• Journal of the Korean Academy of Clinical Electrophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.33-43
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• 2007

This study divided 35 hemiplegia patients into control group having standard physical therapy and gait training and functional electrical stimulation(FES) group using FES during gait training in order to examine the effects of applying FES to ankle joint dorsiflexor on motor unit action potential. Stimulation conditions of FES were pulse rate 35 pps, pulse width $250{\mu}s$, and on-time 0.3 second, treatment hour was 30 min. and treatment period was once a day for five days a week through six weeks. For functional evaluations before and after treatment, root mean square(RMS) were measured and the following conclusions were obtained. : In RMS analysis of motor unit action potential, gastrocnemius was significantly reduced in both weight bearing(p<.001) and bearing condition (p<.05). In conclusion, application of FES to hemiplegia patients in recovery stage during gait training decreased RMS and it was interpreted that it was caused by mitigation of muscular spasticity by reduction of motor unit.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2003

Background: Motor unit number estimation (MUNE) can directly assess motor neuron populations in muscle and quantify the degree of physiologic and/or pathologic motor neuron degeneration. A high degree of reproducibility and reliability is required from a good quantitative tool. MUNE, in various ways, is being increasingly applied clinically and statistical MUNE has several advantages over alternative techniques. Nevertheless, the optimal method of applying statistical MUNE to improve reproducibility has not been established. Methods: We performed statistical MUNE by selecting the most compensated compound muscle action potential (CMAP) area as a test area and modified the results obtained by weighted mean surface-recorded motor unit potential (SMUP). Results: MUNE measures in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients showed better reproducibility with sizeweighted modification. Conclusions: We suggest size-weighted MUNE testing of "neurogenically compensated"CMAP areas present an optimal method for statistical MUNE in ALS patients.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.81-92
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• 2011

In this paper, a new method to estimate the number of MU (motor unit) related to the widths and distribution of end plate in NMJ (neuromuscular junction) of biceps brachii is proposed by varying muscle parameter statistically in EMG model. This work is done by designing MU-simulator and EPZ-simulator. The proposed method was compared with the results of previous researchers. The proposed MU-simulator generates SMUAP (single motor unit action potential) and CMAP (compound muscle action potential) signal similar to detected SMUAP and CMAP signal obtained from muscle. The EPZ-simulator estimate the numbers of MU by varying the widths and distribution of end plate in neuromuscular junction of muscle. The results shows that the numbers of MU was estimated about 450 ea. and muscle fibers was about 340 ea., end plate widths was about 6 mm, and end plate was randomly distributed. The proposed method may be comparable with the method of anatomical studies.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.2040-2050
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• 2007

In this study, we present a novel method for estimating the information of MU(motor unit) which is the basic element of human muscle by using surface EMG. Some of the method developed in this field could only estimate the numbers of MU that is activated. However, in our study the MU-simulator based on the line source model was designed to estimate the MU information including the numbers of MU and muscle fiber, conduction velocity, MU diameter, fiber diameter, and end plate position. The SMUAP(single motor unit action potential) detector was designed and CMAP(compound muscle action potential) by electrical stimulus was recorded. With these data, the MU-simulator can estimate the MU information by varying muscle paramater settings through MSE(mean square error) method. Our results shows that the proposed method can be comparable with the method of anatomical studies. Moreover, our system can be utilized to build a tool for diagnosis and treatment assessment of neuromuscular patients.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Clinical Electrophysiology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.27-38
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• 2006

This study analyzed changes in action potential of supraspinal neuron and motor unit depending on maximum tolerance isometric contraction(MTIC) by electrical stimulation and examined influence of functional electrical stimulation (FES) on spinal neuron adaptation. It selected 40 university students in their twenties and divided into experimental groups of 25% MTIC(I), 50% MTIC I (II), 75% MTIC(III) and 100% MTIC(IV) depending on MTIC by electrical stimulation, and performed isometric contraction of plantar flexor muscle to each experimental group with given contraction for 20 times. It measured V/Mmax and MDF pre and post exercise, compared volume of contraction. 1. V/Mmax ratio showed no significant difference in comparison among experimental groups. 2. There was significant difference in median frequency of gastrocnemius and soleus in action potential motor unit according to comparison among experimental groups(p<.001). When contraction by electrical stimulation was maximum, change was greatest. This results suggest that muscle contraction by electrical stimulation was influence to action potential of spinal motor neuron system which appear optimal level though aspect and difference degree were not in accordance. Consequently, optimal stimulation level of MTIC(50%) by FES would be lead to central nerve adaptation. muscle contraction by electrical stimulation was influence highly to MDF which should be consider to fatigue of motor unit for muscle contraction by electrical stimulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.28-33
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• 2019

Background and Objectives : Laryngeal electromyography (LEMG) is valuable to evaluate the innervation status of the laryngeal muscles and the prognosis of vocal fold paralysis (VFP). However, there is a lack of agreement on quantitative interpretation of LEMG. The aim of this study is to measure the motor unit action potentials (MUAP) quantitatively in order to find cut-off values of amplitude, duration, phase for unilateral vocal fold paralysis patients. Materials and Method : Retrospective chart review was performed for the unilateral VFP patients who underwent LEMG from March 2016 to May 2018. Patient's demography, cause of VFP, vocal cord mobility, and LEMG finding were analyzed. The difference between normal and paralyzed vocal folds and cut-off values of duration, amplitude, and phase in MUAP were evaluated. Results : Thirty-six patients were enrolled in this study. Paralyzed vocal fold had significantly longer duration (p=0.021), lower amplitude (p=0.000), and smaller phase (p=0.012) than the normal. The cut-off values of duration, amplitude, and phase in MUAP for unilateral VFP were 5.15 ms, $68.35{\mu}V$, and 1.85 respectively. Conclusion : An analysis of MUAP successfully provided quantitative differences between normal and paralyzed vocal folds. But, additional research is needed to get more available cut-off value which is helpful to evaluate the status of laryngeal innervations.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.10
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• pp.1951-1958
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• 2011

The objective of this study is to analyze the performance of digital low-pass differentiators(LPD) and then to provide a method to select effective LPD filter, for detecting spikes of surface motor unit action potentials(MUAP). The successful spike detection of MUAPs is a first important step for EMG signal decomposition. The performances of simple and weighted LPD(SLPD and WLPD) filters are analyzed based on different filter lengths and varying MUAPs from simulated surface EMG signals. The SNR improving coefficient and effective MUAP duration range from the analysis results can be used to select proper LPD filters under the varying conditions of surface EMG.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.28-39
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• 2010

In this paper, a new method to estimate MU (motor unit) location in the short head of BIC (biceps brachii) muscle using surface EMG (electromyogram) is proposed. The SMUAP (single motor unit action potential) is generated from a MU located at certain depth from the skin surface. The depth is referred as MU location. For estimating muscle force precisely, the information of the MU location is required. The reference SMUAPs are simulated based on anatomical structure of human muscle, and compared with acquired real EMG signals using 3-channel surface EMG electrode. The proposed method was compared with the results of previous researchers and verified its accuracy by computer simulation. From the simulation result in case of the MU located in 8[mm], the average estimation error of proposed method was 0.01[mm]. But the average estimation error of Roeleveld's method was 2.33[mm] and Akazawa's method was 1.70[mm]. Therefore the proposed method was more accurate than the methods of previous researchers.

• PNF and Movement
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2004

Purpose : The purpose of this article is to summarize the characteristics of isotonic combination. Method : Some studies of the motor unit activation patterns during isometric, concentric, and eccentric actions, neural strategies in the control of muscle force, and concentric versus combined concentric-eccentric training were reviewed. Results & Conclusions : Eccentric torque may be relatively higher than concentric torque for two potential reasons: 1) stretch responses in the antagonist are not elicited to restrain the motion as can occur concentrically and 2) stretch responses in the agonist may augment eccentric torque production. Concentric-eccentric training has a greater influence on functional capacity than that of concentric training. Both maximal force and average force throughout the motion were significantly higher when the dynamic action was started with preactivation as compared to the mode without preactivation. The peak torques observed during the concentric phase of the eccentric-concentric muscle actions were higher than those noted in the pure concentric contraction.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.249-257
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• 2001

The voluntary contracted EMG signal of spinal cord injured patients is very small because the information from central nervous system is not sufficiently transmitted to $\alpha$ motor neuron or muscle fiber. Therefore the acquisited EMG signal from needle or surface electrodes can not be identified obvious voluntary contraction pattern by muscle movement. In this paper we propose the extraction technique of voluntary muscle contraction and relaxation pattern from EMG signal of spinal cord injured patient whose EMG signal is composed of the linear sum of mo색 unit action potentials with two noise sources, additive noise assumed to be white Gaussian noise and high frequency discharge assumed to be not motor unit action potential but impulsive noise. In order to eliminate impulsive noise and additive noise from voluntary contracted EMG signal, we use the FatBear filter which is a nonarithmetic piecewise constant filter, and multiscale nonlinear wavelet denoising processing, respectively. The proposed technique is applied to the EMG signal acquisited from transverse myelitis patients to extract voluntary muscle contraction pattern.