Effects of an auditory lateralization training in children suspected to central auditory processing disorder

Background and Objectives: Central auditory processing disorder (C)APD refers to a deficit in auditory stimuli processing in nervous system that is not due to higher-order language or cognitive factors. One of the problems in children with (C)APD is spatial difficulties which have been overlooked despite their significance. Localization is an auditory ability to detect sound sources in space and can help to differentiate between the desired speech from other simultaneous sound sources. Aim of this research was investigating effects of an auditory lateralization training on speech perception in presence of noise/competing signals in children suspected to (C)APD. Subjects and Methods: In this analytical interventional study, 60 children suspected to (C)APD were selected based on multiple auditory processing assessment subtests. They were randomly divided into two groups: control (mean age 9.07) and training groups (mean age 9.00). Training program consisted of detection and pointing to sound sources delivered with interaural time differences under headphones for 12 formal sessions (6 weeks). Spatial word recognition score (WRS) and monaural selective auditory attention test (mSAAT) were used to follow the auditory lateralization training effects. Results: This study showed that in the training group, mSAAT score and spatial WRS in noise (p value�0.001) improved significantly after the auditory lateralization training. Conclusions: We used auditory lateralization training for 6 weeks and showed that auditory lateralization can improve speech understanding in noise significantly. The generalization of this results needs further researches. © 2016 The Korean Audiological Society

An Ontology-based Two-Stage Approach to Medical Text Classification with Feature Selection by Particle Swarm Optimisation

© 2019 IEEE. Document classification (DC) is the task of assigning pre-defined labels to unseen documents by utilizing a model trained on the available labeled documents. DC has attracted much attention in medical fields recently because many issues can be formulated as a classification problem. It can assist doctors in decision making and correct decisions can reduce the medical expenses. Medical documents have special attributes that distinguish them from other texts and make them difficult to analyze. For example, many acronyms and abbreviations, and short expressions make it more challenging to extract information. The classification accuracy of the current medical DC methods is not satisfactory. The goal of this work is to enhance the input feature sets of the DC method to improve the accuracy. To approach this goal, a novel two-stage approach is proposed. In the first stage, a domain-specific dictionary, namely the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS), is employed to extract the key features belonging to the most relevant concepts such as diseases or symptoms. In the second stage, PSO is applied to select more related features from the extracted features in the first stage. The performance of the proposed approach is evaluated on the 2010 Informatics for Integrating Biology and the Bedside (i2b2) data set which is a widely used medical text dataset. The experimental results show substantial improvement by the proposed method on the accuracy of classification

Normalization and reliability evaluation of persian version of two-pair dichotic digits in 8 to 12-year-old children

Objectives: All subjects suspected of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) were previously tested by free recall dichotic digits test (DDT). The study objective was normalization and reliability evaluation of two-pair DDT in 750 native Persian subjects aged 8 to 12 years. Materials: A total of 750 subjects were divided into five age groups varying between 8 years and 12 years and 11 months old. Each age group had 150 subjects. DDT was tested in free recall condition. For evaluating DDT test-retest reliability, 300 participants (60 subjects in each age group) were tested again after one month. Results: Right and left ear mean score increased from 71.68(±2.19) and 58.51(±1.71) in the 8-year-old group to 90.26(±1.96) and 88.38(±1.36) in 12-year-old group, respectively. The mean Right Ear Advantage (REA) decreased from 13.16(±2.58) in the 8-year-old group to 1.88(±2.49) in the 12-year-old group. A high stability was observed between test-retest results (P < 0.0001). Discussion: Persian version of two-pair dichotic digits exhibited proper reliability for evaluating 8 to 12-year-old subjects, and the study results can be used for evaluating the dichotic hearing function in subjects of the same age group

Substituting clinical features using synthetic medical phrases: Medical text data augmentation techniques.

Biomedical natural language processing (NLP) has an important role in extracting consequential information in medical discharge notes. Detecting meaningful features from unstructured notes is a challenging task in medical document classification. The domain specific phrases and different synonyms within the medical documents make it hard to analyze them. Analyzing clinical notes becomes more challenging for short documents like abstract texts. All of these can result in poor classification performance, especially when there is a shortage of the clinical data in real life. Two new approaches (an ontology-guided approach and a combined ontology-based with dictionary-based approach) are suggested for augmenting medical data to enrich training data. Three different deep learning approaches are used to evaluate the classification performance of the proposed methods. The obtained results show that the proposed methods improved the classification accuracy in clinical notes classification

Study of the Cosmic Rays and Interstellar Medium in Local HI Clouds using Fermi-LAT Gamma-Ray Observations

An accurate estimate of the interstellar gas density distribution is crucial to understanding the interstellar medium (ISM) and Galactic cosmic rays (CRs). To comprehend the ISM and CRs in a local environment, a study of the diffuse $\gamma$-ray emission in a mid-latitude region of the third quadrant was performed. The $\gamma$-ray data in the 0.1--25.6~GeV energy range of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) and other interstellar gas tracers such as the HI4PI survey data and the Planck dust thermal emission model were used, and the northern and southern regions were analyzed separately. The variation of the dust emission Dem with the total neutral gas column density NH was studied in high dust-temperature areas, and the NH/Dem ratio was calibrated using $\gamma$-ray data under the assumption of a uniform CR intensity in the studied regions. The measured integrated $\gamma$-ray emissivities above 100~MeV are (1.58\pm0.04)\times10^{-26}~\mathrm{photons~s^{-1}~sr^{-1}~H\mbox{-}atom^{-1}} and (1.59\pm0.02)\times10^{-26}~\mathrm{photons~s^{-1}~sr^{-1}~H\mbox{-}atom^{-1}} in the northern and southern regions, respectively, supporting the existence of a uniform CR intensity in the vicinity of the solar system. While most of the gas can be interpreted to be HI with a spin temperature of $T_\mathrm{S} = 125~\mathrm{K}$ or higher, an area dominated by optically thick HI with $T_\mathrm{S} \sim 40~\mathrm{K}$ was identified.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap

Evaluating the educational value of simulation games: Learners’ perspective

Simulation games (SG) offer great opportunities for students to learn and experience real-world business decisions in a risk-free learning environment. However, the impact of using SG on educational outcomes is not fully understood. Drawing on experiential learning theory, we develop a conceptual model to examine students’ perceptions of the educational values generated from a SG adopted in a postgraduate program at a UK business school. The study gathered data from 120 students by using survey data and qualitative data from students’ reflective reports. Results show that SG have positive impact on students’ conceptual understanding, skills development and affective evaluation of their learning experience. The paper discusses the findings and its implications for educational practitioners and offers directions for future research

Small molecule receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor of platelet-derived growth factor signaling (SU9518) modifies radiation response in fibroblasts and endothelial cells

BACKGROUND: Several small receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors (RTKI) have entered clinical cancer trials alone and in combination with radiotherapy or chemotherapy. The inhibitory spectrum of these compounds is often not restricted to a single target. For example Imatinib/Gleevec (primarily a bcr/abl kinase inhibitor) or SU11248 (mainly a VEGFR inhibitor) are also potent inhibitors of PDGFR and other kinases. We showed previously that PDGF signaling inhibition attenuates radiation-induced lung fibrosis in a mouse model. Here we investigate effects of SU9518, a PDGFR inhibitor combined with ionizing radiation in human primary fibroblasts and endothelial cells in vitro, with a view on utilizing RTKI for antifibrotic therapy. METHODS: Protein levels of PDGFR-α/-β and phosphorylated PDGFR in fibroblasts were analyzed using western and immunocytochemistry assays. Functional proliferation and clonogenic assays were performed (i) to assess PDGFR-mediated survival and proliferation in fibroblasts and endothelial cells after SU9518 (small molecule inhibitor of PDGF receptor tyrosine kinase); (ii) to test the potency und selectivity of the PDGF RTK inhibitor after stimulation with PDGF isoforms (-AB, -AA, -BB) and VEGF+bFGF. In order to simulate in vivo conditions and to understand the role of radiation-induced paracrine PDGF secretion, co-culture models consisting of fibroblasts and endothelial cells were employed. RESULTS: In fibroblasts, radiation markedly activated PDGF signaling as detected by enhanced PDGFR phosphorylation which was potently inhibited by SU9518. In fibroblast clonogenic assay, SU9518 reduced PDGF stimulated fibroblast survival by 57%. Likewise, SU9518 potently inhibited fibroblast and endothelial cell proliferation. In the co-culture model, radiation of endothelial cells and fibroblast cells substantially stimulated proliferation of non irradiated fibroblasts and vice versa. Importantly, the RTK inhibitor significantly inhibited this paracrine radiation-induced fibroblast and endothelial cell activation. CONCLUSION: Radiation-induced autocrine and paracrine PDGF signaling plays an important role in fibroblast and endothelial cell proliferation. SU9518, a PDGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitor, reduces radiation-induced fibroblast and endothelial cell activation. This may explain therapeutic anticancer effects of Imatinib/Gleevec, and at the same time it could open a way of attenuating radiation-induced fibrosis