Journal of Biomimetics, Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering Vol. 45

Abstract: It is known that the deformities that affect the lower limbs are multiple in terms of location and severity of the injury. These deformities are treated with the use of orthosis, which varies depending on the type of deformity and the area of ​​injury. The principle on which the orthosis depends on the treatment of deformities is applying three-point pressures. These pressures are applied during the manufacturing process of the orthosis but with the time when the deformation response to treatment by corrected forces these mean the value and location of these corrective forces will change and this requires the manufacturing of a new orthosis. This requires costs in money and time to re-correct these forces. In this study, a force correction system was suggested that could change the value and location of corrective forces without need to manufacture a new orthosis and within a few minutes by placing an air chamber on the side of the orthosis. When increasing or withdrawing the amount of air inside the air chamber, the magnitudes of corrected force change according to the required value, this process providing comfort to the patient and reducing the effort of the professional staff supervisor (orthotist) to correct the deformity. The result showed that a method of correction forces applied by using the air chamber to correct deformities was successful when applied to a patient with varus foot deformity where the pressure generated from the air chamber on the leg was measured by using the F-Socket devise at the lateral side recorded a higher interface pressure (140Kpa) than the others sides due to pump the air to push the ankle joint for correction deformity without needing to manufacture of a new orthosis to change the values of correction forces thus reducing the cost and time to treat deformity, also the result showed improvement of the gait cycle, the value of ground reaction force on the body and footprint of the patient when comparing the results before and after the use of the orthosis by the patient.

Abstract: In this study, a sensor system was designed and manufactured to measure the interface pressure between the limbs and the orthosis or between the stump and the socket prosthesis. It is also used to determine the value and location of corrective forces when using orthosis to correct deformities in the limbs or spine. The sensor system consists of a force sensor mat (43.69 x 43.69 mm), Arduino, LCD monitor, and connecting cables. When comparing the device manufactured in this study with other devices, this device is characterized as lightweight, easy to move, low cost and gives instant pressure on the LCD screen. In this study, the interventional pressure measurement system was manufactured and programmed and compared to the F-Socket measurement system. The practical part was tested on a patient suffering from med-lateral instability in the ankle joint at the right leg. The interventional pressure between the leg and orthosis was measured in two ways at the regions (posterior, lateral, medial) .the first method using the pressure measurement system manufactured in this study and the second method by using the F-Socket device. The test results showed that the values ​​of pressure readings using the manufactured system are close to the values ​​of pressure readings obtained when using the F-Socket device. This indicates that the accuracy of the readings of the manufactured system and can be used for research purposes as well as in the process of placing pads in the appropriate place within the orthosis to correct the deformity or help to provide valuable information on the manufacturing, modification and fitting of prosthetic sockets. despite its simple structure and low cost as compared with F-Socket devise.

Abstract: The Solid Ankle Cushioned Heel (SACH) foot is a commonly prescribed prosthetic foot for the rehabilitation of lower limb amputees. From the viewpoint of its biomechanical performance, the foot is known to cause drop-off effect and asymmetry in amputee gait. Therefore, the objective of this work is to improvise the effective foot length ratio (EFLR) and the progression of the centre of pressure (CoP) of the SACH foot by providing a novel design approach that utilizes finite element analysis. Boundary conditions employed for evaluating the roll-over characteristics of prosthetic feet were numerically incorporated in this work. The non-linear mechanical behavior of the foot was included with the incorporation of large deformation, a hyperelastic material model and the Augmented Lagrangian contact formulation. Outcomes from the simulations were experimentally verified using an inverted pendulum-like apparatus, thereby substantiating the numerical approach. The design process of the SACH foot involved the modification of the elastic modulus of its components for enhancing the parameters of interest. Results obtained presented a 5.07% increase in the EFLR and a 9.29% increase in the anteroposterior progression of the CoP, which may improve amputee stability. The design solution presented may support the large user base of the SACH foot towards achieving enhanced gait characteristics during ambulation. Moreover, this work successfully demonstrates a novel design procedure for a prosthetic foot through an effective numerical implementation.

Abstract: Running is one of the most accessible physical activities and long-distance running has attracted extensive attention in the past several years. While the incidence of running injuries, especially to the lower extremities, has increased. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in ground reaction forces (GRF) and kinematic param between long-distance runners before and after long-distance running on treadmill (TM), asphalt road (AR), and plastic track (PT). Eight-camera Vicon motion analysis system was used to measure the hip, knee and ankle motion param of 10 healthy male subjects at a speed of 2.8 ± 0.2m/s. The hip, knee and ankle kinematics and the relationship of joint angles of lower limbs in the sagittal plane, coronal plane and transversal plane were analyzed. Ground reaction force (GRF) was collected using an AMTI force platform. The results showed that there were no significant differences in GRF and average loading rate (VALR). There was no significant difference in the range of motion (ROM) of ankle and hip after long-distance running on three surfaces compared to pre-test. Compared with stance-period of pre-test, the stance-period of AR and PT were significantly longer. Post hoc analyses exhibited the stance-period of AR and PT were longer than TM. In conclusion, runners can adjust different joints angles to maintain a similar GRF during long-distance running on different sports surfaces.

Abstract: Bacterial cellulose and chitosan have been widely developed for biomaterial applications, one of which is used as a dura mater artificial. In designing dura mater artificial, there are several criteria that must be met, one of which is mechanical that can be seen through tensile strength and elongation value. In previous study, the mechanical properties of biocomposite bacterial cellulose-chitosan still too rigid and did not meet the standard. This research was conducted to determine the effect of the addition of glycerol concentration to the physical and biological of bacterial cellulose-chitosan membrane. Bacterial cellulose membranes with the addition of glycerol concentration of 0%; 0,25%; 0,5% and 0,75% were dried with oven and immersed for 6 hours in 0.5% chitosan solution. Characterization was performed by functional group, morphology, tensile strength, swelling, degradation and cytotoxicity test. Based on the results, it can conclude that biocomposite bacterial cellulose-chitosan-glycerol showed suitable characteristics as a dura mater artificial.

Abstract: Bovine bone is a considerable source for the production of hydroxyapatite. The recent study reported a novel method to extract hydroxyapatite from bovine bone without producing hazardous residue. The bovine bones were cut and boiled in the opened chamber followed by boiling in pressurized tank. The bones were then soaked into 95% ethanol. Calcination was then conducted in 800°C, 900°C and 1,000°C, for 2 hours. The result was then grinded and sieved. The powder then was characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) to measure the purity of hydroxyapatite. It is concluded that the hydroxyapatite derived from this process showed 100% purity, resulting 35.34 ± 0.39% w/w from the wet bone weight and 72.3% w/w from the dried weight. The present extraction method has been proven to yield high amount of pure hydroxyapatite as well as reducing the use of hazardous reagent.

Abstract: Though India being home of one out of every six people in the globe, is facing an arduous task of providing healthcare service, especially to the large number of patients in remote areas due to lack of diagnosis support systems and doctors. It is reported that hospitals in rural areas have an insufficient radiologist due to which thousands of cases are usually handled by single doctor. In this context, we aim to develop an AI based computer-aided diagnosis tool, which can classify abnormalities by reading chest X-ray so that it could assist the doctors in arriving at quick diagnosis. We have employed a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) designed by Google known as XceptionNet to detect those pathologies in ChestX-ray14 data. Further, same data is being used for executing other CNN- ResNet. Finally, both the results obtained are compared to assess the superior CNN model for X-ray level diagnosis.