Biology 1002B Study Guide - Appendicitis, Antagonistic Pleiotropy Hypothesis, Asthma
17 Dec 2013
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Document Summary
Examples of relevance of evolutionary principles to human health. Traces of our evolutionary history affect our health. Pathogens evolve to resistance from drugs and vaccines. Natural selection tinkers with what is already there. Symptoms of diseases have adaptive history in giving defense against diseases: new infectious diseases are emerging all the time. We may never close the book on infectious disease: high calorie foods are readily available, which is part of why our environment is different from our ancestors". Traits may have been historically favored (storing fat). So, obesity is reflecting a disease of civilization. There is a mismatch between current environment and environment to which we are evolutionary adapted. trends in incidence of infectious vs. autoimmune disorders with respect gdp. Barrow inuit study, 1970: 42% of 6-35 yr olds myopic, 5% of 36-88 yr olds myopic. Alleles pre-disposing people to myopia did not cause myopia in ancestral visual environment. Auto immune diseases are another example of diseases of civilization.
