Chronome/chrone Franz Halberg, Germaine Cornélissen,
Othild Schwartzkopff,
Mario Cagnoni, Federico Perfetto & Roberto Tarquini
“Chronome,” derived from chronos (time), nomos (rule,
law) and in the case of biological chronomes, chromosome, describes
features in time, just as cells characterize the spatial organization
of life. The chronome complements the genome (derived from gene
and chromosome). The chronome consists of 1) a partly genetic,
partly developmental, partly environmentally influenced or synchronized
spectrum of rhythms; 2) stochastic or deterministic chaos; 3)
trends with growth, development, maturation and aging in health
and/or trends with an elevation of disease risk, illness and
treatment in disease; and 4) unresolved variability. The chronome
is genetically coded: it is environmentally synchronized by
cycles of the socio-ecologic habitat niche and it is influenced
by the dynamics of the interplanetary magnetic field.
The chronome constituents, the chrones, algorithmically formulated
endpoints, are inferentially statistically validated and resolved
by the computer.
Chronomes and their chrones 1) quantify normalcy, allowing an
individualized positive health quantification; 2) assess, by
their alterations, the earliest abnormality, including the quantification
of an elevated risk of developing one (or several) disease(s),
chronorisk, by the alteration of one or several chrones; and
3) provide, by the study of underlying mechanisms, a rational
basis in the search for measures aimed at the prevention of
any deterioration in properly timed, mutually beneficial environmental-organismic
interactions.
1. Cornélissen G., Halberg F.
(1992) Broadly pertinent chronobiology methods quantify phosphate
dynamics (chronome) in blood and urine. Clin. Chem. 38: 329–333
