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Modelling of cytokine storm in respiratory viral infections
Computer Research and Modeling, 2022, v. 14, no. 3, pp. 619-645In this work, we develop a model of the immune response to respiratory viral infections taking into account some particular properties of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The model represents a system of ordinary differential equations for the concentrations of epithelial cells, immune cells, virus and inflammatory cytokines. Conventional analysis of the existence and stability of stationary points is completed by numerical simulations in order to study dynamics of solutions. Behavior of solutions is characterized by large peaks of virus concentration specific for acute respiratory viral infections.
At the first stage, we study the innate immune response based on the protective properties of interferon secreted by virus-infected cells. On the other hand, viral infection down-regulates interferon production. Their competition can lead to the bistability of the system with different regimes of infection progression with high or low intensity. In the case of infection outbreak, the incubation period and the maximal viral load depend on the initial viral load and the parameters of the immune response. In particular, increase of the initial viral load leads to shorter incubation period and higher maximal viral load.
In order to study the emergence and dynamics of cytokine storm, we consider proinflammatory cytokines produced by cells of the innate immune response. Depending on parameters of the model, the system can remain in the normal inflammatory state specific for viral infections or, due to positive feedback between inflammation and immune cells, pass to cytokine storm characterized by excessive production of proinflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, inflammatory cell death can stimulate transition to cytokine storm. However, it cannot sustain it by itself without the innate immune response. Assumptions of the model and obtained results are in qualitative agreement with the experimental and clinical data.
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Mathematical model of the parasite – host system with distributed immunity retention time
Computer Research and Modeling, 2024, v. 16, no. 3, pp. 695-711The COVID-19 pandemic has caused increased interest in mathematical models of the epidemic process, since only statistical analysis of morbidity does not allow medium-term forecasting in a rapidly changing situation.
Among the specific features of COVID-19 that need to be taken into account in mathematical models are the heterogeneity of the pathogen, repeated changes in the dominant variant of SARS-CoV-2, and the relative short duration of post-infectious immunity.
In this regard, solutions to a system of differential equations for a SIR class model with a heterogeneous duration of post-infectious immunity were analytically studied, and numerical calculations were carried out for the dynamics of the system with an average duration of post-infectious immunity of the order of a year.
For a SIR class model with a heterogeneous duration of post-infectious immunity, it was proven that any solution can be continued indefinitely in time in a positive direction without leaving the domain of definition of the system.
For the contact number $R_0 \leqslant 1$, all solutions tend to a single trivial stationary solution with a zero share of infected people, and for $R_0 > 1$, in addition to the trivial solution, there is also a non-trivial stationary solution with non-zero shares of infected and susceptible people. The existence and uniqueness of a non-trivial stationary solution for $R_0 > 1$ was proven, and it was also proven that it is a global attractor.
Also, for several variants of heterogeneity, the eigenvalues of the rate of exponential convergence of small deviations from a nontrivial stationary solution were calculated.
It was found that for contact number values corresponding to COVID-19, the phase trajectory has the form of a twisting spiral with a period length of the order of a year.
This corresponds to the real dynamics of the incidence of COVID-19, in which, after several months of increasing incidence, a period of falling begins. At the same time, a second wave of incidence of a smaller amplitude, as predicted by the model, was not observed, since during 2020–2023, approximately every six months, a new variant of SARS-CoV-2 appeared, which was more infectious than the previous one, as a result of which the new variant replaced the previous one and became dominant.
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Lyapunov function as a tool for the study of cognitive and regulatory processes in organism
Computer Research and Modeling, 2009, v. 1, no. 4, pp. 449-456Views (last year): 4. Citations: 5 (RSCI).Cognitive and regulatory processes in organism are ensured by the functioning of several different network systems — neural, endocrine, immune, and gene ones. These systems are, however, closely related and form a single integrated neurogenohumoral cognitive-regulatory dynamic system of organism. A review of publications is given which shows that it is possible to associate with this dynamic system a corresponding Lyapunov function (energy function, potential function) and that analyzing this function allows, due to its geometrical insight, to easily discover a set of general properties of cognitive and regulatory functioning of organism.
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Ensemble building and statistical mechanics methods for MHC-peptide binding prediction
Computer Research and Modeling, 2020, v. 12, no. 6, pp. 1383-1395The proteins of the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) play a key role in the functioning of the adaptive immune system, and the identification of peptides that bind to them is an important step in the development of vaccines and understanding the mechanisms of autoimmune diseases. Today, there are a number of methods for predicting the binding of a particular MHC allele to a peptide. One of the best such methods is NetMHCpan-4.0, which is based on an ensemble of artificial neural networks. This paper presents a methodology for qualitatively improving the underlying neural network underlying NetMHCpan-4.0. The proposed method uses the ensemble construction technique and adds as input an estimate of the Potts model taken from static mechanics, which is a generalization of the Ising model. In the general case, the model reflects the interaction of spins in the crystal lattice. Within the framework of the proposed method, the model is used to better represent the physical nature of the interaction of proteins included in the complex. To assess the interaction of the MHC + peptide complex, we use a two-dimensional Potts model with 20 states (corresponding to basic amino acids). Solving the inverse problem using data on experimentally confirmed interacting pairs, we obtain the values of the parameters of the Potts model, which we then use to evaluate a new pair of MHC + peptide, and supplement this value with the input data of the neural network. This approach, combined with the ensemble construction technique, allows for improved prediction accuracy, in terms of the positive predictive value (PPV) metric, compared to the baseline model.
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Biomathematical system of the nucleic acids description
Computer Research and Modeling, 2020, v. 12, no. 2, pp. 417-434The article is devoted to the application of various methods of mathematical analysis, search for patterns and studying the composition of nucleotides in DNA sequences at the genomic level. New methods of mathematical biology that made it possible to detect and visualize the hidden ordering of genetic nucleotide sequences located in the chromosomes of cells of living organisms described. The research was based on the work on algebraic biology of the doctor of physical and mathematical sciences S. V. Petukhov, who first introduced and justified new algebras and hypercomplex numerical systems describing genetic phenomena. This paper describes a new phase in the development of matrix methods in genetics for studying the properties of nucleotide sequences (and their physicochemical parameters), built on the principles of finite geometry. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the capabilities of new algorithms and discuss the discovered properties of genetic DNA and RNA molecules. The study includes three stages: parameterization, scaling, and visualization. Parametrization is the determination of the parameters taken into account, which are based on the structural and physicochemical properties of nucleotides as elementary components of the genome. Scaling plays the role of “focusing” and allows you to explore genetic structures at various scales. Visualization includes the selection of the axes of the coordinate system and the method of visual display. The algorithms presented in this work are put forward as a new toolkit for the development of research software for the analysis of long nucleotide sequences with the ability to display genomes in parametric spaces of various dimensions. One of the significant results of the study is that new criteria were obtained for the classification of the genomes of various living organisms to identify interspecific relationships. The new concept allows visually and numerically assessing the variability of the physicochemical parameters of nucleotide sequences. This concept also allows one to substantiate the relationship between the parameters of DNA and RNA molecules with fractal geometric mosaics, reveals the ordering and symmetry of polynucleotides, as well as their noise immunity. The results obtained justified the introduction of new terms: “genometry” as a methodology of computational strategies and “genometrica” as specific parameters of a particular genome or nucleotide sequence. In connection with the results obtained, biosemiotics and hierarchical levels of organization of living matter are raised.
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Cytokines as indicators of the state of the organism in infectious diseases. Experimental data analysis
Computer Research and Modeling, 2020, v. 12, no. 6, pp. 1409-1426When person`s diseases is result of bacterial infection, various characteristics of the organism are used for observation the course of the disease. Currently, one of these indicators is dynamics of cytokine concentrations are produced, mainly by cells of the immune system. There are many types of these low molecular weight proteins in human body and many species of animals. The study of cytokines is important for the interpretation of functional disorders of the body's immune system, assessment of the severity, monitoring the effectiveness of therapy, predicting of the course and outcome of treatment. Cytokine response of the body indicating characteristics of course of disease. For research regularities of such indication, experiments were conducted on laboratory mice. Experimental data are analyzed on the development of pneumonia and treatment with several drugs for bacterial infection of mice. As drugs used immunomodulatory drugs “Roncoleukin”, “Leikinferon” and “Tinrostim”. The data are presented by two types cytokines` concentration in lung tissue and animal blood. Multy-sided statistical ana non statistical analysis of the data allowed us to find common patterns of changes in the “cytokine profile” of the body and to link them with the properties of therapeutic preparations. The studies cytokine “Interleukin-10” (IL-10) and “Interferon Gamma” (IFN$\gamma$) in infected mice deviate from the normal level of infact animals indicating the development of the disease. Changes in cytokine concentrations in groups of treated mice are compared with those in a group of healthy (not infected) mice and a group of infected untreated mice. The comparison is made for groups of individuals, since the concentrations of cytokines are individual and differ significantly in different individuals. Under these conditions, only groups of individuals can indicate the regularities of the processes of the course of the disease. These groups of mice were being observed for two weeks. The dynamics of cytokine concentrations indicates characteristics of the disease course and efficiency of used therapeutic drugs. The effect of a medicinal product on organisms is monitored by the location of these groups of individuals in the space of cytokine concentrations. The Hausdorff distance between the sets of vectors of cytokine concentrations of individuals is used in this space. This is based on the Euclidean distance between the elements of these sets. It was found that the drug “Roncoleukin” and “Leukinferon” have a generally similar and different from the drug “Tinrostim” effect on the course of the disease.
Keywords: data processing, experiment, cytokine, immune system, pneumonia, statistics, approximation, Hausdorff distance.
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