DISCUSSION PAPER: RHYTHMICITY OF FUNDAMENTAL BIOLOGIC PHENOMENA

The field of chronobio1ogy’-” involves both mathematically formulatable models’ and, at least equally important, mathematical and statistical procedures for analysis. The latter have led to the recognition-even in noisy d a t a o f a network of interacting rhythms at different levels of organization, from cell to society. A circadian cell cycle’ already provides a fruitful model for the actual treatment of an experimental leukemia“ and promises the further development of “circadian-cell cycle-active” medication”. Behavioral pathology may be associated with a desynchronization or phase alteration of a circadian rhythm and/or an amplitude elevation of a preexisting infradian rhythm. Actual clinical cases illustrating the pertinence of such models stem from patients with intermittent catatonia and depressive illness, respectively.”’,