Pre-trained convolutional neural networks identify Parkinson's disease from spectrogram images of voice samples.

Machine learning approaches including deep learning models have shown promising performance in the automatic detection of Parkinson's disease. These approaches rely on different types of data with voice recordings being the most used due to the convenient and non-invasive nature of data acquisition. Our group has successfully developed a novel approach that uses convolutional neural network with transfer learning to analyze spectrogram images of the sustained vowel /a/ to identify people with Parkinson's disease.

Pre-trained Convolutional Neural Networks Identify Parkinson's Disease from Spectrogram Images of Voice Samples.

Machine learning approaches including deep learning models have shown promising performance in the automatic detection of Parkinson's disease. These approaches rely on different types of data with voice recordings being the most used due to the convenient and non-invasive nature of data acquisition. Our group has successfully developed a novel approach that uses convolutional neural network with transfer learning to analyze spectrogram images of the sustained vowel /a/ to identify people with Parkinson's disease.

Feasibility of regional center telehealth visits utilizing a rural research network in people with Parkinson's disease.

Background: Impaired motor and cognitive function can make travel cumbersome for People with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Over 50% of PwPD cared for at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Movement Disorders Clinic reside over 30 miles from Little Rock. Improving access to clinical care for PwPD is needed.

Development and implementation of the frog-in-maze game to study upper limb movement in people with Parkinson's disease.

Upper-limb bradykinesia occurs early in Parkinson's disease (PD) and bradykinesia is required for diagnosis. Our goal was to develop, implement and validate a game "walking" a frog through a maze using bimanual, alternating finger-tapping movements to provide a salient, objective, and remotely monitorable method of tracking disease progression and response to therapy in PD. Twenty-five people with PD and 16 people without PD participated.

A machine learning method to process voice samples for identification of Parkinson's disease.

Machine learning approaches have been used for the automatic detection of Parkinson's disease with voice recordings being the most used data type due to the simple and non-invasive nature of acquiring such data. Although voice recordings captured via telephone or mobile devices allow much easier and wider access for data collection, current conflicting performance results limit their clinical applicability. This study has two novel contributions.

Analysis of Caregiver Burden Expressed in Social Media Discussions.

Almost 40% of US adults provide informal caregiving, yet research gaps remain around what burdens affect informal caregivers. This study uses a novel social media site, Reddit, to mine and better understand what online communities focus on as their caregiving burdens. These forums were accessed using an application programming interface, a machine learning classifier was developed to remove low information posts, and topic modeling was applied to the corpus.

The informed consent form navigator: a tool for producing readable and compliant consent documents.

Background/objective: Informed consent forms (ICFs) and practices vary widely across institutions. This project expands on previous work at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Center for Health Literacy to develop a plain language ICF template. Our interdisciplinary team of researchers, comprised of biomedical informaticists, health literacy experts, and stakeholders in the Institutional Review Board (IRB) process, has developed the ICF Navigator, a novel tool to facilitate the creation of plain language ICFs that comply with all relevant regulatory requirements.

Feasibility of telemedicine research visits in people with Parkinson's disease residing in medically underserved areas.

Introduction: Gait, balance, and cognitive impairment make travel cumbersome for People with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). About 75% of PwPD cared for at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences' Movement Disorders Clinic reside in medically underserved areas (MUAs). Validated remote evaluations could help improve their access to care.

Amplitude setting and dopamine response of finger tapping and gait are related in Parkinson's disease.

Movement amplitude setting is affected early in Parkinson's disease (PD), clinically manifesting as bradykinesia. Our objective was to determine if amplitude setting of upper limb bimanual movements and bipedal gait are similarly modulated in PD. 27 PD and 24 control participants were enrolled.

Semantic Integration of Multi-Modal Data and Derived Neuroimaging Results Using the Platform for Imaging in Precision Medicine (PRISM) in the Arkansas Imaging Enterprise System (ARIES).

Neuroimaging is among the most active research domains for the creation and management of open-access data repositories. Notably lacking from most data repositories are integrated capabilities for semantic representation. The Arkansas Imaging Enterprise System (ARIES) is a research data management system which features integrated capabilities to support semantic representations of multi-modal data from disparate sources (imaging, behavioral, or cognitive assessments), across common image-processing stages (preprocessing steps, segmentation schemes, analytic pipelines), as well as derived results (publishable findings).

The use of rodent models to better characterize the relationship among epilepsy, sleep, and memory.

Epilepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures, is known to be associated with impaired sleep and memory. Although the specific mechanisms underlying these impairments are uncertain, the known role of sleep in memory consolidation suggests a potential relationship may exist between seizure activity, disrupted sleep, and memory impairment. A possible mediator in this relationship is the sleep spindle, the characteristic electroencephalographic (EEG) feature of non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep in humans and other mammals.

Establishing a digital health platform in an academic medical center supporting rural communities.

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS), like many rural states, faces clinical and research obstacles to which digital innovation is seen as a promising solution. To implement digital technology, a mobile health interest group was established to lay the foundation for an enterprise-wide digital health innovation platform. To create a foundation, an interprofessional team was established, and a series of formal networking events was conducted.

An Analysis of 1-Year Charges for Head and Neck Cancer: Targets for Value-Based Interventions.

Objective: To identify the dominant clinical factors associated with increased 1-year charges in treating head and neck cancer.

Study Design: Retrospective review.

Setting: Single academic institution.

htsget: a protocol for securely streaming genomic data.

Summary: Standardized interfaces for efficiently accessing high-throughput sequencing data are a fundamental requirement for large-scale genomic data sharing. We have developed htsget, a protocol for secure, efficient and reliable access to sequencing read and variation data. We demonstrate four independent client and server implementations, and the results of a comprehensive interoperability demonstration.

Intermediate Results of Hybrid Versus Primary Norwood Operation.

Background: In 2007 we began a hybrid program for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) variants to potentially improve outcome in high-risk patients. During implementation we offered both hybrid and Norwood approaches to all risk categories. The purpose of this study was to perform a comparative analysis of intermediate survival.

The role of self-injury in behavioral flexibility and resilience.

Severe and persistent self-injurious behavior (SIB) is notoriously difficult to understand and to treat. The current study used self-organization theory to investigate the possible relationship between SIB and changing levels of behavioral flexibility. Data consisted of categorical time-series of sequential behaviors from individuals with developmental disabilities and severe SIB.

Consumer and provider responses to a computerized version of the Illness Management and Recovery Program.

Objective: To explore mental health consumer and provider responses to a computerized version of the Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) program.

Method: Semistructured interviews were conducted to gather data from 6 providers and 12 consumers who participated in a computerized prototype of the IMR program. An inductive-consensus-based approach was used to analyze the interview responses.

Gating of a novel brain potential is associated with perceptual anomalies in bipolar disorder.

Objectives: Our laboratory recently identified the P85 gating ratio as a candidate biomarker for bipolar disorder. In order to evaluate the phenomenological significance of P85 gating, the current study examined reports of perceptual anomalies and their relationship to the P50 and P85 physiological measures of sensory gating.

Methods: Reports of perceptual anomalies on the Structured Clinical Interview to Assess Perceptual Anomalies were compared in patients meeting DSM-IV criteria for paranoid schizophrenia (n = 66), schizoaffective disorder (n = 45), or bipolar I disorder (n = 42), and controls (n = 56), as well as their relationship with P85 and P50 gating.

Alpha EEG guided TMS in schizophrenia.

Background: Alpha EEG guided Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (αTMS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has shown promising efficacy for treating the negative symptoms of schizophrenia. OBJECTIVE/ HYPOTHESIS: The purpose of the current investigation was to test (1) the therapeutic effect in other domains of symptoms of schizophrenia and (2) the specificity of stimulus location. The hypothesis to be tested was that global alpha EEG normalization after αTMS would help improve the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia, regardless of the site of stimulation.

Trial designs likely to meet valid long-term Alzheimer's disease progression effects: learning from the past, preparing for the future.

The International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology (ISCTM) held its 4th Annual Autumn Conference in Toronto, Ontario, October 6-7, 2008. The purpose of the present report is to provide an overview of one of the sessions at the conference which focused on the designs and methodologies to be applied in clinical trials of new treatments for Alzheimer's disease (AD) with purported "disease-modifying" effects. The session began with a discussion of how neuroimaging has been applied in multiple sclerosis clinical trials (another condition for which disease modification claims have been achieved).

Airway stenoses after lung transplantation: incidence, management, and outcome.

Objective: Airway stenoses have been a significant cause of morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation. We reviewed our 11-year experience with dilatation and silicone stent treatment of airway strictures after lung transplantation. We adopted this approach after managing the complications of nitinol/wire mesh stents, including stent fracture, granulation tissue overgrowth, and difficulty with removal.

Summary of the 1st Schizophrenia International Research Society Conference oral sessions, Venice, Italy, June 21-25, 2008: the rapporteur reports.

The Schizophrenia International Research Society held its first scientific conference in Venice, Italy, June 21 to 25th, 2008. A wide range of controversial topics were presented in overlapping and plenary oral sessions. These included new genetic studies, controversies about early detection of schizophrenia and the prodrome, treatment issues, clinical characteristics, cognition, neuropathology and neurophysiology, other etiological considerations, substance abuse co-morbidity, and animal models for investigating disease etiology and for use as targets in drug studies.

What is causing the reduced drug-placebo difference in recent schizophrenia clinical trials and what can be done about it?

On September 18, 2007, a collaborative session between the International Society for CNS Clinical Trials and Methodology and the International Society for CNS Drug Development was held in Brussels, Belgium. Both groups, with membership from industry, academia, and governmental and nongovernmental agencies, have been formed to address scientific, clinical, regulatory, and methodological challenges in the development of central nervous system therapeutic agents. The focus of this joint session was the apparent diminution of drug-placebo differences in recent multicenter trials of antipsychotic medications for schizophrenia.

Psychometric comparison of computerized and standard administration of the neurocognitive assessment instruments selected by the CATIE and MATRICS consortia among patients with schizophrenia.

Unlabelled: Neurocognitive assessment is an essential component for clinical trials of candidate "cognitive-enhancing" treatments for schizophrenia. However, manual administration of large, paper-based, neurocognitive batteries is often inefficient, error-prone, and inconsistent across multiple sites. Existing computerized testing systems are also limited both in the assessment instruments available and in the range of impairments that can be accommodated with the subject sitting alone at a single display.

Temporal patterns of self-injurious behavior correlate with stress hormone levels in the developmentally disabled.

While the origins and developmental course of self-injurious behavior (SIB) remain relatively unknown, recent studies suggest a biological imbalance may potentiate or provoke the contagious recurrence of SIB patterns in individuals with severe developmental disabilities (DD). Evidence from several laboratories indicates that functioning, relations, and processing of a stress-related molecule, proopiomelanocortin (POMC) may be perturbed among certain subgroups of individuals exhibiting SIB. The current investigation employed a unique time-pattern analysis program (THEME) to examine whether recurrent temporal patterns (T-patterns) of SIB were related to morning levels of two POMC-derived hormones: beta-endorphin (betaE) and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH).