i ABSTRACT Robust and stable decoding of neural signals is imperative for implementing a useful neuroprosthesis capable of carrying out dexterous tasks. A nonhuman primate (NHP) was trained to perform combined flexions of the thumb, index and middle fingers in addition to individual flexions and extensions of the same digits. An array of microelectrodes was implanted in the hand area of the mot...

METHOD The adapted multiple point stimulation (AMPS) method for calculating motor unit numbers (MUNE) was applied in 12 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) before riluzole therapy (T(0)) and again after 4, 8 and 12 months of treatment. RESULTS Paired Student's t-test indicated a significant decrease of thenar MUNE and compound muscle action potential (CMAP) size at each 4-monthl...

OBJECTIVE This paper proposes a novel method for the extraction and classification of individual motor unit action potentials (MUAPs) from intramuscular electromyographic signals. METHODOLOGY The proposed method automatically detects the number of template MUAP clusters and classifies them into normal, neuropathic or myopathic. It consists of three steps: (i) preprocessing of electromyogram (...

Background: 5q-Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is one of the most prevalent neuromuscular diseases in our country, and still an important cause lethality, due to genetic disease, its severe forms. From a point view, it already known that number copies SMN2 gene drastically influences phenotype inverse relationship with severity disease. Several studies show reduction motor unit counts by differen...

Muscle fiber activity is the principal stimulus for increasing capillary perfusion during exercise. The control elements of perfusion, i.e., microvascular units (MVUs), supply clusters of muscle fibers, whereas the control elements of contraction, i.e., motor units, are composed of fibers widely scattered throughout muscle. The purpose of this study was to examine how the discordant spatial dom...

OBJECTIVE Double discharges (DDs) of the motor unit are frequent in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Kennedy's disease (KD). This likely reflects changes in the intrinsic properties of motor neurons but in ALS changes in corticomotoneuronal inputs may also contribute. We determined the corticomotoneuronal contribution to DDs. METHODS DD prevalence, intra-doublet interval (IDI) of DDs a...