Analysis of heartbeat asymmetry based on multi-scale time irreversibility test

We investigate the asymmetry of heart rate control system and suggest a simple index to quantify this asymmetry by performing high-dimensional time irreversibility tests to heartbeat interval time series over multiple scales. The results provide strong evidence to the concept that the asymmetry is an intrinsic property of heart rate control system. As a simple and visual method, it is proved to be effective in classifying physiologic and synthetic subjects while the maximum scale is selected within a proper range, and also provides a new way to analyze the time irreversibility for other high-dimensional systems.     

Equal heartbeat intervals and their effects on the nonlinearity of permutation-based time irreversibility in heart rate

The association of equal heartbeat intervals with cardiac conditions and the effect of the equality on permutation-based time irreversibility are investigated in this paper. We measure the distributions of equal heartbeat intervals under three conditions, namely congestive heart failure (CHF), healthy young and elderly, whose time irreversibility is detected by measuring the probabilistic difference between permutations instead of raw vectors. We demonstrate that heartbeats contain high rates of equal states, particularly the CHF with around 20% equalities, and the distributions of equal values discriminate the heartbeats at very short data length. The CHF have more equal values than the healthy young (p $<1.47?{10}^{?15}$) and elderly (p $<2.48?{10}^{?11}$), and the healthy young have less equalities than the elderly (p $<3.16?{10}^{?4}$). Time irreversibility considering equal values is promising to extract nonlinear behaviors of heartbeats, confirming the decreased nonlinear complexity of the diseased and aging heart rates, while that involving no equality leads to erroneous nonlinearity detection. In our contribution, we highlight the pathological or physiological information contained by the distribution of equal heartbeat intervals that might contribute to develop relevant biomarkers in the area of heart analysis, and demonstrate the effectiveness of equality-based time irreversibility in the nonlinearity detection of heartbeats.     

Cosmological origin of irreversibility,time, and time anisotropies. I

Causal links among the thermodynamic, electrodynamic, and cosmological arrows of time are explained within the framework of a new theory derived from Newtonian gravitation or general relativistic theory. The master asymmetry so derived is employed to deduce the second postulate of thermodynamics in terms of dissipation function or entropic growth. Discussing Olbers' paradox and employing a laboratory-universe principle of equivalence, the theory demonstrates how the expansion of our isotropic universe affects all irreversible processes on earth. Gravitation and the observed expanding space become the indirect causes of thermal gradients and irreversible processes channeling energy from planetary and galactic cores, through colder regions, all the way into the unsaturable sink of expanding intergalactic space. The new formulations replace the axiomatic formalisms of classical and continuum thermodynamics. The fundamental role played by the expansion (bulk) viscosity is stressed. Other possible interactions among cosmology, thermodynamics, and electrodynamics are reviewed and analyzed from a new viewpoint.     

Quantification of scaling exponents and crossover phenomena in nonstationary heartbeat time series

The healthy heartbeat is traditionally thought to be regulated according to the classical principle of homeostasis whereby physiologic systems operate to reduce variability and achieve an equilibrium-like state [Physiol. Rev. 9, 399-431 (1929)]. However, recent studies [Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 1343-1346 (1993); Fractals in Biology and Medicine (Birkhauser-Verlag, Basel, 1994), pp. 55-65] reveal that under normal conditions, beat-to-beat fluctuations in heart rate display the kind of long-range correlations typically exhibited by dynamical systems far from equilibrium [Phys. Rev. Lett. 59, 381-384 (1987)]. In contrast, heart rate time series from patients with severe congestive heart failure show a breakdown of this long-range correlation behavior. We describe a new method--detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA)--for quantifying this correlation property in non-stationary physiological time series. Application of this technique shows evidence for a crossover phenomenon associated with a change in short and long-range scaling exponents. This method may be of use in distinguishing healthy from pathologic data sets based on differences in these scaling properties.     

Cosmological origin of irreversibility,time, and time anisotropies. II. Gravitism

It is proposed to consider a new primary time coordinate whose use resolves a number of standing paradoxes associated with current concepts of time, time asymmetrics, and irreversibility. The origin of absolute cosmic time and its undirectional coupling with local (geocentric) thermodynamics are stressed and formulated. The role of neutrinos in expanding space is discussed together with the question of the microscopic arrow of time (T violations in kaonic systems.) The failure of quantum mechanics to deduce time asymmetries and irreversibility in nature is demonstrated.     

Entropy production and time asymmetry in nonequilibrium fluctuations

The time-reversal symmetry of nonequilibrium fluctuations is experimentally investigated in two out-of-equilibrium systems: namely, a Brownian particle in a trap moving at constant speed and an electric circuit with an imposed mean current. The dynamical randomness of their nonequilibrium fluctuations is characterized in terms of the standard and time-reversed entropies per unit time of dynamical systems theory. We present experimental results showing that their difference equals the thermodynamic entropy production in units of Boltzmann's constant.     

多尺度策略和替代数据检验——HRV时间不可逆性分析的两个要素

本文通过应用基于多尺度思想的（Pm,Gm）平面法和替代数据检验,对来自于不同人群以及来自于健康年轻人清醒、睡眠状态下的心率变异性（heartratevariability,HRV）进行了时间不可逆性分析．结果表明：健康成人的HRV普遍存在着时间不可逆性,而随着疾病的出现,这种不可逆性减弱但并非消失,大部分（超过75％）充血性心力衰竭患者的HRV仍具有时间不可逆性：健康年轻人的HRV不可逆性存在着昼夜节律和显著的昼夜差异,夜间睡眠时不可逆性更强．我们认为：由于产生HRV的心脏动力系统具有复杂的延迟特性,在对HRV进行时间不可逆分析时,为了得到更可靠的结论,建议采用多尺度策略以及进行替代数据检验．综合考虑上述两个因素的分析方法也较好地统一了已有报道的不同结论．     

Linguistic analysis of the human heartbeat using frequency and rank order statistics

Complex physiologic signals may carry unique dynamical signatures that are related to their underlying mechanisms. We present a method based on rank order statistics of symbolic sequences to investigate the profile of different types of physiologic dynamics. We apply this method to heart rate fluctuations, the output of a central physiologic control system. The method robustly discriminates patterns generated from healthy and pathologic states, as well as aging. Furthermore, we observe increased randomness in the heartbeat time series with physiologic aging and pathologic states and also uncover nonrandom patterns in the ventricular response to atrial fibrillation.     

Exploratory voxel-based analysis of diffusion indices and hemispheric asymmetry in normal aging

Age-related microstructural changes in brain white matter can be studied by utilizing indices derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI): apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and fractional anisotropy (FA). The objective of this study is to examine alterations in FA and ADC by employing exploratory voxel-based analysis (VBA) and region(s) of interest (ROI)-based analysis. A highly nonlinear registration algorithm was used to align the ADC and FA image volumes of different subjects to perform accurate voxel-level statistics for two age groups, as well as for hemispheric asymmetry for both age groups. VBA shows significant age-related decline in FA with frontal predominance (frontal white matter, and genu and anterior body of the corpus callosum), superior portions of a splenium and highly oriented fibers of the posterior limb of the internal capsule and the anterior and posterior limbs of the external capsule. Hemispheric asymmetry of FA, as assessed by VBA, showed that for the young-age group, significant right-greater-than-left asymmetry exists in the genu, splenium and body of the corpus callosum and that left-greater-than-right asymmetry exists in the anterior limb of the external capsule and in the posterior limb of the internal capsule, thalamus, cerebral peduncle and temporal-parietal regions. VBA of the hemispheric asymmetry of the middle-age group revealed much less asymmetry. Regions showing age-related changes and hemispheric asymmetry from VBA were, for a majority of the findings, in conformance with ROI analysis and with the known pattern of development and age-related degradation of fiber tracks. The study shows the feasibility of the VBA of DTI indices for exploratory investigations of subtle differences in population cohorts, especially when findings are not localized and/or known a priori.     

Nonlinear dynamics of the heartbeat: II. Subharmonic bifurcations of the cardiac interbeat interval in sinus node disease

Changing the coupling of electronic relaxation oscillators may be associated with the emergence of complex periodic behavior. The electrocardiographic record of a patient with the “sick sinus syndrome” demonstrated periodic behavior including subharmonic bifurcations in an attractor of his interbeat interval. Such nonlinear dynamics which may emerge from alterations in the coupling of oscillating pacemakers are not predicted by traditional models in cardiac electrophysiology. An understanding of the nonlinear behavior of physical and mathematical systems may generalize to pathophysiological processes.     

The asymmetry of the tunneling time in type II semiconductor heterostructures

The tunneling time asymmetry in type II semiconductor heterostructures is related to the phase difference of the reflection coefficients for the two tunneling directions. Analytical expressions and numerical simulations are given for the difference between the left-to-right and right-to-left tunneling times in asymmetric, single and multiple barrier type II heterostructures.     

Microscopic irreversibility in the neutral kaon system and the thermodynamical arrow of time,II. CPT violating case

The expression for the entropy production in the decay of a neutral kaon interacting with a thermal bath of bosons, introduced in a previous article [1], is reformulated without assuming CPT conservation. The relation between the sign of Re ? and the thermodynamical arrow of time is further discussed, and the ambiguity due to the definitions of matter-antimatter is resolved.     

Rigged Hilbert spaces and time asymmetry: The case of the upside-down simple harmonic oscillator

The upside-down simple harmonic oscillator system is studied in the contexts of quantum mechanics and classical statistical mechanics. It is shown that in order to study in a simple manner the creation and decay of a physical system by way of Gamow vectors we must formulate the theory in a time-asymmetric fashion, namely using two different rigged Hilbert spaces to describe states evolving toward the past and the future. The spaces defined in the contexts of quantum and classical statistical mechanics are shown to be directly related by the Wigner function.     

Fundamental irreversibility and the concept of events

It is proposed that the transmutation from possibilities to facts should be introduced as an essential element in fundamental theory. This has no bearing on TCP-invariance. If indeterminism is accepted it leads to a picture of an evolving history formed by individual events and causal ties. In the low density regime it can be compared with the treatment of multiple collisions in quantum field theory.Dedicated to Res Jost and Arthur Wightman, friends for many years and appreciators of unorthodox thought     

Microscopic irreversibility in the neutral kaon system and the thermodynamical arrow of time I. CPT symmetric case

The master equation for the reduced density matrix of the neutral kaon system interacting with a (low temperature) boson gas is derived. The equation is transformed under time reversal (assuming CPT conservation) and the equations of motion in the direct and inverted time schemes are compared. The equations of motion are solved, in a perturbation method, and the explicit approach to thermodynamical equilibrium is described. The entropy production function for the kaonic decaying system is defined and calculated. It is shown that although the equilibrium state and the total entropy change during the approach to it are the same in both time schemes, the details of the entropy time dependence of a coherent initial state are different, thus suggesting a relation between microscopic and macroscopic arrows of time.     

Strong-field effects and time asymmetry in general relativity and in bimetric gravitation theory

The concepts underlying our present theoretical understanding of the radiative two-condensed-body problem in general relativity and in bimetric gravitation theory are critically reviewed. The relevance of the 1935 Einstein-Rosen bridge article is emphasized. The possibility (first suggested by N. Rosen, for the linearized approximation) of extending to gravity the Wheeler-Feynman time-symmetric approach is questioned.     

Entanglement and irreversibility in the approach to thermal equilibrium

A grazing incidence vacuumspectrograph is converted to a spectrometer to use photo-electric detection. The detector used is a CCD-camera with special enhanced sensitivity for the soft x-ray region. The camera can be moved along a special designed rail which allows very accurate repositioning after initial calibration. We designed a procedure for alignment, which allows us to align and focus the spectrometer using only visible light. This simplifies and improves setting up the instrument.