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Could care giving have altered the evolution of human immune strategies? Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2024-01-25 Bethany L P Gilbert, Sharon E Kessler
Absract Life history theory indicates that individuals/species with a slow pace of life invest more in acquired than innate immunity. Factors that decrease pace of life and predict greater investment in acquired immunity include increased nutritional resources, increased pathogen exposure and decreased risk of extrinsic mortality. Common care behaviours given to sick individuals produce exactly these
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Evolutionary and Empirical Perspectives on ‘Demand’ Breastfeeding: the Baby in the Driver’s Seat or the Back Seat? Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2024-01-21 David P Tracer
Background/Objectives The concept of “demand” breastfeeding is central in public health. A key feature of the concept is that the infant is the locus of control in the breastfeeding process; when the breast is demanded by the infant, it is given the opportunity to feed. This study questions this notion of the infant as the locus of control in demand breastfeeding for empirical and theoretical reasons
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Reconsidering the developmental origins of adult disease paradigm: the ‘metabolic coordination of childbirth’ hypothesis Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2024-01-17 Jonathan C K Wells, Gernot Desoye, David A Leon
In uncomplicated pregnancies, birthweight is inversely associated with adult non-communicable disease (NCD) risk. One proposed mechanism is maternal malnutrition during pregnancy. Another explanation is that shared genes link birthweight with NCDs. Both hypotheses are supported, but evolutionary perspectives address only the environmental pathway. We propose that genetic and environmental associations
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Host-gut microbiota interactions during pregnancy Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2024-01-06 Katherine R Amato, Priyanka Pradhan, Elizabeth K Mallott, Wesley Shirola, Amy Lu
Mammalian pregnancy is characterized by a well-known suite of physiological changes that support fetal growth and development, thereby positively affecting both maternal and offspring fitness. However, mothers also experience trade-offs between current and future maternal reproductive success, and maternal responses to these trade-offs can result in mother-offspring fitness conflicts. Knowledge of
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Take a load off: Skeletal implications of sedentism in the feet of modern body donors Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-12-23 Malorie E Albee
Background and Objectives Modern biocultural environments continue to place selective pressures on our skeletons. In the past century, a major cultural pressure has been the rise in sedentism. However, studies considering the effects of sedentism on the foot have largely considered pathological changes to the gross foot without particular regard for the pedal skeleton. To address this gap in the literature
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Sperm intrusion into the implantation-stage blastocyst and its potential biological significance Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-12-23 Jayasree Sengupta, Thomas Kroneis, Amy M Boddy, Rahul Roy, Anish Sarkar, Deepayan Sarkar, Debabrata Ghosh, Berthold Huppertz
The human embryo derives from fusion of oocyte and sperm, undergoes growth and differentiation, resulting in a blastocyst. To initiate implantation, the blastocyst hatches from the zona pellucida, allowing access from external inputs. Modelling of uterine sperm distribution indicates that 200-5000 sperm cells may reach the implantation-stage blastocyst following natural coitus. We show ultrastructural
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Sleep tight! Adolescent sleep quality across three distinct sleep ecologies Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-11-21 Andrea Silva-Caballero, Helen L Ball, Karen L Kramer, Gillian R Bentley
Background and objectives Good sleep quality, associated with few arousals, no daytime sleepiness and self-satisfaction with one’s sleep, is pivotal for adolescent growth, maturation, cognition, and overall health. This paper aims to identify what ecological factors impact adolescent sleep quality across three distinct sleep ecologies representing a gradient of dense urbanity to small, rural environments
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Pain: behavioural expression and response in an evolutionary framework Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-11-10 Amanda C de C Williams
An evolutionary perspective offers insights into the major public health problem of chronic (persistent) pain; behaviours associated with it perpetuate both pain and disability. Pain is motivating, a need state, and pain-related behaviours promote recovery by: immediate active or passive defence; subsequent protection of wounds; suppression of competing responses; energy conservation; vigilance to
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Take it to the limit: the limitations of energetic explanations for birth timing in humans Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-10-28 Cédric Cordey, Nicole M Webb, Martin Haeusler
A hallmark of modern humans is that our newborns are neurologically immature compared to other primates. It is disputed whether this so-called secondary altriciality evolved due to remodelling of the pelvis associated with bipedal locomotion, as suggested by the obstetrical dilemma hypothesis, or from maternal energetic limitations during pregnancy. Specifically, the “Energetics of Gestation and Growth”
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Pathogen Disgust is Associated with Interpersonal Bias Among Healthcare Professionals Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-10-28 Anastasia Makhanova, W Allen Lambert, Ryan Blanchard, Joe Alcock, Eric C Shattuck, Michael P Wilson
Background and objectives Pathogen avoidance is a fundamental motive that shapes many aspects of human behavior, including bias against groups stereotypically linked to disease (e.g., immigrants, outgroup members). This link has only been examined in convenience samples and it is unknown how pathogen avoidance processes operate in populations experiencing prolonged and heightened pathogen threat such
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Epigenetic aging differences between Wichí and Criollos from Argentina: insights from genomic history and ecology Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-10-14 Vincenzo Iannuzzi, Stefania Sarno, Marco Sazzini, Paolo Abondio, Claudia Sala, Maria Giulia Bacalini, Davide Gentilini, Luciano Calzari, Federica Masciotta, Paolo Garagnani, Gastone Castellani, Edgardo Moretti, Maria Cristina Dasso, Federica Sevini, Zelda Alice Franceschi, Claudio Franceschi, Davide Pettener, Donata Luiselli, Cristina Giuliani
Epigenetic estimators based on DNA methylation levels have emerged as promising biomarkers of human aging. These estimators exhibit natural variations across human groups, but data about indigenous populations remain still underrepresented in research. This study aims to investigate differences in epigenetic estimators between two distinct human populations, both residing in the Gran Chaco region of
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Disease from opposing forces in regulatory control Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-10-04 Steven A Frank
Danger requires a strong rapid response. Speedy triggers are prone to false signals. False alarms can be costly, requiring strong negative regulators to oppose the initial triggers. Strongly opposed forces can easily be perturbed, leading to imbalance and disease. For example, immunity and fear response balance strong rapid triggers against widespread slow negative regulators. Diseases of immunity
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Mother's warmth from maternal genes: genomic imprinting of brown adipose tissue. Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-09-29 Lynn Ayache,Aiden Bushell,Jessica Lee,Iiro Salminen,Bernard Crespi
Background and objectives Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays key roles in mammalian physiology, most notably with regard to thermoregulation in infants and juveniles. Previous studies have suggested that intragenomic conflict, in the form of genomic imprinting, mediates BAT thermogenesis, because it represents a public good for groups of siblings, or a mother with her offspring, who huddle together to
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Discriminating between sick and healthy faces based on early sickness cues: an exploratory analysis of sex differences Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-09-27 Arnaud Tognetti, Evelina Thunell, Marta Zakrzewska, Jonas Olofsson, Mats Lekander, John Axelsson, Mats J Olsson
Background and objectives It has been argued that sex and disease-related traits should influence how observers respond to sensory sickness cues. In fact, there is evidence that humans can detect sensory cues related to infection in others, but lack of power from earlier studies prevents any firm conclusion regarding whether perception of sickness cues is associated with sex and personality traits
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The effects of lifestyle change on indicators of cardiometabolic health in semi-nomadic pastoralists Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-09-25 Zane S Swanson, Hilary Bethancourt, Rosemary Nzunza, Emmanuel Ndiema, David R Braun, Asher Y Rosinger, Herman Pontzer
Background and objectives Non-communicable disease (NCD) risk and the epidemic of cardiometabolic diseases continue to grow across the expanding industrialized world. Probing the relationships between evolved human physiology and modern socioecological condition is central to understanding this health crisis. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between increased market access, shifting subsistence
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The reproductive status determines tolerance and resistance to Mycobacterium marinum in Drosophila melanogaster Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-09-03 Marta Arch, Maria Vidal, Esther Fuentes, Anmaw Shite Abat, Pere Joan Cardona
Sex and reproductive status of the host have a major impact on the immune response against infection. Our aim was to understand their impact on host tolerance or resistance in the systemic Mycobacterium marinum infection of Drosophila melanogaster. We measured host survival and bacillary load at time of death, as well as expression by RT-qPCR of immune genes (diptericin and drosomycin). We also assessed
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The EvMed Assessment (EMA): A test for measuring student understanding of core concepts in evolutionary medicine Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-08-30 Taya Misheva, Randolph M Nesse, Daniel Z Grunspan, Sara E Brownell
Background and objectives Universities throughout the United States increasingly offer undergraduate courses in Evolutionary Medicine (EvMed), which creates a need for pedagogical resources. Several resources offer course content (e.g., textbooks) and a previous study identified EvMed core principles to help instructors set learning goals. However, assessment tools are not yet available. In this study
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An evolutionary perspective on social inequality and health disparities:insights from the producer-scrounger game Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-08-16 Jonathan C K Wells
There is growing concern with social disparities in health, whether relating to gender, ethnicity, caste, socio-economic position or other axes of inequality. Despite addressing inequality, evolutionary biologists have had surprisingly little to say on why human societies are prone to demonstrating exploitation. This article builds on a recent book, ‘The metabolic ghetto’, describing an overarching
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Signalling need for care: A neglected functional role of medical treatment Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-08-14 Mícheál de Barra, Kawthar Hakimy, Marijn de Bruin
While the primary goals of medical treatment are typically to shorten illness or relieve symptoms, we explore the idea that an important additional goal for some patients is to communicate need. Drawing on signalling theory, we argue that undergoing treatments can help patients legitimize their illness and thereby enable access to crucial support during convalescence. Four pre-registered within-subjects
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First impressions of a new face are shaped by infection concerns Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-08-07 Paola Bressan
Along with a classical immune system, we have evolved a behavioral one which directs us away from potentially contagious individuals. Here I show, using publicly available cross-cultural data, that this adaptation is so fundamental that our first impressions of a male stranger are largely driven by the perceived health of his face. Positive (likeable, capable, intelligent, trustworthy) and negative
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Integrating evolutionary, developmental and physiological mismatch Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-08-05 Paul E Griffiths, Pierrick Bourrat
Contemporary evolutionary medicine has unified the idea of ‘evolutionary mismatch’, derived from the older idea of ‘adaptive lag’ in evolution, with ideas about mismatch in development and physiology derived from the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) paradigm. A number of publications in evolutionary medicine have tried to make this theoretical framework explicit. The integrative
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A novel indicator of selection in utero Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-07-19 Ralph Catalano, Tim A Bruckner, Alison Gemmill, Joan A Casey, Claire Margerison, Terry Hartig
Background and objectives Selection in utero predicts that population stressors raise the standard for how quickly fetuses must grow to avoid spontaneous abortion. Tests of this prediction must use indirect indicators of fetal loss in birth cohorts because vital statistics systems typically register fetal deaths at the 20th week of gestation or later, well after most have occurred. We argue that tests
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Using Evolutionary Principles to Make Clinical Decisions: A Case Series of Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Michelle Blyth
The principles of evolutionary medicine have significant potential to be useful in a wide variety of clinical situations. Despite this, few demonstrations of clinical applications exist. To address this paucity, a case series applying evolutionary medicine principles to urinary tract infections (UTIs), a common medical condition is presented. This series demonstrates how applying evolutionary medicine
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Maternal mental health and economic autonomy in lowland rural Nepal: do parents-in-law provide constraint or support? Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-07-05 Akanksha A Marphatia, Laura K Busert-Sebela, Lu Gram, Mario Cortina-Borja, Alice M Reid, Dharma S Manandhar, Jonathan C K Wells, Naomi M Saville
Background and objectives In patrilocal societies, married women typically co-reside with their parents-in-law, who may act in their son’s reproductive interests. These relationships may shape maternal mental health and autonomy. Few studies examined these dynamics from an evolutionary perspective. Theoretically, marital kin may increase their fitness by increasing maternal investment, or by reducing
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Low birthweight is associated with epigenetic age acceleration in the first three years of life Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-06-30 Edward B Quinn, Chu J Hsiao, Felicien M Maisha, Connie J Mulligan
Background and objectives The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) hypothesis posits that early life adversity is associated with poor adult health outcomes. Epidemiological evidence has supported this framework by linking low birthweight with adult health and mortality, but the mechanisms remain unclear. Accelerated epigenetic aging may be a pathway to connect early life experiences
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Humans can detect axillary odor cues of an acute respiratory infection in others Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-05-27 Arnaud Tognetti, Megan N Williams, Nathalie Lybert, Mats Lekander, John Axelsson, Mats J Olsson
Background and objectives Body odor conveys information about health status to conspecifics and influences approach-avoidance behaviors in animals. Experiments that induce sickness in otherwise healthy individuals, suggest that humans too can detect sensory cues to infection in others. Here, we investigated whether individuals could detect through smell a naturally occurring acute respiratory infection
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Biomarkers or Biotargets? Using Competition to Lure Cancer Cells into Evolutionary Traps Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-05-26 Anuraag Bukkuri, Frederick R Adler
Background and Objectives Cancer biomarkers provide information on the characteristics and extent of cancer progression and help inform clinical decision-making. However, they can also play functional roles in oncogenesis, from enabling metastases and inducing angiogenesis to promoting resistance to chemotherapy. The resulting evolution could bias estimates of cancer progression and lead to suboptimal
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Double trouble: trypanosomatids with two hosts have lower infection prevalence than single host trypanosomatids Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-05-16 Hawra Al-Ghafli, Seth M Barribeau
Trypanosomatids are a diverse family of protozoan parasites, some of which cause devastating human and livestock diseases. There are two distinct infection life-cycles in trypanosomatids; some species complete their entire life-cycle in a single host (monoxenous) while others infect two hosts (dixenous). Dixenous trypanosomatids are mostly vectored by insects, and the human trypanosomatid diseases
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Wealth, health and inequality in Agta foragers Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-05-15 A E Page, M Ruiz, M Dyble, D Major-Smith, A B Migliano, S Myers
Background and objectives There is significant evidence from large-scale, industrial and post-industrial societies that greater income and wealth inequality is negatively associated with both population health and increasing health inequalities. However, whether such relationships are inevitable and should be expected to impact the health of small-scale societies as they become more market-integrated
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Emotional factors, medical interventions and mode of birth among low-risk primiparous women in Poland Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-05-14 Ilona Nenko, Katarzyna Kopeć-Godlewska, Mary C Towner, Laura D Klein, Agnieszka Micek
Background and Objectives Birth is a critical event in women’s lives. Since humans have evolved to give birth in the context of social support, not having it in modern settings might lead to more complications during birth. Our aim was to model how emotional factors and medical interventions relate to birth outcome in hospital settings in Poland, where c-section rates have doubled in the last decade
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The evolution of antibiotic resistance in an incurable and ultimately fatal infection: a retrospective case study Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-05-11 Robert J Woods, Camilo Barbosa, Laura Koepping, Juan A Raygoza, Michael Mwangi, Andrew F Read
Background and objectives The processes by which pathogens evolve within a host dictate the efficacy of treatment strategies designed to slow antibiotic resistance evolution and influence population-wide resistance levels. The aim of this study is to describe the underlying genetic and phenotypic changes leading to antibiotic resistance within a patient who died as resistance evolved to available antibiotics
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Father absence and pubertal timing in Korean boys and girls Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-05-06 D Susie Lee, Hanna Semenchenko
Background and objectives Pubertal timing is a key life history trait with long-term health consequences in both sexes. Evolutionary theory has guided extensive research on developmental influences, in particular growing up without a father, on earlier menarche. Far less is known whether a similar relationship exists for boys, especially beyond western contexts. We used longitudinal data from the nationally
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On evolutionary medicine and health disparities. Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-04-27 C Brandon Ogbunugafor,Fatimah Jackson
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The Mummy Explorer - a self-regulated open-access online teaching tool Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-04-27 Anja Furtwängler, Chris Baumann, Kerttu Majander, Shevan Wilkin, Nadja Tomoum, Frank Rühli, Adrian V Jaeggi, Patrick Eppenberger, Nicole Bender, Verena J Schuenemann
Background and objectives Virtual teaching tools have gained increasing importance in recent years. In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the need for media-based and self-regulated tools. What is missing are tools that allow us to interlink highly interdisciplinary fields such as evolutionary medicine and, at the same time, allow us to adapt content to different lectures. Methodology
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Embedded Racism: Inequitable Niche Construction as a Neglected Evolutionary Process Affecting Health Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-04-21 Paula Ivey Henry, Meredith R Spence Beaulieu, Angelle Bradford, Joseph L Graves
Racial health disparities are a pervasive feature of modern experience and structural racism is increasingly recognized as a public health crisis. Yet evolutionary medicine has not adequately addressed the racialization of health and disease, particularly the systematic embedding of social biases in biological processes leading to disparate health outcomes delineated by socially-defined race. In contrast
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Childbirth fear in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: Key predictors and associated birth outcomes Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-04-13 Z M Thayer, S A Geisel-Zamora, G Uwizeye, T E Gildner
Background and objectives Childbirth fear, which has been argued to have an adaptive basis, exists on a spectrum. Pathologically high levels of childbirth fear is a clinical condition called tokophobia. As a chronic stressor in pregnancy, tokophobia could impact birth outcomes. Many factors associated with tokophobia, including inadequate labor support, were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology
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Combination antimicrobial therapy to manage resistance. Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-03-30 Robert J Woods,Andrew F Read
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COVID-19 and Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health. Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-01-28 Charles L Nunn
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Hygiene may attenuate selection for antibiotic resistance by changing microbial community structure Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-01-18 Magnus Aspenberg, Sara Maad Sasane, Fredrik Nilsson, Sam P Brown, Kristofer Wollein Waldetoft
Good hygiene, in both health care and the community, is central to containing the rise of antibiotic resistance, as well as to infection control more generally. But despite the well-known importance, the ecological mechanisms by which hygiene (or other transmission control measures) affect the evolution of resistance remain to be elucidated. Using metacommunity ecology theory, we here propose that
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Food Insecurity, Diet, and Mental Distress Among Resource Insecure Students During COVID-19 Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2023-01-11 Miriam C Kopels, Casey J Roulette
It is well documented that college student populations are vulnerable to food insecurity and other adverse environmental conditions. Additionally, exposure to environmental adversity can have deleterious, long-term effects on physical and mental health. This study applies evolutionary life history theory to examine the relationship between environmental adversity, mental distress, and diet among resource
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Lower testosterone levels are associated with higher risk of death in men Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-12-22 Michael P Muehlenbein, Jeffrey Gassen, Eric C Shattuck, Corey S Sparks
Background and Objectives Testosterone plays an important role in regulating male development, reproduction, and health. Declining levels across the lifespan may reflect, or even contribute to, chronic disease and mortality in men. Methodology Relationships between testosterone levels and male mortality were analyzed using data from multiple samples of the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition
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Non-pharmaceutical interventions and the emergence of pathogen variants Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-12-19 Ben Ashby, Cameron A Smith, Robin N Thompson
Non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs), such as social distancing and contact tracing, are important public health measures that can reduce pathogen transmission. In addition to playing a crucial role in suppressing transmission, NPIs influence pathogen evolution by mediating mutation supply, restricting the availability of susceptible hosts, and altering the strength of selection for novel variants
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Disgusting odors trigger the oral immune system Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-12-15 Stephanie Anja Juran, Arnaud Tognetti, Johan Lundström, Lalit Kumar, Richard J Stevenson, Mats Lekander, Mats J Olsson
Recent research has characterized the behavioral defense against disease. In particular the detection of sickness cues, the adaptive reactions (e.g., avoidance) to these cues, and the mediating role of disgust have been the focus. A presumably important but less investigated part of a behavioral defense is the immune system response of the observer of sickness cues. Odors are intimately connected to
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No evidence that spice consumption is a cancer prevention mechanism in human populations Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-11-24 Antoine M Dujon, Aurélie Tasiemski, Pascal Pujol, Anthony Turpin, Beata Ujvari, Frédéric Thomas
Why humans historically began to incorporate spices into their diets is still a matter of unresolved debate. For example, a recent study (Bromham et al. 2021, Nat Hum Behav) did not support the most popular hypothesis that spice consumption was a practice favoured by selection in certain environments to reduce food poisoning, parasitic infections, and foodborne diseases. Because several spices are
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Sound reasons for unsound sleep: Comparative support for the sentinel hypothesis in industrial and nonindustrial groups Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-11-22 Leela McKinnon, Eric C Shattuck, David R Samson
Background and objectives Sleep is a vulnerable state in which individuals are more susceptible to threat, which may have led to evolved mechanisms for increasing safety. The sentinel hypothesis proposes that brief awakenings during sleep may be a strategy for detecting and responding to environmental threats. Observations of sleep segmentation and group sentinelization in hunter-gatherer and small-scale
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Evobiopsychosocial Medicine Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-11-21 Adam D Hunt, Paul St-John Smith, Riadh Abed
The biopsychosocial model remains the de facto framework of current healthcare, but lacks causational depth, scientific rigour, or any recognition of the importance of evolutionary theory for understanding health and disease. In this article it is updated to integrate Tinbergen’s four questions with the three biopsychosocial levels. This ‘evobiopsychosocial’ schema provides a more complete framework
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Evolution of higher mesenchymal CD44 expression in the human lineage: A gene linked to cancer malignancy. Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-30 Xinghong Ma,Anasuya Dighe,Jamie Maziarz,Edwin Neumann,Eric Erkenbrack,Yuan-Yuan Hei,Yansheng Liu,Yasir Suhail,,Irene Pak,Andre Levchenko,Günter P Wagner
CD44 is an extracellular matrix receptor implicated in cancer progression. CD44 increases the invasibility of skin (SF) and endometrial stromal fibroblasts (ESF) by cancer and trophoblast cells. We reasoned that the evolution of CD44 expression can affect both, the fetal-maternal interaction through CD44 in ESF as well as vulnerability to malignant cancer through expression in SF. We studied the evolution
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An orally-administered drug prevents selection for antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut during daptomycin therapy Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-25 Valerie J Morley, Derek G Sim, Aline Penkevich, Robert J Woods, Andrew F Read
Background and Objectives Previously, we showed proof-of-concept in a mouse model that oral administration of cholestyramine prevented enrichment of daptomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract during daptomycin therapy. Cholestyramine binds daptomycin in the gut, which removes daptomycin selection pressure and so prevents the enrichment of resistant clones. Here, we
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Early life adversity, reproductive history and breast cancer risk Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-23 Amy M Boddy, Shawn Rupp, Zhe Yu, Heidi Hanson, Athena Aktipis, Ken Smith
Background & Objectives Individuals who experience early life adversity are at an increased risk for chronic disease later in life. Less is known about how early life factors are associated with cancer susceptibility. Here we use a life history framework to test whether early life adversity increases the risk of breast cancer. We predict that early life adversity can shift investment in somatic maintenance
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Socioeconomic impacts on Andean adolescents’ growth: variation between households, between communities, and over time Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-22 Mecca E Burris, Esperanza Caceres, Emily M Chester, Kathryn A Hicks, Thomas W McDade, Lynn Sikkink, Hilde Spielvogel, Jonathan Thornburg, Virginia J Vitzthum
Background/Objectives We evaluated potential socioeconomic contributors to variation in Andean adolescents’ growth between households within a peri-urban community undergoing rapid demographic and economic change, between different community types (rural, peri-urban, urban), and over time. Because growth monitoring is widely used for assessing community needs and progress, we compared the prevalences
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Selfish evolution of placental hormones Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-19 Grace Keegan, Manus M Patten
We hypothesize that some placental hormones—specifically those that arise by tandem duplication of genes for maternal hormones—may behave as gestational drivers, selfish genetic elements that encourage the spontaneous abortion of offspring that fail to inherit them. Such drivers are quite simple to evolve, requiring just three things: a decrease in expression or activity of some essential maternal
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Commentary - Fat but Fit…and Cold? Potential Evolutionary and Environmental Drivers of Metabolically Healthy Obesity Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-16 Cara Ocobock, Alexandra Niclou
As global obesity rates continue to rise, it is important to understand the origin, role, and range of human variation of the body mass index (BMI) in assessing health and healthcare. A growing body of evidence suggests that BMI is a poor indicator of health across populations, and that there may be a metabolically healthy obese phenotype. Here we review the reasons why BMI is an inadequate tool for
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Girls start life on an uneven playing field: Evidence from lowland rural Nepal Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-05 Akanksha A Marphatia, Naomi S Saville, Dharma S Manandhar, Mario Cortina-Borja, Alice M Reid, Jonathan C K Wells
Background and objectives Evolutionary research on the sex ratio at birth (SRB) has focused on explaining variability within and between populations, and whether parental fitness is maximised by producing daughters or sons. We tested predictors of SRB in a low-income setting, to understand whether girls differ from boys in their likelihood of being born into families with the capacity to invest in
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Heritage-specific oral microbiota in indigenous Australian dental calculus Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-05 Matilda Handsley-Davis, Kostas Kapellas, Lisa M Jamieson, Joanne Hedges, Emily Skelly, John Kaidonis, Poppy Anastassiadis, Laura S Weyrich
Background and objectives Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders (hereafter respectfully referred to as Indigenous Australians) experience a high burden of chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Increased NCD risk is linked to oral diseases mediated by the oral microbiota, a microbial community influenced by both vertical transmission and lifestyle factors. As an initial step towards
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Can vaccines control bacterial virulence and pathogenicity? B. pertussis: the advantage of fitness over virulence Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-08-03 Nicole Guiso, Benoit Soubeyrand, Denis Macina
Some vaccines, such as diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis vaccines (aPVs), may favor the emergence of less pathogenic strains of the respective bacteria they target. This review discusses the impact of the wide use of aPV on Bordetella pertussis phenotype evolutions and their beneficial consequences in the light of the diphtheria toxoid immunization program experience and structuring evidence
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Child dietary patterns in Homo sapiens evolution: a systematic review Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-07-26 Lora L Iannotti, Emmanuel A Gyimah, Miranda Reid, Melissa Chapnick, Mary Kate Cartmill, Chessa K Lutter, Charles Hilton, Theresa E Gildner, Elizabeth A Quinn
Dietary patterns spanning millennia could inform contemporary public health nutrition. Children are largely absent from evidence describing diets throughout human evolution, despite prevalent malnutrition today signaling a potential genome-environment divergence. This systematic review aimed to identify dietary patterns of children ages 6 months to 10 years consumed before the widespread adoption of
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Associations of age at marriage and first pregnancy with maternal nutritional status in Nepal Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-07-25 Jonathan C K Wells, Akanksha A Marphatia, Dharma S Manandhar, Mario Cortina-Borja, Alice M Reid, Naomi S Saville
Background and objectives Women’s nutritional status is important for their health and reproductive fitness. In a population where early marriage is common, we investigated how women’s nutritional status is associated with their age at marriage (marking a geographical transfer between households), and at first pregnancy. Methodology We used data from a cluster randomised control trial from lowland
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Phylogenetic prioritization of HIV-1 transmission clusters with viral lineage-level diversification rates Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-07-22 Rachel L Miller, Angela McLaughlin, Richard H Liang, John Harding, Jason Wong, Anh Q Le, Chanson J Brumme, Julio S G Montaner, Jeffrey B Joy
Background and objectives Public health officials faced with a large number of transmission clusters require a rapid, scalable and unbiased way to prioritize distribution of limited resources to maximize benefits. We hypothesize that transmission cluster prioritization based on phylogenetically derived lineage-level diversification rates will perform as well as or better than commonly used growth-based
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Implications of leg length for metabolic health and fitness Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-07-21 Meghan K Shirley, Owen J Arthurs, Kiran K Seunarine, Tim J Cole, Simon Eaton, Jane E Williams, Chris A Clark, Jonathan C K Wells
Background and objectives Several studies have linked longer legs with favorable adult metabolic health outcomes and greater offspring birth weight. A recent Mendelian randomization study suggested a causal link between height and cardiometabolic risk, however the underlying reasons remain poorly understood. Methodology Using a cross-sectional design, we tested in a convenience sample of 70 healthy
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Tradeoffs in milk immunity affect infant infectious disease risk Evol. Med. Public Health (IF 5.143) Pub Date : 2022-06-13 Katherine Wander, Masako Fujita, Siobhan M Mattison, Margaret Duris, Megan Gauck, Tessa Hopt, Katherine Lacy, Angela Foligno, Rebecca Ulloa, Connor Dodge, Frida Mowo, Ireen Kiwelu, Blandina T Mmbaga
Background and objectives The human immune system has evolved to balance protection against infection with control of immune-mediated damage and tolerance of commensal microbes. Such tradeoffs between protection and harm almost certainly extend to the immune system of milk. Methodology Among breastfeeding mother-infant dyads in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, we characterized in vitro proinflammatory milk immune