This paper outlines a phenomenological approach for describing physiological reactions occurring immediately after vital threats. This exemplified by data taken from previous studies relative to chemical intoxications of rats by a neurotoxical drug. The survival rate of the animals and the variations of their cerebral acetylcholinesterese activity are both reported as a function of the drug concentration, and with respect to their age. The collecting of the results may be described as the cusp, a bifurcation set of Thom's Catastrophe Theory.The (...) young animals react by a vital burst which modifies the shape of the cusp. A new fold or pocket takes place, changing it to the butterfly bifurcation set. This pocket supports the survival attractor concept, which appears reactional, transitory and variable in its intensity. (shrink)

A physiological function can be described as a cycle based on a cusp bifurcation set in catastrophe theory. This cycle involves four phases that are successively developed along a functional potential, which is used to perform a given physiological act. The work we present is firstly based on a detailed study of the global function of vision, which covers a vast field extending from the molecular to cerebral scale. We then present other examples of generalised functions by expanding the frame (...) of reference, from the scale of an organ to the scale of a whole organism with predation function, and to the scale of a social group with crisis management. We observed that the criteria remain the same, whether the function is considered on the scale of a cell membrane or a group of individuals organised into a cohort. Moreover, a so-called generalised function can be broken down into simpler sub-functions, each phase of the initial function containing the physiological act of each sub-function. It seems thus that a fractal extension may characterise the four-cusp spiral. This spiral is increasingly large as the types of sub-functions are multiplied. In functions relative to sociological science, such as crisis management, which are not natural but built and designed by humans, close attention must be paid to following the rules of these generalised biological functions. (shrink)

This work is a qualitative study of an organism''s physiological adaptative response to stress. The experimental data were selected from a previous study leading to the conclusion that stress may be considered as a topological retraction within a vital space that must be more precisely defined. The experimental methodology uses rat poisoning by neurotoxins. The control parameter is the intensity of the toxic doses. Measured parameters are the animals'' survival rate and the kinetics of cerebral acetylcholinesterase activity. The results, when (...) expressed as a function of the inverted doses, show a characteristic evolution. The pattern of the curve closely resembles a vortex profile. This analogy is studied more extensively in both the physical and biological domains. These findings help to clarify the concept of biological stress which presents the same vectorial properties as hydrodynamic vorticity. In particular, the dissipation of stress and the dissipation of vorticity seem to obey the same laws. This observation is valid for both diffusion and convection processes. The decompensation phase of stress could be compared with the instability and turbulence in flows.Our approach in this paper is mainly to establish a general and phenomenological description of the stress response fitting experimental observations. (shrink)

This comunication is based on a preliminary work which emphasized a topological model of biomembranes from Thom's Catastrophe Theory. In this model called swallowtail bifurcation set, the structural state of a biomembrane was within the control of two structural attractors. Then, the physiological act of this biomembrane resulted in a sudden transfer of weight from the hydrophilic attractor to the hydrophobic attractor.In this consecutive work, the physiological act appears to be one of the four stages which permit to describe the (...) larger notion of cyclic membrane function. Two of these stages unfold in the structural axis of the swallowtail model. They prepare the two others (physiological act and refractory stages) which expand in the functional direction. (shrink)

High noise levels may have an adverse effect on the normal cochlea function and lead to significant hearing loss. Clinically, exposure to high intensity impulse noise produces a wide range of audiometric effects which may result in long term or even irreversible symptoms. Nevertheless, there is sometimes a spontaneous rebound recovery of the auditory function. This phenomenon was previously studied in the vision, another sensory function. It was called the visual survival attractor.In view of the importance that the sensory organs (...) have for the brain, and in particular in its function of recognising and dealing with its environment, it was interesting to know whether this survival attractor concept already described for vision occurs more generally in all the sensory functions. With this in mind we present here the results of a new study, this time on hearing. (shrink)

In tracing the survival reaction of an organism, following a vital stress, we have proceeded from the breakdown of a cerebral enzyme as a function of the constraint, to its initial and spontaneous recovery. We have so observed a partial enzymatic recovery, the velocity of which being variable with respect to the constraint intensity. This velocity is expressed asdq/dt, that is, the quantity of enzymedq recovered per unit of timedt. In this paper, the basic idea is to consider the inverse (...) parameterdt/dq, that is, the timedt needed by the organism to recover a given quantity of enzymedq. The integration of this parameter over the constraint accumulated by the stressed organism allows us to determine a timeT which appears to be variable when observed by a distant observer.The properties of this timeT are discussed with the help of an analogical approach based on hydrodynamical and cosmological models. (shrink)

This work presents an hydrodynamical model of heat stroke, which is a physiopathological state of stress, due to an exposure of animals to an ambient temperature of approximatively 40°C during two hours. The evolution of body temperature during this stress process is characterised by three phases. A first phase of increase is followed by a plateau which occurs before a second phase of increase which can be lethal. The model is based on the analogy of a boat progressively caught in (...) a whirlpool. The evolution of the degree of freedom lost by the boat is mathematically analysed and this study leads to the same three phases. The theoretical curves calculated during this study are well in agreement with the experimental curves obtained with animals. This analogy is compared to a previous one which has been made during another experiment with animals constrained by chemical intoxications. It seems that stress can be considered as a vital vorticity and that hydrodynamic models are powerful tools in understanding this physiopathological state. (shrink)

La place de l'observation dans les sciences. Evolution de son rôle et importance croissante de son étendue. Développement progressif des méthodes d'investigation la rendant de plus en plus sophistiquée et indirecte. Définition et utilisation de ses deux processus majeurs : induction et déduction.

La Voix divine, nous disent les mythes et traditions, a créé le monde. Le chant des voix humaines lui répond. Orphée, l'initié des Mystères grecs, personnifie les pouvoirs de la musique. De nos jours, le matérialisme scientiste qui nie l'harmonie cosmique est démenti par la science ± holistique? qui rejoint la sagesse ancestrale. Au confluent de la physique contemporaine et de la métaphysique traditionnelle, de la cosmologie et de l'anthropologie, de la musicologie et de l'ethnomusicologie, cet ouvrage contribue à ce (...) nouveau paradigme en élucidant les arcanes de l'harmonie musicale. Il lui restitue sa dimension symbolique et spirituelle et éclaire l'évolution confuse de la musique occidentale depuis le début du xxe siècle. (shrink)

In this work, we compare two global approaches which are usually considered as completely unconnected one with the other. The former is Thom’s topology and the latter is Jung’s psychology. More precisely, it seemed to us interesting to adapt some morphologies of Thom’s catastrophe theory to some Jung’s notions. Thus, we showed that the swallowtail, which is one of these morphologies, was able to describe geometrically the structural organisation of the psyche according to Jung, with its collective unconscious, personal unconscious (...) and conscious. Moreover, we have correlated this morphology with Jung’s evolutive processes like individualisation and individuation. These comparisons incited us to think that some morphologies of Thom’s catastrophe theory are the geometrical dealing of Jung’s archetypes. (shrink)