{"481521":{"#nid":"481521","#data":{"type":"event","title":"Tipping points, critical transitions, and bifurcations: Are \u0022generic early-warning signals\u0022 applicable to medicine?","body":[{"value":"\u003Ch4\u003ESchool of Physics Nonlinear Science \u0026amp; Mathematical Physics: Prof. Leon Glass, McGill University\u003C\/h4\u003E\u003Cp\u003ERecent work from Marten Scheffer and colleagues has made bold claims.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Complex dynamical systems, ranging from ecosystems to financial markets and the climate, can have tipping points at which a sudden shift to a contrasting dynamical regime may occur [1]. Although predicting such critical points before they are reached is extremely difficult, work in different scientific fields is now suggesting the existence of generic early-warning signals that may indicate for a wide class of systems if a critical threshold is approaching.\u0022 In a paper, now in Press in Critical Care Medicine, Scheffer and colleagues (including me) argue that these results may be applicable in medicine [2].\u0026nbsp; I will discuss this work from the context of my own interest in bifurcations, problems associated with alternans rhythms [3], and transition to and risk stratification for sudden cardiac death.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;[1] \u0022Early-warning signals for critical transitions\u0022 Nature 461, 53\u0026nbsp;(2009) by Marten Scheffer et al.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;[2] \u0022Slowing down of recovery as generic risk marker for acute transitions in chronic diseases\u0022 by Olde-Rikkert et al. Critical Care Medicine (2016)\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;[3] \u0022Predicting the onset of period-doubling bifurcations in noisy cardiac systems\u0022 T. Quail, A. Shrier, L. Glass, PNAS 112, 9358-9363 (2015)\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":"","field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Tipping points, critical transitions, and bifurcations: Are \u0022generic early-warning signals\u0022 applicable to medicine?"}],"uid":"27664","created_gmt":"2016-01-04 11:28:10","changed_gmt":"2017-04-13 21:17:20","author":"Alison Morain","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","field_event_time":{"event_time_start":"2016-01-27T13:00:00-05:00","event_time_end":"2016-01-27T14:00:00-05:00","event_time_end_last":"2016-01-27T14:00:00-05:00","gmt_time_start":"2016-01-27 18:00:00","gmt_time_end":"2016-01-27 19:00:00","gmt_time_end_last":"2016-01-27 19:00:00","rrule":null,"timezone":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"126011","name":"School of Physics"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"168171","name":"critical transitions"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[{"id":"1795","name":"Seminar\/Lecture\/Colloquium"}],"invited_audience":[{"id":"78751","name":"Undergraduate students"},{"id":"78761","name":"Faculty\/Staff"},{"id":"174045","name":"Graduate students"}],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:amorain@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Eamorain@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}