No Arabic abstract
Several types of biological networks have recently been shown to be accurately described by a maximum entropy model with pairwise interactions, also known as the Ising model. Here we present an approach for finding the optimal mappings between input signals and network states that allow the network to convey the maximal information about input signals drawn from a given distribution. This mapping also produces a set of linear equations for calculating the optimal Ising model coupling constants, as well as geometric properties that indicate the applicability of the pairwise Ising model. We show that the optimal pairwise interactions are on average zero for Gaussian and uniformly distributed inputs, whereas they are non-zero for inputs approximating those in natural environments. These non-zero network interactions are predicted to increase in strength as the noise in the response functions of each network node increases. This approach also suggests ways for how interactions with unmeasured parts of the network can be inferred from the parameters of response functions for the measured network nodes.
Brain network is remarkably cost-efficient while the fundamental physical and dynamical mechanisms underlying its economical optimization in network structure and activity are not clear. Here we study intricate cost-efficient interplay between structure and dynamics in biologically plausible spatial modular neuronal network models. We find that critical avalanche states from excitation-inhibition balance, under modular network topology with less wiring cost, can also achieve less costs in firing, but with strongly enhanced response sensitivity to stimuli. We derived mean-field equations that govern the macroscopic network dynamics through a novel approximate theory. The mechanism of low firing cost and stronger response in the form of critical avalanche is explained as a proximity to a Hopf bifurcation of the modules when increasing their connection density. Our work reveals the generic mechanism underlying the cost-efficient modular organization and critical dynamics widely observed in neural systems, providing insights to brain-inspired efficient computational designs.
The complexity of many biological, social and technological systems stems from the richness of the interactions among their units. Over the past decades, a great variety of complex systems has been successfully described as networks whose interacting pairs of nodes are connected by links. Yet, in face-to-face human communication, chemical reactions and ecological systems, interactions can occur in groups of three or more nodes and cannot be simply described just in terms of simple dyads. Until recently, little attention has been devoted to the higher-order architecture of real complex systems. However, a mounting body of evidence is showing that taking the higher-order structure of these systems into account can greatly enhance our modeling capacities and help us to understand and predict their emerging dynamical behaviors. Here, we present a complete overview of the emerging field of networks beyond pairwise interactions. We first discuss the methods to represent higher-order interactions and give a unified presentation of the different frameworks used to describe higher-order systems, highlighting the links between the existing concepts and representations. We review the measures designed to characterize the structure of these systems and the models proposed in the literature to generate synthetic structures, such as random and growing simplicial complexes, bipartite graphs and hypergraphs. We introduce and discuss the rapidly growing research on higher-order dynamical systems and on dynamical topology. We focus on novel emergent phenomena characterizing landmark dynamical processes, such as diffusion, spreading, synchronization and games, when extended beyond pairwise interactions. We elucidate the relations between higher-order topology and dynamical properties, and conclude with a summary of empirical applications, providing an outlook on current modeling and conceptual frontiers.
In this paper we briefly discuss the necessity of using quantum mechanics as a fundamental theory applicable to some key functional aspects of biological systems. This is especially relevant to three important parts of a neuron in the human brain, namely the cell membrane, microtubules (MT) and ion channels. We argue that the recently published papers criticizing the use of quantum theory in these systems are not convincing.
Excessively high, neural synchronisation has been associated with epileptic seizures, one of the most common brain diseases worldwide. A better understanding of neural synchronisation mechanisms can thus help control or even treat epilepsy. In this paper, we study neural synchronisation in a random network where nodes are neurons with excitatory and inhibitory synapses, and neural activity for each node is provided by the adaptive exponential integrate-and-fire model. In this framework, we verify that the decrease in the influence of inhibition can generate synchronisation originating from a pattern of desynchronised spikes. The transition from desynchronous spikes to synchronous bursts of activity, induced by varying the synaptic coupling, emerges in a hysteresis loop due to bistability where abnormal (excessively high synchronous) regimes exist. We verify that, for parameters in the bistability regime, a square current pulse can trigger excessively high (abnormal) synchronisation, a process that can reproduce features of epileptic seizures. Then, we show that it is possible to suppress such abnormal synchronisation by applying a small-amplitude external current on less than 10% of the neurons in the network. Our results demonstrate that external electrical stimulation not only can trigger synchronous behaviour, but more importantly, it can be used as a means to reduce abnormal synchronisation and thus, control or treat effectively epileptic seizures.
We present the novel approach to mathematical modeling of information processes in biosystems. It explores the mathematical formalism and methodology of quantum theory, especially quantum measurement theory. This approach is known as {it quantum-like} and it should be distinguished from study of genuine quantum physical processes in biosystems (quantum biophysics, quantum cognition). It is based on quantum information representation of biosystems state and modeling its dynamics in the framework of theory of open quantum systems. This paper starts with the non-physicist friendly presentation of quantum measurement theory, from the original von Neumann formulation to modern theory of quantum instruments. Then, latter is applied to model combinations of cognitive effects and gene regulation of glucose/lactose metabolism in Escherichia coli bacterium. The most general construction of quantum instruments is based on the scheme of indirect measurement, in that measurement apparatus plays the role of the environment for a biosystem. The biological essence of this scheme is illustrated by quantum formalization of Helmholtz sensation-perception theory. Then we move to open systems dynamics and consider quantum master equation, with concentrating on quantum Markov processes. In this framework, we model functioning of biological functions such as psychological functions and epigenetic mutation.