Figure 2.

Multi-scale control structure of inflammation. This figure demonstrates the tiered scales of biological organization. Control mechanisms (such as inflammation) attempt to balance insults/perturbations that threaten the health state (abstractly represented as the purple circle). Balance occurs at multiple tiers, and the multi-scale nature of the control mechanisms allow for considerable robustness of the system. Note that the control mechanisms themselves have a complex structure that can shift the balance as well, but these mechanisms have been abstracted for clarity.