406 research outputs found
EEG Resting-State Brain Topological Reorganization as a Function of Age
Resting state connectivity has been increasingly studied to investigate the effects of aging on the brain. A reduced organization
in the communication between brain areas was demonstrated b
y combining a variety of different imaging technologies (fMRI,
EEG, and MEG) and graph theory. In this paper, we propose a methodology to get new insights into resting state connectivity and
its variations with age, by combining advanced techniques of effective connectivity estimation, graph theoretical approach, and
classification by SVM method. We analyzed high density EEG signal
srecordedatrestfrom71healthysubjects(age:20–63years).
Weighted and directed connectivity was computed by means of Partial Directed Coherence based on a General Linear Kalman filter
approach. To keep the information collected by the estimator, weighted and directed graph indices were extracted from the resulting
networks. A relation between brain network properties and age of the subject was found, indicating a tendency of the network to
randomly organize increasing with age. This result is also confirmed dividing the whole population into two subgroups according
to the age (young and middle-aged adults): significant differences exist in terms of network organization measures. Classification
of the subjects by means of such indices returns an accuracy greater than 80
Testing different methodologies for Granger causality estimation: A simulation study
Granger causality (GC) is a method for determining whether and how two time series exert causal influences one over the other. As it is easy to implement through vector autoregressive (VAR) models and can be generalized to the multivariate case, GC has spread in many different areas of research such as neuroscience and network physiology. In its basic formulation, the computation of GC involves two different regressions, taking respectively into account the whole past history of the investigated multivariate time series (full model) and the past of all time series except the putatively causal time series (restricted model). However, the restricted model cannot be represented through a finite order VAR process and, when few data samples are available or the number of time series is very high, the estimation of GC exhibits a strong reduction in accuracy. To mitigate these problems, improved estimation strategies have been recently implemented, including state space (SS) models and partial conditioning (PC) approaches. In this work, we propose a new method to compute GC which combines SS and PC and tests it together with other four commonly used estimation approaches. In simulated networks of linearly interacting time series, we show the possibility to reconstruct the network structure even in challenging conditions of data samples available
NeuroMath: Advanced Methods for the Estimation of Human Brain Activity and Connectivity
[No abstract available
Electroencephalography (EEG)-Derived Markers to Measure Components of Attention Processing
Although extensively studied for decades,
attention system remains an interesting challenge in
neuroscience field. The Attention Network Task (ANT)
has been developed to provide a measure of the
efficiency for the three attention components identified
in the Posner’s theoretical model: alerting, orienting and
executive control. Here we propose a study on 15 healthy
subjects who performed the ANT. We combined
advanced methods for connectivity estimation on
electroencephalographic (EEG) signals and graph theory
with the aim to identify neuro-physiological indices
describing the most important features of the three
networks correlated with behavioral performances. Our
results provided a set of band-specific connectivity
indices able to follow the behavioral task performances
among subjects for each attention component as defined
in the ANT paradigm. Extracted EEG-based indices
could be employed in future clinical applications to
support the behavioral assessment or to evaluate the
influence of specific attention deficits on Brain Computer
Interface (BCI) performance and/or the effects of BCI
training in cognitive rehabilitation applications
Nanoparticle drug delivery systems for inner ear therapy: An overview
open7noembargoed_20180701Valente, Filippo; Astolfi, Laura; Simoni, Edi; Danti, Serena; Franceschini, Valeria; Chicca, Milvia; Martini, AlessandroValente, Filippo; Astolfi, Laura; Simoni, Edi; Danti, Serena; Franceschini, Valeria; Chicca, Milvia; Martini, Alessandr
Improved Room Acoustics Quality in Meeting Rooms: Investigation on the Optimal Configurations of Sound-Absorptive and Sound-Diffusive Panels
This work deals with the improvement of the room acoustic quality of two medium sized meeting rooms through the investigation of the optimal placement of absorption and diffusive panels on the walls and ceiling. Acoustic measurements have been carried out in the existing untreated rooms with ODEON 13 room acoustics measurement and prediction software, and the Adobe Audition plugins Aurora. Simulations of different combinations of sound absorption and diffusion treatments have been carried out with the updated version of the software, ODEON 15. The panels were positioned in the meeting rooms following the guidelines of the DIN 18041 standard and the scientific literature. The results advise the application of absorptive materials on the ceiling or around the borders, creating a reflective middle area, and on the upper part of one the lateral walls, including the rear wall. Configurations with diffusers do not generally bring significant improvements. The Speech Transmission Index (STI) is a less sensitive parameter for the different acoustic scenarios, compared to Reverberation Time (T) and Clarity (C50). The research also outlined a design workflow, useful to successfully design meeting rooms and rooms for speech in general, which allows to determine the optimal number and location of acoustic panels and to minimize the costs
Information Transfer in Linear Multivariate Processes Assessed through Penalized Regression Techniques: Validation and Application to Physiological Networks
The framework of information dynamics allows the dissection of the information processed
in a network of multiple interacting dynamical systems into meaningful elements of computation
that quantify the information generated in a target system, stored in it, transferred to it from one or
more source systems, and modified in a synergistic or redundant way. The concepts of information
transfer and modification have been recently formulated in the context of linear parametric modeling
of vector stochastic processes, linking them to the notion of Granger causality and providing efficient
tools for their computation based on the state–space (SS) representation of vector autoregressive
(VAR) models. Despite their high computational reliability these tools still suffer from estimation
problems which emerge, in the case of low ratio between data points available and the number of
time series, when VAR identification is performed via the standard ordinary least squares (OLS).
In this work we propose to replace the OLS with penalized regression performed through the
Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO), prior to computation of the measures of
information transfer and information modification. First, simulating networks of several coupled
Gaussian systems with complex interactions, we show that the LASSO regression allows, also in
conditions of data paucity, to accurately reconstruct both the underlying network topology and the
expected patterns of information transfer. Then we apply the proposed VAR-SS-LASSO approach to
a challenging application context, i.e., the study of the physiological network of brain and peripheral
interactions probed in humans under different conditions of rest and mental stress. Our results,
which document the possibility to extract physiologically plausible patterns of interaction between
the cardiovascular, respiratory and brain wave amplitudes, open the way to the use of our new
analysis tools to explore the emerging field of Network Physiology in several practical applications
Birthweigh by gestational age in preterm babies according to a gaussian mixture model
Objectives. A statistically sound criterion for identifying
implausible birthweights for gestational age. Methods. Data are from Italian
1990-94 vital statistics, and concern 42063 single first and second liveborn
preterm babies. Two-component Gaussian mixture models are used to describe the
birthweight distributions stratified by gestational age. Implausibly large
babies are identified through model-based probabilistic clustering. Results.
Gestational age appears underestimated of about six weeks in 12.3% of the
cases. Large babies are equally present in males and females, but are more
frequent among the second borns than in the first borns, even when parity
specific models are fitted. Conclusions. The approach allows for a
quantification of the gestational age underestimate error and data correction
through model-based clustering. Correct birthweigh distributions and growth
curves are also provided
Changes in EEG Power Spectral Density and Cortical Connectivity in Healthy and Tetraplegic Patients during a Motor Imagery Task
Knowledge of brain connectivity is an important aspect of modern neuroscience, to understand how the brain realizes its functions. In this work, neural mass models including four groups of excitatory and inhibitory neurons are used to estimate the connectivity among three cortical regions of interests (ROIs) during a foot-movement task. Real data were obtained via high-resolution scalp EEGs on two populations: healthy volunteers and tetraplegic patients. A 3-shell Boundary Element Model of the head was used to estimate the cortical current density and to derive cortical EEGs in the three ROIs.
The model assumes that each ROI can generate an intrinsic rhythm in the beta range, and receives rhythms in the alpha and gamma ranges from other two regions. Connectivity strengths among the ROIs were estimated by means of an original genetic algorithm that tries to minimize several cost functions of the difference between real and model power spectral densities. Results show that the stronger connections are those from the cingulate cortex to the primary and supplementary motor areas, thus emphasizing the pivotal role played by the CMA_L during the task. Tetraplegic patients exhibit higher connectivity strength on average, with significant statistical differences in some connections. The results are commented and virtues and limitations of the proposed method discussed
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