The expression of the TGF-β protein Nodal on the left side of vertebrate embryos is a determining event in the development of internal-organ asymmetry. We present a mathematical model for the control of the expression of Nodal and its antagonist Lefty consisting entirely of realistic elementary reactions. We analyze the model in the absence of Lefty and find a wide range of parameters over which bistability (two stable steady states) is observed, with one stable steady state a low-Nodal state corresponding to the right-hand developmental fate, and the other a high-Nodal state corresponding to the left. We find that bistability requires a transcription factor containing two molecules of phosphorylated Smad2. A numerical survey of the full model, including Lefty, shows the effects of Lefty on the potential for bistability, and on the conditions that lead to the system reaching one or the other steady state.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2018.10.003 | DOI Listing |
Behav Brain Sci
January 2025
Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Coatesville, PA,
Endogenous reward (intrinsic reward at will) is a that is by steps toward any goals which are challenging and/or uncommon enough to prevent its debasement by inflation. A "theory of mental computational processes" should propose what properties let goals grow from appetites for endogenous rewards. Endogenous reward may be the universal selective factor in all modifiable mental processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehav Brain Sci
January 2025
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD,
In their article, Murayama and Jach contend that a mental computational model demonstrates that high-level motivations are emergent properties from underlying cognitive processes rather than instigators of behaviors. Despite points of agreement with the authors' critiques of the motivation literature, I argue that their claim of dismantling the black box of the human mind has been constructed on shaking grounds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biomol Struct Dyn
March 2025
Department of Chemistry, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India.
1,3,4-Oxadiazole-based heterocyclic analogs (3a-3m) were synthesized cyclization of Schiff bases with substituted aldehydes in the presence of bromine and acetic acid. The structural clarification of synthesized molecules was carried out with various spectroscopic techniques such as FT-IR,H and C-NMR, UV-visible spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry. antifungal activity was performed against , and and analogs 3g, 3i, and 3m showed potent MIC at 200 µg/ml and excellent ZOI measurements of 17-21 nm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBehav Ecol
December 2024
Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Treliever Road, Penryn, Cornwall TR10 9FE, United Kingdom.
Outcomes of theoretical models on conflict resolution between investing partners in bi-parental care systems typically predict "partial compensation" or "matched" response rules, depending on underlying assumptions. Further, although experimental tests in birds suggest that care levels by pair members are largely associated with partial compensation responses, this outcome partly depends on the type of experiment used and its effects on model assumptions. To elucidate support for both the underlying assumptions and predictions of models predicting partner compensation versus matching, we performed temporary, bi-directional brood size manipulations during late nestling provisioning in blue tits () in the French Pyrenees.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVienna Yearb Popul Res
September 2024
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA.
Climate change is among the most urgent challenges of our time. While often considered a problem for the natural and physical sciences, the humanities and social sciences have made equally important interventions into research on the reciprocal relationship between humans and our climate. Because demography occupies the intersection of the natural and social sciences, and because it deals specifically with rates of change in social and natural processes, we believe it can make valuable contributions to the pressing imperatives of understanding and addressing climate change and mitigating the harms it is already visiting on the world's most vulnerable people.
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