Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B J West.
Using the wavelet mapping of sleep spindles we investigated influence of focal epilepsy on spindle generation. We found that the maximum of sleep spindle intensity is usually localized away from the epileptic focus. We discuss the possibility of the application of wavelet mapping for localization of epileptic foci prior to epileptic neurosurgery.
We address the problem of the dynamical foundation of noncanonical equilibrium. We consider, as a source of divergence from ordinary statistical mechanics, the breakdown of the condition of time scale separation between microscopic and macroscopic dynamics. We show that this breakdown has the effect of producing a significant deviation from the canonical prescription. We also show that, while the canonical equilibrium can be reached with no apparent dependence on dynamics, the specific form of noncanonical equilibrium is, in fact, determined by dynamics. We consider the special case where the thermal reservoir driving the system of interest to equilibrium is a generator of intermittent fluctuations. We assess the form of the noncanonical equilibrium reached by the system in this case. Using both theoretical and numerical arguments we demonstrate that Lévy statistics are the best description of the dynamics and that the Lévy distribution is the correct basin of attraction. We also show that the correct path to noncanonical equilibrium by means of strictly thermodynamic arguments has not yet been found, and that further research has to be done to establish a connection between dynamics and thermodynamics.
Herein we introduce a technique for determining the fractal dimension of time series obtained from complex systems, in particular brain-wave data in which the fractal dimension is arguably a measure of awareness and learning. The technique is based on determining the probability distribution for the degree of irregularity in random time series and has been shown to be superior in terms of efficiency and reliability to more commonly used methods that rely on the correlation function. We speculate that the scaling behavior of the probability measure is an indicator of an allometric relation between learning and brain-wave activity.
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Human heart rate, controlled by complex feedback mechanisms, is a vital index of systematic circulation. However, it has been shown that beat-to-beat values of heart rate fluctuate continually over a wide range of time scales. Herein we use the relative dispersion, the ratio of the standard deviation to the mean, to show, by systematically aggregating the data, that the correlation in the beat-to-beat cardiac time series is a modulated inverse power law. This scaling property indicates the existence of long-time memory in the underlying cardiac control process and supports the conclusion that heart rate variability is a temporal fractal. We argue that the cardiac control system has allometric properties that enable it to respond to a dynamical environment through scaling.
A fractal renewal point process (FRPP) is used to model molecular evolution in agreement with the relationship between the variance and the mean numbers of nonsynonymous and synonymous substitutions in mammals. Like other episodic models such as the doubly stochastic Poisson process, this model accounts for the large variances observed in amino acid substitution rates, but unlike certain other episodic models, it also accounts for the increase in the index of dispersion with the mean number of substitutions in Ohta's (1995) data. We find that this correlation is significant for nonsynonymous substitutions at the 1% level and for synonymous substitutions at the 10% level, even after removing lineage effects and when using Bulmer's (1989) unbiased estimator of the index of dispersion. This model is simpler than most other overdispersed models of evolution in the sense that it is fully specified by a single interevent probability distribution. Interpretations in terms of chaotic dynamics and in terms of chance and selection are discussed.
The fractal doubly stochastic Poisson process (FDSPP) model of molecular evolution, like other doubly stochastic Poisson models, agrees with the high estimates for the index of dispersion found from sequence comparisons. Unlike certain previous models, the FDSPP also predicts a positive geometric correlation between the index of dispersion and the mean number of substitutions. Such a relationship is statistically proven herein using comparisons between 49 mammalian genes. There is no characteristic rate associated with molecular evolution according to this model, but there is a scaling relationship in rates according to a fractal dimension of evolution. The FDSPP is a suitable replacement for the homogeneous Poisson process in tests of the lineage dependence of rates and in estimating confidence intervals for divergence times. As opposed to other fractal models, this model can be interpreted in terms of Darwinian selection and drift.
Following wide consultation in 1991 on how to meet the requirement for out-of-hours emergency service provision, Kent Family Health Services Authority established three emergency dental clinics. The sites chosen were in or adjacent to District General Hospital Accident and Emergency Departments. Local dentists were contracted to provide a service each evening and also weekend and bank holiday mornings. Activity is reported for the three and a quarter year period from October 1991 to December 1994 with 300 dentists operating a rota to attend the clinics to provide 'occasional treatment' for all-comers. Drugs, if required, are dispensed directly and, where appropriate, NHS charges levied. On average, each operator works once every 3 months.
The tendency for surgery and associated nursing care to become short-stay is driven by so many considerations (of both dubious and desirable kinds) that it may be useful to attempt a little stock-taking on previous patterns of day operating and, by consulting a crystal ball, to consider possible implications for nursing and patient aftercare.
Over the last decade the trend in surgical nursing has been towards more involvement of the patient in care and decision-making. The ideology of the nursing process can enable the family and the patient to become involved and to exercise individual rights. Within the framework of the nursing process the nurse has been encouraged to perceive and relate to patients in terms of their common and particular personal needs. Furthermore, the patient has a right to contribute to the decision-making process. From the patient's perspective this has been a welcomed change. In recent years patients' rights movements and the development of patients' charters within hospitals and health authorities have been focal. From the nurses' perspective this means that the patient has a right to challenge decisions and treatment. This in turn may lead to nurses' examining and questioning standards of care and professional accountability.
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The mammalian lung exhibits features of a fractal tree: heterogeneity, self-similarity and the absence of a characteristic scale. The finite nature of the lung ultimately limits the range over which self-similarity scaling characteristics are applicable. However, generalization based on the scaling features of fractals, provides unique insight into geometric organization of anatomic structures. Furthermore, the mathematical theory of renormalization groups provides a description of the harmonically-modulated inverse power-law scaling observed for bronchial tree dimensions observed in different species. Compared to several mammalian species (dog, rat, hamster), the human lung shows marked differences in the phase of the harmonic modulation for both length and diameter measurements. These inter-species scaling differences suggest that evolutionary factors modify certain universal features of morphogenesis.
The natural variability in physiological form and function is herein related to the geometric concept of a fractal. The average dimensions of the branches in the tracheobronchial tree, long thought to be exponential, are shown to be an inverse power law of the generation number modulated by a harmonic variation. A similar functional form is found for the power spectrum of the QRS-complex of the healthy human heart. These results follow from the assumption that the bronchial tree and the cardiac conduction system are fractal forms. The fractal concept provides a mechanism for the morphogenesis of complex structures which are more stable than those generated by classical scaling (i.e., they are more error tolerant).
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Adults with mental retardation in a group home received popcorn or coffee reinforcers for sorting plastic dinnerware. In Part 1 of the experiment, reinforcers were dispensed according to a variable-interval 60-s schedule for sorting dinnerware of one color and according to a variable-interval 240-s schedule for sorting dinnerware of a different color in successive components of a multiple schedule. Sorting rates were similar in baseline, but when a video program was shown concurrently, sorting of dinnerware was more resistant to distraction when correlated with a higher rate of reinforcement. In Part 2 of the experiment, popcorn or coffee reinforcers were contingent upon sorting both colors of dinnerware according to variable-interval 60-s schedules, but additional reinforcers were given independently of sorting according to a variable-time 30-s schedule during one dinnerware-color component. Baseline sorting rate was lower but resistance to distraction by the video program was greater in the component with additional variable-time reinforcers. These results demonstrate that resistance to distraction depends on the rate of reinforcers obtained in the presence of component stimuli but is independent of baseline response rates and response-reinforcer contingencies. Moreover, these results are similar to those obtained in laboratory studies with pigeons, demonstrating that the determination of resistance to change by stimulus-reinforcer relations is not confined to controlled laboratory settings or unique to the pigeon.
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Behavioral momentum refers to the tendency for behavior to persist following a change in environmental conditions. The greater the rate of reinforcement, the greater the behavioral momentum. The intervention for noncompliance consisted of issuing a sequence of commands with which the subject was very likely to comply (i.e., high-probability commands) immediately prior to issuing a low-probability command. In each of five experiments, the high-probability command sequence resulted in a "momentum" of compliant responding that persisted when a low-probability request was issued. Results showed the antecedent high-probability command sequence increased compliance and decreased compliance latency and task duration. "Momentum-like" effects were shown to be distinct from experimenter attention and to depend on the contiguity between the high-probability command sequence and the low-probability command.
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