Medical knowledge has changed drastically!
Emerging medical
knowledge does not support the current practice of medicine. Today we have
intimate knowledge about the microbiome, mycobiome, epigenetics, circadian
rhythms, and the mind body connection. All of this negate the reductionist
approach currently being followed and points towards holism.
The microbiome and
the mycobiome are about bacteria, fungi and parasites in our body. The combined
knowledge states that bacteria, viruses, and parasites are responsible for life to emerge and develop and they are an integral part of
our lives directing bodily functions, our choices and our mental health.
Another discovery is
the functions of the vagus nerve linking our gut to all organs and the brain -
the command center for function of the parasympatheic nervous system. The
lymphatic system is an area gaining interest - the detoxification and infection
fighting arm of the body. This extends to the brain. Both indicate that the
mind and body operate in tandem. The circadian rhythm underscores the value of
routine and bodily needs. The science of epigenetics teaches us how unjust
interventions and external influences deeply affect us, often across
generations.
Scientists studying
the mind are revealing the great healing influence our thoughts can have. Very
interesting are studies on Buddhist monks who have shown how the mind can
control bodily functions.
Study of the immune
system reveals that what was once thought to be only a preventive aspect has a
curative and maintenance side as well. The theory of chaos and change indicates
that a life force controls bodily functions and it is disturbances to this that
is the real cause of disease. It also teaches us how the body is in constant state of flux and it is this chaos that is behind good health and vitality.
Medical science
today has been turned on its head and it is the knowledge of holistic sciences
that has been well and truly validated with these findings. All the
interventions that the day's medical practice considers to be essential have
been seriously questioned. However it will take decades before this knowledge
reaches medical textbooks. Whether it will reach or not depends upon the drug
industry that controls medicine. And that is a big question mark.
Kuby's Immunology, 7th Edition, p. 1.
"But the immune system is also
much more than an isolated component of the body, merely responsible for
search-and-destroy missions. In fact, it interleaves with many of the other
body systems, including the endocrine, nervous, and metabolic systems, with
more connections undoubtedly to be discovered in time."
How the
microbiome challenges our concept of self
The Human Mycobiome
Fungi are fundamental
to the human microbiome, the collection of microbes distributed across and
within the body, and the microbiome has been shown, in total, to modify
fundamental human physiology, including energy acquisition, vitamin-cofactor
availability, xenobiotic metabolism, immune development and function, and even
neurological development and behavior. Here, a comprehensive review of current
knowledge about the mycobiome, the collective of fungi within the microbiome,
highlights methods for its study, diversity between body sites, and dynamics
during human development, health, and disease. Early-stage studies show
interactions between the mycobiome and other microbes, with host physiology,
and in pathogenic and mutualistic phenotypes. Current research portends a vital
role for the mycobiome in human health and disease.
Function of the
Vagus Nerve
The New Era of the Lymphatic System: No Longer
Secondary to the Blood Vascular System
New Imaging Approach
Reveals Lymph System in Brain
Circadian rhythm
A circadian rhythm is a roughly 24
hour cycle in the physiological processes of living beings, including plants,
animals, fungi and cyanobacteria.
In a strict sense, circadian rhythms
are endogenously generated, although they can be modulated by external cues
such as sunlight and temperature.
Circadian rhythms are important in
determining the sleeping and feeding patterns of all animals, including human
beings.
There are clear patterns of brain
wave activity, hormone production, cell regeneration and other biological
activities linked to this daily cycle.
Your Environment Can Change
Your Gene Expression – The Emerging Science of Epigenetics
We are born with a certain set of inherited genes –
our DNA. It is what makes us unique. Yet we know that genetically identical
twins do not always get the same diseases. How can that be? The answer is
simple, the environment is which they live is different. How we look and act
results from the interaction of our genes and our environment – the interaction
occurs through the epigenome, which includes all the elements that are capable
of turning genes on and off. This remarkable field of study is called Epigenetics.
We now know chemical changes in our environment can regulate gene activity and
change gene expression. There is no question that major medical conditions from
Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes to heart disease and some cancers are
influenced by how we live our lives. What we eat, how we manage stress, how we
live and manage our exposure to toxins all influence our epigenetics
Just
how much power does the mind have to heal the body?
But, on the other hand, consider the placebo effect
and the subjective improvement in symptoms people report after taking bogus drugs. Clearly,
the mind and body work in tandem when it comes to our experience of some
physical ailments — but which ones, and to what extent?
In a new book Cure: A Journey Into the Science of Mind Over Body,
science writer Jo Marchant takes on this question, exploring the ways many
scientists are now attempting to harness the placebo effect to improve patient
care. Marchant is a skeptical, evidence-based reporter — one with a background
in microbiology, no less — which makes for a fascinating juxtaposition against
some of the alternative treatments she discusses. She spoke recently with
Science of Us about the very real physiological and biochemical changes that
can occur in the brain and body as a result of some totally
fake treatments.
Studies of Advanced Stages of Meditation in the
Tibetan Buddhist and Vedic Traditions. I: A Comparison of General Changes
This article is the first of two
comparing findings of studies of advanced practitioners of Tibetan Buddhist
meditation in remote regions of the Himalayas, with established results on
long-term practitioners of the Transcendental Meditation programs. Many
parallel levels of improvement were found, in sensory acuity, perceptual style
and cognitive function, indicating stabilization of aspects of attentional
awareness. Together with observed increases in EEG coherence and aspects of
brain function, such changes are consistent with growth towards a state of
total brain functioning, i.e. development of full mental potential. They are
usually accompanied by improved health parameters. How they may be seen to be
consistent with growth of enlightenment will be the subject of a second
article.
CNS
Remyelination and the Innate Immune System
A misguided inflammatory response is
frequently implicated in myelin damage. Particularly prominent among myelin
diseases, multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune condition, with
immune–mediated damage central to its etiology. Nevertheless, a robust
inflammatory response is also essential for the efficient regeneration of
myelin sheaths after such injury. Here, we discuss the functions of
inflammation that promote remyelination, and how these have been experimentally
disentangled from the pathological facets of the immune response.
Does chaos theory have major implications for philosophy of medicine?
This, then is my vision of what will
happen to our scientific perception of disease during the next century: we
shall realise the wisdom of the ancient Aristotelian approach to the study of
nature, which means that we shall no longer regard disease as a “mechanical
fault in the human machine” but as a disturbed life process. We shall apply the
theories of open systems and non-linear dynamics to medical problems, and we
shall reach a fuller understanding of the development of disease.1
In the literature it is sometimes
claimed that chaos theory, non-linear dynamics, and the theory of fractals have
major implications for philosophy of medicine, especially for our analysis of
the concept of disease and the concept of causation. This paper gives a brief
introduction to the concepts underlying chaos theory and non-linear dynamics.
It is then shown that chaos theory has only very minimal implications for the
analysis of the concept of disease and the concept of causation, mainly because
the mathematics of chaotic processes entail that these processes are fully
deterministic. The practical unpredictability of chaotic processes, caused by
their extreme sensitivity to initial conditions, may raise practical problems
in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, but it raises no major theoretical
problems. The relation between chaos theory and the problem of free will is
discussed, and it is shown that chaos theory may remove the problem of
predictability of decisions, but does not solve the problem of free will. Chaos
theory may thus be very important for our understanding of physiological
processes, and specific disease entities, without having any major implications
for philosophy of medicine.
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