Using machine learning techniques and brain MRI scans for detection of Alzheimer’s disease

Dementia is a clinical syndrome characterized by cognitive and behavioral impairment: it mostly affects people who are aged 65 years and over. Dementia results from several diseases, of which Alzheimer’s disease (AD) accounts for up to 80% of all dementia diagnoses. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the most widely used methods to diagnose AD but due to low efficiency of manual analysis, machine learning algorithms have been developed to diagnose AD using medical imaging data. In this study, unsupervised learning strategies were used to cluster the two diagnostic status, a healthy status called cognitively normal (CN), and AD, using brain structural MRI scans. First, we detected the abnormal regions between CN and AD using two-sample t-tests, and then employed an unsupervised learning neural network to extract features from brain MRI images. In the final stage, unsupervised learning (clustering) was implemented to discriminate between CN and AD data based on the extracted features. The approach was tested on 429 individuals from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) who had baseline brain structural MRI scans: 231 CN and 198 AD. In the study, we found that the abnormal regions around the hippocampus were indicated based on two-sample t-test (p<0.0001), and the proposed methods using the abnormal regions yield the clustering results for CN vs. AD (accuracy=0.8163, specificity=0.7863, sensitivity=0.8436, and precision=0.8411 [mean values based on 10 runs])

Social media applications within the NHS: role and impact of organisational culture, information governance, and communications policy

The paper focuses on health professionals’ attitudes to and use of Web 2.0 and social media within their practice and on the management of access to Web 2.0 and social media applications within NHS organisations. It discusses the following specific issues: 1) the nature and extent of restrictions on access to such applications within NHS organisations arising from organisational policies; 2) their impacts on professional information seeking and sharing, and working practices in general; 3) the attitudes, professional norms, presuppositions and practices which bear on how social media policy is implemented within NHS trusts, in relation to overall organisational strategies. There is a need to develop a better understanding of, on the one hand, a clear need for robust information governance and network security, with, on the other hand, systems and procedures that enable appropriate access to valid online resources to support professional information needs. Particular questions that need to be addressed include: Why are restrictions imposed on access to Web 2.0 or social media-based information resources, or technologies to support professional information seeking? What issues for the accessibility of information within the English NHS are posed by current approaches to information governance risk

The use of classification and regression tree to predict 15-year survival in community-dwelling older people

Previous research has identified various risk factors for mortality in older people. The aim of this paper was to use Classification and Regression Tree to predict 15-year survival in community-dwelling older people. Data were obtained from a United Kingdom representative sample of 1042 community-dwelling people aged 65 and over. Outcome was time from 1985 interview to death or censorship on February 29, 2000. Classification and Regression Tree is a non-parametric technique widely used in medical domain classification. We applied CART to the set of risk-factors identified in a previous research. The selected CART model is based on age, dose of drug prescribed and handgrip measures. It predicts survival with a sensitivity rate of 76.3% and a specificity rate of 66.3%. The selection of variables are consistent with previous research. Finally, we observed the range of risk factors and their combination associated with increased and decreased mortality

Understanding the lived experiences of Mexican informal caregivers with Ambient Assisted Living Technologies

Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) Technologies, have the potential to support the people with dementia living in their homes for longer. Dementia is a major public health concern. It currently affects approximately 46.8 million people worldwide and by 2050 this figure will increase to 131.5 million. Low-and-middle income countries (LMIC) will be particularly affected by this situation as their poor health infrastructures and governmental support will mean that they have to rely on the informal caregiver (IC) sector. ICs are people who care for a dependent or disabled family member, commonly spouses or daughters. Mexico was the first Spanish speaking country in the world to recognise dementia as a public health priority. In-home technologies, such as AAL Technologies, are used in dementia care in order to improve patients’ and caregivers’ quality of life. This paper explores the way in which Mexican ICs of people with dementia (PWD) make sense of their lived experiences with AAL technologies

Web-based system for assessing risk factors for falls in community-dwelling elderly people using the Analytic Hierarchy Process

Falls occur frequently among older people and represent the most common cause of injury-related morbidity and mortality in later life. Preventing falls is an important way to reduce injuries, hospitalizations, and injury-related morbidity and mortality among older people. The research literature has identified hundreds of risk factors for falls among elderly people. Prioritizing risk factors for falls is useful for designing effective and efficacious prevention programs. The aim of this study was to use the Analytic Hierarchy Process to develop a hierarchy of risk factors for falls based on the knowledge and experience of experts working in this field

Protean career processes in young adults: Relationships with perceived future employability, educational performance, and commitment

Protean career processes of vocational identity awareness, career adaptability, and career agency have been hypothesized to mediate the relationships between protean career orientation and career-related outcomes. To date, the role of these process mechanisms has not been assessed directly in young adults, and little attention has been paid to educational outcomes, which are important career-related goals for young people on the way to their desired career. To address this gap, we tested this indirect-effects model in a sample of young adult undergraduates (N=396; Mage=20.19, SD=2.99; 72.2% women) and included career-related goals (perceived future employability, educational performance, and commitment) as outcomes. Identity awareness and career adaptability partially explained the relationship between protean career orientation and perceived future employability and completely explained the relationships with educational performance and commitment. Contrary to protean career theory, there were no significant indirect paths via career agency to any of the outcomes

Phylogenetic relationships of the north-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean blenniids

The phylogenetic relationships of 27 north-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean blennioids are analysed based on a total of 1001 bp from a combined fragment of the 12S and 16S mitochondrial rDNA. The most relevant results with implications in current blenniid taxonomy are: (1) Lipophrys pholis and Lipophrys (= Paralipophrys) trigloides are included in a well-supported clade that by the rule of precedence must be named Lipophrys; (2) the sister species of this clade are not the remaining species of the genus Lipophrys but instead a monotypic genus comprising Cory-phoblennius galerita; (3) the smaller species of Lipophrys were recovered in another well-supported and independent clade, which we propose to be recognized as Microlipophrys; (4) although some authors included the genera Salaria and Lipophrys in a single group we have never recovered such a relationship. Instead, Salaria is more closely related to the genera Scartella and Parablennius; (5) the genus Parablennius, which was never recovered as a monophyletic clade, is very diverse and may include several distinct lineages; (6) the relative position of Aidablennius sphynx casts some doubts on the currently recognized relationships between the different blenniid tribes. Meristic, morphological, behavioural and ecological characters support our results and are also discussed. The possible roles of the tropical West African coast and the Mediterranean in the diversification of blenniids are discussed. (c) 2005 The Linnean Society of London.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio