Overview
Illustrates the significant implications for epigenetic epidemiology, in particular for understanding how environmental stressors, in a large sense, can induce a broad spectrum of developmental disorders in humans
Examines a class of probability models describing how epigenetic context affects gene expression and organismal development
Authored by expert in the field
Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
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Table of contents (21 chapters)
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Front Matter
Keywords
About this book
This book describes how epigenetic context, in a large sense, affects gene expression and the development of an organism, using the asymptotic limit theorems of information theory to construct statistical models useful in data analysis. The approach allows deep understanding of how embedding context affects development. We find that epigenetic information sources act as tunable catalysts, directing ontogeny into characteristic pathways, a perspective having important implications for epigenetic epidemiology. In sum, environmental stressors can induce a broad spectrum of developmental dysfunctions, and the book explores a number of pandemic chronic diseases, using U.S. data at different scales and levels of organization. In particular, we find the legacy of slavery has been grossly compounded by accelerating industrial decline and urban decay. Individual chapters are dedicated to obesity and its sequelae, coronary heart disease, cancer, mental disorders, autoimmune dysfunction, Alzheimer’s disease, and other conditions. Developmental disorders are driven by environmental factors channeled by historical trajectory and are unlikely to respond to medical interventions at the population level in the face of persistent individual and community stress. Drugs powerful enough to affect deleterious epigenetic programming will likely have side effects leading to shortened lifespan. Addressing chronic conditions and developmental disorders requires significant large-scale changes in public policy and resource allocation.
Authors and Affiliations
About the authors
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Gene Expression and Its Discontents
Book Subtitle: The Social Production of Chronic Disease
Authors: Rodrick Wallace, Deborah Wallace
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-48078-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life Sciences, Biomedical and Life Sciences (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-48077-0Published: 21 December 2016
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-83893-9Published: 29 April 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-48078-7Published: 23 November 2016
Edition Number: 2
Number of Pages: XIII, 344
Number of Illustrations: 52 b/w illustrations
Topics: Human Genetics, Epidemiology, Biochemistry, general, Computational Biology/Bioinformatics, Public Health