HumMod: A Modeling Environment for the Simulation of Integrative Human Physiology

Abstract

Mathematical models and simulations are important tools in discovering key causal relationships governing physiological processes. Simulations guide and improve outcomes of medical interventions involving complex physiology. We developed HumMod, a Windows-based model of integrative human physiology. HumMod consists of 5000 variables describing cardiovascular, respiratory, renal, neural, endocrine, skeletal muscle, and metabolic physiology. The model is constructed from empirical data obtained from peer-reviewed physiological literature. All model details, including variables, parameters, and quantitative relationships, are described in Extensible Markup Language (XML) files. The executable (HumMod.exe) parses the XML and displays the results of the physiological simulations. The XML description of physiology in HumMod's modeling environment allows investigators to add detailed descriptions of human physiology to test new concepts. Additional or revised XML content is parsed and incorporated into the model. The model accurately predicts both qualitative and quantitative changes in clinical and experimental responses. The model is useful in understanding proposed physiological mechanisms and physiological interactions that are not evident, allowing one to observe higher level emergent properties of the complex physiological systems. HumMod has many uses, for instance, analysis of renal control of blood pressure, central role of the liver in creating and maintaining insulin resistance, and mechanisms causing orthostatic hypotension in astronauts. Users simulate different physiological and pathophysiological situations by interactively altering numerical parameters and viewing time-dependent responses. HumMod provides a modeling environment to understand the complex interactions of integrative physiology. HumMod can be downloaded at http://hummod.org

Validation of an integrative mathematical model of dehydration and rehydration in virtual humans

“…2011). HumMod's focus is on integrating all facets of cardiovascular control (neural, hormonal, and fluid‐dynamic) to produce a robust model of circulatory physiology, with auxiliary endocrine, metabolic, and respiratory models providing more details.…”

Computing Personalised Treatments through In Silico Clinical Trials. A Case Study on Downregulation in Assisted Reproduction.

“…In our model-based setting, we have to face with complex Virtual Physiological Human (VPH) models, e.g., HumMod [17], Physiomodel [33] and GynCycle [36] defined through highly non-linear differential equations modelling underlying biological mechanisms (e.g., inhibitory and stimulatory effects).…”

“…Important attempts in this direction are given by HumMod [17] and the more recent Physiomodel [33], a complex whole-body model written in the standard Modelica language and executable by means of open-source (e.g., OpenModelica, openmodelica.org) as well as proprietary (e.g., Dymola, dymola.com) simulators.…”

Detection of Runtime Conflicts among Services in Smart Cities

“…As these conflicts depend on the physiological state of a person they need accurate human physiological models like [8], that also need to be personalized. In case the interventions from one or more services come in a textual format (e.g., sms/warning message/notifications), it will be necessary to automatically detect any contradictory information, using for example natural language processing.…”

“…EyePhy [13] is a system for dependency and conflict analysis across human-in-the-loop apps. EyePhy uses a human body simulator named HumMod [8] to model the effect of various medical interventions on the entire human body using more than 7800 physiological parameters. HumMod could also be used to detect the some effects of services on human body in smart cities, but more parameters and mechanisms are needed to detect the conflicts on humans.…”