Yuanquan Lin

OSIS#:232098202

Humans existence can be dated back to about 6 million years while the modern
day form of human has only evolved about 200,000 years ago. During those time
periods human has been undergoing countless evolutions and encountering numerous
diseases. Surprisingly, these two factors have a strong connection most people dont
know about until Dr. Sharon Moalem wrote the book Survival of the Sickest. Dr.
Moalem explicitly explained how some diseases made evolution more possible in
every chapter. Somehow, inevitably my family member has inherited diabetes and
hemochromatosis and it was to my interest like Dr. Moalem to find out why such a
thing would happen. Moreover, I have always wondered why we should wear
sunglasses at the beach.
Iron is considered as something beneficial and definitely ensures the growing of
the body. It is safe to say without iron; we would not be able to survive because the
main function of iron is to sustain and ameliorate the cells. We all have gotten a life
advice that says Too much of anything is not so good, and of course, this goes to
iron as well.
Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disorder in which the bodys mechanism of
absorbing iron has broken down. The body will be continuing to absorb iron no matter
what happens. The disease spreads itself throughout the whole entire body, but the
main location of the excessive amount of iron is at the pancreas, heart, and the liver.
Overloads of iron can maximize the risk of getting arthritis, cancer, liver problems,
diabetes and etc. Hemochromatosis can sometimes have 0 or no symptoms at all
depending on the type of body it thrives in. The symptoms are split into two
categories as either early or late. Early symptom can include abdominal pain, joint
pain, loss of sex drive, energy loss, etc. Late symptom can include impotence, heart
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failure, diabetes, etc.

Hemochromatosis were discovered in Europe and did not widespread because of
the bubonic plague (will be explained later on). Blood test is the only major way to
detect hemochromatosis because we have to examine the amount of iron that is stored
in the blood. The disease itself is not deadly at all. Through centuries of trial and
realization, our ancestor came to realize that phlebotomy was a useful way to treat
hemochromatosis. By removing blood with excessive iron the body will no longer be
in the status of overload doses of iron. And in fact, that is a way of stopping
hemochromatosis temporarily. Many of you may wonder why evolution still have not
deplete a gene that can cause a decent amount of trouble for humans. It all comes
down to the bubonic plague. Bubonic plague was flourishing in Europe centuries
back, but surprisingly a large part of the population who got the disease was not
demised. When people inherit hemochromatosis there is a particular cell in the body
that becomes an iron deficient, its called macrophages. When the genes of bubonic
plague attack the body, the macrophage will go it and immediately surround it.
Because macrophages are iron deficiency it will not help the bubonic gene to grow
and instead it will halt it.
The author unquestionably reoriented my perspective on hemochromatosis. In
the past, I have always thought iron was essential and the needs of survival. The more
iron one contains, the stronger he/she will be. I would always choose food with
surplus amount of iron. When it comes to buy baby powder milk, I would no doubt
choose the brand that has the most grams of iron. The thing that most interested me
was not only the disease itself, but how hemochromatosis was produced by a
beneficial thing then it leads to a terrible condition and the terrible condition allowed
a group of people to survive through a devastating circumstance. The inexplicable
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connection between these dramatic factor is really the thing thats grabbing my
attention. With those said aside, in the future, I would like scientist (not just them) to
research a far more convenient way than just phlebotomy to cure hemochromatosis.
Anything you eat contains carbohydrate, but in the end it will always be
transformed into sugar. Just like the disease above, excessive amount of sugar can be
deadly to the body as well.
There are 3 types of diabetes. Type 1, Juvenile Diabetes, this kinds of diabetes
prevent the body from producing insulin. Type 2, Adult Diabetes, it alters the body to
produce glucose. Type 3, Gestational Diabetes, occurs only at pregnancy: just like
normal diabetes, high form of blood sugar in the body.
Diabetes attacks every part of the body because the excessive amount of sugar
is leaked to all the organisms found in the body. Some organisms that are easily
triggered by the effect of diabetes are the nervous, and urinary systems. The over dos
of sugar in the body makes kidney failure that primarily associates with the urinary
system. Surprisingly, diabetes can have little or no symptoms at all. Even if you do
realize the symptom, you may not know it actually derived from diabetes. Some
symptoms are, most commonly superfluous urination, lack of energy, and blurred
vision.
Diabetes was first discovered at Austria and it widespread to almost everywhere on
the planet Earth. Its diagnosed by going through a series of blood sugar test and the
doctor
will determine if the patients blood sugar level is either too high or too low.
Normally, diabetes can be well controlled and managed under strict dietary changes.
But as in advances in its stages, insulin medication would have to be taken.
Diabetes have helped to sustain the life of people surviving through the period of
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Young Dryas. Young Dryas was a period of sudden abrupt climate change when the
ice glacier of the Arctic retreated. During these time periods, temperature went way
below freezing and there was absolutely no way people can protect themselves from
the cold. But diabetes was the significant way people were able to survive through.
The more sugar thats store inside ones body, the lower the freezing point will one be.
Since people with diabetes have excessive sugar, it actually helped their bodys
freezing temperature to go down so they will not be as cold. Evidence were actually
found to prove this. The descendants of people who has diabetes were the people who
once lived at the place of the ice glaciers. The flower called Dryas Octopetala was
found in the mud that can be dated back to about 10000 years ago. These flower are
mainly found during extremely cold times.
This disease, to be honest, has not really stun me in any way. I pretty much
know about the facts about diabetes and the connection of freezing temperature to
sugar. But, I would never ever wouldve thought too much sugar would be healthy for
body when it comes to time like Young Dryas. One thing I did find intriguing was
how a flower was the key evidence to the people who survived through the harsh
condition. In the future, one possible research potential could be making a well
planted diet for people diabetes. People have been searching for a perfect to dealt with
diabetes and its still in a form of imperfection.
Sun is the ultimate resource for everything that can live in the planet earth. As the
sunlight reflected on us, our body gets effected by it. Excessive sunlight nor little
sunlight can be good for us. But inexplicably, it somehow has to do with cholesterol
in our body.
Overflow of cholesterol attacks every part of the body because the cholesterol
will harden the arteries which makes pathway of it narrower and harder. If diet is well
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controlled and managed nothing can occur, but when it gets severe the following
symptom may flow out of water. Heart attack as we all, is the worst thing that can
happen to a person who ones arteries is stuck, stroke as well. Cholesterol was
discovered by Pollutier de la Salle and later was renamed as cholestrine. Overflow
cholesterol can be diagnosed by blood test and arteries test. However, the disease can
be easily treated as simply controlling diet. This disease has impacted on people
several levels. People certainly were bothered by it. This disease interested a lot
because I never knew cholesterol could be transferred into Vitamin D. In the future, I
hope people could find more way of turning things into Vitamin D.
In conclusion, there were 3 diseases that interested me hemochromatosis, diabetes,
and overflow cholesterol. The book teaches a very well rounded life lesson. Too much
of something is never good. There is always a limitation something thats beneficial.
The book itself provides tons of information.