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A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

nytimes.com

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Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#101

Post by bhouston »

Swizec wrote: post #95
tlrobinson wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you'd see any significant evolutionary responses in the timeframes the article is talking about (<100 years or 4 generations)

Haven't studies shown that high stress (like concentration camp) has immediate effect on next generation's DNA? That would indicate that it's at least potentially possible for evolutionary adaptation to work pretty fast.

That isn'y evolution if it is epigenetic, it would be another type of adaption, Lamarckian really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism#Epigenetic_Lamarcki...

Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#104

Post by alphaoverlord »

One explanation can be expanding criteria and/or earlier diagnosis. Earlier diagnosis, even with the same treatment efficacy, will lead to records of improved survival, and expanding criteria of particular diagnoses will often identify borderline cases that likely don't have the same morbidity and mortality.

Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#105

Post by Herodotus38 »

ekianjo wrote: post #98
JacksonGariety wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Smoking rates are only decreasing in developed nations. Globally it's increasing by ~1% each year.

> Smoking rates are only decreasing in developed nations. Except Japan when selling tobacco is still a very healthy business and there is no cancer prevention whatsoever. Lobby has been super effective down here.

When you say no cancer prevention whatsoever I think you are referring to just lung cancer. I do not know much about their national lung cancer recommendations but I do know that Japan has actually had a very robust GI cancer screening history compared to the US. This is partially due to their incidence of gastric cancer being much higher than in the US.

Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#106

Post by jschwartzi »

DanBC wrote: post #23
jschwartzi wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The lines do seem to correlate. In the case of stomach cancer, I'm wondering if there's a similar correlation between the decline in chewing tobacco and the decline in stomach cancer. Chew is full of fiberglass and other stuff, and if you swallow any of the juice you're swallowing that stuff. It's impossible to clear it all from your mouth after you finish chewing, too.

When smokers give up smoking they start to clear their lungs. They cough up phlegm. many people swallow that, not spit it out. That increases risk of mouth, throat, stomach, bladder, and penis cancer. Tobacco is already pretty harmful. > Chew is full of fiberglass No, it isn't.

Thank god, because I chewed a lot when I was younger.

Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#107

Post by pippy »

codecamper wrote: post #87
sgt101 wrote: post #7

wow - I have no clue (obviously) but possible reasons : - better home heating (less open fires, more heated bedrooms) - increased time from atmospheric nuclear bomb testing (and the various dispersals of plutonium in the 60's and 70's) - better nutrition in general - higher genetic diversity in breeding populations; not many peoples grandparents all come from the same village in the developed world now - less polluti…

You beat me to it. My guess would be increased time from those atmospheric nuke tests. Those were crazy days! The Tsar Bomba. What was the world thinking?

I can't find any evidence that nuclear testing causes any form of global health risks. The amount of material dispersed is negligible on the global scale, and while I've found a few sources that state this material can cause thyroid cancer, it's so small on a worldwide scale it won't really affect anyone.

Gasoline, lead, poor living conditions on the other hand all have well proven links with bad health.

Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#108

Post by rrecuero »

mrfusion wrote: post #15

Interesting about the stomach cancer. Makes me wonder if we should be careful about limiting antibiotic usage too far? Perhaps everyone should take a course every five years or so?

That sounds a bit extreme, I would eat a couple tablespoons of Coconut Oil every day.

On another note, I wonder if the probiotic trend is going to pay off. We'll see in 20, 30 years I guess

Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#109

Post by Clubber »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #60
mrfusion wrote: post #16

I always wondered if the removal of lead in gasoline could account for a lot of this. Especially the dementia drop.

There have been a number of meta studies which have tried to link the removal of lead from gasoline and the drop in violent crime. The correlate well.

Also the legality of abortion (Roe v Wade, 1973) could be a contributing reason. The drop in crime came about 18 - 20 years after abortion was declared a constitutional right. Most crime is caused by teenagers and young adults.

What affect started in 1992,1993 that is still happening today?

Re: A Medical Mystery of the Best Kind: Major Diseases Are in Decline

#110

Post by _uhtu »

bhouston wrote: post #101
Swizec wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Haven't studies shown that high stress (like concentration camp) has immediate effect on next generation's DNA? That would indicate that it's at least potentially possible for evolutionary adaptation to work pretty fast.

That isn'y evolution if it is epigenetic, it would be another type of adaption, Lamarckian really: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamarckism#Epigenetic_Lamarcki...

This is incorrect. Evolution is simply change over generations by natural selection. the mechanism by which that happens, be it DNA or epigenetics or whatever, is not strict
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