Development of Low Cost Speech System for Patient Suffer on the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Eye movements generate electric signals, which a user can employ to control his/her environment and communicate with others. This paper presents a review of previous studies on such electric signals, that is, electrooculograms (EOGs), from the perspective of human–computer interaction (HCI). EOGs represent one of the easiest means to estimate eye movements by using a low-cost device, and have been often considered and utilized for HCI applications, such as to facilitate typing on a virtual keyboard, moving a mouse, or controlling a wheelchair. The objective of this study is to summarize the experimental procedures of previous studies and provide a guide for researchers interested in this field. In this work the basic characteristics of EOGs, associated measurements, and signal processing and pattern recognition algorithms are briefly reviewed, and various applications reported in the existing literature are listed. It is expected that EOGs will be a useful source of communication in virtual reality environments, and can act as a valuable communication tools for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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Blood Biomarkers for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Myth or Reality?

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2014/525097 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 2014 ◽

pp. 1-11 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Laura Robelin ◽

Jose Luis Gonzalez De Aguilar

Keyword(s):

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽

Motor Neurons ◽

Multiple Testing ◽

Low Cost ◽

Cellular Level ◽

Point Of View ◽

Metabolic Dysfunction ◽

Therapeutic Trials ◽

Electrophysiological Findings ◽

Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal condition primarily characterized by the selective loss of upper and lower motor neurons. At present, the diagnosis and monitoring of ALS is based on clinical examination, electrophysiological findings, medical history, and exclusion of confounding disorders. There is therefore an undeniable need for molecular biomarkers that could give reliable information on the onset and progression of ALS in clinical practice and therapeutic trials. From a practical point of view, blood offers a series of advantages, including easy handling and multiple testing at a low cost, that make it an ideal source of biomarkers. In this review, we revisited the findings of many studies that investigated the presence of systemic changes at the molecular and cellular level in patients with ALS. The results of these studies reflect the diversity in the pathological mechanisms contributing to disease (e.g., excitotoxicity, oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, metabolic dysfunction, and neurodegeneration, among others) and provide relatively successful evidence of the usefulness of a wide-ranging panel of molecules as potential biomarkers. More studies, hopefully internationally coordinated, would be needed, however, to translate the application of these biomarkers into benefit for patients.

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Genetics of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Current Genetic Medicine Reports ◽

10.1007/s40142-020-00194-8 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 121-131

Author(s):

Jenna M. Gregory ◽

Delphine Fagegaltier ◽

Hemali Phatnani ◽

Matthew B. Harms

Keyword(s):

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽

Low Cost ◽

Gene Discovery ◽

Current Level ◽

Genetic Evidence ◽

Large Patient ◽

Gene Associations ◽

The Status ◽

History Of ◽

Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract Purpose of Review Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and frontotemporal dementia (ALS-FTD) spectrum disorder is a rare fatal disease with strong genetic influences. The implementation of short-read sequencing methodologies in increasingly large patient cohorts has rapidly expanded our knowledge of the complex genetic architecture of the disease. We aim to convey the broad history of ALS gene discovery as context for a focused review of 11 ALS gene associations reported over the last 5 years. We also summarize the current level of genetic evidence for all previously reported genes. Recent Findings The history of ALS gene discovery has occurred in at least four identifiable phases, each powered by different technologies and scale of investigation. The most recent epoch, benefitting from population-scale genome data, large international consortia, and low-cost sequencing, has yielded 11 new gene associations. We summarize the current level of genetic evidence supporting these ALS genes, highlighting any genotype-phenotype or genotype-pathology correlations, and discussing preliminary understanding of molecular pathogenesis. This era has also raised uncertainty around prior ALS-associated genes and clarified the role of others. Summary Our understanding of the genetic underpinning of ALS has expanded rapidly over the last 25 years and has led directly to the clinical application of molecularly driven therapies. Ongoing sequencing efforts in ALS will identify new causative and risk factor genes while clarifying the status of genes reported in prior eras of research.

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Modified Sphygmomanometer Test and MRC Muscle Scale to assess lower limb muscle strength in people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a correlation study

10.5327/1516-3180.341 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

GJulia Magalhães Waybe Gonçalves ◽

Danielle Antoniazzi Kirscht Auermann D'Allembert Costa Sousa ◽

Marcela Ferreira de Andrade Rangel ◽

Maria Alice Dias da Costa ◽

Mariana Asmar Alencar

Keyword(s):

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽

Muscle Strength ◽

Low Cost ◽

Correlation Study ◽

Motor Domain ◽

Knee Extensors ◽

Gross Motor ◽

Significance Level ◽

Sporadic Als ◽

Lateral Sclerosis

Background: The measurement of strength through MRC Muscle Scale (MRC) is the most widely used method to follow the evolution of disabilities in people diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), since it is easy and fast to measure. However, it has been considered a subjective and evaluator dependent method. A possibility to measure strength is the Modified Sphygmomanometer Test (MST): an objective method, low-cost and with adequate construct validity with the hand dynamometer.Objective: Verify the correlation between MST, MRC and the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating (ALSFRS-R). Methods: Exploratory study, in which participated individuals with up to 1 year of diagnosis of sporadic ALS, able to perform the tests in the sitting position. The MRC, MST and ALSFRS-R were applied and hip flexors and knee extensors was tested. Pearson’s correlation was used to evaluate the association between the strength tests and ALSFRS- R with a significance level of 0.05. Results: Statistical analysis showed significant correlation between the measurements performed by the MRC and MST (r= 0.757; p<0.000). The MRC showed high correlation with total ALSFRS (r=0.700; p<0.001) and moderate with ALSFRS gross motor domain (r=0.765; p<0.000). MST showed low correlation with total ALSFRS (r=0.419; p<0.047) and moderate with ALSFRS gross motor domain (r=0.534; p<0.009). Conclusion: Both tests correlated with the functional scale, yet the MRC correlated in greater magnitude. Therefore, the measurement of muscle strength, when performed by the MRC, can be an alternative in the clinical setting for monitoring patients with ALS.

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Automated Acoustic Analysis of Oral Diadochokinesis to Assess Bulbar Motor Involvement in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Journal of Speech Language and Hearing Research ◽

10.1044/2019_jslhr-19-00178 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 63 (1) ◽

pp. 59-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Panying Rong

Keyword(s):

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽

Acoustic Analysis ◽

Speaking Rate ◽

Disease Stage ◽

Healthy Controls ◽

Tongue Movement ◽

Major Barrier ◽

Syllable Repetition ◽

Oral Diadochokinesis ◽

Lateral Sclerosis

Purpose The purpose of this article was to validate a novel acoustic analysis of oral diadochokinesis (DDK) in assessing bulbar motor involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Method An automated acoustic DDK analysis was developed, which filtered out the voice features and extracted the envelope of the acoustic waveform reflecting the temporal pattern of syllable repetitions during an oral DDK task (i.e., repetitions of /tɑ/ at the maximum rate on 1 breath). Cycle-to-cycle temporal variability (cTV) of envelope fluctuations and syllable repetition rate (sylRate) were derived from the envelope and validated against 2 kinematic measures, which are tongue movement jitter (movJitter) and alternating tongue movement rate (AMR) during the DDK task, in 16 individuals with bulbar ALS and 18 healthy controls. After the validation, cTV, sylRate, movJitter, and AMR, along with an established clinical speech measure, that is, speaking rate (SR), were compared in their ability to (a) differentiate individuals with ALS from healthy controls and (b) detect early-stage bulbar declines in ALS. Results cTV and sylRate were significantly correlated with movJitter and AMR, respectively, across individuals with ALS and healthy controls, confirming the validity of the acoustic DDK analysis in extracting the temporal DDK pattern. Among all the acoustic and kinematic DDK measures, cTV showed the highest diagnostic accuracy (i.e., 0.87) with 80% sensitivity and 94% specificity in differentiating individuals with ALS from healthy controls, which outperformed the SR measure. Moreover, cTV showed a large increase during the early disease stage, which preceded the decline of SR. Conclusions This study provided preliminary validation of a novel automated acoustic DDK analysis in extracting a useful measure, namely, cTV, for early detection of bulbar ALS. This analysis overcame a major barrier in the existing acoustic DDK analysis, which is continuous voicing between syllables that interferes with syllable structures. This approach has potential clinical applications as a novel bulbar assessment.

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