# American Institute of Mathematical Sciences

ISSN:
1551-0018

eISSN:
1547-1063

All Issues

## Mathematical Biosciences & Engineering

2015 , Volume 12 , Issue 1

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2015, 12(1): 1-21 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.1 +[Abstract](2406) +[PDF](865.5KB)
Abstract:
We study the long term dynamics and the multiscale aspects of a within-host HIV model that takes into account both mutation and treatment with enzyme inhibitors. This model generalizes a number of other models that have been extensively used to describe the HIV dynamics. Since the free virus dynamics occur on a much faster time-scale than cell dynamics, the model has two intrinsic time scales and should be viewed as a singularly perturbed system. Using Tikhonov's theorem we prove that the model can be approximated by a lower dimensional nonlinear model. Furthermore, we show that this reduced system is globally asymptotically stable by using Lyapunov's stability theory.
2015, 12(1): 23-40 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.23 +[Abstract](2668) +[PDF](678.4KB)
Abstract:
After decades on the decline, it is believed that the emergence of HIV is responsible for an increase in the tuberculosis prevalence. The leading infectious disease in the world, tuberculosis is also the leading cause of death among HIV-positive individuals. Each disease progresses through several stages. The current model suggests modeling these stages through a time-since-infection tracking transmission rate function, which, when considering co-infection, introduces a double-age structure in the PDE system. The basic and invasion reproduction numbers for each disease are calculated and the basic ones established as threshold for the disease progression. Numerical results confirm the calculations and a simple treatment scenario suggests the importance of time-since-infection when introducing disease control and treatment in the model.
2015, 12(1): 41-69 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.41 +[Abstract](3220) +[PDF](545.3KB)
Abstract:
We consider quasi-stationary (travelling wave type) solutions to a nonlinear reaction-diffusion equation with arbitrary, autonomous coefficients, describing the evolution of glioblastomas, aggressive primary brain tumors that are characterized by extensive infiltration into the brain and are highly resistant to treatment. The second order nonlinear equation describing the glioblastoma growth through travelling waves can be reduced to a first order Abel type equation. By using the integrability conditions for the Abel equation several classes of exact travelling wave solutions of the general reaction-diffusion equation that describes glioblastoma growth are obtained, corresponding to different forms of the product of the diffusion and reaction functions. The solutions are obtained by using the Chiellini lemma and the Lemke transformation, respectively, and the corresponding equations represent generalizations of the classical Fisher--Kolmogorov equation. The biological implications of two classes of solutions are also investigated by using both numerical and semi-analytical methods for realistic values of the biological parameters.
2015, 12(1): 71-81 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.71 +[Abstract](2266) +[PDF](324.4KB)
Abstract:
The concept of limiting factors (or regulating factors) succeeded in formulating the well-known principle of competitive exclusion. This paper shows that the concept of limiting factors is helpful not only to formulate the competitive exclusion principle, but also to obtain other ecological insights. To this end, by focusing on a specific community structure, we study the dynamics of Kolmogorov equations and show that it is possible to derive an ecologically insightful result only from the information about interactions between species and limiting factors. Furthermore, we find that the derived result is a generalization of the preceding work by Shigesada, Kawasaki, and Teramoto (1984), who examined a certain Lotka-Volterra equation in a different context.
2015, 12(1): 83-97 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.83 +[Abstract](2456) +[PDF](660.6KB)
Abstract:
Allee effects make populations more vulnerable to extinction, especially under severe harvesting or predation. Using a delay-differential equation modeling the evolution of a single-species population subject to constant effort harvesting, we show that the interplay between harvest strength and Allee effects leads not only to collapses due to overexploitation; large delays can interact with Allee effects to produce extinction at population densities that would survive for smaller time delays. In case of bistability, our estimations on the basins of attraction of the two coexisting attractors improve some recent results in this direction. Moreover, we show that the persistent attractor can exhibit bubbling: a stable equilibrium loses its stability as harvesting effort increases, giving rise to sustained oscillations, but higher mortality rates stabilize the equilibrium again.
2015, 12(1): 99-115 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.99 +[Abstract](2579) +[PDF](293.2KB)
Abstract:
A multi-group model is proposed to describe a general relapse phenomenon of infectious diseases in heterogeneous populations. In each group, the population is divided into susceptible, exposed, infectious, and recovered subclasses. A general nonlinear incidence rate is used in the model. The results show that the global dynamics are completely determined by the basic reproduction number $R_0.$ In particular, a matrix-theoretic method is used to prove the global stability of the disease-free equilibrium when $R_0\leq1,$ while a new combinatorial identity (Theorem 3.3 in Shuai and van den Driessche [29]) in graph theory is applied to prove the global stability of the endemic equilibrium when $R_0>1.$ We would like to mention that by applying the new combinatorial identity, a graph of 3n (or 2n+m) vertices can be converted into a graph of n vertices in order to deal with the global stability of the endemic equilibrium in this paper.
2015, 12(1): 117-133 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.117 +[Abstract](2384) +[PDF](362.1KB)
Abstract:
We present a constructive method for Lyapunov functions for ordinary differential equation models of infectious diseases in vivo. We consider models derived from the Nowak-Bangham models. We construct Lyapunov functions for complex models using those of simpler models. Especially, we construct Lyapunov functions for models with an immune variable from those for models without an immune variable, a Lyapunov functions of a model with absorption effect from that for a model without absorption effect. We make the construction clear for Lyapunov functions proposed previously, and present new results with our method.
2015, 12(1): 135-161 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.135 +[Abstract](2611) +[PDF](844.2KB)
Abstract:
Computing endemic equilibria and basic reproductive numbers for systems of differential equations describing epidemiological systems with multiple connections between subpopulations is often algebraically intractable. We present an alternative method which deconstructs the larger system into smaller subsystems and captures the interactions between the smaller systems as external forces using an approximate model. We bound the basic reproductive numbers of the full system in terms of the basic reproductive numbers of the smaller systems and use the alternate model to provide approximations for the endemic equilibrium. In addition to creating algebraically tractable reproductive numbers and endemic equilibria, we can demonstrate the influence of the interactions between subpopulations on the basic reproductive number of the full system. The focus of this paper is to provide analytical tools to help guide public health decisions with limited intervention resources.
2015, 12(1): 163-183 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.163 +[Abstract](2671) +[PDF](777.9KB)
Abstract:
A mathematical spatial cancer model of the interaction between a drug and both malignant and healthy cells is considered. It is assumed that the drug influences negative malignant cells as well as healthy ones. The mathematical model considered consists of three nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations which describe spatial dynamics of malignant cells as well as healthy ones, and of the concentration of the drug. Additionally, we assume some phase constraints for the number of the malignant and the healthy cells and for the total dose of the drug during the whole treatment process.
We search through all the courses of treatment switching between an application of the drug with the maximum intensity (intensive therapy phase) and discontinuing administering of the drug (relaxation phase) with the objective of achieving the maximum possible therapy (survival) time. We will call the therapy a viable treatment strategy.
2015, 12(1): 185-208 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.185 +[Abstract](3003) +[PDF](9085.7KB)
Abstract:
In this paper, we incorporate an extra logistic growth term for uninfected CD4$^+$ T-cells into an HIV-1 infection model with both intracellular delay and immune response delay which was studied by Pawelek et al. in [26]. First, we proved that if the basic reproduction number $R_0<1$, then the infection-free steady state is globally asymptotically stable. Second, when $R_0>1$, then the system is uniformly persistent, suggesting that the clearance or the uniform persistence of the virus is completely determined by $R_0$. Furthermore, given both the two delays are zero, then the infected steady state is asymptotically stable when the intrinsic growth rate of the extra logistic term is sufficiently small. When the two delays are not zero, we showed that both the immune response delay and the intracellular delay may destabilize the infected steady state by leading to Hopf bifurcation and stable periodic oscillations, on which we analyzed the direction of the Hopf bifurcation as well as the stability of the bifurcating periodic orbits by normal form and center manifold theory introduced by Hassard et al [15]. Third, we engaged numerical simulations to explore the rich dynamics like chaotic oscillations, complicated bifurcation diagram of viral load due to the logistic term of target cells and the two time delays.
2015, 12(1): 209-231 doi: 10.3934/mbe.2015.12.209 +[Abstract](2675) +[PDF](969.3KB)
Abstract:
Disease transmission depends on the interplay between the infectious agent and the behavior of the host. Some diseases, such as Chronic Wasting Disease, can be transmitted directly between hosts as well as indirectly via the environment. The social behavior of hosts affects both of these pathways, and a successful intervention requires knowledge of the relative influence of the different etiological and behavioral aspects of the disease. We develop a strategic differential equation model for Chronic Wasting Disease and include direct and indirect transmission as well as host aggregation into our model. We calculate the basic reproduction number and perform a sensitivity analysis based on Latin hypercube sampling from published parameter values. We find conditions for the existence of an endemic equilibrium, and show that, under a certain mild assumption on parameters, the model does not exhibit a backward bifurcation or bistability. Hence, the basic reproduction number constitutes the disease elimination threshold. We find that the prevalence of the disease decreases with host aggregation and increases with the lifespan of the infectious agent in the environment.

2018 Impact Factor: 1.313