A wearable multi-pad electrode prototype for selective functional electrical stimulation of upper extremities.

In this paper, a surface multi-pad stimulation electrode with selective characteristics was designed, it was safe to use and easy to mount. Then a wearable and distributed multi-pad functional electrical stimulation (FES) prototype combined with sensing, communication and smart technology was designed, which can achieve a fast, intelligent optimization to determine stimulation electrode sites and comfortable stimulation. In addition, in order to improve the application and convenience of FES in the rehabilitation at clinical and home-setting, an Android application (APP) based on smart phone was designed for running an algorithm of searching optimal stimulation site. The prototype has been validated by performing selective stimulation on one healthy subject, and showed that the FES system can automatically determine the stimulation site.

System design and experimental research of lower esophageal sphincter stimulator for treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease.

Electrical stimulation therapy (EST) of lower esophageal sphincters (LES) is a new technique for the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). In this paper, an implantable LES stimulator with wireless power transmission is proposed for the treatment of GERD. The LES stimulator is composed of an implantable pulse generator (IPG), an external controller, and a wireless power transmission module. The IPG, whose area is 31×21 mm2, is designed to generate voltage-regulated constant-current stimulation pulses. The external controller allows for wireless programming of the IPG via a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) module. The wireless power transmission module provides power for the IPG. According to the measurement of output stimulus waveforms, the proposed LES stimulator is capable of delivering electrical stimulations with a current ranging between 0 and 8 mA. To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the proposed LES stimulator, experiments were performed on 12 male New Zealand white rabbits. Esophageal manometry was performed before and after the procedure and the LES pressure (LESP) has been recorded. The mean LESP is increased significantly in the stimulation group than the sham group (stimulation group: 9.25±1.24 mmHg vs 13.99 ±1.28 mmHg, p<;0.05; sham group: 9.00±1.22 mmHg vs 9.23±1.27 mmHg, p=0.267). The results show that the electrical stimulation delivered by the LES stimulator can safely and effectively increase resting LES pressure in acute animal models, suggesting that the implantable LES stimulator is a perspective approach for treating GERD in clinics.

Electromyographic Bridge-a multi-movement volitional control method for functional electrical stimulation: prototype system design and experimental validation.

The voluntary participation of the paralyzed patients is crucial for the functional electrical stimulation (FES) therapy. In this study, we developed a strategy called "EMG Bridge" (EMGB) for volitional control of multiple movements using FES technique. The surface electromyography (sEMG) signals of the agonist muscles were transformed to stimulation pulses with various pulse width and frequency to stimulate the target paralyzed muscles using MAV/NSS co-modulation (MNDC) algorithm we proposed recently. Motion pattern classification based on linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was included to recognize the motion status and mapping the sEMG detection channel to the corresponding stimulation channel. A prototype EMGB system was built for real-time control of four hand movements. The test results showed that the movements can be reproduced with a successful rate of 92.5±3.5%. The angle trajectory of wrist joint and metacarpal-phalangeal joint can be mimicked with a maximum cross-correlation coefficient > 0.84 and a latency less than 300 ms.

Design of sEMG-detecting circuit for EMG-Bridge.

A surface electromyography (sEMG) signal typically results from the electrical activities of many muscle fibers, and can be utilized as a signal source in prostheses due to its abundance of movement information. This paper proposes an sEMG-detection circuit for the acquisition of the controlling signal in EMG-Bridge (EMGB) systems. The detection circuit mainly comprises a preamplifier, a driven right leg (DRL) circuit, a high-pass filter (HPF), a low-pass filter (LPF), and a gain adjustable amplifying circuit. The common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of the circuit is higher than 120 dB, the input impedance is greater than 100 MΩ, the passband range is 20~450 Hz, and the frequency attenuation in stopband is not less than 120dB/dec.

Development of quality of life scale in Chinese burn patients: cross-cultural adaptation process of burn-specific health scale - brief.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to develop and test a Chinese burn patient-specific quality of life (QOL) scale based on the burn-specific health scale - brief (BSHS - B) to provide an effective assessment tool to measure quality of life in Chinese burn patients. METHOD: Delphi method was used after the translation, back translation and pre-commissioning tests of BSHS - B, to amend the description of the items for cultural adaptation. The adapted Chinese version (ACV) of the BSHS - B was tested for internal consistency and validity of construct on a group of 271 burn patients from three major burn units in China. RESULTS: Thirty-eight items within six domains of ACV BSHS-B were developed with scoring '0-4' in each item. The mean total score for our study group was 98.36 (standard deviation (S.D.)=37.86), ranging from 13 to 150. The total Cronbach's alpha value was 0.97 and total split-half reliability was 0.98, demonstrating that the internal consistency of the ACV was very high. Pearson correlations among the six domains of ACV BSHS - B were statistically significant. Exploratory factor analysis results showed that the six-factor function explained 78.30% of total variance; each entry in the corresponding domain had a factor-loading value higher than 0.4, indicating that the scale has a good validity. CONCLUSION: The ACV of the BSHS - B showed good reliability and validity, and can be used as a tool for assessing the QOL in Chinese burn patients.

Study on signal transmission characteristics of meridian based on electrical network theory and experiments / 中国针灸

Study on features of acupoints with resistance test in the past half century is reviewed in this article. Mechanism and technology of the method are introduced as well as its shortcomings. The determination method of signal transmission along meridians with the combination of electrical network theories and practice is advanced. And the result of a series experiments on one meridian at the superficial part of the body are given as well. Thus, it is concluded that the signals of the point-in/point-out and the signals along a non-meridian path with the same distance are significantly different, which gives a verification of the feasibility of the method by using electrical network theories to set out characteristics of signal transmission along meridians dynamically.

Quantitative Evaluation and Secondary Structure Analysis of Proteins Adsorbed on Biomaterial Surfaces Using FTIR.

The quantity and secondary structure of adsorbed albumin (Alb) and immunoglobulin G (IgG) on two kinds of biomaterial surfaces-polyurethane (PU (H50-50)) and polystyrene (PS) were studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The original spectra tested by FTIR were processed using second-derivation and self-deconvolution techniques to obtain the content of different secondary structures of adsorbed proteins, which could be used to evaluate the denatured degree of proteins. Results showed that the quantity of Alb adsorbed on PU (H50-50) surface is larger than PS. The hydrophobic features of material played a role in conformational change of adsorbed protein, and indicated that the denatured degree caused by hydrophobic PS was greater than hydrophilic PU (H50-50). The blood compatibility of PU (H50-50) was likely to be better than PS.