title: Entropy principle for human development, growth and aging.
abstract: Entropy productions within nude subjects in respiration calorimeters are calculated from the corresponding energetic data obtained by Du Bois et al. (1952, J. Nutr. 48, 257-293.). The entropy production for men is constant at environmental temperatures from 24-34 degrees C. The metabolic entropy production comprises 98.6% of the total entropy production. The entropy production for women shows a minimum at 30 degrees C (the middle of the neutral zone), a small rise in the cold zone and a trend toward a rise in the warm zone; the average entropy production for women is 8.7% smaller than that for men. The entropy production rises from 0-2 years of age, and decreases rapidly from 2-25 years of age and then gradually to 85 years of age. The entropy production does not seem to achieve a minimum or a level in the lives of men and women. Based on these results, a three-stage hypothesis of entropy production in human life is proposed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Osaka Medical School, Japan.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Aoki
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006128:Growth / Q000502:physiology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D013696:Temperature; D013816:Thermodynamics