Butterfly Brain

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Researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute compared the mushroom body size and behaviors of a tribe of 41 Heliconiini butterfly species. They found that Heliconius mushroom bodies were twice as large as those of their nearest ancestor, the Eueides, and four times as large as their second closest relative, the Dryadula phaetusa. By creating 3D digital models of all the Heliconiini brains, the researchers confirmed they were indeed looking at mushroom body size, and not a decrease in other brain regions. Due to the highly conserved nature of the central complex 1, 36, 37, 69, our results give deep insights into the general coding of goal-directed orientation in insects. Our recordings were obtained from non-migratory monarch butterflies that are closely related to the population of migratory monarch butterflies but lost their ability to migrate 70, 71. Thus, in contrast to the single (southward) goal-direction set by the population of migratory monarch butterflies, the non-migratory butterflies maintain any possible goal direction with respect to a virtual sun (menotactic orientation) 48, 53. Because non-migratory monarch butterflies demonstrate individual-specific goal directions 48, 53, we reasoned that their goal directions can be experimentally controlled, which is ideal to investigate the neural coding of goal directions. However, as non-migratory captive-reared monarch butterflies differ behaviorally 70, 71, morphologically 72, 73, 74, and physiologically 73 from migratory monarch butterflies 28, 70, 75, 76, 77, 78, ideas on how the migration behavior is encoded in the monarch butterfly brain should be read with cautious, here. The outlook for a malignant brain tumour depends on things like where it is in the brain, its size, and what grade it is.

butterfly effect in the brain | UCL News - UCL – University A butterfly effect in the brain | UCL News - UCL – University

The researchers think that these subtle differences in brain structures help keep the two butterfly lineages apart, contributing to their being two different species. It’s likely that the differences in brain structure impacts behavior such as foraging or mating, leading to divergent behaviors. When the brain and the gnathal ganglion are well exposed, remove the other extra tissue still attached to them, by maintaining the brain with one hand through using the forceps slightly opened, and pulling the extra tissue away from it with the other hand. Sometimes, the brain and gnathal ganglion can be extracted directly from the head tissue, by pulling them gently with the forceps ( Figure 6F). Small trachea (identified thanks to their shiny white colour) that are strongly attached to each brain lobe should be left in place, as they can tear the brain tissue if pulled away; Neurons are comprised of a cell body (soma) and neural processes ( axons and dendrites). They are structurally classified based on how many processes they have: unipolar, pseudounipolar, bipolar, and multipolar. The axons of most neurons are wrapped with a white substance called myelin. Myelinated axons are found in the white matter, giving it its colour and distinguishing it from grey matter (neuronal cell bodies).

When butterflies go out for food, this same process is happening in their own brains in a specialized structure called the mushroom body. While humans boast an estimated 86 billion neurons, butterflies make good use of their 200,000. One species of butterfly, the Heliconius of Central and South America, is particularly good at navigating to their favorite food sources. Not only are they outstanding for their ability to remember visual markings in their environment, but their food preferences set them apart from all other closely related species. While most butterflies eat pollen at birth before maturing into a nectar-based diet, Heliconius butterflies continue to eat pollen throughout their lives. For behavioral analysis, we computed circular histograms by adding each data point of the optical encoder to the corresponding 10-degree heading bin. The animal’s preferred heading, represented by the mean vector, was computed with the CircStat toolbox in MATLAB. The flight directedness (r) was described with the mean vector strength which ranged between 0 (non-directed) to 1 (highly directed). Distributions of preferred headings of all animals were tested for uniformity with a Rayleigh test and visualized in Oriana (Version 4.01, Kovach Computing Services, Anglesey, Wales, UK). Johns Hopkins Medicine. (2021, May 14). Fruit flies and mosquitos are ‘brainier’ than most people suspect, say scientists who counted the bugs’ brain cells. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/news/newsroom/news-releases/fruit-flies-and-mosquitos-are-brainier-than-most-people-suspect-say-scientists-who-counted-the-bugs-brain-cells Kaplan–Meier plots of a overall survival of the entire cohort of patients with a butterfly glioblastoma and b the cohort of patients having undergone surgical biopsy compared to the cohort having undergone surgical decompression. All patients were included regardless of having received adjuvant therapy. Median survival for the biopsy group was 48 days compared to the surgically decompressed group of 265 days, p = 0.14 (log-rank) Dima Suki, Department of Neurosurgery, The University of Texas M.D., Anderson Cancer Center, 1400 Holcombe Blvd., Unit 442, Houston, TX 77030, USA.

Butterfly glioma - Neurosurgery Butterfly glioma - Neurosurgery

Definition: Neural tissue outside the CNS whose function is to convey the information between the CNS and rest of the body. Butterfly mushroom bodies are typically composed of a visual and an audio region. Scientists were able to identify that, across all brains studied, the areas involved with vision showed the largest growth in brain evolution. Median survival of patients undergoing the Stupp regimen, where 83 % of patients had undergone prior decompression surgery, was 14.6 months [ 15]. In this group, 92 % carried a diagnosis of glioblastoma (not further characterized) and 86 % had a WHO performance status of ≤1 (KPS was not utilized in this study). Eight of our patients received radiation with concurrent temozolomide, although not all received the exact Stupp regimen. There was one death prior to completion of XRT. The median survival of this biopsy subgroup was 296 days, whereas the median survival of this surgically decompressed subgroup was 608 days. Our patients who did receive radiation with concurrent temozolomide showed a tendency to survive longer. Despite having small brains, insects’ cognitive abilities are impressive. They can process a large set of information from their environment and adjust their behaviour accordingly [ 1]. Many species possess remarkable learning and memorisation skills [ 2, 3]. Examples of sophisticated behaviours include concept and category learning in honeybees [ 4], tool use in ants [ 5], facial pattern recognition in wasps [ 6, 7], and counting ability in bees [ 8, 9]. Hold the pupal head down in the PBS with one hand, and use your dominant hand to remove remaining thoracic, antennal, and mouthpart tissues still attached to the cuticle and to the developing head ( Figure 2C). With your dominant hand, grab the trachea developing around each eye and pull it away;radiosurgery – lots of tiny beams of radiation are aimed at the cancer to kill it if you can't have surgery Detach the antennae ( Figure 2A and Figure 3F) using a pair of curved forceps. Pull the antennae hard away from the head using the forceps in your dominant hand, while gently pressing down, to the extent of just touching the head with the other forceps in your non-dominant hand ( Figure 3F); Butterfly glioblastomas arguably represent the most aggressive form of glioblastoma multiforme. To date, objective assessment of a survival or clinical performance advantage in this patient population has not been performed. There is a paucity of objective data available to physicians that describe the clinical course and optimal management of this disease. Current management options include biopsy only, followed by radiation and chemotherapy; surgical decompression followed by radiation and chemotherapy; or biopsy followed by palliative measures (comfort care). Management decisions are subjective, based upon physician experience and/or patient/family preferences in light of the prognosis of this disease. To begin to answer this question, let’s talk about brains and brain cells. As you probably know, the brain is the control center for most animals, including humans. This is where signals are sent out and received by the rest of the body. These cells can help an animal move by controlling muscles, or transmit information about its environment and make changes according to what is happening. If it is too hot, it might signal muscles to move to a shady location. If there is a predator, it might signal to hide or even change color to blend into its surroundings.

How a Butterfly Brain Adapts During Metamorphosis

It’s important to know that there is nothing you could have done, or avoided doing, that would have caused you or somebody you know to develop a brain tumour. Although we report longer median survival for the patients who had undergone surgical decompression, this result was not statistically significant. We cannot make any definitive conclusions that having undergone surgical decompression would improve survival compared to biopsy despite the observed trend. Since many patients in the biopsy group with shorter survival times were lost to follow up, closer examination of circumstances that could account for this outcome was not possible. This leaves two important questions unanswered. One, does a delay in the initiation of adjuvant therapy (principally XRT) contribute to shorter survival? Two, after having undergone biopsy only, does the remaining tumor’s mass effect diminish a patient’s ability to tolerate a full course of XRT? For the patients who did complete a full course of XRT, regardless of having undergone a biopsy or decompression procedure, median KPS at conclusion of this portion of adjuvant therapy was 70. The factors that contribute to the maintenance of a higher functional status could not be elicited from our small cohort.Close your eyes and picture your route to the grocery store. As you visualize the curves of the road and the street signs you pass, you are using the region of your brain called the hippocampus. As you navigate, you are tracing paths between neurons in your brain, mapping memories called engrams. The more times a day you do this, the more connections you make and the stronger your visual memory will be.