One of the therapies used for the momma’s papa after his stroke is called functional electrical stimulation. It was used to “exercise” the muscles of facial expression on the left side of his face.

French neurologist, Guillaume Duchenne, most notably credited for the discovery of the hereditary muscular dystrophy – Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy, used electrical stimulation on live subjects to study facial expressions. He discovered that genuine smiles from true happiness are formed by muscles of the mouth and muscles of the cheeks and eyes, forming crow’s feet, hence the term “Duchenne smile”.

Duchenne stimulating muscles of facial expression with electricity.

Plate from Mécanisme de la Physionomie Humaine (1862) demonstrates various expressions from Duchenne's electrical stimulation studies.

At any rate, the momma’s papa has been walking a bit each day now. When he makes it out the door of his inpatient rehab, he will be going home! Hopefully that will happen in the next few weeks!

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The ten most popular posts this year: (drum roll……)

1. Healthy for humans, deadly for dogs - We’re so happy that this is number one. We hope that it has prevented many accidental poisonings. A worthwhile read because some of the foods are surprising…and commonly within reach of many dogs.
2. 13 cribbage boards from the momma’s collection
3. CPAP, CPAP run - about sleep apnea
4. My top three dog toys - the most fun ever!
5. The Audiocity of it All! - a list of free audio applications for the Mac
6. NBC Heroes/USA The 4400 - the comments relayed both good and bad news
7. My 11 favorite activities…doggie style - you wouldn’t believe the search terms that led to this post!
8. Tapetum Lucidum - eye shine
9. Feelin’ Groovy - me in agility class…you may as well bypass this if you watched the video in number 7 above.
10. The momma’s 13 favorite computer games

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Here is a little science lesson for you. This photo is a good example of my tapeta lucida (plural for tapetum lucidum).

The tapeta lucida are made up of reflective layers in the backs of my eyes which are causing the “eye-shine”. It is an adaptation in many species of animals which (that or who?) need to be able to see in very dim light conditions

If you want a great big science lesson there is a review article entitled “Comparative morphology of the tapetum lucidum (among selected species)” by FJ Ollivier, et al. in Veterinary Ophthalmology 7(1), 11-22. It is a free full text article available through Blackwell Synergy. I wonder how many of you will read it. There are some nice photos in it

Well, I am getting sleepy and I do not want to inadvertently type something embarrassing because of my sleepiness (and no, I am not sleepy from reading that article!)

Take care and until next time……..

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