An Upper-Limb Rehabilitation Exoskeleton System Controlled by MI Recognition Model With Deep Emphasized Informative Features in a VR Scene
The prevalence of stroke continues to increase with the global aging. Based on the motor imagery (MI) brain–computer interface (BCI) paradigm and virtual reality (VR) technology, we designed and developed an upper-limb rehabilitation exoskeleton system (VR-ULE) in the VR scenes for stroke patients. The VR-ULE system makes use of the MI electroencephalogram (EEG) recognition model with a convolutional neural network and squeeze-and-excitation (SE) blocks to obtain the patient’s motion intentions and control the exoskeleton to move during rehabilitation training movement. Due to the individual differences in EEG, the fre...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - November 1, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Broader Estimates of Gastrocnemius Activity Generated a More Representative Cocontraction Index: A Study in Pediatric Population
The electromyography (EMG) cocontraction index (CCI) given by the antagonistic/agonistic Root Mean Square (RMS) amplitude ratio of the same muscle is a qualified biomarker used for spastic cocontraction quantification and management in cerebral palsy children. However, this normative EMG ratio is likely subject to a potential source of errors with biased estimates when measuring the gastrocnemius plantar flexors activity. Due to the uneven distribution of electrical activity within the muscle volume, cocontraction levels can be misestimated, if EMGs are obtained from the sole traditional bipolar sensor location recommended...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - November 1, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Investigating the Association of Quantitative Gait Stability Metrics With User Perception of Gait Interruption Due to Control Faults During Human-Prosthesis Interaction
This study aims to compare the association of different gait stability metrics with the prosthesis users’ perception of their own gait stability. Lack of perceived confidence on the device functionality can influence the gait pattern, level of daily activities, and overall quality of life for individuals with lower limb motor deficits. However, the perception of gait stability is subjective and difficult to acquire online. The quantitative gait stability metrics can be objectively measured and monitored using wearable sensors; however, objective measurements of gait stability associated with human’s perception of their...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

A SSVEP-Based Brain–Computer Interface With Low-Pixel Density of Stimuli
This study aims to achieve a perfect balance between comfort and effectiveness by reducing the pixel density of SSVEP stimuli. Three experiments were conducted to determine the most suitable presentation form (flickering square vs. flickering checkerboard), pixel distribution pattern (random vs. uniform), and pixel density value (100%, 90%, 80%, 70%, 60%, 40%, 20%). Subjects’ electroencephalogram (EEG) and fatigue scores were recorded, while comfort and effectiveness were measured by fatigue score and classification accuracy, respectively. The results showed that the flickering square with random pixel distribution achie...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Changes in Relative Work of the Lower Extremity and Distal Foot Joints After Total Ankle Replacement: An Exploratory Study
In conclusion, this study seems to corroborate the theoretical rationale that TAR reduces the compensatory strategy in the Chopart and hip joints in patients suffering from end-stage ankle osteoarthritis. (Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering)
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Balance and Muscle Synergies During a Single-Limb Stance Task in Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instability
In conclusion, muscle synergies analysis provided an in-depth knowledge of motor control mechanisms in CAI individuals. They showed worse balance performance, a lower number of muscle synergies in a CE condition and abnormal knee flexor muscle activation compared to healthy controls. (Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering)
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Coupling Between Posture and Respiration Among the Postural Chain: Toward a Screening Tool for Respiratory-Related Balance Disorders
Alteration of posturo-respiratory coupling (PRC) may precede postural imbalance in patients with chronic respiratory disease. PRC assessment would be appropriate for early detection of respiratory-related postural dysfunction. PRC may be evaluated by respiratory emergence (REm), the proportion of postural oscillations attributed to breathing activity; assessed by motion analysis) as measured from the displacement of the center of pressure (CoP) (measured with a force platform). To propose a simplified method of PRC assessment (using motion capture only), we hypothesized that the REm can appropriately be measured derived fr...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Gaze-Based Shared Autonomy Framework With Real-Time Action Primitive Recognition for Robot Manipulators
Robots capable of robust, real-time recognition of human intent during manipulation tasks could be used to enhance human-robot collaboration for activities of daily living. Eye gaze-based control interfaces offer a non-invasive way to infer intent and reduce the cognitive burden on operators of complex robots. Eye gaze is traditionally used for “gaze triggering” (GT) in which staring at an object, or sequence of objects, triggers pre-programmed robotic movements. We propose an alternative approach: a neural network-based “action prediction” (AP) mode that extracts gaze-related features to recognize, and often predi...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Optimal Motor Unit Subset Selection for Accurate Motor Intention Decoding: Towards Dexterous Real-Time Interfacing
Conclusion and Significance: Careful selection of tracked MUs can optimize the efficiency of MU-driven interfacing. In particular, prioritization of MUs exhibiting strong nonlinear relationships with target motions is best leveraged by kernel-based estimators. Hence, this frees resources for more robust and adaptive MU decoding techniques to be implemented in future. (Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering)
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

TraHGR: Transformer for Hand Gesture Recognition via Electromyography
Deep learning-based Hand Gesture Recognition (HGR) via surface Electromyogram (sEMG) signals have recently shown considerable potential for development of advanced myoelectric-controlled prosthesis. Although deep learning techniques can improve HGR accuracy compared to their classical counterparts, classifying hand movements based on sparse multichannel sEMG signals is still a challenging task. Furthermore, existing deep learning approaches, typically, include only one model as such can hardly extract representative features. In this paper, we aim to address this challenge by capitalizing on the recent advances in hybrid m...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Enhancing Performance of Single-Channel SSVEP-Based Visual Acuity Assessment via Mode Decomposition
This study aimed to improve the performance of single-channel steady-state visual evoked potential (SSVEP)-based visual acuity assessment by mode decomposition methods. Using the SSVEP dataset induced by the vertical sinusoidal gratings at six spatial frequency steps from 11 subjects, 3-40-Hz band-pass filtering and other four mode decomposition methods, i.e., empirical mode decomposition (EMD), ensemble empirical mode decomposition (EEMD), improved complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (ICEEMDAN), and variational mode decomposition (VMD), were used to preprocess the single-channel SSVEP signal...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 31, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

SR-POSE: A Novel Non-Contact Real-Time Rehabilitation Evaluation Method Using Lightweight Technology
Rehabilitation movement assessment often requires patients to wear expensive and inconvenient sensors or optical markers. To address this issue, we propose a non-contact and real-time approach using a lightweight pose detection algorithm–Sports Rehabilitation-Pose (SR-Pose), and a depth camera for accurate assessment of rehabilitation movement. Our approach utilizes an E-Shufflenet network to extract underlying features of the target, a RLE-Decoder module to directly regress the coordinate values of 16 key points, and a Weight Fusion Unit (WFU) module to output optimal human posture detection results. By combining the de...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 27, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

VR for Vocational and Ecological Rehabilitation of Patients With Cognitive Impairment: A Survey
The objective is to analyze these studies from a VR perspective focusing on the VR apparatus and tasks, adaptivity, transferability, and immersion of the interventions. Our results highlight how a higher level of immersion could bring the participants to a deeper level of engagement and transferability, rarely assessed in current literature, and a lack of adaptivity in studies involving patients with cognitive impairments. From these considerations, we discuss the challenges of creating a standardized yet adaptive protocol and the perspectives of using immersive technologies to allow precise monitoring, personalized rehabi...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 27, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Monitoring Active Patient Participation During Robotic Rehabilitation: Comparison Between a Robot-Based Metric and an EMG-Based Metric
While rehabilitation robots present a much-needed solution to improving early mobilization therapy in demanding clinical settings, they also present new challenges and opportunities in patient monitoring. Aside from the fundamental challenge of quantifying a patient’s voluntary contribution during robot-led therapy motion, many sensors cannot be used in clinical settings due to time and space limitations. In this paper, we present and compare two metrics for monitoring a patient’s active participation in the motion. The two metrics, each derived from first principles, have the same biomechanical interpretability, i.e.,...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 27, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Kernel Reinforcement Learning-Assisted Adaptive Decoder Facilitates Stable and Continuous Brain Control Tasks
Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMIs) assist paralyzed people to brain control (BC) the neuro-prosthesis continuously moving in space. During the BC process, the subject imagines the movement of the real limb and adapts the brain activity according to the sensory feedback. The neural adaptation in the closed-loop control results in complex and changing brain signals. Simultaneously, the decoder interprets the time-varying functional mapping between neural activity and continuous trajectory. It is crucial and challenging to accurately and adaptively track the mapping to help the subject accomplish the BC task with a stable perfor...
Source: IEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering - October 27, 2023 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research