Differential diagnosis of neurodegenerative dementias with the explainable MRI based machine learning algorithm MUQUBIA

Biomarker-based differential diagnosis of the most common forms of dementia is becoming increasingly important. Machine learning (ML) may be able to address this challenge. The aim of this study was to develop and interpret a ML algorithm capable of differentiating Alzheimer's dementia, frontotemporal dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and cognitively normal control subjects based on sociodemographic, clinical, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) variables. 506 subjects from 5 databases were included. MRI images were processed with FreeSurfer, LPA, and TRACULA to obtain brain volumes and thicknesses, white matter lesions and diffusion metrics. MRI metrics were used in conjunction with clinical and demographic data to perform differential diagnosis based on a Support Vector Machine model called MUQUBIA (Multimodal Quantification of Brain whIte matter biomArkers). Age, gender, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) Dementia Staging Instrument, and 19 imaging features formed the best set of discriminative features. The predictive model performed with an overall Area Under the Curve of 98%, high overall precision (88%), recall (88%), and F1 scores (88%) in the test group, and good Label Ranking Average Precision score (0.95) in a subset of neuropathologically assessed patients. The results of MUQUBIA were explained by the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method. The MUQUBIA algorithm successfully classified various dementias with good performance using cost-effective clinical and MRI information, and with independent validation, has the potential to assist physicians in their clinical diagnosis

Riscritture dei “classici” tedeschi nella poesia del secondo dopoguerra

I saggi raccolti in questo volume sono dedicati alla poesia di lingua tedesca del secondo dopoguerra e, in particolare, al dialogo che in quest’epoca si avviò con quegli autori della letteratura tedesca considerati classici, la cui eredità spirituale era stata compromessa dalla strumentalizzazione e dalla propaganda nazionalsocialiste. Di qui, le domande che più volte risuonano nelle poesie: come rivitalizzare quelle idee, quei valori e quelle esperienze che avevano contribuito a plasmare quella lingua letteraria tedesca, che la storia ora aveva contaminata e infangata? Come riappropriarsi del linguaggio della poesia, come farlo riemergere e rinnovarlo alla luce di autori divenuti classici? Come liberare questa tradizione, intrappolata per anni nelle morse ideologiche nazionaliste