Emergency Physician, Educator, Researcher, interested in the microbiome, evolution, and medicine
You will all be given a break for this week. There is no writing assignment for next week. Instead I want each of you to do some online searches on topics that you might want to do for your final project. Be prepared to come to class and discuss some […]
Evolution and Mountain Sickness. Sherpas, Andeans, Ethiopean Highlander’s different adaptations to the high altitude environment. Handout for Tuesday’s lecture: High Altitude Cultures Reading for tuesday: Beall Read also: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/pf/92910801.html and http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/05/100513143453.htm and Genes at high altitude Writing Assignment (due in class on 10/18/11, next tuesday): Describe how Tenzing Norgay is […]
10/11/11 – Evolution of virulence Key evolutionary concept: mode of transmission of a parasite or pathogen can affect the evolution of virulence. Key evolutionary concept: 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 […]
10/4/11 We will be hearing from you, our students! Students will give Journal Club Presentations on the 6 assigned readings. Grading on the following criteria: What is the condition or disease described in the paper? What are the evolutionary hypotheses to explain the condition? If there are multiple hypotheses, each […]
Writing Assignment: For next week I would like you to craft a written response to this observation and question: The geographical distribution of sickle cell trait roughly matches locations where Falciparum malaria occurs. Because the sickle cell allele is also widespread in North America, what do you think will happen to […]
On Tuesday we will discuss the concept of balancing selection.For some traits, negative selection is balanced by positive selection, depending on how the gene is inherited and on the environment. Sickle Cell trait provides a useful example. Sickle Cell trait is an extremely common blood polymorphism. What explains sickle cell’s […]
Mark Lyte will be presenting a lecture on September 13th, 2011 at 5:30pm in Castetter room 55, entitled “Microbial Endocrinology: Why the Intersection of Microbiology and Neuroscience Matters in Disease and Well-Being”. Dr. Lyte is the director of translational research at the Garrison Institute on Aging at Texas Tech University […]
We will discuss an evolutionary perspective of disease symptoms. Some symptoms represent host defenses. Examples include fever, cough, diarrhea, and perhaps morning sickness. Some symptoms represent pathogen reproductive strategies. Examples include profuse diarrhea in Vibrio cholerae infection. Other symptoms might have been adaptive during evolutionary past, but now are subject […]
Please read: age-old-question Still Pondering an Age-Old Question. Flatt T and Promislow EL. 2007. Science (318) 1255-1256. 2. Kirkwood and Shanley The connections between general and reproductive senescence and the evolutionary basis of menopause Optional readings: 1) News article describing the grandmother hypothesis of menopause and 2) economist article Writing project: […]
Tonight I found this article in the New York Times that talks about mismatch: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/science/23conversation.html?src=recg Regarding proximate vs. ultimate (evolutionary) causation I also want to post a nicely worded quotation from an article by Harris and Malyango, regarding “evolutionary causes for human disease, disorders, malfunctions and apparent design failures” “To […]
EvolutionMedicine 