Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913): evolution and medicine

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 214-216
Author(s):  
Henry P O'Connell

The theory we now know simply as ‘evolution’ was first presented to the scientific world one and a half centuries ago, on 1 July 1858, when the work of two men, Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Robert Darwin (1809–82), was jointly read at the Linnean Society. While Charles Darwin has rightly taken his place in history as one of the greatest scientists of all time, Alfred Russel Wallace has been largely forgotten outside of the scientific community. However, Wallace was a prolific researcher and writer with interests in a wide range of topics, from medicine to economics.

Author(s):  
Brian Charlesworth ◽  
Deborah Charlesworth

Less than 150 years ago, the view that living species were the result of special creation by God was still dominant. The recognition by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace of the mechanism of evolution by natural selection has completely transformed our understanding of the living world, including our own origins. Evolution: A Very Short Introduction provides a summary of the process of evolution by natural selection, highlighting the wide range of evidence, and explains how natural selection gives rise to adaptations and eventually, over many generations, to new species. It introduces the central concepts of the field of evolutionary biology and discusses some of the remaining questions regarding evolutionary processes.


Polar Record ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 492-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Leah Devlin

ABSTRACTIn the summers of 1858 and 1859, the Scot Sir James Lamont of Knockdow embarked on two cruises to Svalbard (referred to by Lamont as Spitzbergen [sic]) to hunt, make geographical surveys, and collect geological and biological specimens. Lamont's return from these voyages coincided with the publication of the joint Charles Darwin-Alfred Russel Wallace paper, ‘On the tendency of species to form varieties; on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection’ by the Linnean Society in August 1858 and, a year later, the publication of Darwin's On the origin of species (Darwin 1958). Profoundly influenced by Darwin's ideas, Lamont initiated a correspondence with the naturalist, relating examples of what he considered to be natural selection, observed during his hunting expeditions. In his Svalbard travelogue, Seasons with the sea-horses (1861), Lamont expounded specifically upon walrus and polar bear evolution, ideas inspired by sporadic yet encouraging letters from the renowned naturalist.


In July 1858 the celebrated paper ‘On the tendency of species to form varieties, and on the perpetuation of varieties and species by natural means of selection’, by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, was read at a meeting of the Linnean Society. To mark the centenary of this event, which coincided with the meeting in London of the XV International Zoological Congress, the Councils of the Royal Society, the Linnean Society and the Geological Society agreed to hold a special joint conversazione to honour the memory of these two great men of science. The conversazione was held on 15 July in the rooms of the three Societies. The guests, who included many delegates to the Zoological Congress and some of the descendents of Darwin and Wallace, were welcomed on arrival by the Presidents of the Royal Society (Sir Cyril Hinshelwood), the Linnean Society (Dr C. F. A. Pantin), the Geological Society (Dr C. J. Stubblefield) and the Zoological Congress (Sir Gavin de Beer).


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (8) ◽  
pp. 867-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Fesatidou ◽  
Anthi Petrou ◽  
Geronikaki Athina

Background: Bacterial infections are a growing problem worldwide causing morbidity and mortality mainly in developing countries. Moreover, the increased number of microorganisms, developing multiple resistances to known drugs, due to abuse of antibiotics, is another serious problem. This problem becomes more serious for immunocompromised patients and those who are often disposed to opportunistic fungal infections. Objective: The objective of this manuscript is to give an overview of new findings in the field of antimicrobial agents among five-membered heterocyclic compounds. These heterocyclic compounds especially five-membered attracted the interest of the scientific community not only for their occurrence in nature but also due to their wide range of biological activities. Method: To reach our goal, a literature survey that covers the last decade was performed. Results: As a result, recent data on the biological activity of thiazole, thiazolidinone, benzothiazole and thiadiazole derivatives are mentioned. Conclusion: It should be mentioned that despite the progress in the development of new antimicrobial agents, there is still room for new findings. Thus, research still continues.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reshma Nagpal ◽  
Jitender Bhalla ◽  
Shamsher S. Bari

Background:A lot of advancement has been made in the area of β-lactams in recent times. Most of the research is targeted towards the synthesis of novel β-lactams, their functionalization and exploring their biological potential. The C-3 functionalization of β-lactams has continued to attract considerable interest of the scientific community due to their utility as versatile intermediates in organic synthesis and their therapeutic applications. This has led to the significant increase in efforts towards developing efficient and economic strategies for C-3 functionalized β-lactams.Objective:The present review aims to highlight recent advancement made in C-3 functionalization of β-lactams.Conclusion:To summarize, functionalization of β-lactams at C-3 is an essential aspect of β-lactam chemistry in order to improve/modify its synthetic utility as well as biological potential. The C-3 carbocation equivalent method has emerged as an important and convenient strategy for C-3 functionalization of β-lactam heterocycles which provides a wide range of β-lactams viz. 3-alkylated β-lactams, 3-aryl/heteroarylated β-lactams, 3- alkoxylated β-lactams. On the other hand, base mediated functionalization of β-lactams via carbanion intermediate is another useful approach but their scope is limited by the requirement of stringent reaction conditions. In addition to this, organometallic reagent mediated α-alkylation of 3-halo/3-keto-β-lactams also emerged as interesting methods for the synthesis of functionalized β-lactams having good yields and diastereoselectivities.


2000 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 1190-1192
Author(s):  
Dominique Jeulin

The scientific community is saddened to learn of the death of Professor Georges Matheron on 7 August 2000. As a major figure in applied mathematics over four decades, he leaves an outstanding scientific heritage, covering a wide range of domains where probabilistic tools and models are implemented. He also trained more than one generation of researchers, engineers and teachers. In the fields of theoretical and applied random media and image analysis his work has inspired many researchers worldwide: mathematicians, statisticians, physicists, experimentalists, earth scientists, mining engineers and also users of image analysis and synthesis in all its applications (materials, biology, artificial vision, CAD, remote sensing, geophysics, biometry, image coding etc.).


Author(s):  
Anjali Dhall ◽  
Sumeet Patiyal ◽  
Neelam Sharma ◽  
Salman Sadullah Usmani ◽  
Gajendra P S Raghava

Abstract Interleukin 6 (IL-6) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that stimulates acute phase responses, hematopoiesis and specific immune reactions. Recently, it was found that the IL-6 plays a vital role in the progression of COVID-19, which is responsible for the high mortality rate. In order to facilitate the scientific community to fight against COVID-19, we have developed a method for predicting IL-6 inducing peptides/epitopes. The models were trained and tested on experimentally validated 365 IL-6 inducing and 2991 non-inducing peptides extracted from the immune epitope database. Initially, 9149 features of each peptide were computed using Pfeature, which were reduced to 186 features using the SVC-L1 technique. These features were ranked based on their classification ability, and the top 10 features were used for developing prediction models. A wide range of machine learning techniques has been deployed to develop models. Random Forest-based model achieves a maximum AUROC of 0.84 and 0.83 on training and independent validation dataset, respectively. We have also identified IL-6 inducing peptides in different proteins of SARS-CoV-2, using our best models to design vaccine against COVID-19. A web server named as IL-6Pred and a standalone package has been developed for predicting, designing and screening of IL-6 inducing peptides (https://webs.iiitd.edu.in/raghava/il6pred/).


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