Etude expérimentale des dynamiques temporelles du comportement normal et pathologique chez le rat et la souris

155 p.Modern neuroscience highlights the need for designing sophisticated behavioral readout of internal cognitive states. From a thorough analysis of classical behavioral test, my results supports the hypothesis that sensory ypersensitivity might be the cause of other behavioural deficits, and confirm the potassium channel BKCa as a potentially relevant molecular target for the development of drug medication against Fragile X Syndrome/Autism Spectrum Disorders. I have also used an innovative device, based on pressure sensors that can non-invasively detect the slightest animal movement with unprecedented sensitivity and time resolution, during spontaneous behaviour. Analysing this signal with sophisticated computational tools, I could demonstrate the outstanding potential of this methodology for behavioural phenotyping in general, and more specifically for the investigation of pain, fear or locomotion in normal mice and models of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders

A ROLE FOR LOCUS COERULEUS IN PARKINSON TREMOR - EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES

Although Parkinson disease (PD) is characterized by the degeneration of nigrostriatal dopamine (DA) neurons, historic and more recent anatomopathological studies documented also an involvement of the serotonergic and cholinergic systems as well as a profound loss of neurons from the locus coeruleus (LC), the major noradrenergic (NAergic) nucleus in the brain. In the following studies, I will provide preliminary evidence of a new provocative hypothesis on the significance of LC in conditioning Parkinson tremor. In particular, I speculate that, early at a disease stage, patients with PD and tremor might have an (hyper-)active LC-NAergic system, which would play a key role in the appearance of tremor itself. Furthermore, given a putative compensatory and possibly neuroprotective mechanism of noradrenaline (NA), an intact or hyper-active NAergic system would be responsible for, and support the clinical observation of, a slower disease progression in PD patients with tremor. When verified, this hypothesis will define, for the first time at a physio-pathological level, two different clinical phenotypes (i.e. tremor dominant and akinetic-rigid PD) and possibly suggest new interventional strategies (targeting the NAergic system) to modify disease progression. A number of drugs that can modulate the NAergic system already exist, ripe for testing. There is no cure for PD, and understanding the cause and progression of the neurodegenerative process is as challenging as it is necessary

VI Workshop on Computational Data Analysis and Numerical Methods: Book of Abstracts

The VI Workshop on Computational Data Analysis and Numerical Methods (WCDANM) is going to be held on June 27-29, 2019, in the Department of Mathematics of the University of Beira Interior (UBI), Covilhã, Portugal and it is a unique opportunity to disseminate scientific research related to the areas of Mathematics in general, with particular relevance to the areas of Computational Data Analysis and Numerical Methods in theoretical and/or practical field, using new techniques, giving especial emphasis to applications in Medicine, Biology, Biotechnology, Engineering, Industry, Environmental Sciences, Finance, Insurance, Management and Administration. The meeting will provide a forum for discussion and debate of ideas with interest to the scientific community in general. With this meeting new scientific collaborations among colleagues, namely new collaborations in Masters and PhD projects are expected. The event is open to the entire scientific community (with or without communication/poster)

Computational Intelligence in Electromyography Analysis

Electromyography (EMG) is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. EMG may be used clinically for the diagnosis of neuromuscular problems and for assessing biomechanical and motor control deficits and other functional disorders. Furthermore, it can be used as a control signal for interfacing with orthotic and/or prosthetic devices or other rehabilitation assists. This book presents an updated overview of signal processing applications and recent developments in EMG from a number of diverse aspects and various applications in clinical and experimental research. It will provide readers with a detailed introduction to EMG signal processing techniques and applications, while presenting several new results and explanation of existing algorithms. This book is organized into 18 chapters, covering the current theoretical and practical approaches of EMG research

QUANTIFYING GAIT ADAPTABILITY: FRACTALITY, COMPLEXITY, AND STABILITY DURING ASYMMETRIC WALKING

Successful walking necessitates modifying locomotor patterns when encountering organism, task, or environmental constraints. The structure of stride-to-stride variance (fractal dynamics) may represent the adaptive capacity of the locomotor system. To date, however, fractal dynamics have been assessed during unperturbed walking. Quantifying gait adaptability requires tasks that compel locomotor patterns to adapt. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine the potential relationship between fractal dynamics and gait adaptability. The studies presented herein represent a necessary endeavor to incorporate both an analysis of gait fractal dynamics and a task requiring adaptation of locomotor patterns. The adaptation task involved walking asymmetrically on a split-belt treadmill, whereby individuals adapted the relative phasing between legs. This experimental design provided a better understanding of the prospective relationship between fractal dynamics and adaptive capacity. Results from the first study indicated there was no association between unperturbed walking fractal dynamics and gait adaptability in young, healthy adults. However, there was an emergent relationship between asymmetric walking fractal dynamics and gait adaptability. Moreover, fractal dynamics increased during asymmetric walking. The second study investigated fractal dynamics and gait adaptability in healthy, active young and older adults. The findings from study 2 showed no differences between young and older adults regarding unperturbed or asymmetric walking fractal dynamics, or gait adaptability performance. The second study provided further evidence for the lack of association between unperturbed fractal dynamics and gait adaptability. Furthermore, study 2 delivered additional support that asymmetric walking not only yields increased fractal scaling values, but also associates with adaptive gait performance in older adults. Finally, while the first two studies explored stride time monofractality during various walking tasks, the third study aimed to understand the potential multifractality, i.e. temporal evolution of fractal dynamics, of unperturbed and asymmetric walking. The results suggest that unperturbed walking is monofractal in nature, while more challenging asymmetric walking reveals multifractal characteristics, and that multifractality does not associate with adaptive gait performance. This dissertation provides preliminary evidence for the lack of relationship between gait adaptability and unperturbed fractal dynamics, and the emergent association between adaptive gait and asymmetric walking fractality

Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications

The International Workshop on Models and Analysis of Vocal Emissions for Biomedical Applications (MAVEBA) came into being in 1999 from the particularly felt need of sharing know-how, objectives and results between areas that until then seemed quite distinct such as bioengineering, medicine and singing. MAVEBA deals with all aspects concerning the study of the human voice with applications ranging from the neonate to the adult and elderly. Over the years the initial issues have grown and spread also in other aspects of research such as occupational voice disorders, neurology, rehabilitation, image and video analysis. MAVEBA takes place every two years always in Firenze, Italy. This edition celebrates twenty years of uninterrupted and succesfully research in the field of voice analysis

Development and Evaluation of AI-based Parkinson's Disease Related Motor Symptom Detection Algorithms

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative disorder that is typically characterized by a loss of (motor) function, increased slowness and rigidity. Due to a lack of feasible biomarkers, progression cannot easily be quantified with objective measures. For the same reason, neurologists have to revert to monitoring of (motor) symptoms (i.e. by means of subjective and often inaccurate patient diaries) in order to evaluate a medication's effectiveness. Replacing or supplementing these diaries with an automatic and objective assessment of symptoms and side effects could drastically reduce manual efforts and potentially help in personalizing and improving medication regime. In turn, appearance of symptoms could be reduced and the patient's quality of life increased. The objective of this thesis is two-fold: (1) development and improvement of algorithms for detecting PD related motor symptoms and (2) to develop a software framework for time series analysis

Assessment and understanding of unilateral trans-tibial amputee gait using principal component analysis and discriminant function analysis

The general aim of this thesis was to develop analytical techniques for the assessment and understanding of lower-limb amputee (LLA) gait. The number of individuals with lower limb amputation (LLA) worldwide is growing and being able to optimise rehabilitation and prosthetic prescriptions are becoming more important. Gait analysis may be able to inform these processes, in particular at the individual level. In study one, a machine learning algorithm was developed and optimised using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) to distinguish between barefoot and shod running. An iterative process was used to optimise the algorithm, exploring all possible iterations of ten individuals out of twenty, finding the combination of people with the greatest generic features and thus the lowest error rate for classification. The outcome showed 93.5% classification accuracy between barefoot and shod running. This study demonstrated that an iteration procedure could optimise a machine learning algorithm to overcome the issues of overfitting, which is particularly useful when working with a small sample size as is common in gait analysis. In study two, PCA and DFA were used to identify differences between the gait of individuals with unilateral trans-tibial amputation (UTTA) and able-bodied individuals. Different approaches were explored, establishing that PCA conducted on normalised temporal-waveforms yielded the best outcome. Results revealed that UTTA and able-bodied gait differed with regards to certain biomechanical variables, providing a better understanding of LLA function. Although differences between individuals with LLA and able-bodied individuals have previously been investigated, this study demonstrates that using multivariate statistical analyses a vast number of variables can be investigated simultaneously, identifying the hierarchy of variables and thus which need to be targeted during treatment. Clinical diagnosis is based on individual patients, thus in study three PCA was used to determine whether one individual with a UTTA displayed unique gait characteristics when compared to a group of able-bodied individuals. Both covariance and correlation matrices were used during PCA, providing information about variation and magnitude of the data, respectively. Results revealed that each individual with UTTA has subject-specific gait characteristics, which highlights that this method can be used to identify variables which can be targeted during treatment. In the fourth and final study, PCA was used to understand the effects of attempted symmetry on dynamic stability of individuals with UTTA. Although in rehabilitation symmetrical gait is often sought for since asymmetrical gait is said to cause long term adverse effects, results revealed that asymmetry might be playing a functional role and in fact aids better stability in UTTA gait. This outcome may suggest that after a certain symmetry has been reached, the target of rehabilitation may need to be reconsidered to aim for better stability. In conclusion, multivariate statistical analysis could be used to assess and understand LLA function. In a clinical setting, the ability to identify important variables during a task, particularly at patient-specific level has the potential to improve the development of treatment recommendations. Prosthetic prescription and rehabilitation processes can be tailored and in turn the outcome may be more successful which could increase the likelihood of independent living of patients and therefore improve the quality of life of individuals with LLA

State of the art of audio- and video based solutions for AAL

Working Group 3. Audio- and Video-based AAL ApplicationsIt is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living (AAL) technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be referred to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters (e.g., heart rate, respiratory rate). Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals (e.g., speech recordings). Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary 4 debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely (i) lifelogging and self-monitoring, (ii) remote monitoring of vital signs, (iii) emotional state recognition, (iv) food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, (v) activity and personal assistance, (vi) gesture recognition, (vii) fall detection and prevention, (viii) mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and (ix) cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed.publishedVersio

State of the Art of Audio- and Video-Based Solutions for AAL

It is a matter of fact that Europe is facing more and more crucial challenges regarding health and social care due to the demographic change and the current economic context. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has stressed this situation even further, thus highlighting the need for taking action. Active and Assisted Living technologies come as a viable approach to help facing these challenges, thanks to the high potential they have in enabling remote care and support. Broadly speaking, AAL can be referred to as the use of innovative and advanced Information and Communication Technologies to create supportive, inclusive and empowering applications and environments that enable older, impaired or frail people to live independently and stay active longer in society. AAL capitalizes on the growing pervasiveness and effectiveness of sensing and computing facilities to supply the persons in need with smart assistance, by responding to their necessities of autonomy, independence, comfort, security and safety. The application scenarios addressed by AAL are complex, due to the inherent heterogeneity of the end-user population, their living arrangements, and their physical conditions or impairment. Despite aiming at diverse goals, AAL systems should share some common characteristics. They are designed to provide support in daily life in an invisible, unobtrusive and user-friendly manner. Moreover, they are conceived to be intelligent, to be able to learn and adapt to the requirements and requests of the assisted people, and to synchronise with their specific needs. Nevertheless, to ensure the uptake of AAL in society, potential users must be willing to use AAL applications and to integrate them in their daily environments and lives. In this respect, video- and audio-based AAL applications have several advantages, in terms of unobtrusiveness and information richness. Indeed, cameras and microphones are far less obtrusive with respect to the hindrance other wearable sensors may cause to one’s activities. In addition, a single camera placed in a room can record most of the activities performed in the room, thus replacing many other non-visual sensors. Currently, video-based applications are effective in recognising and monitoring the activities, the movements, and the overall conditions of the assisted individuals as well as to assess their vital parameters. Similarly, audio sensors have the potential to become one of the most important modalities for interaction with AAL systems, as they can have a large range of sensing, do not require physical presence at a particular location and are physically intangible. Moreover, relevant information about individuals’ activities and health status can derive from processing audio signals. Nevertheless, as the other side of the coin, cameras and microphones are often perceived as the most intrusive technologies from the viewpoint of the privacy of the monitored individuals. This is due to the richness of the information these technologies convey and the intimate setting where they may be deployed. Solutions able to ensure privacy preservation by context and by design, as well as to ensure high legal and ethical standards are in high demand. After the review of the current state of play and the discussion in GoodBrother, we may claim that the first solutions in this direction are starting to appear in the literature. A multidisciplinary debate among experts and stakeholders is paving the way towards AAL ensuring ergonomics, usability, acceptance and privacy preservation. The DIANA, PAAL, and VisuAAL projects are examples of this fresh approach. This report provides the reader with a review of the most recent advances in audio- and video-based monitoring technologies for AAL. It has been drafted as a collective effort of WG3 to supply an introduction to AAL, its evolution over time and its main functional and technological underpinnings. In this respect, the report contributes to the field with the outline of a new generation of ethical-aware AAL technologies and a proposal for a novel comprehensive taxonomy of AAL systems and applications. Moreover, the report allows non-technical readers to gather an overview of the main components of an AAL system and how these function and interact with the end-users. The report illustrates the state of the art of the most successful AAL applications and functions based on audio and video data, namely lifelogging and self-monitoring, remote monitoring of vital signs, emotional state recognition, food intake monitoring, activity and behaviour recognition, activity and personal assistance, gesture recognition, fall detection and prevention, mobility assessment and frailty recognition, and cognitive and motor rehabilitation. For these application scenarios, the report illustrates the state of play in terms of scientific advances, available products and research project. The open challenges are also highlighted. The report ends with an overview of the challenges, the hindrances and the opportunities posed by the uptake in real world settings of AAL technologies. In this respect, the report illustrates the current procedural and technological approaches to cope with acceptability, usability and trust in the AAL technology, by surveying strategies and approaches to co-design, to privacy preservation in video and audio data, to transparency and explainability in data processing, and to data transmission and communication. User acceptance and ethical considerations are also debated. Finally, the potentials coming from the silver economy are overviewed