EEG-EMG hybrid real-time classification of hand grasp and release movements intention in chronic stroke patients.

Rehabilitation of the hand motor function is essential for stroke patients to resume activities of daily living. Recent studies have shown that wearable robot systems, like a multi degree-of-freedom soft glove, have the potential to improve hand motor impairment. The rehabilitation system, which is intuitively controlled according to the user's intention, is expected to induce active participation of the user and further promote brain plasticity. However, due to the patient-specific nature of stroke patients, extracting the intention from stroke patients is still challenging. In this study, we implemented a classifier that combines EEG and EMG to detect chronic stroke patients' four types of intention: rest, grasp, hold, and release. Three chronic stroke patients participated in the experiment and performed rest, grasp, hold, and release actions. The rest vs. grasp binary classifier and release vs. hold binary classifier showed 76.9% and 86.6% classification accuracy in real-time, respectively. In addition, patient-specific accuracy comparisons showed that the hybrid approach was robust to upper limb impairment level compared to other approaches. We believe that these results could pave the way for the development of BCI-based robotic hand rehabilitation therapy.

TREM-1, a negative regulator of human osteoclastogenesis.

Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells (TREMs) are a family of cell surface receptors that play important roles in innate and adaptive immunity. Among them, TREM-2 has been extensively studied for its role in osteoclast differentiation and its essential role in human osteoclastogenesis has been well established. However, much less has been discovered about the role of TREM-1 in human osteoclast differentiation. In this study, we investigate the role of TREM-1 in human osteoclast differentiation. Consistent with previous reports, TREM-2 expression was strongly increased during the generation of human osteoclast precursors. In contrast, TREM-1 expression was decreased during the generation of human osteoclast precursors. Stimulation of TREM-1 using agonistic anti-TREM-1 antibody resulted in suppression of RANKL-induced osteoclastogenesis, as evidenced by diminished formation of TRAP+ multinucleated cells. In addition, TREM-1 stimulation strongly suppressed RANKL-induced expression of osteoclast-related genes such as cathepsin K and NFATc1. TREM-1 stimulation also down-regulated gene expression and cell surface expression of M-CSF receptor that is essential for osteoclast differentiation and survival. In synovial fluid macrophages of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, TREM-1 stimulation suppressed osteoclastogenesis. In conclusion, we demonstrate that TREM-1 acts as a negative regulator of human osteoclast differentiation and identify a novel mechanism of negative regulation of osteoclastogenesis that plays a role in inflammation.