The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine

The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine PDF Author: Graham A.W. Rook
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3764389036
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 312

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Book Description
Man has moved rapidly from the hunter-gatherer environment to the living conditions of industrialised countries. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that the resulting reduced exposure to micro-organisms has led to disordered regulation of the immune system, and hence to increases in certain chronic inflammatory disorders, like allergic disorders, autoimmunity, inflammatory bowel disease, atherosclerosis, depression, some cancers and perhaps Alzheimer and Parkinson. This book discusses the evidence for and against in the context of Darwinian medicine, which uses knowledge of evolution to cast light on human diseases. The approach is interdisciplinary, looking at man’s microbiological history, at the biology of the effects of microorganisms on the immune system, and at the implications for chronic inflammatory disorders in multiple organ systems. Finally, the authors describe progress in the exploitation of microorganisms or their components as novel prophylactics and treatments.

The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine

The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine PDF Author: Graham A.W. Rook
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3764389036
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Get Book Here

Book Description
Man has moved rapidly from the hunter-gatherer environment to the living conditions of industrialised countries. The hygiene hypothesis suggests that the resulting reduced exposure to micro-organisms has led to disordered regulation of the immune system, and hence to increases in certain chronic inflammatory disorders, like allergic disorders, autoimmunity, inflammatory bowel disease, atherosclerosis, depression, some cancers and perhaps Alzheimer and Parkinson. This book discusses the evidence for and against in the context of Darwinian medicine, which uses knowledge of evolution to cast light on human diseases. The approach is interdisciplinary, looking at man’s microbiological history, at the biology of the effects of microorganisms on the immune system, and at the implications for chronic inflammatory disorders in multiple organ systems. Finally, the authors describe progress in the exploitation of microorganisms or their components as novel prophylactics and treatments.

Body by Darwin

Body by Darwin PDF Author: Jeremy Taylor
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022605991X
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
This exploration of cutting-edge evolutionary medicine and how our body’s performance is shaped by its past “covers fascinating territory” (Publishers Weekly). We think of medical science and doctors as focused on treating conditions—whether it’s a cough or an aching back. But the sicknesses and complaints that cause us to seek medical attention actually have deeper origins than the superficial germs and behaviors we regularly fault. In fact, as Jeremy Taylor shows in Body by Darwin, we can trace the roots of many medical conditions through our evolutionary history, revealing what has made us susceptible to certain illnesses and ailments over time and how we can use that knowledge to help treat or prevent problems in the future. In Body by Darwin, Taylor examines the evolutionary origins of some of our most common and serious health issues. To begin, he looks at the hygiene hypothesis, which argues that our obsession with anti-bacterial cleanliness, particularly at a young age, may be making us more vulnerable to autoimmune and allergic diseases. He also discusses diseases of the eye, the medical consequences of bipedalism as they relate to all those aches and pains in our backs and knees, the rise of Alzheimer’s disease, and how cancers become so malignant that they kill us despite the toxic chemotherapy we throw at them. Taylor explains why it helps to think about heart disease in relation to the demands of an ever-growing, dense, muscular pump that requires increasing amounts of nutrients, and he discusses how walking upright and giving birth to ever larger babies led to a problematic compromise in the design of the female spine and pelvis. Throughout, he not only explores the impact of evolution on human form and function, but integrates science with stories from actual patients and doctors, closely examining the implications for our health. “Seven vivid true stories dramatically describing patients and their doctors discovering evolutionary explanations for diseases. More than just the perfect book club book, it advances the field of evolutionary medicine.” —Randolph M. Nesse, coauthor of Why We Get Sick

Why We Get Sick

Why We Get Sick PDF Author: Randolph M. Nesse, MD
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0679746749
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The next time you get sick, consider this before picking up the aspirin: your body may be doing exactly what it's supposed to. In this ground-breaking book, two pioneers of the science of Darwinian medicine argue that illness as well as the factors that predispose us toward it are subject to the same laws of natural selection that otherwise make our bodies such miracles of design. Among the concerns they raise: When may a fever be beneficial? Why do pregnant women get morning sickness? How do certain viruses "manipulate" their hosts into infecting others? What evolutionary factors may be responsible for depression and panic disorder? Deftly summarizing research on disorders ranging from allergies to Alzheimer's, and form cancer to Huntington's chorea, Why We Get Sick, answers these questions and more. The result is a book that will revolutionize our attitudes toward illness and will intrigue and instruct lay person and medical practitioners alike.

An Epidemic of Absence

An Epidemic of Absence PDF Author: Moises Velasquez-Manoff
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1439199396
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
A controversial, revisionist approach to autoimmune and allergic disorders considers the perspective that the human immune system has been disabled by twentieth-century hygiene and medical practices.

Principles of Evolutionary Medicine

Principles of Evolutionary Medicine PDF Author: Peter D. Gluckman
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199663920
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 401

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Book Description
A new updated edition of the first integrated and comprehensive textbook to explain the principles of evolutionary biology from a medical perspective and to focus on how medicine and public health might utilise evolutionary biology.

Evolution, Biodiversity and a Reassessment of the Hygiene Hypothesis

Evolution, Biodiversity and a Reassessment of the Hygiene Hypothesis PDF Author: Graham A. W. Rook
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9783030910532
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This edited collection of 12 chapters by research workers from a wide range of disciplines resolves the confusion that currently surrounds the “hygiene hypothesis” by considering the human need for exposure to microorganisms from an evolutionary point of view. The book explains why we evolved a requirement for exposure to microbiota from our mothers, from other people, and from the natural environment. It also explains the physiological roles of these exposures, what goes wrong when the exposures are distorted and how human lifestyles and activities, including degradation of the natural environment, are leading to this distortion. Particular attention is given to the range of pathologies associated with inappropriate microbial exposures and inappropriate colonization, including immunoregulatory problems such as allergies and autoimmunity, metabolic problems such as obesity and diabetes, and problems of central nervous system function and neurodegeneration. This book is of profound relevance to most medical disciplines, but also to those concerned with preserving the natural environment and with developing healthier urbanisation.

Evolution in Health and Disease

Evolution in Health and Disease PDF Author: Stephen C. Stearns
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Adaptation (Physiology)
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Have you ever wondered how the disparity between the life experiences of our ancestors and ourselves might affect our health? For the majority of our evolutionary history, humans lived in small hunter- gatherer groups whose diet, lifestyle, living conditions, and environmental pressures werevery different to the experiences of most humans today. The adaptations making us uniquely human - height, brain size, body proportions, metabolic rate, day range - were established during the Pleistocene - some 200 times as long as our recent evolutionary history - and may not fit us as well atthe end of the 20th Century. This fascinating book explores and analyses the ways in which our ancient genes contend with, and influence, human life in the space age. It offers the first broad, in-depth coverage of the many points of contact between evolutionary biology and medical science.Evolutionary biology is not a standard part of medical education, but it offers many important insights into central problems of human health and disease. These include the evolution of antibiotic resistance, the evolution of pathogen virulence, the evolution of ageing, the design of vaccines, andpopulation- and genotype-specific reactions to drugs and susceptibility to disease. They also include new insights into mother-offspring conflict during pregnancy, menstruation, menopause, child abuse, homicide, depression, schizophrenia, and many chronic degenerative diseases, such as cancer andosteoporosis. This book, written by a team of world experts in evolutionary medicine, describes the state of the art, and provides easy, clear access to the primary literature. Addressed to medical students, medical researchers, and evolutionary biologists, it provides compelling arguments for whythe tools of evolutionary biology - both its ideas and its methods - belong in every doctor's tool-kit.

Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture

Human Evolution Beyond Biology and Culture PDF Author: Jeroen C. J. M. van den Bergh
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108470971
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 575

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Book Description
A complete account of evolutionary thought in the social, environmental and policy sciences, creating bridges with biology.

The Story of the Human Body

The Story of the Human Body PDF Author: Daniel Lieberman
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 030774180X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
A landmark book of popular science that gives us a lucid and engaging account of how the human body evolved over millions of years—with charts and line drawings throughout. “Fascinating.... A readable introduction to the whole field and great on the making of our physicality.”—Nature In this book, Daniel E. Lieberman illuminates the major transformations that contributed to key adaptations to the body: the rise of bipedalism; the shift to a non-fruit-based diet; the advent of hunting and gathering; and how cultural changes like the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions have impacted us physically. He shows how the increasing disparity between the jumble of adaptations in our Stone Age bodies and advancements in the modern world is occasioning a paradox: greater longevity but increased chronic disease. And finally—provocatively—he advocates the use of evolutionary information to help nudge, push, and sometimes even compel us to create a more salubrious environment and pursue better lifestyles.

Paleomicrobiology

Paleomicrobiology PDF Author: Didier Raoult
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540758550
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
This fascinating new volume comes complete with color illustrations and features the methodology and main achievements in the emerging field of paleomicrobiology. It’s an area research at the intersection of microbiology and evolution, history and anthropology. New molecular approaches have already provided exciting results, such as confirmation of a single biotype of Yersinia pestis as the cause of historical plague pandemics. An absorbing read for scientists in related fields.