Topological approach of Jungian psychology.

In this work, we compare two global approaches which are usually considered as completely unconnected one with the other. The former is Thom's topology and the latter is Jung's psychology. More precisely, it seemed to us interesting to adapt some morphologies of Thom's catastrophe theory to some Jung's notions. Thus, we showed that the swallowtail, which is one of these morphologies, was able to describe geometrically the structural organisation of the psyche according to Jung, with its collective unconscious, personal unconscious and conscious. Moreover, we have correlated this morphology with Jung's evolutive processes like individualization and individuation. These comparisons incited us to think that some morphologies of Thom's catastrophe theory are the geometrical dealing of Jung's archetypes.

Generalised biological function.

A physiological function can be described as a cycle based on a cusp bifurcation set in catastrophe theory. This cycle involves four phases that are successively developed along a functional potential, which is used to perform a given physiological act. The work we present is firstly based on a detailed study of the global function of vision, which covers a vast field extending from the molecular to cerebral scale. We then present other examples of generalised functions by expanding the frame of reference, from the scale of an organ to the scale of a whole organism with predation function, and to the scale of a social group with crisis management. We observed that the criteria remain the same, whether the function is considered on the scale of a cell membrane or a group of individuals organised into a cohort. Moreover, a so-called generalised function can be broken down into simpler sub-functions, each phase of the initial function containing the physiological act of each sub-function. It seems thus that a fractal extension may characterise the four-cusp spiral. This spiral is increasingly large as the types of sub-functions are multiplied. In functions relative to sociological science, such as crisis management, which are not natural but built and designed by humans, close attention must be paid to following the rules of these generalised biological functions.

The survival attractor in the sensory functions: the example of hearing.

High noise levels may have an adverse effect on the normal cochlea function and lead to significant hearing loss. Clinically, exposure to high intensity impulse noise produces a wide range of audiometric effects which may result in long term or even irreversible symptoms. Nevertheless, there is sometimes a spontaneous rebound recovery of the auditory function. This phenomenon was previously studied in the vision, another sensory function. It was called the visual survival attractor. In view of the importance that the sensory organs have for the brain, and in particular in its function of recognising and dealing with its environment, it was interesting to know whether this survival attractor concept already described for vision occurs more generally in all the sensory functions. With this in mind we present here the results of a new study, this time on hearing. This study was carried out on guinea pigs subjected to a pulsed acoustic trauma simulating the sound of a gun going off. Auditory function was explored using electrocochleography and two types of investigation were carried out. At first the change in hearing loss was studied in relation to frequencies varying between 2 and 24 kHz by calculating the difference, at each frequency, between the compound action potential thresholds measured before and then 20 mn, 24 h and 7 days after the acoustic trauma. On the other hand, the change in compound action potential amplitude was determined by varying the stimulating sound level from the auditory threshold up to 90 dB. This change was also recorded at the same time intervals as the investigation of hearing loss. In both the analysis of changes to hearing loss and in the investigation of variations in compound action potential, the results of the electrocochleographic investigations after acoustic trauma confirm the presence of a butterfly catastrophe type reaction process, that is positive evidence of a hearing survival attractor.

In vivo modification of the UDP-glucuronosyltransferase functional state in rat liver following hypophysectomy and partial or complete hormonal restoration.

The effects of growth hormone on the uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase functional state, biophysical membrane parameters (order parameters and rotational correlation frequency) and the composition in phospholipids were studied in male rat hepatic microsomes. Sham-operated and hypophysectomized animals were injected with two different dosages of growth hormone, mimicking either the male or female growth hormone secretion pattern. Half the animals received thyroxine and cortisol in concentrations chosen to compensate for the lack of thyroid hormones and glucocorticoids in hypophysectomized rats. Growth hormone treatment resulted in a decrease in the latency (that gives a quantification of uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferase functional state) of the glucuronidation activities towards various substrates (testosterone, androsterone, bilirubin and 4-nitrophenol). This decrease with growth hormone treatment was particularly evident in hypophysectomized animals that had received cortisol and thyroxine supplementation treatment. These modifications were strongly correlated with modifications in the microsomal membrane lysophospholipid content and to a lower extent with microsomal membrane fatty acid composition. The cytosolic phospholipase A(2)-dependent increase in the lysophospholipid content in the endoplasmic reticulum is probably a major determinant in the regulation of the functional state of glucuronoyltransferases in response to high dosage growth hormone treatment.