DETERMINATION OF THE DEGREE OF SYNERGISM OF THE HUMAN CARDIORESPIRATORY SYSTEM UNDER CONDITIONS OF PHYSICAL EFFORT MEDICAL AND BIOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS

The emergence of a third paradigm, the synergistic paradigm, in general systems theory and the relationship between the synergistic and the cybernetic paradigms are considered. A mathematical foundation underlying the application of new methods of identification of the degree of asynergism in biological systems is given. Results of the application of such methods to the study of the dynamic behavior of variations in the human A paradigm shift is occurring in science today, apparent in a shift from the deterministic-stochastic approach to chaos theory and synergistics. It is generally recognized that the fundamental works of Ilya Prigogine in the area of nonequi- librium thermodynamics constitute the second most important achievement of mankind (after the discovery of atomic ener- gy) in the twentieth century, and it is precisely these works which have provided the impetus to the development of chaos the- ory and synergistics (complexity). Fundamental problems of natural science, which have been very successfully identified in one study (1), underlie the realization of the synergistic paradigm. From the formal point of view, however, chaos theory and synergistics are related to two measurements, those of the parameters of order and those of the degree of synergistic rela- tionships in dynamic biological systems. At present there are no such general theories widely used in practical applications that would formally solve these very important problems of science. The solution of the second problem, i.e., the creation of methods and algorithms as well as a demonstration that they are applicable to the study of synergistic processes, is funda- mental for synergistics, since, as follows from its definition, it is the scientific basis of all of synergistics which requires the creation of methods of identifying the synergistic (or asynergistic) properties of biological systems. An Algorithm for Measuring the Degree of Asynergism in Dynamic Biological Systems. The term synergism was first introduced into physiology and an experimental foundation of the phenomenon first provided in the late-nineteenth century by Charles Sherrington. In the course of describing the work of the flexor and extensor muscles in particular, Sherrington pointed out the importance of self-organization and mutual support provided by the synergic muscles in the exe- cution of motor actions. Studies by ecologists and evolutionary biologists in which the significance of synergistic interrela- tionships in populations and ecosystems as a whole was noted were published around the same time. Thus, the foundations of the theory of synergistics and the concepts of synergistic relationships were defined and introduced into scientific use by biologists in the nineteenth century. However, an understanding of the fundamental nature of synergism as a science was only achieved in connection with the studies of Ilya Prigogine and H. Haken (2).