Bio tribology of the patella femoral joint in total knee replacement

Total knee replacement remains the final treatment for patients suffering from knee arthritis and providing relief from pain and improvement in function. Despite the fact that the common reason for revisions of TKR is due to problems regarding patella femoral joint, the use of patella during TKA varies from country to country with popularity in USA (90%), Denmark (76%), Australia (43%), England and Wales (33%), Sweden (14%) and Norway (11%). Research was performed into the in vitro wear simulation of the patella femoral joint but to date none of these simulations have employed all six degrees of freedom. The aim of this study was to • develop a six axis patella femoral joint simulator for assessment of wear, •develop a computational model to predict the kinematics of the patella femoral joint and validate using experimental knee joint simulator results, • investigate the influence of kinematic parameters (patella rotation, displacement and tilt) and shape (round and oval dome patella) on the wear of the patella femoral joint, • validate and develop other volumetric measurement techniques, • validate the experimental wear results with the retrievals volumetric analysis. The six station Leeds Prosim knee simulator was modified as a patella femoral knee simulator for the wear assessment process. Good overall agreement between the computational prediction and the experimental measurement were obtained for patella femoral kinematics. Increasing the medial lateral rotation significantly increased the wear rate from 8.6 mm3/MC to 12.3 mm3/MC. Decreasing the medial lateral displacement led to a no significant change in the wear rate. Changing the shape from round dome to oval dome led to a non significant decrease in wear rate from 8.7 mm3/MC to 6.3 mm3/MC. Ten retrievals were analyzed for volumetric and surface wear. Wear volume per year for retrievals were obtained in range of 0.9 mm3/year to 18.7 mm3/year. The wear scar area was similar in shape with the in vitro analysis validating the wear analysis

Voltage Differencing Current Conveyor Based Voltage-Mode and Current-Mode Universal Biquad Filters with Electronic Tuning Facility

The objective of this study is to present four new universal biquad filters, two voltage-mode multi-input-single-output (MISO), and two current-mode single-input-multi-output (SIMO). The filters employ one voltage differencing current conveyor (VDCC) as an active element and two capacitors along with two resistors as passive elements. All the five filter responses, i.e., high-pass, low-pass, band-pass, band-stop, and all-pass responses, are obtained from the same circuit topology. Moreover, the pole frequency and quality factor are independently tunable. Additionally, they do not require any double/inverted input signals for response realization. Furthermore, they enjoy low active and passive sensitivities. Various regular analyses support the design ideas. The functionality of the presented filters are tested by PSPICE simulations using TSMC 0.18 µm technology parameters with ± 0.9 V supply voltage. The circuits are also justified experimentally by creating the VDCC block using commercially available OPA860 ICs. The experimental and simulation results agree well with the theoretically predicted results

In vivo measurement of skin surface strain and sub-surface layer deformation induced by natural tissue stretching.

Stratum corneum and epidermal layers change in terms of thickness and roughness with gender, age and anatomical site. Knowledge of the mechanical and tribological properties of skin associated with these structural changes are needed to aid in the design of exoskeletons, prostheses, orthotics, body mounted sensors used for kinematics measurements and in optimum use of wearable on-body devices. In this case study, optical coherence tomography (OCT) and digital image correlation (DIC) were combined to determine skin surface strain and sub-surface deformation behaviour of the volar forearm due to natural tissue stretching. The thickness of the epidermis together with geometry changes of the dermal-epidermal junction boundary were calculated during change in the arm angle, from flexion (90°) to full extension (180°). This posture change caused an increase in skin surface Lagrange strain, typically by 25% which induced considerable morphological changes in the upper skin layers evidenced by reduction of epidermal layer thickness (20%), flattening of the dermal-epidermal junction undulation (45-50% reduction of flatness being expressed as Ra and Rz roughness profile height change) and reduction of skin surface roughness Ra and Rz (40-50%). The newly developed method, DIC combined with OCT imaging, is a powerful, fast and non-invasive methodology to study structural skin changes in real time and the tissue response provoked by mechanical loading or stretching

The influence of malalignment and ageing following sterilisation by gamma irradiation in an inert atmosphere on the wear of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene in patellofemoral replacements

Complications of patellofemoral arthroplasty often occur soon after implantation and, as well as other factors, can be due to the design of the implant or its surgical positioning. A number of studies have previously considered the wear of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene patellae following suboptimal implantation; however, studies have primarily been carried out under a limited number of degrees of freedom. The aim of this study was to develop a protocol to assess the wear of patellae under a malaligned condition in a six-axis patellofemoral joint simulator. The malalignment protocol hindered the tracking of the patella centrally in the trochlear groove and imparted a constant 5 external rotation (tilt) on the patella button. Following 3 million cycles of wear simulation, this condition had no influence on the wear of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene patellae aged for 4 years compared to well-positioned non-aged implants (p . 0.05). However, under the malaligned condition, ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene patellae aged 8–10 years after unpacking (following sterilisation by gamma irradiation in an inert atmosphere) and worn ultra-high-molecularweight polyethylene components also aged 4 years after unpacking (following the same sterilisation process) exhibited a high rate of wear. Fatigue failure due to elevated contact stress led to delamination of the ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene and in some cases complete failure of the patellae. The results suggest that suboptimal tracking of the patella in the trochlear groove and tilt of the patella button could have a significant effect on the wear of ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene and could lead to implant failure

Raman spectroscopy: techniques and applications in the life sciences

Raman spectroscopy is an increasingly popular technique in many areas including biology and medicine. It is based on Raman scattering, a phenomenon in which incident photons lose or gain energy via interactions with vibrating molecules in a sample. These energy shifts can be used to obtain information regarding molecular composition of the sample with very high accuracy. Applications of Raman spectroscopy in the life sciences have included quantification of biomolecules, hyperspectral molecular imaging of cells and tissue, medical diagnosis, and others. This review briefly presents the physical origin of Raman scattering explaining the key classical and quantum mechanical concepts. Variations of the Raman effect will also be considered, including resonance, coherent, and enhanced Raman scattering. We discuss the molecular origins of prominent bands often found in the Raman spectra of biological samples. Finally, we examine several variations of Raman spectroscopy techniques in practice, looking at their applications, strengths, and challenges. This review is intended to be a starting resource for scientists new to Raman spectroscopy, providing theoretical background and practical examples as the foundation for further study and exploration

Improving the Wear Behavior of WC-CoCr-based HVOF Coating by Surface Grinding

WC-CoCr-based high velocity oxy fuel (HVOF) coatings are being used for several components which are prone to severe erosion or abrasion. In this study, the HVOF coating was applied by liquid fuel-based equipment. These coated samples were subjected to surface grinding of various depths (100, 200, and 300 mu m). Hardness test after surface grinding showed that the coating hardness increased by 33% after grinding to a depth of 200 mu m (1472 Hv). The residual stress after different depths of grinding was measured using x-ray diffraction. It showed that the compressive residual stress of coating increased with grinding. Increase in hardness of the coating (after grinding) is believed to be due to the increase in compressive residual stress. The abrasive wear resistance increased after grinding to a depth of 100 mu m thickness and remained constant during successive grinding. In contrast, the erosive wear resistance increased the most when the grinding thickness was 200 mu m. It is concluded that the surface grinding of coatings helps in increasing abrasive and erosive wear resistance. The increase in microhardness of the coating is believed to be the reason for high wear resistance. SEM studies of worn out surface show carbide grain pull out due to removal of softer phase, i.e. cobalt and chromium, and is followed by tungsten carbide grain pull out

Effect of adding WC powder to the feedstock of WC-Co-Cr based HVOF coating and its impact on erosion and abrasion resistance

HVOF grade powders are now commercially available and being used in large scale for different components prone to abrasion/erosion. The literature on HVOF coatings based on WC-Co powder shows that there is a huge difference in hardness between the pure WC powder and WC-Co based HVOF coatings. The objective of this study was to improve the hardness of WC based HVOF coatings by adding pure WC powder to the commercially available powder. The hardness data shows that 20% addition of WC powder will improve the hardness of HVOF coating from 1106 to 1395 Hv(0.3). Hardness increase is due to the embedding of tungsten carbide hard metal matrix. This HVOF coated sample was tested for dry sand abrasion and slurry erosion as per ASTM standards. These tests show that abrasion and erosion resistance of HVOF coated samples goes down with the addition of tungsten carbide powder even though coating hardness has gone up. To understand the negative trend, porosity and SEM studies were carried out. SEM studies show that the porosity of the HVOF coating is higher than the conventional HVOF coating. With increase in WC content (30%), the porosity of the HVOF coating increased up to 10%. The higher porosity is believed to be the reason for poor abrasion and slurry erosion resistance. (C) 200