A evolução e a saúde pública

sábado, dezembro 05, 2009

Evolution and public health

Gilbert S. Omenn1

- Author Affiliations

Center for Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, Departments of Internal Medicine and Human Genetics, Medical School and School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109–2218

Edited by Peter T. Ellison, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (received for review September 11, 2009)

Abstract

Evolution and its elements of natural selection, population migration, genetic drift, and founder effects have shaped the world in which we practice public health. Human cultures and technologies have modified life on this planet and have coevolved with myriad other species, including microorganisms; plant and animal sources of food; invertebrate vectors of disease; and intermediate hosts among birds, mammals, and nonhuman primates. Molecular mechanisms of differential resistance or susceptibility to infectious agents or diets have evolved and are being discovered with modern methods. Some of these evolutionary relations require a perspective of tens of thousands of years, whereas other changes are observable in real time. The implications and applications of evolutionary understanding are important to our current programs and policies for infectious disease surveillance, gene–environment interactions, and health disparities globally.

cultural evolution ecogenetics genome mapping susceptibility to infection Western diet

Footnotes

1To whom correspondence should be addressed at: University of Michigan/CCMB, Room 2017F Palmer Commons, 100 Washtenaw Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI 48109–2218. E-mail: gomenn@umich.edu.

Author contributions: G.S.O. designed research, performed research, and wrote the paper.

This paper results from the Arthur M. Sackler Colloquium of the National Academy of Sciences, “Evolution in Health and Medicine” held April 2–3, 2009, at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC. The complete program and audio files of most presentations are available on the NAS web site at www.nasonline.org/Sackler_Evolution_Health_Medicine.

The author declares no conflict of interest.

This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.

+++++

PDF grátis aqui.