The recent article:
‘Cancer as a dynamical phase transition’ by Davies, Demetrius, and Tuszynski published in Theoretical Biology and Medical
Modelling is an excellent example of such
research. In their conclusions the authors write: “This new perspective points
up certain features that are often ignored in therapeutic approaches. In terms
of therapeutic insights that may be gained from the application of the concept
of a phase transition, the long-range correlation effect, which is a
characteristic property of systems undergoing phase ...

Read more]]> Without a theoretical basis
experimentalists are wandering around blindly in the dark. Unfortunately, this
is often the situation in the medical sciences. That is why interdisciplinary research is so important.

The recent article:
‘Cancer as a dynamical phase transition’ by Davies, Demetrius, and Tuszynski published in Theoretical Biology and Medical
Modelling is an excellent example of such
research. In their conclusions the authors write: “This new perspective points
up certain features that are often ignored in therapeutic approaches. In terms
of therapeutic insights that may be gained from the application of the concept
of a phase transition, the long-range correlation effect, which is a
characteristic property of systems undergoing phase transitions suggests that a
truly successful therapy would require a global change of conditions
disfavoring the cancer phenotype and not simply a local excision or destruction
of cancer cells in their micro-environment. The thermodynamic model of cancer
developed in this paper suggests a shift in therapeutic strategy away from
radiation and chemotherapy towards novel types of interventions that still need
to be identified and tested.”

We fully agree with the authors that
“application [of the idea of phase transitions] to the initiation and
progression of cancer at a cellular level is novel, and offers a promising
approach to the understanding, prevention and control of cancer.” While
undergoing a phase transition properties of the system change, not just
nonlinearly, but they ‘jump’ in a non-continuous way. Discussing the properties
of cancer cells from a perspective based on an analogy with phase transitions
in physical systems is really inspiring.

If a subject even has an initial
slight preference towards a given object then these
simulations demonstrate that, if
information passed on by a direct or indirect object’s exposition (presentation
of the object) exerts a favorable impact on the subject, it is enough ...

Read more]]> The Game of Choosing – models and software developed to simulate
selection or election processes – has a broad spectrum of applications to both biomedical systems and socio-economical
systems; analogous to econophysics it may be called econobiophysics (Klonowski W, Pierzchalski M, Stepien P,
and Stepien RA: Econobiophysics – game of choosing. Model of selection or
election process with diverse accessible information. Nonlinear Biomedical Physics 2011, 5:7).

If a subject even has an initial
slight preference towards a given object then these
simulations demonstrate that, if
information passed on by a direct or indirect object’s exposition (presentation
of the object) exerts a favorable impact on the subject, it is enough to repeat
the exposition again and again to cause the subject’s choice of this object, e.g.,
mating partner, car model, Member of Parliament etc. If information about the
object passed on by an exposition exerts an adverse impact then the subject
will not choose this object. Initial preferences may be reversed if the impact
of subsequent expositions changes due to influences of the environment.

The Game of Choosing may influence current paradigms in neuromarketing (Sanfley AG et al.: The neural basis of economic
decision – making in the ultimatum game. Science
2003, 300, 1755-1758) and in behavioral
economics (Camerer CF, Loewenstein G, Rabin M (Eds.): Advances in Behavioral
Economics, Princeton
University Press, 2005) like nonlinear dynamics
and chaos theory changed the paradigms of classical physics.

The fractal method of analysis and
assessment of histological images (W.Klonowski, R.Stepien, and 
P.Stepien, 2010) can play a very important role in the future
diagnostic practice. It may be important also in robotic surgery.

Histological images from the border
area of the tumor must be now evaluated by an anatomo-pathologist. However, it
is very likely that when the automatic analysis achieves more accuracy,
the human role in the tissue sample evaluation will become limited. The doctor
will always supervise and control the robot surgery and the histological  diagnosis, but the automatic assessment can
be more accurate and objective.

Read more]]>

The fractal method of analysis and
assessment of histological images (W.Klonowski, R.Stepien, and 
P.Stepien, 2010) can play a very important role in the future
diagnostic practice. It may be important also in robotic surgery.

Histological images from the border
area of the tumor must be now evaluated by an anatomo-pathologist. However, it
is very likely that when the automatic analysis achieves more accuracy,
the human role in the tissue sample evaluation will become limited. The doctor
will always supervise and control the robot surgery and the histological  diagnosis, but the automatic assessment can
be more accurate and objective.

Contours
of a benign mass (a.) and of a malignant breast tumor (b.)

their ‘signatures’
(c. and  d.) and the signatures’
Higuchi’s fractal dimension, D_f  (e. and 
f.).

‘Signature’ of a malignant tumor (f.) shows lower value of D_f  than that of a benign mass (e.).

  W. Klonowski (2004) 
put forward the hypothesis that important difference between feelings (emotional processes) and thoughts (rational processes) is in the
characteristic time scales of those two kinds of brain processes and that this
may be modeled using methods of nonlinear 
dynamics. Like any complex dynamical system human brain is characterized
in any moment by momentary values of its state variables and so the brain state
may be characterized by a point in a multi-dimensional phase space with
appropriately defined coordinates. Then psycho-physiological processes in the
brain may be represented by some trajectories in this space. Since psychophysical
processes occurring in the brain continuously change brain’s phase space, rational
processes that are much ...

Read more]]>

  W. Klonowski (2004) 
put forward the hypothesis that important difference between feelings (emotional processes) and thoughts (rational processes) is in the
characteristic time scales of those two kinds of brain processes and that this
may be modeled using methods of nonlinear 
dynamics. Like any complex dynamical system human brain is characterized
in any moment by momentary values of its state variables and so the brain state
may be characterized by a point in a multi-dimensional phase space with
appropriately defined coordinates. Then psycho-physiological processes in the
brain may be represented by some trajectories in this space. Since psychophysical
processes occurring in the brain continuously change brain’s phase space, rational
processes that are much slower than emotional processes take place in the phase
space that in the meantime was modified by emotional processes.

      To
analyze influence of differences in time-scales both rational and emotional
processes were modeled on a two-dimensional lattice and on extremely simplified
two-dimensional phase space of the brain. When a stimulus changes emotional
state then after a sufficiently long time the state of consciousness may
eventually also be changed – the subject becomes alerted (aware of the feeling). For example,
falling in love does happen as quickly as an involuntary reflex of hand withdrawal when one
touches a very hot surface – only after a while one becomes aware that the
touched surface was really hot; similarly, what does reach the consciousness is
not the emotion of falling in love but awareness of this emotion (W. Klonowski,
2009).

      By
reviewing  across a wide range of brain
research that used fMRI a team of scientists lead by Stephanie Ortigue (2010)
recently revealed that falling in love really takes only about a fifth of a
second and that it can elicit not only the same euphoric feeling as using
cocaine, but also affects intellectual areas of the brain. When a person falls
in love, 12 areas of the brain work in tandem to release euphoria-inducing chemicals
such as dopamine, oxytocine, adrenaline vasopressine, and  nerve growth factor (NGF). These results do confirm
that popular saying about lovers ‘there is a chemistry between
them’ does have a scientific basis and that long-lasting love differs a lot
from falling in love. The study also demonstrates that different types of love
involve distinct cerebral networks – passionate love is sparked by the reward
part of the brain and also associative cognitive brain areas,  while unconditional love, such as that between
a mother and a child, is sparked by the common and different brain areas,
including the middle of the brain. These results also help in understanding
while when love doesn’t work out, it can be a significant cause of emotional
stress and depression. By identifying the parts of the brain stimulated by
love, doctors and therapists can better understand the pains of love-sick
patients. Ortigue’s follow-up study about the speed of love in the human brain is
expected to be released soon. 

Wlodzimierz Klonowski

Founding Editor Nonlinear Biomedical Physics

Welcome to the Nonlinear Biomedical Physics blog. We hope this site will become the forum for demonstrating how nonlinear methods can shed new light on biological phenomena and medical applications. The blog is also intended to bridge the technical, mathematical and cultural divides between the physical disciplines where these methods are being developed and the audience for their use in the biological and medical sciences.

We welcome short pieces on interesting topics such as recent research papers, new methodologies, policy directions, funding opportunities and upcoming meetings. Blogs on all aspects of nonlinearity in medical and biological sciences are welcome. Bloggers for this site come from a wide range of backgrounds, like physics and biomedical engineering as well as medicine ...

Read more]]>  

Welcome to the Nonlinear Biomedical Physics blog. We hope this site will become the forum for demonstrating how nonlinear methods can shed new light on biological phenomena and medical applications. The blog is also intended to bridge the technical, mathematical and cultural divides between the physical disciplines where these methods are being developed and the audience for their use in the biological and medical sciences.

We welcome short pieces on interesting topics such as recent research papers, new methodologies, policy directions, funding opportunities and upcoming meetings. Blogs on all aspects of nonlinearity in medical and biological sciences are welcome. Bloggers for this site come from a wide range of backgrounds, like physics and biomedical engineering as well as medicine and biology.  You are encouraged to post comments or continue discussions through the site, enabling the free and rapid flow of information, thereby promoting debate.

If you are interested in writing the occasional piece for our blog, or would like more information, please contact us.

We look forward to reading your contributions!

Wlodzimierz Klonowski: Why Nonlinear Biomedical Physics?