Biomedical subjects

G Cossu

Publications and source records attributed to G Cossu.

164 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

A real-time classification system of thalassemic pathologies based on artificial neural networks.

Thalassemias are pathologies that derive from genetic defects of the globin genes. The most common defects among the population affect the genes that are involved in the synthesis of alpha and beta chains. The main aspects of these pathologies are well explained from a biochemical and genetic point of view. The diagnosis is fundamentally based on hematologic and genetic tests. A genetic analysis is particularly important to determine the carriers of alpha-thalassemia, whose identification by means of the hematologic parameters is more difficult in comparison with heterozygotes for alpha-thalassemia. This work investigates the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the classification of thalassemic pathologies using the hematologic parameters resulting from hemochromocytometric analysis only. Different combinations of ANNs are reported, which allow thalassemia carriers to be discriminated from normals with 94% classification accuracy, 92% sensitivity, and 95% specificity. On the basis of these results, an automated system that allows real-time support for diagnoses is proposed. The automated system interfaces a hemochromo analyzer to a simple PC.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Neurophysiological examinations in Parkinson disease].

Electrodiagnostic examination is used relatively little for the assessment of central nervous system disorders. Nevertheless, it should provide useful information for the neurologists in their clinical evaluation of the patient. It could partly contribute to the correct diagnosis of the illness, its differential diagnosis with respect to diseases with smilar clinical presentation and, most of it all, to the identification of the pathophysiological abnormalities possibly responsible for the symptoms and signs characterizing the disease. Electrodiagnostic examination in Neurology enables us to design specific and customized methods for functional examination of mechanisms and circuits of the central nervous system, destined to enhance our understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms. This objective will be more readily accomplished from a common base of understanding and support between clinicians and electrodiagnostic specialists in which scientific curiosity and technical skills can complement each other effectively. In this article, we review some of the most relevant neurophysiological findings in patients with parkinsonian syndrome, with special focus on those that may contribute to the differential diagnosis between parkinsonisms.

Brain↗