Research:
Advanced Brain Monitoring's research interests include neurocognitive assessment, fatigue management, and the integration of neurophysiology into the human-computer interface. Further interests include disease diagnosis and prevention, evaluation of pharmaceuticals, and epidemiological studies, with an emphasis on sleep and neurological disorders. We have previously conducted numerous research studies (see scientific publications) but continue to actively seek research collaborations in these areas. Our current research projects include:
Sleep Apnea and Pediatrics: The growing epidemic of childhood obesity and asthma has led to a significant increase in the number of children diagnosed with sleep apnea. Many parents would prefer the option of an in-home diagnostic study that could eliminate the need to spend the night in the sleep lab with their children. To address this need, ABM is working with Dr. Carol Rosen at Case Western Reserve University, one of the nation’s leading pediatric sleep specialists to validate the use of ARES in the pediatric population. The study, funded by NIH, evaluates the ARES in-home and in the laboratory with a group of patients between the ages of 12 and 18.
Sleep Apnea and Pregnancy: Recent studies have shown that pregnancy-related weight gain increases risk for developing sleep apnea, particularly during the last trimester. The presence of sleep apnea during pregnancy increases risk for developing diabetes and high blood pressure -- including eclampsia and pre-eclampsia which can potentially threaten the life of the mother and result in low birth weight for babies. Most obstetricians are as yet unaware of sleep apnea and its consequences. The ARES will be used by Dr. Ghada Bourjeily, MD at Brown University to assess the onset and prevalence of undiagnosed OSA in a large group of women during pregnancy.
Forehead Venous Pressure as a Measure of Respiratory Effort: Chest and abdomen effort belts are commonly used to monitor respiratory effort during sleep studies. ABM has developed a patent-pending alternative which measures respiratory effort using changes in forehead venous pressure. Christopher King, M.D. and his research team at Walter Reed Army Hospital Sleep Disorders Center is collaborating with Advanced Brain Monitoring to validate the ARES proprietary measure of respiratory effort using forehead venous pressure as compared to signals obtained with an esophageal balloon transducer. With further validation and development, surface measurement of venous pressure on the head or neck could substitute for central venous pressure recording.
Treatment of OSA with Mandibular Repositioning Device (MRD): Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the most prescribed treatment for OSA. In a pilot study, ABM and its dental collaborators reported a 96% efficacy rate when treating OSA with MRDs. In a Phase II NIH funded study, the research team will assess differences in outcomes comparing the TAP and Herbst appliances, improve upon the ARES algorithm for predicting successful treatment outcomes with MRDs, and validate a system designed to ensure dentists inexperienced in MRD therapy obtain similar treatment outcomes as expert dentists. Additionally, the study will compare changes in cognitive impairment of patients pre- and post-treatment with MRDs vs. CPAP (link to MAD abstract).
Sleep Apnea and the Hispanic/Latino Community: The NIH Hispanic Health Study is the largest long-term comprehensive study of health and disease in the Hispanic/ Latino populations. A group of 16,000 participants of Hispanic/Latino origin will be studied as part of the 6 ½ year epidemiological study designed to identify the prevalence and risk factors for a wide variety of diseases, disorders and conditions, one of which will be obstructive sleep apnea. The ARES was selected to acquire sleep study data on all participants. ARES studies are being conducted by Dr. Susan Redline, the principal investigator at Case Western Reserve University who will oversee the analysis of all of the sleep study data.
Increased Sleep and Obesity: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH,) under the guidance of Dr. Giovanni Cizza, M.D., Ph.D., is conducting research to assess the impact of increased sleep time on weight loss. The research team is using the ARES to identify subjects with significant sleep apnea who should be excluded from their study. The ARES will also be used to assess changes in sleep disordered breathing of participants one year after enrollment in the study protocol.
Preventing Sleep Deprivation: Sleep deprivation is a common problem worldwide yet hard to objectively identify. The B-Alert EEG analysis software quantifies levels of drowsiness-alertness, and it has been validated in full and partial sleep deprivation studies. The EEG indices have been shown to identify individual differences in susceptibility to the effects of sleep deprivation. ABM recently demonstrated that the B-Alert EEG system could be applied in an operational environment to assess fatigue in Marines participating in a 21-day training program at the 29 Palms desert training facility. (Projects funded by NIH, DARPA, and ONR)
Tools for Intelligence Analysis: Partnering with the U.S. intelligence community, ABM is developing tools to maximize neurocognitive processing ability. Ultimately, the tool of greatest utility for analysts would be a tool that increases their productivity in sorting through massive data sets and helps them to model the information they receive in an easily accessible electronic format. By using the B-Alert System to develop neural signatures of target recognition, we will be able to greatly accelerate the data review and dissemination process without sacrificing accuracy. (Projects funded by Air Force Disruptive Technologies Office and DARPA)
High Efficiency Brain-Behavior Assay: In collaboration with NYU, ABM is comparing the Maintenance of Wakefulness Test (MWT), the clinical gold standard for laboratory assessment of daytime drowsiness, to our Alertness and Memory Profiler (AMP). This study focuses on applying the AMP to the assessment of patients with sleep disorders and is designed to demonstrate the efficacy and accuracy of the AMP system for use as a diagnostic tool thus providing an alternative to expensive laboratory tests (funded by NIH)
Interactive Neuro-Educational Technologies (I-Net): This unique group of projects involves the creation of a suite of adaptive and interactive neuro-educational technologies that can be used in multiple training environments. The program covers four major themes: 1) integrating brain monitoring into paced instructional tutorials, 2) identifying psychophysiological characteristics of expertise using expert marksman as a model population, 3) developing sensor-based feedback to assist novices in acquiring marksmanship skills and 4) identifying neurocognitive factors that are predictive of marksmanship skill acquisition to allow early triage and interventions. I-NET is also in use at Esperanza High School in Anaheim, CA where students wear the B-Alert system while solving complex math and science problems. The goal is to identify effective teaching methods by monitoring student engagement, workload, and scoring in order to produce the most effective range of educational tools (funded by DARPA, NSF, Dept of Education).
EEG Naval Command Simulation-Identification of Electroencephalographic (EEG) Indices of Attention, Mental Workload, Learning and Memory: This project characterized EEG indices associated with cognitive processes including attention, workload, decision-making, learning and memory. The approach involves acquiring EEG data from a large population of healthy participants using the Advanced Brain Monitoring wireless Sensor Headset to collect EEG during the performance of a multiple cognitive tasks with varying levels of difficulty. (Funded by DARPA)
Effects of Nicotine on Cognitive Performance: This project examined the effects of nicotine and nicotine withdrawal on EEG and cognitive performance. It was the first in a series of planned studies to assess the effects of stimulants, hypnotics, and other mind-altering drugs on EEG and performance. (Funded by NIH)