In medicine, it is often said the exceptions are the rule and atypical presentations of diseases are typical. However, diagnoses are also often preceded by typical symptoms, accompanied by diseases, and succeeded by other symptoms and diseases. There are patterns in these journeys and they often follow consistent trajectories. A heart attack is announced by… Continue reading The systems above, the genomes below
Category: Genomics
Hunger games
Hara hachi bu is a Confucian adage that dates back 2500 years and instructs people to eat until they are 80% full. The Okinawans from Japan use this mantra before every meal, enabling them to be mindful of their food consumption. Elderly Okinawans have among the lowest mortality rates in the world from a multitude… Continue reading Hunger games
Metabolic Ghetto
The staggering increase in the prevalence and incidence of metabolic syndrome and its various components is especially alarming amongst minority populations worldwide and within the United States. For example, the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes has doubled in India in the last 30 years, obesity rates have increased 3 fold or more since 1980 in… Continue reading Metabolic Ghetto
The ‘exposome’ exposed!
How can we explain the observation that Pima Indians living in the Southwest United States have a five fold higher prevalence of diabetes than their counterparts living across the border in Mexico? Not only are these populations genetically identical, numerous studies have been unsuccessful in identifying chromosomal regions with a strong linkage to the trait.… Continue reading The ‘exposome’ exposed!
Know thy (evolutionary) history
Human evolutionary history has unfolded over millions of years and has transformed us from one generation to the next to its current state. In fact, the process of evolution continues to occur today and humans will be different in many aspects generations from now. If you look at human beings through the lens of evolution, it… Continue reading Know thy (evolutionary) history
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