Statistical Methods for Examining Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Patients
Program/Major
Biostatistics
Student Level
MS
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
April 2019
End Date
April 2019
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/30973
Abstract
Introduction: Measuring cortical activity during walking tasks has gained growing interest, specifically when measured with a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device. fNIRS provides a novel way to closely measure tissue oxygenation in the prefrontal cortex without invasive procedures. The objective is to determine whether Parkinson’s Disease (PD) participants will take longer to return to automaticity in comparison to controls during a walking task.
Methods: This pilot study utilizes the fNIRS device to measure oxygenated hemoglobin in 3 controls and 4 PD participants during a 2-minute walking test. The first 20 seconds of the test is measured while standing to establish a baseline oxygenated hemoglobin level. The return to automaticity is characterized by when the oxygenated hemoglobin level becomes stationary, and if it returns to the established baseline. Raw data were examined with a computationally efficient and exact changepoint detection method, Pruned Exact Linear Time (PELT), to quantify the return to automaticity. The detected changepoint location and corresponding oxygenated hemoglobin level was extracted for each participant and plotted on the same graph.
Results/Discussion: This preliminary analysis is promising, but more participants are required for visual and statistical comparison. These statistical methods will be applied to 60 additional participants to produce a 95% confidence box around the controls’ points, which represents their return to automaticity. Additional data will further assess if the changepoint detection approach is an effective tool for analyzing cortical activity in PD participants.
Statistical Methods for Examining Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Patients
Smith Memorial Student Union, Room 296/8
Introduction: Measuring cortical activity during walking tasks has gained growing interest, specifically when measured with a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) device. fNIRS provides a novel way to closely measure tissue oxygenation in the prefrontal cortex without invasive procedures. The objective is to determine whether Parkinson’s Disease (PD) participants will take longer to return to automaticity in comparison to controls during a walking task.
Methods: This pilot study utilizes the fNIRS device to measure oxygenated hemoglobin in 3 controls and 4 PD participants during a 2-minute walking test. The first 20 seconds of the test is measured while standing to establish a baseline oxygenated hemoglobin level. The return to automaticity is characterized by when the oxygenated hemoglobin level becomes stationary, and if it returns to the established baseline. Raw data were examined with a computationally efficient and exact changepoint detection method, Pruned Exact Linear Time (PELT), to quantify the return to automaticity. The detected changepoint location and corresponding oxygenated hemoglobin level was extracted for each participant and plotted on the same graph.
Results/Discussion: This preliminary analysis is promising, but more participants are required for visual and statistical comparison. These statistical methods will be applied to 60 additional participants to produce a 95% confidence box around the controls’ points, which represents their return to automaticity. Additional data will further assess if the changepoint detection approach is an effective tool for analyzing cortical activity in PD participants.