Implications of Anthropogeny for Medicine and Health
Implications of Anthropogeny for Medicine and Health (CARTA). All living things are the product of evolutionary processes. Since the goals of the health sciences are to prevent disease, maintain health and treat illnesses, it follows that understanding of evolutionary mechanisms and processes in the context of human origins is of vital importance. New applications of evolutionary biology to medicine and health are developing fast, with special opportunities for contributions from anthropogeny. Exploring the constraints and trade-offs involved in the evolutionary transition to humans is crucial for understanding diseases of our species. This symposium brings together experts who discuss these advances as they apply to the prevention and treatment of various illnesses such as obesity and other metabolic diseases, sleep disorders, problems associated with reproductive health, and disorders resulting from inappropriate immune responses, viewed in the context of human origins. (from carta.anthropogeny.org)
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Zoobiquity and "One Medicine"
Barbara Natterson-Horowitz (UCLA) explains in this talk why increasing awareness of the occurrence of "diseases of civilization" in humans and in wild animal species offers a path towards a more empathic and more accurate understanding of the nature of health and disease.
Are there Human-Specific Diseases?
In this talk, Ajit Varki (UC San Diego) offers some surprising examples of common human diseases that appear to be either absent in our closest living evolutionary cousins (the so-called "great apes"), or manifest in a rather modified form.
Evolving Milk
Katie Hinde (Arizona State Univ) reveals in this talk that milk varies across species, populations, individuals, and across time.
Heart Disease in Hunter-Gatherers?
While evidence of atherosclerosis in both ancient and contemporary preindustrial humans exists, Michael Gurven (UC Santa Barbara) explains in this talk that there is less evidence that such pathology is clinically relevant.
Homeostasis, Inflammation and Disease
Ruslan Medzhitov (Yale School of Medicine) explains in this talk that the intricate connection between homeostasis and inflammation is rooted in underlying principles of control circuits.
Why Genes that Harm Health Persist
Randolph Nesse (Arizona State Univ) contends in this talk that the framework of evolutionary medicine offers a taxonomy of explanations for genetic variations that harm health.
The Divided Child
"My mother's kin are not my father's kin." David Haig (Harvard Univ) explains in this talk that this asymmetry results in conflicting selective forces acting on genes of maternal and paternal origin revealed in the phenomenon of genomic imprinting.
Adaptations to High Altitude
In this talk, Cynthia Beall (Case Western Reserve Univ) describes different patterns of adaptive biological characteristics among high-altitude native populations and the accumulating evidence explaining why and how those different responses came about.
Shining Evolutionary Light on Human Sleep and Health
Charles Nunn (Duke Univ) identifies selective pressures in this talk that may play a role in favoring shorter sleep in humans, and considers the consequences of these evolutionary changes for understanding human sleep disorders, health across the lifespan, and health disparities.
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