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A vocal model to predict readiness under sleep deprivation

Published in:
Proc. 2023 IEEE 19th Intl. Conf. on Body Sensor Networks, BSN, 9-11 October 2023.

Summary

A variety of factors can affect cognitive readiness and influence human performance in tasks that are mission critical. Sleep deprivation is one of the most prevalent factors that degrade performance. One risk-mitigation approach is to use vocal biomarkers to detect cognitive fatigue and resulting performance decrements. In this study, a group of 20 subjects were deprived of sleep for a period of 24 hours. Every two hours, they performed a battery of both speech tasks and cognitive performance tasks, including the psychomotor vigilance test (PVT). Performance on the PVT declined dramatically during nighttime hours between 2 AM and 8 AM. We demonstrate that a model using vocal biomarkers from read speech and free speech can be successfully trained to detect performance decrements on the PVT. We also demonstrate that the vocal model successfully generalizes to other outcomes at a similar level as PVT, detecting sleep deprivation (AUC=0.79) and cognitive performance declines on a battery of cognitive tasks (AUC=0.79). In comparison, using PVT as the basis for detecting sleep deprivation and performance declines resulted in AUC=0.75 and AUC=0.80, respectively.
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Summary

A variety of factors can affect cognitive readiness and influence human performance in tasks that are mission critical. Sleep deprivation is one of the most prevalent factors that degrade performance. One risk-mitigation approach is to use vocal biomarkers to detect cognitive fatigue and resulting performance decrements. In this study, a...

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Daily activity profiles and activity fluctuations correlate with BMI

Published in:
2023 IEEE 19th Intl. Conf. on Body Sensor Networks, BSN, 9-11 October 2023.

Summary

The rising levels of obesity have been declared a global epidemic by the World Health Organization, with obesity rates surpassing 50% in many countries. Between the late 1970s and the early 2000s in the U.S., the prevalence of obesity doubled while the prevalence of severe obesity more than tripled. One of the factors underlying the obesity epidemic is secular changes in activity patterns due to an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. A better understanding is needed of how daily activity patterns relate to obesity. In this study we use wrist-worn accelerometry from the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data set to develop a number of features that characterize daily activity profiles, as well as fluctuations in those profiles over time, and determine how those features correlate with body mass index (BMI). Using a data set of 2,882 subjects split evenly between a training and test fold, we constructed regression models that estimate BMI based on activity profiles and fluctuations. We found a correlation of r=0.47 between estimated and true BMI, resulting in detection of overweight, obese, and severely obese subjects with area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.69, 0.73 and 0.85. These results indicate how patterns of activity levels across daily sleep/wake cycles are associated with higher risk for obesity.
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Summary

The rising levels of obesity have been declared a global epidemic by the World Health Organization, with obesity rates surpassing 50% in many countries. Between the late 1970s and the early 2000s in the U.S., the prevalence of obesity doubled while the prevalence of severe obesity more than tripled. One...

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Noninvasive monitoring of simulated hemorrhage and whole blood resuscitation

Published in:
Biosensors, Vol. 12, No. 12, 2022, Art. No. 1168.

Summary

Hemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable death from trauma. Accurate monitoring of hemorrhage and resuscitation can significantly reduce mortality and morbidity but remains a challenge due to the low sensitivity of traditional vital signs in detecting blood loss and possible hemorrhagic shock. Vital signs are not reliable early indicators because of physiological mechanisms that compensate for blood loss and thus do not provide an accurate assessment of volume status. As an alternative, machine learning (ML) algorithms that operate on an arterial blood pressure (ABP) waveform have been shown to provide an effective early indicator. However, these ML approaches lack physiological interpretability. In this paper, we evaluate and compare the performance of ML models trained on nine ABP-derived features that provide physiological insight, using a database of 13 human subjects from a lower-body negative pressure (LBNP) model of progressive central hypovolemia and subsequent progressive restoration to normovolemia (i.e., simulated hemorrhage and whole blood resuscitation). Data were acquired at multiple repressurization rates for each subject to simulate varying resuscitation rates, resulting in 52 total LBNP collections. This work is the first to use a single ABP-based algorithm to monitor both simulated hemorrhage and resuscitation. A gradient-boosted regression tree model trained on only the half-rise to dicrotic notch (HRDN) feature achieved a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 13%, an R2 of 0.82, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.97 for detecting decompensation. This single-feature model's performance compares favorably to previously reported results from more-complex black box machine learning models. This model further provides physiological insight because HRDN represents an approximate measure of the delay between the ABP ejected and reflected wave and therefore is an indication of cardiac and peripheral vascular mechanisms that contribute to the compensatory response to blood loss and replacement.
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Summary

Hemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable death from trauma. Accurate monitoring of hemorrhage and resuscitation can significantly reduce mortality and morbidity but remains a challenge due to the low sensitivity of traditional vital signs in detecting blood loss and possible hemorrhagic shock. Vital signs are not reliable early indicators...

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Predicting ankle moment trajectory with adaptive weighted ensemble of LSTM network

Published in:
2022 IEEE High Perf. Extreme Comp. Conf. (HPEC), 19-23 September 2022, DOI: 10.1109/HPEC55821.2022.9926370.

Summary

Estimations of ankle moments can provide clinically helpful information on the function of lower extremities and further lead to insight on patient rehabilitation and assistive wearable exoskeleton design. Current methods for estimating ankle moments leave room for improvement, with most recent cutting-edge methods relying on machine learning models trained on wearable sEMG and IMU data. While machine learning eliminates many practical challenges that troubled more traditional human body models for this application, we aim to expand on prior work that showed the feasibility of using LSTM models by employing an ensemble of LSTM networks. We present an adaptive weighted LSTM ensemble network and demonstrate its performance during standing, walking, running, and sprinting. Our result show that the LSTM ensemble outperformed every single LSTM model component within the ensemble. Across every activity, the ensemble reduced median root mean squared error (RMSE) by 0.0017-0.0053 N. m/kg, which is 2.7 – 10.3% lower than the best performing single LSTM model. Hypothesis testing revealed that most reductions in RMSE were statistically significant between the ensemble and other single models across all activities and subjects. Future work may analyze different trajectory lengths and different combinations of LSTM submodels within the ensemble.
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Summary

Estimations of ankle moments can provide clinically helpful information on the function of lower extremities and further lead to insight on patient rehabilitation and assistive wearable exoskeleton design. Current methods for estimating ankle moments leave room for improvement, with most recent cutting-edge methods relying on machine learning models trained on...

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Relationships between cognitive factors and gait strategy during exoskeleton-augmented walking

Published in:
Proc. Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Mtg, HFES, Vol. 65, No. 1, 2021.

Summary

Individual variation in exoskeleton-augmented gait strategy may arise from differences in cognitive factors, e.g., ability to respond quickly to stimuli or complete tasks under divided attention. Gait strategy is defined as different approaches to achieving gait priorities (e.g., walking without falling) and is observed via changes in gait characteristics like normalized stride length or width. Changes indicate shifting priorities like increasing stability or coordination with an exoskeleton. Relationships between cognitive factors and exoskeleton gait characteristics were assessed. Cognitive factors were quantified using a modified Simon task and a speed achievement task on a self-paced treadmill with and without a secondary go/no-go task. Individuals with faster reaction times and decreased ability to maintain a given speed tended to prioritize coordination with an exoskeleton over gait stability. These correlations indicate relationships between cognitive factors and individual exoskeleton-augmented gait strategy that should be further investigated to understand variation in exoskeleton use.
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Summary

Individual variation in exoskeleton-augmented gait strategy may arise from differences in cognitive factors, e.g., ability to respond quickly to stimuli or complete tasks under divided attention. Gait strategy is defined as different approaches to achieving gait priorities (e.g., walking without falling) and is observed via changes in gait characteristics like...

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Geographic source estimation using airborne plant environmental DNA in dust

Summary

Information obtained from the analysis of dust, particularly biological particles such as pollen, plant parts, and fungal spores, has great utility in forensic geolocation. As an alternative to manual microscopic analysis of dust components, we developed a pipeline that utilizes the airborne plant environmental DNA (eDNA) in settled dust to estimate geographic origin. Metabarcoding of settled airborne eDNA was used to identify plant species whose geographic distributions were then derived from occurrence records in the USGS Biodiversity in Service of Our Nation (BISON) database. The distributions for all plant species identified in a sample were used to generate a probabilistic estimate of the sample source. With settled dust collected at four U.S. sites over a 15-month period, we demonstrated positive regional geolocation (within 600 km2 of the collection point) with 47.6% (20 of 42) of the samples analyzed. Attribution accuracy and resolution was dependent on the number of plant species identified in a dust sample, which was greatly affected by the season of collection. In dust samples that yielded a minimum of 20 identified plant species, positive regional attribution was achieved with 66.7% (16 of 24 samples). For broader demonstration, citizen-collected dust samples collected from 31 diverse U.S. sites were analyzed, and trace plant eDNA provided relevant regional attribution information on provenance in 32.2% of samples. This showed that analysis of airborne plant eDNA in settled dust can provide an accurate estimate regional provenance within the U.S., and relevant forensic information, for a substantial fraction of samples analyzed.
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Summary

Information obtained from the analysis of dust, particularly biological particles such as pollen, plant parts, and fungal spores, has great utility in forensic geolocation. As an alternative to manual microscopic analysis of dust components, we developed a pipeline that utilizes the airborne plant environmental DNA (eDNA) in settled dust to...

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Human balance models optimized using a large-scale, parallel architecture with applications to mild traumatic brain injury

Published in:
2020 IEEE High Performance Extreme Computing Conf., HPEC, 22-24 September 2020.

Summary

Static and dynamic balance are frequently disrupted through brain injuries. The impairment can be complex and for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can be undetectable by standard clinical tests. Therefore, neurologically relevant modeling approaches are needed for detection and inference of mechanisms of injury. The current work presents models of static and dynamic balance that have a high degree of correspondence. Emphasizing structural similarity between the domains facilitates development of both. Furthermore, particular attention is paid to components of sensory feedback and sensory integration to ground mechanisms in neurobiology. Models are adapted to fit experimentally collected data from 10 healthy control volunteers and 11 mild traumatic brain injury volunteers. Through an analysis by synthesis approach whose implementation was made possible by a state-of-the-art high performance computing system, we derived an interpretable, model based feature set that could classify mTBI and controls in a static balance task with an ROC AUC of 0.72.
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Summary

Static and dynamic balance are frequently disrupted through brain injuries. The impairment can be complex and for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) can be undetectable by standard clinical tests. Therefore, neurologically relevant modeling approaches are needed for detection and inference of mechanisms of injury. The current work presents models of...

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COVID-19: famotidine, histamine, mast cells, and mechanisms [eprint]

Summary

SARS-CoV-2 infection is required for COVID-19, but many signs and symptoms of COVID-19 differ from common acute viral diseases. Currently, there are no pre- or post-exposure prophylactic COVID-19 medical countermeasures. Clinical data suggest that famotidine may mitigate COVID-19 disease, but both mechanism of action and rationale for dose selection remain obscure. We explore several plausible avenues of activity including antiviral and host-mediated actions. We propose that the principal famotidine mechanism of action for COVID-19 involves on-target histamine receptor H2 activity, and that development of clinical COVID-19 involves dysfunctional mast cell activation and histamine release.
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Summary

SARS-CoV-2 infection is required for COVID-19, but many signs and symptoms of COVID-19 differ from common acute viral diseases. Currently, there are no pre- or post-exposure prophylactic COVID-19 medical countermeasures. Clinical data suggest that famotidine may mitigate COVID-19 disease, but both mechanism of action and rationale for dose selection remain...

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Medical countermeasures analysis of 2019-nCoV and vaccine risks for antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE)

Published in:
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202003.0138/v1

Summary

Background: In 80% of patients, COVID-19 presents as mild disease. 20% of cases develop severe (13%) or critical (6%) illness. More severe forms of COVID-19 present as clinical severe acute respiratory syndrome, but include a T-predominant lymphopenia, high circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, accumulation of neutrophils and macrophages in lungs, and immune dysregulation including immunosuppression. Methods: All major SARS-CoV-2 proteins were characterized using an amino acid residue variation analysis method. Results predict that most SARS-CoV-2 proteins are evolutionary constrained, with the exception of the spike (S) protein extended outer surface. Results were interpreted based on known SARS-like coronavirus virology and pathophysiology, with a focus on medical countermeasure development implications. Findings: Non-neutralizing antibodies to variable S domains may enable an alternative infection pathway via Fc receptor-mediated uptake. This may be a gating event for the immune response dysregulation observed in more severe COVID-19 disease. Prior studies involving vaccine candidates for FCoV SARS-CoV-1 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) demonstrate vaccination-induced antibody-dependent enhancement of disease (ADE), including infection of phagocytic antigen presenting cells (APC). T effector cells are believed to play an important role in controlling coronavirus infection; pan-T depletion is present in severe COVID-19 disease and may be accelerated by APC infection. Sequence and structural conservation of S motifs suggests that SARS and MERS vaccine ADE risks may foreshadow SARS-CoV-2 S-based vaccine risks. Autophagy inhibitors may reduce APC infection and T-cell depletion. Amino acid residue variation analysis identifies multiple constrained domains suitable as T cell vaccine targets. Evolutionary constraints on proven antiviral drug targets present in SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 may reduce risk of developing antiviral drug escape mutants. Interpretation: Safety testing of COVID-19 S protein-based B cell vaccines in animal models is strongly encouraged prior to clinical trials to reduce risk of ADE upon virus exposure.
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Summary

Background: In 80% of patients, COVID-19 presents as mild disease. 20% of cases develop severe (13%) or critical (6%) illness. More severe forms of COVID-19 present as clinical severe acute respiratory syndrome, but include a T-predominant lymphopenia, high circulating levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, accumulation of neutrophils and macrophages...

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Detecting pathogen exposure during the non-symptomatic incubation period using physiological data

Summary

Early pathogen exposure detection allows better patient care and faster implementation of public health measures (patient isolation, contact tracing). Existing exposure detection most frequently relies on overt clinical symptoms, namely fever, during the infectious prodromal period. We have developed a robust machine learning based method to better detect asymptomatic states during the incubation period using subtle, sub-clinical physiological markers. Starting with highresolution physiological waveform data from non-human primate studies of viral (Ebola, Marburg, Lassa, and Nipah viruses) and bacterial (Y. pestis) exposure, we processed the data to reduce short-term variability and normalize diurnal variations, then provided these to a supervised random forest classification algorithm and post-classifier declaration logic step to reduce false alarms. In most subjects detection is achieved well before the onset of fever; subject cross-validation across exposure studies (varying viruses, exposure routes, animal species, and target dose) lead to 51h mean early detection (at 0.93 area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve [AUCROC]). Evaluating the algorithm against entirely independent datasets for Lassa, Nipah, and Y. pestis exposures un-used in algorithm training and development yields a mean 51h early warning time (at AUCROC=0.95). We discuss which physiological indicators are most informative for early detection and options for extending this capability to limited datasets such as those available from wearable, non-invasive, ECG-based sensors.
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Summary

Early pathogen exposure detection allows better patient care and faster implementation of public health measures (patient isolation, contact tracing). Existing exposure detection most frequently relies on overt clinical symptoms, namely fever, during the infectious prodromal period. We have developed a robust machine learning based method to better detect asymptomatic states...

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