In the recent past, there has been an increasing trend to use blind source separation (BSS) or independent component analysis (ICA) algorithms for biomedical data. This paper reviews the concept of ICA and demonstrates its usefulness and limitations in the context of surface electromyograms (sEMG) related to hand movements and facial muscles. In the first experiment ICA has been used to separat...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Paresis of the upper extremity after stroke is not effectively solved by existing therapies. We investigated whether mental imagery training combined with electromyogram-triggered electric stimulation improved motor function of the paretic upper extremity in patients with chronic stroke and induced cortical changes. METHODS Fourteen subjects with chronic stroke (≥12 mon...

To obtain more insight into the changes in mean muscle fiber conduction velocity (MFCV) during sustained isometric exercise at relatively low contraction levels, we performed an in-depth study of the human tibialis anterior muscle by using multichannel surface electromyogram. The results show an increase in MFCV after an initial decrease of MFCV at 30 or 40% maximum voluntary contraction in all...

The goal of this study was to use spectral analysis of EMG data to test the hypothesis that the O2 uptake VO2) slow component is due to a recruitment of fast fibers. Thirteen runners carried out a treadmill test with a constant speed, corresponding to 95% of the velocity associated with maximal VO2. The VO2 response was fit with the classical model including three exponential functions. Electri...

Few data exist concerning sleep in patients with hemidiaphragm paralysis or weakness. Traditionally, such patients are considered to sustain normal ventilation in sleep. In the present study, diaphragm strength was measured in order to identify patients with unilateral paralysis or severe weakness. Patients underwent polysomnography with additional recordings of the transoesophageal electromyog...