Search

The disciplinary integration of biology and economy is taking new forms in the postgenomic era, transforming long-standing exchanges between human biology and economics. In this article, we first describe how an emerging area of research in development and health economics has embraced, stabilized, and expanded the emerging field of the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD). We map the global expansion of this literature particularly in the Global South. Via an analysis of shifting models of health in human capital, we argue that as economists draw on DOHaD theories, their increasing focus on marginalized groups in postcolonial settings produces a darker model of health deficit. Based on notions of accumulated shocks, this model questions the generalizable expansion of the economization of life and speaks to a wider and more sombre range of figures. Health models in economics reflect the double nature of biological and developmental plasticity caught between agency and passivity, change, and near-permanency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low doses of contaminants and toxins can stimulate pests feeding on contaminated tissues of host plants and enhance herbivore activity and plant damage. These effects are opposite to those of high toxic doses, have largely been missed so far, and could compromise crop production. Thus, they deserve further consideration and study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DNA replication during cell proliferation is 'vertical' copying, which reproduces an initial amount of genetic information. Polyploidy, which results from whole-genome duplication, is a fundamental complement to vertical copying. Both organismal and cell polyploidy can emerge via premature cell cycle exit or via cell-cell fusion, the latter giving rise to polyploid hybrid organisms and epigenetic hybrids of somatic cells. Polyploidy-related increase in biological plasticity, adaptation, and stress resistance manifests in evolution, development, regeneration, aging, oncogenesis, and cardiovascular diseases. Despite the prevalence in nature and importance for medicine, agri- and aquaculture, biological processes and epigenetic mechanisms underlying these fundamental features largely remain unknown. The evolutionarily conserved features of polyploidy include activation of transcription, response to stress, DNA damage and hypoxia, and induction of programs of morphogenesis, unicellularity, and longevity, suggesting that these common features confer adaptive plasticity, viability, and stress resistance to polyploid cells and organisms. By increasing cell viability, polyploidization can provide survival under stressful conditions where diploid cells cannot survive. However, in somatic cells it occurs at the expense of specific function, thus promoting developmental programming of adult cardiovascular diseases and increasing the risk of cancer. Notably, genes arising via evolutionary polyploidization are heavily involved in cancer and other diseases. Ploidy-related changes of gene expression presumably originate from chromatin modifications and the derepression of bivalent genes. The provided evidence elucidates the role of polyploidy in evolution, development, aging, and carcinogenesis, and may contribute to the development of new strategies for promoting regeneration and preventing cardiovascular diseases and cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally implemented ecological risk assessment (ERA) guidelines marginalize hormesis, a biphasic dose-response relationship characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition. The present study illuminated the promise of hormesis as a scientific dose-response model for ERA of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represented by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS). A total of 266 hormetic dose-response relationships were recompiled from 1237 observations, covering 30 species from nine representative taxonomic groups. The standardized hormetic amplitudes followed the log-normal probability distribution, being subject to the limits of biological plasticity but independent of stress inducers. The SHapley Additive exPlanations algorithm revealed that the target endpoint was the most important variable explaining the hormetic amplitudes. Subsequently, quantitative frameworks were established to incorporate hormesis into the predicted no-effect concentration levels, with a lower induction dose and a zero-equivalent point but a broader hormetic zone for PFOS. Realistically, 10,117 observed concentrations of PFOA and PFOS were gathered worldwide, 4% of which fell within hormetic zones, highlighting the environmental relevance of hormesis. Additionally, the hormesis induction potential was identified in other legacy and emerging PFAS as well as their alternatives and mixtures. Collectively, it is time to incorporate the hormesis concept into PFAS studies to facilitate more realistic risk characterizations.

Hormesis is a biphasic dose–response relationship with contrasting effects of low versus high doses of stress. Hormesis is rapidly developing in plant science research and has wide implications for risk assessment, stress biology, and agriculture. Here, we explore selected areas of importance to the concept of hormesis and suggest that hormesis is a highly generalizable phenomenon. We address the questions of whether hormesis occurs in high-risk groups or in response to mixtures of stress-inducing agents, whether there is a single biological mechanism of hormesis, and what the temporal features of hormesis are. Hormesis occurs not only in normal but also in high- and low-risk subpopulation groups. Some high-risk subpopulation groups show different quantitative features of hormetic responses from normal and low-risk subpopulation groups. Some differences in hormetic dose responses exist between fast-growing and slow-growing individuals within populations. Hormesis is widely induced by various mixtures of stress-inducing agents in plants, microbes, and other life forms potentially interacting with plants. No single biological mechanism of hormesis exists, but some general mechanistic strategies can be suggested. Chemical-induced hormesis exhibits significant temporal variation, with an initial increase of the maximum stimulation followed by a significant decline, but maintained at biologically beneficial enhanced levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hormesis is a biological phenomenon characterized by opposite effects between low and high doses of stresses that can result in stimulatory and adaptive benefits to individuals within a population. While evidence of hormesis is well established, two recent studies (Nogueira et al. , Belz and Sinkkonen) suggest that hormesis can also offer transgenerational benefit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Root/shoot (R/S) ratio is an important index for assessing plant health, and has received increased attention in the last decades as a sensitive indicator of plant stress induced by chemical or physical agents. The R/S ratio has been discussed in the context of ecological theory and its potential importance in ecological succession, where species follow different strategies for above-ground growth for light or below-ground competition for water and nutrients. We present evidence showing the R/S ratio follows a biphasic dose–response relationship under stress, typical of hormesis. The R/S ratio in response to stress has been widely compared among species and ecological succession classes. It is constrained by a variety of factors such as ontogeny. Furthermore, the current literature lacks dose–response studies incorporating the full dose–response continuum, hence limiting scientific understanding and possible valuable application. The data presented provide an important perspective for new-generation studies that can advance current ecological understanding and improve carbon storage estimates by R/S ratio considerations. Hormetic response of the R/S ratio can have an important role in forestry for producing seedlings with desired characteristics to achieve maximum health/productivity and resilience under plantation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of dose–response has received attention from the early modern period in the history of science. While it was thought that linear dose–response is the rule of thumb, significant efforts revealed that biphasic dose–response commonly occurs when the experimental design permits its detection. This phenomenon is called hormesis and suggests that a basal stress level is needed for optimum health. Extensive evidence has accumulated showing the occurrence of hormesis in numerous plant species and the induction of adaptive responses by low stress doses that precondition plants for a following massive environmental challenge. However, the ecological consequences of low-level stress remain underexplored. In this Opinion article, we propose that hormesis can provide a compelling platform for sophisticated, next-generation plant science. Highlights Hormesis has been extensively documented in plants, and other organisms, exposed to a variety of chemical and physical agents. The quantitative characteristics of hormetic dose–response are independent of biological model, endpoint, underpinning biological mechanism, and stressor. Hormesis provides the first quantification of biological plasticity. Adaptive responses and preconditioning (priming) occur in the framework of hormesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental change attracts particular attention by biologists concerned with the performance of biological systems under stress. To investigate these, dose-response relationships should be clarified. It was previously assumed that the fundamental nature of biological dose-responses follows a linear model, either with no threshold or with a threshold below which no effects are expected to occur in biological endpoints. However, substantial literature, including widespread documentation in plants, has revealed that hormesis commonly occurs. Hormesis is highly generalized and can be utilized as a quantitative measure of biological plasticity. Conditioning induced by adaptive responses also occurs in the framework of hormesis and is of particular importance to environmental change biology with regards to evolutionary adaptations. This paper presents additional evidence for hormetic dose responses induced by temperature in plants. The current understanding on hormesis provides a perspective for next generation environmental change research. Hormesis should have a central role in environmental change biology of vegetation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Rare earth elements (REEs) have recently received particular attention due to their accumulation in the environment. Such heightened recognition prompted our evaluation of the possible occurrence of La-induced plant hormesis in the peer-reviewed literature. This study revealed 703 La-induced hormetic concentration/dose responses in plants, which were quantitatively and qualitatively assessed. The maximum (MAX) biological response to low La concentrations/doses is commonly below 150% of control response, with a geometric mean of 142% at 56 μM (geometric mean). The geometric mean concentration of the no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) was 249 μM. The MAX:NOAEL distance was commonly below 5-fold, with a geometric mean of 4.5-fold. Hormetic concentration/dose responses varied as per the growth substrate pH, number of concentrations/doses below the NOAEL, and time window. These results provide a unique insight into the effects of low doses of La on plant growth, as well as offer means for improving experimental designs to assess low dose effects. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • We assessed 703 hormetic-like lanthanum-induced dose responses in plants. • The maximum (MAX) stimulatory response was commonly <150% of control response. • The MAX to no-observed-adverse-effect-level (NOAEL) distance was commonly <5 fold. • The number of doses below the NOAEL was found to affect hormesis' properties. • Growth substrate pH and time windows were also found to affect hormesis' features. Lanthanum-induced hormetic dose-responses commonly show a maximum response <150% of control response and have a MAX:NOAEL distance <5 fold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Understanding challenges posed by climate change to estuaries and their faunas remains a high priority for managing these systems and their communities. Freshwater discharge into a range of estuary types in south‐western Australia between 1990 and 2015 is shown to be related to rainfall. This largely accounts for decreases in discharge in this microtidal region being more pronounced on the west coast than south coast, where rainfall decline was less. Results of an oxygen‐balance model imply that, as demonstrated by empirical data for the Swan River Estuary, declines in discharge into a range of estuary types would be accompanied by increases in the extent of hypoxia. In 2013–15, growth and body condition of the teleost Acanthopagrus butcheri varied markedly among three permanently open, one intermittently‐open, one seasonally‐closed and one normally‐closed estuary, with average time taken by females to reach the minimum legal length (MLL) of 250 mm ranging from 3.6 to 17.7 years. It is proposed that, in a given restricted period, these inter‐estuary variations in biological characteristics are related more to differences in factors, such as food resources and density, than to temperature and salinity. The biological characteristics of A. butcheri in the four estuaries, for which there are historical data, changed markedly between 1993–96 and 2013–15. Growth of both sexes, and also body condition in all but the normally‐closed estuary, declined, with females taking between 1.7 and 2.9 times longer to attain the MLL. Irrespective of period, body condition, and growth are positively related. Age at maturity typically increased between periods, but length at maturity declined only in the estuary in which growth was greatest. The plasticity of the biological characteristics of A. butcheri, allied with confinement to its natal estuary and ability to tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions, makes this sparid and comparable species excellent subjects for assessing estuarine “health.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The prospect of lab-grown meat has attracted a lot of attention. The peak of this attention occurred after the public tasting of the first ‘lab-grown burger’ in August 2013. However, the discourse surrounding lab-grown meat is limited, and largely shaped by the technology’s proponents. This limited narrative restricts the potential for public discussions and debates about the details of lab-grown meat’s development. Such restrictions clash with lab-grown meat proponents’ stated goal of openness and complicate some of their ethical claims. To begin to overcome these restrictions, this paper introduces contamination as a method that brings important excluded elements to bear on narratives of technological development, particularly those that emphasize biological immanence and plasticity. Reading proponent’s narrative alongside related discourses - the industrialization of agriculture, the biomedical history of cell culture, and the work of bioartists and science fiction writers - reveals systematically excluded contaminants that could threaten the technology’s viability. The nature of these contaminants is both material (e.g., microorganisms, fetal bovine serum) and semiotic (e.g., associations with factory farming and fictional dystopias), revealing the usefulness of contamination as a tactic that both encourages paying attention to the ways in which discourse and matter coshape each other and broadens the scope of consideration and discussion around technological development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hormesis is a biphasic dose response with specific quantitative features for the amplitude and width of the stimulation. It is highly generalizable and independent of biological model, endpoint, inducing agent, level of biological organization and mechanism. Hormesis may be induced via a direct stimulation or by overcompensation to a disruption of homeostasis. The induction of hormesis by low-level stressor agents not only rapidly upregulates adaptive processes to repair damage but also protects the adapted system from damage due to a subsequent challenging dose (toxic) within a definable temporal window. The striking consistency of the amplitude of hormetic response suggests that hormesis provides a quantitative description of biological plasticity. Knowledge of hormesis has particular potential biomedical significance with respect to slowing or retarding both normal aging processes and the progression of severe neurological diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, we show that current scientific methodologies used in nutrition science and by regulatory agencies, such as the randomized control trial, limit our understanding of nutrition and health as they are to crude to capture the subtle pleiotropic nature of most nutrients. Thereby, regulatory agencies such as the European Food Safety Authority curb the development of scientific knowledge and industrial innovations within the nutritional field. In order to develop insights into the health impact of certain food and food-components, we need to realize that health is adaptation set within a homeostatic range. Increased performance of health, i.e., the maximum stimulation of health, typically seems 30–60% greater than the control group, with a width of no more than about a factor of ten, clarifying the difficulty of documenting responses of food-endogenous components within the homeostatic range of healthy people. A strategy to record subtle responses of food components is the summation of procentual effects of relevant health outcomes. We illustrate this approach with the action of flavanols on vascular health, specifically endothelial function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study the annual reproductive biology of a Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852) population living in an atypical habitat with cold spring waters is investigated by monitoring Gonado-Somatic and Hepato-Somatic Indexes (GSI and HSI) and by performing cytology on ovaries. Despite its known preference for habitats with water temperature from 21 to 30 °C, our results clearly confirm the adaptation of this population to the atypical thermal habitat, characterised by an annual mean water temperature value of 13.32 ±0.08 °C. Maximum gonadal development was reached in August, with maximum GSI median value of 0.64 (instead of reported values even 10 times higher for other populations), and ovigerous females were found in autumn, with mean realized fecundity of 35 ±7 compared to 285-995 reported from other habitats. Histological analysis was consistent with other studies and allowed us to follow ovarian development at cytological level. The importance of all these results is not to be underestimated: to our knowledge these findings are the first report of the coolest habitat successfully colonized by this species at the present time and so they have to be taken as a warning about the possible range expansion of P. clarkii also to northern and colder habitats that have few things in common with the native habitat of the species and, up to now, were considered "safe" from the invasion of the red swamp crayfish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental epigenetics is a ‘hot’ new field of post-genomic science investigating mechanisms that influence how genes are expressed. It offers a dynamic and non-dualistic understanding of the relationship between environments, genes, bodies, and health. We ask how this new science of biological plasticity is changing existing concepts of normality and abnormality. We find that epigenetics is contributing to a new biological (yet non-determinist) ontology of race and that the fetus and reproductive women are emerging as the central figures in this new epigenetic model of race and bodily plasticity. We find that epigenetics is a science of variation in which biological difference is figured as both normal (inevitable) and abnormal (a sign of disruption); it then seeks to improve life by identifying therapies to cure epigenetic ‘abnormalities’. In this way, epigenetics emerges as a reproductive science, in which the ‘uterine environment’ is figured as the key space–time of epigenetic becoming. We argue that in this focus on abnormality and improvement, epigenetics is tied to a eugenic logic, even as it rejects notions of genetic determinism. While it might seem that epigenetic models of plastic life should eliminate race by eliminating notions of discrete kinds given in nature, it appears that epigenetics offers a new form of racialization based on reproductive processes of becoming rather than on pre-given nature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: The Smooth Marron Cherax cainii is endemic to south-western Australia and supports an iconic recreational fishery that exploits stocks in both lentic and lotic systems. This study is the first to determine and compare the population biology of a parastacid from both lentic and lotic systems and aimed to gather the information necessary for more effective management of the fishery. Modal progression demonstrated growth rates of juvenile C. cainii were greater in the lentic (Wellington Dam) compared to the lotic (Warren River) system, however, mark-recapture suggested the growth rate of the adult component of the lentic population was stunted whereas in the lotic population 60–90mm OCL individuals were common and had a faster growth rate. The Wellington Dam stock appeared to be over-exploited and had very low productivity whereas the Warren River stock had relatively low fishing exploitation and a high productivity resulting from higher growth rates coupled with higher population densities (with the trappable population sizes estimated using the open POPAN formulation in the MARK software program). Comparisons of these biological parameters were made with populations elsewhere and there existed a considerable plasticity that is probably due to differences in thermal regimes, degree of habitat complexity, food resource availability and fisher accessibility. The findings demonstrate the need to determine the level of intraspecific biological plasticity in freshwater crayfish in order to sustainably manage their fisheries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Galaxias maculatus is one of the most naturally widely distributed species in the world yet there is no published literature on the biology of Western Australian populations. Galaxias maculatus in the rivers of the south coast of Western Australia inhabit an environment that is variable and at times unpredictable. By examining trends in gonadal development, lengths at first maturity, growth and appearance and persistence of larvae of G. maculatus in two saline rivers (Jerdacuttup River and Oldfield River) and one freshwater lake (Moates Lake), the life histories of populations in contrasting environments were determined. The stable conditions that prevail in the low salinity, cool waters of Moates Lake have fostered an extremely protracted breeding and larval recruitment period (year round) in comparison to limited recruitment in the riverine environments which experience less predictable flow events and water quality (salinity). An upstream migration for breeding in the Jerdacuttup and Oldfield rivers is similar to land-locked G. maculatus in south-eastern Australia and is a reversal of the downstream migration in Moates Lake or populations with marine larval dispersal, i.e. diadromous populations. Differences in population demographics existed between these habitats, with smaller maximum sizes and significantly smaller sizes at maturation occurring in the rivers compared to the lake. In Moates Lake approximately 93, 6 and 1% were 0+, 1+ and 2+, respectively; while cohort progression in the rivers suggests that most fish do not live beyond their first year. As an adaptable opportunist, G. maculatus can modify its life history strategy at a local level to persist in varied and sometimes unpredictable environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hormesis is a biphasic response to stress, involving low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition. Currently, attempts are being made to use the hormetic stimulation of plant parameters to increase resilience to severe stress. However, due to hormetic trade-offs, low-dose stress does not always cause synchronous improvement of different plant parameters. Some parameters do not change and even some even worsen compared to the control. Therefore, there is a need to evaluate the frequency of hormetic trade-offs. In this study, a method for estimating the probabilities of two types of hormetic trade-off in plants was developed. This method is intended solely to improve the scientific understanding of plant hormesis and a first step towards a more extensive evaluation of hormetic trade-offs in plants.•The proposed method estimates the probabilities of hormetic trade-offs 1 and 2 in plants using simple calculations.•This method can be applied to estimate the probability of hormetic trade-offs 1 and 2 both for a set of independent experiments and in a single experiment.•This method could be used in the future to identify doses and factors that stimulate the greatest number of traits without worsening others., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 The Author. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This article challenges the notion of the randomness of mutations in eukaryotic cells by unveiling stress-induced human non-random genome editing mechanisms. To account for the existence of such mechanisms, I have developed molecular concepts of the cell environment and cell environmental stressors and, making use of a large quantity of published data, hypothesised the origin of some crucial biological leaps along the evolutionary path of life on Earth under the pressure of natural selection, in particular, (1) virus–cell mating as a primordial form of sexual recombination and symbiosis; (2) Lamarckian CRISPR-Cas systems; (3) eukaryotic gene development; (4) antiviral activity of retrotransposon-guided mutagenic enzymes; and finally, (5) the exaptation of antiviral mutagenic mechanisms to stress-induced genome editing mechanisms directed at "hyper-transcribed" endogenous genes. Genes transcribed at their maximum rate (hyper-transcribed), yet still unable to meet new chronic environmental demands generated by "pollution", are inadequate and generate more and more intronic retrotransposon transcripts. In this scenario, RNA-guided mutagenic enzymes (e.g., Apolipoprotein B mRNA editing catalytic polypeptide-like enzymes, APOBECs), which have been shown to bind to retrotransposon RNA-repetitive sequences, would be surgically targeted by intronic retrotransposons on opened chromatin regions of the same "hyper-transcribed" genes. RNA-guided mutagenic enzymes may therefore "Lamarkianly" generate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and gene copy number variations (CNV), as well as transposon transposition and chromosomal translocations in the restricted areas of hyper-functional and inadequate genes, leaving intact the rest of the genome. CNV and SNP of hyper-transcribed genes may allow cells to surgically explore a new fitness scenario, which increases their adaptability to stressful environmental conditions. Like the mechanisms of immunoglobulin somatic hypermutation, non-random genome editing mechanisms may generate several cell mutants, and those codifying for the most environmentally adequate proteins would have a survival advantage and would therefore be Darwinianly selected. Non-random genome editing mechanisms represent tools of evolvability leading to organismal adaptation including transgenerational non-Mendelian gene transmission or to death of environmentally inadequate genomes. They are a link between environmental changes and biological novelty and plasticity, finally providing a molecular basis to reconcile gene-centred and "ecological" views of evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hormetic, biphasic dose response, is highly generalizable, being independent of biological model, level of biological organization, endpoint, inducing agent, and mechanisms. It plays a significant role in mediating both constitutive and adaptable responses in essentially all cells and organisms. The present paper provides both a historical overview of the origin of the hormetic concept in the biological and biomedical sciences, and its potential role in ecology, evolution, and development. These integrative findings provide a broad scientific framework to better understand complex evolutionary-based selection strategies, affecting survival, lifespan, fecundity, learning/memory, tissue repair, reproduction and cooperation, and developmental processes, and offering resilience in the presence of numerous challenges. • Hormesis is a biphasic dose-response phenomenon. • We provide an historical overview of the origin of the concept of hormesis. • We summarize how hormesis mediates constitutive and adaptable responses in cells and organisms. • We discuss how hormesis is relevant to evolution and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Pharmacotherapy and immunotherapy are the main treatments for allergic diseases to inhalants., Objective: This study investigates whether to repeat short cycles of immunotherapy after 3 or 5 years the from interruption of the first therapeutic cycle, lasting 3-4 years, to maintain immune memory in individuals subjected to IST., Methods and Results: We have compared two groups, one of 452 patients who, after the first treatment for 3-4 years of IST, performed a cycle of four months after three and 10 years from the suspension, and a second group of 126 individuals who have performed only the IST treatment for 3-4 years. The best results were obtained in the first group., Conclusions: These results are due to the immune system's plasticity, a very important concept in clinical practice., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U.)