The development of the male reproductive tract is dependent upon androgens and mesenchymal-epithelial interactions. Androgens masculinise the reproductive tract during the latter third of gestation, and are required for the formation of the male sex accessory organs including the prostate and seminal vesicle (Cunha et al., 1987). Studies using tissue recombination have shown that androgen recep...

By examining the clinical and epidemiologic studies available in the literature, a coherent set of reproductive tract disorders related to CD can be outlined. The reproductive alterations most frequently found in women affected by CD include: infertility (2,3) , spontaneous abortions (4) , amenorrhea and shorter fertility period (delayed puberty, early menopause) (5-8) . Moreover, delays in the...

Aim The global vertical depth distribution of seagrass species remains poorly understood. Locally, the abundance and seagrasses is determined by light penetration, but at levels each has very distinct maximum distributional ranges, indicating that plant-associated traits must also influence their specific ranges. Seagrass-specific attributes, such as plant size or architecture, growth reproduct...

Background. The miracle plant, Synsepalum dulcificum (Schumach. & Thonn.) Daniell is a native African orphan crop species that has recently received increased attention due to its promise as a sweetener and source of antioxidants in both the food and pharmaceutical industries. However, a major obstacle to the species' widespread utilization is its relatively slow growth rate and prolonged juven...

As much as vertical transmission of microbial symbionts requires their deep integration into the host reproductive and developmental biology, symbiotic lifestyle might profoundly affect bacterial growth and proliferation. This review describes the reproductive oddities displayed by bacteria associated - more or less intimately - with multicellular eukaryotes.

BACKGROUND Ecological characteristics (growth, morphology, reproduction) arise from the interaction between environmental factors and genetics. Genetic analysis of individuals' life history traits might be used to improve our understanding of mechanisms that form and maintain a hybrid zone. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS A fish hybrid zone was used to characterize the process of natural selec...

phase transition from vegetative to reproductive growth is an important character for winter wheat under cold conditions because it decreases the ability of wheat plants to maintain frost tolerance. reproductive development in winter wheat is triggered by fulfillment of vernalization requirements. this study was conducted to determine the inter-relationship between developmental stages and free...

Balancing growth and reproductive performance in beef cattle managed in desert environments is challenging. Our objectives were to 1) evaluate trends in growth and reproductive traits, and 2) assess associative relationships between growth characteristics and reproductive performance in a Brangus herd managed in a Chihuahuan Desert production system from 1972 to 2006. Data were from bull (n = 5...

The basic reproductive number, R(0), and the effective reproductive number, R, are commonly used in mathematical epidemiology as summary statistics for the size and controllability of epidemics. However, these commonly used reproductive numbers can be misleading when applied to predict pathogen evolution because they do not incorporate the impact of the timing of events in the life-history cycl...

Despite a large body of knowledge about the evolution of life histories, we know little about how variable food availability during an individual's development affects its life history. We measured the effects of manipulating food levels during early and late larval development of the mosquito Aedes aegypti on its growth rate, life history and reproductive success. Switching from low to high fo...