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Humans' voice offers the widest variety of motor phenomena of any human activity. However, its clinical evaluation in people with movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease (PD) lags behind current knowledge on advanced analytical automatic speech processing methodology. Here, we use deep learning-based speech processing to differentially analyze voice recordings in 14 people with PD before and after dopaminergic medication using personalized Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks (p-CRNN) and Phone Attribute Codebooks (PAC). p-CRNN yields an accuracy of 82.35% in the binary classification of ON and OFF motor states at a sensitivity/specificity of 0.86/0.78. The PAC-based approach's accuracy was slightly lower with 73.08% at a sensitivity/specificity of 0.69/0.77, but this method offers easier interpretation and understanding of the computational biomarkers. Both p-CRNN and PAC provide a differentiated view and novel insights into the distinctive components of the speech of persons with PD. Both methods detect voice qualities that are amenable to dopaminergic treatment, including active phonetic and prosodic features. Our findings may pave the way for quantitative measurements of speech in persons with PD., Competing Interests: MMÇ was employed by the company xMint. MC was employed by the company Logitech. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Jain, Abedinpour, Polat, Çalışkan, Asaei, Pfister, Fietzek and Cernak.)

The increasing number of scientific publications focusing on magnetic materials indicates growing interest in the broader scientific community. Substantial progress was made in the synthesis of magnetic materials of desired size, morphology, chemical composition, and surface chemistry. Physical and chemical stability of magnetic materials is acquired by the coating. Moreover, surface layers of polymers, silica, biomolecules, etc. can be designed to obtain affinity to target molecules. The combination of the ability to respond to the external magnetic field and the rich possibilities of coatings makes magnetic materials universal tool for magnetic separations of small molecules, biomolecules and cells. In the biomedical field, magnetic particles and magnetic composites are utilized as the drug carriers, as contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and in magnetic hyperthermia. However, the multifunctional magnetic particles enabling the diagnosis and therapy at the same time are emerging. The presented review article summarizes the findings regarding the design and synthesis of magnetic materials focused on biomedical applications. We highlight the utilization of magnetic materials in separation/preconcentration of various molecules and cells, and their use in diagnosis and therapy.

Age-related macular degeneration (ARMD) as the most common cause of legal blindness in industrialized countries remains an incompletely understood, complex retinal disease. Prophylactic and therapeutic options are still limited. Sensitive diagnostic tools and prognostic markers to evaluate disease stage and progression in the individual patient are needed. The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) plays a key role in the disease process both in early and late variants of AMD. An excessive accumulation of lipofuscin granules in the lysosomal compartment of RPE cells represents a common downstream pathogenetic pathway in various retinal diseases including AMD. Fundus autofluorescence (FAF) imaging allows the visualization of the topographic distribution of lipofuscin over large retinal areas (Fig. 3, Ref. 13).

Retinal vein occlusion is a common retinal vascular disorder causing visual deterioration in the elderly. Vision-threatening complications include macular ischemia, neovascularisations, and vitreous hemorrhages. There are central and branch retinal vein occlusions as well as their ischemic and nonischemic subtypes. Branch occlusion and nonischemic cases are associated with better prognosis, often with good recovery of visual acuity. There have been various modes of therapy used for this disease but with little or poor effect. Due to the lack of effective monotherapy for retinal vein occlusions, there is probably a need to combine the therapy approaches (Fig. 4, Ref. 24). Full Text in PDF www.elis.sk.