Evolution and medicine

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 geneticbasis of evolutionary change, evolutionary life history theory.

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 conductanceregulator.

4.3 Genotypic diversity and phenotypic heterogeneity in cystic fibrosis4.4 Re…