Evolutionary Medicine

Evolutionary thinking provides insights into many different areas in the research and practice of medicine and public health. It takes specialties such as medical microbiology, epidemiology, oncology, gynecology, and psychiatry that had become increasingly siloed and places them in a larger framework. This foundational structure enables students to view medical knowledge as an integrated whole, underpinned by general principles rather than a loose collection of disparate facts. The discipline of evolutionary medicine continues to advance rapidly as new results come in showing where the insights pay off and where they do not. Its conceptual foundations have also been strengthened in papers not yet reflected in the textbooks, so a new edition is therefore timely. At the same time, the teaching of evolutionary medicine has also been steadily gaining momentum both in courses that prepare undergraduates for medical school in North America and in other contexts worldwide. Evolutionary Medicine is intended for undergraduate students preparing for careers in medicine and public health, students in schools of medicine and public health, and medical professionals curious about the insights that evolutionary thinking can bring to their field. It will also be relevant to students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary biology, anthropology, developmental biology, and genetics. It highlights the most important insights in a relatively brief and compelling book that does not attempt encyclopedic coverage of a rapidly changing field.

Science & Math

Stearns, Stephen C.

Medzhitov, Ruslan

Biological Sciences

Oxford University Press

This book will appeal to investigators in each of the scientific disciplines it integrates--evolutionary biology, ecology, salmonid biology, management, and conservation. Variation in salmonids can be used to illustrate virtually all evolutionary questions, and so the work will also attract general scientific interest by ecologists and evolutionary and conservation biologists.

Evolution Illuminated: Salmon and Their Relatives

Reference

English as a Second Language

A major new textbook. A concise and clear introduction to evolutionary biology. This book introduces what is essential and exciting in evolutionary biology. It covers whole field and emphasises the important concepts for the student. Care has been taken to express complex and stimulating ideas in simple language, while the frequent examples and running summaries make reading fun. Its logical structure means that it can be read straight through, one chapter per sitting. * Concise, clear, and states what is important * Concentrates on the central concepts and illustrates them with telling examples * Running summaries in the margins make navigation easy * Suitable for a one-year or one-semester course in evolution * Summaries at chapter ends * Each chapter's links to neighbouring chapters are explained Evolution: an introduction takes a fresh approach to classical topics such as population genetics and natural selection, and gives an overview of recent advances in hot areas such as sexual selection, genetic conflict, life history evolution, and phenotypic plasticity. Detail of contents The Prologue is unique and uniquely motivating. It makes four central points about evolution in the form of four case studies told as brief stories. Chapters 1-3 describe natural selection and the essential difference between adaptive and neutral evolution with unmatched clarity and simplicity. Chapter 4 emphasizes the essential message of population genetics without burdening the students with any of the unessential details and places unique emphasis on the role of the genetic system in constraining the response to selection. Chapter 6 is not found in any other evolution textbook, although there are a number of recent books on the subject, and it therefore provides an introductory overview of a topic that has been the object of much recent interest and promises to generate much more insight: the expression of genetic variation analysed with the concept of reaction norms. Chapters 7-9 cover sex, life histories, and sexual selection in greater depth than they are dealt with in any other introductory textbook but without introducing advanced technical language and analysis. Chapters 6-9 thus give unprecedented coverage to phenotypic evolution in an introductory text. Chapter 10 on multilevel selection and genetic conflict is unique in introductory textbooks. Rolf Hoekstra has achieved a wonder of clarity and concision on the essentials of this exciting topic. Chapters 11 and 12 on speciation and systematics are, by comparison, pretty standard, but they continue the policy of clarity and concision with the focus on essentials. Chapter 13 on the history of the planet and of life is a completely new approach unabashedly designed to motivate students to think about deep time, geology, paleontology, and fossils. Chapter 14 on the major transitions in evolution is also not found in any other introductory textbook. It documents the conceptual issues raised in the history of life briefly and in a form that will stimulate the gifted. Chapter 15 profiles the chief insights made possible by molecular systematics in the form of four case studies ranging from deep time to recent European history. It has standard content but unique structure. A strong point is the way mitochondrial Eve is contrasted with transpecies polymorphism to show students how to think about inferences with molecular evidence. Chapter 16 briefly presents the principle comparative methods and the kinds of insights that can be achieved with them. It is not unique - Ridley covers this ground well - but the examples used are new and the essential features of the methods - including potential pitfalls - are quite clearly described. Chapter 17 places evolutionary thought into the context both of the natural sciences and of society at large.

Evolution: An Introduction

Oxford Univ. Pr.

This book is the first comprehensive summary of life-history evolution, a field that holds a central position in modern ecology, evolution, and population biology. The book offers an up-to-date description of the analytical tools used in evolutionary explanation: demographics, quantitative genetics, reaction norms, trade-offs, and phylogenetic/comparative analysis. It goes on to discuss the evolution of such major life-history traits as age and size at maturity; clutch size, reproductive investment and size of offspring; reproductive lifespan; and aging. This is an essential text for biologists wishing to understand the evolution of the life cycle and the causes of phenotypic variation in fitness. It is additionally the only book available designed specifically for teaching the subject, with problems and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.

The Evolution of Life Histories

Evolution in Health and Disease

In this fully revised and updated edition, the editors have integrated a completely new set of contributions from the leading researchers in the field to describe the latest research in evolutionary medicine, providing a fresh summary of this rapidly expanding field 10 years after its predecessor was first compiled. It continues to adopt a broad approach to the subject, drawing on medically relevant research from evolutionary genetics, human behavioral ecology, evolutionary microbiology (especially experimental evolution of virulence and resistance), the evolution of aging and degenerative disease, and other aspects of biology or medicine where evolutionary approaches make important contributions. Evolution in Health and Disease describes how evolutionary thinking gives valuable insights and fresh perspectives into human health and disease, establishing evolutionary biology as an essential complementary science for medicine. Integrating evolutionary thought into medical research and practice helps to explain the origins of many medical conditions, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, allergies, other autoimmune diseases, and aging. It also provides life-saving insights into the evolutionary responses of pathogens to antibiotics, vaccinations, and other human interventions. Why do we grow old? How can we stay healthy as we age? The book discusses these and many other fascinating questions, as well as suggesting exciting possibilities for future treatment and research. This research level text is suitable for graduate level students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary (Darwinian) medicine, evolutionary biology, anthropology, developmental biology and genetics. It will also be of relevance and use to medical researchers and doctors.

Koella, Jacob C.

Evolution

In this fully revised and updated edition, the editors have integrated a completely new set of contributions from the leading researchers in the field to describe the latest research in evolutionary medicine, providing a fresh summary of this rapidly expanding field 10 years after its predecessor was first compiled. It continues to adopt a broad approach to the subject, drawing on medically relevant research from evolutionary genetics, human behavioral ecology, evolutionary microbiology (especially experimental evolution of virulence and resistance), the evolution of aging and degenerative disease, and other aspects of biology or medicine where evolutionary approaches make important contributions. Evolution in Health and Disease describes how evolutionary thinking gives valuable insights and fresh perspectives into human health and disease, establishing evolutionary biology as an essential complementary science for medicine. Integrating evolutionary thought into medical research and practice helps to explain the origins of many medical conditions, including diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, asthma, allergies, other autoimmune diseases, and aging. It also provides life-saving insights into the evolutionary responses of pathogens to antibiotics, vaccinations, and other human interventions. Why do we grow old? How can we stay healthy as we age? The book discusses these and many other fascinating questions, as well as suggesting exciting possibilities for future treatment and research. This research level text is suitable for graduate level students and researchers in the fields of evolutionary (Darwinian) medicine, evolutionary biology, anthropology, developmental biology and genetics. It will also be of relevance and use to medical researchers and doctors.

Watching, from the Edge of Extinction

To those struggling on the frontlines to save endangered plants and animals, the crucial challenge is to confront the biological causes of those species’ decline. But just as threatening to their survival are obstacles erected by human politics, greed, corruption, folly, and hypocrisy. In this mesmerizing book, Beverly and Stephen Stearns tell the stories of people who have worked directly with disappearing species in Europe, Africa, North America, and Oceania. They are stories of passion and commitment, of competence and selflessness. They are also stories that alarm, for even as unheralded heroes are working to reverse what often seems to be a species’ inevitable march toward extinction, incompetent or self-interested parties are often working against them. The authors interviewed people who work with endangered species as diverse as Mediterranean monk seals, large blue butterflies, African wild dogs, native Hawaiian crows, Texas salamanders, and rare plants on Mauritius. These dedicated individuals, in discussing how they view their work, the problems they encounter, and their thoughts on the broader significance of extinction, reveal that the causes of extinction are unique to each species—sometimes subtle and complex, at other times obvious and simple. Yet an extinction always represents an irretrievable loss of evolutionary potential and a diminishing of the beauty, diversity, and value in our own lives. The dramatic lessons of this book shed new light on the problems of endangered species and offer hope that we may yet change the fate of those species that totter on the edge of extinction.

Business & Money

Stearns, Beverly Peterson

Economics

Yale University Press

Evolutionary Medicine is a textbook intended for use in undergraduate, graduate, medical school, and continuing medical education (CME) courses. Its professional illustrations and summaries of chapters and sections make its messages readily accessible. Chapter 1 introduces evolutionary thinking about both current dynamic processes and the deep patterns of history and relationship. Chapter 2 asks, "What is a patient?" and answers from a series of perspectives. Chapter 3 asks, "What is a disease?" Some causes are found in patients; others in pathogens; many in the interactions between them. Chapter 4 discusses the nature of defenses, the strategies that determine how they are deployed, and their costs as well as their benefits. Chapter 5 discusses pathogen evolution: the evolution of intrinsic virulence, of evasion and manipulation of host defenses, and of resistance to treatment, and how therapy might be made evolution-proof. Chapter 6 describes cancer as an evolutionary process with a history traced in the genome and with major implications for treatment. Chapter 7 discusses conflicts in reproduction: between mother and offspring, between maternally and paternally derived genes in the offspring, and among siblings. It also discusses menstruation, menopause, and the connection between invasive placentas and metastatic cancer. Chapter 8 discusses mismatches to modern environments, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and autoimmune diseases. Chapter 9 discusses evolutionary perspectives on addiction, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, autism, and schizophrenia. Chapter 10 explores the tension between individual and group interests and shows how medicine is creating new problems while solving old ones. Chapter 11 starts with questions that have not yet been answered, discusses why we have not chosen to address some issues, and concludes by comparing classical with evolutionary medicine. RESOURCES Instructor's Resource Library Available to qualified adopters, the Instructor's Resource Library includes the following resources: *Textbook Figures &amp; Tables: All figures (line-art illustrations and photographs) and tables from the textbook, provided as both high- and low-resolution JPEGs. All have been formatted and optimized for excellent projection quality. Also included are ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations of all figures and tables. *Lecture Presentations: For each chapter of the textbook, the authors have prepared ready-to-use lecture presentations that include text reviewing the key facts and concepts from the chapter, along with selected figures and tables.

Sinauer Associates is an imprint of Oxford University Press

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Books by Stearns, Stephen C.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Stearns, Stephen C.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Evolutionary Medicine

Evolutionary Medicine

Evolution Illuminated: Salmon and Their Relatives

Evolution: An Introduction

The Evolution of Life Histories

Evolution in Health and Disease

Evolution in Health and Disease

Watching, from the Edge of Extinction

Evolutionary Medicine