Emergency Physician, Educator, Researcher, interested in the microbiome, evolution, and medicine
Here is a link about John Snow, thought to be the father of epidemiology, who discovered that cholera was water borne and whose work helped halt a cholera epidemic in the 1850s. Read this link about Ignaz Semmelweis who is credited as the discoverer of antiseptic technique; he was not […]
An article in Slate last month catalogs the reasons why longevity has remarkably increased over the last 150 years. Laura Helmuth writes in that article that: “Some credit for the historical decrease in deadly diseases may go to the disease agents themselves. The microbes that cause rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, […]
Key evolutionary concepts: 1. mode of transmission of a parasite or pathogen can affect the evolution of virulence. 2. public health efforts and hospital characteristics have the capacity to influence the evolution of virulence traits. Vector-borne diseases and virulence Hospital Acquired Infections – are medical workers vectors of disease? Do […]
Maybe not:
Evolutionary foundations for cancer biology This is an optional reading, but one that provide a very good overview of this topic. Also (optional): Listen to this radiolab program about Tasmanian Devil infectious tumors. (photo from Yale 2008)
Cancer can be thought of as a micro-evolutionary process at the cellular level. I will show you how the application of evolutionary theory to cancer evolution, dispersal, and relapse has potential for a future Nobel prize. It will also illustrate why every medical student needs to understand evolution. Cancer evolution […]
Today we discussed a variety of concepts related to pregnancy and reproduction. I should have pointed out that some phenomena, e.g. gradual increase in birth weight with birth order, do not require imprinting to occur. Changes in birth weight can occur entirely because of maternal gene expression in the mother, […]
Next weeks topic is Genomic Conflict and Parent-of-Origin effects of imprinted genes. These concepts draw heavily on insights of David Haig, an evolutionary theorist from Harvard. David Haig writes: “The most intimate human relationship is that between a mother and her unborn young. A fetus obtains all its nutrients and […]
Evolutionary theorist David Haig has proposed that human mothers withhold some energy resources during pregnancy for her own survival and future reproduction. As a result, babies are born slightly lighter than they otherwise might be. The withholding of resources for future reproductive effort is predicted to be more prominent during […]
We are going to continue our conversation about diet and diabetes, and hypotheses about the adaptive value of insulin resistance. Before Tuesday’s class, lets review what insulin does and what insulin resistance is. Insulin is a hormone that regulates energy storage and glucose transport in particular. Insulin activates insulin receptors […]
EvolutionMedicine 