A commentary is offered on the chapters that comprise the section on Theoretical Foundations, emphasizing novel contributions of each. Three additional points are then made. First, while the biology of reproductive aging may be common to all human populations, its actual course can be expected to vary between individuals and between populations depending on ecological conditions and development...

We present a model of decentralized growth and development for artificial neural networks (ANNs), inspired by developmental biology and the physiology of nervous systems. In this model, each individual artificial neuron is an autonomous unit whose behavior is determined only by the genetic information it harbors and local concentrations of substrates. The chemicals and substrates, in turn, are ...

Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065; Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry, and Molecular Diagnostics and LIFE Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, University of Leipzig, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medical Coll...

Many compounds in the environment capable of acting as endocrine disruptors have been assayed for their developmental effects on morphogenesis; however, few studies have addressed how such xenobiotics affect physiology. In the current study we examine the effects of three endocrine-disrupting compounds, chlordane, trans-nonachlor, and the polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) mixture Aroclor 1242, on ...

Crustaceans are a diverse and ancient group of arthropods that have long been studied as interesting model systems in biology, especially for understanding animal evolution and physiology and for environmentally relevant studies. Like many model systems, advances in DNA-sequencing methodologies have led to a large amount of genomics-related projects. The purpose of this article is to highlight ...

The effect of hypoxia on cellular metabolism is well documented in adult vertebrates, but information is entirely lacking for embryonic organisms. The effect of hypoxia on embryonic physiology is particularly interesting, as metabolic responses during development may have life-long consequences, due to developmental plasticity. To this end, we investigated the effects of chronic developmental h...

Developmental toxicity testing could greatly benefit from the availability of an in vitro alternative model based on the use of animal embryos that have better human-like physiology than the currently-used alternative models. These current models are insufficient, as extrapolation of the results can be challenging. Therefore, an in vitro bovine embryo culture system was used to expose individua...

Embryos, fetuses, and neonates form perfectly functional tissues and organs every day. Despite fevered efforts over the past 30 years, there has been very modest progress toward achieving the bewitching goal of organ replacement with embryonic or iPSCs. What is the basis of this humbling status quo? Surely one reason is our enduring ignorance of mechanisms governing development in any organ or ...

Cytokinins were discovered in the search for factors that promoted division of plant cells in culture. Naturally occurring cytokinins are N-substituted adenine derivatives that generally contain an isoprenoid derivative side chain. These hormones influence numerous aspects of plant development and physiology, including seed germination, de-etiolation, chloroplast differentiation, apical dominan...

Maternal stress during pregnancy has pervasive effects on the offspring's physiology and behavior, including the development of anxious, reactive temperament and increased stress responsivity. These outcomes can be seen as the result of adaptive developmental plasticity: maternal stress hormones carry useful information about the state of the external world, which can be used by the developing ...