Hierarchical models for epidermal nerve fiber data

• While epidermal nerve fiber (ENF) data have been used to study the effects of small fiber neuropathies through the density and the spatial patterns of the ENFs, little research has been focused on the effects on the individual nerve fibers. Studying the individual nerve fibers might give a better understanding of the effects of the neuropathy on the growth process of the individual ENFs. In this study, data from 32 healthy volunteers and 20 diabetic subjects, obtained from suction induced skin blister biopsies, are analyzed by comparing statistics for the nerve fibers as a whole and for the segments that a nerve fiber is composed of. Moreover, it is evaluated whether this type of data can be used to detect diabetic neuropathy, by using hierarchical models to perform unsupervised classification of the subjects. It is found that using the information about the individual nerve fibers in combination with the ENF counts yields a considerable improvement as compared to using the ENF counts only. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Matematik -- Sannolikhetsteori och statistik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Mathematics -- Probability Theory and Statistics (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Annan data- och informationsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Other Computer and Information Science (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Bioinformatik och systembiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Bioinformatics and Systems Biology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

adjusted Rand index

diabetic neuropathy

EM-algorithm

nerve tree

unsupervised classification

algorithm

Article

blister

classification

disease severity

epidermal nerve fiber

hierarchical model

human

nerve fiber

Rand index

skin biopsy

skin nerve

statistical model

diabetic neuropathy

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)