Open Access
Association of intrinsic capacity with incidence and mortality of cardiovascular disease: prospective study in UK Biobank
(Wiley, 2023) Ramírez Vélez, Robinson; Iriarte-Fernández, María; Santafé Rodrigo, Guzmán; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Beard, John R.; García Hermoso, Antonio; Izquierdo Redín, Mikel; Ciencias de la Salud; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Institute for Advanced Materials and Mathematics - INAMAT2; Osasun Zientziak; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Background: The World Health Organization proposed the concept of intrinsic capacity (IC; the composite of all the physical and mental capacities of the individual) as central for healthy ageing. However, little research has investigated the interaction and joint associations of IC with cardiovascular disease (CVD) incidence and CVD mortality in middle- and older-aged adults. Methods: Using data from 443 130 UK Biobank participants, we analysed seven biomarkers capturing the level of functioning of five domains of IC to calculate a total IC score (ranging from 0 [better IC] to +4 points [poor IC]). Associations between IC score and incidence of six long-term CVD conditions (hypertension, stroke/transient ischaemic attack stroke, peripheral vascular disease, atrial fibrillation/flutter, coronary artery disease and heart failure), and grouped mortality from these conditions were estimated using Cox proportional models, with a 1-year landmark analysis to triangulate the findings. Results: Over 10.6 years of follow-up, CVD morbidity grouped (n = 384 380 participants for the final analytic sample) was associated with IC scores (0 to +4): mean hazard ratio (HR) [95% confidence interval, CI] 1.11 [1.08–1.14], 1.20 [1.16–1.24], 1.29 [1.23–1.36] and 1.56 [1.45–1.59] in men (C-index = 0.68), and 1.17 [1.13–1.20], 1.30 [1.26–1.36], 1.52 [1.45–1.59] and 1.78 [1.67–1.89] in women (C-index = 0.70). In regard to mortality, our results indicated that the higher IC score (+4 points) was associated with a significant increase in subsequent CVD mortality (mean HR [95% CI]: 2.10 [1.81–2.43] in men [C-index = 0.75] and 2.29 [1.85–2.84] in women [C-index = 0.78]). Results of all sensitivity analyses by full sample, sex and age categories were largely consistent independent of major confounding factors (P < 0.001). Conclusions: IC deficit score is a powerful predictor of functional trajectories and vulnerabilities of the individual in relation to CVD incidence and premature death. Monitoring an individual's IC score may provide an early-warning system to initiate preventive efforts.
Open Access
EMG probability density function: a new way to look at EMG signal filling from single motor unit potential to full interference pattern
(IEEE, 2023) Navallas Irujo, Javier; Eciolaza Ferrando, Adrián; Mariscal Aguilar, Cristina; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Rodríguez Falces, Javier; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
An analytical derivation of the EMG signal's amplitude probability density function (EMG PDF) is presented and used to study how an EMG signal builds-up, or fills, as the degree of muscle contraction increases. The EMG PDF is found to change from a semi-degenerate distribution to a Laplacian-like distribution and finally to a Gaussian-like distribution. We present a measure, the EMG filling factor, to quantify the degree to which an EMG signal has been built-up. This factor is calculated from the ratio of two non-central moments of the rectified EMG signal. The curve of the EMG filling factor as a function of the mean rectified amplitude shows a progressive and mostly linear increase during early recruitment, and saturation is observed when the EMG signal distribution becomes approximately Gaussian. Having presented the analytical tools used to derive the EMG PDF, we demonstrate the usefulness of the EMG filling factor and curve in studies with both simulated signals and real signals obtained from the tibialis anterior muscle of 10 subjects. Both simulated and real EMG filling curves start within the 0.2 to 0.35 range and rapidly rise towards 0.5 (Laplacian) before stabilizing at around 0.637 (Gaussian). Filling curves for the real signals consistently followed this pattern (100% repeatability within trials in 100% of the subjects). The theory of EMG signal filling derived in this work provides (a) an analytically consistent derivation of the EMG PDF as a function of motor unit potentials and motor unit firing patterns; (b) an explanation of the change in the EMG PDF according to degree of muscle contraction; and (c) a way (the EMG filling factor) to quantify the degree to which an EMG signal has been built-up.
Open Access
Independent component analysis as a tool to eliminate artifacts in EEG. A quantitative study
(Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2003) Iriarte, Jorge; Urrestarazu, Elena; Valencia Ustárroz, Miguel; Alegre, Manuel; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Viteri, César; Artieda, Julio; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
Independent component analysis (ICA) is a novel technique that calculates independent components from mixed signals. A hypothetical clinical application is to remove artifacts in EEG. The goal of this study was to apply ICA to standard EEG recordings to eliminate well-known artifacts, thus quantifying its efficacy in an objective way. Eighty samples of recordings with spikes and evident artifacts of electrocardiogram (EKG), eye movements, 50-Hz interference, muscle, or electrode artifact were studied. ICA components were calculated using the Joint Approximate Diagonalization of Eigen-matrices (JADE) algorithm. The signal was reconstructed excluding those components related to the artifacts. A normalized correlation coefficient was used as a measure of the changes caused by the suppression of these components. ICA produced an evident clearing-up of signals in all the samples. The morphology and the topography of the spike were very similar before and after the removal of the artifacts. The correlation coefficient showed that the rest of the signal did not change significantly. Two examiners independently looked at the samples to identify the changes in the morphology and location of the discharge and the artifacts. In conclusion, ICA proved to be a useful tool to clean artifacts in short EEG samples, without having the disadvantages associated with the digital filters. The distortion of the interictal activity measured by correlation analysis was minimal.
Open Access
A masked least-squares smoothing procedure for artifact reduction in scanning-EMG recordings
(Springer, 2018) Corera Orzanco, Íñigo; Eciolaza Ferrando, Adrián; Rubio Zamora, Oliver; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Rodríguez Falces, Javier; Navallas Irujo, Javier; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
Scanning-EMG is an electrophysiological technique in which the electrical activity of the motor unit is recorded at multiple points along a corridor crossing the motor unit territory. Correct analysis of the scanning-EMG signal requires prior elimination of interference from nearby motor units. Although the traditional processing based on the median filtering is effective in removing such interference, it distorts the physiological waveform of the scanning-EMG signal. In this study, we describe a new scanning-EMG signal processing algorithm that preserves the physiological signal waveform while effectively removing interference from other motor units. To obtain a cleaned-up version of the scanning signal, the masked least-squares smoothing (MLSS) algorithm recalculates and replaces each sample value of the signal using a least-squares smoothing in the spatial dimension, taking into account the information of only those samples that are not contaminated with activity of other motor units. The performance of the new algorithm with simulated scanning-EMG signals is studied and compared with the performance of the median algorithm and tested with real scanning signals. Results show that the MLSS algorithm distorts the waveform of the scanning-EMG signal much less than the median algorithm (approximately 3.5 dB gain), being at the same time very effective at removing interference components.
Open Access
Modelling fibrillation potentials: analysis of time parameters in the muscle intracellular action potential
(IEEE, 2007) Rodríguez Falces, Javier; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Gila Useros, Luis; Rodríguez Carreño, Ignacio; Navallas Irujo, Javier; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa
A single fibre action potential (SFAP) can be modelled as the convolution of a biolectrical source and a filter impulse response. In the Dimitrov-Dimitrova (D-D) convolutional model, the first temporal derivative of the intracellular action potential (IAP) is used as the source, and T spl is a time parameter related to the duration of the IAP waveform. Our work is centred on the relation between Tspl and the main spike duration (MSD), defined as the time interval between the first and third phases of the SFAP. We show that Tspl essentially determines the MSD parameter. As experimental data, we used fibrillation potentials (FPs) of two different muscles to study the D-D model. We found that T spl should have a certain statistical variability in order to explain the variability in the MSD of our FPs. In addition, we present a method to estimate the T spl values corresponding to a given SFAP from its measured MSD.
Open Access
Algorithm for jitter measurement in neuromuscular junction disease
(Elsevier, 2025-10-01) Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Stashuk, Daniel W.; Valle, César; Rodríguez Falces, Javier; Navallas Irujo, Javier; De Carvalho, Mamede Alves; Castro, José; Garnés Camarena, Óscar; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoa eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritza; Institute of Smart Cities - ISC; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa; Gobierno de Navarra / Nafarroako Gobernua
The objective of this work was to extend the evaluation of a recently proposed method for estimating neuromuscular jitter within motor unit potential (MUP) trains extracted from muscles suffering neuromuscular junction disease. The method detects, within the MUP duration, “single-fiber” intervals that have likely been produced by single muscle fibers. Jitter is then estimated between pairs of these “single-fiber” intervals using an algorithm which incorporates the traditional mean consecutive difference (MCD) parameter. Electromyographic (EMG) recordings from facial muscles of 15 patients with symptoms related to myasthenia gravis were obtained. MUP trains were extracted using DQEMG software and manual jitter measures were obtained using an ad-hoc graphical interface, which emulates single fiber EMG protocols. Automatic measures for two different values of an internal threshold parameter were obtained and compared to manual measures. 5 %, 25 %, 75 % and 95 % percentiles for the differences between the automatic and manual jitter measurements were [− 3.74, − 1.47, 1.24, 3.47 μs] and [− 6.45, − 2.07, 1.65, 7.16 μs], for the two threshold values, respectively. Therefore, very small statistical and clinical differences were found between the automatic and manual jitter measures, supporting the method as an accurate tool for jitter assessment or as a guiding aid for manual procedures.
Open Access
Association of intrinsic capacity with respiratory disease mortality
(Elsevier, 2023) Ramírez Vélez, Robinson; Iriarte-Fernández, María; Santafé Rodrigo, Guzmán; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Beard, John R.; García Hermoso, Antonio; Izquierdo Redín, Mikel; Ciencias de la Salud; Estadística, Informática y Matemáticas; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Institute for Advanced Materials and Mathematics - INAMAT2; Osasun Zientziak; Estatistika, Informatika eta Matematika; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren
The World Health Organization (WHO) introduced a framework for healthy aging in 2015 that emphasizes functional ability instead of absence of disease. Healthy ageing is defined as “the process of building and maintaining the functional ability that enables well-being”. This framework considers an individual’s intrinsic capacity (IC), environment, and the interaction between them to determine functional ability. In this prospective cohort study, we investigated the link between mortality and various respiratory diseases in almost half a million adults who are part of the UK Biobank. We derived an IC score using measures from 4 of the 5 domains: two for psychological capacity, two for sensory capacity, two for vitality and one for locomotor capacity. The exposure variable in the study was the number of reported factors, which was summed and categorized into IC scores of zero, one, two, three, or at least four. The outcome was respiratory disease-related mortality, which was linked to national mortality records. The follow-up period started from participants’ inclusion in the UK Biobank study (2006–2010) and ended on December 31, 2021, or the participant’s death was censored. The average follow-up was 10.6 years (IQR 10.0; 11.3). During a median follow-up period of 10.6 years, 27,251 deaths were recorded. Out of these, 7.5% (2059) were primarily attributed to respiratory disease. The results showed that a higher IC score (+4 points) was associated with a significantly increased risk of respiratory disease mortality, with HRs of 3.34 [2.64 to 4.23] for men (C-index = 0.83) and 3.87 [2.86 to 5.23] for women (C-index = 0.84), independent of major confounding factors (P < 0.001). Our study provides evidence that lower levels of the WHO’s IC construct are associated with increased risk of mortality and various adverse health outcomes. The IC construct, which is easily and inexpensively measured, holds great promise for transforming geriatric care worldwide, including in regions without established geriatric medicine.
Open Access
Motor unit action potential duration, II: a new automatic measurement method based on the wavelet transform
(Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, 2007) Rodríguez Carreño, Ignacio; Gila Useros, Luis; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; García Gurtubay, Ignacio; Mallor Giménez, Fermín; Gómez Elvira, Sagrario; Rodríguez Falces, Javier; Navallas Irujo, Javier; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Estadística e Investigación Operativa; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa eta Elektronikoa; Estatistika eta Ikerketa Operatiboa
To present and evaluate a new algorithm, based on the wavelet transform, for the automatic measurement of motor unit action potential (MUAP) duration. A total of 240 MUAPs were studied. The waveform of each MUAP was wavelet-transformed, and the start and end points were estimated by regarding the maxima and minima points in a particular scale of the wavelet transform. The results of the new method were compared with the gold standard of duration marker positions obtained by manual measurement. The new method was also compared with a conventional algorithm, which we had found to be best in a previous comparative study. To evaluate the new method against manual measurements, the dispersion of automatic and manual duration markers were analyzed in a set of 19 repeatedly recorded MUAPs. The differences between the new algorithm’s marker positions and the gold standard of duration marker positions were smaller than those observed with the conventional method. The dispersion of the new algorithm’s marker positions was slightly less than that of the manual one. Our new method for automatic measurement of MUAP duration is more accurate than other available algorithms and more consistent than manual measurements.
Open Access
M-wave changes caused by brief voluntary and stimulated isometric contractions
(Springer, 2023) Rodríguez Falces, Javier; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Navallas Irujo, Javier; Place, Nicolas; Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y de Comunicación; Ingeniaritza Elektrikoa, Elektronikoaren eta Telekomunikazio Ingeniaritzaren; Universidad Pública de Navarra / Nafarroako Unibertsitate Publikoa
Introduction Under isometric conditions, the increase in muscle force is accompanied by a reduction in the fbers’ length. The efects of muscle shortening on the compound muscle action potential (M wave) have so far been investigated only by computer simulation. This study was undertaken to assess experimentally the M-wave changes caused by brief voluntary and stimulated isometric contractions. Methods Two diferent methods of inducing muscle shortening under isometric condition were adopted: (1) applying a brief (1 s) tetanic contraction and (2) performing brief voluntary contractions of diferent intensities. In both methods, supramaximal stimulation was applied to the brachial plexus and femoral nerves to evoke M waves. In the frst method, electrical stimulation (20 Hz) was delivered with the muscle at rest, whereas in the second, stimulation was applied while participants performed 5-s stepwise isometric contractions at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, and 100% MVC. The amplitude and duration of the frst and second M-wave phases were computed. Results The main fndings were: (1) on application of tetanic stimulation, the amplitude of the M-wave frst phase decreased (~10%, P<0.05), that of the second phase increased (~50%, P<0.05), and the M-wave duration decreased (~20%, P<0.05) across the frst fve M waves of the tetanic train and then plateaued for the subsequent responses; (2) when superimposing a single electrical stimulus on muscle contractions of increasing forces, the amplitude of the M-wave frst phase decreased (~20%, P<0.05), that of the second phase increased (~30%, P<0.05), and M-wave duration decreased (~30%, P<0.05) as force was raised from 0 to 60–70% MVC force. Conclusions The present results will help to identify the adjustments in the M-wave profle caused by muscle shortening and also contribute to diferentiate these adjustments from those caused by muscle fatigue and/or changes in Na+–K+ pump activity.
Open Access
Analysis of the relationship between the rise-time and the amplitude of single-fibre potentials in human muscles
(Elsevier, 2010-08-09) Rodríguez Falces, Javier; Navallas Irujo, Javier; Gila Useros, Luis; Rodríguez Carreño, Ignacio; Malanda Trigueros, Armando; Ingeniería Eléctrica y Electrónica; Ingeniaritza Elektriko eta Elektronikoa Saila
Using the core-conductor theory, a single fibre action potential (SFAP) can be expressed as the convolution of a biolectrical source and a weight function. In the Dimitrov¿Dimitrova (D¿D) SFAP convolutional model, the first temporal derivative of the intracellular action potential (IAP) is used as the source. The present work evaluates the relationship between the SFAP peak-to-peak amplitude (Vpp) and peak-topeak interval (rise-time, RT) at different fibre-to-electrode distances using simulated signals obtained by the D¿D model as well as real recordings. With a single fibre electrode, we recorded 63 sets of consecutive SFAPs from the m. tibialis anterior of four normal subjects. The needle was intentionally moved whilst recording each SFAP set. We used the observed changes in RT and Vpp within each SFAP set as a point of reference with which to evaluate how closely the relationship between RT and Vpp provided by the D¿D model reflects real data. We found that half of the recorded SFAP sets had rise-times higher than those generated by the D¿D model. We also showed the influence of the IAP spatial length on the sensitivity of RT and Vpp with radial distance. The study reveals some inaccuracies in simulated SFAPs whose origin might be related to the assumptions made in the core-conductor theory.