Developmental Origins of Health and Disease

Cambridge University Press, 4/20/2006
EAN 9780521847438, ISBN10: 0521847435

Hardcover, 542 pages, 25.4 x 19 x 2.8 cm
Language: English

This landmark publication provides the first definitive account of how and why subtle influences on the fetus and during early life can have such profound consequences for adult health and diseases. Although the epidemiological evidence for this link has long proved compelling, it is only much more recently that the scientific and physiological basis for this has begun to be studied in depth and fully understood. This compilation, written by many of the world's leading experts in this exciting field, summarizes these scientific and clinical advances. The link between early development and the onset of many chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, diabetes and osteoporosis, also raises important public health issues. Another fascinating theme in the book concerns evolutionary developmental biology and how the 'evo-devo' debate can cast light on these concepts. Clinicians and scientists alike will all learn a lot about this exciting and emerging field.

1. The developmental origins of health and disease
an overview
2. The 'developmental origins' hypothesis
epidemiology
3. The conceptual basis for the developmental origins of health and disease
4. The periconceptional and embryonic period
5. Epigenetic mechanisms
6. A mitochondrial component of developmental programming
7. Role of exposure to environmental chemicals in developmental origins of health and disease
8. Maternal nutrition and fetal growth and development
9. Placental mechanisms and developmental origins of health and disease
10. Control of fetal metabolism
relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
11. Lipid metabolism
relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
12. Prenatal hypoxia
relevance to developmental origins of health and disease
13. The fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis
relevance to developmental origins of health and disease;14. Perinatal influences on the endocrine and metabolic axes during childhood
15. Developmental origins of health and disease
relevance of patterns of growth
16. The developmental environment and the endocrine pancreas
17. The develop
28. The developmental environment and the origins of neurological disorders mental environment and insulin resistance
18. The developmental environment and the development of obesity
19. The developmental environment and its role in the metabolic syndrome
20. Programming the cardiovascular system
21. The role of vascular dysfunction in developmental
22. The developmental environment and atherogenesis origins of health and disease
evidence from studies in man and animals
23. The developmental environment, renal function and disease
24. The developmental environment
effect on fluid and electrolyte homeostasis
25. The developmental environment
effects on lung structure and function
26. Developmental origins of asthma and related allergic disorders
27. The developmental environment
Influences on subsequent cognitive function and behaviour
28. The developmental environment and the origins of neurological disorders
29. The developmental environment
clinical perspectives on effects on the musculoskeletal system
30. The developmental environment
experimental perspectives on skeletal development
31. The developmental environment and the early origins of cancer
32. The developmental environment
implications for aging and lifespan
33. Developmental origins of health and disease
implications for primary intervention for cardiovascular and metabolic disease
34. Developmental origins of health and disease
public health perspectives
35. Developmental origins of health and disease
implications for developing countries
36. Developmental origins of health and disease
ethical and social considerations.

'Researchers will find Developmental Origins of Health and Disease to be a well-referenced resource that documents the state of the art in the field and serves as a source of new ideas. Students of human and developmental biology and health practitioners should also keep the volume in close reach ... The volume inspired me to think differently and to develop a new set of research questions to answer with my cohort data from a developing country ...' Science