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Fractals in biology and medicineOur purpose is to describe some recent progress in applying fractal concepts to systems of relevance to biology and medicine. We review several biological systems characterized by fractal geometry, with a particular focus on the long-range power-law correlations found recently in DNA sequences containing noncoding material. Furthermore, we discuss the finding that the exponent alpha quantifying these long-range correlations ("fractal complexity") is smaller for coding than for noncoding sequences. We also discuss the application of fractal scaling analysis to the dynamics of heartbeat regulation, and report the recent finding that the normal heart is characterized by long-range "anticorrelations" which are absent in the diseased heart.
Document ID
20040089549
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Havlin, S.
(Boston University MA, United States)
Buldyrev, S. V.
Goldberger, A. L.
Mantegna, R. N.
Ossadnik, S. M.
Peng, C. K.
Simons, M.
Stanley, H. E.
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1995
Publication Information
Publication: Chaos, solitons, and fractals
Volume: 6
ISSN: 0960-0779
Subject Category
Life Sciences (General)
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Review
Non-NASA Center
Review, Academic
NASA Discipline Cardiopulmonary

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