In the EvolutionMedicine Podcast #37, Coffee Brown and I discuss whether intermittent fasting improves cognitive capacity. We talk about the recent paper by Mark P. Mattson, “An Evolutionary Perspective on Why Food Overconsumption Impairs Cognition” published in the journal Cell. Does overeating make us dumb as a culture? Can fasting […]
Three main groups of people have lived at high elevation for generations. These are the Andeans in South America, the Tibetans, Sherpas and others living on the Himalayan plateau, and the Ethiopian highlanders living at 3000m elevation and above in north eastern Africa. In the last few blog entries I […]
Pathology at high altitude occurs in part because of gene-environment mismatch. We introduced that idea in the first, second, and third blog entries on the topic of high altitude diseases. So far we focused on other clinical contexts in which hypoxia inducible factor (HIF-1) activation is adaptive during common disorders […]
In Ecuador, one member in our party developed significant swelling of her hands and feet. By itself, edema of the hands is not a problem, and it does not require treatment or descent to lower altitudes. But we have mentioned a few other instances in which edema is a big […]
More people are living and traveling to high altitude than ever before. Pictured here is my colleague Darryl Macias atop Mount Rainier where we held a high altitude conference a few years back. He claims he felt A-ok, and he looks like it – but others, including myself, had mild […]
During normal functioning, adequate delivery of oxygen and blood flow is prioritized to body organs. Oxidation of glucose is the dominant means by which mitochondria in our cells generate ATP, the main currency of energy in the body. Because of the importance of oxygen and blood flow, human physiology comes […]
Coffee Brown and I recorded a podcast last year about the surprising result of a large systematic review of oxygen therapy – the IOTA trial. The IOTA trial showed a lack of benefit, often in the direction of harm, from one of our most common medical interventions – supplemental oxygen. Giving […]
Should we consider fever a “new normal” during infection? Should we treat it or not? A 2017 observational study of emergency department patients revealed this intriguing pattern:In the above study of 2225 patients with sepsis in Sweden, a lack of fever or low body temperature heralded a poor prognosis in […]
Does the emperor have no clothes? In a recent manuscript published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine, I challenge the concept of dysregulation that is at the core definition of sepsis. Listen to the EvolutionMedicine podcast #36 for a full discussion of the provocative idea that sepsis is a regulated […]
For week three of the UNM Evolutionary Medicine class we will discuss behavioral changes that happen with infection and sickness. One of my favorite topics is sickness behavior. Many different species alter their activity level, feeding behavior, and engage in novel behaviors that do not occur in health. Even caterpillars […]
