Abstract
Alzheimer's disease (AD) places a profound global challenge, driven by its escalating prevalence and the multifaceted strain it places on individuals, families, and societies. Family caregivers (FCs), who are pivotal in supporting family members with AD, frequently endure substantial emotional, physical, and psychological demands. To better understand the determinants of family caregiving strain, this study employed machine learning (ML) to develop predictive models identifying factors that contribute to caregiver burden over time. Participants were evaluated across sociodemographic clinical, psychophysiological, and psychological domains at baseline (T1; N = 130), six months (T2; N = 114), and twelve months (T3; N = 92). Results revealed three distinct risk profiles, with the first focusing on T2 data, highlighting the importance of distress, forgiveness, age, and heart rate variability. The second profile integrated T1 and T2 data, emphasizing additional factors like family stress. The third profile combined T1 and T2 data with sociodemographic and clinical features, underscoring the importance of both assessment moments on distress at T2 and forgiveness at T1 and T2, as well as family stress at T1. By employing computational methods, this research uncovers nuanced patterns in caregiver burden that conventional statistical approaches might overlook. Key drivers include psychological factors (distress, forgiveness), physiological markers (heart rate variability), contextual stressors (familial dynamics, sociodemographic disparities). The insights revealed enable early identification of FCs at higher risk of burden, paving the way for personalized interventions. Such strategies are urgently needed as AD rates rise globally, underscoring the imperative to safeguard both patients and the caregivers who support them.

Abstract
AbstractWith the rapid growth of Deep Learning models and neural networks, the medical data available for training – which is already significantly less than other types of data – is becoming scarce. For that purpose, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have received increased attention due to their ability to synthesize new realistic images. Our preliminary work shows promising results for brain MRI images; however, there is a need to distribute the workload, which can be supported by High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments. In this paper, we generate 256×256 MRI images of the brain in a distributed setting. We obtained an FIDRadImageNetof 10.67 for the DCGAN and 23.54 for the WGAN-GP, which are consistent with results reported in several works published in this scope. This allows us to conclude that distributing the GAN generation process is a viable option to overcome the computational constraints imposed by these models and, therefore, facilitate the generation of new data for training purposes.

Abstract
AbstractThe correction of artifacts in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is crucial due to physiological phenomena and technical issues affecting diagnostic quality. Reverting from corrupted to artifact-free images is a complex task. Deep Learning (DL) models have been employed to preserve data characteristics and to identify and correct those artifacts. We proposeMAC, a novel DL-based solution to correct artifacts in multi-contrast brain MRI scans.MACoffers two models: the simulation and the correction models. The simulation model introduces perturbations similar to those occurring in an exam while preserving the original image as ground truth; this is required as publicly available datasets rarely have motion-corrupted images. It allows the addition of three types of artifacts with different degrees of severity. The DL-based correction model adds a fourth contrast to state-of-the-art solutions while improving the overall performance of the models.MACachieved the highest results in the FLAIR contrast, with a Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM) of 0.9803 and a Normalized Mutual Information (NMI) of 0.8030. Moreover, the model reduced training time by 63% compared to its predecessor.MACmodel can correct large volumes of images faster and adapt to different levels of artifact severity than current state-ofthe-art models, allowing for better diagnosis.

Abstract
Medical imaging, mainly Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), plays a predominant role in healthcare diagnosis. Nevertheless, the diagnostic process is prone to errors and is conditioned by available medical data, which might be insufficient. A novel solution is resorting to image generation algorithms to address these challenges. Thus, this paper presents a Deep Learning model based on a Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network (DCGAN) architecture. Our model generates 2D MRI images of size 256x256, containing an axial view of the brain with a tumor. The model was implemented using ChainerMN, a scalable and flexible framework that enables faster and parallel training of Deep Learning networks. The images obtained provide an overall representation of the brain structure and the tumoral area and show considerable brain-tumor separation. For this purpose, and owing to their previous state-of-the-art results in general image-generation tasks, we conclude that GAN-based models are a promising approach for medical imaging.