scholarly journals Developmental plasticity as adaptation: adjusting to the external environment under the imprint of maternal capital

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1770) ◽  
pp. 20180122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan C. K. Wells
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
External Environment ◽  
Maternal Investment ◽  
Developmental Trajectory ◽  
Evolutionary Medicine ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Stage 1

Plasticity is assumed to enable beneficial adjustment to the environment. In this context, developmental plasticity is generally approached within a two-stage framework, whereby adjustments to ecological cues in stage 1 are exposed to selection in stage 2. This conceptual approach may have limitations, because in species providing parental investment, particularly placental mammals such as humans, initial adjustments are not to the environment directly, but rather to the niche generated by parental phenotype (in mammals, primarily that of the mother). Only as maternal investment is withdrawn is the developing organism exposed directly to prevailing ecological conditions. A three-stage model may therefore be preferable, where developmental trajectory first adjusts to maternal investment, then to the external environment. Each offspring experiences a trade-off, benefitting from maternal investment during the most vulnerable stages of development, at the cost of exposure to investment strategies that maximize maternal fitness. Maternal life-history trade-offs impact the magnitude and schedule of her investment in her offspring, generating lifelong effects on traits related to health outcomes. Understanding the imprint of maternal capital on offspring is particularly important in species demonstrating social hierarchy. Interventions targeting maternal capital might offer new opportunities to improve health outcomes of both mother and offspring. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Developing differences: early-life effects and evolutionary medicine’.

scholarly journals Conceptual Approaches to the Development of a Strategy for Innovation and Investment Activity in a Food Enterprise

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 60-66
Author(s):  
Iryna H. Kryvonohova
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
External Environment ◽  
Investment Project ◽  
Information Support ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Strategy Development ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Investment Activity

The variability and uncertainty of the external environment inherent in business activities determine a high level of risk and enhancing the role of strategic planning as a special tool for adapting to the external environment. The purpose of the scientific research was to form a conceptual approach to the process of developing a strategy for innovation and investment activity of a food enterprise. During the study of the study’s theoretical basis, it was determined that the issues of strategic planning of the enterprise as a whole and individual economic functions, in particular innovation, were developed by many foreign and Ukrainian researchers. However, for the most part in the literature, innovation and investment strategies are considered separately, at the same time they are closely related, and the implementation of an innovation project can be considered as an implementation of an investment project. In recent times, the concept of innovation and investment activity has appeared in the literature, but the methodology for rational organization of such activity has not been sufficiently developed. In the course of the research, three main approaches to developing a strategy for innovation and investment activity were described, also our own fourth approach was formulated. The analysis of methodological principles that are the basis for building strategies for innovation and investment activity was also carried out. It was concluded that the effectiveness of the strategy development process depends on the creation of a system of its information support. At the same time, increasing the productivity of innovation and investment activities of individual enterprises will help to increase the number of enterprises engaged in such activities, which will have a positive impact on the country’s economy as a whole. The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that the considered strategies of innovation and investment activity can be used in the activities of relevant enterprises

Hormones and Behavior

2019 ◽  
pp. 11-26
Author(s):  
Maren N. Vitousek ◽  
Laura A. Schoenle
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Endocrine System ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Behavior

Hormones mediate the expression of life history traits—phenotypic traits that contribute to lifetime fitness (i.e., reproductive timing, growth rate, number and size of offspring). The endocrine system shapes phenotype by organizing tissues during developmental periods and by activating changes in behavior, physiology, and morphology in response to varying physical and social environments. Because hormones can simultaneously regulate many traits (hormonal pleiotropy), they are important mediators of life history trade-offs among growth, reproduction, and survival. This chapter reviews the role of hormones in shaping life histories with an emphasis on developmental plasticity and reversible flexibility in endocrine and life history traits. It also discusses the advantages of studying hormone–behavior interactions from an evolutionary perspective. Recent research in evolutionary endocrinology has provided insight into the heritability of endocrine traits, how selection on hormone systems may influence the evolution of life histories, and the role of hormonal pleiotropy in driving or constraining evolution.

Issues in the Provision of Health Care in India: An Overview

2020 ◽  
pp. 097674792094518
Author(s):  
Vani Kant Borooah
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Tertiary Care ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
Explicit Recognition ◽  
Optimal Mix

After reviewing health outcomes and policy in India, this paper concludes that there are at least six sets of issues to be addressed about improving the quantity and quality of health services, and ipso facto improving health outcomes, in India. First, the amount of resources earmarked for health needs to increase. Second, health resources need to be used in a fair and just manner and, in particular, complaints relating to egregious health outcomes need to be addressed. Predominant in this set of issues is oversight and regulation of private-sector health provision. The third set of issues relates to the allocation of health resources and, in particular, to the imbalance in the allocation of health resources between towns and villages. A fourth issue is the accessibility of rural areas since it is the most remote areas that have the lowest density of health workers. Another issue is the more efficient use of health workers in order to make them more productive. Finally, Indian health policy is stronger on rhetoric and aspiration than it is on action and implementation. The successful implementation of the policy requires the explicit recognition that objectives are often competing (primary versus tertiary care) and the acknowledgement that, with budgetary constraints, one cannot have more of one without having less of the other. The first role of policy is to then choose the optimal mix of objectives with respect to these trade-offs. Secondly, policies come up against vested interests which agitate (often with the support of opposition politicians) and litigate against proposed changes. Lastly, policies in India are made against a background of poor governance with the predatory presence of corruption looming over every policy initiative. In implementing, rather than simply articulating, a policy it is important to address these governance issues.

scholarly journals Sustainable electricity for sustainable health? A case study in North-western Zambia

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 72-82
Author(s):  
Lizzie Caperon ◽  
Lina Brand-Correa
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Hydropower Plant ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Community Members ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Impact

This study explores the under-researched link between clean energy and public health outcomes, and offers new insights into the link between wider access to clean energy and progress towards health outcomes, in particular the prevention and treatment of non-communicable diseases such as diabetes. This is the first study to consider the impact of a run-of-river hydropower plant (RORHP) in a remote rural community in Zambia in relation to health outcomes. Exploring this relationship establishes how the health benefits which renewable energy can bring can be capitalised upon to meet the health-related objectives of the United Nations sustainable development goals. Workshops and semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of stakeholders including community members, health workers, business owners, and key people involved with the plant, to establish health and social impacts of the introduction of electricity in the community of Ikelenge. Findings are used to establish both synergies and trade-offs of the RORHP on the health of the community, and recommendations are made for the continued improvement of health following the introduction of the RORHP, to achieve further progress towards meeting SDG targets.

What is in the toolkit (and what are the tools)? How to approach the study of doctor–patient communication

2022 ◽  
pp. postgradmedj-2021-140663
Author(s):  
Caitríona Cox ◽  
Zoë Fritz
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Patient Communication ◽  
Objective Measures ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Doctor Patient Communication ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Objective View ◽  
Study Designs ◽  
Patient Studies

Doctor–patient communication is important, but is challenging to study, in part because it is multifaceted. Communication can be considered in terms of both the aspects of the communication itself, and its measurable effects. These effects are themselves varied: they can be proximal or distal, and can focus on subjective measures (how patients feel about communication), or objective measures (exploring more concrete health outcomes or behaviours). The wide range of methodologies available has resulted in a heterogeneous literature which can be difficult to compare and analyse.Here, we provide a conceptual approach to studying doctor–patient communication, examining both variables which can controlled and different outcomes which can be measured. We present methodologies which can be used (questionnaires, semistructured interviews, vignette studies, simulated patient studies and observations of real interactions), with particular emphasis on their respective logistical advantages/disadvantages and scientific merits/limitations. To study doctor–patient communication more effectively, two or more different study designs could be used in combination.We have provided a concise and practically relevant review of the methodologies available to study doctor–patient communication to give researchers an objective view of the toolkit available to them: both to understand current research, and to conduct robust and relevant studies in the future.

Should I stay or should I go? Complex environments influence the developmental plasticity of flight capacity and flight-related trade-offs

2019 ◽  
Vol 128 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jordan R Glass ◽  
Zachary R Stahlschmidt
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Life History Traits ◽  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Temperature Variability ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Complex Environments ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Flight Capacity

Abstract Complex environments, characterized by co-varying factors (e.g. temperature and food availability) may cause animals to invest resources differentially into fitness-related traits. Thus, experiments manipulating multiple environmental factors concurrently provide valuable insight into the role of the environment in shaping not only important traits (e.g. dispersal capacity or reproduction), but also trait–trait interactions (e.g. trade-offs between traits). We used a multi-factorial design to manipulate variation in temperature (constant 28 °C vs. 28 ± 5 °C daily cycle) and food availability (unlimited vs. intermittent access) throughout development in the sand field cricket (Gryllus firmus). Using a univariate approach, we found that temperature variability and unlimited food availability promoted survival, development, growth, body size and/or reproductive investment. Using principal components as indices of resource allocation strategy, we found that temperature variability and unlimited food reduced investment into flight capacity in females. Thus, we detected a sex-specific trade-off between flight and other life-history traits that was developmentally plastic in response to variation in temperature and food availability. We develop an experimental and statistical framework to reveal shifts in correlative patterns of investment into different life-history traits. This approach can be applied to a range of biological systems to investigate how environmental complexity influences traits and trait trade-offs.

scholarly journals Divergence and ontogenetic coupling of larval behaviour and thermal reaction norms in three closely related butterflies

2010 ◽  
Vol 278 (1703) ◽  
pp. 313-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Berger ◽  
Magne Friberg ◽  
Karl Gotthard
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Plasticity ◽  
Larval Growth ◽  
State Dependence ◽  
Reaction Norm ◽  
Thermal Reaction ◽  
Reaction Norms ◽  
Feeding Strategies ◽  
Species Differentiation ◽  
Larval Behaviour ◽  
Trade Offs

Genetic trade-offs such as between generalist–specialist strategies can be masked by changes in compensatory processes involving energy allocation and acquisition which regulation depends on the state of the individual and its ecological surroundings. Failure to account for such state dependence may thus lead to misconceptions about the trade-off structure and nature of constraints governing reaction norm evolution. Using three closely related butterflies, we first show that foraging behaviours differ between species and change remarkably throughout ontogeny causing corresponding differences in the thermal niches experienced by the foraging larvae. We further predicted that thermal reaction norms for larval growth rate would show state-dependent variation throughout development as a result of selection for optimizing feeding strategies in the respective foraging niches of young and old larvae. We found substantial developmental plasticity in reaction norms that was species-specific and reflected the different ontogenetic niche shifts. Any conclusions regarding constraints on performance curves or species-differentiation in thermal physiology depend on when reaction norms were measured. This demonstrates that standardized estimates at single points in development, or in general, allow variation in only one ecological dimension, may sometimes provide incomplete information on reaction norm constraints.

scholarly journals Fitness outcomes in relation to individual variation in constitutive innate immune function

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1938) ◽  
pp. 20201997
Author(s):  
Michael J. Roast ◽  
Nataly Hidalgo Aranzamendi ◽  
Marie Fan ◽  
Niki Teunissen ◽  
Matthew D. Hall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Immune Function ◽  
Investment Strategies ◽  
Immune Functions ◽  
Resource Reallocation ◽  
Net Benefit ◽  
Complement Activity ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Linear Relationships ◽  
Potential Resource

Although crucial for host survival when facing persistent parasite pressure, costly immune functions will inevitably compete for resources with other energetically expensive traits such as reproduction. Optimizing, but not necessarily maximizing, immune function might therefore provide net benefit to overall host fitness. Evidence for associations between fitness and immune function is relatively rare, limiting our potential to understand ultimate fitness costs of immune investment. Here, we assess how measures of constitutive immune function (haptoglobin, natural antibodies, complement activity) relate to subsequent fitness outcomes (survival, reproductive success, dominance acquisition) in a wild passerine ( Malurus coronatus ). Surprisingly, survival probability was not positively linearly predicted by any immune index. Instead, both low and high values of complement activity (quadratic effect) were associated with higher survival, suggesting that different immune investment strategies might reflect a dynamic disease environment. Positive linear relationships between immune indices and reproductive success suggest that individual heterogeneity overrides potential resource reallocation trade-offs within individuals. Controlling for body condition (size-adjusted body mass) and chronic stress (heterophil-lymphocyte ratio) did not alter our findings in a sample subset with available data. Overall, our results suggest that constitutive immune components have limited net costs for fitness and that variation in immune maintenance relates to individual differences more closely.

scholarly journals An evolutionary medicine perspective on pain and its disorders

2019 ◽  
Vol 374 (1785) ◽  
pp. 20190288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Randolph M. Nesse ◽  
Jay Schulkin
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Pain ◽  
Tissue Damage ◽  
Mental States ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Evolutionary Medicine ◽  
Smoke Detector ◽  
Pain Mechanisms ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Pathological Pain ◽  
The Cost

Enormous progress in understanding the mechanisms that mediate pain can be augmented by an evolutionary medicine perspective on how the capacity for pain gives selective advantages, the trade-offs that shaped the mechanisms, and evolutionary explanations for the system's vulnerability to excessive and chronic pain. Syndromes of deficient pain document tragically the utility of pain to motivate escape from and avoidance of situations causing tissue damage. Much apparently excessive pain is actually normal because the cost of more pain is often vastly less than the cost of too little pain (the smoke detector principle). Vulnerability to pathological pain may be explained in part because natural selection has shaped mechanisms that respond adaptively to repeated tissue damage by decreasing the pain threshold and increasing pain salience. The other half of an evolutionary approach describes the phylogeny of pain mechanisms; the apparent independence of different kinds of pain is of special interest. Painful mental states such as anxiety, guilt and low mood may have evolved from physical pain precursors. Preliminary evidence for this is found in anatomic and genetic data. Such insights from evolutionary medicine may help in understanding vulnerability to chronic pain. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Evolution of mechanisms and behaviour important for pain’.

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