So I haven't been around as much online, mostly
because I've been helping out with a friend
diagnosed with Glioblastoma.

Nasty business, that.

So Googling it, I see that the usual life expectancy
is around 15 months, while my friend has already
past his 4th anniversary. But it's also pretty
advanced, which is why he needs the help...

Anyway, another thing I noticed, doing the Google,
is that it seems to be mostly a Eurasian thing. It
seems that being European or Asian is a risk factor.
And to me this lends credence to Regional Continuity.

But...

Age is a risk factor. This friend is older than me, he
was already 67 when he was diagnosed, which is
well beyond life expectancy of any population of an
evolutionarily significant age.

But here's where we need a doctor:

I have been told -- read, seen on a documentary -- that
mtDNA is a factor in our ability to fight off cancer. Which
is weird, because it is the Eurasian populations which
should display the most evolution within our mtDNA.

I mean, the climate and hence environment should have
been the most stable around the equator, and the least
stable in the northern hemisphere. So, the greatest
selective pressures on our mtDNA should have been
found in the northern hemisphere.

Correct?

Eurasian mtDNA, to put it bluntly, should be turbo charged
compared to equatorial populations...

Or is it? And the fact that this cancer develops late,
usually, beyond an age which should be of any evolutionary
concern, kind of negates any selective pressures. Maybe?

This could be similar to how the same "Adaptations" that
help sub saharan Africans to fight off malaria are a strong
factor in sickle cell anemia...

Also: As far as I know, mtDNA does slow down with age.
Which is why the older people get, the colder they always
seem. My friend, for example, usually won't go out without
a wool cap, sweater and even a scarf. Clearly he is not
generating a lot of body heat.

Anyway, we need a doctor to talk a little about these
subjects if they don't mind. This is a truly medical area in
paleo anthropology.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/683605167873146880

I'm sorry I can't help you much here...

Op maandag 9 mei 2022 om 17:58:30 UTC+2 schreef I Envy JTEM:
> So I haven't been around as much online, mostly
> because I've been helping out with a friend
> diagnosed with Glioblastoma.
>
> Nasty business, that.
>
> So Googling it, I see that the usual life expectancy
> is around 15 months, while my friend has already
> past his 4th anniversary. But it's also pretty
> advanced, which is why he needs the help...
>
> Anyway, another thing I noticed, doing the Google,
> is that it seems to be mostly a Eurasian thing. It
> seems that being European or Asian is a risk factor.
> And to me this lends credence to Regional Continuity.
>
> But...
>
> Age is a risk factor. This friend is older than me, he
> was already 67 when he was diagnosed, which is
> well beyond life expectancy of any population of an
> evolutionarily significant age.
>
> But here's where we need a doctor:
>
> I have been told -- read, seen on a documentary -- that
> mtDNA is a factor in our ability to fight off cancer. Which
> is weird, because it is the Eurasian populations which
> should display the most evolution within our mtDNA.
>
> I mean, the climate and hence environment should have
> been the most stable around the equator, and the least
> stable in the northern hemisphere. So, the greatest
> selective pressures on our mtDNA should have been
> found in the northern hemisphere.
>
> Correct?
>
> Eurasian mtDNA, to put it bluntly, should be turbo charged
> compared to equatorial populations...
>
> Or is it? And the fact that this cancer develops late,
> usually, beyond an age which should be of any evolutionary
> concern, kind of negates any selective pressures. Maybe?
>
> This could be similar to how the same "Adaptations" that
> help sub saharan Africans to fight off malaria are a strong
> factor in sickle cell anemia...
>
> Also: As far as I know, mtDNA does slow down with age.
> Which is why the older people get, the colder they always
> seem. My friend, for example, usually won't go out without
> a wool cap, sweater and even a scarf. Clearly he is not
> generating a lot of body heat.
>
> Anyway, we need a doctor to talk a little about these
> subjects if they don't mind. This is a truly medical area in
> paleo anthropology.
>
>
>
>
> -- --
>
> https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/683605167873146880

littor...@gmail.com wrote:

> I'm sorry I can't help you much here...

Really? Because I imagine that there's a poop load of conditions/diseases
that follow genetic heritage, mapping out migrations/multiregionalism.

...Native Americans, for example, are more prone to diabetes.

African Americans are like 12 or 13% of the population and 33% of the
patients on dialysis...

I also imagine that they map to reproductive strategies (traditions?). There
is definitely some truth to r/k selection, even if not in the purest sense. I
believe one reason we say "Out of Africa" is because Africa was best poised
to survive and recover from catastrophic events, like Toba, and another
reason is that they were sexually selected and were able to fill in the
vacuum left by catastrophes much quicker. On the other hand I do not see
them as a distinct species or anything, believing them to be better grouped
with Eurasians than the subsaharan populations...

Remember: The Bantu Expansion was only around 3k years ago. Africa was
at least as diverse as Eurasia. The ethnic map today is dissimilar to anything
that appeared in paleo times...

I know this stuff has been talked about -- mapping human evolution through
diseases today -- but I've never seen anything too comprehensive. Usually
it's focused, like with the example of diabetes & native americans, without
a full spectrum analysis... and when I say usually I mean always.

Most of the information I've seen isn't even in the context of evolution or
paleo anthropology. Such as this:

https://www.pfizer.com/news/articles/health_disparities_among_african_americans

There are social factors. African Americans were far more likely to avoid
vaccines, for example, with a greater distrust in government healthcare
than Eurasian Americans, which alone might account for any disparity in
Covid19 cases... but there is a well publicized genetic factor.

Nobody is saying it's an easy topic, but it is an area of study. It is the
basis for predictions and thus fertile ground for a valid hypothesis on
human evolution/expansion.

-- --

https://jtem.tumblr.com/post/683605167873146880