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Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 129 (2013) 616

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Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology


journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jphotobiol

Attributes characterizing spontaneous ultra-weak photon signals of human subjects


Rajendra P. Bajpai a,b, Eduard P.A. Van Wijk a,b,c,, Roeland Van Wijk b,c, Jan van der Greef a,b,d
a

LACDR/ Division of Analytical Biosciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. Sino-Dutch Centre for Preventive and Personalized Medicine, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands c Meluna Research, Amersfoort, The Netherlands d TNO Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientic Research, Zeist, The Netherlands
b

a r t i c l e

i n f o

a b s t r a c t
Sixty visible range photon signals spontaneously emitted from the dorsal side of both hands of fteen human subjects are analyzed with the aim of nding their attributes. The signals are of 30 min duration and detected in bins of 50 ms by two synchronized photo multipliers sensitive in the range (290 630 nm). Each signal is a time series of 36,000 elements. The attributes of its signal are determined from the statistical properties of time series. The mean and variance of time series determine the attributes signal strength and intercept (p0) and slope (p1) of the Fano Factor curve. The photon count distribution of the time series determines squeezed state parameters |a|, r, h and /, squeezed state index (SSI), and sum of the squares of residue (SSR). The correlation between simultaneously detected signals determines intercept (c0) and slope (c1) of their correlation curve. The variability of attributes is studied by calculating them in smaller intervals covering the entire signal. The prole of attribute at 12 sites in a subject is more informative and biologically relevant. 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Article history: Received 8 July 2013 Received in revised form 16 September 2013 Accepted 16 September 2013 Available online 30 September 2013 Keywords: Ultra-weak photon emission Biophoton Fano Factor Left-right correlation Cluster analysis Meditation

1. Introduction Ultra-weak photon emission (UPE) is the phenomenon of spontaneous and incessant emission of photons by living organisms. The emitted photons are mainly in the visible range and their spectrum is, probably, continuous. The phenomenon is also called spontaneous biophoton emission. The phenomenon is widespread and has been observed in human subjects by many groups. The number of photons emitted from any anatomical location in human subjects uctuates around an average value. The average value of ux is less than 102 photons/s/cm2 of body surface [16]. It varies with anatomical location and subject. The source and origin of the photons are unknown. They are suspected to arise from metabolic processes. The suspicion envisages a potential in UPE signals for non-invasive monitoring of some metabolic processes and biological features [711]. The potential has not been realized so far primarily due to the absence of proper framework capable of describing and characterizing UPE signals. A UPE signals has to be characterized by empirically determined attributes. Nearly unchanging average photon ux is an obvious attribute. It is called signal strength. The signal strength is not too discriminatory to
Corresponding author at: LACDR/ Division of Analytical Biosciences, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. Tel.: +31 06 42726062. E-mail address: epa.vanwijk@lacdr.leidenuniv.nl (E.P.A. Van Wijk).
1011-1344/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2013.09.002

monitor different biological features and factors. Monitoring capability requires more discriminating attribute(s) [1216]. The unchanging average photon ux permits the visualization of UPE signal as a time series of the outcomes of successive counting of photons in contiguous bins of same size. The outcome from a bin uctuates in UPE signals. We wondered if the uctuations in the number of photons detected in a bin contain some information about the signal. We, therefore, investigated the statistical properties of time series. The mean, variance and photon count distribution are considered to be more informative properties of a time series. They contain information related to repeated measurements of photon number. They, however, miss out the information contained in sequential nature of repeated measurements. The missed out information is unearthed by analyzing many other time series that depict a signal measured with different bin sizes. The time series for different bin sizes are different versions of a signal. One observes only the time series for the least bin size. This time series provides the ne grain version of signal. The time series of higher bin sizes are obtained from the ne grain version by merging counts in integral number of bins. They constitute coarse grain versions of the signal. The statistical properties of the time series of different versions are different but they exhibit denite patterns in human UPE signals. These pattern contain quantiable information of the signals. The information contained in the second statistical moment, variance, is expressible in a curve. It is called Fano

R.P. Bajpai et al. / Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 129 (2013) 616

Factor curve. Its shape is nearly linear at lower bin sizes. The intercept and slope of its linear portion are easily determined. They are Eigen attributes of the signal. The analysis of photon count distribution determines two additional Eigen attributes, squeezed state index (SSI) and sum of the squares of residue (SSR). The signals emitted at different anatomical sites of a subject have different values of Eigen attributes. The different values rule out quantitative relation between the value of an attribute and physiological properties of the subject. Searching for a quantitative relation between them is unfair. The attributes are of the signal emitted at a specic site while physiological properties are not specic to a site but are of the whole subject. The information contained in the different values of an attribute at many sites may have some relation with physiological properties. The analytical framework capable of extracting information from the values of an attribute is not known. Cluster analysis does provide a technique for discovering the existence of connection between information contained in the values of an attribute at multiple sites of a subject and physiological properties of the subject. Cluster analysis requires data from a population containing groups of subjects differing in a physiological property. It determines the number and constitution of clusters in the population on the basis of values of one or more attributes at multiple sites. The agreement between clusters with groups establishes the association between the values of one or more attributes and the physiological property. We used for cluster analysis published data on the measurements of UPE signals at 12 sites in 60 subjects forming three groups on the basis of the relaxation/meditation technique [17,18]. This is the only published large enough data set. Such techniques have been practiced in medicine and their clinical effects and effects on peroxide level have been systematically reviewed [1922]. The values of every attribute showed good association with meditation groups. The analysis shows the association of attributes with meditation induced physiological changes. Simultaneous detection of UPE signals from two parts of a subject provides another type of information about the subject. This information is extractable as correlation curve from the correlation between the strengths of two signals at different bin sizes. The parameters characterizing the curve are new attributes of the subject. The all above attributes calculated in background noise signals did not reveal new information. The existence of new attributes implies that the earlier characterization of UPE signal by it signal strength was perfunctory. The earlier characterization revealed a part but not the full biological relevance of UPE signals. The correct characterization requires specication of signal strength and other Eigen attributes. In order to demonstrate the existence of new attributes, we have determined them in sixty human photon signals of half hour duration measured with bin size of 50 ms as well as in overlapping intervals of 3 min, 5 min, 10 min and 15 min covering these signals.

photomultiplier tube was sensitive in the spectral range of (290 630 nm). Its sensitivity dropped rapidly to less than 1% beyond this range. Both photomultiplier tubes had similar background noise and photon detection efciency. The photomultipliers were operated in single-photon counting mode and the shutters of their windows were synchronized electronically for making simultaneous measurements. The time of detection of every photon was recorded and stored digitally with a National Instruments PC card. A built in program determined the number of photons detected in contiguous bins of same size from the time of detection of photons. The photo multiplier tubes were calibrated with a standard LED (Conrad Electronic, Type TLLG 5400, green) [16]. 2.2. Subjects Fifteen healthy volunteers (7 females and 8 males, age 35 68 years) were enrolled in the study as subjects. The subjects were research colleagues, volunteering often in non-invasive recording of data for the development of statistical procedures. They adequately understood the recording procedure and gave verbal informed consent. According to the Medical Research Involving Human Subjects Act (2006), this study did not require medical ethics review. 2.3. Measuring procedure of the ne grain version of signal Background noise in both photo multipliers systems was recorded simultaneously for half an hour by counting photons in contiguous bins of size 50 ms. The recordings provided the time series of ne grain version of background noise. The spontaneous photon signals of the subjects were then recorded. The signals were recorded between 11 A.M. and 5 P.M. so as to minimize the inuence of diurnal rhythms found [2,24,25]. The subject wore light tight gloves on both hands for at least 45 min before the measurement of the UPE signal. The gloves shielded the hands from exposure to ambient light and eliminated any contribution to the measured signal from delayed luminescence arising from the earlier exposure of the hands to light. The subject put both hands below the two photo multiplier tubes for recording of ne grain versions of observed signals from the dorsal side. Fine grain version was the primary measurement and contained results of counting photons in 36,000 bins. The second measurement of signals from left and right hands of the same subject was made after two hours on the same day. Four signals of each subject were measured. They were assigned separate codes. The codes of signals from left and right hands of the subject 1 were S1 and S2 in the rst measurement and S3 and S4 in the second measurement. The codes of the signals of other subjects were consecutively assigned in the same order giving the codes S1 to S60 to 60 signals. The background noise signals of the photo multiplier tube at the left side were coded as LBG1 to LBG5 and at the right side as RBG1 to RBG5. 2.4. Coarse grained versions of signal

2. Materials and methods 2.1. Photomultiplier system The photomultiplier system was a table top model specially designed for both hands. It had two detector heads located on top of two dark chambers. The dark chambers and detector heads were shielded from any surrounding light [4,16,23]. The dark chambers were free from any phosphorescent material and their temperature was maintained at 20 1.0 C. Each detector head consisted of a shutter and a photo multiplier tube (Electron Tube 9235QA). The shutter was electronically controlled and allowed the photons from the dark chamber to enter the detection area of the photo multiplier tube through a 51 mm (2 in.) diameter window. The Coarse grained versions of a signal are time series corresponding to measurements made with bin sizes equal to integral multiples of 50 ms. They were obtained from ne grain version of the signal by merging the number of photons detected in integral number of contiguous bins e.g. the coarse grained version of signal for bin size of 100 ms was obtained by adding photons detected in two contiguous bins of 50 ms one after the other. The merging of bins reduced the length of time series. One thousand versions of each signal were obtained. The bin size and number of bins in time series of different versions varied from (50 ms, 36,000) to (50 s, 36).

R.P. Bajpai et al. / Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 129 (2013) 616

2.5. Statistical properties of the time series of compound events The time series of a signal was tested for periodicity and auto correlation. The time series of UPE signals and background noise signals did not show any signicant periodicity or auto correlation. They were considered as records of outcomes in repeated and independent detections of the number of photons in a bin. It was a necessary assumption. It allowed equating statistical properties of time series to the attributes of signal. Its validity is implicitly accepted in equating mean of time series to signal strength. The assumption paves the way for identifying statistical properties of time series other than mean with the attributes of signal. The other statistical properties are statistical moments e.g. variance, skewness, etc. and photon count distribution. Photon count distribution is the set of frequencies of detecting different number of photons in a bin. One obtains observed probabilities of detecting different number of photons in a bin by dividing the frequencies by the total number of bins in the time series. Photon count distribution, is, therefore, also considered to be the set of probabilities of detecting different number of photons in a bin. The statistical properties represent the behavior of entire time series. They, as well as any attribute obtained from them, capture the integrated effect over a macroscopic interval of many acts of photon emission. The statistical properties and the attributes obtained from them, therefore, contain some holistic avor. The observed signal contained the results of counting photons of actual and background noise signals. The statistical properties of the actual signal were obtained from statistical properties of the time series of observed and background noise signals by applying background noise correction. The procedure of background noise correction is different for different properties [1216]. The procedure is valid in weak signals detected by a stable measuring system. The stable measuring system signies that statistical properties of its background do not change on any day, so that their measured values can be used for applying background noise correction in signals measured on the same day. The stability of the measuring system is checked frequently and measurements were made only with stable system. Weak signals are required for independent counting of each photon. The signals of strength less than 104 counts/50 ms are weak for measurements in our photomultiplier tubes. Since the strength was around one count/50 ms in both UPE and background noise signals, the photomultipliers counted photons independently. The procedure of background noise assumes that the observed time series of UPE signal is a record of outcomes of compound events of detecting photons in a bin. The events originate from two sources, background noise or actual photon signal. Since two sources emit photons independently and photons are counted independently, the statistical properties of the time series of compound events are determined by the statistical properties of time series of two sources. We shall express mean, variance and photon count distribution respectively by k, V and set {P(n, D), n = 0, 1. . .}, where P(n, D) is the probability of detecting n photons in a bin of size D, and shall add subscripts obs, sig and bg to the time series of observed signal, actual signal and background noise. The statistical properties of three time series are related by the equations:

nal. It is always used and its validity is not questioned. The assumptions (independence of sources and detection) needed for its validity are considered so sound that they are not explicitly stated. There is no reason to doubt them. We also accept the correctness of assumptions. The correctness of assumptions ensures the validity of Eqs. (2) and (3). The two equations are usually ignored because of presumed classical nature of signals. The variance and photon count distribution do not contain information intrinsic to a signal if its nature is classical. They contain information intrinsic to a signal if its nature is quantum. They measure effects arising from external causes in a classical signal; variance estimates measuring error in signal strength and photon count distribution measures inuences of thermalizing processes. We shall neither presume classical nature of UPE signals nor ignore Eqs. (2) and (3). We shall, instead, extract information intrinsic to signal contained in variance and photon count distribution. The extracted information will be depicted by new Eigen attributes of UPE signals. Eq. (2) can be applied for calculating variance in all versions of a signal i.e. with time series of all bin sizes. The effect of changing numbers of bins in time series of different bin size on variance arising from is eliminated by normalizing the variance with mean counts per bin. The normalized variance is called Fano Factor [26]. It is expressed in counts/bin. Fano factor was considered as a property of the system in some earlier studies [12,13,16]. We could not consider it as a property of UPE signal because it had different values in different time series of the same signal. If the plot of Fano Factor in different versions of a signal against the bin size of version uctuates around a smooth curve, then the smooth curve is an intrinsic property of signal contained in its variance. We shall call the curve as Fano Factor curve. If Fano Factor curve is a line parallel to bin size axis, then Fano Factor uctuates around a value. Such a Fano Factor curve does not contain any intrinsic information. Fano Factor curve containing intrinsic information must have non-trivial structure. The parameters specifying the structure of Fano Factor curve are new attributes of signal. The procedure of parameterisation applicable to UPE signals is discussed in Section 2.6. Eq. (3) is not one equation but a set of coupled algebraic equations. They require a different approach for extracting information intrinsic to signal. The coupled equations can be solved recursively and Psig (n, D) for different n can be calculated. The recursions yield unsatisfactory values for n > 2 because of the compounding of errors of individual probabilities. The relative signicance of a probability changes with bin size and there is no most informative probability at all bin sizes. All probabilities have to be considered at the same footing. We need an approach that extracts signal specic information from all probabilities. One such approach is discussed in Section 2.8. 2.6. Fano Factor in different versions of a signal Eqs. (1) and (2) were used for determining mean and variance of the actual signal from the time series of observed and background noise signals for every bin size (D). Mean and variance determined Fano Factor of the actual signal in counts/bin as:

K obs ksig kbg V obs V sig V bg


in X Psig i; DPbg n i; D i0

1 2

Fano Factor D V obs V bg =kobs kbg

Pobs n; D

The Fano Factor of a signal was calculated in its one thousand versions. The calculated values were plotted against the bin size D of the version. The values uctuated around the Fano Factor curve, which was parameterized by polynomial of second degree in D:

The three equations are based on same assumptions and have equal validity. They specify procedures for applying background noise corrections. Eq. (1) determines signal strength of actual sig-

Fano Factor D p0 p1 D p2 D2

The three coefcients p0, p1 and p2 of the curve were obtained by tting calculated values of Fano Factor using Eq. (5). The coefcients

R.P. Bajpai et al. / Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 129 (2013) 616

were new attributes of the signal. The use of one thousand versions for determining the new attributes was arbitrary. We, therefore, determined them using 100, 200 and 500 versions as well. Only 100 versions were used in determining them in smaller intervals of signals. 2.7. Correlation between the signals from two hands of a subject The photon signals from left and right hands of a subject were simultaneously detected, so that the sixty detected signals contained thirty pairs of simultaneously detected signals as well. The correlation coefcient of each pair of signals was calculated in their 1000 versions and was plotted against the bin size of version. It uctuated rapidly around a smooth curve, named correlation curve. The correlation curve was parameterized with a polynomial of second degree in bin size i.e.:

higher bin sizes do not correctly determine various probabilities. We, therefore, use only nineteen estimations involving versions of a signal up to bin size of 500 ms for the validity check [18]. 2.9. Squeezed state index (SSI) and sum of the squares of residue (SSR) The estimations in various versions of many UPE signals yield r  2.72 1010, h = 101.91 and / = 69.53. These are considered as normal values of squeezed state parameters for UPE signals. Our estimations either yielded normal values of all parameters or did not yield normal value of any parameter. We, therefore, identied normal value yielding estimations by the value of h in 0.01 neighborhood of 101.91. Squeezed state index (SSI) is the weighted sum of normal value yielding estimations in the validity check. The weight assigned to estimations in individual time series of bin sizes (50 ms, 100 ms . . . 500 ms) are (0.1, 0.09 . . . 0.01) respectively and combinations of time series (50 ms and 100 ms), (50 ms, 100 ms and 150 ms) . . . (50 ms, 100 ms . . . and 500 ms) are 0.01, 0.02 . . . 0.09 respectively. SSI is an empirical attribute that provides a compact and parsimonious depiction of the results of estimations of squeezed state parameters in human signals. The sum of the squares of residue (SSR) in the estimation with time series of 50 ms is another attribute that provides an estimate of nonsqueezed state component in the signal. 2.10. Variability in the attributes of human signals The stability of holistic attributes was studied by calculating signal strength, Fano Factor curve, squeezed state parameters and squeezed state index in small regions of signals. The regions were of 3 min, 5 min, 10 min and 15 min duration. The entire half an hour signal was investigated by shifting the starting location of 3 min region by 30 s and other regions by 1 min. This allowed estimating optimal length of signal for determining holistic attributes and mapping changes in the holistic attributes with time. 2.11. Cluster analysis for determining the discriminating power of the prole of attribute The prole of an attribute contains its values at different sites of a human subject. Discriminating power of the prole of each above explained UPE attribute was tested by performing cluster analysis in an already published human data set. Cluster analysis is an unsupervised learning technique that seeks to divide members into clusters sharing similar properties. The technique minimizes the distance among members within a cluster and maximizes the distance among centroids of the clusters. We used Euclidean distance determined from normalized values of attribute at different sites. We did not pre-assign the number of clusters but allowed the software to determine using v-fold validation. Clusters were determined from the prole of each attribute as well as from a few combinations of attributes. The data set contained UPE signals measured at twelve sites in sixty human subjects [17,18]. The signals of the data set were of 2 min measured with bin size of 50 ms. The sites were at the regions of abdomen (right and left), stomach, heart, neck, cheeks (left and right), forehead, palm and dorsal sides of both hands [3]. The sixty subjects were in three nearly similar groups differing only in the practice of meditation. The rst group, identied as TM, practiced transcendental meditation while the second group, identied as OM, practiced some form of meditation other than transcendental. The third group, identied as NO, was control group and it did not practice any meditation. We calculated attributes of all UPE signals. The values of an attribute at each site in sixty subjects were normalized around the mean by standard deviation. The normalized values of an attribute at 12 sites in a subject determined the prole attribute in the subject. The prole

Correlation coefficient D c0 c1 D c2 D2

The three coefcients c0, c1 and c2 determined the correlation between two simultaneously signals. They are new type of holistic attribute characterizing left right correlation of a subject. 2.8. Attributes from photon count distribution of a signal The focus of analysis of the results of repeated measurements is different in classical and quantum signals. The focus in classical signals is on statistical moments, particularly strength and variance but the focus in quantum signals is on photon count distribution. The information contained in the photon count distribution is relevant for determining the quantum state of a signal. The determination involves guessing the quantum state with a few unknown parameters, calculating photon count distribution in the guessed state, estimating unknown parameters by comparing calculated and observed photon count distribution and nally checking the validity of the guess by the robustness of estimated parameters to change in bin size. The non-changing average signal strength and uctuations in detected photons suggested the guess for the quantum state of Photon signal to be a squeezed state that is specied by four unknown parameters |a|, r, h and /. The parameters |a| and r are magnitudes while h and / are angles. All probabilities {P(n, D), n = 0, 1. . .} constituting photon count distribution have denite analytical expressions in a squeezed state. The bin size D enters in the analytical expressions through signal strength ksig, which is the average number of photons detected in a bin. The observed value ksig was used for eliminating |a| from the analytical expressions because of the following relation:

ksig jaj2 sinh r

The expression for observed probabilities of UPE signal were obtained by substituting analytical expressions for the probabilities of photon signal in a squeezed state and background noise in the right hand side of Eq. (3). The calculated values of the observed probabilities for a signal in the squeezed state were compared with the observed probabilities of a UPE signal for estimating squeezed state parameters of the UPE signal. The validity of the initial guess was checked by estimating the parameters in time series of fty versions of the UPE signal and of their forty-nine combinations. The bin size in these versions varied from 50 ms to 2.5 s in steps of 50 ms and the combinations of the versions were of bin sizes (50 ms and 100 ms), (50 ms, 100 ms and 150 ms), (50 ms, 100 ms. . . and 2.5 s). The robustness of parameters in different estimations validated the guess and extracted three attributes of the UPE signal from its photon count distribution. Checking the validity of the guess in ninety-nine estimations is impracticable in signals of 35 min duration because time series of the versions for

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of an attribute was different in different subjects. The prole characterized a subject and also separated them in different clusters. Cluster analysis program in the data mining module of STATISTICA (data analysis software system), version 10 (Academic Edition) [StatSoft, Inc. (2011) www.statsoft.com] was used for determining the number of clusters and their members. 3. Results and discussion 3.1. Stability of background noise signals The mean and standard deviation of the number of photons detected in a bin did not change appreciably in time series of background noise signals on different days. Their (mean standard deviation) varied from (0.307 0.777) to (0.332 0.804) in the left photomultiplier tube and from (0.278 0.711) to (0.292 0.729) in the right photo multiplier tube. The unit of both quantities is counts/50 ms and is implied wherever not mentioned. Standard deviation (and variance) was much larger than mean, which implied that the number of detected photons in different bins of background noise uctuated in a large range. The effect of uctuations is averaged out in statistical properties. The mean values indicate that signal strength of background noise hardly changed on ve different days. Its stability during half hour of measurement was investigated by calculating mean in progressively increasing duration of time series. The mean attained a limiting value in duration of around 100 s and did not change appreciably in longer durations. The limiting value of mean was an attribute of time series and should be identied as signal strength kbg. The limiting value was a stable attribute but its measurement by mean of a portion of time series longer than 100 s contained only a small and negligible error. 3.2. Variability of strength in human photon signal The mean and standard deviation of the number of photons detected in a bin in the observed time series of human photon signals exhibited behavior similar but not identical to that of background noise. Mean had limiting value but the limiting value was discernible in different durations in different signals and these durations were much longer than 100 s. The limiting value of mean was identied as signal strength kobs. The signal strength was stationary but its measurement by mean of the time series in sufciently long duration contained substantial error. The measurements made in different long durations have different values and variation in these values was larger in signals of higher strengths. The amount of variation in measured values of signal strength differentiated UPE signals from background noise. The variability in the measured values of signal strength was probably, an intrinsic feature of UPE signal. The variability points towards quantum nature of signal because different measurements of an attribute in a signal of quantum nature do yield different values. Signal strength is also an attribute measured by counting photons in some interval. Its different measurements are likely to yield different values but all measured values are on the same pedestal and there is no need to nd limiting or central value. Mean number of photons detected in macroscopic duration measures signal strength kobs correctly in a quantum signal but with some error in a classical signal. In both cases, the strength ksig of the actual photon signal was obtained by subtracting kbg from kobs. 3.3. Four representative signals The value of ksig in half hour time series was different in different human photon signals. The minimum, maximum and average values

in sixty human signals were 0.07, 1.15 and 0.42. The minimum was in the signal S55 and maximum in the signal S29. The strength of the signal S1 was closest to the average value. They are selected as representative examples for depicting salient features of human signals. They were measured with left photomultiplier tube; S1 and S29 were signals of the rst measurements and S55 was of the second measurement. The signal LBG5 was selected as a representative example of background noise signals. The signal LBG5 was background noise signal in the measurement of the signal S1. The mean in progressively increasing duration of the observed time series is depicted in Fig. 1 in case of four representative signals. The value of mean reached in the neighborhood of its limiting value in about 10 s duration of time series and then hovered around the limiting value in a manner similar to a damped oscillator when the duration was further increased. The difference between mean and its limiting value decreased with increasing duration and became ignorable in longer durations. The difference became ignorable after longer duration in more intense signals. It was ignorable in durations longer than 200 s in S1 and S55 but not in S29. Fig. 1 depicts a slowly varying broad structure extending even beyond 900 s in the mean of S29. The broad structure brings out the difculty in measuring signal strength by the mean of its sufciently long time series. S29 was the most intense signal but the mean in an interval of over 15 min of its time series did not correctly measure its signal strength. The broad structure of S29 could not be attributed to chance occurrence of background noise or other measuring errors. It, perhaps, manifested variability of signal strength and pointed towards the quantum nature of signal. Quantum nature offers a plausible argument why mean stabilizes after in longer duration in more intense signals. Since possible outcomes of measurement are likely to be many more in signals of higher strength, the mean of the outcomes of repeated measurements stabilizes to its limiting value in longer duration. 3.4. Variability of signal in repeat measurements after two hours The measurement of a signal was repeated after two hours. The sixty analyzed signals were, therefore, thirty pairs of signals from two measurements. The signals S29 and S31 belonged to a pair; S29 was measured rst and S31 two hours afterwards. The mean value-duration curve of S31 did not resemble with the curve of

Mean number of photons detected in 50ms

1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6


S55 S1 S29

0.4 0.2 0 10
LBG5

10

10

10

Duration of signal from the start used in calculating mean (s)


Fig. 1. Signal strength of four signals determined in different durations: Signal strength, determined by mean of the number of photons detected in a bin, is plotted against the duration of signal used in calculating mean in four signals S1, S29, S55 and LBG5. Signal strength is expressed in counts/50 ms the duration in s measured from the start of signal. The scale of duration is logarithmic and starts from 1 s.

R.P. Bajpai et al. / Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 129 (2013) 616

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S29 depicted in Fig. 1. The curve of S31 had neither a broad structure nor a decreasing trend. No noteworthy structure was found in the curves of other signals. The mean of S29 was 1.15 and it decreased substantially to 0.84 in S31. The signal strength decreased in the second measurement in other 25 signals by less than 20% and increased in 4 signals by less than 5%. Small change in signal strength, say less than 5%, was probably due to uctuations, the decrease in signal strength by larger amount observed in many signals requires some explanation. Perhaps, some physiological or psychological factors were responsible for decrease and signal strength has a potentiality to measure them. 3.5. Fano Factor of the ne grain version of noise and signals Fano Factor in ve background noise signals of the left photomultiplier tube varied from 1.91 to 1.96 and of the right photomultiplier tube from 1.81 to 1.84 in unit of counts/bin. The same unit is used for all values of Fano Factors and signal strength and will not be stated explicitly. Fano Factor was around 1.5 in the observed UPE signals and around one in background corrected actual photon signals. The maximum, minimum and average values of Fano Factor in sixty actual photon signals were 1.26, 0.87 and 1.07. The Fano Factor of signals in two repeat measurements differed by a few per cents. Fano Factor was, therefore, their more stable attribute than signal strength. The maximum difference in Fano Factor occurred in the least intense pair of signals (S53 and S55); Fano Factor of the signal S53 in the rst measurement was 0.87 and it changed to 1.01 in the signal S55 of the second measurement. 3.6. The Fano Factor curve from 1000 versions Fig. 2 depicts Fano Factor of the signal S29 in its one thousand versions as a function of the bin size of version. Fano Factor changes rapidly with bin size in the gure and it is true for every signal. Fano Factor changed rapidly also in prototype signals obtained articially by randomly permuting photon counts in 36,000 bins of the observed signals. The rapid variation of Fano Factor in different versions of the prototype signal of S29 is also depicted in the Fig. 2. The Fano Factor curve depicting average behavior of Fano Factor as a function of bin size was drawn in every signal. The Fano Factor curves differed qualitatively in background noise, prototype signals and photon signals. Fano Factor curves were lines parallel to bin size axis in background noise and prototype signals. These lines in background noise signals were clustered around the value 2.0 and in prototype signals around the value 1.0. The Fano Factor curves of photon signals were not lines parallel to bin size axis but contained signal specic structures. Fig. 2 depicts Fano Factor curves of S1, S55 and LBG5 as well. The Fano Factor curves of the signal S29 and in its prototype signal were not depicted in order to improve the clarity of the gure but both these curves are easy to visualize. The three coefcients of second degree polynomial characterizing the curve of the signal S29 are p0 = 1.09, p1 = 1.11 101/s and p2 = 1.9 106/s2 and of the prototype signal of S29 are p0 = 0.95, p1 = 9.68 103/s and p2 = 2.02 104/s2. The Fano Factor curves of other photon signals were similar; they started from a small region around 1.0 but then increased differently. They remained in the region bounded by Fano Factor curves of the least and most intense signals S55 and S29 in Fig. 2. The Fano Factor curves of background noise signals started from a small region around 2.0 and remain in a strip parallel to bin size axis. The different starting values of photon signals and background noise signals, probably, indicate their different nature; the nature of photon signals appears quantum and of background noise signals appear classical. The starting values of Fano Factor curves of prototype signals were also in a small region around 1.0, which was again indicative of quantum nature. It is

7
Fano Factor(S29)

Fano Factor

3
Fano Factor curve( BG5) Fano Factor curve(S1)

2
Fano Factor(S29 permuted)

1
Fano Factor Curve(S55)

0 0

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

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Bin size of version in sec


Fig. 2. Fano Factor in one thousand versions of two signals and Fano Factor curve of three signals: Fano Factor of the signal S29 as well as of its prototype signal obtained by randomly permuting the number of photons detected in its 36,000 bins is plotted for one thousand versions against the bin size of version. The Fano Factor curves of the signals S1, S55 and LBG5, are also plotted in the gure. The Fano Factor curves were obtained by tting Fano Factor in one thousand versions by a second degree polynomial in bin size. The unit of Fano Factor is counts/bin.

an expected result because all statistical moments, Fano Factor and photon count distribution have same values in the ne grain version of a signal and of its prototype signal but different values in their coarse grain versions. The subtle difference between signal and its prototype is captured by the Fano Factor curve particularly by its slope. The Fano Factor curve contains signal specic information and the coefcients characterizing the curve are holistic attributes of signal as well as of the subject emitting the signal.

3.7. Characterization of Fano factor curve from 100 versions The second degree polynomial captured substantial part of the structure of Fano Factor curve. It did not capture the structure at higher bin sizes in many signals and at lower bin sizes in weak signals that were identied by the value of signal strength less than half the strength of background noise. The worst polynomial t of Fano Factor curve was of the least intense signal S1 and it also showed the least value of Fano Factor at zero bin size. The failure of the polynomial t of second degree at higher bin size is attributed to poor determination of Fano Factor in versions of higher bin sizes because of much reduced number of bins. There were 36 bins of size of 50 s. The values of Fano Factor in versions of smaller bin sizes were more reliable because they were determined from of larger number of bins. The structure could be better captured either by increasing the degree of polynomial or by excluding versions of higher bin sizes. We opted for the latter and progressively reduced the number of versions used for the polynomial t from 1000 to 500, 400, 200 and 100. The polynomial t with 100 versions captured the initial shape of Fano Factor curve extremely well and also reproduced the entire structure reasonably well in all signals. The characterization of the Fano Factor curve obtained from polynomial t of 100 versions was probably better than that obtained with 1000 versions. In the characterization obtained from 100 versions, the two coefcients p0 and p1 essentially described the initial shape in most signals and the third coefcient was very small and ignorable in them. These two coefcients were well determined and more informative. They are extractable attributes of signals and subjects.

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Correlation.Coefficient

The coefcient p0 was the intercept of Fano Factor curve and determined the extrapolated value of Fano Factor at zero bin size and zero signal strength. It was slightly less than 1.0 in 31 signals and slightly more than 1.0 in 29 signals but its average value in 60 signals was 1.0. The Fano Factor at 50 ms determined from the measured signal was more than 1.0 in 51 signals and less than 1.0 in 9 signals but its average value in 60 signals was 1.07. The difference in the average values of Fano Factor at zero and 50 ms was signicant for the nature of photon count distribution. The values of Fano Factor equal to, greater than and less than one, respectively, correspond to Poisson, super Poisson and sub Poisson distributions. Poisson distribution is least informative and is completely specied by signal strength. Super and sub Poisson distributions contain more information and they require some additional parameters beside signal strength for their specication. Photon count distribution is super Poisson in classical signals but can be any of the three in quantum signals. The photon count distribution of quantum signals in coherent states is Poisson. It approaches Poisson distribution in any quantum signal as its signal strength goes to zero. Normal and Poisson distributions become indistinguishable at sufciently high signal strength. Sub Poisson photon count distribution can occur only in quantum signals. Since p0 was close to 1.0 in all photon signals, the photon count distribution became close to Poisson in all of them as their signal strength approached zero. The actual values of p0 deviated slightly from 1.0 and indicated a small sub or super Poisson character. The small deviations of p0 from 1 found in most signals indicated either measuring errors or the presence of some classical component in the photon signals. If both situations, p0 is an informative attribute that needs further investigations. The value of p1 determined from 100 versions of a signal was positive in 45 signals and negative in 15 signals. The positive value occurred in 27 signals with p0 < 1.0, which indicated that the nature of photon count distribution changed from sub Poisson to super Poisson in these signals with the increase of bin size. The positive value occurred also in 18 signals with p0 > 1.0, which indicated that photon count distribution was and remained super Poisson in these signals with increase in bin size. The value of p1 was negative in 11 signals with p0 > 1.0 and in 4 signals with p0 < 1.0. The value of p1 was very small in former 11 signals and their photon count distribution remained super Poisson at all bin sizes. The photon count distribution was and remained sub Poisson in latter four signals at all bin sizes. The strengths of these signals were weak and hence, their photon count distributions may not be considered as denitive evidence of sub Poisson distribution. The value of p2 was small and usually ill determined. It did not affect the shape of Fano Factor curve and could be ignored in 57 signals. It played some signicant role in determining the shape of Fano Factor curve in three signals only. The analysis showed that character (Poisson, sub Poisson and super Poisson) of photon count distribution is not a good attribute of a signal. 3.8. Correlation in simultaneously measured signals from left and right hands Correlation between simultaneously detected signals from left and right hands of a subject was nearly zero in the ne grain version of signals but not in their coarse grained versions. The correlation coefcient of coarse grain versions plotted against the bin size of the version uctuated around a smooth curve, henceforth called correlation curve. Correlation curve started from a value close to zero at bin size of 50 ms and then the value increased slowly with increase in bin size in most left right pairs of signals. Polynomial t of second degree captured the behavior of entire curve in many but not all leftright pairs of signals. The polynomial t of second degree failed to reproduce the values at either smaller

or larger bin sizes in a few signals only. Like the Fano Factor curve, it was possible to obtain good polynomial t from 100 versions only in all leftright pairs of signals. These ts yielded the value of coefcient c0 close to zero in all thirty pairs of signals and very different values of the coefcient c1 in them. The value of c1 was positive in 26 leftright pairs and it decreased in the second measurement in twelve of these pairs. The contribution of the coefcient c2 was ignorable and ill determined in most pairs. Fig. 3 depicts correlation coefcient of a subject in two measurements obtained from signal pairs (S17S18) and (S19S20). The two correlation curves in this subject were distinct and non-overlapping. The values in the correlation curve of second measurement were smaller than those in the rst measurement in most pairs. The values on the correlation in the second measurement were higher only in one pair. We suspect that correlation curve to be a situation and subject specic holistic feature, and c0 and c1 to be measurable holistic attributes quantifying this feature. This feature and its attributes have special signicance for they exemplify the coherence of molecular level metabolic processes taking place in spatially separated portions of a human body. 3.9. Squeezed state parameters of 30 min signals Ninety-nine estimations of the parameters r, h and / were made in each signal for validating its squeezed state description; fty estimations were in each one of its fty versions and forty-nine estimations were in combinations of two to fty versions. Fig. 4 depicts estimated values in the signal S1 by circles and crosses; circle depicts the value obtained in a version specied by the bin size of circle and cross depicts the value in a combination of versions up to the bin size of cross. The crosses at the bin size of 50 ms are superuous as they were obtained in a repeat estimation for common parameter with itself. The left upper panel of Fig. 4 depicts the value of |a| determined from strength ksig and the estimated value of r. It essentially depicts linear increase of mean number of photons detected in a bin with bin size (i.e. ksig) for estimated value of r was too small to affect the determination of |a| in any appreciable manner. Ninety-one out of 99 estimations in this signal yielded normal values of squeezed state parameters judged by the criterion 101.905 < h < 101.906. The number of estimations yielding normal values in 5940 estimations in sixty signals was 5388 i.e. 90.7%. The versions of higher bin sizes usually yielded

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Fig. 3. Correlation in simultaneously measured signals from left and right hands of a subject: Correlation coefcient in a version of the simultaneously measured signals from left and right hand of a subject is plotted as a function of bin size of the version. Two measurements were made with a gap of 2 h. The results of the rst measurement are depicted by circles and of the second measurement by squares.

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normal values of h and / but not of r in some signals, as was the case in S1 depicted in the Fig. 4. The number of estimations yielding normal values in versions up to bin size of 2 s was 4388 out of 4740 i.e. 92.6% and in versions up to bin size of 0.5 s was 945 out of 1140 i.e. 82.9%. All four signals of two subjects (S1S4, S53S56), three signals in one subject (S6S8) and one signal in four subjects (S22, S29, S42, S45) did not yield normal values in many estimations particularly in versions with bin size 60.5 s. These fteen signals were not in squeezed states. The remaining 45 signals yielded normal values in all but only a few estimations. If these few estimations are attributed to some chance errors in counting photons, then 45 signals were in denite squeezed states; otherwise 45 signals were nearly in squeezed states and the few estimations were conveying additional information about the signals. Some similar additional information was also conveyed by the estimations in earlier noted fteen signals. The additional information, probably, pertains to some exceptional or abnormal feature of the subject emitting the signal. Such a feature may have a few other manifestations as well, say, in physiological, psychological, pathological and clinical parameters. The linkages among different manifestations of the feature need further investigations. We earlier introduced squeezed state index for expressing information about the estimations yielding normal values in a signal in one scale. The squeezed state index captured the response of a patient of multiple sclerosis to her treatment [27]. The response of the patient was qualitative and squeezed state index provided a quantitative measure of response. Perhaps, a few other descriptive and qualitative features of human subjects may similarly be measurable by holistic attributes of spontaneous signals. An interesting consequence of the normal values of squeezed state parameters is that the estimations of squeezed state parameters in signals of normal human subjects were redundant and futile exercises. The measured value of signal strength determines all probabilities of detecting photons in a bin of any size in every signal. It is an important nding. One may or may not accept quantum nature of human (bio) photon signals but its success in parameterising photon count distributions is amazing. Fig. 5
5 4 3

highlights the success by depicting observed probabilities in ve versions of the signal S49 along with the probabilities calculated from values determined from ne grain version of S1. The signal strengths of S1 and S49 were very different and still, the agreement between observed and calculated probabilities was very good for bin sizes of 50 ms, 150 ms and 250 ms. Some observed probabilities differed from calculated probabilities for bin size of 500 ms but the differences were small and occurred at both sides of the calculated curve. The differences arose primarily because of an outlier at n = 13. The observed probabilities for the bin size of 750 ms had two outliers. The two outliers increased the number of differing probabilities but did not spoil the agreement. The agreement near the peak value of probability between observed and calculated probabilities was better in measurements with bin size of 750 ms than those with bin size of 500 ms. The calculated and observed probabilities in versions of the signal at higher bin sizes showed similar agreement; the peak in the calculated probability distribution was broader and atter and a few more outlier were present in the observed probabilities but the outliers did not spoil their agreement. The signal S49 was selected for depiction in the gure because it clearly brought out the broadening and attening of peak and the role of outliers. The quality of agreement between observed and calculated probabilities from normal values was similar in most signals. 3.10. Variability of holistic attributes in different regions All above mentioned holistic attributes were determined in intervals of 3 min, 5 min, 10 min and 15 min in the entire duration of every signal by shifting the midpoint of interval. The midpoint of 3 min interval was shifted by 30 s and of other three intervals by 1 min. Fig. 6 depicts four holistic attributes p0, p1, signal strength and squeezed state index in overlapping regions of 3 min of the signal S1. The variability of attributes over the entire signal is depicted in the gure. Similar variability of attributes was observed in intervals of four sizes in every signal. Variability of holistic attribute appears to be an intrinsic feature of human photon signals.
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Fig. 4. Squeezed state parameters in 99 estimations of the signal S1: Estimated values |a|, r, h and / in 99 estimations from 50 versions of the signal S1 are depicted in four panels. The values estimated from a version are depicted by circles at the bin size of the version while the values estimated as parameters common to all versions up a bin size are depicted by crosses at the bin size. The parameter |a| was not estimated but its value in an estimation was calculated from the signal strength and estimated value of r in the estimation. It is depicted for completeness only.

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Fig. 5. Parameter-free predictions of probability distribution at different bin sizes: The observed and calculated probabilities of detecting photons in a bin are depicted for different numbers of detected photons for ve bin sizes in the signal S49. The observed probabilities are depicted by symbols and calculated probabilities by connected lines. The probabilities are calculated in the squeezed state description of the signal using its observed signal strength and squeezed state parameters obtained from the estimations of S1 at 50 ms.

Perhaps, it is connected to on-going physiological and/or psychological changes in human subjects. The nature of the variability of squeezed state index was different from the variability of other three holistic attributes. The squeezed state index changed by large amount while others changed by small amounts in Fig. 6. The value of squeezed state index was either high (>0.8) or low (0.2). It attained the highest value of 1 in only two 3 min intervals but in many intervals of longer durations. The interval of 3 min was, perhaps, small to permit its correct determination. The low value of squeezed state index in an interval indicated some abnormality of the signal in the interval. The abnormality of signal is, perhaps, connected to some happening in the subject. The shifting of the intervals allowed locating of the happening to shorter interval of 30 s. As an example, consider the lower left panel of Fig. 6, which depicts high values of squeezed state index in the rst eight regions and low values in the subsequent fteen regions. These values implied that the signal and subject were normal in the rst eight regions encompassing the rst 6 min and 30 s of the signal and then something happened and whose effect persisted till 14 min. Squeezed state index detected such happenings and the persistence of their effects in fteen signals found abnormal in 30 min analysis but not in forty-ve signals found normal in 30 min analysis. Squeezed state index did attain low values in a few regions of normal forty-ve signals but these regions were not clustered together and in addition, the squeezed state index was 1 in many regions of these signals. 3.11. Clustering of subjects on the basis of their proles of attributes The normalized values of an attribute at 12 sites of a subject were depicted by a point in twelve dimensional space. There were sixty points depicting sixty subjects. The points were not uniformly distributed but formed clusters. The computer program determined the number of clusters and their members for every attribute and for a few combinations of some attributes. The results are given in Table 1. The number of clusters varied from two to four. The table species the number of subjects belonging to different clusters in each group. The numbers are specied in Arabic numerals and their clusters by Roman numerals. The rst row of

the table depicts the separation of 60 subjects into four clusters based on signal strength. The agreement between members in clusters and subjects in meditation groups is remarkable. The cluster I contains all subjects of the group TM and the cluster II, all subjects of the group OM. The two clusters do not contain any other subjects and are identical to the two groups. The clusters III and IV, respectively contain 14 and 6 subjects of the group NO only. Perhaps, subjects in the group NO differed in some property that was not noticed in group selection. Cluster analysis sensed that property and subdivided the group NO into two clusters. The prole of signal strength, probably, was privy to some additional information. The other rows similarly depict clusters based on other properties of UPE signals. The property |a| that is essentially the square root of signal strength divides the subjects in two clusters only. One cluster contains all subjects of TM group and 11 subjects of OM group. The other cluster contains all members of NO group and 9 subjects of OM group. It appears that |a| separates subjects into meditating and non-meditating clusters and considers 9 subjects of OM group to be non-meditating type. The property SSI correctly identify 18 subjects in TM group and 16 subjects in NO group. It incorrectly identied 2 subjects of TM group and 4 subjects of NO group, perhaps because SSI was not accurately determined in signals of 2 min duration. The property SSR correctly identied all subjects of TM group and 19 subjects of NO group. It split OM group into two clusters of 17 and 3 subjects. The agreement with groups and clusters is reasonable. Since SSR measures the amount of non-squeezed component present in a signal, the reasonable agreement suggests that non-squeezed component also contains signicant biological information. The intercept of Fano Factor curve correctly identies the subjects of NO group while the slope of Fano Factor curve correctly identies the other two groups. They contain complimentary information. No wonder, the combination of intercept and slope of Fano Factor curve correctly identies the group association of every subject. The three other combinations depicted in the table also provide reasonable clusters. The correct or nearly correct identication of group association of subjects by the prole of every attribute proves that all attributes contain biologically information. The proles of different attributes nd different associations in few subjects. It suggests that different attributes contain different amounts of information.

Probability of detecting photons in a bin

4. Summary and future perspectives The time series of a UPE signal contains much more information than that extracted as signal strength. We have suggested methods for extracting information from statistical moments and photon count distribution of time series. The information is extracted as new attributes of a UPE signal. The attributes of sixty human photon signals revealed their characteristic features. The salient aspects of the features and their signicance are summarized below: 1. Signal strength: The signal strength was measured by the mean of the number of photons detected in a bin in an interval. The signal strength showed variability and changed in different regions of a UPE signal and also in smaller intervals within a region. The variability of signal strength was in a small range. We could not detect any pattern in it. We suspect that variability is connected to and manifests on-going physiological changes. The small range of variability probably arises from the limit imposed by homeostasis on on-going physiological changes. The range of variability of signal strength during 30 min was small in all signals. The biomolecules and molecular processes implicated in the emission of photons in the duration

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Fig. 6. Holistic attributes of a signal in intervals of 3 min and shifted by 30 s: The parameters p0 and p1 of Fano Factor curve estimated from 100 versions up to bin size of 5 s in a region of 3 min of the signal S1 as well as signal strength and squeezed state index of the region are depicted for various regions shifted by 30 s. A region is identied in the gure by the time at its middle point measured from the start of the signal.

Table 1 Clustering of Subjects based on the attributes at 12 sites: The values at 12 sites of an attribute or a combination of attribute determine the clusters in 60 subjects. The number of clusters varies from 2 to 4 in different attributes. The clusters are identied by Roman numerals in the brackets. The number of subjects belonging to the three groups (TM, OM and NO) in the clusters are specied in Arabic numerals. Attribute Signal strength | a| SSR Intercept Slope SSI Strength and SSI Intercept and Slope Strength + Intercept + Slope SSI + Strength + Intercept + Slope SSR + Strength + Intercept + Slope Group TM 20(I) 20(I) 20(I) 10(I) + 4(II) + 6(III) 20(I) 18(I) + 2(II) 19(I) + 1(II) 20(I) 20(I) 19(I) + 1(II) 20(I) Group OM 20(II) 11(I) + 9(II) 17(II) + 3(IV) 11(II) + 9(III) 20(II) 7(II) + 1(I) + 12(III) 11(II) + 9(I) 20(II) 10(I) + 10(II) 12(II) + 8(I) 9(II) + 11(I) Group NO 14(III) + 6(IV) 20(II) 19(III) + 1(IV) 20(I) 15(III) + 5(IV) 16(III) + 2(I) + 2(II) 17(II) + 3(I) 20(III) 19(II) + 1(I) 17(II) + 3(I) 18(II) + 2(I)

somehow cooperated in maintaining signal strength in a small range. Both, molecular processes and cooperating mechanism implicated in the emission are unknown. There are indications that reactive oxygen species participate in molecular processes of emission [28]. Hopefully, the processes will be identied but the knowledge of these processes cannot identify cooperating mechanism because the nature of molecular processes is local while the nature of cooperating mechanism is holistic. Holistic properties and attributes are likely to provide denitive information about the holistic mechanism. The attributes of UPE signal are properties over a long interval and have holistic character. The prole of attribute is more holistic as it pertains to many sites of a subject. 2. Fano Factor Curve: The Fano Factor curve of UPE signal was different from that of background noise. The Fano Factor curve was subject specic and showed variability. Both features endow biological signicance to Fano Factor curve. The curve starts with a value close to one at bin size equal to zero in every UPE signal and changes slowly and almost

linearly with bin size up to bin size equal to 5 s. The starting value or intercept and slope are characteristic features of a Fano Factor curve. The intercept is suggestive of the quantum nature of UPE signal. The slope provides new information that discriminates between two time series having same statistical moments and photon count distributions e.g. signal and its prototype signal. The Fano Factor curve of background noise signal has intercept close to 2 and slope zero. 3. Squeezed state index: Squeezed state index classied photon count distributions and gave an estimate of the separation between observed and expected photon count distribution from signal strength. It separated UPE signals into normal and not-normal types. It was a major categorization. Some further sub categorization is suspected, which needs constructing of new indices and criteria. The categorization based on squeezed state index needs validation from conventional pathological and medical investigations. The measured values of squeezed state index established that photo count distribution in every version of the major-

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ity of UPE signals was correctly predicted by signal strength. The correct predictions established quantum nature and determined quantum states of signals. Since quantum signal is emitted by quantum object, the biomolecules implicated in the emission of UPE signal of quantum nature constitute a composite system in a quantum state and should exhibit holistic features. Perhaps, holistic features of human subject originate from the composite system identied by UPE signal. It is an interesting and feasible scenario and has profound implications for understanding and managing holistic features that include health care. 4. Information in the proles of attributes: The prole of an attribute contains much more information than the value of the attribute at a single site. The information makes the prole very discriminating. The proles of every attribute identied meditation induced physiological changes in human subjects reasonably well. We suspect that they can identify different pathological states of a subject as well. The information contained in the proles of SSI and SSR suggests that non-squeezed state component is also an important attribute of UPE signal. 5. Left right correlation curve: The determination of the correlation curve brought out the long-time cooperative behavior of molecular processes occurring at spatially separated locations in human subject. We suspect that it contains information about the coordination in the functioning of different parts of human subject. We need to measure them in subjects differing in their coordination capabilities to ascertain the suspicion. The three parameters c0, c1 and c2 quantify this information. The parameter c0 was nearly zero in all pairs of signals but the parameters c1 and c2 were different in them. The correlation curve is an intriguing feature and we do not understand its signicance. 6. Variability of holistic attributes: The holistic attributes changed continually; some changed smoothly and some jumped. The continual changes were, probably, manifesting dynamism of human subjects, which is also manifested by changes in mood, psychological and physiological states and clinical parameters. Perhaps, links exist between two manifestations of dynamism. If they do, then different combinations of the attributes of UPE signal may capture some aspects of the mood, psychological state and physiological state. We need to identify and validate the combinations. We may discover some new non-invasive and easily measurable indicators of pathological conditions.

Acknowledgements It is pleasure to thank Ruchi Bajpai for many discussions and the use of computing facility during the completion of this work. This work was supported by an independent research grant from the Samueli Institute of Information Biology and the Rockefeller-Samueli Center for Research in Mind-Body Energy. References
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