Development and Validation of an Endometriosis Diagnostic Method Based on Serum Biomarkers and Clinical Variables.

Endometriosis affects more than 10% of women of reproductive age, significantly impacting their quality of life. Diagnosis typically takes 4 to 11 years from symptom onset. The gold standard for diagnosing this disease, laparoscopy, is invasive, contributing to this delay in diagnosis. Two studies were conducted to develop a diagnostic test based on the combination of serum biomarkers and clinical variables. Study 1, the development study, aimed to: (i) confirm the ability of CA125, BDNF and clinical variables to differentiate between cases and controls, and (ii) develop a diagnostic algorithm based on these results. Study 2 validated the clinical performance of the developed in vitro diagnostic (IVD) test in diagnosing endometriosis. Serum samples and clinical variables extracted from psychometric questionnaires were obtained from the Oxford Endometriosis CaRe Centre biobank (UK). Case/control classification was performed based on laparoscopy and histological verification of the excised lesions. Studies 1 and 2 included n = 204 and n = 79 patients, respectively. Study 1 found a statistically significant difference between cases and controls for levels of both biomarkers. Of the assessed clinical variables from the patients' medical histories, six were found to be significantly different between endometriosis cases and controls. CA125, BDNF and these six clinical variables were combined into a multivariable prediction model. In Study 2, the IVD test demonstrated sensitivity and specificity values of 46.2% (25.5-66.8%) and 100% (86.7-100%), respectively. Due to its high specificity, this IVD test is a simple and accurate rule-in test for early disease identification, even in the presence of non-specific symptoms.

The Utility of Economic Measures to Quantify the Burden of Tinnitus in Affected Individuals: A Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Tinnitus is a chronic subjective condition that impacts patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and requires multidisciplinary interventions. In health economics, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) and willingness to pay (WTP) are essential for evaluating treatment effectiveness in cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, or cost-benefit analysis. The extent to which these economic measures have been used in tinnitus research has not been investigated. The objectives of this scoping review were to explore findings and limitations of existing studies and provide an insight into how these economic measures could be used to quantify the burden of tinnitus in affected individuals. METHODS: A scoping review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodological framework. The search strategy involved four electronic databases. Records were included when QALYs or WTP were measured in individuals whose primary or secondary complaint was tinnitus. RESULTS: A total of 15 studies were identified: three WTP assessment studies and 12 QALY assessment studies using direct preference-based measures (PBMs) (n = 4), indirect PBMs (n = 7), and a disease-specific psychometric instrument (n = 1). The limited use to date of PBMs to assess HRQoL in tinnitus patients is an important finding. CONCLUSIONS: Further studies using reliable economic methods and focusing on patients' WTP for treatment or their preference for their current health state are needed. Applying PBMs in tinnitus research is crucial not only for the healthcare decision-making process but also to improve patient-centred care.

Corrigendum: Multidisciplinary Tinnitus Research: Challenges and Future Directions From the Perspective of Early Stage Researchers.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2021.647285.].

Multidisciplinary Tinnitus Research: Challenges and Future Directions From the Perspective of Early Stage Researchers.

Tinnitus can be a burdensome condition on both individual and societal levels. Many aspects of this condition remain elusive, including its underlying mechanisms, ultimately hindering the development of a cure. Interdisciplinary approaches are required to overcome long-established research challenges. This review summarizes current knowledge in various tinnitus-relevant research fields including tinnitus generating mechanisms, heterogeneity, epidemiology, assessment, and treatment development, in an effort to highlight the main challenges and provide suggestions for future research to overcome them. Four common themes across different areas were identified as future research direction: (1) Further establishment of multicenter and multidisciplinary collaborations; (2) Systematic reviews and syntheses of existing knowledge; (3) Standardization of research methods including tinnitus assessment, data acquisition, and data analysis protocols; (4) The design of studies with large sample sizes and the creation of large tinnitus-specific databases that would allow in-depth exploration of tinnitus heterogeneity.

Mechanisms of Spectrotemporal Modulation Detection for Normal- and Hearing-Impaired Listeners.

Spectrotemporal modulations (STM) are essential features of speech signals that make them intelligible. While their encoding has been widely investigated in neurophysiology, we still lack a full understanding of how STMs are processed at the behavioral level and how cochlear hearing loss impacts this processing. Here, we introduce a novel methodological framework based on psychophysical reverse correlation deployed in the modulation space to characterize the mechanisms underlying STM detection in noise. We derive perceptual filters for young normal-hearing and older hearing-impaired individuals performing a detection task of an elementary target STM (a given product of temporal and spectral modulations) embedded in other masking STMs. Analyzed with computational tools, our data show that both groups rely on a comparable linear (band-pass)-nonlinear processing cascade, which can be well accounted for by a temporal modulation filter bank model combined with cross-correlation against the target representation. Our results also suggest that the modulation mistuning observed for the hearing-impaired group results primarily from broader cochlear filters. Yet, we find idiosyncratic behaviors that cannot be captured by cochlear tuning alone, highlighting the need to consider variability originating from additional mechanisms. Overall, this integrated experimental-computational approach offers a principled way to assess suprathreshold processing distortions in each individual and could thus be used to further investigate interindividual differences in speech intelligibility.

Doctoral Studies as part of an Innovative Training Network (ITN): Early Stage Researcher (ESR) experiences.

Background: The Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions' (MSCA) Innovative Training Network (ITN) is a doctoral training programme jointly implemented by academic institutions and industries from countries across Europe and beyond. To our knowledge no study has examined the experience of students participating in MSCA-ITNs. This study aims to evaluate and report MSCA-ITN Early Stage Researcher (ESR) experiences. Methods: The Innovative Training Network - Evaluation Questionnaire (ITN-EQ) was developed to assess supervision, training, collaborations and experiences of ESRs and forwarded to two tinnitus-related ITNs and seven ITNs of other disciplines. Results: Key advantages identified included better career prospects, multidisciplinary research opportunities/collaborations, international exposure, personal/professional development, plus generous salaries and research budgets. However, lack of a common EU framework resulted in the experience being largely dependent on the host institution, country and supervisor. Moreover, managing the dual requirements of ITNs and host institutions while completing a three-year PhD seemed challenging for most ESRs. ESR involvement in workshop and training school planning was desirable. More than 80% of ESRs rated the overall ITN experience favourably and 98.3% would recommend the same to prospective PhD students. Conclusions: This report could provide valuable insights in planning and management of future ITNs and could assist prospective students in their decision of joining an ITN for their PhD.