Mykola Iabluchanskyi  and  Pavlo Garkaviy Abstract The classical cholesterol‑fed rabbit model described by Nikolai Anitschkow has long been interpreted primarily as an experiment in harmful dietary cholesterol. In this narrow reading, atherosclerosis appears mainly as the vascular consequence of excessive intake. A closer analysis, however, suggests a richer meaning. The model shows what happens when an organism is driven beyond the range in which lipid burden can still be processed, redistributed, and cleared without long‑lasting disturbance of internal regulation. In this sense, the Anitschkow rabbit is less a model of “bad diet” and more a model of disrupted lipid homeokinesis and progressive lipid accumulation with superimposed inflammation. This article argues that the true conceptual value of the model lies in its demonstration of a transition from externally imposed metabolic overload to an internally sustained atherogenic state. Reinterpreted in this way, the model ali...

The management of hypertension has been shaped by decades of evolving guidelines that progressively lower the threshold at which treatment of elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP) is recommended. While these changes are presented as advances in patient care and longevity, they raise a legitimate and underexplored question: do current guidelines genuinely reflect patient benefit, or do they partly reflect the commercial interests of an expanding antihypertensive drug market ? The trend toward stricter SBP thresholds is well documented. Over recent decades, the boundary defining hypertension has shifted downward considerably, enlarging the population eligible for pharmacological treatment. This shift coincides with a growing market for antihypertensive agents, and the convergence of clinical recommendation and commercial opportunity deserves honest scrutiny. The concern is not that treatment is ineffective, but that the threshold for when it becomes necessary may be set too low for man...