Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CONTEMPORARY
MEDICINE
1. Mapping
contemporary
medicine
Our
studies
are
six
years
long,
but
we
could
say
that
there
is
a
division:
the
first
three
years
are
called
“pre-‐clinical”
and
the
following
three
years
are
called
“clinical”
(all
the
professors
we
will
have
during
the
first
period
won’t
work
in
the
clinic).
So,
medicine
is
divided
in
basic
subjects
(during
the
first
three
years),
where
all
the
knowledge
we
get
is
instrumental,
part
of
this
knowledge
is
social
and
the
other
part
are
the
biological
bases
of
health.
We
can
divide
the
scientific
knowledge
in:
-‐ Morphological
sciences
(this
knowledge
is
static)
o Anatomy
o Histology
o Embriology
-‐ Physiological
sciences
(this
knowledge
is
dynamic)
o Human
physiology
o Physiological
chemistry
o Biochemistry
o Cell
biology
o Molecular
biology
-‐ Medical
psychology
There
is
a
social
distribution
of
diseases
(when
we
speak
about
medicine
in
general
we
have
to
include
the
promotion
of
health
and
prevention),
some
diseases
can
be
cured
in
the
traditional
way
(with
sun,
exercise
or
a
different
diet)
and
in
a
more
professional
way,
which
implies
chemistry,
drugs,
etc…
Physic
therapeutic
applications:
-‐ Radiations
-‐ Short
waves
Chemical
therapeutic
applications:
-‐ Chemotherapy
-‐ Antibiotics
The
second
half
of
the
studies
is
called
the
Clinical
part.
2. Science
of
health
and
disease
Dimensions
of
the
morphological
sciences:
-‐ Descriptive:
it
implies
describing
and
naming
the
things
we
see,
the
human
body
is
macroscopic
and
it
is
understood
as
a
territory.
Historically
this
anatomy
appeared
when
we
tried
to
understand
how
was
everything:
it
suffered
a
boom
in
the
16th
century
with
Leonardo
Da
Vinci
but
the
good
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knowledge
and
the
one
which
is
still
valid
nowadays
is
the
one
from
the
18th
century
during
the
Napoleonic
wars.
-‐ Ordenative:
Aristotle
was
the
first
“puto
amo”
(Disculpadme
la
expresión
pero
es
que
a
estas
alturas
no
doy
más
de
mí)
of
the
compared
anatomy:
you
observe
things;
you
describe
them
and
try
to
establish
a
relation
between
two
different
things.
In
the
antiquity,
they
speculated
a
lot.
Cosas
del
estilo,
“los
pájaros
tienen
alas
y
las
moscas
también,
hay
relación
fijo”,
ellos
trataban
de
explicar
por
qué
cojostio
pasaba
eso.
They
tried
to
establish
relations
depending
on
the
functions
they
accomplish,
and
this
way,
creating
a
certain
order.
This
is
the
base
of
the
philogenetic
anatomy
(árboles
evolutivos).
-‐ Explanatory
Elemental
unit
of
the
living
matter
In
the
19th
century,
we
arrived
to
the
cell
theory:
when
we
give
chemotherapy
to
someone
what
we
try
to
do
is
killing
cells,
cells
composing
organs.
In
the
antiquity
they
didn’t
know
about
this
and
they
speculated,
their
ideas
were:
-‐ Atoms
-‐ Element
-‐ Humor
-‐ Fiber
!
Every
pathology
comes
from
a
cell
that
is
not
working
well.
Cells
are
used
to
explain
everything.
All
the
civilizations
had
their
own
theories
about
the
birth
and
the
formation
of
the
individuals,
this
is
a
question
that
everyone
tried
to
answer.
There
are
two
theories:
-‐ The
preformationism:
they
thought
that
every
new
individual
was
previously
formed
inside
the
mother,
that
is
to
say,
the
embryogenesis
was
simply
the
growth
of
something
that
was
already
developed
at
a
microscopic
level.
It
was
like
a
matrioshka.
-‐ The
epigenetism:
the
greeks
thought
that
the
humans
weren’t
predetermined,
the
babies
were
a
result
of
the
fusion
of
two
amorphous
masses
and
depending
on
how
the
development
takes
place
the
baby
will
have
a
characterist
or
another.
The
soul
organizes
the
process,
the
steps
etc…
For
example,
if
everything
was
ok,
the
baby
was
a
boy.
The
cellular
theory
appeared
at
the
same
time
than
the
microscope,
that’s
how
humans
did
so
many
discoveries:
they
proved
all
their
theories.
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!
Por
poner
un
ejemplo,
se
descubrió
que
la
fecundación
era
el
límite
entre
las
especies,
si
no
era
posible
la
fecundación
es
que
no
eran
de
la
misma
especie.
Es
decir,
que
si
tú
no
podías
tener
un
hijo
con
otro
ser
vivo,
es
que
estabas
intentando
ir
contra
natura.
!
Más
cosas
curiosas,
en
el
siglo
XVIII,
en
España,
la
Ilustración
no
tuvo
mucha
fuerza
pero
el
padre
Feijó
escribió
muchas
cosas
y
una
de
ellas
era
sobre
una
mujer
que
vivió
en
Sevilla.
Se
quedó
emparazada
y
tuvo
un
hijo
negro
así
que
desarrolló
una
teoría:
Los
antojos
de
las
embarazadas
y
lo
que
pensaban
tenía
repercusion
directa
en
el
feto.
Y
bueno,
básicamente
pensó
que
la
mujer,
como
tenía
un
cuadro
de
los
Reyes
Magos
en
el
salón
en
el
que
solía
estar,
pues
le
había
dedicado
más
pensamientos
de
la
cuenta
al
rey
negro
y
por
tanto
le
salió
un
hijo
negro.
De
hecho,
todas
esas
figuras
mitológicas
griegas
son
fruto
de
la
imaginación
calenturienta
de
los
humanos.
Estaban
ahí
pensando
“
y
qué
pasaría
si…”
y
así
nacían
los
animales
mitológicos.
Physiological
sciences
The
study
of
human
physiology
dates
back
to
Hippocrates’
times,
he
was
also
known
as
the
father
of
medicine.
The
critical
thinking
of
Aristotle
and
his
emphasis
on
the
relationship
between
structure
and
function
marked
the
beginning
of
physiology
in
Ancient
Greece.
After
that,
came
Galen
and
he
was
the
first
to
use
experiments
to
prove
the
functions
of
the
body.
He
was
the
founder
of
the
experimental
physiology.
The
development
of
this
science
was
paralyzed
until
the
19th
century
when
Claude
Bernard
stated
very
important
terms
related
to
the
new
discoveries
about
cells
others
did,
the
French
term
is
“milieu
intérieur”
and
corresponds
to
what
we
know
today
as
homeostasis.
The
first
physiology
we
developed
was
the
human
one,
after
that
we
became
interested
in
animals
and
in
specific
organs
(we
would
classify
this
type
of
physiology
as
“special
physiology”)
and
we
finally
ended
up
comparing
the
different
types
of
physiology
and
we
gave
birth
to
the
compared
physiology,
we
spent
a
lot
of
time
trying
to
find
similarities
and
differences
between
the
different
species.
All
these
physiologies
were
analytic
and
correlational,
and
in
the
20th
century
they
gave
rise,
all
together,
to
the
General
Physiology
we
know
nowadays,
which
is
focused
on
cell
biology,
biophysics,
biochemistry
and
molecular
biology.
The
general
physiology
studies
the
exchanges
of
matter
and
the
exchanges
of
energy,
it
also
analyses
the
organic
products
of
the
chemical
reactions
of
the
body.
At
the
biochemical
level,
it
works
on
the
general
processes,
the
metabolism
and
the
biologic
cycles.
In
molecular
biology,
the
general
physiology
is
focused
on
the
biological
systems
of
information,
integration
and
exchange,
sub
cell
structures
such
as
proteins,
nucleotides
and
nucleic
acids
and
also
shares
the
study
of
genetics
with
biochemistry.
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7. Biotechnology
and
health
Nowadays
we
can
do
molecular
diagnosis
and
prognosis
very
easily,
these
are
very
new
and
expensive
techniques
that
are
making
our
lives
much
easier
at
many
levels.
As
he
have
done
a
lot
of
discoveries
in
the
field
of
biotechnology
we
take
profit
from
them
to
make
new
medicines,
this
opens
a
wide
list
of
possibilities
to
us.
Cell
therapy
and
tissue
engineering
is
one
of
the
most
important
discoveries
we
have
done;
we
can
regenerate
tissues
by
stimulating
the
division
of
stem
cells.
We
also
use
this
knowledge
to
do
genetic
therapy
and
new
vaccines,
all
these
discoveries
meant
a
change
in
the
disease
paradigm:
the
diseases
are
not
longer
clinic
but
based
on
molecular
and
genetic
problems
and
to
solve
them,
we
must
use
genetic
technologies.
A
list
of
these
new
technologies:
-‐ Proteomics
-‐ Pluripotential
cells
-‐ Biochips
-‐ Ultra-‐sequenzation
-‐ Genomics
-‐ Pharmacogenetics
But
this
leads
us
to
two
questions,
there
is
a
need
of
regulation
to
guarantee
a
public
service,
and
that
there
is
a
fragmentation
hospital-‐public
research
centre
(“yo
busco
lo
que
le
pasa
en
el
laboratorio
pero
yo
no
soy
medico”
dice
el
Bioquímico.
“Yo
no
soy
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bioquímico
no
puedo
saber
lo
que
le
pasa
a
este”
dice
el
médico,
es
decir,
que
no
hay
comunicación
entre
las
partes
que
diagnostican).
The
present
program
of
the
pharmaceutical
industry
is
the
following
one:
1. Being
able
to
do
molecular
diagnosis
2. Genotyping,
categorization
of
genetic
human
variations
(para
poder
detectar
la
disease
que
te
dé
la
gana
con
solo
mirar
el
ADN,
o
bueno,
al
menos
la
tendencia).
3. Interference
RNA
(being
able
to
work
with
it,
so
we
can
take
profit
from
it
and
use
it
in
treatments).
4. Recombining
proteins
and
antibodies
(lo
mismo).
The
future
challenges
of
the
biotechnology
are:
-‐ The
creation
of
DNA
bio-‐banks,
tissues,
tumors,
etc…
In
the
end
national
banks
of
biologic
stuff
(doesn’t
matter
if
they
are
public
or
private,
but
they
have
to
be
controlled
and
confidential).
-‐ The
creation
of
high
performance
technology
platforms
integrating
molecular
and
clinical
features.
-‐ The
financiering
of
big
dimension
projects
in
pharmacogenetics,
international
consortium
and
networks…
-‐ Trans-‐national
research:
hospitals
and
mixed
groups
including
laboratory
and
clinical
researchers.
-‐ Transfer
of
technology:
patents,
“firmas”…
But
the
thing
is
that
these
ambitious
objectives,
should
make
us
think
about
the
doctor-‐
patient
relation,
the
global
consideration
of
human
beings
and
the
view
of
patients
as
citizens
endowed
with
civil
rights,
about
the
ethical
principle
associated
with
the
manipulation
of
human
life
(the
artificial
production
of
life,
abortion,
euthanasia,
etc..
and
the
limits
and
regulations
through
legality
based
on
socio-‐cultural
values).
And
finally
we
should
also
worry
about
the
privatization
of
knowledge,
because
this
is
synonym
of
exclusion,
we
are
supposed
to
have
a
universal
right
to
health
and
it
isn’t
like
that:
we
are
controlled
by
the
market
principles
of
productivity.
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