BIOLOGY OF THE RHIZOBIACEAE
CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS, ADAPTATION, AND EVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE: SHOULD WE BE EATING A STONE AGE DIET? HUMAN PROTEIN REQUIREMENTS AND INFECTION STRESS AMONG YOUNG CHILDREN AT THE ORIGINS OF AGRICULTURE EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON TYPE 2 DIABETES IN ASIA SEASONALITY, CLIMATIC UNPREDICTABILITY, FOOD DEPRIVATION, AND POLYCYSTIC OVARY SYNDROME EVOLUTION AND ENDOCRINOLOGY: THE REGULATION OF PREGNANCY OUTCOMES EVOLUTIONARY PAEDIATRICS: A CASE STUDY IN APPLYING DARWINIAN MEDICINE THE ROLE OF HELMINTHES IN HUMAN EVOLUTION: IMPLICATIONS FOR GLOBAL HEALTH IN THE 21ST CENTURY NONBIZARRE DELUSIONS AS STRATEGIC DECEPTION PRACTICAL ASPECTS OF EVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE COMPARATIVE AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY IN MEDICAL AND DENTAL EDUCATION IS THERE A PLACE FOR EVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE IN UK MEDICAL EDUCATION? WOULD DARWIN RECOGNIZE HIMSELF HERE? INTRODUCTION THERE IS INCREASING INTEREST IN EXAMINING ASPECTS OF HEALTH AND DISEASE IN THE CONTEXT OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY,1–3 AND THE PAST DECADE HAS WITNESSED THE RISE OF EVOLUTIONARY OR DARWINIAN MEDICINE AS AN ENTITY DISTINCT FROM ANTHROPOLOGY, EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, OR EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY NONETHELESS, EVOLUTIONARY CONCEPTS ARE OFTEN VIEWED AS BEING TANGENTIAL TO MEDICAL TEACHING AND PRAC- TISE, WHICH TEND TO EMPHASISE TECHNICAL AND PROXIMATE FACTORS TOGETHER WITH THE TREATMENT OF THE INDIVIDUAL WILLIAMS AND NESSE4 RECOGNISED EARLY ON THAT IT WOULD NOT BE EASY TO PERSUADE CLINICIANS OF THE RELEVANCE OF EVOLUTION- ARY MEDICINE, REGARDLESS OF THE BENEFITS BROUGHT BY THE APPROACH TO THIS END, ONE MAJOR AIM OF THIS VOLUME IS THAT CONTRIBUTORS SHOULD, WHERE POSSIBLE, INDICATE HOW THEIR RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP INFORMS PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS IN CLINICAL SETTINGS, HEALTH PROMOTION, OR MEDICAL EDUCATION THE NEXT EIGHT CHAPTERS OF THIS VOLUME ADDRESS TOPICS THAT WILL BE FAMILIAR TO MOST STUDENTS OF EVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE: NUTRITION (CHAPTERS 2, 3), TYPE 2 DIABETES (CHAPTER 4), FERTILITY AND CHILDBIRTH (CHAPTERS 5, 6, 7), IMMUNE REGULATION (CHAPTER 8), AND PSYCHIATRY (CHAPTER 9) IN CONTRAST TO CHAPTERS 2 TO 9, WHICH FOCUS ON EVOLUTIONARY INSIGHTS INTO PARTICULAR ASPECTS OF HEALTH AND DISEASE AND THAT HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION, CHAPTERS 10 TO 13 CONSIDER IN MUCH BROADER WAYS HOW EVOLUTIONARY MEDICINE MIGHT BE “USEFUL” FOR MEDICAL PRACTISE OR EDUCATION IN CHAPTERS 2 AND 3 ELTON AND ULIJASZEK, RESPECTIVELY, EXAMINE STONE AGE DIETS FROM DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ELTON, IN CHAPTER 2, DRAWS ON EXAMPLES FROM PALAEOENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES, ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY, AND MOD- ERN HUMAN AND PRIMATE ECOLOGY TO CRITIQUE THE CONCEPT OF THE ENVIRONMENT OF EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTEDNESS IN DOING SO, SHE CONCLUDES THAT GIVEN THE INHER- ENT FLEXIBILITY OF THE HUMAN DIET, THERE IS NO OBVIOUS BENEFIT TO EMPLOYING A DIETARY REGIMEN BASED ON STONE AGE PRINCIPLES, AND POINTS TO ALTERNATIVE