Neuroendocrine Regulation of Animal Vocalization: Mechanisms and Anthropogenic Factors in Animal Communication examines the underpinning neuroendocrine (NE) mechanisms that drive animal communication across taxa. Written by international subject experts, the book focuses on the importance of animal communication in survival and reproduction at an individual and species level, and the impact that increased production and accumulation of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) can have on these regulatory processes. This book discusses sound production, perception, processing, and response across a range of animals. This includes insects, fish, bats, birds, nonhuman primates, infant humans, and many others. Some chapters analyze how neuroactive substances, endocrine control, and chemical pollution affect the physiology of the animal's perceptive and sound-producing organs, as well as their auditory and vocal receptors and pathways. Other chapters address the recent approaches governments have taken to protect against the endocrine disruption of animal (vocal) behaviors. The book is a valuable resource for researchers and advanced students seeking first-rate material on neuroendocrinological effects on animal behavior and communication.

Winner of 2016 BMA Medical Award for Basic and Clinical Sciences The Epigenome and Developmental Origins of Health and Disease synthesizes the existing knowledge on how the in utero environment could be the most important environment in shaping later risk for various diseases or to conversely promote the health of the offspring. The book mines the existing literature from a variety of disciplines from toxicology to nutrition to epigenetics to reveal how contrasting maternal in utero environmental changes might be leading to epigenetic convergence and the resulting deleterious phenotypic and physiological effects in our offspring. It is increasingly becoming apparent that even subtle changes in the mother's diet, stress, and exposure to low concentrations of toxic chemicals at levels deemed safe by the EPA and FDA, such as endocrine disrupting compounds (EDC), can dramatically impact the health of our children, possibly leading to metabolic, cardiovascular, immunological, neurobehavioral disorders, and increased risk for cancer to list but a few examples.