CHAOS – A NEW SCIENCE
Posted by bmhegde on 1
Whereas all the theories in biology emphasized study states and equilibrium the new theory of Chaos deals with non-linearity, complexity, randomness, the theory began some times in early 1970’s. Mathematician, physician, biologists and chemists where the ones interested in the beginning but this is the theory applies 100% to human body. It is now placed in the same category as quantum physics. This new theory came up because of the realization by narrowly specialised scientists but few it impossible to predict the future accurately in any dynamic system.
We doctors’ deals with one of the most complicated organism, man himself. Therefore, a understanding of chaos theory is an essential for all doctors.
All through the areas biology has been using linear relationship in predicting the future. We have been predicting the un-predictable. Yet, prediction is difficult. The new science of chaos, completely based on non-linearity as shown that predictability is only an exception rather than rule even in simple physical system.
To answer question like “who will get a heart attack?” And, “how long before HIV positive patient develops aids?” Need be answered and could be answered using the non-linear mathematics. Non-linear systems can seek out and maintain essentially a optimum state in response to wide variability of external conditions. “It is precisely this feature that give us individuality and contnuity”1
In fact there are indication that the normal heartbeat is irregular, indeed chaotic. It could easily be kicked from the normal state by electric current or other shock into a state of cardiac arrest with luck and skill. We may be able to kick it back again. Similarly health is an chaotic fluctuating attracts which, co-existence a long side with the fixed attraction called “death” in a multidimensional phase, space which we cannot try to measure. Illness in some measured is in between these two attractions. This is precisely the reason why doctors’ are not able to predict, based on the multitude of epidemiological studies, are not cable of predicting where a given patient dies of cancer, heart attach or what have you. More in sights into this new theory should give us more important clues as of how living organism like man, can maintain themselves in the ocean of so called risk around us - and indeed might even give us clue as of how man avert on this planet in the first place.
To sum up, vary many systems, when viewed in isolation, will have an intrinsically unpredictable behaviour; but when looked at as a whole might give us a broader view to get some more predictive hour of the future. Most system are another dependent, called mode-locking. In the human body the two systems locked to one another are breathing and heart rhythm. 2
Many other areas could be studied epidemics and chickenpox and measles the patterned of water dripping from tap, blood sugar fluctuations , moved fluctuations, Ovulation cycles , Neuronal discharges, and the study of Cardiac arrhydhmias could be the most profitable areas in non-linear analysis.
As of now our knowledge of many diseased and their therapy in biology are largely empirical based on educated guests under large dose of luck. Descriptive classification of all kinds of arrydhmias and their treatment - drug as well as cardio version is again based on luck. Applying non-linear equation to define a particular arrydhmias could give us a much better insight into its treatment. We can even calculate the exact dose of electric current needed to bring arrydhmia to back to its healthy state. 3
To the best of my knowledge the group of workers, whose papers appears on page ………….. of this issue of journal have been studying non-linearity and mode-locking in heart rate variability (HRV) for a number of areas. They have gone a step further compare to other workers in the field, in that they have discovered a new computer graphic model of the physiology or otherwise of the heart’s function, based on HRV: non-linearity of the conventional linear measures of the surface ECG like ST segment etc. have been fine tuned by this group using a complicated mathematical process – Wavelet analysis quotient.
This may be the beginning of a new era of understanding the complicated either to understood facet of human physiology.
Bibiliography:
01. Firth WJ Chaos BMJ 1991: 303 :1565 – 1568
02. Wagner CD, Nufz-B, Persson Pb – chaos in blood pressure control – Cardiovasc. Res. 1996; 31: 380-7.
03. Gleik J Chaos – Making a new science book Cardinal, “London, 1987”