Evolutionary Medicine: The Ongoing Evolution of Human Physiology and Metabolism (original) (raw)
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Human Organisms from an Evolutionary Perspective: Its Significance for Medicine
Handbook of the Philosophy of Medicine, 2016
Defenders of evolutionary medicine claim that medical professionals and public health officials would do well to consider the role of evolutionary biology with respect to the teaching, research, and judgments pertaining to medical theory and practice. An integral part of their argument is that the human body should be understood as a bundle of evolutionary compromises. Such an appreciation,
Why Physiology is now the key to understanding Evolution
Journal of African Association of Physiological Sciences, 2014
The standard Neo-Darwinist theory of evolution assumes that genetic change is random with respect to function. On this view physiology is relevant only as a way of explaining why some variations are selected over less successful ones. We now know there are other ways in which organisms can adapt functionally to the environment and pass this information on to their progeny. Evolution therefore can occur via more mechanisms than assumed by Neo-Darwinism. As the study of function, physiology has now become one of the keys to understanding evolution. The implications for healthcare are also highlighted.
Making evolutionary biology a basic science for medicine
New applications of evolutionary biology in medicine are being discovered at an accelerating rate, but few physicians have sufficient educational background to use them fully. This article summarizes suggestions from several groups that have considered how evolutionary biology can be useful in medicine, what physicians should learn about it, and when and how they should learn it. Our general conclusion is that evolutionary biology is a crucial basic science for medicine. In addition to looking at established evolutionary methods and topics, such as population genetics and pathogen evolution, we highlight questions about why natural selection leaves bodies vulnerable to disease. Knowledge about evolution provides physicians with an integrative framework that links otherwise disparate bits of knowledge. It replaces the prevalent view of bodies as machines with a biological view of bodies shaped by evolutionary processes. Like other basic sciences, evolutionary biology needs to be taught both before and during medical school. Most introductory biology courses are insufficient to establish competency in evolutionary biology. Premedical students need evolution courses, possibly ones that emphasize medically relevant aspects. In medical school, evolutionary biology should be taught as one of the basic medical sciences. This will require a course that reviews basic principles and specific medical applications, followed by an integrated presentation of evolutionary aspects that apply to each disease and organ system. Evolutionary biology is not just another topic vying for inclusion in the curriculum; it is an essential foundation for a biological understanding of health and disease.
BMC Medicine, 2013
Evolutionary medicine (EM) is a growing field focusing on the evolutionary basis of human diseases and their changes through time. To date, the majority of EM studies have used pure theories of hominin macroevolution to explain the present-day state of human health. Here, we propose a different approach by addressing more empirical and health-oriented research concerning past, current and future microevolutionary changes of human structure, functions and pathologies. Studying generation-togeneration changes of human morphology that occurred in historical times, and still occur in presentday populations under the forces of evolution, helps to explain medical conditions and warns clinicians that their current practices may influence future humans. Also, analyzing historic tissue specimens such as mummies is crucial in order to address the molecular evolution of pathogens, of the human genome, and their coadaptations.
The great opportunity: Evolutionary applications to medicine and public health
Evolutionary Applications, 2008
Of evolutionary biology's many practical applications, those in medicine are the most obvious and potentially the most important. So far, however, medicine, nursing and public health have made use of only a fraction of what evolution has to offer. The magnitude of the gap is impressive. Studies of medical education found that most medical schools in the UK and the USA have not one evolutionary biologist on the faculty (Nesse and Schiffman
Physiology is rocking the foundations of evolutionary biology
The 'Modern Synthesis' (Neo-Darwinism) is a mid-twentieth century gene-centric view of evolution, based on random mutations accumulating to produce gradual change through natural selection. Any role of physiological function in influencing genetic inheritance was excluded. The organism became a mere carrier of the real objects of selection: its genes. We now know that genetic change is far from random and often not gradual. Molecular genetics and genome sequencing have deconstructed this unnecessarily restrictive view of evolution in a way that reintroduces physiological function and interactions with the environment as factors influencing the speed and nature of inherited change. Acquired characteristics can be inherited, and in a few but growing number of cases that inheritance has now been shown to be robust for many generations. The twenty-first century can look forward to a new synthesis that will reintegrate physiology with evolutionary biology.
How evolutionary principles improve the understanding of human health and disease
Evolutionary …, 2011
An appreciation of the fundamental principles of evolutionary biology provides new insights into major diseases and enables an integrated understanding of human biology and medicine. However, there is a lack of awareness of their importance amongst physicians, medical researchers, and educators, all of whom tend to focus on the mechanistic (proximate) basis for disease, excluding consideration of evolutionary (ultimate) reasons. The key principles of evolutionary medicine are that selection acts on fitness, not health or longevity; that our evolutionary history does not cause disease, but rather impacts on our risk of disease in particular environments; and that we are now living in novel environments compared to those in which we evolved. We consider these evolutionary principles in conjunction with population genetics and describe several pathways by which evolutionary processes can affect disease risk. These perspectives provide a more cohesive framework for gaining insights into the determinants of health and disease. Coupled with complementary insights offered by advances in genomic, epigenetic, and developmental biology research, evolutionary perspectives offer an important addition to understanding disease. Further, there are a number of aspects of evolutionary medicine that can add considerably to studies in other domains of contemporary evolutionary studies.
Medicine, Evolution, and Natural Selection: An Historical Overview
Quarterly Review of Biology, 2009
Contemporary Darwinian medicine is a still-expanding new discipline, one of whose principal aims is to arrive at an evolutionary understanding of those aspects of the body that leave it vulnerable to disease. Historically, there was a precedent for this research; between 1880 and 1940, several scientists tried to develop some general evolutionary theories of disease as arising from deleterious traits that escape elimination by natural selection. In contrast, contemporary Darwinian medicine uses evolutionary theory to consider all the possible reasons why selection has left humans vulnerable to disease.