Fractal physiology

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Fractal physiology refers to the study of physiological systems using complexity science methods, such as chaos measure, entropy, and fractal dimensions. The underlying assumption is that biological systems are complex and exhibit non-linear patterns of activity, and that characterizing that complexity (using dedicated mathematical approaches) is useful to understand, and make inferences and predictions about the system. [1]

Contents

Main Findings

Neurophysiology

Quantifications of the complexity of brain activity is used in the context of neuropsychiatric diseases and mental states characterization, such as schizophrenia, [2] affective disorders, [3] or neurodegenerative disorders. [4] Particularly, diminished EEG complexity is typically associated with increased symptomatology.

Cardiovascular systems

The complexity of Heart Rate Variability is a useful predictor of cardiovascular health. [5]

Software

In Python, NeuroKit provides a comprehensive set of functions for complexity analysis of physiological data. [6] [5] AntroPy implements several measures to quantify the complexity of time-series. [7]

In R, TSEntropies provides methods to quantify the entropy. [8] casnet implements a collection of analytic tools for studying signals recorded from complex adaptive systems. [9]

In MATLAB, The Neurophysiological Biomarker Toolbox (NBT) allows the computation of Detrended fluctuation analysis. EZ Entropy implements the entropy analysis of physiological time-series. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart rate variability</span> Variation in the time intervals between heartbeats

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marc Jeannerod</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roxindole</span> Dopaminergic & serotonergic drug developed for schizophrenia treatment

Roxindole (EMD-49,980) is a dopaminergic and serotonergic drug which was originally developed by Merck KGaA for the treatment of schizophrenia. In clinical trials its antipsychotic efficacy was only modest but it was unexpectedly found to produce potent and rapid antidepressant and anxiolytic effects. As a result, roxindole was further researched for the treatment of depression instead. It has also been investigated as a therapy for Parkinson's disease and prolactinoma.

EEG microstates are transient, patterned, quasi-stable states or patterns of an electroencephalogram. These tend to last anywhere from milliseconds to seconds and are hypothesized to be the most basic instantiations of human neurological tasks, and are thus nicknamed "the atoms of thought". Microstate estimation and analysis was originally done using alpha band activity, though broader bandwidth EEG bands are now typically used. The quasi-stability of microstates means that the "global [EEG] topography is fixed, but strength might vary and polarity invert."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resting state fMRI</span> Type of functional magnetic resonance imaging

Resting state fMRI is a method of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) that is used in brain mapping to evaluate regional interactions that occur in a resting or task-negative state, when an explicit task is not being performed. A number of resting-state brain networks have been identified, one of which is the default mode network. These brain networks are observed through changes in blood flow in the brain which creates what is referred to as a blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal that can be measured using fMRI.

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The Neurophysiological Biomarker Toolbox (NBT) is an open source MATLAB toolbox for the computation and integration of neurophysiological biomarkers. The NBT toolbox has so far been used in seven peer-reviewed research articles, and has a broad user base of more than 1000 users. The NBT toolbox provides unique features for analysis of resting-state EEG or MEG recordings. NBT offers a pipeline from data storage to statistics including artifact rejection, signal visualization, biomarker computation, statistical testing, and biomarker databasing. NBT allows for easy implementation of new biomarkers, and incorporates an online wiki that aims at facilitating collaboration among NBT users including extensive help and tutorials. The standardised way of data storage and analysis that NBT proposes allow different research projects to merge, compare, or share their data and biomarker algorithms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chung-Kang Peng</span>

Chung-Kang Peng is the Director of the Center for Dynamical Biomarkers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center / Harvard Medical School (BIDMC/HMS). Under his direction the Center for Dynamical Biomarkers researches fundamental theories and novel computational algorithms for characterizing physiological states in terms of their dynamical properties. He is also currently the K.-T. Li Visiting Chair Professor at National Central University (NCU), Visiting Chair Professor at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) in Taiwan, and Visiting Professor at China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences in China. During 2012–2014, he served as the founding Dean of the College of Health Sciences and Technology at NCU in Taiwan.

Ary Louis Goldberger is a physician-educator, whose collaborative research work is at the interface of biomedicine and complexity science. He holds a BA from Harvard College and an MD from Yale Medical School. He did his clinical training in internal medicine and cardiovascular disease at Yale–New Haven Hospital and at the University of California, San Diego, respectively. He currently serves as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and was one of the Core Founding Faculty (2010-2015) of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University.

Felix Tretter is an Austrian psychologist and psychiatrist. From 1992 to 2014 he was head of the addiction department of the Isar-Amper-Klinikum München-Ost, formerly known as Bezirkskrankenhaus Haar, Bavaria, Germany. His scientific work has emphasis on modelling of psychophysical scenarios in schizophrenia and addiction research with methods of systems science.

NeuroKit ("nk") is an open source toolbox for physiological signal processing. The most recent version, NeuroKit2, is written in Python and is available from the PyPI package repository. As of June 2022, the software was used in 94 scientific publications. NeuroKit2 is presented as one of the most popular and contributor-friendly open-source software for neurophysiology based on the number of downloads, the number of contributors, and other GitHub metrics.

References

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  4. Smits, Fenne Margreeth; Porcaro, Camillo; Cottone, Carlo; Cancelli, Andrea; Rossini, Paolo Maria; Tecchio, Franca (12 February 2016). "Electroencephalographic Fractal Dimension in Healthy Ageing and Alzheimer's Disease". PLOS ONE. 11 (2): e0149587. Bibcode:2016PLoSO..1149587S. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0149587 . PMC   4752290 . PMID   26872349.
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  7. Vallat, Raphael (22 March 2022). "raphaelvallat/antropy". github.com. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  8. Tomcala, Jiri (8 October 2018). "TSEntropies". CRAN. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  9. Hasselman, Fred (6 March 2022). "casnet". github.com. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
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