Classification of rhythmic locomotor patterns in electromyographic signals using fuzzy sets

Automatic recognition of Parkinson's disease using surface electromyography during standardized gait tests

Diagnosis and severity staging of Parkinsons disease (PD) relies mainly on subjective clinical examination. To better monitor disease progression and therapy success in PD patients, new objective and rater independent parameters are required. Surface electromyography (EMG) during dynamic movements is one possible modality. However, EMG signals are often difficult to understand and interpret clinically. In this study pattern recognition was applied to find suitable parameters to differentiate PD patients from healthy controls. EMG signals were recorded from 5 patients with PD and 5 younger healthy controls, while performing a series of standardized gait tests. Wireless surface electrodes were placed bilaterally on tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius medialis and lateralis. Accelerometers were positioned on both heels and used for step segmentation. Statistical and frequency features were extracted and used to train a Support Vector Machine classifier. Sensitivity and specificity were high at 0.90 using leave-one-subject-out cross-validation. Feature selection revealed kurtosis and mean frequency as best features, with a significant difference in kurtosis (p=0.013). Evaluated on a bigger population, this could lead to objective diagnostic and staging tools for PD.

Biomechanical properties of the plantar flexor muscle-tendon complex 6 months post-rupture of the Achilles tendon

We compared the effects of a non-weight bearing protocol (NWB) and a weight bearing (WB) protocol on energy stored, stiffness, and shock absorption in the plantar flexor muscle-tendon unit of patients managed non-operatively following an Achilles tendon rupture. Thirty-eight subjects were randomized to a WB cast fitted with a Bohler iron or a traditional non-weight-bearing cast. At a 6-month follow-up, a biomechanical assessment utilizing an isokinetic dynamometer allowed measurement of peak passive torque, energy stored, shock absorption, and stiffness. The WB group had greater peak passive torque (≈ 20%). Irrespective of group, peak passive torque in unaffected legs was greater (≈ 26%) than affected legs. Across the groups, energy stored in the NWB group was 74% of the WB group. The energy stored in affected legs was 80% of that in unaffected legs. Shock absorption was not significantly different across legs or groups. Irrespective of group, affected legs had significantly less stiffness (20-40%). While the augmentation of plaster with a Bohler iron to allow increased weight bearing had positive effects, deficits in affected compared to unaffected legs irrespective of group were notable, and should be addressed prior to participation in vigorous physical activities.

Rat locomotor spinal circuits in vitro are activated by electrical stimulation with noisy waveforms sampled from human gait

Noisy waveforms, sampled from an episode of fictive locomotion (FL) and delivered to a dorsal root (DR), are a novel electrical stimulating protocol demonstrated as the most effective for generating the locomotor rhythm in the rat isolated spinal cord. The present study explored if stimulating protocols constructed by sampling real human locomotion could be equally efficient to activate these locomotor networks in vitro. This approach may extend the range of usable stimulation protocols and provide a wide palette of noisy waveforms for this purpose. To this end, recorded electromyogram (EMG) from leg muscles of walking adult volunteers provided a protocol named ReaListim (Real Locomotion-induced stimulation) that applied to a single DR successfully activated FL. The smoothed kinematic profile of the same gait failed to do so like nonphasic noisy patterns derived from standing and isometric contraction. Power spectrum analysis showed distinctive low-frequency domains in ReaListim, along with the high-frequency background noise. The current study indicates that limb EMG signals (recorded during human locomotion) applied to DR of the rat spinal cord are more effective than EMG traces taken during standing or isometric contraction of the same muscles to activate locomotor networks. Finally, EMGs recorded during various human motor tasks demonstrated that noisy waves of the same periodicity as ReaListim, could efficiently activate the in vitro central pattern generator (CPG), regardless of the motor task from which they had been sampled. These data outline new strategies to optimize functional stimulation of spinal networks after injury.

Configuration of the McKibben Muscles and Action Intention Detection for an Artificial Assistant Suit

The artificial assistant suit is a kind of assistant equipment, which is actuated by McKibben muscles and can be put on the human upper body to help the upper limbs act. It can detect the action intention of the human's upper limb automatically and output definite force complying with the intention. The configuration of the McKibben muscles is introduced in detail. How to detect the action intention by the surface electromyography signal is discussed deeply and the related experiments and their results are given.