It's amazing how little Pakistan has progressed since then. What modernity they have has trickled in from elsewhere.
Posted on 11/12/2010 9:03:42 PM PST by SunkenCiv
As in cities today, the earliest towns helped expose their inhabitants to inordinate opportunities for infection -- and today their descendants are stronger for it, a new study says.
"If cities increase the amount of disease people are exposed to, shouldn't they also, over time, make them natural places for disease resistance to evolve?" asked study co-author Mark Thomas, a biologist at University College London... study co-author Ian Barnes, a molecular paleobiologist at University College London, screened DNA samples from 17 groups long associated with particular regions of Europe, Asia, and Africa -- for example Anatolian Turks and the southern Sudanese.
Barnes analyzed the DNA samples for a gene associated with resistance to tuberculosis (TB) and suspected of being associated with resistance to leprosy as well as to leishmaniasis, a reaction to sand fly bites, and to Kawasaki disease, a childhood ailment that involves inflamed blood vessels and can lead to heart disease...
In areas of ancient urbanization, it turned out, "we found very high frequency" for the TB-resistance gene, study co-author Thomas said. But, for example, "the Saami people from northern Scandinavia and the Malawi people from Africa, who have little history of urban living, did not have this frequency.
...said epidemiologist Andrew Read... "That it took the rise of disease-ridden cities to cause this resistant gene to become common suggests to me that there must be a cost to having it -- or else it would have been common in the first place," said Read, of Pennsylvania State University, who wasn't involved in the new study... And while it may be small consolation to the allergic and arthritic, having those disorders, Read said, might be a small price to pay for avoiding death by tuberculosis.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalgeographic.com ...
Cities may benefit the immune system but they make people crazy. I’d rather just wade through a septic tank once a month.
A visit to Cap Hatian would cure them of this notion.
There might be a lot of truth to this study. I’ve watched city workers and their immune systems seem pretty strongly resistant against work or speed.
There might be a lot of truth to this study. I’ve watched city workers and their immune systems seem pretty strongly resistant against work or speed.
I agree. Your theory is very interesting and makes sense. You ought to consider a white paper on it. The peer reviews you’d get would serve to buttress or refute it.
Thanks gleeaikin.
Thanks gleeaikin.
:’)
I bought my Aunt one of those kits to determine your origin using DNA for her Birthday. After sending in my information I got a wave of regular mail and email spam from National Geographic. They have so many products that they hawk now days.
It's amazing how little Pakistan has progressed since then. What modernity they have has trickled in from elsewhere.
What does this have to do with the effect of city dwelling on immune systems?
Don’t know about that, I have been looking at my family tree and I have a LOT of ancestors who lived into their 70s and 80s before 1850.
What a wonderful post. Your husband was a lucky man.
You are correct concerning men.
My German greatgrandfather had four wives; most died due to complications involving childbirth.
If a woman could survive childbirth then usually she could look forward to a long life. Nuns live the longest lifetimes in any time period. I’ve always found that fact interesting.
Psalm 90:10:
"The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."
It sounds like hitting 70 was no big deal 3000 years ago...
I have thought about writing about this in more detail. Do you have any thoughts as to where I might submit such a “white paper”?
My experience with PhDs is that they are very territorial, narrow minded and narcissistic.
Once they propound a theory that’s it and they’re not likely to change. This has gotten worse as government funding has politicized the process.
I’d put your ideas down on paper, organize them and expand them. Do some research to find additional data.
Realize that your theorem covers several scientific realms. Brain study, biology, aging, population and environment, and anthropology specifically in the realm of tribes (familial). So your research would cross into each of the preceding areas (& possibly more) and you’d glean insights by contacting experts or reading papers that discuss those aspects pertinent to your theory.
What exactly is your theory? “Alzheimer’s is a natural biological response in humans to limited food resources and declining utility of the elderly to support the tribe”?
Here’s the scientific method:
1. Observation - you’ve done this
2. Research - how much have you done?
3. Hypothesis - you have one, but can you state what it is specifically?
4. Testing - what proofs would you need to support your hypothesis and what would refute it? (you’ve got to consider both sides to make a good test)
5. Findings - report your findings or alter your hypothesis
I’d tighten up your hypothesis and then start testing. You’re at the right place to do it.
If you set up a paper, publish it to the web and copyright it, then post it here on FR and invite commentary. The “peer” review process can be harsh, but don’t take it personally. It is to your benefit and to the benefit of your theory.
What do you think?
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