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Prevision and analysis of brain activity in transitions: epilepsy and sleep





Project



About 0.5-0.8% of the world populationis diagnosed with Epilepsy. In Italy about 500,000 individuals are affected with this illness. Epilepsy has an high social cost, resulting in many injuries such as fractures, submersion, burns, accidents and even death.

Wake-sleep transitions during activitities requiring vigilance have an high social cost, too.

About 22% of cars’ accidents are caused by sleepiness. Such accidents have a higher mortality rate than the others (11.4% vs 5.6%) and involve trucks in about 52% of the cases.

Epilectic seizures and wake-sleep transitions causes working accidents too.

The project aims to describe, detect and predict in a sufficiently short time epileptic seizures and wake-sleep transitions in order to take appropriate actions to ensure the safety of the subjects. To achieve this objective, we will use several recordings of cerebral activity (EEG) and other important biological parameters (cardiac and respiratory activity, blood pressure and skin resistance) collected from pathological subjects. The acquired biological signals will beanalyzed with methods from complex systems analysis, involving the use of mathematical models, non-linear analysis of time series and the use of optimization and automatic learning methods.

The latter will allow to manage the specific nature of each patient and its pathology; indeed predictive informations about transitions may arise by studying the interactions of detected biological signals and their mixed contributions.

Modifications of the overall state of the organism, induced by autonomic modulations of the state, can promote changes in the neuronal microenvironment and, indirectly, change the activation status of several and specific neuronal populations.

Techniques and methodologies developed will be adapted and implemented on wearable or portable low cost devices. These will be able to acquire, analyze and send data, to detect and warn about possible transitions (incoming seizure or numbness) in order to take the correct and necessary action (wake the subject or take the medication).

This project will have important clinical, social and economic implications. Among them: the improvement of quality of life and individual/collective security, the reduction of risk accidents and the resulting health care costs.

Research Groups



DSMCN UNISI

Group info

The group of DSMCN consists of five physicians with specialized skills in the field of neurology and neurophysiology, particularly focused on: epilepsy, sleep disorders, analysis and study of brain signals (EEG). From more than one decade, the group manages both a center for diagnosis and surgical treatment of epilepsy and a center for diagnosis and treatment of sleep disorders, allowing the collection of data for a wide range of clinical cases. Data analysis and diagnostics regarding epilepsy are mainly performed by Dr. Vatti, Dr. Marino and Prof. Rocchi; data analysis and diagnostic on sleep disorders are mainly performed by Dr. Testani and Prof. Rocchi, both activities are coordinated by Prof. Rossi.

People

people logo Alessandro Rossi people logo
Project Coordinator, Professor and senior neurologist, Chief of Department of Neurological and Sensorial Sciences, Managing Director of U.O.C. Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Siena

people logo Raffaele Rocchi
Assistant Professor and senior neurophysiologist, Department of Neurological and Sensorial Sciences, U.O.C. Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Siena

people logo Giampaolo Vatti
Senior neurophysiologist, Department of Neurological and Sensorial Sciences, U.O.C. Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Siena

people logo Daniela Marino
Phd, Neurologist, Department of Neurological and Sensorial Sciences, U.O.C. Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Siena

people logo Elisa Testani
Neurophysiologist, Department of Neurological and Sensorial Sciences, U.O.C. Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University Hospital of Siena

Selected publications

  • publication logo Santarnecchi E, D'Arista S, Egiziano E, Gardi C, Petrosino R, Vatti G, Reda M, Rossi A. Interaction between neuroanatomical and psychological changes after mindfulness-based training. PLoS One. 2014 Oct 20;9(10):e108359.

  • publication logo Pecorelli A, Natrella F, Belmonte G, Miracco C, Cervellati F, Ciccoli L, Mariottini A, Rocchi R, Vatti G, Bua A, Canitano R, Hayek J, Forman HJ, Valacchi G. NADPH oxidase activation and 4-hydroxy-2-nonenal/aquaporin-4 adducts as possible new players in oxidative neuronal damage presents in drug-resistant epilepsy. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2014 Nov 22;1852(3):507-519.

  • publication logo Santarnecchi E, Sicilia I, Richiardi J, Vatti G, Polizzotto NR, Marino D, Rocchi R, Van De Ville D, Rossi A. Altered cortical and subcortical local coherence in obstructive sleep apnea: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. J Sleep Res. 2013 Jun;22(3):337-47.

  • publication logo Romigi A, Izzi F, Placidi F, Zannino S, Evangelista E, Del Bianco C, Copetti M, Vitrani G, Mercuri NB, Cum F, Marciani MG. Effects of zonisamide as add-on therapy on sleep-wake cycle in focal epilepsy: a polysomnographic study. Epilepsy Behav. 2013 Feb;26(2):170-4.

  • publication logo Marino D, Vatti G, Rufa A, Malandrini A, Rocchi R, Bracco S, Buccoliero R, Federico A. Transient periodic lateralised epileptiform discharges (PLEDs) following internal carotid artery stenting. Epileptic Disord. 2012 Mar;14(1):85-9.



DIISM UNISI

Group info

The DIISM research group is part of the Department of Information Engineering and Mathematical Sciences of the University of Siena. It is an interdisciplinary group whose members are engineers, mathematicians and a physicist. There is a broad variety of research interests within the group, principally oriented towards real-world problems, ranging from transport, production and telecommunications to biophysical and medical problems. Here, a common research line of all members of the group is the investigation of the complex dynamics arising in the aforesaid systems both in terms of extracting information from empirical data and exploring the underlying dynamics adopting sophisticated mathematical techniques and models. The different and complementary approaches to the analysis of these problems involve the adoption of a wide range of mathematical techniques, from combinatorial optimization and scheduling, control systems, nonlinear time series analysis, nonlinear dynamical systems and bifurcation theory.

People

people logo Paolo Detti people logo
Research Unit Coordinator, Associate Professor, Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, Siena

people logo Chiara Mocenni people logo
Associate Professor, Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, Siena

people logo Marco Pranzo people logo
Assistant Professor, Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, Siena

people logo Dario Madeo people logo
Post-Doc Research Associate, Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, Siena

people logo Francesco Sarnari
Post-Doc Research Associate, Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, Siena

people logo Roberto Zingone
Research Associate, Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, Siena

people logo Garazi Zabalo Manrique de Lara
PhD Student, Department of Information Engineering and Mathematics, Siena

Selected publications

  • publication logo P. Detti, F. Papalini, G. Zabalo Manrique de Lara. A multi-depot dial-a-ride problem with heterogeneous vehicles and compatibility constraints in healthcare. Omega, Article in Press, 2016.

  • publication logo A. Agnetis, P. Detti, M. Pranzo, M.S. Sodhi. Sequencing unreliable jobs on parallel machines. Journal of Scheduling, Vol. 12, pp. 45-54, 2009.

  • publication logo C. Mocenni, A. Facchini, and A. Vicino. Identifying the dynamics of complex spatio-temporal systems by spatial recurrence properties. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 107, pp. 8097-8102, 2010.

  • publication logo D. Madeo, E. Castellani, E. L. Santarcangelo and C. Mocenni. Hypnotic Assessment Based on the Recurrence Quantification Analysis of EEG Recorded in the Ordinary State of Consciousness. Brain and Cognition, vol. 83, pp. 227-233, 2013.

  • publication logo D. Madeo and C. Mocenni. Game interactions and dynamics on networked populations. IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 60, pp.1801-1810, 2015.



IFC-CNR

Group info

The IFC-CNR Group, part of the Institute of Clinical Physiology, the largest interdisciplinary institute of CNR, consists of 6 personal units with a decades-long collaboration. The skills of the group belong to the field of bioengineering (two engineers, a mathematician and a computer technician) and medicine (a physiologist doctor and a cardiologist). The bioengineering expertise consists mainly in all steps of biomedical signal processing: acquisition, filtering, modelling, feature extraction, event detection, event classification, time series analysis, data fusion and interpretation (with particular reference to cardiovascular signals and measures). Specifically, the group has strong competences in spectral analysis techniques, wavelets, optimum/adaptive filters, principal component, blind source separation, non-linear dynamics techniques and statistical analysis methods. Recent research activity includes: epileptic seizures prediction; non-invasive fetal ECG extraction from abdominal maternal leads; atrial fibrillation detection in long-term recordings; vital signs monitoring by wearable systems; autonomic nervous system, heart rate dynamics and hypnotizability. The interdisciplinary nature of this group allows a fruitful interaction in the evaluation of the results and their interpretation.

People

people logo Maurizio Varanini
Research Unit Coordinator, Engineer: Senior Researcher, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR), Pisa

people logo Luna Gargani
MD, Cardiologist: Researcher, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR), Pisa

people logo Mauro Raciti
Computer Technician, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR), Pisa

people logo Rita Balocchi
Mathematician: Senior Researcher, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR), Pisa (retired)

people logo Enrica Laura Santarcangelo people logo
MD, PhD, Physiologist: Associate Professor, Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience Lab, Dept. Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine, University of Pisa

people logo Lucia Billeci
PhD, Bioengineer: Fixed-term Researcher, Institute of Clinical Physiology (CNR), Pisa

Selected publications

  • publication logo Varanini M, Tartarisco G, Balocchi R, Macerata A, Pioggia G, Billeci L. A new method for QRS complex detection in multichannel ECG: Application to self-monitoring of fetal health. Comput. Biol. Med. 2016, in press.

  • publication logo Billeci L., Tartarisco G., Brunori E., Crifaci G., Scardigli S., Balocchi R., Pioggia G., Maestro S., Morales M.A. The role of wearable sensors and wireless technologies for the assessment of heart rate variability in anorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord. 20(1), p.23-31, 2015.

  • publication logo Varanini M, Tartarisco G, Billeci L, Macerata A, Pioggia G, Balocchi R. An efficient unsupervised fetal QRS complex detection from abdominal maternal ECG. Physiological Measurement, IOP, 35,1607-19, 2014.

  • publication logo Gargani L, Pignone A, Agoston G, Moreo A, Capati E, Badano LP, Doveri M, Bazzichi L, Costantino MF, Pavellini A, Pieri F, Musca F, Muraru D, Epis O, Bruschi E, De Chiara B, Perfetto F, Mori F, Parodi O, Sicari R, Bombardieri S, Varga A, Cerinic MM, Bossone E, Picano E. Clinical and echocardiographic correlations of exercise-induced pulmonary hypertension in systemic sclerosis: A multicenter study. Am Heart J, 165(2):200-7,2013.

  • publication logo Santarcangelo EL, Paoletti G, Balocchi R, Carli G, Morizzo C, Palombo C, Varanini M. Hypnotizability Modulates the Cardiovascular Correlates of Subjective Relaxation. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 60:4, 383-396, 2012.



UNIPI

Group info

UNIPI group consists of 3 units with skills in applied physics and expertise in: electro-hydrodynamics of liquid crystals, phase transitions, infrared interferometry, stochastic systems, effects of parameter modulations on deterministic chaos, time series analysis in biological systems, complexity and synchronization indexes in neural systems, neural models. Leone Fronzoni has a long standing collaboration with the Institute of Clinical Physiology, Enrico Cataldo collaborated for several years with the Medical School of Houston and the Scripps Research Institute of San Diego.

People

people logo Leone Fronzoni people logo
Research Unit Coordinator, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, Pisa

people logo Enrico Cataldo
PhD, Physicist, Department of Physics, Pisa

people logo Giacomo Ceccarelli people logo
Post-Doc Research Associate, Department of Physics, Pisa

Selected publications

  • publication logo Allegrini P, Paradisi P, Menicucci D, Bedini R, Gemignani A, Fronzoni L. (2011). Noisy cooperative intermittent processes: From blinking quantum dots to human consciousness. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONFERENCE SERIES, vol. 306 , p. 1-10, ISSN: 1742-6588, doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/306/1/012027

  • publication logo Silvestri L, Fronzoni L, Grigolini P, Allegrini P (2009). Event-Driven Power-Law Relaxation in Weak Turbulence. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, vol. 102, ISSN: 0031-9007, doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.014502

  • publication logo SILVESTRI L, FRONZONI L, GEMIGNANI A., GRIGOLINI P., MENICUCCI D., ALLEGRINI P. (2009). Event-driven power-law relaxation in weak turbulence: a liquid crystals mesoscopic experiment bridging quantum dots and the integration theory for the brain. JOURNAL OF PHYSICS. CONFERENCE SERIES, vol. 174, ISSN: 1742-6596, doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/174/1/012070

  • publication logo Szücs A., Cataldo E, Berton F, Sanna P, Francesconi (2013). Multidiscriminant analysis of physiological and integrative properties of BNST neurons. SfN - Society for Neuroscience - From 43 Annual Meeting 2013

  • publication logo Cataldo E, Bracciali A, Degano P (2012). Synapses as Stochastic Concurrent Systems. Theoretical Computer Science 408(1): 66-82



Companies involved

LIQUIDWEB

http://www.liquidweb.it



AIDLAB

https://www.aidilab.com



ARSSILICII

http://www.arsilicii.com



News



Interview with Prof. Alessandro Rossi


Author dario.madeo Date 2017-04-12

Prevenire epilessia e passaggi repentini veglia-sonno? Dai dispositivi indossabili la soluzione


Publications



International peer-reviewed journals


G. Iacobelli, D. Madeo and C. Mocenni, "Lumping evolutionary game dynamics on networks", Journal of Theoretical Biology, vol. 407, pp. 328-338, 2016. - Link

L. Billeci and M. Varanini, "A combined independent source separation and quality index optimization method for fetal ECG extraction from abdominal maternal leads", Sensors, vol. 16, pp. 1135, 2017. - Link

D. Madeo, A. Talarico, A. Pasqual-Leone, C. Mocenni and E. Santarnecchi, "An Evolutionary Game Theory Model of Spontaneous Brain Functioning", Scientific Reports, vol. 7, pp. 15978, 2017. - Link

M. Varanini, G. Tartarisco, R. Balocchi, A. Macerata, G. Pioggia and L. Billeci, "A new method for QRS complex detection in multichannel ECG: Application to self-monitoring of fetal health", Computers in biology and medicine, vol. 85, pp. 125-134, 2017. - Link

L. Billeci, M. Costi, D. Lombardi, F. Chiarugi and M. Varanini, "Automatic Detection of Atrial Fibrillation and Other Arrhythmias in ECG Recordings Acquired by a Smartphone Device", Electronics, vol. 7, pp. 199, 2018. - Link

L. Billeci, D. Marino, L. Insana, G. Vatti and M. Varanini, "Patient-specific seizure prediction based on heart rate variability and recurrence quantification analysis", PloSone, vol. 13, pp. e0204339, 2018. - Link

L. Billeci, A. Tonacci, A. Narzisi, Z. Manigrasso, M. Varanini, F. Fulceri, C. Lattarulo, S. Calderoni and F. Muratori, "Heart Rate Variability during a joint attention task in toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorders", Frontiers in physiology, vol. 9, 2018. - Link

P. Detti, G. Zabalo Manrique de Lara, R. Bruni, M. Pranzo, F. Sarnari and G. Vatti, "A Patient-specific Approach for Short-term Epileptic Seizures Prediction through the Analysis of EEG synchronization", IEEE Transactions on BiomedicalEngineering, 2018. - Link

Pre-prints


P. Detti, G. Zabalo Manrique de Lara, R. Bruni, M. Pranzo, F. Sarnari, "Anticipating epileptic seizures through the analysis of EEG synchronization as a data classification problem", arXiv, 2018. - Link

R. Zingone, C. Mocenni and D. Madeo, "Evolutionary Games, Complex Networks and Nonlinear Analysis for Epileptic Seizures Forecasting", arXiv, 2018. - Link

Conferences


L. Billeci, F. Chiarugi, M. Costi, D. Lombardi and M. Varanini, "Detection of AF and Other Rhythms Using RR Variability and ECG Spectral Measures", Computing in Cardiology, Rennes, France, 2017.

L. Billeci and M. Varanini, "Characterizing Electrocardiographic Changes During Pre-Seizure Periods Through Temporal and Spectral Features", Computing in Cardiology, Rennes, France, 2017.

P. Detti and G. Zabalo Manrique de Lara, "A Graph model for the prediction of epileptic seizures through the analysis of EEG synchronization", ODS 2017 Conference, Sorrento, 4-8 September, Italy, 2017.

L. Insana, G. Zabalo Manrique de Lara, D. Marino, Renato Bruni, E. Testani, F. Sarnari, R. Rocchi, M. Pranzo, G. Vatti, A. Rossi and P. Detti, "“System of epileptic seizuresprediction: preliminary data", Accademia dei Fisiocritici 2017.

D. Madeo and C. Mocenni, "Agents Internal Mechanisms Induce Consensus In Evolutionary Games On Networks", PHYSCON 2017, 8th International Conference on Physics and Control, Florence 17-19 July, 2017.

L. Billeci, A. Tonacci, D. Marino, L. Insana, G. Vatti and M. Varanini, "A Machine Learning Approach for Epileptic Seizure Prediction and Early Intervention", International Conference on Neuro Rehabilitation, 2018.

D. Daini, G. Ceccarelli, E. Cataldo and V. Jirsa, "Mode decomposition of a neural field equation with homogeneous and heterogeneous connectivities", Bernstein Conference, 2018.

P. Detti and G. Vatti, "Biomarkers elettrofisiologici e predittività delle crisi Epilettiche", “Anticipating epileptic seizures through the analysis of EEG synchronization”, II Meeting delleNeuroscienzeToscane, Firenze, 6-8 aprile, 2018.

P. Detti, G. Zabalo Manrique de Lara, R. Bruni and M. Pranzo, "Epileptic seizures prediction through the analysis of EEG synchronization", 29th European Conference on Operational Research (EURO2018), Valencia, Spain, July 8-11, 2018.

L. Insana, G. Vatti, D. Marino, E. Testani, G. Manrique De Lara and P. Detti, "Predittività delle crisi mediante analisi quantitativa del segnale EEG", Congresso Nazionale LICE (Lega Italiana Contro l’Epilessia), 2018.

M. Saponati, G. Ceccarelli, L. Fronzoni, A. Mazzoni and E. Cataldo, "A thalamocortical network model for pathological and healthy regimes", Neural Coding 2018, Torino, Italy, September 9-14, 2018.

M. Saponati, G. Ceccarelli, E. Cataldo and A. Mazzoni, "A Simple and Complete Model of Thalamocortical Interactions for Neuroengineering Applications", International Conference on NeuroRehabilitation, 2018.

Ph.D. Theses


A. Talarico, "Evolutionary Games on Networks for Modeling Spontaneous Brain Functioning", Ph.D. thesis in Information Engineering and Computer Science, Università degli Studi di Siena, ciclo XXIX. Supervisor: prof. C. Mocenni. 2017.

Master Theses


S. Mattera, "Evolutionary Game Models for Brain Connectivity", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Informatica, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. C. Mocenni, Correlatori: E. Santarnecchi e Dario Madeo, 2016.

G. Avino, "Predizione delle crisi epilettiche attraverso analisi quantitative del segnale EEG", Tesi di laurea Magistrale in Medicina e Chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: Chiar.mo prof. A. Rossi, 2017.

D. Daini, "Mode decomposition of a neural field equation with homogeneous and heterogeneous connectivities", Tesi di laurea Magistrale in Fisica, Università degli Studi di Pisa. Relatori: prof. E. Cataldo e prof. V. Jirsa, 2018.

S. Girgenti, "Applicazione di un Classificatore Gradient Boosting per la previsione di crisi epilettiche", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. M. Pranzo, 2018.

V. Lancellotti, "Giochi evolutivi su rete per la predizione di eventi epilettici tramite la classificazione di stati precrisi", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. C. Mocenni, Correlatore: D. Madeo, 2018.

P. Pipolo, "Giochi evolutivi su rete per la classificazione delle crisi epilettiche", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. C. Mocenni, Correlatori: R. Zingone e D. Madeo, 2018.

P. Querci, "Un metodo di classificazione per la previsione di transizioni veglia-sonno", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea magistrale in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. P. Detti, Correlatrice: G. Zabalo Manrique de Lara, 2018.

M. Saponati, "Neural Oscillations and Information Transmission in a Thalamocortical Network Model", Tesi di laurea Magistrale in Fisica, Università degli Studi di Pisa. Relatori: prof. E. Cataldo e prof. A. Mazzoni, 2018.

Bachelor Theses


F. Casciola, "Uno studio con l’estrazione di features per un sistema di classificazione per la previsione di crisi epilettiche", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. P. Detti, 2017.

F.Forzoni, "Analisi dei segnali EEG attraverso indicatori bicanale per il riconoscimento delle crisi epilettiche", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. P. Detti, 2017.

R. Di Donato, "Analisi e test di un prototipo per la previsione di crisi epilettiche", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. P. Detti, 2018.

R. Fulgenzi, "Progettazione di un prototipo per l’analisi in tempo reale di segnali EEG di pazienti epilettici", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. P. Detti, 2018.

P. Montanari, "Metodi di feature selection per problemi di classificazione relativi alla previsione di crisi epilettiche", Tesi di Laurea del Corso di laurea in Ingegneria Gestionale, Università degli Studi di Siena. Relatore: prof. P. Detti, 2018.
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