Twinned neuroimaging analysis contributes to improving the classification of young people with autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed using comprehensive behavioral information. Neuroimaging offers additional information but lacks clinical utility for diagnosis. This study investigates whether multi-forms of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast can be used individually and in combination to produce a categorical classification of young individuals with ASD.

A decision support system based on recurrent neural networks to predict medication dosage for patients with Parkinson's disease.

Using deep learning has demonstrated significant potential in making informed decisions based on clinical evidence. In this study, we deal with optimizing medication and quantitatively present the role of deep learning in predicting the medication dosage for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The proposed method is based on recurrent neural networks (RNNs) and tries to predict the dosage of five critical medication types for PD, including levodopa, dopamine agonists, monoamine oxidase-B inhibitors, catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibitors, and amantadine.

A Decision-Aware Ambient Assisted Living System with IoT Embedded Device for In-Home Monitoring of Older Adults.

Older adults' independent life is compromised due to various problems, such as memory impairments and decision-making difficulties. This work initially proposes an integrated conceptual model for assisted living systems capable of providing helping means for older adults with mild memory impairments and their caregivers. The proposed model has four main components: (1) an indoor location and heading measurement unit in the local fog layer, (2) an augmented reality (AR) application to make interactions with the user, (3) an IoT-based fuzzy decision-making system to handle the direct and environmental interactions with the user, and (4) a user interface for caregivers to monitor the situation in real time and send reminders once required.

Effects of Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus Settings on Voice Quality, Intensity, and Prosody in Parkinson's Disease: Preliminary Evidence for Speech Optimization.

Objective: To systematically evaluate how different deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) amplitude, frequency, and pulse-width electrical parameter settings impact speech intensity, voice quality, and prosody of speech in Parkinson's disease (PD).

Methods: Ten individuals with PD receiving bilateral STN-DBS treatments were seen for three baseline and five treatment visits. The five treatment visits involved an examination of the standard clinical settings as well as manipulation of different combinations of frequency (low, mid, and high), pulse width (low, mid, and high), and voltage (low, mid, and high) of stimulation.

Quantification of whole-body bradykinesia in Parkinson's disease participants using multiple inertial sensors.

Bradykinesia (slowness of movement) is a common motor symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) that can severely affect quality of life for those living with the disease. Assessment and treatment of PD motor symptoms largely depends on clinical scales such as the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). However, such clinical scales rely on the visual assessment by a human observer, naturally resulting in inter-rater variability.

Towards remote monitoring of Parkinson's disease tremor using wearable motion capture systems.

The management of movement disorders is shifting from a centralized-clinical assessment towards remote monitoring and individualized therapy. While a variety of treatment options are available, ranging from pharmaceutical drugs to invasive neuromodulation, the clinical effects are inconsistent and often poorly measured. For instance, the lack of remote monitoring has been a major limitation to optimize therapeutic interventions for patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD).

Using Wearable Technology to Generate Objective Parkinson's Disease Dyskinesia Severity Score: Possibilities for Home Monitoring.

A variety of clinical scales are available to assess dyskinesia severity in Parkinson's disease patients; however, such assessments are subjective, do not provide long term monitoring, and their use is subject to inter- and intra-rater variability. In this paper, an objective dyskinesia score was developed using an IMU -based motion capture system. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery is currently the only acute intervention that results in the rapidly progressive reduction of dyskinesia's severity; hence, this form of therapy was selected as a model to validate the proposed method.

Predicting Improvement in Writer's Cramp Symptoms following Botulinum Neurotoxin Injection Therapy.

Introduction: Writer's cramp is a specific focal hand dystonia causing abnormal posturing and tremor in the upper limb. The most popular medical intervention, botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT-A) therapy, is variably effective for 50-70% of patients. BoNT-A non-responders undergo ineffective treatment and may experience significant side effects.

Haptic Feedback Manipulation During Botulinum Toxin Injection Therapy for Focal Hand Dystonia Patients: A Possible New Assistive Strategy.

Abnormality of sensorimotor integration in the basal ganglia and cortex has been reported in the literature for patients with task-specific focal hand dystonia (FHD). In this study, we investigate the effect of manipulation of kinesthetic input in people living with writer's cramp disorder (a major form of FHD). For this purpose, severity of dystonia is studied for 11 participants while the symptoms of seven participants have been tracked during five sessions of assessment and Botulinum toxin injection (BoNT-A) therapy (one of the current suggested therapies for dystonia).

Characterization of multi-joint upper limb movements in a single task to assess bradykinesia.

Bradykinesia is a disabling symptom of Parkinson's disease (PD) which presents with slowness of movement. Visual assessment using clinical rating scales is currently the gold standard to assess bradykinesia. Such assessments require multiple separate movements, are subjective, and rely on the ability of the rater to determine frequency and amplitude features of excursion of multiple joints simultaneously.

Kinematic and kinetic assessment of upper limb movements in patients with writer's cramp.

Background: The assessment and treatment of writer's cramp is complicated due to the variations in the forces and angles of involved joints. Additionally, in some cases compensatory movements for cramp relief further complicates assessment. Currently these variables are subjectively measured with clinical scales and visual assessments.