ecology and medical research

Nature gives clues about where to find medicines. For example, one would expect the rainforest to have both natural pesticides as well as defenses against those pesticides. The many species of cordyceps fungi are natural laboratories for pesticides, as well as other useful chemicals. 

When we look at what a tree uses to defend itself from insects, bacteria, or fungi, that points the way to chemicals that could defend people and domesticated plants and animals.

Insects and rodents are useful for research because they can be bred cheaply and quickly in captivity, but still more useful would be to understand the mechanisms by which they resist the pathogens found in their natural environments. 

To put it another way, many infectious diseases only affect humans, because those germs and parasites are adapted to circumvent our immune systems. I have never heard of a case of tuberculosis among pigs or HIV/AIDS in chickens. Large wild animals appear healthier still. Whales that survive to adulthood rarely die of infections. Elephants don't get polio. 

Defeating a disease means augmenting the human immune system, as was done with vaccines and antibiotics. The way to forward is to carefully study the immune systems of many kinds of living things. 

Bats and other flying animals have high metabolisms. This gives them an edge against viruses but often leaves them vulnerable to fungi. Why is that? What might a study of a hummingbird's immune system reveal about cancer?

These questions perplex me, and I do what I can to answer them with what I can find online. 

new medicines from bacteria and fungi that infect insects?

Colistin is an antibiotic derived from the bacteria that causes American foulbrood disease in honeybees. I wonder what other medicines could be derived from the bacteria and fungi found on and in insects.

It's well known that flies, cockroaches, ants, and mosquitoes spread disease. What might they contain that could cure disease? Many insects defend themselves with antimicrobial peptides. To the best of my knowledge, none of these have been isolated and synthesized for use as medicine. 

Beauveria bassiana is an interesting candidate. It is a fungus that infects many arthropods throughout the world.  There has been some research in using it for mosquito control. 

Nature is a wonderful laboratory. It takes a keen eye to reveal its secrets.  

medicines from plants found in dry climates?

Vinca alkaloids are a well-known family of medicinal compounds from vinca plants, which grow in dry climates. Cactus too has been found to have medical uses. I suspect dry climates force plants to develop defenses for their water supply. These defenses include the spines of the cactus, but also the chemicals they produce in their roots and shoots to keep animals, bacteria, fungi, and other plants away. 

I wonder about what medicinal compounds might be found in bristlecone pines, acacia, and baobab trees. 

All three are found in dry climates. Olive trees are also found in dry climates. The health benefits of olive oil were known in ancient times, but what about the trees themselves?

It seems that olive tree leaves are underused as a medicine. 

china - presented without comment

what would be the effect of adding fluorine to doxycycline?

Some antibiotics have fluorine. Doxycycline is non-beta lactam and does not have fluorine.

There are only a few antibiotics with fluorine. Below are two:

risperidone and paliperidone comparison

They are both used to treat schizophrenia. The only difference is the alcohol group on paliperidone. I wonder what effect a methyl group in the same place would have. 

what would be the effects of fludrotestosterone or fludroestrogen?

Fludrocortisone and dexamethasone are corticosteroids already in use. 

Below are some un-fluorinated corticosteroids: