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Project

Advances in epilepsy research by means of kernel methods.

Epilepsy is a well-known brain disorder that is typically associated with convulsive unprovoked seizures. Unfortunately, there are still many unknowns concerning its diagnosis, treatment and monitoring. With this project, we aim to improve our understanding of the effects that epilepsy has on different physiological mechanisms, in particular those controlling heart rate and respiration. To achieve this goal, a close collaboration between engineers and medical doctors will be strengthened, and will focus on the use of advanced mathematical tools for the analysis of different biomedical signals recorded from children suffering from epilepsy. Examples of such signals are the electrocardiogram, the electroencephalogram, and the respiration. By analyzing these signals and their interactions, we believe we will uncover many unknown effects that epilepsy has on the network formed by the brain and the heart. These findings will be used to design new monitoring tools that will improve the performance of state-of-the-art techniques for the detection of different types of epileptic seizures. Moreover, the applicability of these insights on the development of new diagnostic schemes and new treatment strategies will be evaluated. As a result, we believe we will contribute to the long-term reduction of morbidity and mortality of epilepsy.

Date:1 Oct 2015 →  30 Sep 2016
Keywords:Epilepsy, kernel methods, cardiorespiratory interactions, brain-heart network