7 Synergetic Interpretation of Patterned Vasomotion Activity …
117
again “limited” macro-activity of neuronal systems is provoked, a situation then characterised by far less temporal fluctuation (v.i. Outlook; Fig. 7.10). Straightforward
consequences for both the theory and the practice of the field of non-invasive cardiovascular research follows suit: superposition effects become manifest as various
possible PMA-episodes happen to occur either simultaneous (giving rise to beat
phenomena as one of the consequences) or consecutively (giving rise to variation
in the dominance of subsystems taking turn in controlling the temporal patterns
instantaneously observed).
It goes without saying that in failing to apply fundamental neurophysiology, all
previous system analytical attempts within the field of periodically fluctuation biological phenomena were bound to be erroneous. As in the general sciences “chaos
description” has made room for attempts of “chaos control”, it is now obvious that
all conceivable control mechanism that have evolved in higher forms of animal life
can be and must be placed into the centre of efforts to improve non-invasive diagnostic
procedures. These obviously have the advantage of employing recording techniques
that do not interfere with the dynamics of the activities the physician or researcher
attempts to analyse. They are “hampered”, as it were, by the highly complex nature of
the phenomena responsible for the “vitality” of the records obtained in awake human
subjects. Most importantly in the context of all attempts to comprehend the nature of
fluctuations in dynamic records obtained from the circulatory systems of volunteers
and of patients, we have now shown that the “conventional” definition of “physical
rest” had been a priori mistaken. This erroneous assumption is primarily caused
by the limitations of either sensing devices or the stratagems used to analyse data:
“lack of physical activity” cannot be equated with “inactivity” of the autonomous
nervous system. Since we have been able to record the strong and irregular activity in
the cutaneous perfusion and/or the cutaneous blood content, we now know that any
human “subject” (normal or patient) sitting in a chair or lying in supine position does
not necessarily also reflect “rest” of the autonomous nervous system. Instead, his
autonomous nervous system is engaged in fluctuations (or reiterating TMI-evasion
scenarios) most likely subsequent to disinhibitory–reinhibitory sequences on the level
of spinal neurons responsible for cutaneous vasoconstrictor activity. Therefore, we
have to start from the tacid assumptions that with respect to the autonomous control
of cutaneous perfusion, the opposite of rest marks the dynamic patterns prevailing in
recumbent subjects under conditions of “thermoregulatory indifference temperature”
(21 °C–24 °C). Contrary to our own expectations, and contrary to textbook wisdom,
this situation is highlighted by very pronounced, highly irregularly fluctuating activities related to such physiological situations as “thermal reflexes”, “mental activities”
and, for the case of respiratory influences, vocalisation or even silent mentation.
Understandably, this so-called resting situation is strongly reminiscent of “chaos”
for naive observers, but in actual fact it is reflecting the very situation Haken and
Koepchen had referred to, i.e. a sequentiality of short-lived activities of subpools of
autonomic neuronal ensembles in the spinal cord.
When expressing this physiological activity in terms of topology, it can be said that
the latter are transiently “attracting”, as it were, the limit cycle type of periodically
modulated “actions”; in the latter, the precise course of events in aperiodically yet
117
again “limited” macro-activity of neuronal systems is provoked, a situation then characterised by far less temporal fluctuation (v.i. Outlook; Fig. 7.10). Straightforward
consequences for both the theory and the practice of the field of non-invasive cardiovascular research follows suit: superposition effects become manifest as various
possible PMA-episodes happen to occur either simultaneous (giving rise to beat
phenomena as one of the consequences) or consecutively (giving rise to variation
in the dominance of subsystems taking turn in controlling the temporal patterns
instantaneously observed).
It goes without saying that in failing to apply fundamental neurophysiology, all
previous system analytical attempts within the field of periodically fluctuation biological phenomena were bound to be erroneous. As in the general sciences “chaos
description” has made room for attempts of “chaos control”, it is now obvious that
all conceivable control mechanism that have evolved in higher forms of animal life
can be and must be placed into the centre of efforts to improve non-invasive diagnostic
procedures. These obviously have the advantage of employing recording techniques
that do not interfere with the dynamics of the activities the physician or researcher
attempts to analyse. They are “hampered”, as it were, by the highly complex nature of
the phenomena responsible for the “vitality” of the records obtained in awake human
subjects. Most importantly in the context of all attempts to comprehend the nature of
fluctuations in dynamic records obtained from the circulatory systems of volunteers
and of patients, we have now shown that the “conventional” definition of “physical
rest” had been a priori mistaken. This erroneous assumption is primarily caused
by the limitations of either sensing devices or the stratagems used to analyse data:
“lack of physical activity” cannot be equated with “inactivity” of the autonomous
nervous system. Since we have been able to record the strong and irregular activity in
the cutaneous perfusion and/or the cutaneous blood content, we now know that any
human “subject” (normal or patient) sitting in a chair or lying in supine position does
not necessarily also reflect “rest” of the autonomous nervous system. Instead, his
autonomous nervous system is engaged in fluctuations (or reiterating TMI-evasion
scenarios) most likely subsequent to disinhibitory–reinhibitory sequences on the level
of spinal neurons responsible for cutaneous vasoconstrictor activity. Therefore, we
have to start from the tacid assumptions that with respect to the autonomous control
of cutaneous perfusion, the opposite of rest marks the dynamic patterns prevailing in
recumbent subjects under conditions of “thermoregulatory indifference temperature”
(21 °C–24 °C). Contrary to our own expectations, and contrary to textbook wisdom,
this situation is highlighted by very pronounced, highly irregularly fluctuating activities related to such physiological situations as “thermal reflexes”, “mental activities”
and, for the case of respiratory influences, vocalisation or even silent mentation.
Understandably, this so-called resting situation is strongly reminiscent of “chaos”
for naive observers, but in actual fact it is reflecting the very situation Haken and
Koepchen had referred to, i.e. a sequentiality of short-lived activities of subpools of
autonomic neuronal ensembles in the spinal cord.
When expressing this physiological activity in terms of topology, it can be said that
the latter are transiently “attracting”, as it were, the limit cycle type of periodically
modulated “actions”; in the latter, the precise course of events in aperiodically yet