Practical use of electromyography in veterinary medicine – A review

Electromyography (EMG) is a sophisticated electrodiagnostic-neurophysiological method, which serves to diagnose neuromuscular system diseases. It is based on the measurement of the electrical potentials created by the skeletal muscle activity. For this technique, surface electrodes and needle electrodes can be used, which read the action potential of a large number of motor units and read a small number of motor units, respectively. The wide-spectrum application of this method extends our diagnostic possibilities of the clinical examination in veterinary practice. Together with a clinical neurological examination and imaging methods, EMG forms a part of the diagnosis of nervous system diseases and it is a useful diagnostic technique for differentiating neuropathies, junctionopathies, and myopathies. The results of the neurophysiological examination inform us about the functional state of the peripheral and central nervous system; it can demonstrate subclinical diseases and monitor the dynamics of changes in the functional state of individual nervous systems over time. In this article, we review the electromyographic method and its use in veterinary practice.

Penumbra in acute ischemic stroke

Acute ischemic stroke is one of the leading causes of disability and death worldwide. The brain tissue adjacent to the central necrotic core was first defined as ischemic penumbra characterized by reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF) with electrical failure but maintained ionic homeostasis and transmembrane electrical potentials. Since then, the evolving concepts of the ischemic penumbra have been proposed based on energy metabolism, CBF thresholds and protein synthesis, which provide insight for the diagnosis and treatment of acute ischemic stroke. This paper summarizes the recent advances in the understanding of ischemic penumbra, from its discovery to the diagnosis methods based on imaging techniques and biomarkers, finally some of the treatments developed. In addition, we discussed future perspectives on therapeutic targets beyond ischemic penumbra to develop a treatment for acute ischemic stroke.

Validating a computational framework for ionic electrodiffusion with cortical spreading depression as a case study

Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a wave of pronounced depolarization of brain tissue accompanied by substantial shifts in ionic concentrations and cellular swelling. Here, we validate a computational framework for modelling electrical potentials, ionic movement, and cellular swelling in brain tissue during CSD. We consider different model variations representing wild type or knock-out/knock-down mice and systematically compare the numerical results with reports from a selection of experimental studies. We find that the data for several CSD hallmarks obtained computationally, including wave propagation speed, direct current shift duration, peak in extracellular K + concentration as well as a pronounced shrinkage of extracellular space, are well in line with what has previously been observed experimentally. Further, we assess how key model parameters including cellular diffusivity, structural ratios, membrane water and/or K + permeabilities affect the set of CSD characteristics.

The Electrical Activity of the Orbicularis Oris Muscle in Children with Down Syndrome—A Preliminary Study

The aim of this study was to assess the electrical activity of the superior (SOO) and inferior (IOO) orbicularis oris muscles in children with Down syndrome (DS) and in children without DS. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 30 subjects were eligible to participate in the later stages of the research—15 subjects with DS (mean age 10.1 ± 1.1) and 15 healthy controls (mean age 9.8 ± 1.0). The electrical potentials of the SOO and IOO muscles were recorded using a DAB-Bluetooth electromyography machine (Zebris Medical GmbH, Germany) during the following tasks: At clinical rest, saliva swallowing, lip protrusion, lip compression, and production of the syllable/pa/. The Mann–Whitney U test was conducted to compare the study results between the groups. An analysis of the electromyographical (EMG) recordings showed that the electrical activity of the orbicularis oris muscle in children with DS and lip incompetence was significantly higher compared to healthy children during saliva swallowing, lip compression, and when producing the syllable/pa/, and this may suggest greater muscular effort due to the need to seal the lips during these functional conditions.

Effects of Poultry Biochar on Electrochemical Properties of an Alfisol and Vertisol of Northern Nigeria

This study was aimed to know the effects of biochar on charge properties of an Alfisol and Vertisol of semi-arid soils of Northern Nigeria. A laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the effects of biochar on point zero charge of soils. Experiment was laid out in a complete randomized design and consisted of two factors; 2 soil types and biochar at 4 levels giving a total of 8 treatment combinations with 3 replications each.The results obtained from the study showed that the pH in KCl of the incubated soils ranged from 7.3 to 7.4 and 7.6 to 7.9 for the Alfisol and Vertisol; 7.5 to 7.7 and 7.9 to 8.3 pH in H2O, was obtained for the Alfisol and Vertisol respectively. Electrical conductivity obtained ranged from 3.22 to 4.72 and 2.88 to 4.21 dS m-1 for Alfisol and Vertisol respectively. Electrical potentials ranged from -19.70 to -35 and -31.45 to -63.04 for the Alfisol and Vertisol respectively. The Point Zero Charge of soils correlated positively with the properties of the soils and the biochar rates.The addition of biochar to soils modified the PZC, increased the pH, electrical conductivity (ECe) and cation exchange capacity (CEC) of the soils.

Accurate Determination of Electrical Potential on Ion Exchange Membranes in Reverse Electrodialysis

Reverse electrodialysis is a promising membrane technology to generate energy from controlled mixing of water streams of different salinities. Electrical potentials generate on the ion exchange membranes (IEMs) when selective transport of cations and anions across the membranes driven by concentration difference. The accurate determination of the potentials developed on the IEMs is critical to fairly assess the feasibility of the technology. The Nernst–Planck–Poisson (NPP) equations for IEMs (the membranes with fixed charge) were solved numerically with the boundary updating scheme. The validity of this numerical method was verified by the identical values of Donnan potential obtained with the well-established analytical methods. The suitability and applicability of the classic Teorell–Meyer–Siever (TMS) model were assessed by comparison to the simulation results from the numerical method.

Columnar localization and laminar origin of cortical surface electrical potentials

Electrocorticography (ECoG) methodologically bridges basic neuroscience and understanding of human brains in health and disease. However, the localization of ECoG signals across the surface of the brain and the spatial distribution of their generating neuronal sources are poorly understood. To address this gap, we recorded from rat auditory cortex using customized microECoG, and simulated cortical surface electrical potentials with a full-scale, biophysically detailed cortical column model. Experimentally, microECoG-derived auditory representations were tonotopically organized and signals were anisotropically localized to 200 micrometers, i.e., a single cortical column. Biophysical simulations reproduce experimental findings, and indicate that neurons in cortical layers V and VI contribute ~85% of evoked high-gamma signal recorded at the surface. Cell number and synchronicity were the primary biophysical properties determining laminar contributions to evoked microECoG signals, while distance was only a minimal factor. Thus, evoked microECoG signals primarily originate from neurons in the infragranular layers of a single cortical column.

Temperature State of the Electrical Insulation Layer of a Superconducting DC Cable with Double-Sided Cooling

For the reliable operation of a high-voltage DC cable with high-temperature superconducting current-carrying conductors with a sufficiently high difference in electrical potentials, it is necessary to maintain a fixed temperature state not only of the conductors but also of other cable elements, including the electrical insulation layer. In this layer, despite the high electrical resistivity of its material, which can be polymer dielectrics, Joule heat is released. The purpose of this study was to build a mathematical model that describes the temperature state of an electrical insulation layer made in the form of a long hollow circular cylinder, on the surfaces of which a constant potential difference of the electric field is set. Within the study, we consider an alternative design of a cable with central and external annular channels for cooling liquid nitrogen. Using a mathematical model, we obtained integral relations that connect the parameters of the temperature state of this layer, the conditions of heat transfer on its surfaces, and the temperature-dependent coefficient of thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity of an electrical insulating material with a given difference in electrical potentials. A quantitative analysis of integral relations is carried out as applied to the layer of electrical insulation of the superconducting cable. The results of the analysis make it possible to assess the possibilities of using specific electrical insulating materials in cooled high-voltage DC cables under design, including superconducting cables cooled with liquid nitrogen

An electrodiffusive neuron-extracellular-glia model for exploring the genesis of slow potentials in the brain

Within the computational neuroscience community, there has been a focus on simulating the electrical activity of neurons, while other components of brain tissue, such as glia cells and the extracellular space, are often neglected. Standard models of extracellular potentials are based on a combination of multicompartmental models describing neural electrodynamics and volume conductor theory. Such models cannot be used to simulate the slow components of extracellular potentials, which depend on ion concentration dynamics, and the effect that this has on extracellular diffusion potentials and glial buffering currents. We here present the electrodiffusive neuron-extracellular-glia (edNEG) model, which we believe is the first model to combine compartmental neuron modeling with an electrodiffusive framework for intra- and extracellular ion concentration dynamics in a local piece of neuro-glial brain tissue. The edNEG model (i) keeps track of all intraneuronal, intraglial, and extracellular ion concentrations and electrical potentials, (ii) accounts for action potentials and dendritic calcium spikes in neurons, (iii) contains a neuronal and glial homeostatic machinery that gives physiologically realistic ion concentration dynamics, (iv) accounts for electrodiffusive transmembrane, intracellular, and extracellular ionic movements, and (v) accounts for glial and neuronal swelling caused by osmotic transmembrane pressure gradients. The edNEG model accounts for the concentration-dependent effects on ECS potentials that the standard models neglect. Using the edNEG model, we analyze these effects by splitting the extracellular potential into three components: one due to neural sink/source configurations, one due to glial sink/source configurations, and one due to extracellular diffusive currents. Through a series of simulations, we analyze the roles played by the various components and how they interact in generating the total slow potential. We conclude that the three components are of comparable magnitude and that the stimulus conditions determine which of the components that dominate.