Biomedical and Life Physics

D. N. Ghista (Based on the Opening Address at the International Conference on Biomedical Physics & Mathematics of the Gauss Symposium, August 2, 1993 at Ludwig Maximillians Universitiit, Munchen, Germany) The traditional practice of Biomedical physics has now expanded to involve multiple aspects of medical practice: development of systems and technology in medical monitoring (e. g. , PET visualization of brain receptors to identify neuronal dysfunction), diagnosis (e. g. , computer-aided echocardiographic texture analysis to detect myocardial infarcts), organ support (e. g. , peritoneal dialysis), and therapeutic function (e. g. , encapsulation of insulin-producing pancreatic islet cells for treatment of diabetes). However, is Biomedical Physics a relatively new field? Not really, although we may have opened up new vistas of it, as presented in this book. Let us recall some early and well-known physician-cum-biomedical physicists. Both physical and physiological scientists will know of Jean Poiseuille (1799-1869), physician and physiologist; he measured blood pressure with a mercury manometer while being a medical student in Paris, received his medical degree in 1928, and then went on to describe the law of viscous flow (applicable to arteriolar flow).

Mathematische Modellierung in Physik, Biologie und Medizin

Metabolic Control, Gowth, and Optimization.- to Session Metabolic Regulatory Systems.- Metabolic Control Analysis Using Transient State Data.- Control of Dynamics and Steady State: Applications to Multidrug Resistance.- Parameter Space Classification of Solutions to a Mathematical Model for the Cortisol Secretion System in Normal Man.- Optimization of Glycogen Design in the Evolution of Metabolism.- Tumor Growth and Treatment Planning: A Novel Simulation Approach.- Maximization of Enzymic Activity under Consideration of Various Constraints.- Metabolic Control Theory.- Determining Elementary Modes of Functioning in Biochemical Reaction Networks at Steady State.- On Inferring the Kinetic Scheme of an Ion Channel from Postsynaptic Currents.- Mathematical Modelling of Red Blood Cell Enzyme Deficiencies as an Example for Large-Scale Parameter Changes in Biochemical Reaction Systems.- Simulation of Dioxygen Free Radical Reactions: Their Importance in the Initiation of Lipid Peroxidation.- Residual Sodium and Potassium Fluxes Through Red Blood Cell Membranes.- Electrocardiography: Processes and Analyses.- The Role of Natural Selection and Evolution in the Game of the Pentose Phosphate Cycle.- The Forward and Inverse Problems of Electrocardiography.- Simulation of the Spread of Excitation in the Myocardial Tissue.- A Hybrid Model of Propagated Excitation in the Ventricular Myocardium.- Extracardiac Field due to Propagated Excitation in the Ventricular Myocardium.- Spatio-Temporal Constraints in Inverse Electrocardiography.- When is the Inverse Problem of Electrocardiography Well-Posed.- Local Regularization and Adaptive Methods for the Inverse Problem.- On Regularization Parameters for Inverse Problems in Electrocardiography.- Gastrointestinal Mechanisms and Disorders.- The Forces Exerted on the Duodenum and Sphincter of Oddi During ERCP, and Sphincterotomy.- Small Bowel Propulsion: Transport of a Solid Bolus.- Regulatory Role of the Adrenergic Synapse Within a Neural Circuit.- Duodenal Bioelectrical Waxing and Waning Activity.- Drug Delivery Systems.- Drug Delivery Systems: Technology and Clinical Applications.- Recent Developments in Drug Delivery Systems.- Port-Catheter Systems: Design, Advantages, and Applications.- Hydrocephalus Management With a Flow-Control Shunt: Overdrainage and Proximal Obstruction: Controllable Complications of Shunting.- Subtle Energies.- to the Microvita Section.- The Origins of Mind.- Microvita: A New Approach to Matter, Life and Health.- The Quantum Field of the Healing Force.- Is Another Physics Needed to Explain Fundamental Fluctuations in Physical Measurements?.- Consciousness.- Scientific Research into Consciousness.- The Challenge of Consciousness Study.- First-Person Experience and the Scientific Exploration of Consciousness.- The Near-Death Experience and the Nature of Consciousness.- Experimental Evidence Suggestive of Anomalous Consciousness Interactions.- Theoretical Speculations and Energy Phenomena Associated with Spiritual Healing.- Towards a Science of Consciousness.- Glucose Metabolism and Insulin Delivery.- Glucose Metabolism and Insulin Delivery.- Recent Developments and Open Problems in Feedback Control of the Glucose System in Diabetes.- Autonomic Dysfunction in Diabetes Mellitus.- Physiologic Modelling of Type-2-Diabetes for Medical Education.- Rechargeable Glucose Biosensors.- The Influence of Temperature on pH-Responsive Chemical Valve Systems: Thermodynamic Aspects for Drug Delivery.- Control Algorithms for a Wearable Artificial Pancreas.- Adaptive Glycaemia Control Using Neural Networks.- Neuromuscular Remodelling in Development and Ageing.- Neuromuscular Remodelling During Development and Aging.- Synaptic Plasticity During Aging of the Neuromuscular Junction.- Neuromuscular Remodelling in the Adult Induced by Small Physiologic Changes in the Locomotor Activity.- Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Regulation of Gene Expression in Spinal Motoneurons.