a review has concluded that the NHS has “either lost sight of the interests of all those it was set up to serve or does not know how best to do this”

An article posted on Linkedin on 8th July by Matt Discombe reported that a government review of the NHS had concluded that it “either lost sight of the interests of all those it was set up to serve or does not know how best to do this”

Healthcare is based upon an understanding of how the autonomic nervous system functions; in particular how changes to the function of the autonomic nervous system can be measured by a plethora of diagnostic and screening tests and how it can be treated, mainly using drugs however - and this might surprise you - there is not yet a clear understanding of how the body actually functions. To this end the European Commission to its great credit instigated a project known as the Human Brain Project at a cost of EUR1.2BN in order to try and understand (i) what the brain does and how it does it, (ii) to use this knowledge to create a new generation of cognitive, diagnostic technology, and (iii) to understand and adapt with therapeutic effect the multilevel nature of brain function. In other words how to screen and treat the patient using a precisely developed understanding of how the brain functions.

From this we can conclude that the most eminent neurologists recognise: the limitations of biomedicine, that the brain regulates the body’s function, that the cognitive approach can be used to screen and/or diagnose the patient in greater levels of sophistication than current diagnostic methods; and that knowledge of brain function can be applied with therapeutic effect.

 If we take some time to study 'the frontiers of science' we find that there is a great deal of neuromodulation research being conducted at the leading universities around the world, although mainly in the US, and that claims of breakthroughs are occurring almost every week e.g. how neuromodulation can be used to improve the health of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinsonism, Multiple Sclerosis, etc. Many of the largest healthcare companies have invested in Neuromodulation in particular in high-value and perceived high-profit applications e.g. J&J, Sanofi, GSK, etc.

In one case it is claimed by a private team – Mimex Montague Healthcare – that their Strannik technology is based upon a fundamental understanding, in the form of a mathematical model (i.e. a simulation) of the relationship between sense perception, brain function, the autonomic nervous system and physiological systems, and cellular and molecular biology; which can be used to screen (the Strannik Virtual Scanning technique) and treat (the Strannik Neuromodulation Therapy) the patient.

When we use the term ‘cellular and molecular biology’ we refer to the pathological changes which are more commonly defined by genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and phenomics; in other words how well the genes express particular proteins and how will the expressed protein(s) react with their reactive substrates; but this completely ignores the fundamental role of the brain which is to regulate the autonomic nervous system and the coherent function of the networks of organs which we know as the ‘physiological systems’.

If we consider only the changes of molecular biology then it is clear how and why the drug-based approach prevails - 'if you are infected by a bacterial infection an antibiotic may often be the recommended treatment' - however if you consider that medical conditions arise as a result of stress, which is experienced through the sensori-neural channels, then it becomes clear that drugs are acting upon the pathological and/or symptomatic manifestations and not upon the fundamental neurological causal mechanisms i.e. it is necessary to understand how the brain processes the flow of sensory, biological and genetic data in order to minimise the onset and progression of the pathological manifestations/symptoms.

There is continued focus upon ‘data is king’ by healthcare researchers i.e. to use data using Artificial Intelligence to better process the existing biological data sets; however the body is fundamentally a data processing entity. This raises several particular issues: firstly whether the flow of cognitive data could be measured and used as the basis of a diagnostic screening modality. Those working in the Human Brain Project clearly think so. Those working in Mimex Montague Healthcare are convinced that this is the case. There have been numerous clinical studies conducted to date which illustrate that their Strannik technique works extremely effectively as both a screening and therapeutic modality - and not just for a single condition ..... for a wide spectrum of conditions. Moreover, and irrespective of the merits of the two approaches, compare the costs of the two approaches: the cognitive approach can screen the entire health of the patient for ca ￡60-80 per test whereas the complex genomics-based approach is currently ca ￡500-1000 per test. In times of economic stress - take the current CoVid-19 context as an example - it presents a way of suppressing the cost of healthcare whilst improving therapeutic outcomes.

This clash of cultures – between neurology and biology – leads to  ‘paradigm paralysis’, a failure to understand how such knowledge can be used to prevent pathological onset i.e. to anticipate and plan for the provision of care and how to better define patients for treatment e.g. to understand which patients could be at risk of fractures, to reduce the incidence of fractures and hence the bed occupancy of such patients following surgery, to enhance the rate of recovery following surgery, etc. Researchers hammer away convinced that for example everything about the body's function can be explained by understanding its genome. I have news for them - it cannot, and for two very good scientific reasons (i) the stress response is largely independent of the genome and (ii) the genome is influenced by stress.

The structure of medical research, supported by the research community is based upon the premise that everything can be explained by understanding the relationship between ‘OMICS’ techniques and research however to do so it must take into account how the brain acts yet there is no fundamental consideration of what the brain does - where is the study of brain-OMICS? - and how it does it. It functions as a regulator of the autonomic nervous system and Physiological Systems. Moreover as long as this is the accepted research philosophy or paradigm ‘precision medicine’ remains a pipe-dream; so too ‘preventative medicine’. 

AI is now being used to advance the biomedical paradigm rather than considering the fundamental relationship between the neurosensory channels, brain function, the autonomic nervous system and physiological systems, and cellular and molecular biology i.e. the OMICS consequences. It is difficult to see how this complexity of research programmes – which reflects the research being carried out throughout the UK – will address the fundamental issues outlined in the aforementioned government approach. There is no consideration of a preventative approach or of dealing with the causal mechanisms, or understanding the relationship between neurology and cellular & molecular biology i.e. biomedicine. There is only the standard diagnostic test/device and drug-based approach which remains, at best, around 50% effective. I concur with the conclusions of this report i.e. The NHS has “either lost sight of the interests of all those it was set up to serve or does not know how best to do this”.

References

Ewing GW, Parvez SH. The Multisystemic Origins of Alzheimer’s Disease. J Aging Sci. 2020;8:226. doi:10.35248/2329-8847.20.08.226.

 Ewing GW. Using Artificial Intelligence to Simulate Brain Function, Enhance the Etiology of Diabetes and Cancer, and more Precisely, Effectively and Remotely Screen and Treat the Patient. Journal of Diabetes and its Complications 2020;4(2):1-8.

Ewing GW. The Neurological, Multisystemic, PolyGenomic and Multipathological Basis of Aging (the ‘Autonomic’ Hypothesis). J.Neurol.Neurobiol. 2020;6(2): dx.doi.org/10.16966/2379-7150.164.

Ewing GW, Parvez SH. Diabetes is a Complex Neurological, Multisystemic, Multipathological and Polygenomic disorder : Use of Strannik Software as an Effective Modality to Illustrate its Complexity. J. Neurol. Psychol. 2019;7(1):14.

 Ewing GW. How Disruptive Solutions Could Improve the Prevailing Healthcare Paradigm. A Novel Perspective Regarding the Treatment of Mental Health Conditions: the Strannik Mathematical Model. J.Clin.Cases Rep. 2019;3(3):89-114.

(https://www.tridhascholars.org/pdfs/how-disruptive-solutions-could-improve-the-prevailing-healthcare-paradigm-a-novel-perspective-the-treatment-of-mental-the-strannik-mathematical-model-health-conditions-joccr-3-1068.pdf)

Ewing GW. Is Metformin a Drug or a Buffer and Why is this Significant? Further evidence that the brain Regulates the Autonomic Nervous System, in particular prevailing levels of Intercellular pH. Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Journal 2018;2(4):1-9. 

 Ewing GW. The Field of Medicine has its Knickers in a Twist. Biomedical Research Journal 2018;2(2):37-39.

Ewing GW. A Different Perspective on Diabetes & Obesity – what it is and how it can be measured. Case Reports in Clinical Medicine 2018;7(4):269-287  doi 10.4236/crcm.2018.74025.

Ewing GW. The Interpretation of Genetic Data - Considering the Effect of Changes to Gene Conformation -- If the facts don’t support the theory, change the theory – how does this contribute to understanding Diabetes? J.Genet. Disor. Genet. Rep. 2017;6(4):1-4  doi: 10.4172/2327-5790.1000164.

Ewing GW, Grakov IG, Mohanlall R, Adams JK. A Clinical Study Report and Evaluation of the Ability of Strannik Virtual Scanning to Screen the Health of a Randomly Selected Cohort of 50 Patients. J. Neurophysiol. Neurol. Disord. 2017;4:1-12. DOI:10.17303/jnnd.2017.4.101.

 Ewing GW. Advancing the Biomedical Paradigm. Insights in Biomedicine. 2017;1:5.              

Ewing GW. The Limitations of Big Data. The Limitations of Big Data in Healthcare. MOJ Proteomics Bioinform. 2017;5(2): 00152. DOI: 10.15406/mojpb.2017.05.00152.

Ewing GW. The Future of Medicine: Biomedicine or Neuroscience? Insights in Biomedicine 2016;1(2):14-17.

Ewing GW. Your Health: analogue or digital? Journal of Digital Medicine 2016;3(2):93-96.

Ewing G. What is the function of the Brain? What does it do and how does it do it? It functions as a Neuroregulator, which continuously regulates the Autonomic Nervous System and Physiological Systems, and enables us to Recognise that Sleep Exhibits the Characteristics of a Neurally Regulated Physiological System. J Neurol Psychol. 2016; 4(2):9.

Ewing GW. Further Perspectives on Diabetes: Neuroregulation of Blood Glucose. Neuroscience and Bio-medical Engineering (NBE) 2016;4(2):75-83.

Ewing GW, Duran JC (2016) A Report of the Ability of Strannik Virtual Scanning to Screen the Health of a Randomly Selected Cohort of Patients. Enliven: Neurol Neurotech 2016;2(1):001.

Ewing GW. Back to Basics: Limitations of Research influencing the Human Brain Project. Comput Sci Syst Biol 2015;8:6:322-326    https://dx.doi.org/10.4172/jcsb.1000206.

Ewing GW, Grakov IG (2015). A Comparison of the Aims and Objectives of the Human Brain Project with Grakov’s Mathematical Model of the Autonomic Nervous System (Strannik Technology). Enliven: Neurol Neurotech 2015;1(1): 002.

Ewing GW. Case Study: the Determination a Complex Multi-Systemic Medical Condition by a Cognitive, Virtual Scanning Technique. Case Reports in Clinical Medicine 2015;4(6):209-221.

Ewing GW. A Framework for a Mathematical Model of the Autonomic Nervous System and Physiological Systems using the NeuroRegulation of Blood Glucose as an Example. J. Comput. Sci. Syst. Biol. 2015; 8(2): 59-73. https://dx.doi.org/10.4172/jcsb.1000172.

Ewing GW. Virtual Scanning: a New Medical Paradigm? Journal of Computer Science and Systems Biology 2013;6:93-98. 

Ewing GW. The ‘Biology of Systems’ or the ‘Systems of Biology’: Looking at Diabetes from the Systemic Perspective. International Journal of Systems Biology 2013;4(1):45-56.

Ewing GW. A Comparison of the Diagnostic Scope of Biomarker techniques, Genetic Screening and Virtual Scanning. Immunology, Endocrine & Metabolic Agents in Medicinal Chemistry 2013; 13(1):35-45(11).

Ewing GW, Grakov IG. Fashion or Science? How can orthodox biomedicine explain the body’s function and regulation? N.Am.J.Med.Sci. 2012;4(2):57-61.

Ewing GW. The Regulation of pH is a Physiological System. Increased Acidity alters Protein Conformation and Cell Morphology and is a Significant Factor in the onset of Diabetes and other common pathologies. The Open Systems Biology Journal 2012;5:1-12.

Ewing GW, Parvez SH. The Multi-systemic Nature of Diabetes Mellitus: genotype or phenotype? N.Am.J.Med.Sci 2010;2(10):444-456.