Differential effects of stimulation waveform and intensity on the neural structures activated by lumbar transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation.

Introduction: Lumbar transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (TSS) evokes synchronized muscle responses, termed spinally evoked motor response (sEMR). Whether the structures TSS activates to evoke sEMRs differ when TSS intensity and waveform are varied is unknown.

Methods: In 15 participants (9F:6M), sEMRs were evoked by TSS over L1-L3 (at sEMR threshold and suprathreshold intensities) using conventional (one 400-µs biphasic pulse) or high-frequency burst (ten 40-µs biphasic pulses at 10 kHz) stimulus waveforms in vastus medialis (VM), tibialis anterior (TA) and medial gastrocnemius (MG) muscles.

Construction, monitoring, and efficiency of a biofilter treating a high flow, lean, landfill gas.

The City of Montreal has committed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. To meet this commitment, the city has adopted the Climate Plan 2020-2030, which includes the treatment of landfill gas (LFG). Within this framework, this research aimed to investigate the efficiency of a biofilter designed to treat high volumes of low-concentration LFG collected from lateral trenches at the Complexe Environnemental de Saint-Michel (CESM) in Montreal.

Pain tolerance and the thresholds of human sensory and motor axons to single and repetitive bursts of kilohertz-frequency stimulation.

Transcutaneous electrical stimulation with repetitive bursts of a kilohertz carrier frequency is thought to be less painful than conventional pulsed currents by reducing the sensitivity of pain receptors. However, no purported benefit has been shown unequivocally. We compared the effects of carrier-frequency stimulation and conventional stimulation on pain tolerance and the thresholds for sensory and motor axons in twelve participants.

Conformation- and activation-based BRET sensors differentially report on GPCR-G protein coupling.

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) regulate cellular signaling processes by coupling to diverse combinations of heterotrimeric G proteins composed of Gα, Gβ, and Gγ subunits. Biosensors based on bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) have advanced our understanding of GPCR functional selectivity. Some BRET biosensors monitor ligand-induced conformational changes in the receptor or G proteins, whereas others monitor the recruitment of downstream effectors to sites of G protein activation.

How we perceive the width of grasped objects: Insights into the central processes that govern proprioceptive judgements.

Low-level proprioceptive judgements involve a single frame of reference, whereas high-level proprioceptive judgements are made across different frames of reference. The present study systematically compared low-level (grasp grasp) and high-level (vision grasp, grasp vision) proprioceptive tasks, and quantified the consistency of grasp vision and possible reciprocal nature of related high-level proprioceptive tasks. Experiment 1 (n = 30) compared performance across vision grasp, a grasp vision and a grasp grasp tasks.