Operatic thyroid/body function

[diogenes]

I've tried to formulate our thinking on how the HPT/body axis works. This came to me as a useful analogy.

Thinking a bit more I think I have producd an overarching analogy to the HPT axis. The body is a stage. The performance is an opera on that stage. On occasion, the chief singer and a projectionist require a closely controlled choreography between them, where both agree the combination of singer movement and light circle projection, as the action proceeds. The combined ability and mutually dependent moves cover the story - ie the bounds of what the body can perform physiologically. The singer’s body stands for the pituitary and the projectionist for the hypothalamus. As the action proceeds, it becomes clear that, no matter how carefully the choreography is designed, there can be no exact harmony of movement. Sometimes the projectionist leads the singer’s change of position, and sometimes the singer. This is equivalent to the feedforward/feedback capabilities of both, to produce a satisfactory performance by mutual drift and back-adjustment. The projectionist’s circle of light on stage allows the singer a degree of movement for a particular moment. Mostly he will be in the centre of the light but may less frequently at random drift towards the edges. Cut diametrically across the light circle, the probability of the singer’s position describes a Gaussian type probability curve.- most in the centre, least at the edges. The circle/singer can move anywhere on the stage, with the light circle not necessarily the same size everywhere. This describes the allostatic possibilities of a system with increased or decreased degrees of freedom. Finally, the simple feedback only part is the singer’s voice. His loudness for a particular point must be suitable, so his brain is continually feeding back to avoid an inadequate output -too loud or too soft. This is the feedback control to the other activities, which maintain the whole performance adequately. When we take a sample from the body, this is but a snapshot of the whole performance which may or may not be typical of the system over time. And of course, the finish of the opera is equivalent to death.

[tattybogle]

I like it :).... long time since i went to the opera tho', but i can vouch for the difficulty of artistically keeping the spotlight on a vocalist in an Afro-Celt band in a field when the light bar is held up by gaffa tape and bailer twine.

[tattybogle]

i'm curious.... which part of diogenes description has prompted the suggested 'Related Tag' to be .....genital tract infections!?

[LindaC]

Thank you diogenes - 'fuzzy areas' have been and remain my life.

[Arrigo]

I loooove opera and suffer from Graves- ergo I'm in the dead middle of the Venn diagram of the audience for your post, diogenes 😆