Summary Of Survival Of The Sickest

In chapter one it talks about how hemachromatosis is a hereditary disease and it’s the most common genetic disease for people of European descent, in which the body can't register that it has enough iron. So it keeps absorbing as much of it as possible, and this can have very, serious side effects (including death). Iron is very important for bacteria, cancer, and other things to grow. The way this disease is most easily treated is blood letting. Looks like all those crazy blood-letting, leech-sticking doctors weren't mistreating everyone. What is the author's argument for why this disease stuck around? To really simplify things: during the black plague in Europe, people with more iron in their system were more likely

People of the Old World had domesticated pigs, horses, sheep, and cattle(1), which had acted as pathogens to infect the Europeans with diseases. In addition, diseases were constantly circulated with centuries of war, exploration, and city building. During the process of natural selection, disease-intolerant

Hemochromatosis is hereditary and the most common genetic disease in the U.S. This genetic disease is passed on

“What doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger” (p. 28). In the scientific novel Survival of the Sickest by Sharon Moalem with Jonathan Prince, self-acclaimed “Medical Maverick” Dr. Moalem makes in-depth analyses of current human diseases that, ironically, may have led to the survival of mankind in the past. He presents a novel concept that greatly contradicts what have been universally accepted beliefs surrounding biology and the process of human evolution for a long time. With the use of myriad scientific studies and research, he formulates surprising theories about a positive correlation between disease and humanity. Moalem narrates the scientific world’s findings that strongly exemplify his assertions, however arbitrary they may seem at first. Three of the diseases that he examines, hemochromatosis, Type 1 diabetes, and favism, could have been particularly useful for resistance against other illnesses and survival in a historically harsh environment.

Survival of the Sickest, written by author Dr. Sharon Moalem, is a book discussing why evolution has not allowed for the destruction of certain diseases. He states that these deadly diseases, such as Anemia, Hemochromatosis, and High Cholesterol, are in fact tools that evolution used to help the human race survive. He explains how these diseases helped fight against more dangerous and life threatening sicknesses such as, Malaria, the Bubonic Plague, and Vitamin D deficiency related illnesses. The main idea of this book is a simple one. Evolution did not necessarily favor adaptations that made us better. Instead, it favored adaptations that helped us survive. Even if these adaptations would end up killing us in the long run.

In his book Survival of the Sickest, Dr. Sharon Moalem examines several modern diseases, and suggests that although they are harmful now, they may have once provided our ancestors with an evolutionary advantage that was selected for. The book puts the present day view of disease and medicine in a new light, providing the reader with an entirely new perspective on illness, inheritance, and natural selection. Some of the afflictions Dr. Moalem discusses are hemochromatosis, diabetes, and high cholesterol (hypercholesterolemia). The author offers background knowledge about these conditions, their history, and goes on to explain the evolutionary advantages they may have bestowed upon our ancestors, changing the reader’s mindset and creating new

Atul Gawande’s book Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End presses on an extremely difficult subject: death. Gawande talks about the need to confront death and not ignore it by taking steps in having a meaningful and satisfying end. Readers say that Gawande does demand a lot from people and the book is eye opening but it does not have a guide to having a better end in life. I agree that Gawande is demanding a lot but people still to listen to him but I think Gawande does give a guide to having a more satisfying end to life though not simply.

The first disease that stood out was hemochromatosis. This disease messes up how much iron the host’s body is producing, and how it 's distributed. Usually, hemochromatosis builds up iron to dangerous levels that can harm almost any part of the host body, and may lead to death. Some symptoms include physical difficulty, an “achy feeling”, and pain in joints. Hemochromatosis was discovered to have most likely originated with the Vikings and the Vikings kept spreading the disease as they expanded their territories over Northern Europe. Though at first, hemochromatosis wasn 't diagnosed properly (nowadays, we can diagnose hemochromatosis through blood tests), it was being treated by blood-letting (which actually did and still does work). After a recent study,

Take hemochromatosis, a hereditary condition that causes iron to accumulate in a person's body. A person having hemochromatosis

While watching the videos on “Sick in America” I can definitely say and I am so happy that I have health insurance from my job. I find starling of what people have to go through with little or no insurance. It can be the simplest procedure and a person has to pay over a thousand dollars. The video brought back so many memories of me going through IVF process and also when I was diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis. While going through IVF I had to make weekly doctor visits (which is $30 co-payment per visit) and with my insurance I didn’t have to pay for the visit and once I became pregnant my co-payments were also temporary suspended until after the birth of my son. The total cost of the IVF procedure was around $50,000 and my out of pocket

The documentary present by PBS “Sick Around the World” gave an insightful look to what other country’s healthcare systems are compared to the US. The film took a closer look at the healthcare systems of Great Britain, Japan, Germany, and Taiwan. Comparing all these country’s healthcare systems, the components in common are that it’s universal, fixed prices for medical treatment, and majority of providers believe that the citizens pay too little for healthcare. The problem with the issues changing the American healthcare system is that the culture of the US is individualistic, meaning we are grown to focus on ourselves, not the others around us. Changing the system, allowing healthcare to be universal is a problem to individuals because

While watching the film “Sick around the World,” I learned that one of the first statements made on the video was extremely true. The statement made was, “other countries do much better than the U.S but spend a lot less money.” There were numerous innovations that impressed me from several different countries. The countries with innovations that stuck out the most were Germany, Japan, and Taiwan.

Poor sick and ignored: The effects of defunding of Medicaid in NYC based on the new proposed budget.

The seen environment present when reading The Death of Ivan Ilych story is the way Ivan’s family lived and the way Ivan treated everyone with coldness. The unseen was depicted by the atmosphere present in Ivan’s’ room, making friends and family members uncomfortable to be there. The storied environment is when Ivan realizes that his life has been a mistake and he converts religiously, he finds God and Ivan repents from all his sins, it is not until then that he found peace in his mind.

While others, were only effected by direct contact. It was thought to have been sustainable by even touching clothing or other such items of the infected. Conditions of the fourteenth century were also a contributing factor. Famine had been an arising issue due to the number of overpopulation. Because of this, their immune systems began to weaken. “Europeans were susceptible to disease because many people lived in crowded surroundings in an era when personal hygiene was not considered important” (Dowling). The cities were unsanitary and littered with germs, making it easier to sustain such diseases. Unhealthy habits were conducted and medical advances had not yet been made. Doctors themselves had not known what to advise. No prescriptions had worked. There was no cure to what was happening. Most were not even aware of what was impending upon them. Anything that could would be tried, in hopes of living. People were becoming desperate.