Method and apparatus for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex
First Claim
1. A method for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex comprising the steps of:
- measuring scalp potentials or magnetic fields of a subject by mounting a plurality of sensors on a head of the subject;
converting the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields into numerical data to obtain a dipolarity at each sampling;
obtaining mean values of squared errors, within a fixed time interval, between a scalp potential or a magnetic field by an equivalent dipole at a dipolarity peak emergence time and the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields, or variances of the squared errors from the mean values for the sensors; and
mapping a contour concerning a distribution of the mean values or the variances on a scalp or a brain surface corresponding thereto, as an output.
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Abstract
In a method and an apparatus for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex, scalp potentials or magnetic fields of a subject are measured by mounting a plurality of sensors on a head of the subject, the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields are converted into numerical data to obtain a dipolarity at each sampling, mean values of squared errors, within a fixed time interval, between a scalp potential or a magnetic field by an equivalent dipole at a dipolarity peak emergence time and the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields, or variances of the squared errors from the mean values are obtained for the sensors, and a contour concerning a distribution of the mean values or the variances on a scalp or a brain surface corresponding thereto is mapped as an output. Alternatively, the squares of potentials sensed by the sensors are averaged for several seconds, and variances of these mean values are obtained for numerous reference persons. The mean value and the standard deviation of the variances for a group of the reference persons are obtained, so that the variance of an individual subject is ranked depending on which area of the standard deviation of the group of the reference persons the variance is located. By allocating the values to a brain surface corresponding to the sensors, maps are prepared. By these maps, a local impairment degree of a neuronal function is indicated.
19 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex comprising the steps of:
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measuring scalp potentials or magnetic fields of a subject by mounting a plurality of sensors on a head of the subject;
converting the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields into numerical data to obtain a dipolarity at each sampling;
obtaining mean values of squared errors, within a fixed time interval, between a scalp potential or a magnetic field by an equivalent dipole at a dipolarity peak emergence time and the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields, or variances of the squared errors from the mean values for the sensors; and
mapping a contour concerning a distribution of the mean values or the variances on a scalp or a brain surface corresponding thereto, as an output. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 6, 7)
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4. A method for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex comprising the steps of:
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measuring scalp potentials or magnetic fields by a plurality of sensors mounted on heads of reference persons to be converted into numerical data;
obtaining squared mean values from the numerical data at the sensors for every short time interval within a designated measurement time;
obtaining a normalized standard deviation of the squared mean values within the designated measurement time;
obtaining the normalized standard deviations for a plurality of reference persons;
obtaining a mean value of the normalized standard deviations and an inter-reference person standard deviation for the mean value to be stored; and
determining a distance level of a normalized standard deviation similarly obtained for a subject from the normalized standard deviation mean value of the reference persons based on the inter-reference person standard deviation, made different between a positive side and a negative side of the normalized standard deviation mean value of the reference persons. - View Dependent Claims (5)
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8. An apparatus for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex comprising:
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a plurality of sensors mounted on a head of a subject for measuring scalp potentials or magnetic fields of the subject;
a computing unit for converting output signals of the sensors into numerical data to obtain a dipolarity at each sampling, for obtaining mean values of squared errors, within a fixed time interval, between a scalp potential or a magnetic field by an equivalent dipole at a dipolarity peak emergence time and the measured scalp potentials or magnetic fields or variances of the squared errors from the mean values for the sensors, and for mapping a contour concerning a distribution of the mean values or the variances on a scalp or a brain surface corresponding thereto; and
an output unit for outputting a contour map. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 13, 14)
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11. An apparatus for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex comprising:
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a plurality of sensors mounted on heads of reference persons or a subject for measuring scalp potentials or magnetic fields; and
a computing unit for converting the scalp potentials or magnetic fields of the reference persons into numerical data, for obtaining squared mean values from the numerical data at the sensors for every short time interval within a designated measurement time, for obtaining a normalized standard deviation of the squared mean values within the designated measurement time, for obtaining the normalized standard deviation for a plurality of reference persons, for obtaining a mean value of the normalized standard deviation and an inter-reference person standard deviation for the mean value to be stored, and for determining a distance level of a normalized standard deviation similarly obtained for a subject from the normalized standard deviation mean value of the reference persons based on the inter-reference person standard deviation, made different between a positive side and a negative side of the normalized standard deviation mean value of the reference persons. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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15. A computer program for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex, and making a computer execute the steps of:
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obtaining a dipolarity at each sampling based on numerical data of scalp potentials of a subject measured by mounting a plurality of sensors on a head of the subject;
obtaining mean values of squared errors, within a fixed time interval, between a scalp potential by an equivalent dipole at a dipolarity peak emergence time and the measured scalp potentials, or variances of the squared errors from the mean values for the sensors; and
mapping a contour concerning a distribution of the mean values or the variances on a scalp or a brain surface corresponding thereto, as an output. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 21)
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19. A computer program for measuring degree of neuronal impairment in brain cortex, and making a computer execute the steps of:
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measuring scalp potentials by a plurality of sensors mounted on heads of reference persons to be converted into numerical data;
obtaining squared mean values from the numerical data at the sensors for every short time interval within a designated measurement time;
obtaining a normalized standard deviation of the squared mean values within the designated measurement time;
obtaining the normalized standard deviation for a plurality of reference persons;
obtaining a mean value of the normalized standard deviations and an inter-reference person standard deviation for the mean value to be stored; and
determining a distance level of a normalized standard deviation similarly obtained for a subject from the normalized standard deviation mean value of the reference persons based on the inter-reference person standard deviation, made different between a positive side and a negative side of the normalized standard deviation mean value of the reference persons. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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Specification