Sudden bio-mathematical self-similarity and the uniqueness of human mass societies: from T-patterns and T-strings to T-societies.

With the explosive growth of human knowledge especially in the twenteeth century with even greater facilitation of access to knowledge, the world of even relatively recent great thinkers becomes daunting as seen from a modern viewpoint. Recently, humans ignored the existence of the complex intracellular world of cell organs, giant information molecules such as DNA, societies of specialized worker molecules (proteins), and generally the surprising nanoscale world visible to humanity since only a few decades ago. Moreover, computational power and video technology were inaccessible to all scientists from, for example, Aristotle to Freud, so new views and ideas seem to be expected about phenomena at all scales including nano and human. Some have arrived very recently. Thus urgently needed knowledge about the biology of animal and human behavior received the first Nobel Prize as late as 1973, in Physiology and Medicine, shared by Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, and Niko Tinbergen. Lorenz's Nobel lecture was entitled "Analogy as a Source of Knowledge" which did not mention self-analogy (self-similarity) as none of the species studied were part of others and knowledge of the nanoscale phenomena at the heart of this article had barely become available. The views and empirical findings presented in this article depend on such recent intracellular nanoscale insights and the development of a set of mathematical patterns, called T-system, of which only two are considered, the self-similar (i.e., parts having a structure similar to the whole) T-pattern and the derived T-string, a T-patterned material string (here, polymer or text). Specially developed algorithms implemented in the THEMETM software for T-pattern detection and analysis (TPA) allowed the detection of interaction T-patterns in humans, animals, and brain neuronal networks, showing self-similarity between animal interaction patterns and neuronal interaction patterns in their brains. TPA of DNA and text also showed unique self-similarity between modern human literate mass societies and the protein societies of their body cells, both with Giant Extra-Individual Purely Informational T-strings (GEIPIT; genomes or textomes) defining the behavioral potentials of their specialized citizens. This kind of society is here called T-society and only exists in humans and proteins, while the self-similarity between them only exists in human T-societies.

T-patterns, external memory and mass-societies in proteins and humans: In an eye-blink the naked ape became a string-controlled citizen.

This project started in the 1970's inspired by biological behavior research (Morris, 1967; Tinbergen, 1965) including that of N. Tinbergen, K. Lorenz and K. von Frisch, for which they shared a Nobel Prize in 1973 in Medicine or Physiology, the first for ethological research. Further inspiration came from research on social insects and children (Montagner, 1971, 2012), interactions in human adults (Duncan & Fiske, 1977), probabilistic real-time analysis of behavior (Skinner, 1969) and linguistic analysis (Chomsky, 1957). There was not yet talk of self-similarity or nano scale agents. Adequate computational pattern discovery required models, algorithms and software, which has led to the definition of the scale independent T-pattern and related pattern types making up the T-system and the creation of the only available dedicated special purpose T-pattern and T-system pattern detection algorithms and software, THEME™. Theme has already allowed the detection of T-patterns in many different research areas from human to neuronal interactions at time scales from days to 10-6 s and finally spatial T-patterns and T-strings in textual and molecular strings. Similarity of temporal and spatial patterning from human to neuronal interactions to giant purely informational physical strings, DNA and texts, seems to exist and biologically extremely recent self-similarity between each human mass-society and the protein mass-societies of the cells making up each of its typically >104 individuals. Giant T-patterned text strings, T-strings, as external memory have in a biological eye blink allowed the development of modern mass-societies with their science and technology allowing the discovery of this biologically sudden advent of unique self-similarity and thus a bio-mathematical continuum between nano and human scales, which may change views on modern human mass-societies and their modern lifestyle and issues.

T-Pattern Detection and Analysis (TPA) With THEMETM: A Mixed Methods Approach.

This work, which was started in the early 1970s, was inspired by social interaction analysis based on direct observation and careful coding of behaviors according to a list of behavioral (mostly ethological) categories, especially the ethological work of N. Tinbergen, K. Lorenz, and K. von Frisch, for which they shared a Nobel Prize in 1973 in Medicine or Physiology but also H. Montagner's ethological analyses of interactions in social insects and children. S. Duncan's psychological and linguistic research on turn-taking in human interactions provided great inspiration, and so did Chomsky's work on syntactic structure and Skinner's probabilistic real-time functional analysis and their consequent debate. A hypothesis concerning numerous kinds of temporal and spatial natural and especially biological structures, the T-pattern is a hierarchical self-similar fractal-like structure that recurs with significant translational symmetry on a single discrete dimension, initially real time. It also points to profound self-similarity across many levels of biological spatio-temporal organization, as it seems characteristic of molecular structures such as genes and a multitude of recurrent motives on DNA and its 3D generalization corresponding to (3D) folded proteins. Developed initially to facilitate empirical analysis, the T-pattern and its detection algorithms were first presented in AI (Magnusson, 1981) and Applied Statistics (Magnusson, 1983) through THEME (3 k Fortran IV) software using an evolution algorithm. It is now over 300 k lines of code, runs under Windows, and, more recently, uses parallel processing for increased speed. This has allowed abundant detection of hidden structure in numerous kinds of biological phenomena at highly varied scales, from human behavior at timescales of days (Hirschenhauser et al., 2002; Hirschenhauser and Frigerio, 2005) to interactions of many individual neurons simultaneously registered at a temporal resolution of 10-6 s in neuronal networks in rat brains to ongoing work on T-patterns in DNA molecules at a spatial nano-scale. T-pattern detection and analysis (TPA) thus mix qualitative and quantitative analyses, as T-patterns themselves are artificial categories composed of recurring coding categories with special real-scale statistical relations between their instances. After their detection, T-patterns are thus analyzed much as are other behavioral categories.

The effects of morphine on the temporal structure of Wistar rat behavioral response to pain in hot-plate.

RATIONALE: The largest amount of researches on the hot-plate test was carried out using quantitative assessments. However, the evaluation of the relationships among the different elements that compose the behavioral response to pain requires different approaches. Although previous studies have provided clear information on the behavioral structure of the response, no data are available on its temporal structure. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to investigate the temporal structure of the behavioral response to pain in Wistar rat tested in hot-plate and how this structure was influenced by morphine-induced analgesia. METHODS: The behavior of four groups of subjects tested in hot-plate, one administered saline and three with different doses (3, 6, 12 mg/kg) of morphine IP, was analyzed by means of quantitative and t-pattern analyses. The latter is a multivariate technique able to detect the existence of statistically significant temporal relationships among the behavioral events in time. RESULTS: A clear-cut influence of morphine on quantitative parameters of the response to the noxious stimulation was observed. T-pattern analysis evidenced profound structural changes of behavior. Twenty-four different t-patterns were identified following saline, whereas a dose-dependent reduction was observed following morphine. Such a reduction was accompanied by a decrease of the total amount of t-patterns detected. CONCLUSIONS: Morphine, by reducing the effects of the noxious stimulation, orients animal behavior prevalently toward exploratory t-patterns. In addition, it is suggested that the temporal structure of the response is very quickly organized and adapted to environmental noxious cues.

Emotional change process in resolving self-criticism during experiential treatment of depression.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested emotion-focused therapy (EFT) theory assumptions concerning optimal emotion schematic processing during experiential psychotherapies. Emotion schematic change was investigated in the particular problem context of resolving self-criticism, an emotion schematic vulnerability to depression identified across all major psychotherapy theories. METHOD: The sample was nine highly self-critical depressed clients who received experiential treatment (n = 5 resolved while n = 4 did not resolve their self-criticism by termination). Emotion episodes (EEs) were exhaustively sampled from five sessions across three therapy phases (early, working phase, and termination) for each client. All their EEs across therapy were coded using a process measure called the Classification of Affective-Meaning States. Three complementary analytic procedures were used to examine emotion schematic changes within and across phases of therapy: graphical/descriptive, linear mixed modelling, and THEME sequential pattern analysis. RESULTS: Convergent evidence from these analyses supported EFT theory. Good resolvers of self-criticism decreased expression of secondary emotions and increased expression of primary adaptive emotions. Good resolvers also exhibited more sequences of EEs consistent with transformation of secondary and maladaptive emotions to adaptive emotions. Future directions of this research are discussed.

Complex spike patterns in olfactory bulb neuronal networks.

BACKGROUND: T-pattern analysis is a procedure developed for detecting non-randomly recurring hierarchical and multiordinal real-time sequential patterns (T-patterns). NEW METHOD: We have inquired whether such patterns of action potentials (spikes) can be extracted from extracellular activity sampled simultaneously from many neurons across the mitral cell layer of the olfactory bulb (OB). Spikes were sampled from urethane-anaesthetized rats over a 6h recording session, or a period lasting as long as permitted by the physiological condition of the animal. Breathing was recorded to mark peak inhalation and exhalation. RESULTS: Complex T-patterns of up to ∼20 elements were identified with functional connections often spanning the full extent of the array. A considerable proportion of these sequences incorporated breathing. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: In contrast to sequence detection by synfire, the incidence of sequences detected in our real data is very much greater than in the same data when randomized either by shuffling, or an alternative procedure preserving the interval structure of each spike train, and so more conservative. Further, when recordings were terminated before completion of the full recording session, the relative pattern detection in real and randomized data was a strong indicator of physiological condition-in recordings leading up to the preparation becoming physiologically unstable, the number of patterns detected in real data approached that in the randomized data. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that such sequences are an important physiological property of the neural system studied, and suggest that they may form a basis for encoding sensory information.

Novel dynamic measures of emetic behavior in musk shrews.

The emetic reflex occurs as a pattern of motor responses produced by a network of neurons in the hindbrain. Despite an understanding of the sequence of motor outputs that form an emetic episode (EE), the variability in the dynamics of multiple EEs across time remains a mystery. Many clinical investigations rely on once a day patient recall of total amount of vomiting, and preclinical studies frequently report only the total number of EE per unit time. The aim of the current study was to develop novel temporal measures of emetic activation in a preclinical model. Male and female musk shrews were tested with prototypical emetic stimuli: motion exposure (1 Hz), nicotine (5 mg/kg, sc), and copper sulfate (120 mg/kg, ig). New emetic measures included duration (time from first to last episode), rate, standard deviation of the inter-episode interval (SD-I), and a survival analysis of emetic latency (analyzed with Cox regression). Behavioral patterns associated with emesis were also assessed using statistical temporal pattern (T-pattern) analysis to measure nausea-like behaviors (e.g., immobility). The emetic stimuli produced different levels of total EE number, duration, rate, and SD-I. A typical antiemetic, the neurokinin 1 receptor antagonist CP-99,994, suppressed the number of EEs but was less effective for reducing the duration or prolonging the emetic latency. Overall, the current study shows the use of novel dynamic behavioral measures to more comprehensively assess emesis and the impact of therapies.

Behavioral patterns associated with chemotherapy-induced emesis: a potential signature for nausea in musk shrews.

Nausea and vomiting are common symptoms in patients with many diseases, including cancer and its treatments. Although the neurological basis of vomiting is reasonably well known, an understanding of the physiology of nausea is lacking. The primary barrier to mechanistic research on the nausea system is the lack of an animal model. Indeed investigating the effects of anti-nausea drugs in pre-clinical models is difficult because the primary readout is often emesis. It is known that animals show a behavioral profile of sickness, associated with reduced feeding and movement, and possibly these general measures are signs of nausea. Studies attempting to relate the occurrence of additional behaviors to emesis have produced mixed results. Here we applied a statistical method, temporal pattern (t-pattern) analysis, to determine patterns of behavior associated with emesis. Musk shrews were injected with the chemotherapy agent cisplatin (a gold standard in emesis research) to induce acute (<24 h) and delayed (>24 h) emesis. Emesis and other behaviors were coded and tracked from video files. T-pattern analysis revealed hundreds of non-random patterns of behavior associated with emesis, including sniffing, changes in body contraction, and locomotion. There was little evidence that locomotion was inhibited by the occurrence of emesis. Eating, drinking, and other larger body movements including rearing, grooming, and body rotation, were significantly less common in emesis-related behavioral patterns in real versus randomized data. These results lend preliminary evidence for the expression of emesis-related behavioral patterns, including reduced ingestive behavior, grooming, and exploratory behaviors. In summary, this statistical approach to behavioral analysis in a pre-clinical emesis research model could be used to assess the more global effects and limitations of drugs used to control nausea and its potential correlates, including reduced feeding and activity levels.

T-pattern analysis of diazepam-induced modifications on the temporal organization of rat behavioral response to anxiety in hole board.

RATIONALE: By means of t-pattern analysis, it has been observed that the different events, characterizing rat behavior in hole board (HB), present close interrelationships which occur sequentially and with significant constraints on the interval lengths separating them. OBJECTIVES: The aim of present research was to study, by means of descriptive and multivariate t-pattern analyses, the effects of the reference anxiolytic drug diazepam (DZP) on temporal structure of a rat's anxiety-related behavior in HB. METHODS: Fifty-six male Wistar rats were tested for 10 min in HB. Video files, collected for each animal, were coded by means of a software coder, and event log files, generated for each subject, were analyzed by means of a specific software for temporal pattern analysis (t-pattern analysis). RESULTS: Significant diazepam-induced modifications were observed for durations of walking, climbing, edge-sniff, and face grooming. Dose-dependent decreases of t-patterns' total amount, of their mean occurrences and of their mean length for each group were detected. Also, t-patterns' mean occurrences, in terms of different composition, were reduced. Percent distributions showed a significant increase of t-patterns including walking for all administered groups, and significant reductions of t-patterns including climbing, immobile sniffing, and edge-sniff. Front-paw licking and face grooming were reduced at the higher DZP dose. CONCLUSIONS: Present study demonstrates, for the first time, that the temporal structure of Wistar rats' behavioral response to anxiety in HB changes following pharmacological manipulation of anxiety condition. Moreover, t-pattern analysis is suggested to represent a useful tool to evaluate and compare different classes of anti-anxiety molecules.

Temporal pattern analysis and its applicability in sport: an explanation and exemplar data.

Quantitative analysis of sports performance has been shown to produce information that coaches can use within the coaching process to enhance performance. Traditional methods for quantifying sport performances are limited in their capacity to describe the complex interactions of events that occur within a performance over time. In this paper, we outline a new approach to the analysis of time-based event records and real-time behaviour records on sport performance known as T-pattern detection. The relevant elements of the T-pattern detection process are explained and exemplar data from the analysis of 13 soccer matches are presented to highlight the potential of this form of analysis. The results from soccer suggest that it is possible to identify new profiles for both individuals and teams based on the analysis of temporal behavioural patterns detected within the performances.

Monthly patterns of testosterone and behavior in prospective fathers.

The individual time patterns of salivary testosterone of adult healthy men, self-reported sexual behavior and their co-occurrence with regular weekly or monthly intervals were studied. Twenty-seven volunteer males (mean age 33 +/- 1 years) collected daily morning saliva over a period of 90 days. Evening questionnaires provided daily information on sexual activity. From the saliva, testosterone immunoreactive substances were determined using enzyme immunoassay. To detect events in which increases of testosterone were associated with sexual activity and at the same time controlling for regular internal patterns in men, data were analyzed using Theme software. First results indicated a varying number of complex nonrandom interaction patterns of testosterone with sexual activity, but also with weekly (i.e., Saturdays) and monthly intervals (i.e., 28-day full-moon intervals). The social context of the occurrence of specific pattern combinations was elaborated using parameters from the men's self-reported general life history profiles. Peak hormone levels occurred around weekends in the majority of the males. The 28-day monthly interval coincided with testosterone peaks only in those of the paired men who reported a current wish for children ("prospective fathers"), but not in unpaired men or in those who did not wish to have children with their current partner. Rather than representing a direct regular pattern of the male testosterone per se, the observed patterns suggest that men have the facultative potential to adjust their testosterone responses to their female partner's cycle. In line with the interactions between behavior and androgens observed in vertebrates in general, this study adds an example of the mutual character of hormone-behavior interactions and, thus, for the social context of testosterone patterns in human males.