Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
6.
SUMMARY AND PERSPECTIVE
The list of diseases that are associated with breakdown of network interac-
tions and appearance of highly periodic dynamics continues to grow: epilepsy,
fetal distress, sudden cardiac death, Parkinson's disease, and obstructive sleep
apnea are among recent additions. Herein, we have suggested that breakdown of
network interactions may actually cause disease, and when this breakdown is
widespread the clinical manifestation is multiple organ dysfunction syndrome. If
this hypothesis is correct, then network dysfunction might be expected at multi-
ple levels of granularity, from organ systems to intracellular signal molecules.
Restoration of network integrity may be a reasonable therapeutic goal, and a
more permissive approach to clinical support (including algorithms that simulate
biological variability) might facilitate restoration of network complexity, which
now appears essential to health.
7.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was supported, in part, by award GM48095 from the National
Institutes of Health and by an award from the James S. McDonnell Foundation.
8.
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