Proton pump inhibitors are drugs that block the hydrogen/potassium ATP-ase enzyme responsible for the secretion of stomach acid. In recent years, the prescription rate for proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) has increased from about 4% to almost 8% in the US. Many of these prescriptions are not accompanied by an appropriate […]
I have been thinking a lot over the last decade about what features of the microbiota really matter. On the one hand, myriad studies using germ free animal models have shown powerful effects of the microbiota on physiology – with evidence for a causal role of the microbiota in obesity, […]
Posing “why” questions is a classic approach in evolutionary medicine. I have been interested in why oxygen regulates the immune system since medical school when I learned about diving and hyperbaric medicine and high altitude medicine. For both, oxygen treatment plays a key role. High altitude illnesses share many of […]
My colleagues and I had another paper published last week. From the title page, click on the image to read the paper. I worked with Henry Lin at the NM VA Healthcare System, the UNM CTSC, and UNM Sleep disorders clinic to study whether increased exposure to the stress hormone […]
Thymosin α1 is an immune modulating drug that was recently the subject of a large scale multi-center randomized clinical trial in China. Thymosin α1 modulates T-cell function and improves antigen presentation among other things. It had shown promise in multiple single center trials. The most recent by Wu et al. […]
Right before the pandemic upended our lives, Kevin Lozo MD, now a (almost graduated) resident of pediatrics at the University of Pittsburgh, came to the University of New Mexico to part in the UNM Evolutionary Medicine elective, one of the few electives of its kind taught in a US medical […]
Sickness behaviors are a coordinated suite of behavioral changes that accompany illness. These evolved behaviors include lethargy, decreased sociality, reduced eating, disinterest in sex, and increased sleep. Many of these are evolutionarily conserved, seen across the tree of life. For instance lethargy, social withdrawal, and eating less are seen in […]
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