[Stress and adaptation in humans--aging, illness, psychosocial stress]

We conducted research to determine compounds in human urine which show high values in healthy individuals, decrease with failing health (or bodily decay), clearly decline with advancing illness and finally reach very low values during terminal and severe illness. We have initially established that 17-ketosteroid sulfates (17-KS-S) are the substances we were searching for. Hans Selye regarded stress as the rate of wear and tear and 17-OHCS (cortisol) as its indicator. He further considered that stress is distinct from aging: There is no difference in the stress of ordinary life between young and old people, and there is no difference in 17-OHCS levels between the two. Aging is, however, accompanied by decreased adaptability. In terms of adaptability, we consider that, different from inanimate objects, energy transforming live organisms exist in a dynamic balance between "wear and tear" and "repair and recovery". This shows the need to determine the organism's adaptability to at least these two factors. We regarded 17-OHCS as a compound related to tissue "wear and tear" and searched for a compound related to tissue "repair and recovery", leading us to an identification of 17-KS-S. In other words, we have been considering the relation between "repair and recovery" and "wear and tear". The measurement of 17-KS-S which decreases with failing health, when combined with 17-OHCS, may make it possible to evaluate distortion of adaptation in a Yin-Yang like fashion, which can demonstrate the presence of illness, susceptibility to illness and progress of disease in individuals. It further adds a new dimension to clinical diagnostic acumen in an objective evaluation of psychosocial stress where results of routine clinical tests are often within normal limits, thus facilitating the monitoring of health and illness.