Can the microbiome predict whether we live or die? In an editorial I wrote a number of years ago entitled “Dangerous disappearing act”, I highlighted work by Hayakawa and colleagues that describes how the microbiome of critically ill patients can predict death. More recent work from Finland suggests that life or death can […]
Catecholamine vasopressors are used routinely in patients with sepsis to increase blood pressure and to improve blood flow to organs. However, studies have shown that high doses of catecholamines are risky. Catecholamines can lead to tachycardia, myocardial ischemia, arrhythmias, and increased myocardial oxygen demand (De Backer et al., 2012). At […]
Many infections, including sepsis, trigger insulin resistance and hyperglycemia. Chronic viral and atypical bacterial infections, such as HSV-2 and Chlamydia pneumonia, are associated with high blood sugar and insulin resistance. Other viral illnesses, including hepatitis C infection and HIV also induce insulin resistance. In the case of HIV, research suggests that these findings […]
Curli are proteins made by E. coli, first identified in strains that cause bovine mastitis. Curli are part of the protein matrix that allows bacteria to attach to host cells, a trait that allows them to colonize and invade host tissues. One interesting notable factoid: curli are amyloid fibers. Bacterial […]
After a couple of decades in practice in emergency medicine, I often coach trainees to think about how to weigh the benefits and costs of every diagnostic and therapeutic procedure. I tell them that they should only order medications and interventions that are needed for a given patient. I also […]
Three learning objectives will be the focus of 2023’s evolutionary medicine elective. Priority 1. We will discuss “tree thinking” and learn the evolutionary principle of common descent. Our shared evolutionary legacy is the basis for the One Health movement that seeks to bridge the gap between human and veterinary medicine […]
The two main evolutionary concepts I teach students about aging are George C. Williams’ idea of antagonistic pleiotropy and the declining power of selection hypothesis (aka selection shadow hypothesis) proposed by J.S. Haldane and Peter Medawar in the 1940s and 1950s. Medawar posited that beneficial genes, coding for body maintenance […]
In 2014, Carlo Maley, Athena Aktipis, and I wrote an article on eating behavior and the gut microbiota that was published in Bioessays. We proposed that unhealthy food preferences, cravings and aversions may serve the evolutionary interests of microbes in our guts, sometimes in conflict with our own interests. We suggested […]
The New Year is here, and the pale sun may only make a brief appearance, if at all. We normally get vitamin D from the sun, with a lesser contribution from diet, so you may ask yourself – should I be taking vitamin D? In our culture, we are exhorted […]
Eerie! Watch the NASA animation of the space probe Dawn approaching the dwarf planet Ceres. Eyes, right! When I saw this it reminded me of a moment hiking down a red rock canyon in Utah. I looked up and suddenly saw this: When I saw the pictograph, and when I […]
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