A comparative study of feature extraction and blind source separation of independent component analysis (ICA) on childhood brain tumour 1H magnetic resonance spectra

Independent component analysis (ICA) has the potential of determining automatically the metabolite signals which make up MR spectra. However, the realiability with which this is accomplished and the optimal approach for investigating in vivo MRS have not been determined. Furthermore, the properties of ICA in brain tumour MRS with respect to dataset size and data quality have not been systematically explored. The two common techniques for applying ICA, blind source separation (BSS) and feature extraction (FE) were examined in this study using simulated data and the findings confirmed on patient data. Short echo time (TE 30 ms), low and high field (1.5 and 3 T) in vivo brain tumour MR spectra of childhood astrocytoma, ependymoma and medulloblastoma were generated by using a quantum mechanical simulator with ten metabolite and lipid components. Patient data (TE 30 ms, 1.5 T) were acquired from children with brain tumours. ICA of simulated data shows that individual metabolite components can be extracted from a set of MRS data. The BSS method generates independent components with a closer correlation to the original metabolite and lipid components than the FE method when the number of spectra in the dataset is small. The experiments also show that stable results are achieved with 300 MRS at an SNR equal to 10. The FE method is relatively insensitive to different ranges of full width at half maximum (FWHM) (from 0 to 3 Hz), whereas the BSS method degrades on increasing the range of FWHM. The peak frequency variations do not affect the results within the range of ±0.08 ppm for the FE method, and ±0.05 ppm for the BSS method. When the methods were applied to the patient dataset, results consistent with the synthesized experiments were obtained. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Noise reduction in magnetocardiography by singular value decomposition and independent component analysis

In the routine recording of magnetocardiograms (MCGs), it is necessary to underline the problem of noise cancellation. Source separation has often been suggested to solve this problem. In this paper, blind source separation (BSS), by means of singular value decomposition (SVD) and independent component analysis (ICA), was used for noise reduction in MCG data to improve the signal to noise ratio. Special techniques, based on statistical parameters, for identifying noise and disturbances, have been introduced to automatically eliminate noise-related and disturbance-related components before reconstructing cleaned data sets. The results show that ICA and SVD can detect and remove a variety of noise and artefact sources from MCG data, as well as from stress MCG.     

独立分量分析及其在脑电信号预处理中的应用

作为盲源分离（blind source separation,BSS)的一种新的方法。独立分量分析（independent component analysis,ICA)受到国内外信息处理领域科技工作者的广泛关注,本文简要介绍了独立分量分析的基本思想及算法。并将独立分量分析用于脑电信号的预处理中,成功的分离出脑电信号中的心电干扰。     

基于独立分量分析的脑电噪声消除

作为一种新的多元统计处理方法，独立分量分析(ICA)是解决盲源分离(BSS)问题的一个有效手段。在简要分析ICA理论及其算法的基础上，提出将其应用到脑电中的眼电伪迹的去除任务。实际采集的生理信号大多由相互独立的成分线性迭加而成，符合ICA要求源信号统计独立的基本假设。与传统方法相比，ICA这种空间滤波器不受信号频谱混迭的限制，消噪的同时能对有用信号的细节成分做到很好的保留，很大程度上弥补了时频域方法的不足。此外解混矩阵的逆可以用来反映独立源的空间分布模式，具有重要的生理意义。     

Stable Scalp EEG Spatiospectral Patterns Across Paradigms Estimated by Group ICA

Electroencephalography (EEG) oscillations reflect the superposition of different cortical sources with potentially different frequencies. Various blind source separation (BSS) approaches have been developed and implemented in order to decompose these oscillations, and a subset of approaches have been developed for decomposition of multi-subject data. Group independent component analysis (Group ICA) is one such approach, revealing spatiospectral maps at the group level with distinct frequency and spatial characteristics. The reproducibility of these distinct maps across subjects and paradigms is relatively unexplored domain, and the topic of the present study. To address this, we conducted separate group ICA decompositions of EEG spatiospectral patterns on data collected during three different paradigms or tasks (resting-state, semantic decision task and visual oddball task). K-means clustering analysis of back-reconstructed individual subject maps demonstrates that fourteen different independent spatiospectral maps are present across the different paradigms/tasks, i.e. they are generally stable.     

独立分量分析在脑电信号处理中的应用及研究进展

独立分量分析(independent component analysis,ICA)方法是从一组观测信号中提取统计独立分量的方法.因为用这种方法分解出的各信号分量之间是相互独立的,而测得的脑电信号往往包含若干相对独立的成分,所以用它来分解脑电信号,所得的结果更具有生理意义,有利于去除干扰和伪差.本文简要地回顾了ICA的发展历史和主要算法,综述了它在脑电信号处理中的应用及研究进展,并指出了需要进一步研究解决的问题.     

多导同步心电的独立成份分析

独立成份分析是伴随盲信号分离问题而发展起来的一项新的统计信号处理技术。本文介绍了独立成份分析的基本理论和算法，仿真实验证明了独立成份分析提取独立信号的能力，最后用独立成份分析技术分析了实际的四导联同步心电信号。结果表明独立成份分析可以提取多导联同步心电中的成份甚至是微弱的掩埋在背景中的成份。     

Tracking and detection of epileptiform activity in multichannel ictal EEG using signal subspace correlation of seizure source scalp topographies

Conventional methods for monitoring clinical (epileptiform) multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG) signals often involve morphological, spectral or time-frequency analysis on individual channels to determine waveform features for detecting and classifying ictal events (seizures) and inter-ictal spikes. Blind source separation (BSS) methods, such as independent component analysis (ICA), are increasingly being used in biomedical signal processing and EEG analysis for extracting a set of underlying source waveforms and sensor projections from multivariate time-series data, some of which reflect clinically relevant neurophysiological (epileptiform) activity. The work presents an alternative spatial approach to source tracking and detection in multichannel EEG that exploits prior knowledge of the spatial topographies of the sensor projections associated with the target sources. The target source sensor projections are obtained by ICA decomposition of data segments containing representative examples of target source activity, e.g. a seizure or ocular artifact. Source tracking and detection are then based on the subspace correlation between individual target sensor projections and the signal subspace over a moving window. Different window lengths and subspace correlation threshold criteria reflect transient or sustained target source activity. To study the behaviour and potential application of this spatial source tracking and detection approach, the method was used to detect (transient) ocular artifacts and (sustained) seizure activity in two segments of 25-channel EEG data recorded from one epilepsy patient on two separate occasions, with promising and intuitive results.     

Tracking and detection of epileptiform activity in multichannel ictal EEG using signal subspace correlation of seizure source scalp topographies

Conventional methods for monitoring clinical (epileptiform) multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG) signals often involve morphological, spectral or time-frequency analysis on individual channels to determine waveform features for detecting and classifying ictal events (seizures) and inter-ictal spikes. Blind source separation (BSS) methods, such as independent component analysis (ICA), are increasingly being used in biomedical signal processing and EEG analysis for extracting a set of underlying source waveforms and sensor projections from multivariate time-series data, some of which reflect clinically relevant neurophysiological (epileptiform) activity. The work presents an alternative spatial approach to source tracking and detection in multichannel EEG that exploits prior knowledge of the spatial topographies of the sensor projections associated with the target sources. The target source sensor projections are obtained by ICA decomposition of data segments containing representative examples of target source activity, e.g. a seizure or ocular artifact. Source tracking and detection are then based on the subspace correlation between individual target sensor projections and the signal subspace over a moving window. Different window lengths and subspace correlation threshold criteria reflect transient or sustained target source activity. To study the behaviour and potential application of this spatial source tracking and detection approach, the method was used to detect (transient) ocular artifacts and (sustained) seizure activity in two segments of 25-channel EEG data recorded from one epilepsy patient on two separate occasions, with promising and intuitive results.     

Automatic removal of eye movement and blink artifacts from EEG data using blind component separation

Signals from eye movements and blinks can be orders of magnitude larger than brain-generated electrical potentials and are one of the main sources of artifacts in electroencephalographic (EEG) data. Rejecting contaminated trials causes substantial data loss, and restricting eye movements/blinks limits the experimental designs possible and may impact the cognitive processes under investigation. This article presents a method based on blind source separation (BSS) for automatic removal of electroocular artifacts from EEG data. BBS is a signal-processing methodology that includes independent component analysis (ICA). In contrast to previously explored ICA-based methods for artifact removal, this method is automated. Moreover, the BSS algorithm described herein can isolate correlated electroocular components with a high degree of accuracy. Although the focus is on eliminating ocular artifacts in EEG data, the approach can be extended to other sources of EEG contamination such as cardiac signals, environmental noise, and electrode drift, and adapted for use with magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data, a magnetic correlate of EEG.     

Spatiospectral Decomposition of Multi-subject EEG: Evaluating Blind Source Separation Algorithms on Real and Realistic Simulated Data

Electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations predominantly appear with periods between 1 s (1 Hz) and 20 ms (50 Hz), and are subdivided into distinct frequency bands which appear to correspond to distinct cognitive processes. A variety of blind source separation (BSS) approaches have been developed and implemented within the past few decades, providing an improved isolation of these distinct processes. Within the present study, we demonstrate the feasibility of multi-subject BSS for deriving distinct EEG spatiospectral maps. Multi-subject spatiospectral EEG decompositions were implemented using the EEGIFT toolbox (http://mialab.mrn.org/software/eegift/) with real and realistic simulated datasets (the simulation code is available at http://mialab.mrn.org/software/simeeg). Twelve different decomposition algorithms were evaluated. Within the simulated data, WASOBI and COMBI appeared to be the best performing algorithms, as they decomposed the four sources across a range of component numbers and noise levels. RADICAL ICA, ERBM, INFOMAX ICA, ICA EBM, FAST ICA, and JADE OPAC decomposed a subset of sources within a smaller range of component numbers and noise levels. INFOMAX ICA, FAST ICA, WASOBI, and COMBI generated the largest number of stable sources within the real dataset and provided partially distinct views of underlying spatiospectral maps. We recommend the multi-subject BSS approach and the selected algorithms for further studies examining distinct spatiospectral networks within healthy and clinical populations.     

Detection and Separation of Event-related Potentials from Multi-Artifacts Contaminated EEG by Means of Independent Component Analysis

Event-related potentials (ERP) is an important type of brain dynamics in human cognition research. However, ERP is often submerged by the spontaneous brain activity EEG, for its relatively tiny scale. Further more, the brain activities collected from scalp electrodes are often inevitably contaminated by several kinds of artifacts, such as blinks, eye movements, muscle noise and power line interference. A new approach to correct these disturbances is presented using independent component analysis (ICA). This technique can effectively detect and extract ERP components from the measured electrodes recordings even if they are heavily contaminated. The results compare favorably to those obtained by parametric modeling. Besides, auto--adaptive projection of decomposed results to ERP components was also given. Through experiments, ICA proves to be highly capable of ERP extraction and S/N ratio improving.     

基于独立分量分析算法研究儿童癫痫脑电的混沌动力学特征

首先采用独立分量分析(Independent component analysis,ICA)算法,将儿童癫痫信号从复杂的背景脑电(Electroencephalogram,EEG)中分离出来;然后采用了一维时间序列相空间重构技术和混沌的定量判据,对分离出来的独立分量信号进行了分析与计算.通过对生理和癫痫状态下独立分量信号的相图、功率谱、关联维数和Lyapunov指数的对比研究,得出如下结论:(1)EEG独立分量的相图、功率谱、关联维数和Lyapunov指数反映了大脑的总体动态特征,它们可作为一种定量指标衡量大脑的健康状态;(2)在正常的生理状态下EEG是混沌的,而在癫痫状态下则趋于有序。     

A fully automatic ocular artifact suppression from EEG data using higher order statistics: Improved performance by wavelet analysis

Contamination of electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings with different kinds of artifacts is the main obstacle to the analysis of EEG data. Independent component analysis (ICA) is now a widely accepted tool for detection of artifacts in EEG data. One major challenge to artifact removal using ICA is the identification of the artifactual components. Although several strategies were proposed for automatically detecting the artifactual component during past several years, there is still little consensus on the criteria for automatic rejection of undesired components. In this paper we present a new identification procedure based on an efficient combination of independent component analysis (ICA), mutual information, and wavelet analysis for fully automatic ocular artifact suppression. The method does not require any offline training or determining the threshold levels for different markers. The results show that the proposed method could significantly enhance the ocular artifact detection and suppression. The results on 3105 4-s EEG epochs indicate that the artifact components can be identified with an accuracy of 97.8%, a sensitivity of 96.9%, and a specificity of 98.6%.     

Evaluating the efficacy of fully automated approaches for the selection of eyeblink ICA components

Independent component analysis (ICA) offers a powerful approach for the isolation and removal of eyeblink artifacts from EEG signals. Manual identification of the eyeblink ICA component by inspection of scalp map projections, however, is prone to error, particularly when nonartifactual components exhibit topographic distributions similar to the blink. The aim of the present investigation was to determine the extent to which automated approaches for selecting eyeblink‐related ICA components could be utilized to replace manual selection. We evaluated popular blink selection methods relying on spatial features (EyeCatch), combined stereotypical spatial and temporal features (ADJUST), and a novel method relying on time series features alone (icablinkmetrics) using both simulated and real EEG data. The results of this investigation suggest that all three methods of automatic component selection are able to accurately identify eyeblink‐related ICA components at or above the level of trained human observers. However, icablinkmetrics, in particular, appears to provide an effective means of automating ICA artifact rejection while at the same time eliminating human errors inevitable during manual component selection and false positive component identifications common in other automated approaches. Based upon these findings, best practices for (a) identifying artifactual components via automated means, and (b) reducing the accidental removal of signal‐related ICA components are discussed.     

基于带参考信号的ICA算法的脑电信号眨眼伪差的分离研究

独立分量分析（ICA）是一种从混合信号中提取统计独立的分量的一种方法.本研究提出了一种基于带参考信号的ICA算法的脑电信号眨眼伪差的分离方法,可以得到纯净的脑电信号.这个方法的主要思路是：先选取一导眨眼伪差比较明显的数据,从中获得眨眼伪差的参考信号,再用ICA方法把眨眼伪差第一个提取出来,最后得到消除伪差后的EEG信号.详细讨论了使用带参考信号的ICA算法消除眨眼伪差的方法与步骤,并给出了应用于真实信号的实验结果.     

Spatial filters based on independent component analysis for magnetic noise reduction in the magnetocardiogram

A spatial filter design method to reduce magnetic noise in the magnetocardiogram (MCG) is introduced. Based on the facts that external magnetic noise appearing on multichannel MCG sensors is independent of the cardiac signals and that there is strong spatial correlation among the channels, the independent component analysis (ICA) method was applied to extract the noise components from the measured MCG signals. After extraction of the noise components in a given time period using ICA, a spatial filter was made to reduce the noise components in subsequently acquired MCG signals. In experimental studies of nine healthy volunteers, the spatial filters improved the signal-to-noise ratio of the MCG signals by about 500% on average. This spatial filtering method can be used for measurements of MCG signals in a magnetically noisy environment.     

Variability of ICA decomposition may impact EEG signals when used to remove eyeblink artifacts

Despite the growing use of independent component analysis (ICA) algorithms for isolating and removing eyeblink‐related activity from EEG data, we have limited understanding of how variability associated with ICA uncertainty may be influencing the reconstructed EEG signal after removing the eyeblink artifact components. To characterize the magnitude of this ICA uncertainty and to understand the extent to which it may influence findings within ERP and EEG investigations, ICA decompositions of EEG data from 32 college‐aged young adults were repeated 30 times for three popular ICA algorithms. Following each decomposition, eyeblink components were identified and removed. The remaining components were back‐projected, and the resulting clean EEG data were further used to analyze ERPs. Findings revealed that ICA uncertainty results in variation in P3 amplitude as well as variation across all EEG sampling points, but differs across ICA algorithms as a function of the spatial location of the EEG channel. This investigation highlights the potential of ICA uncertainty to introduce additional sources of variance when the data are back‐projected without artifact components. Careful selection of ICA algorithms and parameters can reduce the extent to which ICA uncertainty may introduce an additional source of variance within ERP/EEG studies.     

基于EMD-ICA的心冲击信号降噪研究

心冲击信号(BCG)是反映心脏机械运动的生理信号,能实现无电极束缚条件下的连续采集测量。但BCG信号微弱,易受干扰,测量时经常会淹没在噪声中。为了消除噪声,有效识别BCG信号特征,提出一种基于经验模态分解(EMD)联合独立分量分析的BCG信号降噪方法。首先,将含噪BCG信号进行EMD分解,获得一系列按频率从高到低的固有模态分量(IMF),采用模态相关准则进行信号层与噪声层的判定;其次,将分界之上的IMF分量构建虚拟噪声通道,基于ICA算法对原始BCG信号进行盲源分离,从而得到降噪后的BCG信号。采集10名健康受试者的BCG信号进行降噪处理。量化评价结果表明,与小波方法和EMD方法相比,降噪后信噪比均显著提高(小波方法11.01±1.58,EMD方法5.19±1.29,所提出方法14.87±3.04,P<0.05),能量百分比也均显著提高(小波方法88.81%±2.81%,EMD方法96.15%±2.96%,所提出方法96.64%±2.92%,P<0.05),从而证明所提出方法降噪效果明显,能够有效还原BCG信号特征。     

独立分量分析及其在生物医学工程中的应用

:独立分量分析 ( Independent Component Analysis,简记 ICA)是信号分解技术的新发展。ICA与 PCA(主分量分析 )或 SVD(奇异值分解 )的主要不同是 :后者分解得的各分量只是互不相关 ,而前者则要求各分量相互统计独立。体表测量得的信号往往包含若干相对独立的成分 ,因此采用ICA技术来分解 ,所得结果往往更有生理意义 ,有利于去除干扰和伪迹。本文简短地回顾 ICA的基本原理、判据、算法和其在生物医学工程中的应用 ,并作出展望及指出存在问题。