About this Research Topic

Background

Previous research has generated evidence supporting the idea that multiple negative feedback loops act simultaneously in self-regulated physiological systems. The potential advantages from such a configuration range from simple redundancy to the implementation of feedback responses with different time delays, i.e., fast and slow acting feedback regulation mechanisms. Mathematical models of such systems have been analyzed over the past decades, leading to interesting conclusions, including the possibility that such systems display chaotic dynamics. However, it is not fully understood whether chaos arises merely as a result of the interplay between the various feedback controls, or whether the presence of delays is a necessary ingredient.

A potential application of such studies that may be of clinical importance is the scenario in which a patient interacts with a device that in itself operates by virtue of feedback control principles. Some instances of such scenarios include thermoregulation of infants in incubators, mechanical ventilation of patients, blood sugar management in diabetics using insulin pumps in combination with continuous glucose monitoring devices, among others.

Little research has been devoted to studying the temporal dynamics of the physiological parameter that is being controlled in such scenarios (e.g., body core temperature, oxygen saturation in arterial blood, blood sugar concentration), in which the interaction between the patient’s and the device’s feedback control mechanisms determine how the system evolves. Of particular interest is the putative onset of changes in the dynamics when the treated patient has recovered or developed towards a healthy state in which the help of the external device is no longer required. Furthermore, a deeper understanding of the dynamics resulting from this patient-device interaction may help design better control strategies for the medical devices, resulting in more efficient devices and fewer side effects for the patient (e.g., ventilator-induced lung injury).

In a more general context, contributions are also encouraged on complex physiological systems and networks subject to time-delayed feedback control.

Keywords: chaos, time delayed feedback, nonlinear dynamics, Feedback control, control theory, network physiology, multiple negative feedback loops

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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