PS102 Lecture Notes - Pathogenic Bacteria, Antimicrobial Resistance, Morning Sickness
Document Summary
Selection acts on traits increasing reproduction, not on well-being. Symptoms of certain diseases are something we evolve to doing to cope with it. Morning sickness of women, maybe an adaption to prevent toxication during early stages of pregnancy. We may be adapted to conditions different than the ones we are living in: homo- sapiens: ~ 200 000 years ago. Switch from hunting-gathering to agriculture 5000 to 10000 years ago: the pace of cultural evolution is faster that the pace of biological evolution of certain traits. Mismatch between our current environment and the environment we evolved in Some parasites may have caused out immune system to evolve tolerance toward them (<>) Parasitic infections are greatly reduced in industrialized countries: the rise in asthma, allergies and autoimmune diseases may be the result of low level of parasitism by <> Infection with parasites have been used to treat certain auto immune diseases and allergies (helminthic therapy: ex.
