Extracellular ionic fluxes suggest the basis for cellular life at the 1/f ridge of extended criticality

Proton-polarized states in DNA

We observed signatures of a phase transition in the double-stranded DNA fragment of known length and sequences using a non-invasive semiconductor-electrolyte interface technique and statistical physics methods. Observations revealed a coherence peak in the electromotive force and a significant decline in calculated dynamic entropy at a critical temperature and pH. This behavior may arise from the dynamic interaction of proton (H+) pairs with opposite momentum and spin, carrying a charge q=2+ under critical conditions.

Phase coherent quasi-particle formation in biological systems

The problem of the origin of canonical and aberrant DNA mutations and the contribution of protons to genetic stability is an essential topic in molecular biology. Based on the empirical results, we reconsidered canonical and tautomeric mutations under the two-fluid model of quantum physics. We assumed that the pressure exerted by protons (H+) in the DNA environment, through changes in pH, could alter the concentration ratio of canonical and tautomeric base pairs, which were found to be different at and beyond the criticality level, respectively. We anticipate that the deviation of the cellular system from a specific (critical) temperature at which dynamic entropy reaches a minimum and a critical pH occurs could result in tautomerization and point mutations.

Collective excitations of germinating pollen grains at critical points

In plants, the germinating pollen grain (pollen tube) is a single, elongated cell that serves as a conduit through which gametes pass. Pollen tubes display a fast growth rate, which under certain conditions, changes periodically and is accompanied by ion exchange with the growth environment. Therefore, pollen tubes exposed to various abiotic conditions may adversely affect or improve their reproductive performance and fertility. We examined a collection of live pollen tubes of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis L.) using a non-invasive semiconductor-electrolyte interface technique in the vicinity of the germination temperature or optimum growth temperature of a pollen grains/tubes. The time series measurements and numerical calculations, performed using information theory methods, represent signatures of collective dynamics in living cells at critical-molecularly encoded-germination and growth temperatures. This method (and soil pH data) can facilitate assisted plant migrations from one ecosystem to another as the Earth faces climate change.

Collective excitations at non-equilibrium phase transition in metabolically active red blood cells

Collective excitations of superconductors and superfluids have been extensively studied in condensed matter physics, while recent experimental advances have made it possible to study the non-equilibrium dynamics of human blood. Here, we show that some dynamic quantitative metrics calculated for the ion fluxes of two isolated peripheral blood droplets that were spatially separated by the presence of a semiconductor exhibited the characteristic features of a quasi-particle (or collective excitation) at a critical point. In the experiment, the spontaneous peak, which indicates order, appeared at a physiological (hereafter: critical) temperature of 36 °C in the human blood. The ordering effect, which was still present in the weak magnetic field of 350 mT, disappeared above the critical magnetic field of approximately 500 mT, suggesting a dynamic Meissner effect in the system (henceforth "dynamic" means derived from the "time series" - a series of real numbers). Moreover, a superconducting gap ratio of approx. 2.91 was found below the upper limit (4) of the BCS theory for weak coupling. Both these effects indicate the existence of a "superconducting" (ion) environment that is conducive to the emergence of quasiparticles. While the dynamic structure of the time series is substantially isotropic at temperatures beyond the phase transition, the system undergoes symmetry breakdown and non-equilibrium phase transition at a critical state. The designated series of dynamic variables can be used in medicine, inter alia, in screening tests as new indicators describing the patient's health.

Non-equilibrium phase transition at a critical point of human blood

Blood is the basic medium in the existence, evolution and physiological balance of animals and represents the biochemical "Internet" of the body; at least human blood exhibit the presence of an emergent phase that is highly unusual. Homeostasis, the state of the optimal functioning of the body, is maintained in living organisms by many chemical and physical conditions, particularly temperature. However, no regulatory mechanism has been identified that has led to a predetermined (molecularly encoded) optimal, individually variable, very specific temperature of around 36 °C. Additionally, the homeostatic temperature range, which is kept within predetermined limits, is merely an empirical fact. In the following, I will show that the reference temperature that is necessary to achieve homeostasis can be established, and a preset homeostatic range can be determined, using an original experimental method and refined tools of mathematical physics related to the nonlinear measures of the complexity of human blood. Moreover, signatures of a macroscopic coherent state in a non-equilibrium system at a critical temperature are obtained.

Morphological, fractal, and textural features for the blood cell classification: the case of acute myeloid leukemia

Microscopic examination of stained peripheral blood smears is, nowadays, an indispensable tool in the evaluation of patients with hematological and non-hematological diseases. While a rapid automated quantification of the regular blood cells is available, recognition and counting of immature white blood cells (WBC) still relies mostly on the microscopic examination of blood smears by an experienced observer. Recently, there are efforts to improve the prediction by various machine learning approaches. An open dataset collection including the recently digitalized single-cell images for 200 patients, from peripheral blood smears at 100 × magnification, was used. We studied different morphological, fractal, and textural descriptors for WBC classification, with an aim to indicate the most reliable parameters for the recognition of certain cell types. Structural properties of both the mature and non-mature leukocytes obtained from (i) acute myeloid leukemia patients, or (ii) non-malignant controls, were studied in depth, with a sample size of about 25 WBC per group. We quantified structural and textural differences and, based on the statistical ranges of parameters for different WBC types, selected eight features for classification: Cell area, Nucleus-to-cell ratio, Nucleus solidity, Fractal dimension, Correlation, Contrast, Homogeneity, and Energy. Classification Precision of up to 100% (80% on average) was achieved.

Dynamic entropy of human blood

Temperature control is a process that is used by biological systems to maintain a stable internal state for survival. People have an individually variable physiological temperature of about 36.6 °C, which can be modified by many undesirable factors. Based on an analysis of a time series of extracellular ionic fluxes that were obtained using the non-invasive solute-semiconductor interface technique, I show that this extremely specific (critical) temperature is encoded by a local minimum in the dynamic entropy of an isolated drop of human blood. Moreover, a dynamic zeroth-order normal fluid/"superfluid" nonequilibrium phase transition, which was reflected by a spontaneous symmetry breaking that occurred in the phase space, was revealed. The critical scaling of the dynamic measures for the covariates such as the spectral signature and Lyapunov exponent was also determined.

Application of time-series regularity metrics to ion flux data from a population of pollen tubes

Detecting the presence of an irregularity/regularity or chaos in the ion flows of an evolving plant cell is an important task that can be unraveled by performing the analyses by different metrics. Here I show that the results of the advanced fluctuation estimation methods that are obtained from the time series that is generated by the extracellular ion fluxes of tobacco pollen tubes (Nicotiana tabacum L.) have long-range correlations at critical temperatures. Further experimental evidence has been found to support the claim that the autonomous growth organization of extreme plant cell expansion is accomplished by self-organizing criticality (SOC), which is an orchestrated instability that occurs in an optimally evolving cell. The temperature-induced synchronous action of the ionic fluxes that are manifested, inter alia, by minimal dynamic entropy enabled the molecularly encoded information about germination and optimal growth temperatures of tobacco pollen tubes to be determined.