XIV Foro Internacional sobre la Evaluación de la Calidad de la Investigación y de la Educación Superior (FECIES)

Introducción. El Proceso de Bolonia ha impulsado un nuevo modelo educativo que pretende centrar las metodologías docentes en el aprendizaje de los estudiantes, priorizando el manejo de herramientas por encima de la mera acumulación de conocimientos. Objetivo. El objetivo de este trabajo es evaluar la eficacia del aprendizaje colaborativo en la asignatura “Sistemas de Comunicación”, que se imparte en la E.T.S. Ingenieros de Telecomunicación de la Universidad de Valladolid. Método. Se emplearon diferentes herramientas basadas en el aprendizaje colaborativo dentro de la “Práctica sobre telefonía móvil de cuarta generación”. Dicha práctica está compuesta por diferentes actividades: (i) Trabajo escrito individual; (ii) Actividad de revisión por pares; (iii) Debate; (iv) Actividad puzle; (v) Trabajo escrito grupal; y (vi) Exposición y defensa del trabajo grupal. Resultados. Las encuestas realizadas a los alumnos mostraron que están muy satisfechos con esta práctica, puesto que les ha permitido desarrollar diferentes competencias transversales. Además, los alumnos obtuvieron una mayor calificación en el examen final de la asignatura en la pregunta sobre telefonía móvil de cuarta generación (Calificación sobre 1 punto = 0.59 0.33 puntos, media desviación estándar) que en la pregunta análoga sobre telefonía móvil de tercera generación, tema impartido utilizando una metodología docente tradicional (Calificación sobre 1 punto = 0.51 0.34 puntos). Conclusiones. El aprendizaje colaborativo no sólo permite a los alumnos adquirir competencias transversales, sino que además les permite interiorizar más conocimientos teóricos que la docencia tradicional

MEG analysis of neural dynamics in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder with fuzzy entropy

Producción CientíficaThe aim of this study was to analyze the neural dynamics in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). For this purpose, magnetoencephalographic (MEG) background activity was analyzed using fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn), an entropy measure that quantifies signal irregularity, in 13 ADHD patients and 14 control children. Additionally, relative power (RP) was computed in conventional frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma). FuzzyEn results showed that MEG activity was more regular in ADHD patients than in controls. Moreover, we found an increase of power in delta band and a decrease in the remaining frequency bands. Statistically significant differences (p-values <0.05; nonparametric permutation test for multiple comparisons) were detected for FuzzyEn in the posterior and left temporal regions, and for RP in the posterior, anterior and left temporal regions. Our results support the hypothesis that ADHD involves widespread functional brain abnormalities, affecting more areas than fronto-striatal circuits, such as the left temporal and posterior regions.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (project TEC2011-22987)Junta de Castilla y León (project BIO/VA38/14 and project VA059U13

Continuous wavelet transform in the study of the time-scale properties of intracranial pressure in hydrocephalus

Producción CientíficaNormal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) encompasses a heterogeneous group of disorders generally characterised by clinical symptoms, ventriculomegaly and anomalous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics. Lumbar infusion tests (ITs) are frequently performed in the preoperatory evaluation of patients who show NPH features. The analysis of intracranial pressure (ICP) signals recorded during ITs could be useful to better understand the pathophysiology underlying NPH and to assist treatment decisions. In this study, 131 ICP signals recorded during ITs were analysed using two continuous wavelet transform (CWT)-derived parameters: Jensen Divergence (JD) and Spectral Flux (SF). These parameters were studied in two frequency bands, associated with different components of the signal: "(0.15 - 0.3 Hz), related to respiratory blood pressure oscillations; and # (0.67 - 2.5 Hz), related to ICP pulse waves. Statistically significant differences ( < 1.70 ∙ 10+,, Bonferroni-corrected Wilcoxon signed rank tests) in pairwise comparisons between phases of ITs were found using the mean and standard deviation of JD and SF. These differences were mainly found in #, where a lower irregularity and variability, together with less prominent time-frequency fluctuations, were found in the hypertension phase of ITs. Our results suggest that wavelet analysis could be useful for understanding CSF dynamics in NPH.This research was supported by ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’ and 'European Regional Development Fund' (FEDER) under project TEC2014-53196-R, by ‘European Commission’ and FEDER under project 'Análisis y correlación entre el genoma completo y la actividad cerebral para la ayuda en el diagnóstico de la enfermedad de Alzheimer' ('Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal POCTEP 2014-2020'), and by ‘Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León’ and FEDER under project VA037U16

Analysis of Magnetoencephalography Signals from Alzheimer’s Disease Patients Using Granger Causality

Producción CientíficaThe aim of this study was to analyze resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG) activity in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by means of Granger Causality (GC), an effective connectivity measure that provides an estimation of the information flow between brain regions. For this task, five minutes of MEG recordings were acquired with a 148-channel whole-head magnetometer from 36 AD patients and 26 healthy controls. Abnormalities in AD connectivity were found in the five typical frequency bands: delta (δ, 1-4 Hz), theta (θ, 4-8 Hz), alpha (α, 8-13 Hz), beta (β, 13-30 Hz), and gamma (γ, 30-65 Hz). Noteworthy increments in delta band and decrements in beta and gamma bands revealed disrupted connections in AD brain activity. Our analyses suggest that GC may be useful to characterize the brain impairment in AD.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196-R)Junta de Castilla y León (VA059U13 y BIO/VA08/15

Effect of infusion tests on the dynamical properties of intracranial pressure in hydrocephalus

Producción CientíficaHydrocephalus comprises a number of conditions characterised by clinical symptoms, dilated ventricles and anomalous cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) dynamics. Infusion tests (ITs) are usually performed to study CSF circulation and in the preoperatory evaluation of patients with hydrocephalus. The study of intracranial pressure (ICP) signals recorded during ITs could be useful to gain insight into the underlying pathophysiology of this condition and to further support treatment decisions. In this study, two wavelet parameters, wavelet turbulence (WT) and wavelet entropy (WE), were analysed in order to characterise the variability, irregularity and similarity in spectral content of ICP signals in hydrocephalus.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196-R)Junta de Castilla y León (project VA059U13

Characterization of EEG patterns in brain-injured subjects and controls after a Snoezelen® intervention

Producción CientíficaBackground and objective. The aim of this study was to assess the changes induced in electroencephalographic (EEG) activity by a Snoezelen® intervention on individuals with brain-injury and control subjects. Methods: EEG activity was recorded preceding and following a Snoezelen® session in 18 people with cerebral palsy (CP), 18 subjects who have sustained traumatic brain-injury (TBI) and 18 controls. EEG data were analyzed by means of spectral and nonlinear measures: median frequency (MF), individual alpha frequency (IAF), sample entropy (SampEn) and Lempel-Ziv complexity (LZC). Results: Our results showed decreased values for MF, IAF, SampEn and LZC as a consequence of the therapy. The main changes between pre-stimulation and post-stimulation conditions were found in occipital and parietal brain areas. Additionally, these changes are more widespread in controls than in brain-injured subjects, which can be due to cognitive deficits in TBI and CP groups. Conclusions: Our findings support the notion that Snoezelen® therapy affects central nervous system, inducing a slowing of oscillatory activity, as well as a decrease of EEG complexity and irregularity. These alterations seem to be related with higher levels of relaxation of the participants.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196-R)Junta de Castilla y León (VA059U13 y BIO/VA08/15

Exploring the Interactions Between Neurophysiology and Cognitive and Behavioral Changes Induced by a Non-pharmacological Treatment: A Network Approach

Dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurological syndrome which has an increasing impact on society, provoking behavioral, cognitive, and functional impairments. AD lacks an effective pharmacological intervention; thereby, non-pharmacological treatments (NPTs) play an important role, as they have been proven to ameliorate AD symptoms. Nevertheless, results associated with NPTs are patient-dependent, and new tools are needed to predict their outcome and to improve their effectiveness. In the present study, 19 patients with AD underwent an NPT for 83.1 ± 38.9 days (mean ± standard deviation). The NPT was a personalized intervention with physical, cognitive, and memory stimulation. The magnetoencephalographic activity was recorded at the beginning and at the end of the NPT to evaluate the neurophysiological state of each patient. Additionally, the cognitive (assessed by means of the Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE) and behavioral (assessed in terms of the Dementia Behavior Disturbance Scale, DBD-13) status were collected before and after the NPT. We analyzed the interactions between cognitive, behavioral, and neurophysiological data by generating diverse association networks, able to intuitively characterize the relationships between variables of a different nature. Our results suggest that the NPT remarkably changed the structure of the association network, reinforcing the interactions between the DBD-13 and the neurophysiological parameters. We also found that the changes in cognition and behavior are related to the changes in spectral-based neurophysiological parameters. Furthermore, our results support the idea that MEG-derived parameters can predict NPT outcome; specifically, a lesser degree of AD neurophysiological alterations (i.e., neural oscillatory slowing, decreased variety of spectral components, and increased neural signal regularity) predicts a better NPT prognosis. This study provides deeper insights into the relationships between neurophysiology and both, cognitive and behavioral status, proving the potential of network-based methodology as a tool to further understand the complex interactions elicited by NPTs

MEG Analysis of Neural Interactions in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Producción CientíficaThe aim of the present study was to explore the interchannel relationships of resting-state brain activity in patients with attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), one of the most common mental disorders that develop in children. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals were recorded using a 148-channel whole-head magnetometer in 13 patients with ADHD (range: 8–12 years) and 14 control subjects (range: 8–13 years).Three complementary measures (coherence, phase-locking value, and Euclidean distance) were calculated in the conventionalMEG frequency bands: delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma. Our results showed that the interactions among MEG channels are higher for ADHD patients than for control subjects in all frequency bands. Statistically significant differences were observed for short-distance values within right-anterior and central regions, especially at delta, beta, and gamma-frequency bands ( < 0.05; Mann-Whitney test with false discovery rate correction). These frequency bands also showed statistically significant differences in long-distance interactions, mainly among anterior and central regions, as well as among anterior, central, and other areas. These differences might reflect alterations during brain development in children with ADHD. Our results support the role of frontal abnormalities in ADHD pathophysiology, which may reflect a delay in cortical maturation in the frontal cortex.Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196-R)Junta de Castilla y León (programa de apoyo a proyectos de investigación - Ref. VA059U1

Unveiling the alterations in the frequency-dependent connectivity structure of MEG signals in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease

Producción CientíficaMild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) are neurological disorders that affect cognition, brain function, and memory. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a neuroimaging technique used to study changes in brain oscillations caused by neural pathologies. However, MEG studies often use fixed frequency bands, assuming a common frequency structure and overlooking both subject-specific variations and the potential influence of pathologies on frequency distribution. To address this issue, a novel methodology called Connectivity-based Meta-Bands (CMB) was applied to obtain a subject-specific functional connectivity-based frequency bands segmentation. Resting-state MEG activity was acquired from 161 participants: 67 healthy controls, 44 MCI patients, and 50 AD patients. The CMB algorithm was used to identify “meta-bands” (i.e., recurrent network topologies across frequencies). The meta-bands were used to extract an individualised frequency band segmentation. The network topology of the meta-bands and their sequencing were analysed to identify alterations associated with MCI and AD in the underlying frequency-dependent connectivity structure. We found that MCI and AD alter the neural network topology, leading to connectivity patterns both more widespread in the frequency spectrum and heterogeneous. Furthermore, the meta-band frequency sequencing was modified, with MCI and AD patients exhibiting sequences with increased complexity, suggesting a progressive dilution of the frequency structure. The study highlights the relevance of considering the impact of neural pathologies on the frequency-dependent connectivity structure and the potential bias introduced by using fixed frequency bands in MEG studies.Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina (CIBER-BBN)’ through ‘Instituto de Salud Carlos III’- FEDERERA-Net FLAG-ERA JTC2021 project ModelDXConsciousness (Human Brain Project Partnering Project

Exploring the alterations in the distribution of neural network weights in dementia due to alzheimer’s disease

Producción CientíficaAlzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder which has become an outstanding social problem. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the alterations that dementia due to AD elicits in the distribution of functional network weights. Functional connectivity networks were obtained using the orthogonalized Amplitude Envelope Correlation (AEC), computed from source-reconstructed resting-state eletroencephalographic (EEG) data in a population formed by 45 cognitive healthy elderly controls, 69 mild cognitive impaired (MCI) patients and 81 AD patients. Our results indicated that AD induces a progressive alteration of network weights distribution; specifically, the Shannon entropy (SE) of the weights distribution showed statistically significant between-group differences (p < 0.05, Kruskal-Wallis test, False Discovery Rate corrected). Furthermore, an in-depth analysis of network weights distributions was performed in delta, alpha, and beta-1 frequency bands to discriminate the weight ranges showing statistical differences in SE. Our results showed that lower and higher weights were more affected by the disease, whereas mid-range connections remained unchanged. These findings support the importance of performing detailed analyses of the network weights distribution to further understand the impact of AD progression on functional brain activity.Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación-Agencia Estatal de Investigación, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) - (project PGC2018-098214- A-I00)Comisión Europea y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) - (Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal POCTEP 2014–20200