Environmental endocrine disruptors have been at the heart of discussions about chemicals and their effects on fertility, but the focus has been on organic compounds and the role of metals has been largely overlooked - until now. Taking an organ-system-based approach, Metals, Fertility, and Reproductive Toxicity examines the effects of metals found in the everyday environment on fertility rates in humans and animal populations. This volume summarizes and evaluates the literature in the area of metal effects on fertility and reproduction in humans, laboratory animals, and wildlife. International experts have contributed chapters that explore how the ovary, testes, uterine system, and neuroendocrine system, among others, respond to metal exposure. Reviewing both current knowledge and cutting edge data, the chapters focus on either a particular metal or a particular population. A massive amount of data on this subject has been generated, summarized, and reviewed over the years. While there are many books available on metals toxicity and on reproductive toxicity, no current book explores both in the same volume. Culling information from throughout the literature, Metals, Fertility, and Reproductive Toxicity supplies an in-depth look at the role of metals in endocrine disruption and the spectrum of mechanisms involving metals that can influence reproduction.

This book aims to promote studies on the entire spectrum of phototropic phenomena in higher and lower plants and fungi. Chapters detail phototropism in many plant species induced by far-red, red, blue and UV lights. They also include methods for auxin biology and analysis of cytoskeleton and phototropin. In addition, the use of grafting, spaceflight experiment and image analysis in tropism study is provided. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Phototropism: Methods and Protocols aims to ensure successful results in the further study of this vital field.

Conditioned taste aversion (CTA) is a robust defence device protecting animals against repeated consumption of toxic food. It is characterised by the ability of many animals to learn to avoid certain substances by their sight, smell, or taste after experiencing an unpleasant or harmful reaction to them. CTA is encountered at all levels of evolution, with similar forms of food aversion learning found in vertebrate and invertebrate species whose ancestral lines diverged more than 500 million years ago. CTA has a number of unusual properties contrasting sharply with the basic assumptions of traditional learning theories, which has brought it increasingly to the attention of neurobiologists interested in neural plasticity. In CTA, the usual time parameters between stimulus and aversion are relaxed considerably, frequently with delays of hours rather than seconds. Moreover, the critical stage of CTA acquisition may proceed under deep anaesthesia incompatible with other forms of learning. In the past decade several pivotal discoveries have considerably avanced our understanding of the neural processes underlying CTA, and opened new possibilities for their analysis at the molecular and cellular levels. This book, written by three of the world's leading researchers in the subject, comprehensively reviews the current state of research into conditioned taste aversion. The first book of its kind to provide an up-to-date summary of research into the neuroanatomy, pharmacology, electrophysiology, and functional morphology of CTA, it will be welcomed by all researchers and graduate students in the field.

American Lambs is an interrelated collection of stories and poems about working border collies, sheep, family, and rural life.