Sergey Demin

Analysis of cross-correlations in electroencephalogram signals as an approach to proactive diagnosis of schizophrenia

We apply flicker-noise spectroscopy (FNS), a time series analysis method operating on structure functions and power spectrum estimates, to study the clinical electroencephalogram (EEG) signals recorded in children/adolescents (11 to 14 years of age) with diagnosed schizophrenia-spectrum symptoms at the National Center for Psychiatric Health (NCPH) of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. The EEG signals for these subjects were compared with the signals for a control sample of chronically depressed children/adolescents. The purpose of the study is to look for diagnostic signs of subjects’ susceptibility to schizophrenia in the FNS parameters for specific electrodes and cross-correlations between the signals simultaneously measured at different points on the scalp. Our analysis of EEG signals from scalp-mounted electrodes at locations F3 and F4, which are symmetrically positioned in the left and right frontal areas of cerebral cortex, respectively, demonstrates an essential role of frequency–phase synchronization, a phenomenon representing specific correlations between the characteristic frequencies and phases of excitations in the brain. We introduce quantitative measures of frequency–phase synchronization and systematize the values of FNS parameters for the EEG data. The comparison of our results with the medical diagnoses for 84 subjects performed at NCPH makes it possible to group the EEG signals into 4 categories corresponding to different risk levels of subjects’ susceptibility to schizophrenia. We suggest that the introduced quantitative characteristics and classification of cross-correlations may be used for the diagnosis of schizophrenia at the early stages of its development.

Frequency and phase synchronization in neuromagnetic cortical responses to flickering-color stimuli

In our earlier study dealing with the analysis of neuromagnetic responses (magnetoencephalograms—MEG) to flickering-color stimuli for a group of control human subjects (9 volunteers) and a patient with photosensitive epilepsy (a 12-year old girl), it was shown that Flicker-Noise Spectroscopy (FNS) was able to identify specific differences in the responses of each organism. The high specificity of individual MEG responses manifested itself in the values of FNS parameters for both chaotic and resonant components of the original signal. The present study applies the FNS cross-correlation function to the analysis of correlations between the MEG responses simultaneously measured at spatially separated points of the human cortex processing the red-blue flickering color stimulus. It is shown that the cross-correlations for control (healthy) subjects are characterized by frequency and phase synchronization at different points of the cortex, with the dynamics of neuromagnetic responses being determined by the low-frequency processes that correspond to normal physiological rhythms. But for the patient, the frequency and phase synchronization breaks down, which is associated with the suppression of cortical regulatory functions when the flickering-color stimulus is applied, and higher frequencies start playing the dominating role. This suggests that the disruption of correlations in the MEG responses is the indicator of pathological changes leading to photosensitive epilepsy, which can be used for developing a method of diagnosing the disease based on the analysis with the FNS cross-correlation function.

Cross-correlation markers in stochastic dynamics of complex systems

The neuromagnetic activity (magnetoencephalogram, MEG) from healthy human brain and from an epileptic patient against chromatic flickering stimuli has been earlier analyzed on the basis of a memory functions formalism (MFF). Information measures of memory as well as relaxation parameters revealed high individuality and unique features in the neuromagnetic brain responses of each subject. The current paper demonstrates new capabilities of MFF by studying cross-correlations between MEG signals obtained from multiple and distant brain regions. It is shown that the MEG signals of healthy subjects are characterized by well-defined effects of frequency synchronization and at the same time by the domination of low-frequency processes. On the contrary, the MEG of a patient is characterized by a sharp abnormality of frequency synchronization, and also by prevalence of high-frequency quasi-periodic processes. Modification of synchronization effects and dynamics of cross-correlations offer a promising method of detecting pathological abnormalities in brain responses.

Dynamic and spectral X-ray features of the microquasar XTE J1550-564

Memory function formalism is used to investigate the dynamic and spectral features (including a quantitative comparison of the decay of correlations and statistical memory) of the time discrete X-ray signals from the microquasar XTE J1550-564. The X-ray dynamics has been recorded aboard the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer. Temporal and event correlations are analyzed to find distinct patterns in the relaxation processes and memory effects in the equi- and nonequidistant dynamics of the X-ray flux from XTE J1550-564. The described method can be used to study a wide range of astrophysical phenomena and processes associated with event representation.

Auto- and cross-correlation analysis of the QSOs radio wave intensity

We discuss here the Flicker-Noise Spectroscopy approach to studying astrophysical systems, for example the radio wave intensity of quasi-stellar object (QSO) 1641+399 and BL Lacertae (BL Lac) 0215+015 in different frequency ranges. The presented method allows to parameterize the study dynamics using a short set of characteristics. The considering sources have a significant differences in manifesting the non-stationary effects, dynamical intermittency and synchronization. The radio wave intensity dynamics of the BL Lac 0215+015 is characterized by well-defined set of natural frequencies, persistent behavior with low effects of non-stationarity and high level of frequency-phase synchronization. For dynamics of the QSO 1641+399 reverse occurs including the asymmetrical structure of cross-correlator. Our findings show that using the flicker-noise spectroscopy approach to studying astrophysical objects allows to carry out the more detail analysis of their behavior and evolution.

Cross MFF—analysis in studying the obsessive-compulsive disorder

There were demonstrated capabilities of the Memory Function Formalism (MFF) in analyzing cross correlations in human brain bioelectric activity at obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). To extract the information about collective phenomena in (electroencephalogram) EEG brain activity we use the power spectra of memory functions and the memory quantifiers. We discover the pairs of the electrodes with the greatest differences in dynamic and stochastic parameters for patients with the different condition. The high OCD condition is characterized by the influence of the memory effects. The MFF cross correlation analysis allow to describe the collective phenomena in EEG dynamics at OCD including the dynamic, spectral and stochastic behavior.

Using of the interictal EEGs for epilepsy diagnosing

In this work we apply a new method to determine the differences in characteristics of the cortical electroencephalographic (EEG) activity, measured during interictal stage (i.e., period between seizures), between healthy subjects and patients with epilepsy. To analyze the dynamical and spectral properties of bioelectric activity we use power spectra and phase portraits which are introduced on the basis of the Memory Function Formalism (MFF). We discover the significant differences in the types of power spectra of the EEG for healthy subjects and patients. We reveal the cerebral cortex areas for which the EEG activity of considered groups of subjects has a different structure of the phase portraits. The proposed approach can be used as an additional method for diagnosis of epilepsy during interictal stage.

Synchronization of EEG activity in patients with bipolar disorder

In paper we apply the method based on the Flicker-Noise Spectroscopy (FNS) to determine the differences in frequency-phase synchronization of the cortical electroencephalographic (EEG) activities in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). We found that for healthy subjects the frequency-phase synchronization of EEGs from long-range electrodes was significantly better for BD patients. In BD patients a high synchronization of EEGs was observed only for short-range electrodes. Thus, the FNS is a simple graphical method for qualitative analysis can be applied to identify the synchronization effects in EEG activity and, probably, may be used for the diagnosis of this syndrome.