Patent ID: 7881877

Claim:
A method for determining an effect of an external factor on a biological system by analyzing a given component of the biological system, wherein the given component occupies only one of four possible states, comprising the steps of: determining, for a particular time interval starting at an initial time, twelve non-degenerate and non-zero rate constants, wherein each rate constant indicates a rate of transition from one of the four states to a different one of the four states for a component of a biological system for a constant value of an external factor; determining on a programmed processor, without numerical iteration over multiple time steps, a temporal change in a particular probability that the component is in a particular state of the four states after the initial time comprising determining three relaxation time constants that describe exponentially decreasing changes in probability with time based on the twelve rate constants; and determining the effect of the external factor on the biological system based on the temporal change in the particular probability that the component is in the particular state.