Pharmacotherapy for behavioural manifestations in frontotemporal dementia: An expert consensus from the European Reference Network for Rare Neurological Diseases (ERN-RND)

10 Dec

Metrics for evaluation of automatic epileptogenic zone localization in intracranial electrophysiology

Introduction: Precise localization of the epileptogenic zone is critical for successful epilepsy surgery. However, imbalanced datasets in terms of epileptic vs. normal electrode contacts and a lack of standardized evaluation guidelines hinder the consistent evaluation of automatic machine learning localization models.

Methods: This study addresses these challenges by analyzing class imbalance in clinical datasets and evaluating common assessment metrics. Data from 139 drug-resistant epilepsy patients across two Institutions were analyzed. Metric behaviors were examined using clinical and simulated data.

Results: Complementary use of Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (AUROC) and Area Under the Precision-Recall Curve (AUPRC) provides an optimal evaluation approach. This must be paired with an analysis of class imbalance and its impact due to significant variations found in clinical datasets.

Conclusions: The proposed framework offers a comprehensive and reliable method for evaluating machine learning models in epileptogenic zone localization, improving their precision and clinical relevance.

5 Nov

Changes in Cx43 and AQP4 Proteins, and the Capture of 3 kDa Dextran in Subpial Astrocytes of the Rat Medial Prefrontal Cortex after Both Sham Surgery and Sciatic Nerve Injury

A subpopulation of astrocytes on the brain's surface, known as subpial astrocytes, constitutes the "glia limitans superficialis" (GLS), which is an interface between the brain parenchyma and the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the subpial space. Changes in connexin-43 (Cx43) and aquaporin-4 (AQP4) proteins in subpial astrocytes were examined in the medial prefrontal cortex at postoperative day 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 after sham operation and sciatic nerve compression (SNC). In addition, we tested the altered uptake of TRITC-conjugated 3 kDa dextran by reactive subpial astrocytes. Cellular immunofluorescence (IF) detection and image analysis were used to examine changes in Cx43 and AQP4 protein levels, as well as TRITC-conjugated 3 kDa dextran, in subpial astrocytes. The intensity of Cx43-IF was significantly increased, but AQP4-IF decreased in subpial astrocytes of sham- and SNC-operated rats during all survival periods compared to naïve controls. Similarly, the uptake of 3 kDa dextran in the GLS was reduced following both sham and SNC operations. The results suggest that both sciatic nerve injury and peripheral tissue injury alone can induce changes in subpial astrocytes related to the spread of their reactivity across the cortical surface mediated by increased amounts of gap junctions.