dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaPhase-Transitions in a model for the formation of herpes simplex ulcers
| Authors | Claudia Pio Ferreira, Jose Fernando Fontanari, Rita M. Zorzenon dos Santos |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0106042 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0106042 |
Abstract
The critical properties of a cellular automaton model describing the spreading of infection of the Herpes Simplex Virus in corneal tissue are investigated through the dynamic Monte Carlo method. The model takes into account different cell susceptibilities to the viral infection, as suggested by experimental findings. In a two-dimensional square lattice, the sites are associated to two distinct types of cells, namely, permissive and resistant to the infection. While a permissive cell becomes infected in the presence of a single infected cell in its neighborhood, a resistant cell needs to be surrounded by at least R>1 infected or dead cells in order to become infected. The infection is followed by the death of the cells resulting in ulcers whose forms may be dendritic (self-limited clusters) or amoeboid (percolating clusters) depending on the degree of resistance R of the resistant cells as well as on the density of permissive cells in the healthy tissue. We show that a phase transition between these two regimes occurs only for R>=5 and, in addition, that the phase-transition is in the universality class of the ordinary percolation.
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"abstract": "The critical properties of a cellular automaton model describing the\nspreading of infection of the Herpes Simplex Virus in corneal tissue are\ninvestigated through the dynamic Monte Carlo method. The model takes into\naccount different cell susceptibilities to the viral infection, as suggested by\nexperimental findings. In a two-dimensional square lattice, the sites are\nassociated to two distinct types of cells, namely, permissive and resistant to\nthe infection. While a permissive cell becomes infected in the presence of a\nsingle infected cell in its neighborhood, a resistant cell needs to be\nsurrounded by at least R\u003e1 infected or dead cells in order to become infected.\nThe infection is followed by the death of the cells resulting in ulcers whose\nforms may be dendritic (self-limited clusters) or amoeboid (percolating\nclusters) depending on the degree of resistance R of the resistant cells as\nwell as on the density of permissive cells in the healthy tissue. We show that\na phase transition between these two regimes occurs only for R\u003e=5 and, in\naddition, that the phase-transition is in the universality class of the\nordinary percolation.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0106042",
"authors": [
"Claudia Pio Ferreira",
"Jose Fernando Fontanari",
"Rita M. Zorzenon dos Santos"
],
"categories": [
"physics.bio-ph",
"q-bio"
],
"title": "Phase-Transitions in a model for the formation of herpes simplex ulcers",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0106042"
},
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