THEORETICAL CONCEPT OF DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION (ECOPASTEURIAN THEORY OF MODERN PATHOLOGY)

Since 1999 ISSN 2226-7417

Электронный научно-образовательный ВЕСТНИК «Здоровье и образование в XXI веке»

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Pasechnik A.V.

Department of Pathophisiology. Russian University of People’s Friendship. Moscow.117198. M-

Maklaya st.8.Medical faculty ([email protected]))

THEORETICAL CONCEPT OF DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION

(ECOPASTEURIAN T H E O R Y OF MODERN PATHOLOGY)

Examination of the state of medicine in the

perspective of ecological imperatives and

nonanthropocentric metaphysics prompts a

new approach to current problems of health

care (A.V. Pasechnik, 1985-2005). Whereas the

early half of the 20th century was still an аge of

infections diseases, mortality caused by them

later declined by 99% and an "epidemic" of

chronic noninfectious diseases (diseases of

civilization) such as atherosclerosis, cancer,

hypertension, diabetes, etc. set in. Vast

accumulated data indicate no downtrend in

incidence of these diseases despite the

implementation of large - scale programmes of

multifactor disease prevention.

Awareness about the critical situation generates

the need to search for conceptual alternatives,

new theoretical explanations for this range of

global ргоblems that would account for the

present - day "drift" of methodological

approaches (the dialectio treatment of the

problem, "complimentariness" in N. Bohr's

sense, views of P.Feyerab'end, or Einstein's

viewpoint emphasizing a free choice of

theoretical postulates. The process of

theoretical mastering of factual data has

found its expression in a new conception

(paradigm) of medicine. Concisely it can be

summarized as follows:

Disease as the infections process also contains

the opposite truth, that of a natural form of self-

саге. A set of systemic reactions

of the organism describing the development

of infections processes is treated аз

realization of the natural "therapentic"

mechanisms ("assimilation" of ordering from

the environment) ensuring protection from the

development of the diseases of civilization. By

bringing the infections ргосеss to pase, the

organism fulfils an expedient, system - forming

activity essential for its vitality. The morpho -

functional structure of the organism requires

some periodic "sanitary" procedures conducive

to liberating from the "substrate" of modern

forms of diseases.

Life process is included into the system of

natural laws and is directed, organized and

structured. Today me know that it were

bacteria that hundreds of millions years ago

constituted the initial biological system of the

Earth. They formed the base upon which the

entire complex "network" of the living matter

developed. The strategy of wiping infections

diseases with time gives rise to its opposite, i.e.

the development of autoimmune and allergic

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processes underlying the genesis of chronic

noninfections diseases.

Within this frame of reference the problem

of diseases of civilization is a consequence of

taking the activity of curbing

(negating) the infections reactivity beyond the

limits of the admissible. The prime issue is to

develop this new strategy of medicine; it is

nеcеssагу to elaborate maximum permissible

levels of using this sanogenetic natural law.

It should be emphasized that we do not negate

the strategy of combating diseases, representing

threat for life, and risk factors. We imply the

need to preserve in a "humanized" form sone

measure of infections reactivity as a …

physiological demand.

It is impossible to continue ways to the future

of medicine, not knowing the purpose. It is

impossible to make it and not knowing a

starting point, whence roads originate, not

having investigated territory on which will pass

ways. Researches on this theme eventually have

led to to formulations of the uniform

monocausal theory of a pathology

(ecopastteurian to the theory of illnesses of a

civilization).

The organism "does not know", that there is the

modern doctor already quite often possessing

means of struggle against illness even by more

effective, than his(its) own protective

(therapeutic) forces. Stoping occuring in depth

of bodies of change with the help of system

of compensation -adaptive reactions and it

sharply modifying and "shading" natural

mechanisms of recovery, the doctor, « that not

knowing », modifies ways of full treatment of

illnesses. And if the history of treatment of

illnesses of the person until recently is a history

basically unidirectional, sinergic actions of

protective forces of an organism and the

doctor who is always taking into account

these forces and trying them to stimulate the

modern history finally represents rigid and

painful(unhealthy) "competition" of these of

two therapeutic practic. The person in the

intrinsic disclosing constantly balances between

natural - natural and social limits of the

maintenance(contents), in detail outlines all in

the greater completeness the identity.

According to this and on the basis of the

analysis of structure of cumulative results of

medical activity we are convinced, that truly

scientific representation about " illnesses of a

civilization " should start with presence of

natural background of the person during

which have arisen and there were the natural

preconditions of a human life immanently

containing in mechanisms of "therapeutic"

activity. In other words, the question is a

material substratum, the carrier sanogenetic

the potentialities, providing constant and “vital”

qualities of organic integrity.

It is necessary to note, that by present(true)

time in many spheres of human activity the

concept of illnesses of growth or “ a global

problematics ” already was quite issued. In

modern medicine the question is epidemic of

illnesses of a civilization (a chronic not

infectious pathology, a pathology of XX

century). Within the limits of this problematics

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it is difficult to allocate any private(individual)

problems and to offer for them separate,

independent decisions - each problem

corresponds with all others, and any decision

of one obvious at first sight of them can

complicate or influence the decision of others.

And any of these problems or their

combinations cannot be solved due to

consecutive application of the methods of the

past based on the linear approach. The

problematics of global development can be

presented as a certain system - set of the

interconnected components of a civilization

and the nature, the individuals who have arisen

and developing as a result of activity, social and

cultural communities and all mankind. Let's

notice, that the question is not absence of the

necessary information and not about

insufficient (quantitative) mechanisms offers.

Here the fundamental problem touching

hardly probable not the bases of the

organization of any human activity is covered.

There was, that a same problem(task) in a

various context, at different levels of decision-

making demands completely different ways of

the organization and different knowledge. That

at transition in process of a concrete definition

of a plan of action from one level on another,

formulations both the basic purposes, and

major principles on which are based their

achievement are considerably transformed.

For comprehension of managers by human

activity of laws it was important to learn to

understand, how in each concrete case there

is a general(common) context of

perception(recognition) of the next

problems(tasks) how to result in system

(whence and the name - “ the system analysis ”)

initially isolated and superfluous data on a

problem situation how to coordinate among

themselves and to deduce(remove) one of other

representation and the purpose of the different

levels concerning to uniform activity. Each

scientist at such approach should know, that,

formulating laws of the nature, it(he) represents

them in terms of behaviour of the certain

models reflecting natural phenomena, instead

of in terms of an observable reality. The

certain quality of development of

complex(difficult) processes can so to change

this "context", that one factors, up to that

determinative dynamics(changes) of a

situation, lose the value, and others,

represented insignificant and not accepted in

attention, leave on the foreground. The

situation even more is complicated, when in

structure of the logic analysis of corresponding

processes there are feedback, that is

consequences of events start to influence

conditions of occurrence of these events.

Construction of model - not empirical exercises.

It demands deep penetration into "work" of

system, skills to deduce(remove) full enough

and adequate concepts from "real" system to

keep complex(difficult) model at a level of the

analysis and at the same time to keep that

represents the main interest for research: a

problem of stability of biological systems, an

organism of the person. We should de facto

recognize, that any real biological object is

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simultaneously эволюционно the generated

stability and there is an open system and

consequently on a condition is unpredictable.

Interaction with the environment, on the one

hand, provides his(its) stability and at the same

time brings to instability. That specific

instability, which " cvantification " today as

concept dissipative structures or “ the order

from chaos ”.

Here we pay attention to that obvious fact, that

stability (as it today is realized in the modern

normological medicine) displays only a part of

attitudes(relations) interesting us, and,

working in this direction, it is desirable to look

through approaches to construction of more

full and multidimensional picture. It is

necessary to tell some words and about

pragmatical value of concept of stability.

Overwhelming majority of scientists want to

see world around steady. Stability of

attitudes(relations), stability of development

are represented by some ideal to which the

mankind should aspire. So strongly pronounced

bent for steady is quite clear. If the world is

steady, it(he) is simple, almost determined and

well predicted, and unpleasant uncertainty of a

choice and tomorrow's day does not prevail

over the person. The desire to see the world

steady reflects conservative strategy of

behaviour and management from which care

in actions communicates, propensity to accept

gradual changes. This strategy is good until

the system has not left abroad the stability

when, to survive, it is necessary to make non-

standard decisions.

Management through system of norms and

standards on the essence can be

considered(examined) as "primitive enough".

The

management builded on the analysis of a

concrete situation and concrete

attitudes(relations) at which the positive result

can be taken, including from the phenomena

and attitudes(relations) which primarily from

a position of stability and norms are perceived

as destabilizing is considerably more

progressive. But such management is possible

only on base of alread y formulated theory,

an extensive knowledge, deep knowledge and

adequate means. An obvious parallel to this

place in medicine (concerning an infectious

pathology) are theoretically loaded designs

(and then "describing" и "ordering" sense of

medical practice) L.Pasteur, I.I.Mechnikova,

A.Fleming.

The criteria for assesment and verification of the

given conception can be acquired only through

organization of an experiment. The content of

the conception gives sufficiently clear

guidelines for delineating the area of

verification and developing new therapeutic

and prophylactic approaches to extending the

limits of human life. In spite of all the

expenditure of money, time, and energy, so

little has been achieved in the prevention of the

diseases of civilization to date. If we are adapted

to anything in this world, we are certainly

adapted to infectious (immune) agent.That the

problem remains undiminished is also shown,

it is submitted, by the sombre fact that our

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own profession suffers from coronary disease

just as much as does the rest of the

population.THE conception presented in this

work, based on evolutionary, epidemiological

and other scientific considerations, recalls the

conclusions that many have arrived at

instinctively in the past, without any scientific

aid at all. Thus Horace, some

2000 years ago, as stated at the very beginning

of this book, warned that 'you may drive out

Nature with a pitchfork, but she will ever hurry

back, to triumph in stealth over your foolish

contempt'. Since this is mainly a work on the

causation of disease, it is not really implicated

in what civilized man in general, and

Westernized man in particular, will do about

such causation, if it becomes generally accepted

as true.

Pasechnik’ concept of disese

(ECOPASTEURIAN THEORY OF MODERN

PATHOLOGY) aims to impress the general

public with an extreme evolutionary

perspective on the historical and phylogenetic

sources of human disease. The concept

distinction lies in the detailing of evolutionary

levels or grades of organic life, first defined by

increasing cellular complexity and later by

specifically hominid evolutionary gradations.

The causes and correlates of diseases can then

be narrowed down to the disruption of

adaptations occurring at certain levels, and the

approach is often (although not always)

productive epidemiologically for inferring

etiologies.

Representation developed by us about prima

causa illnesses of a civilization or a modern

chronic not infectious pathology (А.V.

Pasechnik,1988-2005) it is defined

(determined) in the following

maintenance(contents). Sanogenic the

immune potentialities of an organism

determining protection against development

nosological of forms of illnesses of a civilization

and infectious immune reactance are additional

mechanisms and concepts (in Bohr sense; Niels

Bohr's theory of complementarity was an

attempt to solve the enormous problems of

interpretation) - vis medicatrix naturae. As the

immune system cannot react to the by means

of reaction to cross microbic structures an

organism realizes the participation in

regulation of immune function, restrictions of

inflammatory processes, a antigen-structural

homeostasis, preservation of the ecology,

regeneration, the control of tumoral process,

ageing.

At this point it is desirable to reflect on the

distinction between the basic cause of a

condition and multiple aggravating factors. For

unless such distinction is carefully preserved,

the very unhelpful phrase 'of multifactorial

origin' is liable to be used, especially in

connexion with coronary disease. Not only

does such a phrase, in the author's opinion,

usually not reflect clear thinking, but it also has

the serious objection of interfering with the

attack on the causative factors in order of their

importance. The distinction is well seen in the

case of tuberculosis. This disease, also, was

once thought to be of multifactorial origin,

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because of the accompaniments of under-

nutrition, overcrowding, heredity, and other

factors. But directly the tubercle bacillus was

discovered, this diffuse aetiology was replaced

by a single basic cause and multiple aggravating

factors -- and a big step forwards in prevention

became possible. For the removal of

aggravating factors merely dents the

incidence, whereas the removal of the basic

cause reduces the incidence to zero. Whilst

fully persuaded of the importance of smoking

in the aetiology of coronary disease, possibly

through its constricting the terminal arterioles,

the author is convinced that smoking

constitutes an aggravating factor and not a basic

cause. The main reasons for his conviction lie in

the fact that though there is still a very

considerable incidence of the disease in non-

smokers, there is no incidence at all in

primitive societies (such as the tribal Africans

dealt with in this work). In short, the tubercle-

bacillus argument used above is considered to

apply very much here, too. Furthermore,

smoking cannot explain the crucial association

of coronary disease with diabetes. And in this

lies the true importance of the distinction. I

think this idea will eventually establish itself as

a basic science for medicine.

The feast-or-famine “thrifty genotype” concept

gets a good treatment. The stunning

accomplishment of sequencing the human

genome.... will not resolve the scourge of

modern medicine.... These are diseases caused

not by single gene defects but by....

‘modern’ conditions.... Hopefully (sic), this

understanding will help teach us how genes

function WHEN WE ARE HEALTHY (emphasis

mine), rather than only how they cause

disease. Incurable suffering from the "hiatus

theoreticus"? Some epistemological problems

in modern medicine and the clinical relevance

of philosophy of medicine. Medical sciences,

like the other natural sciences, portray natural

phenomena as they really are (naturalism);

progress in sciences consists of cumulative

growth of information and explanation. The

twentieth century philosophical critique of

science revealed that none of these

assumptions were true. Empirical facts, which

are taken as a basis for any true knowledge,

are dependent on the presumed theories;

theories are intertwined into a broader socio-

cultural context; theory-changing processes are

caused by social factors rather than by the

theoretical content. The main problem of

modern health care is to express its goals and

its limits. To do this it is necessary to answer

the fundamental question: what is normal and

what is pathological?

The main problem in modern medicine is the

lack of a "theory of medicine", elucidating the

relation between science and practice.

Empirical facts, which are taken as a basis for

any true knowledge, are dependent on the

presumed theories; theories are intertwined

into a broader socio-cultural context; theory-

changing processes are caused by social factors

rather than by the theoretical content.

We do not look back on the history of medicine

with any sense of nostalgia. Leeches,

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trephination, and bloodletting are not

therapies we miss. Before we understood the

germ theory of disease or had developed

anesthesia, medicine was much less successful

and intensely more painful. But within a decade

or so, we will look back at today's medicine with

the same kind of horror we now feel when we

view ancient remedies. Ours is the age of

science and technology. The conclusions of

modern medical science and theories are

derived from experimental research developed

since the last century by the life sciences, with

the methods of the exact and physical sciences,

and the invaluable aid of technology. This

paper compares past systems of medicine with

our own, and examines the role of science and

theory in medical practice, in the remote and

recent past and at present.

Has medical science and theory in the past

been of benefit to medical practice? Has it

helped the physician to understand disease?

To treat the sick? Finally, the paper looks at a

number of uncomfortable questions raised by

medical practice in our own time. The

widespread rejection of today's medical

practice with its flawed doctor-patient

relationship, its super- specialization and

mechanization, and its incessantly growing

reliance on technology, is examined in the light

of the prodigious advances of modern medical

science and some of its abuses and exorbitant

claims as well as its rejection of the value of

past medical systems. Our need is for an

integration of the old and the new, in a

synthesis that will lead us back to a more

human medicine. In conclusion, the author

hopes that the lack of academic detail in this

work will not be construed as a weakness.

Were it so construed, he would try to defend

himself with the following: In many of the

conditions set out here as parts of a single

master-disease, mostly erupting within the

past 100 years, particularly such conditions

as colonic stasis (with its diverticular and

venous complications) and extending through

the Escherichia coli infections, peptic ulcer and

diabetes right up to the dreaded coronary

thrombosis, what have the thousands of highly

academic papers published on these conditions

so far achieved? They have produced

miraculous surgical and pharmacological

antidotes to the ravages produced by these

conditions on the human body, but the

conditions have not been stopped from

occurring; on the contrary they are commoner

now than they ever were, and most of them are

still getting commoner. Nor have members of

our own profession been in any way absent

from the sufferers in this remorseless advance.

May not the author therefore plead, with all

humility, that there may be room for a different

type of work, embodying a much greater

reverence for Nature herself? -- a work where

academic details that do not seem vital are

deliberately omitted in the interests of greater

perspective and simpler conclusions.

THIS work is based on human evolution, and

stemming from it the perfect adaptation of

all species to their natural environment. To

sum up, the author believes that solely by close

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attention to evolutionary principles can we hope

to escape the coronary danger (diseases of

civilization en toto) menacing each one of us

today.

Today this approach and it(him) aspect (vis

medicatrix naturae, contraria sunt

comlementaria) as it is represented, is

adequately enough entered in modern lines

of a science ("complimentariness" in N. Bohr's

sense, dissipative structures, entered by

Prigozhin or “ the order from chaos ”,

dialectics) and are found with the reflection in

concepts "programming" in utero the future

life and the future illnesses, in "hygienic" idea of

genesis an allergic pathology…

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THEORETICAL CONCEPT OF DISEASES OF CIVILIZATION (ECOPASTEURIAN THEORY OF MODERN PATHOLOGY)