Projectdetails

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Quantification of the SARA scale in patients with early onset ataxia (EOA)

Keywords:
Ataxia Quantification Assessment

Researchers:
prof. dr. ir. N.M. Maurits
Dr. D.A. Sival
O.E. Martinez-Manzanera

Nature of the research:
Observational study in paediatric and adult patients with EOA

Fields of study:
pediatrics neurology

Background / introduction
Ataxia is a movement disorder characterized by the lack of movement coordination. It is assessed by a clinician employing the scale for the assessment and rating of ataxia (SARA). Despite the ubiquitous use of the scale, individual bias can be present in the assessment. In this project, inertial sensors are employed to record the movements executed by patients while they perform the tasks for each of the items of the SARA. Different features are extracted and analyzed from the recorded signals. With the purpose of obtaining a more accurate SARA assessment, these features are entered in an automatic classifier that employs machine learning algorithms.
Research question / problem definition
Are alterations in the SARA motor scores (gait and kinetics) quantifiable by automatic, digital analysis?

We hypothesize that objective SARA quantifications of observer-based SARA scores are non-invasively obtainable for both gait and kinetics. If so, quantitative outcomes will provide an objective, reproducible and uniform biomarker that can reflect longitudinal ataxia trajectories in patients from pediatric to adult life.
Workplan
The student will participate in all parts of data acquisition, will attend the clinic and aid in instructing EOA patients to perform the SARA tasks. The student will be involved in the preprocessing and analysis of these data to prepare the data for further analysis. For this purpose, analysis scripts that have previously been developed can be utilized.
Concerning the analysis of this study, the student will focus on one or more of the tasks that are part of the SARA assessment. Because the number of datasets that can be collected will be limited by the relatively short duration of the research clerkship, the student will also include previously collected data from EOA patients.
Additionally, the student will join the ataxia expert group meetings of the Neurology department. Programming experience is helpful but not required.
References
www.ataxia-study-group.net/html/about/ataxiascales/sara/SARA.pdf
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