Periodic & Dynamical Diseases: Bifurcations at the Bedside

A bifurcation (in the mathematical sense) is signalled by a qualitative change in system behaviour. This talk will focus on the extent to which diseases can be understood as a bifurcation in underlying physiological system dynamics. For example, an approximately constant physiological variable may start to oscillate in a disease state, or a variable that is normally periodic may assume a different period or become chaotic during illness. For diseases due to a bifurcation (i.e. dynamical diseases), the implication is that health can be regained by inducing a reverse bifurcation with treatment. Better health through mathematics.