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The use of non-invasive methods for the study of respiratory muscle signals can provide clinical information for the evaluation of the respiratory muscle function. The aim of this study was to evaluate time-frequency characteristics of the electrical activity of the sternocleidomastoid muscle recorded superficially by means of concentric ring electrodes (CREs) in a bipolar configuration. The CREs enhance the spatial resolution, attenuate interferences, as the cardiac activity, and also simplify the orientation problem associated to the electrode location. Five healthy subjects underwent a respiratory load test in which an inspiratory load was imposed during the inspiratory phase. During the test, the electromyographic signal of the sternocleidomastoid muscle (EMGsc) and the inspiratory mouth pressure (Pmouth) were acquired. Time-frequency characteristics of the EMGsc signal were analyzed by means of eight time-frequency representations (TFRs): the spectrogram (SPEC), the Morlet scalogram (SCAL), the Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD), the Choi-Williams distribution (CHWD), two generalized exponential distributions (GED1 and GED2), the Born-Jordan distribution (BJD) and the Cone-Kernel distribution (CKD). The instantaneous central frequency of the EMGsc showed an increasing behavior during the inspiratory cycle and with the increase of the inspiratory load. The bilinear TFRs (WVD, CHWD, GEDs and BJD) were less sensitive to cardiac activity interference than classical TFRs (SPEC and SCAL). The GED2 was the TFR that shown the best results for the characterization of the instantaneous central frequency of the EMGsc.

JTD Keywords: Electrodes, Interference, Kernel, Mouth, Muscles, Spectrogram, Time-frequency analysis

Los sonidos adventicios continuos (CAS) son uno de los principales síntomas del asma. Dada su importancia clínica, el análisis de estas señales requiere del uso de técnicas que permitan segmentarlas y caracterizarlas con una precisión alta. Sin embargo, la mayoría de técnicas propuestas anteriormente estaban basadas en el análisis de Fourier o wavelet, técnicas que tienen una resolución limitada a priori y son altamente dependientes de la amplitud de los CAS. En este estudio se presenta una técnica alternativa para el análisis de CAS basada en el espectro de Hilbert. El método presentado combina la descomposición empírica en modos por conjuntos con el estimador de Kay de la frecuencia instantánea, para obtener una representación tiempo-frecuencia con una alta concentración de energía y una resolución temporal y frecuencial elevada. Con el fin de mostrar las ventajas que ofrece el método presentado, se ha aplicado a cuatro señales de sonidos respiratorios registradas en pacientes asmáticos que contienen distintos tipos de CAS, reforzando la hipótesis confirmada en nuestro estudio previo de que el espectro de Hilbert permite segmentar y caracterizar los CAS con mayor precisión que otras técnicas tradicionales ampliamente utilizadas, como el espectrograma.

JTD

The analysis of the electromyographic signal of the diaphragm muscle (EMGdi) can provide important information for evaluating the respiratory muscular function. The EMGdi can be recorded using surface Ag/AgCl disc electrodes in monopolar or bipolar configuration. However, these non-invasive EMGdi recordings are usually contaminated by the electrocardiographic (ECG) signal. EMGdi signal can also be noninvasively recorded using concentric ring electrodes in bipolar configuration (CRE) that estimate Laplacian surface potential. Laplacian recordings increase spatial resolution and attenuate distant bioelectric interferences, such as the ECG. Thus, the objective of this work is to compare and to evaluate CRE and traditional bipolar EMGdi recordings in a healthy subject during a dynamic inspiratory maneuver with incremental inspiratory loads. In the conducted study, it was calculated the cumulative percentage of power spectrum of EMGdi recordings to determine the signal bandwidth, and the power ratio between the EMGdi signal segments with and without cardiac activity. The results of this study suggest that EMGdi acquired with CRE electrodes is less affected by the ECG interference, achieves a wider bandwidth and a higher power ratio between segments without cardiac activity and with cardiac activity.

JTD Keywords: Bandwidth, Electric potential, Electrocardiography, Electrodes, Interference, Laplace equations, Muscles

Diaphragm electromyography (EMGdi) provides important information on diaphragm activity, to detect neuromuscular disorders of the most important muscle in the breathing inspiratory phase. EMGdi is habitually recorded using needles or esophageal catheters, with the implication of being invasive for patients. Surface electrodes offer an alternative for the non-invasive assessment of diaphragm activity. Ag/AgCl surface disc electrodes are used in monopolar or bipolar configuration to record EMGdi signals. On the other hand, Laplacian surface potential can be estimated by signal recording through active concentric ring electrodes. This kind of recording could reduce physiological interferences, increase the spatial selectivity and reduce orientation problems in the electrode location. The aim of this work is to compare EMGdi signals recorded simultaneously with disc electrodes in bipolar configuration and a Laplacian ring electrode over chest wall. EMGdi signal was recorded in one healthy subject during a breath hold maneuver and a static inspiratory maneuver based on Mueller’s technique. In order to estimate the covered frequency range and the degree of noise contamination in both bipolar and Laplacian EMGdi signals, the cumulative percentage of the power spectrum and the signal to noise ratio in sub-bands were determined. Furthermore, diaphragm fatigue was evaluated by means of amplitude and frequency parameters. Our findings suggest that Laplacian EMGdi recording covers a broader frequency range although with higher noise contamination compared to bipolar EMGdi recording. Finally, in Laplacian recording fatigue indexes showed a clearer trend for muscle fatigue detection and also a reduced cardiac interference, providing an alternative to bipolar recording for diaphragm fatigue studies.

JTD Keywords: Laplacian electrode, Diaphragm muscle, Fatigue, Surface electromyography

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is a noninvasive technique for monitoring the electrical activity produced by the muscles. Usually, sEMG is performed by carrying out monopolar or bipolar recordings by means of conventional Ag/AgCl electrodes. In contrast, Laplacian recordings of sEMG could also be obtained by using coaxial ring electrodes. Laplacian recordings increase spatial resolution and attenuate other distant bioelectric interferences. Nevertheless, the spectral characteristics of this kind of recordings have been scarcely studied. The objective of this paper is to characterize the sEMG signals recorded with a Laplacian ring electrode and to compare them with traditional bipolar recordings with disc electrodes. Both kinds of signals were collected simultaneously in two healthy subjects during resting and sustained isometric voluntary contraction activities in biceps brachii. The conducted study computed the cumulative percentage of the power spectrum of sEMG so as to determine the energy bandwidth of the two kinds of recordings and the signal to noise ratio in different bands of the sEMG spectrum. Also, muscle fatigue, a condition when muscle force is reduced, was assessed using indexes from amplitude and frequency domain. The results of this study suggest that Laplacian sEMG has higher spectral bandwidth but a lower signal to noise ratio in comparison to bipolar sEMG. In addition, frequency fatigue indexes showed that Laplacian recording had better response than bipolar recording, which suggests that Laplacian electrode can be useful to study muscular fatigue due to better spatial resolution.

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