VPAT 4000/6000



Related Links		Course Description On the Origins of Disease: VPAT 4000/6000 Course Coordinator Elizabeth Uhl, DVM, PhD, Dip ACVP Course Objectives: 1) Understand the evolutionary origins of disease susceptibility in man and animals ie: why we get sick and why there are both similarities and differences between human and animal diseases 2) Develop a basic understanding of the pathological basis of disease 3) Use this knowledge to assess information and ask relevant questions about disease Meeting Times: The class is scheduled to meet Tuesday/ Thursday 3:30-4:45pm Veterinary Building Room 149; however, alternate meeting times may be scheduled between the students and the instructor. Course Description: A comparative and evolutionary perspective on the origins and pathogenesis of disease. Topics include: Darwinian medicine, pathology, adaptations and susceptibility to disease, natural selection and infectious disease, evolution of host defenses, parasites and allergies, evolutionary models of cancer, diet and toxins, degeneration and aging, paleopathology, diseases of civilization, selective breeding and disease susceptibility, and environmental impacts on disease incidences. Diseases of both man and animals will be studied. Prerequisites/Corequisites: BIO104 BIO(GN)320 or permission from instructor Topical Outline: I) Introduction to Evolutionary Medicine A) Historical perspective B) Definitions: the why we get sick questions C) Natural selection in disease D) Importance of a comparative perspective II) Tools for Studying Disease A) Pathology: basic mechanisms of disease B) Microbiology/virology: identification of agents C) Genome sequences: susceptibility genes D) Fossil genes: determinations of selective pressure E) Epigenomics: inherited environmental affects on gene expression F) Paleopathology: evidence of disease in the past G) Historical records: descriptions and impact of disease in the past III) Cost of Adaptations: Disease Susceptibility A) Oxygen and free radicals: the early compromises B) Evo Devo: consequences of past choices C) Jaws, teeth: rise of predation D) Emergence from water: maintaining hydration E) Movement: osteoarthritis F) Diet: plants, meat, parasites and toxins G) Endothermia: energy and overheating H) Sex: conflicts and compromises I) Aging: accumulated effects of compromises J) Brains: the cost of increasing memory and intelligence IV) Infectious diseases A) An arms race without end: Natural Selection and Pathogens B) Effects of transmission on virulence C) Bacteria: Masters of Resistance D) Parasites: Cost/Benefit of a Close Relationship E) Viruses: Rosetta Stones of the Immune System F) Why do new pathogens emerge and old ones disappear? V) Host defenses: The Inflammatory System A) Early Origins: Development of the Mediators B) Tissue Responses: Acute Inflammation C) Tissue Response: Chronic Inflammation & Repair D) Legacies and Limitations VI) Host Defenses: The Immune System A) Non-specific: Innate Responses B) Specific: Adaptive Responses C) MHC: Self, Non-Self and Infectious Tumors D) Isolated Populations: Problems of Living in Paradise E) Downside of Cleanliness: Allergies and the Hygiene Hypothesis F) Viral Obsessions and Senescence VII) Cancer: Problems in Proliferation A) Evolutionary Models of Cancer B) Problems in Evolutionary Engineering C) Overrun by Free Radicals D) Cost of Reproductive Success VIII) Toxic diseases: A tale of plants and drugs A) Diet and the Evolution of Enzyme Systems B) Fossil Genes and Drug Metabolism C) Impact on Animal Models IX) The pitfalls of looking backwards: How to ask the right questions A) Studying disease in an evolutionary context B) Generating testable hypotheses X.) Paleopathology A) Disease in Ancient Remains: What Survives B) Diseases in Extinct Species: Expectations and Evidence C) Role of Disease in Extinctions D) Prehistoric Animal Diseases E) Prehistoric Human Diseases F) Genetic Legacies XI) Disease in Historical Times A) Human Diseases in History: the Why Questions B) Animal Diseases in History: the Why Questions C) Plants and Disease D) Genetic and Cultural Legacies XII) Domestic Animals: Survival of the Sickest? A) Intensity of Selection B) Costs of Selective Breeding: Disease Susceptibility C) Benefits of Selective Breeding: Models of Human Diseases XIII) Disease Ecology A) Environmental Factors and Disease B) Lessons from the Past C) Predictions for the Future?