Writing project (due next tuesday). Some have suggested that the age of weaning of infants from the breast is subject to parent offspring conflict. For example, infants might want to breastfeed longer than the mother would like. Breastfeeding tends to suppress ovulation and delay pregnancy. Give an evolutionary hypothesis for […]
Writing project (due next tuesday). Plasmodium falciparum is an extremely difficult organism to eradicate and has developed resistance to most antimalarials. Explain why the way antimalarials are used might lead to resistance. Vaccine efforts have also failed. Come up with a hypothesis why it is harder to make a vaccine […]
Melissa found this video that is a good discussion of causation and correlation and discusses some evolutionary concepts of vaccination. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW1IEqKuf6s
The week of October 6th is antibiotic resistance week. We will explore how pathogens evolve resistance to antimicrobial agents and how medical professionals and researchers can develop strategies to reduce the evolution of resistance. On tuesday we will discuss 4 strategies for reducing bacterial evolution of resistance. 1) Limiting use […]
Faculty and students in the biology and anthropology departments are welcome to attend guest lectures for the evolutionary medicine course this month. Roland Cooper PhD will give a lecture for the class on Thursday October 8th at 4pm. Lecture entitled “Evolution of Chloroquine Resistance in Plasmodium falciparum”. Dr. Cooper is […]
Thanks to everybody for a lively discussion of the evolution of virulence today; pictured here is a rabbit victim of myxoma virus, the classic example used to promote the idea that pathogens will evolve towards a more benign state. Key points from today: 1) Pathogens do not always evolve towards […]
Next tuesday we are going to discuss the evolution of virulence, using the mosquito borne dengue fever as an example. (Handout and readings are at the end of this post) The dengue virus causes dengue fever, aka breakbone fever. As the name suggests, sufferers of breakbone fever are typically laid […]
The subject of the next lecture 9/22/08 will be evolutionary considerations of venoms, toxins, and antibodies to these molecules. What is the difference between a venom and a toxin? Are biologic toxins different from organic toxins? Who benefits from a toxin? (not including Phillip Morris ) What if a “toxin” actually can […]
Handout from last week’s lecture. Mismatch part 2
As we discussed in class, journal articles will be assigned to 5 groups of students. Group 1: Adaptive Value of Fever Group 2:Biofilms & the human vermiform appendix Group 3:Factor V Leiden Mutation Group 4:Nausea in Pregnancy Group 5:Osteoporosis If you did not get assigned a group, please contact Melissa. […]
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