Evolution and Medicine /
Perlman, Robert.
Evolution and Medicine provides an accessible introduction to the new field of evolutionary medicine. Evolutionary concepts help explain why we remain vulnerable to disease, how pathogens and cancer cells evolve, and how the diseases that affected our evolutionary ancestors have shaped our biology.The book interweaves the presentation of evolutionary principles with examples that illustrate how an evolutionary perspective enhances our understanding of disease. It discusses the theory of evolution by natural selection, the genetic basis of evolutionary change, evolutionary life history theory,
Description based upon print version of record.
Cover; Contents; Abbreviations; 1. Evolution and medicine; 1.1 Introduction; 1.2 The theory of evolution by natural selection; 1.3 The different conceptual bases of medicine and evolutionary biology; 1.4 Why our evolutionary heritage has left us vulnerable to disease; 2. Human demography, history, and disease; 2.1 Introduction; 2.2 Population growth: birth rates and death rates; 2.3 Population growth in age-structured populations: fertility rates; 2.4 Age-specific death rates; 2.5 History of human population growth; 2.6 The future of the human population; 3. Evolutionary genetics
3.1 Introduction3.2 Other evolutionary processes: mutation, genetic drift, and migration; 3.3 Genetic dominance; 3.4 Heterozygote advantage; 3.5 Pleiotropy and epistasis; 3.6 Linkage and hitchhiking; 3.7 Frequency dependent selection; 3.8 Epigenetic regulation of gene expression; 3.9 Population structure and mating patterns; 3.10 Genetic consequences of human evolutionary history; 3.11 Natural selection in human populations; 4. Cystic fibrosis; 4.1 Introduction; 4.2 CFTR, the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator
4.3 Genotypic diversity and phenotypic heterogeneity in cystic fibrosis4.4 Relationship between genotype and phenotype; 4.5 Evolution of mutant CFTR alleles; 5. Life history tradeoffs and the evolutionary biology of aging; 5.1 Introduction; 5.2 The causes of death change through the life cycle; 5.3 What is aging?; 5.4 The life history theory of aging; 5.5 Genetic causes of aging; 5.6 Proximate causes of aging; 5.7 Somatic repair and the depletion of physiological capital; 5.8 Plasticity in rates of aging; 5.9 Developmental origins of health and disease; 6. Cancer; 6.1 Introduction
6.2 Cancer as a disease of aging6.3 Regulation of cell growth and replication; 6.4 Selection for cells that escape normal growth controls; 6.5 Cancer progression; 6.6 Ecology of cancers; 6.7 Anti-cancer defenses; 6.8 Carcinogenesis and cancer prevention; 7. Host-pathogen coevolution; 7.1 Introduction; 7.2 Epidemiology of pathogen transmission; 7.3 Virulence and transmissibility; 7.4 Host-pathogen coevolution: hosts evolve in ways that minimize the fitness cost of pathogens; 7.5 Host-pathogen coevolution: pathogens evolve in ways that optimize their fitness
7.6 Myxomatosis: a case study of host-pathogen coevolution7.7 Complexities in host-pathogen interactions; 7.8 Antibiotic resistance: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus; 7.9 Manifestations of disease; 8. Sexually transmitted diseases; 8.1 Introduction; 8.2 The epidemiology of sexually transmitted diseases; 8.3 Evolutionary responses of hosts to sexually transmitted pathogens; 8.4 Syphilis; 8.5 HIV/AIDS; 9. Malaria; 9.1 Introduction; 9.2 The life history of Plasmodium falciparum; 9.3 The natural history of malaria infections
9.4 R[sub(0)], the basic reproductive number of P. falciparum
Evolution and Medicine provides an accessible introduction to the new field of evolutionary medicine. Evolutionary concepts help explain why we remain vulnerable to disease, how pathogens and cancer cells evolve, and how the diseases that affected our evolutionary ancestors have shaped our biology.The book interweaves the presentation of evolutionary principles with examples that illustrate how an evolutionary perspective enhances our understanding of disease. It discusses the theory of evolution by natural selection, the genetic basis of evolutionary change, evolutionary life history theory,
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on October 16, 2013).
Biological evolution.
Disease -- Etiology.
Diseases -- Causes and theories of causation.
Environmental illness.
Environmentally induced diseases.
Evolution, Molecular.
Human evolution.
Diseases
Human evolution
Environmentally induced diseases
Disease
Biological Evolution.
Immunity
Medicine
Health & Biological Sciences
Pathology