An automated method for the quantification of transgene expression in motor axons of the peripheral nerve.

Background: Determination of transgene expression in motor axons of peripheral nerves is important in evaluating the effectiveness of viral transduction. Currently only manual and semi-automatic methods of quantification have been employed for quantification in immunolabeled nerve sections, but automatic methods exist for axon counting only in brightfield sections. Manual and semi-automatic methods can suffer from inter- and intraobserver bias, sampling bias and can be time consuming to implement.

Imaging of electrical activity in small diameter fibers of the murine peripheral nerve with virally-delivered GCaMP6f.

Current neural interfaces are hampered by lack of specificity and selectivity for neural interrogation. A method that might improve these interfaces is an optical peripheral nerve interface which communicates with individual axons via optogenetic reporters. To determine the feasibility of such an interface, we delivered the genetically encoded calcium indicator GCaMP6f to the mouse peripheral nerve by intramuscular injection of adenoassociated viral vector (AAV1) under the control of the CAG (chicken beta actin- cytomegalovirus hybrid promoter).

Optical read-out and modulation of peripheral nerve activity.

Numerous clinical and research applications necessitate the ability to interface with peripheral nerve fibers to read and control relevant neural pathways. Visceral organ modulation and rehabilitative prosthesis are two areas which could benefit greatly from improved neural interfacing approaches. Therapeutic neural interfacing, or 'bioelectronic medicine', has potential to affect a broad range of disorders given that all the major organs of the viscera are neurally innervated.

Optical Read-out of Neural Activity in Mammalian Peripheral Axons: Calcium Signaling at Nodes of Ranvier.

Current neural interface technologies have serious limitations for advanced prosthetic and therapeutic applications due primarily to their lack of specificity in neural communication. An optogenetic approach has the potential to provide single cell/axon resolution in a minimally invasive manner by optical interrogation of light-sensitive reporters and actuators. Given the aim of reading neural activity in the peripheral nervous system, this work has investigated an activity-dependent signaling mechanism in the peripheral nerve.

Novel postural control algorithm for control of multifunctional myoelectric prosthetic hands.

The myoelectric controller (MEC) remains a technological bottleneck in the development of multifunctional prosthetic hands. Current MECs require physiologically inappropriate commands to indicate intent and lack effectiveness in a clinical setting. Postural control schemes use surface electromyography signals to drive a cursor in a continuous two-dimensional domain that is then transformed into a hand posture.

Design and Fabrication of a Six Degree-of-Freedom Open Source Hand.

Currently, most externally powered prostheses are controlled using electromyography (or EMG), which is the measure of the electrical signals that are produced when voluntary muscle is contracted. One of the major problems is that there are a limited number of muscular control sites that can be used, which limits the complexity of the hands that are controllable. Many upper-limb prosthetics researchers are searching for methods to simply and effectively control complex prosthetic hands, and a significant number of these researchers have utilized virtual hands and other simulations to perform testing of these control algorithms (oftentimes on able bodied subjects).

Low-power polling mode of the next-generation IMES2 implantable wireless EMG sensor.

The IMES1 Implantable MyoElectric Sensor device is currently in human clinical trials led by the Alfred Mann Foundation. The IMES is implanted in a residual limb and is powered wirelessly using a magnetic field. EMG signals resulting from the amputee's voluntary movement are amplified and transmitted wirelessly by the IMES to an external controller which controls movement of an external motorized prosthesis.

Extrinsic finger and thumb muscles command a virtual hand to allow individual finger and grasp control.

Fine-wire intramuscular electrodes were used to obtain electromyogram (EMG) signals from six extrinsic hand muscles associated with the thumb, index, and middle fingers. Subjects' EMG activity was used to control a virtual three-degree-of-freedom (DOF) hand as they conformed the hand to a sequence of hand postures testing two controllers: direct EMG control and pattern recognition control. Subjects tested two conditions using each controller: starting the hand from a predefined neutral posture before each new posture and starting the hand from the previous posture in the sequence.

Comparative study of state-of-the-art myoelectric controllers for multigrasp prosthetic hands.

A myoelectric controller should provide an intuitive and effective human-machine interface that deciphers user intent in real-time and is robust enough to operate in daily life. Many myoelectric control architectures have been developed, including pattern recognition systems, finite state machines, and more recently, postural control schemes. Here, we present a comparative study of two types of finite state machines and a postural control scheme using both virtual and physical assessment procedures with seven nondisabled subjects.

Mechanical design and performance specifications of anthropomorphic prosthetic hands: a review.

In this article, we set forth a detailed analysis of the mechanical characteristics of anthropomorphic prosthetic hands. We report on an empirical study concerning the performance of several commercially available myoelectric prosthetic hands, including the Vincent, iLimb, iLimb Pulse, Bebionic, Bebionic v2, and Michelangelo hands. We investigated the finger design and kinematics, mechanical joint coupling, and actuation methods of these commercial prosthetic hands.

Activation of individual extrinsic thumb muscles and compartments of extrinsic finger muscles.

Mechanical and neurological couplings exist between musculotendon units of the human hand and digits. Studies have begun to understand how these muscles interact when accomplishing everyday tasks, but there are still unanswered questions regarding the control limitations of individual muscles. Using intramuscular electromyographic (EMG) electrodes, this study examined subjects' ability to individually initiate and sustain three levels of normalized muscular activity in the index and middle finger muscle compartments of extensor digitorum communis (EDC), flexor digitorum profundus (FDP), and flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS), as well as the extrinsic thumb muscles abductor pollicis longus (APL), extensor pollicis brevis (EPB), extensor pollicis longus (EPL), and flexor pollicis longus (FPL).

Design and validation of a morphing myoelectric hand posture controller based on principal component analysis of human grasping.

An ideal myoelectric prosthetic hand should have the ability to continuously morph between any posture like an anatomical hand. This paper describes the design and validation of a morphing myoelectric hand controller based on principal component analysis of human grasping. The controller commands continuously morphing hand postures including functional grasps using between two and four surface electromyography (EMG) electrodes pairs.

Quantification of isolated muscle compartment activity in extrinsic finger muscles for potential prosthesis control sites.

Prosthetic hands are becoming more advanced and gaining degrees-of-freedom similar to their human counterparts. However, the command interface enabling control of these prostheses needs to be improved for more intuitive functional use. One barrier to using electromyographic (EMG) signals as the command interface is measuring independent muscle control sites in the residual limb.

Development of an implantable myoelectric sensor for advanced prosthesis control.

Modern hand and wrist prostheses afford a high level of mechanical sophistication, but the ability to control them in an intuitive and repeatable manner lags. Commercially available systems using surface electromyographic (EMG) or myoelectric control can supply at best two degrees of freedom (DOF), most often sequentially controlled. This limitation is partially due to the nature of surface-recorded EMG, for which the signal contains components from multiple muscle sources.

Implantable myoelectric sensors (IMESs) for intramuscular electromyogram recording.

We have developed a multichannel electrogmyography sensor system capable of receiving and processing signals from up to 32 implanted myoelectric sensors (IMES). The appeal of implanted sensors for myoelectric control is that electromyography (EMG) signals can be measured at their source providing relatively cross-talk-free signals that can be treated as independent control sites. An external telemetry controller receives telemetry sent over a transcutaneous magnetic link by the implanted electrodes.

Decoding individuated finger flexions with Implantable MyoElectric Sensors.

We trained a rhesus monkey to perform randomly cued, individuated finger flexions of the thumb, index, and middle finger. Nine Implantable MyoElectric Sensors (IMES) were then surgically implanted into the finger muscles of the monkey's forearm, without any observable adverse chronic effects. Using an inductive link, we wirelessly recorded EMG from the IMES as the monkey performed a finger flexion task.

Control of a six degree of freedom prosthetic arm after targeted muscle reinnervation surgery.

Objectives: To fit and evaluate the control of a complex prosthesis for a shoulder disarticulation-level amputee with targeted muscle reinnervation.

Design: One participant who had targeted muscle reinnervation surgery was fitted with an advanced prosthesis and his use of this device was compared with the device that he used in the home setting.

Setting: The experiments were completed within a laboratory setting.

A comparison of the effects of electrode implantation and targeting on pattern classification accuracy for prosthesis control.

The use of surface versus intramuscular electrodes as well as the effect of electrode targeting on pattern-recognition-based multifunctional prosthesis control was explored. Surface electrodes are touted for their ability to record activity from relatively large portions of muscle tissue. Intramuscular electromyograms (EMGs) can provide focal recordings from deep muscles of the forearm and independent signals relatively free of crosstalk.

Modeling and preliminary testing socket-residual limb interface stiffness of above-elbow prostheses.

The interface between the socket and residual limb can have a significant effect on the performance of a prosthesis. Specifically, knowledge of the rotational stiffness of the socket-residual limb (S-RL) interface is extremely useful in designing new prostheses and evaluating new control paradigms, as well as in comparing existing and new socket technologies. No previous studies, however, have examined the rotational stiffness of S-RL interfaces.

The optimal controller delay for myoelectric prostheses.

A tradeoff exists when considering the delay created by multifunctional prosthesis controllers. Large controller delays maximize the amount of time available for EMG signal collection and analysis (and thus maximize classification accuracy); however, large delays also degrade prosthesis performance by decreasing the responsiveness of the prosthesis. To elucidate an "optimal controller delay" twenty able-bodied subjects performed the Box and Block Test using a device called PHABS (prosthetic hand for able bodied subjects).

Neural machine interfaces for controlling multifunctional powered upper-limb prostheses.

This article investigates various neural machine interfaces for voluntary control of externally powered upper-limb prostheses. Epidemiology of upper limb amputation, as well as prescription and follow-up studies of externally powered upper-limb prostheses are discussed. The use of electromyographic interfaces and peripheral nerve interfaces for prosthetic control, as well as brain machine interfaces suitable for prosthetic control, are examined in detail along with available clinical results.

Simulation of intramuscular EMG signals detected using implantable myoelectric sensors (IMES).

The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of recording independent electromyographic (EMG) signals from the forearm using implantable myoelectric sensors (IMES), for myoelectric prosthetic control. Action potentials were simulated using two different volume conductor models: a finite-element (FE) model that was used to explore the influence of the electrical properties of the surrounding inhomogeneous tissues and an analytical infinite volume conductor model that was used to estimate the approximate detection volume of the implanted sensors. Action potential amplitude increased progressively as conducting electrodes, the ceramic electrode casing and high resistivity encapsulation tissue were added to the model.

A heuristic fuzzy logic approach to EMG pattern recognition for multifunctional prosthesis control.

This paper presents a heuristic fuzzy logic approach to multiple electromyogram (EMG) pattern recognition for multifunctional prosthesis control. Basic signal statistics (mean and standard deviation) are used for membership function construction, and fuzzy c-means (FCMs) data clustering is used to automate the construction of a simple amplitude-driven inference rule base. The result is a system that is transparent to, and easily "tweaked" by, the prosthetist/clinician.

The effects of static friction and backlash on extended physiological proprioception control of a powered prosthesis.

In general, externally powered prostheses do not provide proprioceptive feedback and thus require the user to rely on cognitively expensive visual feedback to effectively control the prosthesis. Applying the concept of extended physiological proprioception (EPP) to externally powered prostheses provides direct feedback to the user's proprioceptive system regarding the position, velocity, and forces applied to the prosthesis. However, electric elbows with EPP controllers developed at the Northwestern University Prosthetics Research Laboratory have exhibited unexplained "jerky" behavior in both clinical fittings and bench-top operation.