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Publications

Publications by CTM

2023

Obstructive sleep apnea: A categorical cluster analysis and visualization

Authors
Ferreira-Santos, D; Rodrigues, PP;

Publication
PULMONOLOGY

Abstract
Introduction and Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent sleep condition which is very heterogeneous although not formally characterized as such, resulting in missed or delayed diagnosis. Cluster analysis has been used in different clinical domains, particularly within sleep disorders. We aim to understand OSA heterogeneity and provide a variety of cluster visualizations to communicate the information clearly and efficiently.Materials and Methods: We applied an extension of k-means to be used in categorical variables: k -modes, to identify OSA patients' groups, based on demographic, physical examination, clinical his-tory, and comorbidities characterization variables (n = 40) obtained from a derivation and validation cohorts (211 and 53, respectively) from the northern region of Portugal. Missing values were imputed with k-nearest neighbours (k-NN) and a chi-square test was held for feature selection.Results: Thirteen variables were inserted in phenotypes, resulting in the following three clus-ters: Cluster 1, middle-aged males reporting witnessed apneas and high alcohol consumption before sleep; Cluster 2, middle-aged women with increased neck circumference (NC), non -repairing sleep and morning headaches; and Cluster 3, obese elderly males with increased NC, witnessed apneas and alcohol consumption. Patients from the validation cohort assigned to dif-ferent clusters showed similar proportions when compared with the derivation cohort, for mild (C1: 56 vs 75%, P = 0.230; C2: 61 vs 75%, P = 0.128; C3: 45 vs 48%, P = 0.831), moderate (C1: 24 vs 25%; C2: 20 vs 25%; C3: 25 vs 19%) and severe (C1: 20 vs 0%; C2: 18 vs 0%; C3: 29 vs 33%) levels. Therefore, the allocation supported the validation of the obtained clusters.Conclusions: Our findings suggest different OSA patients' groups, creating the need to rethink these patients' stereotypical baseline characteristics.(c) 2021 Sociedade Portuguesa de Pneumologia. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

2023

The Association Between Comorbidities and Prescribed Drugs in Patients With Suspected Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Inductive Rule Learning Approach

Authors
Ferreira-Santos, D; Rodrigues, PP;

Publication
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH

Abstract
[No abstract available]

2023

The Role of Novel Digital Clinical Tools in the Screening or Diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Systematic Review

Authors
Duarte, M; Pereira Rodrigues, P; Ferreira Santos, D;

Publication
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH

Abstract
Background: Digital clinical tools are a new technology that can be used in the screening or diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), notwithstanding the crucial role of polysomnography, the gold standard.Objective: This study aimed to identify, gather, and analyze the most accurate digital tools and smartphone-based health platforms used for OSA screening or diagnosis in the adult population. Methods: We performed a comprehensive literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases for studies evaluating the validity of digital tools in OSA screening or diagnosis until November 2022. The risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool for diagnostic test accuracy studies. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) were used as discrimination measures.Results: We retrieved 1714 articles, 41 (2.39%) of which were included in the study. From these 41 articles, we found 7 (17%) smartphone-based tools, 10 (24%) wearables, 11 (27%) bed or mattress sensors, 5 (12%) nasal airflow devices, and 8 (20%) other sensors that did not fit the previous categories. Only 8 (20%) of the 41 studies performed external validation of the developed tool. Of these, the highest reported values for AUC, sensitivity, and specificity were 0.99, 96%, and 92%, respectively, for a clinical cutoff of apnea-hypopnea index (AHI)& GE;30. These values correspond to a noncontact audio recorder that records sleep sounds, which are then analyzed by a deep learning technique that automatically detects sleep apnea events, calculates the AHI, and identifies OSA. Looking at the studies that only internally validated their models, the work that reported the highest accuracy measures showed AUC, sensitivity, and specificity values of 1.00, 100%, and 96%, respectively, for a clinical cutoff AHI & GE;30. It uses the Sonomat-a foam mattress that, aside from recording breath sounds, has pressure sensors that generate voltage when deformed, thus detecting respiratory movements, and uses it to classify OSA events.Conclusions: These clinical tools presented promising results with high discrimination measures (best results reached AUC>0.99). However, there is still a need for quality studies comparing the developed tools with the gold standard and validating them in external populations and other environments before they can be used in clinical settings.

2023

The role of novel clinical digital tools in the screening or diagnosis of Obstructive Sleep Apnea – A systematic review (Preprint)

Authors
Duarte, M; Pereira-Rodrigues, P; Ferreira-Santos, D;

Publication

Abstract
BACKGROUND

Clinical digital tools are an up-and-coming new technology that can be used in the screening or diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients, notwithstanding the crucial role of polysomnography (PSG) – the gold standard.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of our study was to identify, gather, and analyze existing digital tools and smartphone-based health platforms that are being used for this disease’s screening or diagnosis in the adult population.

METHODS

We performed a comprehensive literature search in MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science databases for studies evaluating the validity of digital tools in OSA screening or diagnosis until November 2022. The risk of bias was assessed using JBI Critical Appraisal Tool for Diagnostic Test Accuracy Studies. Sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver-operating curve (AUC) were used as discrimination measures.

RESULTS

We retrieved 1714 articles, 41 of which were included. We found 7 smartphone-based tools, 10 wearables, 11 bed/mattress sensors, 5 nasal airflow devices, and 8 other sensors that did not fit the previous categories. Only 8 (20%) studies performed external validation of their developed tool. Of those, the highest reported values for AUC, sensitivity, and specificity were 0.99, 96%, and 92%, respectively, for a clinical cutoff of apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) = 30 and correspond to a non-contact audio recorder that records sleep sounds, which are then analyzed by a deep learning technique that automatically detects sleep apnea events, calculates the AHI, and identifies OSA. Looking at the studies that only internally validated their models, the work that reported the highest accuracy measures showed AUC, sensitivity, and specificity values of 1.00, 100%, and 96%, respectively, for a clinical cutoff AHI = 30. It uses the Sonomat – a foam mattress that, aside from recording breath sounds, has pressure sensors that generate voltage when deformed, thus detecting respiratory movements, and using it to classify OSA events.

CONCLUSIONS

These clinical tools presented promising results, showing high discrimination measures (best results reaching AUC > 0.99). However, there is still a need for quality studies, comparing the developed tools with the gold standard and validating them in external populations and other environments before they can be used in a clinical setting.

CLINICALTRIAL

This systematic review was registered in PROSPERO under reference CRD42023387748.

2023

Zero-Phase FIR Filter Design Algorithm for Repetitive Controllers

Authors
de Lima P.V.S.G.; Neto R.C.; Neves F.A.S.; Bradaschia F.; de Souza H.E.P.; Barbosa E.J.;

Publication
Energies

Abstract
Repetitive controllers (RCs) are linear control structures based on the internal model principle. This control strategy is known for its ability to control periodic reference signals, even if these signals have many harmonic components. Despite being a solution that results in a good performance, several parameters of the repetitive controller need to be correctly tuned to guarantee its stability. Among these parameters, one that has high impact on the system performance and stability is the finite impulse response (FIR) filter, which is usually used to increase the stability domain of RC-based controllers. In this context, this paper presents a complete tutorial for designing the zero-phase FIR filter, which is often used to stabilize control systems that use RC-based controllers. In addition, this paper presents a Matlab® application developed for performing the stability analysis of RC systems and designing its FIR filter. Simulation and experimental results of a shunt active power filter are used to validate the algorithm and the Matlab® application.

2023

The GRAVITY young stellar object survey X. Probing the inner disk and magnetospheric accretion region of CI Tau

Authors
Soulain, A; Perraut, K; Bouvier, J; Pantolmos, G; Caratti O Garatti, A; Caselli, P; Garcia, P; Lopez, R; Aimar, N; Amorin, A; Benisty, M; Berger, J; Bourdarot, G; Brandner, W; Clénet, Y; De Zeeuw, T; Davies, R; Drescher, A; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Schreiber, NM; Gendron, E; Genzuel, R; Gillessen, S; Heißel, G; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Jocou, L; Kervella, P; Labadie, L; Lacour, S; Lapeyrere, V; Le Bouquin, J; Léna, P; Lutz, D; Mang, F; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perrin, G; Sanchez, J; Scheithauer, S; Shangguan, J; Shimizu, T; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; Vincent, F; Van Dishoeck, E; Widmann, F; Wieprecht, E; Wiezorrek, E; Yazici, S;

Publication
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS

Abstract
Context. T Tauri stars are known to be the cradle of planet formation. Most exoplanets discovered to date lie at the very inner part of the circumstellar disk (<1 au). The innermost scale of young stellar objects is therefore a compelling region to be addressed, and long-baseline interferometry is a key technique to unveil their mysteries. Aims. We aim to spatially and spectrally resolve the innermost scale (<= 1 au) of the young stellar system CI Tau to constrain the inner disk properties and better understand the magnetospheric accretion phenomenon. Methods. The high sensitivity offered by the combination of the four 8-m class telescopes of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) allied with the high spectral resolution (R similar to 4000) of the K-band beam combiner GRAVITY offers a unique capability to probe the sub-au scale of the CI Tau system, tracing both dust (continuum) and gas (Br gamma line) emission regions. We developed a physically motivated geometrical model to fit the interferometric observables - visibilities and closure phases (CP) - and constrained the physical properties of the inner dusty disk. The continuum-corrected pure line visibilities have been used to estimate the size of the Hydrogen Br gamma emitting region. Results. From the K-band continuum study, we report a highly inclined (i similar to 70 degrees) resolved inner dusty disk, with an inner edge located at a distance of 21 +/- 2 R-star from the central star, which is significantly larger than the dust sublimation radius (R-sub = 4.3 to 8.6 R-star). The inner disk appears misaligned compared to the outer disk observed by ALMA and the non-zero closure phase indicates the presence of an asymmetry that could be reproduced with an azimuthally modulated ring with a brighter south-west side. From the differential visibilities across the Br gamma line, we resolved the line-emitting region, and measured a size of 4.8(-1.0)(+0.8) R-star. Conclusions. The extended inner disk edge compared to the dust sublimation radius is consistent with the claim of an inner planet, CI Tau b, orbiting close in. The inner-outer disk misalignment may be induced by gravitational torques or magnetic warping. The size of the Br gamma emitting region is consistent with the magnetospheric accretion process. Assuming it corresponds to the magnetospheric radius, it is significantly smaller than the co-rotation radius (R-cor = 8.8 +/- 1.3 R-star), which suggests an unstable accretion regime that is consistent with CI Tau being a burster.

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