IERC talk: “Quantitative analysis of surface electromyography during upper limb movement in Huntington’s disease”

“Huntington’s disease (HD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease with a triad of motor, cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. It can be accurately diagnosed with a genetic test but there is no cure or treatment that stops the course of the disease. While the characteristics of motor symptoms of HD are well-documented in clinical evaluations, the associated underlying muscle and motor unit activity remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to examine sEMG features in individuals with HD during wrist flexion-extension and forearm pronation-supination and a fine motor control task. Data were compared with sEMG data recorded from age- and sex-matched control participants in order to identify characteristics and changes in sEMG activity in HD. The results demonstrate the presence of reduced grip force, with evidence of reduced coordination, abnormalities in motor control and altered muscle activation in manifest HD.” If any students, fellows or PIs would like to present their electrophysiology (EEG, TMS, TES, EMG) work at future meetings, we are really eager to keep up awareness across the groups of what work is happening to inspire collaborations and to employ our collective experience and knowledge to problem solve and improve experimental design and analysis pipelines. Please don't hesitate to get in touch!