The paper aims to defme the lawfulness （model）, by which one can reliably estimate the distribution of motor units＇ force from the moment when leg extensor muscles start to generate the force until the moment when ...The paper aims to defme the lawfulness （model）, by which one can reliably estimate the distribution of motor units＇ force from the moment when leg extensor muscles start to generate the force until the moment when the maximal level is achieved. The study included 110 participants. To assess the contractile characteristics of leg extensors, standardized equipment and standardized isometric test in sitting position with the angle of the knee joint of 125° were used. The participants were instructed to exert their maximal force as quickly as possible. Using descriptive statistics, cluster analysis and fitting the exponential model of the distribution of force of leg extensor motor units in the whole range of force generation is defined. The model has the following form： y = 0.2051e3.3855x, where y is the motor units force expressed in daN （decanewtons）, x is the time expressed in s （seconds）. It provides an understanding of the control of multivariate motor unit recruitment and distribution of their force during sports movements as well as training programming for the adoption of forms for conlrolling force distribution of motor units, the development of their maximum force and their involvement speed.展开更多
BACKGROUND：Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis （ALS） is the most common of all the motor neuron diseases and the absence of a biologic marker has made both diagnosis and tracking evolution of the disease difficult, Elect...BACKGROUND：Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis （ALS） is the most common of all the motor neuron diseases and the absence of a biologic marker has made both diagnosis and tracking evolution of the disease difficult, Electrodiagnostic tests play a fundamental role in quantifying pathological changes in the motor unit pool.OBJECTIVE：We assessed distal-proximal Motor Unit （MU） loss and changes using the method of motor unit number estimation （MUNE）.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING：A case-control study was performed at the Department of Neuroscience, Pisa University Medical School, Italy from December 1999 to November 2009. PARTICIPANTS：A total of 50 ALS patients were recruited, 30 males：mean age （59.6 ± 13.3） years; 20 females：mean age （63.9 ± 11.7） years; range （30-82） years; all patients had probable or definite ALS. Thirty healthy volunteers were recruited from department staffs, including 20 males and 10 females; mean age （57.7 ± 13.8） years served as controls.METHODS：MUNE was performed for both the biceps brachii and abductor digiti minimi muscles of the same side. The technique used relayed substantially on manual incremental stimulation of the motor nerve, known as the McComas technique （50 ms sweep duration, a gain of 2 mV/Div for M wave, 0.5 mV/Div for each step; filters 10-20 kHz）.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES：MUNE results were measured.RESULTS：Functioning MU numbers, measured by MUNE, decreased in the biceps brachii and abductor digiti minimi muscles over the entire one-year follow-up period （one assessment every three months） compared with baseline determination, the rate of MU decrease was similar in both muscles, but steeper distally.CONCLUSION：MUNE is a feasible method for ALS patients both proximally and distally to track changes over time in muscle MUs during the disease＇s evolution.展开更多
This study presents a novel compound muscle action potential(CMAP)examination of motor unit changes in paretic muscle post stroke.CMAP scan of the first dorsal interosseous(FDI)muscle was performed bilaterally in 16 c...This study presents a novel compound muscle action potential(CMAP)examination of motor unit changes in paretic muscle post stroke.CMAP scan of the first dorsal interosseous(FDI)muscle was performed bilaterally in 16 chronic stroke subjects.Various parameters were derived from the CMAP scan to examine paretic muscle changes,including CMAP amplitude,D50,step index(STEPIX)and amplitude index(AMPIX).A significant decrease in CMAP amplitude and STEPIX was observed in paretic muscles compared with contralateral muscles(CMAP amplitude:paretic(9.0±0.5)mV,contralateral(11.3±0.9)mV,P=0.024;STEPIX:paretic 101.2±7.6,contralateral 121.9±6.5,P=0.020).No significant difference in D50 and AMPIX was observed between the paretic and contralateral sides(P>0.05).The findings revealed complex paretic muscle changes including motor unit degeneration,muscle fiber denervation,reinnervation and atrophy,providing useful insights to help understand neuromuscular mechanisms associated with weakness and other functional deterioration post stroke.The CMAP scan experimental protocols and the applied processing methods are noninvasive,convenient,and automated,offering practical benefits for clinical application.展开更多
It is vital to recognize the intention of finger motions for human-machine interaction(HMI).The latest research focuses on fine myoelectric control through the decoding of neural motor unit action potential trains(MUA...It is vital to recognize the intention of finger motions for human-machine interaction(HMI).The latest research focuses on fine myoelectric control through the decoding of neural motor unit action potential trains(MUAPt) from high-density surface electromyographic(sEMG) signals.However,the existing EMG decoding algorithms rarely obtain the spatial matching relationship between decoded motion units(MU) and designated muscles,and the control interface can only recognize the trained hand gestures.In this study,a semi-supervised HMI based on MU-muscle matching(MMM) is proposed to recognize individual finger motions and even the untrained combined multi-finger actions.Through automatic channel selection from high-density s EMG signals,the optimal spatial positions to monitor the MU activation of finger muscles are determined.Finger tapping experiment is carried out on ten subjects,and the experimental results show that the proposed s EMG decomposition algorithm based on MMM can accurately identify single finger motions with an accuracy of 93.1%±1.4%,which is comparable to that of state-of-the-art pattern recognition methods.Furthermore,the MMM allows unsupervised recognizing the untrained combined multi-finger motions with an accuracy of 73%±3.8%.The outcomes of this study benefit the practical applications of HMI,such as controlling prosthetic hand and virtual keyboard.展开更多
Recent research has demonstrated that surface electromyography （sEMG） signals have non-Gaussianity and non-linearity properties. It is known that more muscle motor units are recruited and firing rates （FRs） increa...Recent research has demonstrated that surface electromyography （sEMG） signals have non-Gaussianity and non-linearity properties. It is known that more muscle motor units are recruited and firing rates （FRs） increase as exertion increases. A hy- pothesis was proposed that the Gaussianity test （Sg） and linearity test （St） levels of sEMG signals are associated with the num- ber of active motor units （nMUs） and the FR. The hypothesis has only been preliminarily discussed in experimental studies. We used a simulation sEMG model involving spatial （active MUs） and temporal （three FRs） information to test the hypothesis. Higher-order statistics （HOS） from the bi-frequency domain were used to perform Sg and St. Multivariate covariance analysis and a correlation test were employed to determine the nMUs-Sg relationship and the nMUs-St relationship. Results showed that nMUs, the FR, and the interaction of nMUs and the FR all influenced the Sg and St values. The nMUs negatively correlated to both the Sg and St values. That is, at the three FRs, sEMG signals tended to a more Gaussian and linear distribution as exertion and nMUs increased. The study limited experiment factors to the sEMG non-Gaussianity and non-linearity levels. The study quantitatively described nMUs and the FR of muscle that are not directly available from experiments. Our finding has guiding significance for muscle capability assessment and prosthetic control.展开更多
To examine the contralateral repeated bout effect(CL-RBE)on muscle damage markers and motor unit(MU)control strategies,seventeen healthy adults performed two bouts of 60 eccentric contractions with elbow flexor(EF gro...To examine the contralateral repeated bout effect(CL-RBE)on muscle damage markers and motor unit(MU)control strategies,seventeen healthy adults performed two bouts of 60 eccentric contractions with elbow flexor(EF group;n=9)or index finger abductor(IA group;n=8)muscles,separated by 1 week.All participants randomly performed eccentric exercise on either the right or left arm or hand muscles,and muscle damage markers and submaximal trapezoid contraction tests were conducted pre,post,1-and 2-day post eccentric protocol.One week after the first bout,the same exercise protocol and measurements were performed on the contralateral muscles.Surface electromyographic(EMG)signals were collected from biceps brachii(BB)or first dorsal interosseous(FDI)during maximal and submaximal tests.The linear regression analyses were used to examine MU recruitment threshold versus mean firing rate and recruitment threshold versus derecruitment threshold relationships.EMG amplitude from BB(bout 1 vs.bout 2=65.71%±22.92%vs.43.05%±18.97%,p=0.015,d=1.077)and the y-intercept(group merged)from the MU recruitment threshold versus derecruitment threshold relationship(bout 1 vs.bout 2=7.10±14.20 vs.0.73±16.24,p=0.029,d=0.513)at 50%MVIC were significantly different between two bouts.However,other muscle damage markers did not show any CL-RBE in both muscle groups.Therefore,despite changes in muscle excitation and MU firing behavior,our results do not support the existence of CL-RBE on BB and FDI muscles.展开更多
Functional electrical stimulation delivered early after injury to the proximal nerve stump has been proposed as a therapeutic approach for enhancing the speed and specificity of axonal regeneration following nerve inj...Functional electrical stimulation delivered early after injury to the proximal nerve stump has been proposed as a therapeutic approach for enhancing the speed and specificity of axonal regeneration following nerve injury. In this study, the injured oculomotor nerve was stimulated functionally by an implantable electrode. Electromyographic monitoring of the motor unit potential of the inferior oblique muscle was conducted for 12 weeks in two injury groups, one with and one without electric stimulation. The results revealed that, at 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks after functional electric stimulation of the injured oculomotor nerve, motor unit potentials significantly increased, such that amplitude was longer and spike duration gradually shortened. These findings indicate that the injured oculomotor nerve has the potential for regeneration and repair, but this ability is not sufficient for full functional recovery to occur. Importantly, the current results indicated that recovery and regeneration of the injured oculomotor nerve can be promoted with functional electrical stimulation.展开更多
文摘The paper aims to defme the lawfulness （model）, by which one can reliably estimate the distribution of motor units＇ force from the moment when leg extensor muscles start to generate the force until the moment when the maximal level is achieved. The study included 110 participants. To assess the contractile characteristics of leg extensors, standardized equipment and standardized isometric test in sitting position with the angle of the knee joint of 125° were used. The participants were instructed to exert their maximal force as quickly as possible. Using descriptive statistics, cluster analysis and fitting the exponential model of the distribution of force of leg extensor motor units in the whole range of force generation is defined. The model has the following form： y = 0.2051e3.3855x, where y is the motor units force expressed in daN （decanewtons）, x is the time expressed in s （seconds）. It provides an understanding of the control of multivariate motor unit recruitment and distribution of their force during sports movements as well as training programming for the adoption of forms for conlrolling force distribution of motor units, the development of their maximum force and their involvement speed.
基金Supported by the Italian MIUR PRIN Grant year 2006,# 2006062332_002
文摘BACKGROUND：Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis （ALS） is the most common of all the motor neuron diseases and the absence of a biologic marker has made both diagnosis and tracking evolution of the disease difficult, Electrodiagnostic tests play a fundamental role in quantifying pathological changes in the motor unit pool.OBJECTIVE：We assessed distal-proximal Motor Unit （MU） loss and changes using the method of motor unit number estimation （MUNE）.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING：A case-control study was performed at the Department of Neuroscience, Pisa University Medical School, Italy from December 1999 to November 2009. PARTICIPANTS：A total of 50 ALS patients were recruited, 30 males：mean age （59.6 ± 13.3） years; 20 females：mean age （63.9 ± 11.7） years; range （30-82） years; all patients had probable or definite ALS. Thirty healthy volunteers were recruited from department staffs, including 20 males and 10 females; mean age （57.7 ± 13.8） years served as controls.METHODS：MUNE was performed for both the biceps brachii and abductor digiti minimi muscles of the same side. The technique used relayed substantially on manual incremental stimulation of the motor nerve, known as the McComas technique （50 ms sweep duration, a gain of 2 mV/Div for M wave, 0.5 mV/Div for each step; filters 10-20 kHz）.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES：MUNE results were measured.RESULTS：Functioning MU numbers, measured by MUNE, decreased in the biceps brachii and abductor digiti minimi muscles over the entire one-year follow-up period （one assessment every three months） compared with baseline determination, the rate of MU decrease was similar in both muscles, but steeper distally.CONCLUSION：MUNE is a feasible method for ALS patients both proximally and distally to track changes over time in muscle MUs during the disease＇s evolution.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(82102179)the Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation(ZR2020KF012,ZR2021QH267,ZR2021QH053)+2 种基金the Shanghai Municipal Key Clinical Specialty(shslczdzk02701)the National Institutes of Health(7 R21 NS113716-02)the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research(90REMM0001-01-00).
文摘This study presents a novel compound muscle action potential(CMAP)examination of motor unit changes in paretic muscle post stroke.CMAP scan of the first dorsal interosseous(FDI)muscle was performed bilaterally in 16 chronic stroke subjects.Various parameters were derived from the CMAP scan to examine paretic muscle changes,including CMAP amplitude,D50,step index(STEPIX)and amplitude index(AMPIX).A significant decrease in CMAP amplitude and STEPIX was observed in paretic muscles compared with contralateral muscles(CMAP amplitude:paretic(9.0±0.5)mV,contralateral(11.3±0.9)mV,P=0.024;STEPIX:paretic 101.2±7.6,contralateral 121.9±6.5,P=0.020).No significant difference in D50 and AMPIX was observed between the paretic and contralateral sides(P>0.05).The findings revealed complex paretic muscle changes including motor unit degeneration,muscle fiber denervation,reinnervation and atrophy,providing useful insights to help understand neuromuscular mechanisms associated with weakness and other functional deterioration post stroke.The CMAP scan experimental protocols and the applied processing methods are noninvasive,convenient,and automated,offering practical benefits for clinical application.
基金supported in part by the China National Key R&D Program(Grant No.2018YFB1307200)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.51905339&91948302)。
文摘It is vital to recognize the intention of finger motions for human-machine interaction(HMI).The latest research focuses on fine myoelectric control through the decoding of neural motor unit action potential trains(MUAPt) from high-density surface electromyographic(sEMG) signals.However,the existing EMG decoding algorithms rarely obtain the spatial matching relationship between decoded motion units(MU) and designated muscles,and the control interface can only recognize the trained hand gestures.In this study,a semi-supervised HMI based on MU-muscle matching(MMM) is proposed to recognize individual finger motions and even the untrained combined multi-finger actions.Through automatic channel selection from high-density s EMG signals,the optimal spatial positions to monitor the MU activation of finger muscles are determined.Finger tapping experiment is carried out on ten subjects,and the experimental results show that the proposed s EMG decomposition algorithm based on MMM can accurately identify single finger motions with an accuracy of 93.1%±1.4%,which is comparable to that of state-of-the-art pattern recognition methods.Furthermore,the MMM allows unsupervised recognizing the untrained combined multi-finger motions with an accuracy of 73%±3.8%.The outcomes of this study benefit the practical applications of HMI,such as controlling prosthetic hand and virtual keyboard.
基金supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China and the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2011CB7000)
文摘Recent research has demonstrated that surface electromyography （sEMG） signals have non-Gaussianity and non-linearity properties. It is known that more muscle motor units are recruited and firing rates （FRs） increase as exertion increases. A hy- pothesis was proposed that the Gaussianity test （Sg） and linearity test （St） levels of sEMG signals are associated with the num- ber of active motor units （nMUs） and the FR. The hypothesis has only been preliminarily discussed in experimental studies. We used a simulation sEMG model involving spatial （active MUs） and temporal （three FRs） information to test the hypothesis. Higher-order statistics （HOS） from the bi-frequency domain were used to perform Sg and St. Multivariate covariance analysis and a correlation test were employed to determine the nMUs-Sg relationship and the nMUs-St relationship. Results showed that nMUs, the FR, and the interaction of nMUs and the FR all influenced the Sg and St values. The nMUs negatively correlated to both the Sg and St values. That is, at the three FRs, sEMG signals tended to a more Gaussian and linear distribution as exertion and nMUs increased. The study limited experiment factors to the sEMG non-Gaussianity and non-linearity levels. The study quantitatively described nMUs and the FR of muscle that are not directly available from experiments. Our finding has guiding significance for muscle capability assessment and prosthetic control.
文摘To examine the contralateral repeated bout effect(CL-RBE)on muscle damage markers and motor unit(MU)control strategies,seventeen healthy adults performed two bouts of 60 eccentric contractions with elbow flexor(EF group;n=9)or index finger abductor(IA group;n=8)muscles,separated by 1 week.All participants randomly performed eccentric exercise on either the right or left arm or hand muscles,and muscle damage markers and submaximal trapezoid contraction tests were conducted pre,post,1-and 2-day post eccentric protocol.One week after the first bout,the same exercise protocol and measurements were performed on the contralateral muscles.Surface electromyographic(EMG)signals were collected from biceps brachii(BB)or first dorsal interosseous(FDI)during maximal and submaximal tests.The linear regression analyses were used to examine MU recruitment threshold versus mean firing rate and recruitment threshold versus derecruitment threshold relationships.EMG amplitude from BB(bout 1 vs.bout 2=65.71%±22.92%vs.43.05%±18.97%,p=0.015,d=1.077)and the y-intercept(group merged)from the MU recruitment threshold versus derecruitment threshold relationship(bout 1 vs.bout 2=7.10±14.20 vs.0.73±16.24,p=0.029,d=0.513)at 50%MVIC were significantly different between two bouts.However,other muscle damage markers did not show any CL-RBE in both muscle groups.Therefore,despite changes in muscle excitation and MU firing behavior,our results do not support the existence of CL-RBE on BB and FDI muscles.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30571907International Science and Technology Cooperation Foundation by Shanghai Committee of Science and Technology, China, No. 10410711400
文摘Functional electrical stimulation delivered early after injury to the proximal nerve stump has been proposed as a therapeutic approach for enhancing the speed and specificity of axonal regeneration following nerve injury. In this study, the injured oculomotor nerve was stimulated functionally by an implantable electrode. Electromyographic monitoring of the motor unit potential of the inferior oblique muscle was conducted for 12 weeks in two injury groups, one with and one without electric stimulation. The results revealed that, at 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks after functional electric stimulation of the injured oculomotor nerve, motor unit potentials significantly increased, such that amplitude was longer and spike duration gradually shortened. These findings indicate that the injured oculomotor nerve has the potential for regeneration and repair, but this ability is not sufficient for full functional recovery to occur. Importantly, the current results indicated that recovery and regeneration of the injured oculomotor nerve can be promoted with functional electrical stimulation.
文摘针对机器学习方法在对脑电特征进行分类时无法同时兼顾脑电信号的时-空域特征的问题,利用添加注意力机制的卷积神经网络提取空间特征和双向门控循环单元提取时间特征,提出一种基于特征融合的运动想象(Motor Imagery,MI)脑电分类算法(Attention-EEGNet-BiGRU,AEBGNet),AEBGNet可将时、空域两类特征相融合,得到更具表征性的时-空域特征,最终构建的AEBGNet分类模型在BCI competition IV 2b数据集上取得80.37%的平均正确率,比标准的EEGNet方法提高6.09%。结果表明,本文方法可以有效提高MI脑电信号的分类正确率,为MI脑电信号的分类提供新的思路。
