Gernot Ernst

2014

Organisms have rhythms, such as the rhythms of the cardiac and respiratory systems, endocrinological networks, brain circuits, awake–sleep rhythms, and so on. All these rhythms have a tendency to oscillate, increasing and decreasing depending on several factors. Such oscillations can give information on the state of the complex systems involved. Oscillations have been shown to be an integral part of the cardiorespiratory circle (Lotric and Stefanovska 2000), peripheral blood flow (Bracic and Stefanovska 1998a, b), renal functions (Constantinou and Yamaguchi 1981 ), the immunological system, cell metabolism (Selkov 1968), the extrapyramidal system (Brown 2003), and others.