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Updated: Jun 26, 2025

Diagonal Method to Measure Synergy Among Any Number of Drugs
Published on: June 21, 2018
Quantifying synergy and redundancy between networks
Andrea I Luppi1,2,3,4, Eckehard Olbrich5, Conor Finn5
1Division of Anaesthesia and Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.
Abstract:
Understanding how different networks relate to each other is key for understanding complex systems. We introduce an intuitive yet powerful framework to disentangle different ways in which networks can be (dis)similar and complementary to each other. We decompose the shortest paths between nodes as uniquely contributed by one source network, or redundantly by either, or synergistically by both together. Our approach considers the networks' full topology, providing insights at multiple levels of resolution: from global statistics to individual paths. Our framework is widely applicable across scientific domains, from public transport to brain networks. In humans and 124 other species, we demonstrate the prevalence of unique contributions by long-range white-matter fibers in structural brain networks. Across species, efficient communication also relies on significantly greater synergy between long-range and short-range fibers than expected by chance. Our framework could find applications for designing network systems or evaluating existing ones.
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