Metabolic Profiling of Parasitic Infection and Psychosocial Challenges

Operationalizing the concept of allostatic load -- the price the organism pays for being forced to adapt to adverse physical and psychosocial situations – has been a considerable challenge since the introduction of this idea roughly 15 years ago. We discuss examples of metabolic profiling in animals and man as one possible response to this challenge. Computational and statistical issues in the construction of metabolic profiles from 1H - NMR spectra will be illustrated along with specification of currently unresolved questions.