Author Archives
Joe Alcock
Emergency Physician, Educator, Researcher, interested in the microbiome, evolution, and medicine
Here is a preview of the slides for this monday’s talk: Evolution of Diabetes This is an extra reading that I did not include in the original list. Dr. Kuzawa wrote this chapter for a new book “Evolutionary Anthropology”. This work explains his hypothesis about the fixed needs of the […]
Estimated reading time: 55 seconds
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes are perhaps the most consequential diseases in America in terms of deaths, economic impacts, and effects on quality of life. Despite intensive efforts and millions of dollars worth of studies, our understanding of CVD and diabetes remains incomplete. The fine work of Chris Kuzawa from […]
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
The author of the textbook “Evolutionary Medicine” will be visiting on 11/10/08 to lecture on evolutionary considerations of human reproduction and childbirth. The readings for this lecture include: Evolutionary Obstetrics. Trevathan WR. Chapter 8 in in Evolutionary Medicine (1st edition) 1999. Eds Trevathan WR, Smith EO, McKenna JJ. Oxford University […]
Estimated reading time: 50 seconds
Writing project: Some have suggested that the age of weaning of infants from the breast is subject to parent offspring conflict. Eg. infants might want to breastfeed longer than the mother would like. Breastfeeding tends to suppress ovulation and delay pregnancy. Give an evolutionary hypothesis for why infants might exhibit […]
Estimated reading time: 50 seconds
Thanks goes to our guest lecturers so far: Kathy Hanley, Stephanie Forrest, Roland Cooper, and Greg Ebel. Next monday, I will be lecturing on the topic of reproductive conflict. (On the syllabus we are switching the topics for 11/3 and 11/10). This genetic conflict occurs between parents and between mothers […]
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Next weeks topic will be on West Nile Virus. Readings for 10/27/08 are: 1)Jerzak-et-al 2)Ebel-et-al Meanwhile the writing topic due next week is unchanged from the syllabus: Plasmodium falciparum is an extremely difficult organism to eradicate and has developed resistance to most antimalarials. Explain why the way antimalarials have been […]
Estimated reading time: 1 minute
I want to write a little bit about your writing projects. First: do not worry too much about the grading of the papers. What I will mostly be looking for when I figure your grade will be improvement over the semester. After all, I want you to learn, so I wouldn’t […]
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
Lets talk about antimicrobial resistance! Special guest Roland Cooper will visit us to talk about: falciparum malaria and chloroquine resistance. Here are your two readings for next week. Malaria Chloroquine Resistance Hastings These two readings are on eReserve as “Plasmodium falciparum chloroquine resistance gene” and “Hastings – A requiem for […]
Estimated reading time: 25 seconds
Some take away points from the cancer lecture: Cancer evolution that Dr. Forrest described is different from evolution of other traits. Cell level evolution: Evolution in the computer modeling of Dr. Forrest is selection on the human cell level. It is not evolution on the individual or population level. For […]
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Writing project (10/13/08) Choose one: a) Dengue fever immobilizes its adult victims. Does immobilization help or hurt the transmission of the virus? How is dengue different from the common cold? What are three ways that pathgens can be transmitted? How does the way something is transmitted affect its virulence? b) […]
Estimated reading time: 1 minute