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My name is Guillermo de Arcas

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I’m Professor of acoustics
and instrumentation in UPM

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and I am the scientific coordinator
of a research program,

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which is called the Nero Acoustics Lab.

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The goal of this research
program is to study the use of acoustic

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technologies in the field of neuroscience,
and in particular to develop

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technological solutions
that might contribute to alleviate or

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to improve, the life of those affected
by these type of diseases.

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We’re working in two main areas.

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One is auditory stimulation
and the other one

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is the monitoring of motor symptoms
in neurodegenerative diseases.

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Although we have been mainly working
in Parkinson's disease,

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well our hypothesis is
that auditory

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stimulation might induce some changes
in our brain activity.

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So our prophecy is, is that if we study

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those simulations at a more basic
level, at the level of sound,

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we might be

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able to design some sonic stimulus

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that can induce certain changes
and due to the interconnection

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about different brain
regions and functionalities,

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these might contribute
to improve some of those symptoms.

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We have just finished a couple of studies,

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one where we have been analyzing

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the EEG activity in the long term

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auditory stimulation
in a group of 14 patients

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and the other one where we were analyzing
if those changes

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produce some changes in the motor

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symptoms of those patients.

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Now we have started

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a new collaboration in in the lab

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to try to develop
a preclinical line of the study

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that would complement our clinical studies

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and would help us to improve our knowledge
and our understanding

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of the interconnections,
or the changes

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that these auditory
stimulus might be presenting,

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because in some patients
we are seeing a kind of response.

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and in others
we have seen a different kind of response

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regarding the monitoring of motor
symptoms.

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We are trying to move
from a supervised scenario

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to a free living scenario.

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In the supervisor scenario,
we are proposing the patient

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to do some specific tests.

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These tests
are the ones that the neurology

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usually present, like, for example,
extending your arms to measure tremor

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or moving your arms backward and forward.

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This is where we have been working
and we have developed some algorithms

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using AI.

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Now we trying to move to a free-living
scenario.

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In that scenario,
the patient would perform

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their daily activities without thinking
about doing the specific tests,

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But we should be able to locate and gather

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that data that we need to assess
the specific indicator.

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For example, when the patient is resting,
we can try to measure

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the amount of resting tremor

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or when the patient is eating
or maybe brushing their teeth.

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We might be able to measure
the bradykinesia

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the slowing of the movement
using that signals

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In both cases, we work with hospitals.

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In particular, we work a lot
with Ramón y Cajal hospital in Madrid

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and with other research institutions.

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We have a strong collaboration
with Complutense University

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of Madrid, with 

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Dr. Fernando Maestú and other researchers
from UPM and also from Portugal

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Many times it is

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not so easy
to reach the patients in the hospital

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because they only will go once
every few months, but they go every day

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to their Parkinson's, or every week,
to the Parkinson's Disease Association,

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where they have complementary
therapies, etc..

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And that's an environment where it's

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much easier
to develop these kind of studies.

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So we've been collaborating with them
very, very strongly since the beginning,

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and they played a key role in our studies.

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Well, I think neuroscience

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and neuro technologies are a booming
field.

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We've seen at international level
both private

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and public initiatives trying to boost
the development of these fields,

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both in the U.S., in Europe
and at any country.

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We seen a lot of companies creating
new companies trying to develop these

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technologies, a lot of initiatives, trying
to foster the research in this area.

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Unfortunately,
acoustics is an unknown field

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for many of our students because it has
disappeared from the degrees

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of many of the engineering degrees.

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But acoustic technologies are around us
and they're contributing

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to solve
some of the challenges in our society.

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I personally think
that acoustic technologies have have

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the potential
to have a great impact in neuroscience.

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Actually, there are some applications
that have been developed

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like high frequency ultrasound,
like low frequency ultrasound, etc.

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that are changing

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the clinical management
of some of these diseases.

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So I think it's a great opportunity
because there's not so many people

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trained to work
in acoustics and neuroscience.

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So I would encourage anyone
and it's also a very rewarding experience.