• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.3 s.180
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• pp.195-202
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• 2006

The degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis (DLSS) is a disease inducing low back pain, leg pain, convulsion. numbness, and neurogenic claudication from compression of nerve root. Intervertebra fixation was reported to increase the degeneration of neighbor lesion after treatment. Recently, a new surgical technique of inserting a fixator between interspinous processes has been introduced. The purpose of this study is to design the interspinous process fixator with flexibility to complement the trouble of using fixator in DLSS. This study evaluated the existing fixator through the mechanical test and modified it using the finite element analysis (FEA). The evaluation was based on the displacement, stiffness and von-Mises stress obtained from the mechanical test and calculated from the FEA in the biomechanical loading condition. Effects of variation in length and thickness were investigated to design an optimal fixator. Three prototypes were manufactured using FEA results. Mechanical tests under the biomechanical loading condition were performed to select the best one from these three. The selected fixator increased flexiblity by 32.9%.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.377-386
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• 2015

Joint force/torque estimation by inverse dynamics is a traditional tool in biomechanical studies. Conventionally for this, kinematic data of human body is obtained by motion capture cameras, of which the bulkiness and occlusion problem make it hard to capture a broad range of movement. As an alternative, inertial motion sensing using cheap and small inertial sensors has been studied recently. In this research, the performance of inertial motion sensing especially to calculate inverse dynamics is studied. Kinematic data from inertial motion sensors is used to calculate ground reaction force (GRF), which is compared to the force plate readings (ground truth) and additionally to the estimation result from optical method. The GRF estimation result showed high correlation and low normalized RMSE(R=0.93, normalized RMSE<0.02 of body weight), which performed even better than conventional optical method. This result guarantees enough accuracy of inertial motion sensing to be used in inverse dynamics analysis.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2008

The artificial discs have recently used to preserve the motion of the treated segment in lumbar spine surgery. However, there have been lack of biomechanical information of the artificial discs to explain current clinical controversies such as long-term results of implant wear and excessive facet contact forces. In this study, we investigated the biomechanical effects of three artificial implants on the lumbar spinal segments by finite element analysis. The finite element model of intact lumbar spine(L1-S) was developed and the three implants were inserted in L4-L5 segment of the spine model. 5 Nm of flexion and extension moments were applied on the superior plate of L1 with 400 N of compressive load. Excessive motions and high facet contact forces at the surgical level were generated in the all three implanted models. In the flexion, the peak von-Mises stresses in the semi-constrained type implant was higher than those in the un-constrained type implant which would cause wear on the polyethylene core. The results of the study would provide a biomechanical guideline for selecting optimal surgical approach or evaluating the current design of the implants, or developing a new implant.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.27-30
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• 2020

Osborne-Cotterill lesion is an osteochondral fracture located in the posterolateral margin of the humeral capitellum, which may be associated with a defect of the radial head after an elbow dislocation. This lesion causes instability by affecting the lateral ulnar collateral ligament over its capitellar insertion, which is associated with a residual capsular laxity, thereby leading to poor coverage of the radial head, and hence resulting in frequent dislocations. We present a 54-year-old patient, a physician who underwent trauma of the left elbow after falling from a bike and suffered a posterior dislocation fracture of the elbow. The patient subsequently presented episodes of instability, and additional work-up studies diagnosed the occurrence of Osborne-Cotterill lesion. An open reduction and internal fixation of the bony lesion was performed, with reinsertion of the lateral ligamentous complex. Three months after surgery, the patient was asymptomatic, having a flexion of 130° and extension of 0°, and resumed his daily activities without any limitation. Currently, the patient remains asymptomatic 2 years after the procedure. Elbow instability includes a large spectrum of pathological conditions that affect the biomechanics of the joint. The Osborne-Cotterill lesion is one among these conditions. It is a pathology that is often forgotten and easily overlooked. Undoubtedly, this lesion requires surgical intervention.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.185-189
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• 2012

While there is no standards on slip risk for contaminants on surface, glycerol is described in standard contaminant for measuring coefficient of friction(COF) and slip resistance such as ISO 13287. But that is just used to measure the slip resistance of surface materials and shoes not to evaluate the contaminant materials. Therefore the objective of this study was to find out the relationship between standard contaminant and the contaminants used usually at the workplaces. For this, some measurement criteria were acquired from the analysis based on biomechanics and kinetics of human gait during slips. The slip resistance according to viscosity of the contaminants was measured applying the criteria and slip probability was determined by the gait analysis. Some factors which should be considered when measuring the slip resistance were identified. The velocity, acceleration, contact time and contact pressure should be 1 m/sec, 10 $m/sec^2$, 350 kPa and less than 0.5sec respectively. The variation of viscosity according to temperature for working oils was different from that of standard contaminant. The static coefficient of friction (SCOF) of working oils was almost 0.5 times as large as the SCOF of standard contaminant. So it was assumed to be difficult to compare the contaminants at the workplaces with the glycerol as a standard contaminant for estimating the slip risk.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.48 no.5
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• pp.661-679
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• 2013

In this work, the safety performance of a commercial motorcycle helmet already placed on the market is assessed. The assessed motorcycle helmet is currently homologated by several relevant motorcycle standards. Impacts including translational and rotational motions are accurately simulated through a finite element numerical framework. The developed model was validated against experimental results: firstly, a validation concerning the constitutive model for the expanded polystyrene, the material responsible for energy absorption during impact; secondly, a validation regarding the acceleration measured at the headform's centre of gravity during the linear impacts defined in the ECE R22.05 standard. Both were successfully validated. After model validation, an oblique impact was simulated and the results were compared against head injury thresholds in order to predict the resultant head injuries. From this comparison, it was concluded that brain injuries such as concussion and diffuse axonal injury may occur even with a helmet certified by the majority of the motorcycle helmet standards. Unfortunately, these standards currently do not contemplate rotational components of acceleration. Conclusion points out to a strong recommendation on the necessity of including rotational motion in forthcoming motorcycle helmet standards and improving the current test procedures and head injury criteria used by the standards, to improve the safety between the motorcyclists.

• Biomaterials and Biomechanics in Bioengineering
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.141-155
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• 2016

Two-dimensional (2D) cell culture and in vivo cancer model systems have been used to understand cancer biology and develop drug delivery systems for cancer therapy. Although cell culture and in vivo model studies have provided critical contribution about disease mechanism, these models present important problems. 2D tissue culture models lack of three dimensional (3D) structure, while animal models are expensive, time consuming, and inadequate to reflect human tumor biology. Up to the present, scaffolds and 3D matrices have been used for many different clinical applications in regenerative medicine such as heart valves, corneal implants and artificial cartilage. While tissue engineering has focused on clinical applications in regenerative medicine, scaffolds can be used in in vitro tumor models to better understand tumor relapse and metastasis. Because 3D in vitro models can partially mimic the tumor microenvironment as follows. This review focuses on different scaffold production techniques and polymer types for tumor model applications in cancer tissue engineering and reports recent studies about in vitro 3D polymeric tumor models including breast, ewing sarcoma, pancreas, oral, prostate and brain cancers.

• Advances in biomechanics and applications
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2014

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of disc thickness on the normal behavior of the temporomandibular joint. Based on a specific patient case, CT scan images showing accentuated wear in the right disc were reconstructed and the geometrical and finite element model of the temporomandibular joint structures (cranium, mandible, articular cartilages and articular discs) was developed. The loads applied in this study were referent to the five most relevant muscular forces acting on the temporomandibular joint during daily tasks such as talking or eating. We observed that the left side structures of the temporomandibular joint (cranium, mandible and articular disc) were the most affected as a consequence of the wear on the opposite articular disc (right side). From these results, it was possible to evaluate the differences in the two sides of the joint and understand how a damaged articular disc influences the behavior of this joint and the possible consequences that can arise without treatment.

• Advances in biomechanics and applications
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.211-225
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• 2014

The usual assumption that the increase of fractures in aging bone is due entirely to lower bone density is taken back with respect to the possibility that aging bone fractures result from a loss of stability, or buckling, in the structure of the bone lattice. Buckling is an instability mode that becomes likely in end-loaded structures when they become too slender and lose lateral support. The relative importance of bone density and architecture in etiology bone fractures are poorly understood and the need for improved mechanistic understanding of bone failure is at the core of important clinical problems such as osteoporosis, as well as basic biological issues such as bone formation and adaptation. These observations motivated the present work in which simplified adaptive-beam buckling model is formulated within the context of the adaptive elasticity (Cowin and Hegedus 1976, Hegedus and Cowin 1976). Our results indicate that bone loss activation process leads systematically to the apparition of new elastic instabilities that can conduct to bone-buckling mechanism of fracture.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.276-281
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• 2010

The maxillary posterior area is the most challenging site for the dental implant. After missing of teeth on maxillary posterior area due to periodontal problems, the remaining alveolar ridge is usually very thin because of not only pneumatization of maxillary sinus but also destruction of alveolar bone. The maxillary sinus bone graft procedure is one of the most predictable and successful treatments for the rehabilitation of atrophic and pneumatized endentulous posterior maxilla. But, in case of severe destruction of alveolar bone due to periodontal problems, very long crown length is still remaining problem after successful sinus graft procedures. We performed vertical augmentation of maxillary posterior alveolar ridge using mandibular ramal block bone graft with simultaneous sinus graft. After this procedures, we could get more favorable crown-implant ratio of final prosthodontic appliance and more satisfactory results on biomechanics. This is a preliminary report of the vertical augmentation of maxillary posterior alveolar ridge using mandibular ramal block bone graft with simultaneous sinus graft, so requires more long-term follow up and further studies.