title: Feature selection for better identification of subtypes of Guillain-Barré syndrome.
abstract: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a neurological disorder which has not been explored using clustering algorithms. Clustering algorithms perform more efficiently when they work only with relevant features. In this work, we applied correlation-based feature selection (CFS), chi-squared, information gain, symmetrical uncertainty, and consistency filter methods to select the most relevant features from a 156-feature real dataset. This dataset contains clinical, serological, and nerve conduction tests data obtained from GBS patients. The most relevant feature subsets, determined with each filter method, were used to identify four subtypes of GBS present in the dataset. We used partitions around medoids (PAM) clustering algorithm to form four clusters, corresponding to the GBS subtypes. We applied the purity of each cluster as evaluation measure. After experimentation, symmetrical uncertainty and information gain determined a feature subset of seven variables. These variables conformed as a dataset were used as input to PAM and reached a purity of 0.7984. This result leads to a first characterization of this syndrome using computational techniques.
authors.affiliation: División Académica de Informática y Sistemas, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Km. 1 Carretera Cunduacán-Jalpa de Méndez, Colonia La Esmeralda, 86690 Cunduacán, TAB, Mexico.
authors.forename: José
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hernández-Torruco
authors.affiliation: División Académica de Informática y Sistemas, Universidad Juárez Autónoma de Tabasco, Km. 1 Carretera Cunduacán-Jalpa de Méndez, Colonia La Esmeralda, 86690 Cunduacán, TAB, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juana
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-1893-1332
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Canul-Reich
authors.affiliation: Universidad Politécnica del Estado de Morelos, Boulevard Cuauhnáhuac 566, Colonia Lomas del Texcal, 62574 Jiutepec, MOR, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frausto-Solís
authors.affiliation: Hospital General de Especialidades "Dr. Javier Buenfil Osorio", Avenida Lázaro Cárdenas 208, Colonia Las Flores, 24097 San Francisco de Campeche, CAM, Mexico.
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Méndez-Castillo
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D016208:Databases, Factual; D020275:Guillain-Barre Syndrome / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D009431:Neural Conduction; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated; D015203:Reproducibility of Results