Applying multilevel selection to understand cancer evolution and progression.

Natural selection occurs at multiple levels of organization in cancer. At an organismal level, natural selection has led to the evolution of diverse tumor suppression mechanisms, while at a cellular level, it favors traits that promote cellular proliferation, survival and cancer. Natural selection also occurs at a subcellular level, among collections of cells and even among collections of organisms; selection at these levels could influence the evolution of cancer and cancer suppression mechanisms, affecting cancer risk and treatment strategies.

Association between national action and trends in antibiotic resistance: an analysis of 73 countries from 2000 to 2023.

The world's governments have agreed on actions to address the challenge of antibiotic resistance. This raises the question of what level of national action is associated with improved outcomes, including both slower growth and lower levels of antibiotic resistance. Answering this question is challenged by variation in data availability and quality as well as disruptive events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Neuroimmune Pain and Its Manipulation by Pathogens.

Recent studies highlight extensive crosstalk that exists between sensory neurons responsible for pain and the immune system. Cutaneous pain neurons detect harmful microbes, recruit immune cells, and produce anticipatory immunity in nearby tissues. These complementary systems generally protect hosts from infections.

Correction: Upregulation of DNA repair genes and cell extrusion underpin the remarkable radiation resistance of Trichoplax adhaerens.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.

(Porifera) Is Highly Resistant to Radiation Exposure and Possibly Cancer.

There are no reports of cancer in sponges, despite them having somatic cell turnover, long lifespans, and no specialized adaptive immune cells. In order to investigate whether sponges are cancer resistant, we exposed a species of sponge, , to X-rays. We found that can withstand 518 Gy of X-ray radiation.

Cancer Prevalence across Vertebrates.

Cancer is pervasive across multicellular species, but what explains the differences in cancer prevalence across species? Using 16,049 necropsy records for 292 species spanning three clades of tetrapods (amphibians, sauropsids, and mammals), we found that neoplasia and malignancy prevalence increases with adult mass (contrary to Peto's paradox) and somatic mutation rate but decreases with gestation time. The relationship between adult mass and malignancy prevalence was only apparent when we controlled for gestation time. Evolution of cancer susceptibility appears to have undergone sudden shifts followed by stabilizing selection.

Shared fate was associated with sustained cooperation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Did the COVID-19 pandemic bring people together or push them apart? While infectious diseases tend to push people apart, crises can also bring people together through positive interdependence. We studied this question by asking an international sample (N = 1,006) about their inclinations to cooperate, perceptions of interdependence (i.e.

Prosocial reputation and stress among contemporary hunter-gatherers: the Hadza case.

It has been suggested that having a reputation for being prosocial is a critical part of social status across all human societies. It has also been argued that prosocial behavior confers benefits, whether physiological, such as stress reduction, or social, such as building allies or becoming more popular. Here, we investigate the relationship between helping reputation (being named as someone others would go to for help), and hair-derived chronic stress (hair cortisol concentration).

Approaches and methods to study wildlife cancer.

The last few years have seen a surge of interest from field ecologists and evolutionary biologists to study neoplasia and cancer in wildlife. This contributes to the One Health Approach, which investigates health issues at the intersection of people, wild and domestic animals, together with their changing environments. Nonetheless, the emerging field of wildlife cancer is currently constrained by methodological limitations in detecting cancer using non-invasive sampling.

Life history traits and cancer prevalence in birds.

Background And Objectives: Cancer is a disease that affects nearly all multicellular life, including the broad and diverse taxa of Aves. While little is known about the factors that contribute to cancer risk across Aves, life history trade-offs may explain some of this variability in cancer prevalence. We predict birds with high investment in reproduction may have a higher likelihood of developing cancer.

Height and integration in proximity networks among Tanzanian Hadza men.

In recent years there has been much interest in investigating the extent to which social status or prestige are related to an individual's degree of integration in social networks. It has been shown that, among hunter-gatherers, social characteristics of an individual based on social status or prestige, such foraging reputation, friendship popularity, and pro-social reputation, can influence the extent to which an individual is embedded in a social network. However, little is known regarding the extent to which height, a physical trait that in Western societies is often associated with social status, is associated in integration in social networks among small-scale hunter gatherers.

The Digital Health Revolution: Exploring the Impact of Online Cancer Information on Self-Reported Preventive Behaviors.

Cancer, one of the leading causes of death worldwide, is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth within the body. While there have been many improvements in the treatment of cancer clinically, there is now an urgent need to improve cancer-related communication. This study explores the impact of online health information, specifically cancer-related information and prevention, among members of the general public.

The future of evolutionary medicine: sparking innovation in biomedicine and public health.

Evolutionary medicine - i.e. the application of insights from evolution and ecology to biomedicine - has tremendous untapped potential to spark transformational innovation in biomedical research, clinical care and public health.

Empathic concern motivates willingness to help in the absence of interdependence.

Previous research suggests that empathic concern selectively promotes motivation to help those with whom we typically have interdependent relationships, such as friends or siblings, rather than strangers or acquaintances. In a sample of U.S.

Descriptive norms caused increases in mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Human sociality is governed by two types of social norms: injunctive norms, which prescribe what people ought to do, and descriptive norms, which reflect what people actually do. The process by which these norms emerge and their causal influences on cooperative behavior over time are not well understood. Here, we study these questions through social norms influencing mask wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cancer Prevalence Across Vertebrates.

Cancer is pervasive across multicellular species, but what explains differences in cancer prevalence across species? Using 16,049 necropsy records for 292 species spanning three clades (amphibians, sauropsids and mammals) we found that neoplasia and malignancy prevalence increases with adult weight (contrary to Peto's Paradox) and somatic mutation rate, but decreases with gestation time. Evolution of cancer susceptibility appears to have undergone sudden shifts followed by stabilizing selection. Outliers for neoplasia prevalence include the common porpoise (<1.

Is chimerism associated with cancer across the tree of life?

Chimerism is a widespread phenomenon across the tree of life. It is defined as a multicellular organism composed of cells from other genetically distinct entities. This ability to 'tolerate' non-self cells may be linked to susceptibility to diseases like cancer.

COVID-19 and friendships: Agreeableness and neuroticism are associated with more concern about COVID-19 and friends' risky behaviors.

Given the importance of friendships during challenging times and the mixed associations between personality traits and disease-related behaviors, we investigated the correlations between personality traits and perceptions of friendships during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected as part of a longitudinal investigation of the correlations between the pandemic and various cooperative relationships. In this investigation, we found that agreeableness and neuroticism predicted participants being more concerned about COVID-19 and bothered by friends' risky behavior, and extraversion predicted enjoying helping friends during the pandemic.

Cancer Prevalence Across Vertebrates.

Cancer is pervasive across multicellular species, but what explains differences in cancer prevalence across species? Using 16,049 necropsy records for 292 species spanning three clades (amphibians, sauropsids and mammals) we found that neoplasia and malignancy prevalence increases with adult weight (contrary to Petos Paradox) and somatic mutation rate, but decreases with gestation time. Evolution of cancer susceptibility appears to have undergone sudden shifts followed by stabilizing selection. Outliers for neoplasia prevalence include the common porpoise (<1.

Life history and cancer in birds: clutch size predicts cancer.

Cancer is a disease that affects nearly all multicellular life, including birds. However, little is known about what factors explain the variance in cancer prevalence among species. Litter size is positively correlated with cancer prevalence in managed species of mammals, and larger body size, but not incubation or nestling period, is linked to tumor prevalence in wild birds.

Status does not predict stress among Hadza hunter-gatherer men.

In recent years there has been much research regarding the extent to which social status is related to long-term indices of health. The majority of studies looking at the interplay between social status and health have been conducted in industrialized societies. However, it has been argued that most of human evolution took place in small, mobile and egalitarian hunter-gatherer groups where individuals exhibited very little variation in terms of material wealth or possessions.

Relationship between proximity and physiological stress levels in hunter-gatherers: The Hadza.

In recent years there has been a great deal of documentation on how social relationships are related to various aspects of human wellbeing. However, until recently most studies investigating the effects of social relationships on wellbeing have applied social network measures to reported social contacts. Recent advances in the application of bio-loggers in biological studies have now made it possible to quantify social relationships based on in-person, rather than self-reported, social interactions.

Early life adversity, reproductive history and breast cancer risk.

Background And Objectives: Individuals who experience early life adversity are at an increased risk for chronic disease later in life. Less is known about how early life factors are associated with cancer susceptibility. Here, we use a life history framework to test whether early life adversity increases the risk of breast cancer.