Organizer A Milestone Of A Half Century From Spemann

Over the past few decades numerous scientists have called for a unification of the fields of embryo development, genetics, and evolution. Each field has glaring holes in its ability to explain the fundamental phenomena of life. In this book, the author shows how the phenomenon of cell differentiation, considered in its temporal and spatial aspects during embryogenesis, provides a starting point for a unified theory of multicellular organisms (plants, fungi and animals), including their evolution and genetics. This unification is based on the recent discovery of differentiation waves by the author and his colleagues, described in the appendices, and illustrated by a flip movie prepared by a medical artist. To help the reader through the many fields covered, a glossary is included.This book will be of great value to the researcher and practicing doctors/scientists alike. The research students will receive an in-depth tutorial on the topics covered. The seasoned researcher will appreciate the applications and the gold mine of other possibilities for novel research topics.

In this authoritative three-volume reference work, leading researchers bring together current work to provide a comprehensive analysis of the comparative morphology, development, evolution, and functional biology of the skull.

Acupuncture is rapidly moving out of the arena of "alternative" medicine, in large part because it is grounded more firmly than other alternative treatments in research. This book provides readers with the up-to-date information on the clinical bases of acupuncture.

The motivation for us to conceive this work on regulation was mainly our belief that it would be fun, and at the same time productive, to approach the subject in a way that differs from that of other treatises. We thought it might be interesting and instructive-for both author and reader-to examine a particular area of investigation in a framework of many different problems. Cutting across the traditional boundaries that have separated the sub jects in past volumes on regulation is not an easy thing to do-not because it is difficult to think of what interesting topics should replace the old ones, but because it is difficult to find authors who are willing to write about areas outside those pursued in their own laborato ries. Anyone who takes on the task of reviewing a broad area of interest must weave together its various parts by picking up the threads from many different laboratories, and attempt to produce a fabric with a meaningful design. Finding persons who are likely to succeed in such tasks was the most difficult part of our job. In the first volume of this treatise, most of the chapters dealt with the mechanisms of regulation of gene expression in microorganisms. This second volume involves a somewhat broader area, spanning the prokaryotic-eukaryotic border.

Organizers in Development, Volume 157 in the Current Topics in Developmental Biology series, highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters on topics such as The organizer: what it meant, and means, to developmental biology, Organizers/signaling regions that pattern the limb, Organizers/signaling regions in the branchial arches, The notochord/floor plate as a possible organizer, Transport and gradient formation of Wnt and Fgf in the early zebrafish gastrula, and more. Provides the authority and expertise of leading contributors from an international board of authors Presents the latest release in the Current Topics in Development Biology series Updated release includes the latest information on Organizers in Development

Studies of simple and emerging systems have been undertaken to un derstand the processes by which a developing system unfolds, and to understand more completely the basis of the complexity of the fully formed structures. The nervous system has long been particularly in triguing for such studies, because of the early recognition of a multitude of distinctly differentiated states exhibited by nerve cells with different morphologies. Anatomical studies suggest that one liver cell may be very like another, but indicate that neurons come in a remarkable di versity of forms. This diversity at the anatomical level has parallels at the physiological and biochemical levels. It is becoming increasingly easy to characterize the different cellular phenotypes of neurons. The repeatability with which these phenotypes are expressed may account in part for the specificity and reliability with which neurons form con nections, and it has allowed precise description of the first appearance and further development of the differentiated characteristics of individ ual neurons from relatively undifferentiated precursor cells. This rep resents a major advance over our knowledge of development at the level of tissues, and makes it feasible to define and address questions about the underlying molecular mechanisms involved. Central to these advances has been the clear recognition that there is no single best preparation for the study of neuronal development. Furthermore, it has become evident that no single technique can tell us all we want to know.