Medical cybernetics

Medical cybernetics is a branch of cybernetics which has been heavily affected by the development of the computer, ^[1] which applies the concepts of cybernetics to medical research and practice. At the intersection of systems biology, systems medicine and clinical applications it covers an emerging working program for the application of systems- and communication theory, connectionism and decision theory on biomedical research and health related questions.

Overview

Medical cybernetics searches for quantitative descriptions of biological dynamics. ^[2] It investigates intercausal networks in human biology, medical decision making and information processing structures in the living organism.

Approaches of medical cybernetics include:

• Systems theory in medical sciences: The scope of systems theory in the medical sciences is searching for and modelling of physiological dynamics in the intact and diseased organism. ^{[3] [4] [5]} Its aim is to arrive at deeper insights into the organizational principles of life and its perturbations. ^{[2] [6] [7]} Based on cybernetic models, improved diagnostical strategies ^{[8] [9] [10]} and methods for personalised therapy of chronic diseases have been developed. ^{[11] [12] [8] [13] [14] [15]} With focus on medical application this field is also referred to as systems medicine. ^[16]
• Medical information and communication theory: Motivated by the awareness of information being an essential principle of life, the application of communication theory to biomedicine aims at a mathematical description of signalling processes and information storage in different physiological layers. ^[2] This attempt also includes theories on the information theory of the genetic code. ^{[17] [18] [19] [20] [21]}
• Connectionism: Connectionistic models describe information processing in neural networks – thus forming a bridge between biological and technological research. ^[2]
• Medical decision theory (MDT): The Goal of MDT is to gather evidence based foundations for decision making in the clinical setting. ^[2]

See also

Related fields Biocybernetics Complex systems Cybernetics Systems theory Prosthetics Systems biology Systems medicine

Related scientists Uri Alon William Ross Ashby Claude Bernard Valentin Braitenberg Walter Cannon Stephen Grossberg Humberto Maturana Warren McCulloch

Related scientists Walter Pitts Arturo Rosenblueth Robert Trappl Felix Tretter Francisco Varela Frederic Vester Kevin Warwick Paul Watzlawick

• List of biomedical cybernetics software
• List of medical cybernetics schools, Colleges and Universities

References

1. Brian H. Rudall (2000). "Cybernetics and systems in the 1980s". In: Kybernetes. Vol 29. Issue 5/6 p.595-611.
2. J.W. Dietrich (2004), Medical Cybernetics – A Definition, Medizinische Kybernetik, 2004. Released under creative commons 2.0 attribution licence.
3. Fricke, O; Lehmkuhl, G; Schoenau, E (April 2006). "The principle of regulation in biology--from bone to eating behavior". Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology & Diabetes. 114 (4): 197–203. doi:10.1055/s-2006-924068. PMID   16705553.
4. Fricke, O; Lehmkuhl, G; Pfaff, DW (February 2006). "Cybernetic principles in the systematic concept of hypothalamic feeding control". European Journal of Endocrinology. 154 (2): 167–73. doi:10.1530/eje.1.02081. PMID   16452529.
5. Midgley, JE; Hoermann, R; Larisch, R; Dietrich, JW (April 2013). "Physiological states and functional relation between thyrotropin and free thyroxine in thyroid health and disease: in vivo and in silico data suggest a hierarchical model". Journal of Clinical Pathology. 66 (4): 335–42. doi:10.1136/jclinpath-2012-201213. PMID   23423518.
6. Tretter, F; Wolkenhauer, O; Meyer-Hermann, M; Dietrich, JW; Green, S; Marcum, J; Weckwerth, W (2021). "The Quest for System-Theoretical Medicine in the COVID-19 Era". Frontiers in Medicine. 8: 640974. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.640974 . PMC   8039135 . PMID   33855036.
7. Hoermann, R; Midgley, JEM; Larisch, R; Dietrich, JW (2017). "Recent Advances in Thyroid Hormone Regulation: Toward a New Paradigm for Optimal Diagnosis and Treatment". Frontiers in Endocrinology. 8: 364. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2017.00364 . PMC   5763098 . PMID   29375474.
8. Dietrich, JW; Landgrafe-Mende, G; Wiora, E; Chatzitomaris, A; Klein, HH; Midgley, JE; Hoermann, R (2016). "Calculated Parameters of Thyroid Homeostasis: Emerging Tools for Differential Diagnosis and Clinical Research". Frontiers in Endocrinology. 7: 57. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2016.00057 . PMC   4899439 . PMID   27375554.
9. Dietrich, JW; Dasgupta, R; Anoop, S; Jebasingh, F; Kurian, ME; Inbakumari, M; Boehm, BO; Thomas, N (21 October 2022). "SPINA Carb: a simple mathematical model supporting fast in-vivo estimation of insulin sensitivity and beta cell function". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 17659. Bibcode:2022NatSR..1217659D. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-22531-3. PMC   9587026 . PMID   36271244.
10. Dietrich, JW; Abood, A; Dasgupta, R; Anoop, S; Jebasingh, FK; Spurgeon, R; Thomas, N; Boehm, BO (September 2024). "A novel simple disposition index (SPINA-DI) from fasting insulin and glucose concentration as a robust measure of carbohydrate homeostasis". Journal of Diabetes. 16 (9): e13525. doi:10.1111/1753-0407.13525. PMC   11418405 . PMID   38169110.
11. Goede, SL; Leow, MK; Smit, JW; Dietrich, JW (March 2014). "A novel minimal mathematical model of the hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid axis validated for individualized clinical applications". Mathematical Biosciences. 249: 1–7. doi:10.1016/j.mbs.2014.01.001. PMID   24480737.
12. Goede, SL; Leow, MK; Smit, JW; Klein, HH; Dietrich, JW (June 2014). "Hypothalamus-pituitary-thyroid feedback control: implications of mathematical modeling and consequences for thyrotropin (TSH) and free thyroxine (FT4) reference ranges". Bulletin of Mathematical Biology. 76 (6): 1270–87. doi:10.1007/s11538-014-9955-5. PMID   24789568.
13. Li, E; Yen, PM; Dietrich, JW; Leow, MK (May 2021). "Profiling retrospective thyroid function data in complete thyroidectomy patients to investigate the HPT axis set point (PREDICT-IT)". Journal of Endocrinological Investigation. 44 (5): 969–977. doi:10.1007/s40618-020-01390-7. PMID   32808162.
14. Wolff, TM; Dietrich, JW; Müller, MA (2022). "Optimal Hormone Replacement Therapy in Hypothyroidism - A Model Predictive Control Approach". Frontiers in Endocrinology. 13: 884018. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2022.884018 . PMC   9263720 . PMID   35813623.
15. Dietrich, Johannes W. (2024). "P4-Endokrinologie – Kybernetische Perspektiven eines neuen Ansatzes" (PDF). Leibniz Online (in German). 54. doi:10.53201/LEIBNIZONLINE54.
16. Alon, Uri (2024). Systems medicine: physiological circuits and the dynamics of disease (First ed.). Boca Rato London New York: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN   9781032411859.
17. Tsukamoto, Y (21 June 1979). "An information theory of the genetic code". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 78 (4): 451–98. Bibcode:1979JThBi..78..451T. doi:10.1016/0022-5193(79)90187-5. PMID   513794.
18. Figureau, A (1987). "Information theory and the genetic code". Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres. 17 (3–4): 439–49. Bibcode:1987OrLi...17..439F. doi:10.1007/BF02386481. PMID   3627775. S2CID   25129093.
19. Battail, Gérard (2007). "Information Theory and Error-Correcting Codes In Genetics and Biological Evolution". Introduction to Biosemiotics: 299–345. doi:10.1007/1-4020-4814-9_13. ISBN   978-1-4020-4813-5.
20. Kuruoglu, EE; Arndt, PF (21 April 2017). "The information capacity of the genetic code: Is the natural code optimal?". Journal of Theoretical Biology. 419: 227–237. Bibcode:2017JThBi.419..227K. doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2017.01.046. hdl: 21.11116/0000-0000-7D7E-8 . PMID   28163008.
21. Ramakrishnan, Nithya; Bose, R. (20 August 2012). "Dipole entropy based techniques for segmentation of introns and exons in DNA". Applied Physics Letters. 101 (8): 083701. Bibcode:2012ApPhL.101h3701R. doi:10.1063/1.4747205.

Further reading

• V.V. Parin (1959), "Introduction to medical Cybernetics" in NASA Technical Translation no.F-459-F-462, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1959.
• C.A. Muses (1965). "Aspects of some crucial problems in biological and medical cybernetics". In: Progress in biocybernetics, 1965.

External links

• Institute for Medical Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, Medical University Vienna, Austria
• Medical Cybernetics in the Open Encyclopedia Project
• Portal Server Medizinische Kybernetik | Medical Cybernetics
• UCLA Biocybernetics Laboratory, Los Angeles, Ca, USA