of gestational diabetes mellitus].

BACKGROUND: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is a high incidence disease. Easily measured predictor factors could help to implement preventive policies and early detection tests. AIM: To measure recognizable risk factors for GDM such as skinfolds and analyze the association between these factors and the development of GDM in a cohort of pregnant women. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Evaluation of 76 mothers that developed gestational diabetes, aged 32.2 ± 0.6 years and 324 control mothers that did not develop the disease, aged 30.1 ± 0.3 years. Weight, height, arm circumference, tricipital, bicipital, subscapular, suprailiac, knee, costal and mid-thigh skinfolds were measured in the pre-diseased stage. History of diabetes, fasting glucose and insulin levels were also evaluated. RESULTS: Age, body mass index (BMI), fasting blood glucose, the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA), bi-cipital, tricipital, costal, subscapular, suprailiac, and knee skinfolds were associated with GDM development. Age, fasting blood glucose and subscapular skinfolds were independent predictors in the logistic regression model. The odds ratio for a subscapular skinfold over percentile 90 was 1.7 (95% confdence intervals: 1.07-3.04). CONCLUSIONS: Age and fasting blood glucose are independent risk factors for GDM. Subscapular skinfold is also an independent risk factor and could be used to detect high risk pregnant women and implement preventive policies

Processes Parametrised by an Algebraic Theory

We develop a (co)algebraic framework to study a family of process calculi with monadic branching structures and recursion operators. Our framework features a uniform semantics of process terms and a complete axiomatisation of semantic equivalence. We show that there are uniformly defined fragments of our calculi that capture well-known examples from the literature like regular expressions modulo bisimilarity and guarded Kleene algebra with tests. We also derive new calculi for probabilistic and convex processes with an analogue of Kleene star

Risco e imponderabilidade: superação ou radicalização da sociedade disciplinar?

Obesity is an emerging major health risk for women around the world. In this regard, little attention has been given to pregnancy, a moment of risk not only for major weight gain in these women, but also for macrosomia in their offspring. The objective of this study is to evaluate weight gain during pregnancy. Data pertains to a cohort of pregnant women attending general prenatal care clinics in six state capitals in Brazil, from 1991 to 1995. We studied women aged 20 years and over with singleton pregnancies and no diagnosis of diabetes outside pregnancy, enrolled at approximately 20 - 28 weeks of gestation. According to the Institute of Medicine criteria, 38% (95%CI: 36-40%) of the women studied gained less and 29% (95%CI: 28-31%) had more than the recommended total weight gain. These proportions vary according to pre-pregnancy nutritional status. Given the increasing epidemic of obesity, the high prevalence of overweight and obesity in Brazilian women prior to pregnancy, and the lack of achievement of recommended weight gain during pregnancy, more effective means of managing weight gain during pregnancy are necessary