Recognition of a given symptom, sign, or abnormal laboratory finding represents the start of a long, often tortuous path. The trail soon broadens, as combinations of findings coalesce into syndromes. Blind alleys, thick forests, and divergent roads beguile and confuse the traveler. One may stumble onto the main route by application of rational, physiologic patterns of thought. Charting a discrete map to finite understanding and effective therapy is dependent upon delineation of underlying cellular mechanisms.
Similar parables have often been utilized to indicate the applicability and essentiality of studies of cellular and intercellular processes in relation to human physiology and disease.