Disease as a result of violations of the symbiotic relationship between the host and the microbiota with pathogens

Recent achievements in many sciences have led to an understanding of the need to form new ideas about the nature of human relationships with the environment and the inner world, his health, the principles of disease formation and their prevention. There has been a transition from a collection of achievements of various sciences to a holistic paradigm that unites a person as an organism and as a person, his inner and surrounding world. It became obvious that this could not be done within the framework of the previous general theories of medicine. To this end, the authors propose a new theory of medicine: "the theory of noospheric-anthropogenic harmony". From the standpoint of this theory, the mechanisms of the relationship of microbiota and pathogens with the protective and acceptive immunity of a healthy and sick person, as well as the mechanisms of microbiota regulation, are considered. The paradigm of dysbiosis as the cause of many diseases and main homeostatic mechanisms that provide symbiotic relationships of microbiota, immunity and its role in the mechanisms of natural tolerance and formation of various disease, such as, autoimmune ones and tumors, require a change in the acceptedtreatment and prevention. A new approach should be based on using a new class of drugs metabiotics, which in their term influence microbiota.

Similia Similibus Curentur: Theory, History, and Status of the Constitutive Principle of Homeopathy

A clear definition of its subject and correct application of its tenets are the basis of any science. Conversely, the want of a unanimous understanding of its constituting principles by the homeopathic community is undermining its scientific practice, research and discussion. To facilitate these, first and foremost the Principle of Similars, similia similibus curentur, has to be clarified and assessed in terms of its theoretical meaning, historical development, and epistemological status. Hahnemann's conceptions, explanations, and appraisals were not static but evolved and hardened over the years, especially from 1796 to 1810. While initially he related similia similibus to an imitation of similar cures by nature and proposed it as an opposition to contraria contrariis, he later generalised it to the treatment of any disease. Whilst originally he considered it to be a hermeneutical principle, or a hint towards a curative remedy, Hahnemann later dogmatised it as the only truth. Considering advances in epistemology and theory of medicine, however, the Principle of Similars may not be assessed as a final truth or natural law to be empirically verified or falsified for good, but rather as a practical maxim, guiding the artist of healing in his/her curing of diseases rationally and individually.

Philosophy within the contemporary practice of American medicine. Various forms of the relationship between both disciplines: Edmund D. Pellegrin's approach

The paper presented here illustrates the issue of philosophy within the contemporary practice of American medicine. Four forms of relationship between both disciplines will be discussed: philosophy and medicine, philosophy within medicine, medical philosophy, and philosophy of medicine. The aim of the paper is to illustrate the specificity of the proposed forms of relationship, i.e. the contrast between the autonomous approach of the both disciplines and the realistic philosophy of medicine promoted by Edmund D. Pellegrin, which closely links the issue of the nature and theory of medicine with the undertaking of philosophical reflection. The issue of the topicality of Edmund D. Pellegrin's philosophy of medicine in the context of the current challenges of American health care will also be discussed.

Metabolic aspects of therapeutic problems

The autor sconcider the metabolic sindrom from the perspecrtive of the General theory of medicine developed by them — the theory of noospheric–anthropogenic harmoni. The paper analyzes new scientifi c data on the role of exposome, various external and internal factors that lead to the development of Metabolic syndrome. The role of various infection, disbiosis, nutrision factors (microbiota correctors, dietary fiber, etc.) are discussed.

The Need for Multidisciplinary Research within the History and Theory of Homeopathy

The controversial issue of homeopathy's scientificity will, in all probability, not be settled by means of clinical trials alone, as long as uncertainty or ignorance about methodological, philosophical, and socio-economical essentials prevail on both sides of the argument. Rather than uncritically adopt the standards of the currently predominant paradigm, homeopathy should not forget its roots, peculiarities, and self-conception. Contrary to conventional medicine, it is based on a teleological image of humanity, a holistic and sustainable approach towards curing sickness, and an up-to-date concept of medical theory in terms of healing arts. However, under today's frameworked conditions of industrialisation, commercialisation and commodification, the strengths of homeopathy tend to be disregarded or even attacked, and a special kind of reductionist and materialist rationality, compatible with expanding markets and profits, is preferably facilitated. To reveal and demonstrate these developments and relationships on a scientific level, there is a need for multidisciplinary research on the part of the humanities, such as history and theory of medicine, history and theory of science, history of economics, sociology of scientific knowledge, and philosophy.

Medical and pedagogical training of population for actions in emergency situations

The subject of this research is the system of measures for scientific substantiation of medical and pedagogical training of population for actions in emergency situations. The author examines such aspects of the topic as the scientific substantiation of measures of medical and pedagogical training of population aimed at the development of rational behavior in emergency situations. Attention is focused on the need for elaboration of questions for ensuring active and appropriate behavior of people affected in order to preserve their own lives and health. Readiness of the person depends on their ability to prepare for rational actions under the aggravated external circumstances. Research methodology leans on the determination theory of medicine, which serves as a platform for studying multiple vectors of emergency medicine. The scientific novelty of this work consists in substantiation of the medical-pedagogical approach as the basis of a complex of preventive measures for increasing capacity of life support in the context of factors of extreme determination. Such training is complies with methodology of rendering medical assistance to the population in the conditions of emergency situations; and is a part of such measures as conduct of special tactical trainings (preparation of equipment and gear; simulation of the flow of suffered and injured, skill training on rendering aid; examination of reliability of the shelter, effective interaction with different services, etc).

Arguing over the Buddhist Pedigree of Tibetan Medicine: A Case Study of Empirical Observation and Traditional Learning in 16th- and 17th-Century Tibet

This article examines the relationship between the practice and theory of medicine and Buddhism in premodern Tibet. It considers a polemical text composed by the 16th–17th-century Tibetan physician and tantric Buddhist expert Sokdokpa Lodrö Gyeltsen, intending to prove the Buddhist canonical status of the Four Medical Tantras, the foundational text of the Tibetan medical tradition. While presenting and analyzing Sokdokpa’s polemical writing in the context of the broader debate over the Buddhist pedigree of the Four Tantras that took place during his time, this discussion situates Sokdokpa’s reflections on the topic in terms of his broader career as both a practicing physician and a tantric Buddhist ritual and contemplative specialist. It suggests that by virtue of Sokdokpa’s tightly interwoven activities in the spheres of medicine and Buddhism, his contribution to this debate gives voice to a sensibility in which empiricist, historicist, and Buddhist ritual and contemplative inflections intermingle in ways that resist easy disentanglement and classification. In this it argues that Sokdokpa’s reflections form an important counterpoint to the perspectives considered thus far in the scholarly study of this debate. It also questions if Sokdokpa’s style of argumentation might call for a recalibration of how scholars currently construe the roles of tantric Buddhist practice in the appeal by premodern Tibetan physicians to critical and probative criteria.

Zur Notwendigkeit der Philosophie im Medizinstudium

Today, the study and practice of medicine are treated with a natural scientific approach. However, medical action has its foundations not only in the natural sciences and technology, but also in ethics, humanity and philosophy. The Wuerzburg Philosophicum teaches, apart from medical ethics, a systematic analysis of a theory of medicine in the context of other sciences, the theory of knowledge, anthropology and hermeneutics.