• Special Issue Topic

    Digital Biomarkers: The New Frontier for Medicine and Research

    Submission Deadline: June 20, 2020

    Guest Editor

    Dr. Rhoda Au E-Mail

    Professor, Anatomy & Neurobiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, USA;
    Professor, Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, USA

    Research Keywords: cognition, neuropsychological testing, dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, brain aging, brain health, digital phenotyping, digital biomarkers


    About the Special Issue

    Precision medicine brings the promise of individualized treatments but doesn’t go far enough. In the U.S., 86% of healthcare related concerns are centered on chronic diseases, the majority of which take years, if not decades, to progress to diagnosis. If we refocus healthcare objectives from detecting and treating disease to optimizing health and identifying indices of change within the realm of normal, available interventions may alter the trajectory of symptoms so dramatically that the diseases never emerge. In this special issue, we seek to highlight how internet connected devices, smartphone applications and advanced analytic methods allow tracking and analyzing health-related behaviors in ways that have not been possible before. These emergent technologies will challenge current gold standards and fuel innovations that will enable solutions that move the primary focus of healthcare from precision medicine to a broader emphasis on precision health.

    Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, brain health, early detection, algorithms, smartphone applications, interconnected devices, advanced computational analytics, disease stratification, precision, digital biomarkers, digital health technologies

    Published Articles

    Open Access
    Original Article
    Objective measurement of sleep by smartphone application: comparison with actigraphy and relation to self-reported sleep
    Aim: Smartphone technology is increasingly used by the public to assess sleep. Specific features of some sleep-tracking applications are comparable to actigraphy in objectively monitoring sleep. The clinical utility of smartpho [...] Read more.
    Taylor Maynard ... Sandy Neargarder
    Published: October 31, 2021 Explor Med. 2021;2:382–391
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2021.00057
    View:2691
    Download:49
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Neuropsychological test validation of speech markers of cognitive impairment in the Framingham Cognitive Aging Cohort
    Aim: Although clinicians primarily diagnose dementia based on a combination of metrics such as medical history and formal neuropsychological tests, recent work using linguistic analysis of narrative speech to identify dementia has [...] Read more.
    Larry Zhang ... Reza Hosseini Ghomi
    Published: June 30, 2021 Explor Med. 2021;2:232–252
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2021.00044
    View:3050
    Download:66
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Digital sleep measures and white matter health in the Framingham Heart Study
    Aim: Impaired sleep quality and sleep oxygenation are common sleep pathologies. This study assessed the impact of these abnormalities on white matter (WM) integrity in an epidemiological cohort. Methods: The target population was [...] Read more.
    Robert Joseph Thomas ... Rhoda Au
    Published: June 30, 2021 Explor Med. 2021;2:253–267
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2021.00045
    View:3131
    Download:54
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Proof of concept: digital clock drawing behaviors prior to transcatheter aortic valve replacement may predict length of hospital stay and cost of care
    Aims: Reduced pre-operative cognitive functioning in older adults is a risk factor for postoperative complications, but it is unknown if preoperative digitally-acquired clock drawing test (CDT) cognitive screening variables, which [...] Read more.
    Margaret Ellenora Wiggins ... Catherine C. Price
    Published: March 05, 2021 Explor Med. 2021;2:110–121
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2021.00036
    View:4014
    Download:38
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Assessing the capacity for mental manipulation in patients with statically-determined mild cognitive impairment using digital technology
    Aims: Prior research employing a standard backward digit span test has been successful in operationally defining neurocognitive constructs associated with the Fuster’s model of executive attention. The current research sought to [...] Read more.
    Sheina Emrani ... David J. Libon
    Published: February 28, 2021 Explor Med. 2021;2:86–97
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2021.00034
    View:3588
    Download:29
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Detection of mild traumatic brain injury in pediatric populations using BrainCheck, a tablet-based cognitive testing software: a preliminary study
    Aim: Despite its high frequency of occurrence, mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or concussion, is difficult to recognize and diagnose, particularly in pediatric populations. Conventional methods to diagnose mTBI primarily re [...] Read more.
    Siao Ye ... Reza Hosseini Ghomi
    Published: December 31, 2020 Explor Med. 2020;1:396–405
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2020.00027
    View:3237
    Download:83
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Identification of digital voice biomarkers for cognitive health
    Aim: Human voice contains rich information. Few longitudinal studies have been conducted to investigate the potential of voice to monitor cognitive health. The objective of this study is to identify voice biomarkers that are pr [...] Read more.
    Honghuang Lin ... Rhoda Au
    Published: December 31, 2020 Explor Med. 2020;1:406–417
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2020.00028
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Using machine intelligence to uncover Alzheimer’s disease progression heterogeneity
    Aim: Research suggests that Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is heterogeneous with numerous subtypes. Through a proprietary interactive ML system, several underlying biological mechanisms associated with AD pathology were uncovered.  [...] Read more.
    Bessi Qorri ... Joseph Geraci
    Published: December 31, 2020 Explor Med. 2020;1:377–395
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2020.00026
    View:4248
    Download:85
    Open Access
    Commentary
    The need for a harmonized speech dataset for Alzheimer’s disease biomarker development
    This commentary is the product of a concerted effort to understand the needs, barriers, and gaps in the field of speech and language biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease (AD). It distills interviews, surveys, and extensive corresp [...] Read more.
    Nicole L. Bjorklund ... Lampros Kourtis
    Published: December 31, 2020 Explor Med. 2020;1:359–363
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2020.00024
    View:3983
    Download:112
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Going against the norm: validation of a novel alternative to brain SPECT normative datasets
    Aim: Quantitative analysis of brain single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) perfusion imaging is dependent on normative datasets that are challenging to produce. This study investigated the combination of SPECT neuro [...] Read more.
    Lindsay M. Quandt, Cyrus A. Raji
    Published: October 30, 2020 Explor Med. 2020;1:331–354
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/emed.2020.00022
    View:4083
    Download:49
    Times Cited: 0