Assessing clinical utility of machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches to analyze speech recordings in multiple sclerosis: A pilot study.

BACKGROUND: An early diagnosis together with an accurate disease progression monitoring of multiple sclerosis is an important component of successful disease management. Prior studies have established that multiple sclerosis is correlated with speech discrepancies. Early research using objective acoustic measurements has discovered measurable dysarthria. METHOD: The objective was to determine the potential clinical utility of machine learning and deep learning/AI approaches for the aiding of diagnosis, biomarker extraction and progression monitoring of multiple sclerosis using speech recordings. A corpus of 65 MS-positive and 66 healthy individuals reading the same text aloud was used for targeted acoustic feature extraction utilizing automatic phoneme segmentation. A series of binary classification models was trained, tuned, and evaluated regarding their Accuracy and area-under-the-curve. RESULTS: The Random Forest model performed best, achieving an Accuracy of 0.82 on the validation dataset and an area-under-the-curve of 0.76 across 5 k-fold cycles on the training dataset. 5 out of 7 acoustic features were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Machine learning and artificial intelligence in automatic analyses of voice recordings for aiding multiple sclerosis diagnosis and progression tracking seems promising. Further clinical validation of these methods and their mapping onto multiple sclerosis progression is needed, as well as a validating utility for English-speaking populations.

Practical Changes in Reference Services: A Case Study.

Between 2018 and 2019, the librarians at the Strauss Health Sciences Library improved the efficiency and reach of their reference service by implementing four small-scale changes. These changes included revising the method of collecting statistics, creating FAQs, utilizing an appointment scheduler, and launching proactive chat. This case study will provide the background and research to support these changes, details on how the changes were implemented using Springshare tools, as well as the results and implications. Finally, the librarians will share their lessons learned along with recommendations for institutions interested in adopting similar changes.

Mechanical properties and microstructure of Ti-35.5Nb-5.7Ta beta alloy.

OBJECTIVE: Titanium and titanium alloys represent generally accepted metallic biomaterials for clinical dentistry and dental implantology. In this paper, we present a Ti-35.5Nb-5.7Ta alloy with a special respect to its microstructure and mechanical characteristics, such as Young modulus of elasticity. METHODS: Three thermal treatments differing in temperature and time of annealing were used during the Ti-35.5Nb-5.7Ta processing in order to evaluate the effects of ageing, melting annealing, and annealing on mechanical characteristics and microstructure. RESULTS: Using microscopy, the alloy was analyzed and the differences in shares of beta phase grains, alpha particles and precipitates evaluated. The three thermal treatments were evaluated also from technological point of view. CONCLUSION: The following thermal treatment was found optimal for the Ti-35.5Nb-5.7Ta alloy: melting annealing at 800 °C for 0.5 hour followed by a cold swaging with a 52-79 % deformation, and final hardening at 500 °C for 2 hours in water(Tab. 2, Fig. 3, Ref. 24).

Impaired event memory and recollection in a case of developmental amnesia.

A current debate in the literature is whether all declarative memories and associated memory processes rely on the same neural substrate. Here, we show that H.C., a developmental amnesic person with selective bilateral hippocampal volume loss, has a mild deficit in personal episodic memory, and a more pronounced deficit in public event memory; semantic memory for personal and general knowledge was unimpaired. This was accompanied by a subtle difference in impairment between recollection and familiarity on lab-based tests of recognition memory. Strikingly, H.C.'s recognition did not benefit from a levels-of-processing manipulation. Thus, not all types of declarative memory and related processes can exist independently of the hippocampus even if it is damaged early in life.

A quantitative comparison of collagen phagocytosis in periodontal ligament and transseptal ligament of the rat periodontium.

The phagocytosis of collagen within soft connective tissues can be used as an index of collagen turnover and remodeling. The objective of this study was to compare the levels of collagen phagocytosis in periodontal and transseptal ligaments in the rat in order to provide an indication of the relative collagen-turnover activities within these two tissues. Periodontal and transseptal ligaments from two rats were examined by the techniques of electron microscope stereology. Parameters quantitated included cytoplasm (CC), extracellular collagen (ECC), and intracellular or phagocytosed collagen (ICC). The results indicated that the cells of the transseptal ligament have significantly more ICC than those of periodontal ligament. This suggests that the transseptal ligament in the rat may have a high rate of collagen turnover. There seems to be an increasing body of evidence, including the present results, that the transseptal ligament region of gingiva has a high level of collagen turnover. It seems likely, therefore, that, unless there are marked species differences in collagen turnover, slow remodeling of the transseptal ligament is not responsible for orthodontic relapse. Why relapse of rotated teeth can be reduced by surgical severing or removal of the transseptal tissue remains to be determined.

Collagen fibril diameter and its relation to collagen turnover in three soft connective tissues in the rat.

Collagen fibril diameters were measured in electron micrographs of rat skin, gingiva and periodontal ligament. Gingiva was divided into two zones, termed elastin-containing gingiva and attached gingiva, depending on the presence or absence of elastic fibrils. The results revealed that skin had the largest fibrils, followed by elastin-containing gingiva, attached gingiva and periodontal ligament respectively. These differences in fibril diameter were highly significant. The observed trend in fibril diameter was the inverse of that documented for collagen turnover and collagen phagocytosis in the same tissues. A link between fibril diameter and collagen turnover is discussed.

A stereologic analysis of collagen phagocytosis by periodontal ligament fibroblasts during occlusal hypofunction in the rat.

Maxillary molars were extracted unilaterally from 4 young male rats so as to leave the agonist mandibular molars in hypofunction. The mandibular molars on the opposite side of the mouth acted as controls. Three days later, the animals were killed by perfusion and all mandibular molars removed en bloc. After demineralization, each block was trimmed, prepared for electron microscopy and embedded in Epon. The Epon blocks were trimmed so as to comprise the middle-third of the buccal periodontal ligament of the mesio-buccal root of the first molar together with some cementum and alveolar bone as landmarks. Two light-gold sections were cut from each trimmed block and systematically photographed in the electron microscope. The photographs were analysed stereologically so as to quantitate phagocytosed collagen (ICC), cytoplasm (CC) and extracellular fibrillar collagen (ECC). The results for the hypofunctional and contralateral control ligaments were compared with each other and with earlier results from similar but untreated (baseline) animals. The results were expressed as mean values for ICC, CC and ECC, and as the ratios ICC/ECC (the fraction of extracellular collagen phagocytosed), ICC/CC (collagen phagocytic activity per unit cytoplasm) and CC/ECC (cell density per unit extracellular collagen fibril). Significant differences were found for all measurements except ICC/ECC which remained the same in the three states of the ligament. The hypofunctional ligaments had the lowest collagen phagocytic activity and the highest cell density, whereas the ligaments from the untreated animals had the highest collagen phagocytic activity and the lowest cell density. The values for the contralateral control ligaments were intermediate between those for the other two states of the ligament. There was also a significant loss of recognizable, extracellular fibrillar collagen in the hypofunctional ligament. It is suggested that this loss of ECC and its replacement by less organized, pre-fibrillar forms of collagen may be an important mechanism in tooth eruption.

A stereologic analysis of collagen phagocytosis by fibroblasts in three soft connective tissues with differing rates of collagen turnover.

The purpose of this study was to assess the importance of the phagocytic mechanism of collagen resorption in the normal turnover and remodelling of soft connective tissues. Collagen phagocytosis by fibroblasts in rat skin, attached gingiva, and periodontal ligament was quantitated using the methodology of electron microscopic stereology. Periodontal ligament contained five and 15 times as much phagocytosed collagen as attached gingiva and skin respectively. Also, for each tissue examined, a positive correlation was observed between the amount of collagen phagocytosed and the known rate of mature collagen turnover.

Role of organic acid metabolism in the biosynthesis of peptide ergot alkaloids.

Regulatory mechanism of primary metabolism responsible for the biosynthesis of peptide ergot alkaloids was proposed on the basis of experimental results from the production phase of Claviceps purpurea (FR.) Tul. in parasitic and saprophytic cultures. The production-phase metabolism is characterized by uncoupling of glycolysis from the citric acid cycle and by a break in this cycle at the level of the 2-exoglutarate dehydrogenase complex. This regulation is due to the inhibition by citrate and malate, i.e. the final products continuously taken up from the external medium. The rate of the intact reaction steps of the citric acid cycle is therefore not limited by the actual acetyl-CoA or oxaloacetate pool. The regulation also leads to an excessive synthesis of acetyl-CoA, 2-oxoglutarate and oxaloacetate, which represent the key metabolites of primary metabolism, and to their utilization in the biosynthesis of peptide alkaloids.

In vitro phagocytosis of exogenous collagen by fibroblasts from the periodontal ligament: an electron microscopic study.

There have been numerous electron microscopic reports of apparent phagocytosis of collagen by fibroblasts and other cells in vivo. We have developed an in vitro system which, to the best of our knowledge, will permit for the first time the study of regulatory mechanisms governing phagocytosis and digestion of collagen fibres. Cells were cultured from explants of monkey periodontal ligament, subcultured, and grown to confluence in alpha-MEM plus 15% fetal calf serum plus antibiotics. The confluent cells were then cultured together with minced rat tail tendon collagen in alpha-MEM lacking proline, lysine, glycine and fetal calf serum for up to 7 days, after which they were processed for electron microscopy. Intracellular collagen profiles could be seen in cultured cells that were associated with exogenous collagen fibrils as early as 24 hours after addition of the collagen. Through electron microscopic examination of serial sections of the culture, we have demonstrated: (1) that fibroblasts can phagocytose collagen; (2) that the observed intracellular collagen is not the result of aggregation of endogenous synthesized collagen; (3) that it is not possible to base a decision as to whether a collagen fibril has been phagocytosed in whole or in part by the type of vesicle with which it is associated; (4) that cleavage of collagen into small pieces may not be a necessary prelude to its phagocytosis.