TY - JOUR
T1 - Transdisciplinary unifying implications of circadian findings in the 1950s
AU - Halberg, Franz
AU - Cornelissen-Guillaume, Germaine G
AU - Katinas, George
AU - Syutkina, Elena V.
AU - Sothern, Robert B.
AU - Zaslavskaya, Rina
AU - Halberg, Francine
AU - Watanabe, Yoshihiko
AU - Schwartzkopff, Othild
AU - Otsuka, Kuniaki
AU - Tarquini, Roberto
AU - Frederico, Perfetto
AU - Siggelova, Jarmila
PY - 2003/10/29
Y1 - 2003/10/29
N2 - A few puzzles relating to a small fraction of my endeavors in the 1950s are summarized herein, with answers to a few questions of the Editor-in-Chief, to suggest that the rules of variability in time complement the rules of genetics as a biological variability in space. I advocate to replace truisms such as a relative constancy or homeostasis, that have served bioscience very well for very long. They were never intended, however, to lower a curtain of ignorance over everyday physiology. In raising these curtains, we unveil a range of dynamics, resolvable in the data collection and as-one-goes analysis by computers built into smaller and smaller devices, for a continued self-surveillance of the normal and for an individualized detection of the abnormal. The current medical art based on spotchecks interpreted by reference to a time-unqualified normal range can become a science of time series with tests relating to the individual in inferential statistical terms. This is already doable for the case of blood pressure, but eventually should become possible for many other variables interpreted today only based on the quicksand of clinical trials on groups. These ignore individual differences and hence the individual's needs. Chronomics (mapping time structures) with the major aim of quantifying normalcy by dynamic reference values for detecting earliest risk elevation, also yields the dividend of allowing molecular biology to focus on the normal as well as on the grossly abnormal.
AB - A few puzzles relating to a small fraction of my endeavors in the 1950s are summarized herein, with answers to a few questions of the Editor-in-Chief, to suggest that the rules of variability in time complement the rules of genetics as a biological variability in space. I advocate to replace truisms such as a relative constancy or homeostasis, that have served bioscience very well for very long. They were never intended, however, to lower a curtain of ignorance over everyday physiology. In raising these curtains, we unveil a range of dynamics, resolvable in the data collection and as-one-goes analysis by computers built into smaller and smaller devices, for a continued self-surveillance of the normal and for an individualized detection of the abnormal. The current medical art based on spotchecks interpreted by reference to a time-unqualified normal range can become a science of time series with tests relating to the individual in inferential statistical terms. This is already doable for the case of blood pressure, but eventually should become possible for many other variables interpreted today only based on the quicksand of clinical trials on groups. These ignore individual differences and hence the individual's needs. Chronomics (mapping time structures) with the major aim of quantifying normalcy by dynamic reference values for detecting earliest risk elevation, also yields the dividend of allowing molecular biology to focus on the normal as well as on the grossly abnormal.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=4243055912&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=4243055912&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1186/1740-3391-1-2
DO - 10.1186/1740-3391-1-2
M3 - Review article
C2 - 14728726
AN - SCOPUS:4243055912
SN - 1740-3391
VL - 1
JO - Journal of Circadian Rhythms
JF - Journal of Circadian Rhythms
M1 - 2
ER -