More to learn about medicine
11/12/15 05:15
We like to talk about modern medicine because of the amazing advances in the practice of medicine in the past century. Breakthroughs in the use of antibiotics, in surgical techniques, and in diagnostic equipment have resulted in the ability of doctors to conduct procedures that cure certain illnesses, prevent other illnesses, and extend the life expectancies of millions of people.
However, it seems to me that future generations will see what we call “modern” as very primitive. Just as we are aghast at some of the medical techniques of the past, such as bleeding patients, surgery without anesthesia, and the lack of basic hygiene and cleanliness in medical practices, as barbaric and uneducated, future generations may well see the way that medicine is practiced in our world as uninformed and archaic.
As much as we have learned, we lack knowledge of some of the basic functions of the human body. Modern medicine has a chemical bias. Doctors are trained in chemistry as a basic requirement of their practice, but in general know much less about the body’s electrical functions. A heart arrhythmia is basically an electrical malfunction, but the first line of treatment in virtually every medical practice in the world is a chemical treatment. There are some electrical treatments, such as pacemakers and internal defibrillators, but they are seldom used without the presence of a chemical flood. In the practice of neuromedicine, a similar practice is common. Brain diseases are first treated chemically and the understanding the electrical side of the brain is even more primitive than our concept of how the heart works. Despite years of research, we know very little of the basic biology of emotions, and our treatment of emotional disorders is generally accompanied by chemicals that affect what we know about a relatively small number of chemicals in the brain. Altering the “chemical soup” present in the brain almost always produces side effects, some of which are considered to be more intrusive and debilitating than the original condition being treated. We humans are neither purely chemical nor purely electrical, but medicine not only has a bias towards chemical interventions, it also encourages specialization that separates those who are expert in electrical treatments from those practicing chemical medicine.
I am confident that continued medical research will address some of the unbalances and provide more comprehensive understanding of human biology. There are, however, other deep issues with the practice of contemporary medicine. Chief among them is the centralized medical model. Virtually all medicine in the world is delivered through a system of centralized hospitals and laboratories. These are primarily located in urban areas and generally operate at very high cost. Medical facilities tend to be among the most expensive buildings to construct, with highly specialized infrastructure. Research hospitals, where innovation occurs, tend to be located in conjunction with major universities and distant from the homes of many people. Many people don’t have access to these resources. There are over 4 billion people on the planet today who don’t have access to basic health care. World population stands at 7.3 billion. That means that more than half of the world has no access to modern health care. Those people aren’t all located in third-world countries far from us. Some of them live in rural and isolated areas of our own state.
Part of the solution to that enormous problem may come from advances in nanotechnologies. The miniaturization of diagnostic equipment holds the promise of a medical system that is less institutionalized, less centralized, than the way medicine is currently practiced. Nano-bio-physics is a field of study that crosses traditional lines between engineering and medicine, and, in contrast to the chemical bias of current medical education, involves disciplines of learning that are not emphasized in medical schools.
For about 20 years, scientists and engineers have been working with tiny machines that read and write information in DNA. Instead of conventional computer hard drives or flash memory units, the place for the storage of information is basic biology: DNA. The discovery of some of the basic physics of life has produced the ability to create tiny machines that access information, store it in molecules of DNA and are able to read the information when needed.
Conventional thinking is that most of the information about human biology is stored in the sequence of DNA or RNA. Millions of dollars and huge amounts of research was applied to understanding that sequence. Genetic medicine has produced a new generation of much more individualized treatments for some diseases and promises major breakthroughs in oncology and other fields in coming years. Recent research, however, is demonstrating that we are far more complex than a simple sequence. There is also information in the environment around DNA and RNA that affects the information that is stored in those molecules. For example, you can have two identical twins with exactly the same RNA and genetic structure. Both may have a gene associated with cancer and one may develop the disease while the other does not. What is the difference? It is not the gene sequence, but rather the environment in which the genetic information is transmitted. Changes in the molecular environment create changes in the physical characteristics of DNA and RNA. Light can be used to stretch the molecules. Other physical changes can reduce stress on individual strands of DNA and RNA increasing their ability to transmit information.
This knowledge is leading to the development of simple, portable devices that can be used to diagnose diseases without the need for centralized laboratories. Comparatively inexpensive devices now exist that can accurately diagnose HIV, Flu, Ebola, TB and Malaria. Whereas conventional chemical diagnosis of TB, for example, can take up to two weeks and require multiple trips to a medical facility, these devices can, from a small blood sample, produce an accurate diagnosis on the spot. Treatment can begin immediately instead of requiring weeks. Ebola virus can be detected before patients show symptoms without the need of a centralized hospital or clinic.
Our technologies are not the only solutions to the problems of the world, but they hold great promise for democratization of certain aspects of life. Cell phone technology has provided communications access to many who previously had no similar access. Nano technologies may provide health care to millions who currently have no access to it.
The bottom line is that we still have so much to learn and much innovation will be required for progress to occur. The way we have always done it simply isn’t good enough for the realities of the world in which we live.
However, it seems to me that future generations will see what we call “modern” as very primitive. Just as we are aghast at some of the medical techniques of the past, such as bleeding patients, surgery without anesthesia, and the lack of basic hygiene and cleanliness in medical practices, as barbaric and uneducated, future generations may well see the way that medicine is practiced in our world as uninformed and archaic.
As much as we have learned, we lack knowledge of some of the basic functions of the human body. Modern medicine has a chemical bias. Doctors are trained in chemistry as a basic requirement of their practice, but in general know much less about the body’s electrical functions. A heart arrhythmia is basically an electrical malfunction, but the first line of treatment in virtually every medical practice in the world is a chemical treatment. There are some electrical treatments, such as pacemakers and internal defibrillators, but they are seldom used without the presence of a chemical flood. In the practice of neuromedicine, a similar practice is common. Brain diseases are first treated chemically and the understanding the electrical side of the brain is even more primitive than our concept of how the heart works. Despite years of research, we know very little of the basic biology of emotions, and our treatment of emotional disorders is generally accompanied by chemicals that affect what we know about a relatively small number of chemicals in the brain. Altering the “chemical soup” present in the brain almost always produces side effects, some of which are considered to be more intrusive and debilitating than the original condition being treated. We humans are neither purely chemical nor purely electrical, but medicine not only has a bias towards chemical interventions, it also encourages specialization that separates those who are expert in electrical treatments from those practicing chemical medicine.
I am confident that continued medical research will address some of the unbalances and provide more comprehensive understanding of human biology. There are, however, other deep issues with the practice of contemporary medicine. Chief among them is the centralized medical model. Virtually all medicine in the world is delivered through a system of centralized hospitals and laboratories. These are primarily located in urban areas and generally operate at very high cost. Medical facilities tend to be among the most expensive buildings to construct, with highly specialized infrastructure. Research hospitals, where innovation occurs, tend to be located in conjunction with major universities and distant from the homes of many people. Many people don’t have access to these resources. There are over 4 billion people on the planet today who don’t have access to basic health care. World population stands at 7.3 billion. That means that more than half of the world has no access to modern health care. Those people aren’t all located in third-world countries far from us. Some of them live in rural and isolated areas of our own state.
Part of the solution to that enormous problem may come from advances in nanotechnologies. The miniaturization of diagnostic equipment holds the promise of a medical system that is less institutionalized, less centralized, than the way medicine is currently practiced. Nano-bio-physics is a field of study that crosses traditional lines between engineering and medicine, and, in contrast to the chemical bias of current medical education, involves disciplines of learning that are not emphasized in medical schools.
For about 20 years, scientists and engineers have been working with tiny machines that read and write information in DNA. Instead of conventional computer hard drives or flash memory units, the place for the storage of information is basic biology: DNA. The discovery of some of the basic physics of life has produced the ability to create tiny machines that access information, store it in molecules of DNA and are able to read the information when needed.
Conventional thinking is that most of the information about human biology is stored in the sequence of DNA or RNA. Millions of dollars and huge amounts of research was applied to understanding that sequence. Genetic medicine has produced a new generation of much more individualized treatments for some diseases and promises major breakthroughs in oncology and other fields in coming years. Recent research, however, is demonstrating that we are far more complex than a simple sequence. There is also information in the environment around DNA and RNA that affects the information that is stored in those molecules. For example, you can have two identical twins with exactly the same RNA and genetic structure. Both may have a gene associated with cancer and one may develop the disease while the other does not. What is the difference? It is not the gene sequence, but rather the environment in which the genetic information is transmitted. Changes in the molecular environment create changes in the physical characteristics of DNA and RNA. Light can be used to stretch the molecules. Other physical changes can reduce stress on individual strands of DNA and RNA increasing their ability to transmit information.
This knowledge is leading to the development of simple, portable devices that can be used to diagnose diseases without the need for centralized laboratories. Comparatively inexpensive devices now exist that can accurately diagnose HIV, Flu, Ebola, TB and Malaria. Whereas conventional chemical diagnosis of TB, for example, can take up to two weeks and require multiple trips to a medical facility, these devices can, from a small blood sample, produce an accurate diagnosis on the spot. Treatment can begin immediately instead of requiring weeks. Ebola virus can be detected before patients show symptoms without the need of a centralized hospital or clinic.
Our technologies are not the only solutions to the problems of the world, but they hold great promise for democratization of certain aspects of life. Cell phone technology has provided communications access to many who previously had no similar access. Nano technologies may provide health care to millions who currently have no access to it.
The bottom line is that we still have so much to learn and much innovation will be required for progress to occur. The way we have always done it simply isn’t good enough for the realities of the world in which we live.