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About

About

João Paulo Cunha is Associate Professor (with “Agregação”) at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP), Portugal and senior researcher at the INESC-TEC: Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering  (http://www.inesctec.pt) where he created the BRAINBiomedical Research And INnovation - research group and co-founded the Center for Biomedical Engineering Research (C-BER) that aggregates ~30 researchers. Prof. Cunha is also affiliated with the Institute for Electronics and Telematics Engineering (IEETA-http://www.ieeta.pt) of the University of Aveiro, Portugal, the Portuguese Brain Imaging Network (http://www.brainimaging.pt ) that he co-founded and co-directed between 2009 and 2012, the Porto Biomechanics Laboratory (http://labiomep.up.pt) and is visiting professor at the Neurology Dep., Faculty of Medicine of the University of Munich (http://www.med.uni-muenchen.de), Bavaria, Germany, since 2002 and at the Carnegie Mellon – Silicon Valley Campus, NASA Ames Research Park, Mountain View, CA, USA since August 2016 (http://www.cmu.edu/silicon-valley/). He presently serves as Scientific Director of the Carnegie-Mellon | Portugal program (http://www.cmuportugal.org) where he is a faculty since 2007, and as the coordinator of the Center of Competencies for the Future Cities of UP (http://futurecities.up.pt).

He earned a degree in Electronics and Telecommunications engineering (1989), a Ph.D. (1996) and an “Agregação” degree (2009) in Electrical Engineering all at the University of Aveiro, Portugal.

Dr. Cunha is Senior Member of the IEEE (2004) where he joined the Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) in 1986 as a student member. He is habitual reviewer of several IEEE journals, such as the IEEE Trans. on Biomedical Eng., IEEE Trans. on Medical Imaging or the IEEE Trans. on Information Technology in Biomedicine. He co-founded in 2007 the spin-off company Biodevices SA (http://www.biodevices.pt) to bring to the market innovative biomedical technology developed for several years in his lab. His R&D activities are focused in Neuro-Engineering and Advanced Human Sensing technologies. Prof. Cunha is co-author of more than 250 scientific publications and 4 patents, holding an h-index of 17, with more than 1000 citations.

Details

Details

016
Publications

2023

Studying the Influence of Multisensory Stimuli on a Firefighting Training Virtual Environment

Authors
Narciso, D; Melo, M; Rodrigues, S; Cunha, JP; Vasconcelos-Raposo, J; Bessa, M;

Publication
IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics

Abstract

2022

Does the type of seizure influence heart rate variability changes?

Authors
Faria, MT; Rodrigues, S; Campelo, M; Dias, D; Rego, R; Rocha, H; Sa, F; Tavares Silva, M; Pinto, R; Pestana, G; Oliveira, A; Pereira, J; Cunha, JPS; Rocha Goncalves, F; Goncalves, H; Martins, E;

Publication
EPILEPSY & BEHAVIOR

Abstract
Objective: Heart rate variability (HRV), an index of the autonomic cardiac activity, is decreased in patients with epilepsy, and a low HRV is associated with a higher risk of sudden death. Generalized tonic-clonic seizures are one of the most consistent risk factors for SUDEP, but the influence (and relative risk) of each type of seizure on cardiac function is still unknown. Our objective was to assess the impact of the type of seizure (focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizure – FBTCS – versus non-FBTCS) on periictal HRV, in a group of patients with refractory epilepsy and both types of seizures. Methods: We performed a 48-hour Holter recording on 121 patients consecutively admitted to our Epilepsy Monitoring Unit. We only included patients with both FBTCS and non-FBTCS on the Holter recording and selected the first seizure of each type to analyze. To evaluate HRV parameters (AVNN, SDNN, RMSSD, pNN20, LF, HF, and LF/HF), we chose 5-min epochs pre- and postictally. Results: We included 14 patients, with a median age of 36 (min–max, 16–55) years and 64% were female. Thirty-six percent had cardiovascular risk factors, but no previously known cardiac disease. In the preictal period, there were no statistically significant differences in HRV parameters, between FBTCS and non-FBTCS. In the postictal period, AVNN, RMSSD, pNN20, LF, and HF were significantly lower, and LF/HF and HR were significantly higher in FBTCS. From preictal to postictal periods, FBTCS elicited a statistically significant rise in HR and LF/HF, and a statistically significant fall in AVNN, RMSSD, pNN20, and HF. Non-FBTCS only caused statistically significant changes in HR (decrease) and AVNN (increase). Significance/conclusion: This work emphasizes the greater effect of FBTCS in autonomic cardiac function in patients with refractory epilepsy, compared to other types of seizures, with a significant reduction in vagal tonus, which may be associated with an increased risk of SUDEP. © 2021 Elsevier Inc.

2022

PDapp: A Companion Mobile Application with Appcessories for Continuous Follow-up of Parkinson’s Disease Patients

Authors
Dias, D; Silva, J; Oliveira, N; Massano, J; Cunha, JPS;

Publication
2022 IEEE 21ST MEDITERRANEAN ELECTROTECHNICAL CONFERENCE (IEEE MELECON 2022)

Abstract

2022

Estimation of ANT-DBS Electrodes on Target Positioning Based on a New PerceptTM PC LFP Signal Analysis

Authors
Lopes, EM; Rego, R; Rito, M; Chamadoira, C; Dias, D; Cunha, JPS;

Publication
SENSORS

Abstract
Deep brain stimulation of the Anterior Nucleus of the Thalamus (ANT-DBS) is an effective therapy in epilepsy. Poorer surgical outcomes are related to deviations of the lead from the ANT-target. The target identification relies on the visualization of anatomical structures by medical imaging, which presents some disadvantages. This study aims to research whether ANT-LFPs recorded with the PerceptTM PC neurostimulator can be an asset in the identification of the DBS-target. For this purpose, 17 features were extracted from LFPs recorded from a single patient, who stayed at an Epilepsy Monitoring Unit for a 5-day period. Features were then integrated into two machine learning (ML)-based methodologies, according to different LFP bipolar montages: Pass1 (nonadjacent channels) and Pass2 (adjacent channels). We obtained an accuracy of 76.6% for the Pass1-classifier and 83.33% for the Pass2-classifier in distinguishing locations completely inserted in the target and completely outside. Then, both classifiers were used to predict the target percentage of all combinations, and we found that contacts 3 (left hemisphere) and 2 and 3 (right hemisphere) presented higher signatures of the ANT-target, which agreed with the medical images. This result opens a new window of opportunity for the use of LFPs in the guidance of DBS target identification.

2022

Gait Characterization and Analysis of Hereditary Amyloidosis Associated with Transthyretin Patients: A Case Series

Authors
Vilas-Boas, MD; Fonseca, PFP; Sousa, IM; Cardoso, MN; Cunha, JPS; Coelho, T;

Publication
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE

Abstract
Hereditary amyloidosis associated with transthyretin (ATTRv), is a rare autosomal dominant disease characterized by length-dependent symmetric polyneuropathy that has gait impairment as one of its consequences. The gait pattern of V30M ATTRv amyloidosis patients has been described as similar to that of diabetic neuropathy, associated with steppage, but has never been quantitatively characterized. In this study we aim to characterize the gait pattern of patients with V30M ATTRv amyloidosis, thus providing information for a better understanding and potential for supporting diagnosis and disease progression evaluation. We present a case series in which we conducted two gait analyses, 18 months apart, of five V30M ATTRv amyloidosis patients using a 12-camera, marker based, optical system as well as six force platforms. Linear kinematics, ground reaction forces, and angular kinematics results are analyzed for all patients. All patients, except one, showed a delayed toe-off in the second assessment, as well as excessive pelvic rotation, hip extension and external transverse rotation and knee flexion (in stance and swing phases), along with reduced vertical and mediolateral ground reaction forces. The described gait anomalies are not clinically quantified; thus, gait analysis may contribute to the assessment of possible disease progression along with the clinical evaluation.

Supervised
thesis

2022

Advanced Analysis of Extracellular Potentials: Exploring the Generation of Local Field Potentials

Author
João Almeida Santiago

Institution
UP-FEUP

2022

Gait Analysis in Hereditary Amyloidosis Associated to Variant Transthyretin

Author
Maria do Carmo Sousa Cardoso Vilas Boas de Olazabal

Institution
UP-FEUP

2022

New Models for Adaptive Neurostimulation in Epilepsy

Author
Madalena Gomes Conde Pimentel

Institution
UP-FEUP

2022

New Models for Rigidity and other Parkinson’s Disease Symptoms’ Monitoring with Wearable Devices.

Author
Adriana Araújo Neto Guedes Arrais

Institution
UP-FEUP

2022

BlanketGen: Synthetic Blanket Occlusion Generation for the Augmentation of Motion Capture Datasets

Author
João Neves Carmona

Institution
UP-FEUP