• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.531-536
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• 2004

In fracture treatment with external fixators, the inter-fragmentary movements at the fracture site affect the fracture healing process, and these movements are highly related to the stiffness of external fixation systems. Therefore, in order to provide the optimal fracture healing at the fracture site, it is essential to understand the relationship between the stiffness and the system configurations in external fixation system. In this study we investigated the influences of system configuration parameters on the stiffness in the finite element analysis of an external fixation system of a long bone. The system alignment, the geometric and the material non-linearity of the pin, the joint stiffness and the callus formation were considered in the finite element model. In the first, the system stiffness of the developed finite element model was compared with the experiment data for model validation. The consideration of the joint stiffness and nonlinearity of the model improved the system stiffness results. The joint stiffness, the non-alignment of the system decreased the system stiffness while the callus formation increased the system stiffness. The present results provided the biomechanical basis of rational guidelines for design improvements of external fixators and pre-op. planning to maximize the system stiffness in fracture surgery.

• Journal of the Ergonomics Society of Korea
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.15-31
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• 2000

The aim was to evaluate the prevailing ergonomic and psychosocial conditions regarding low back injury in an automobile assembly system. This study consisted of two parts. In the first part of the study, analytic biomechanical model and NIOSH guidelines were applied to evaluate risk levels of low back injury for automobile assembly jobs. Total of 246 workers were analysed. There were 20 jobs having greater back compressive forces than 300kg at L5/S1. Also, there were 44 jobs over Action Limit with respect to 1981 NIOSH guidelines. This might in part be explained by the ergonomic conditions of the company analysed generally being good, with a relatively low duration of 'combined' extreme work posture. The relationship between psychosocial factors and low back injury was examined in the second part of the study. It has recently been recognized that overall reaction to working conditions was influenced by a range of factors, some of which were physical and some psychosocial. The psychosocial environment surrounding the work place may contribute to the perception of risk and eventual ill-health. A battery of questionnaires concerning the psychosocial stress based on PWI(Psychosocial Well-being Index) and musculoskeletal pain symptoms at low back was completed by 246 workers at the same plant. Results showed that 207 out 246 workers experienced the symptoms and 27 workers were diagnosed as patients. Two groups(low stressed, high stressed) based on PWI score had no significant relationships with both symptoms and results of diagnosis. However, sensitivities for symptoms and diagnosis by PWI were 91.3% and 92.6% respectively. Finally, relationships between physical work load and psychosocial stress were analysed. Specifically, some postural factors {vertical deviation angle of forearm, horizontal deviation angle of upperarm, vertical deviation angle of thigh, etc) were highly correlated with psychosocial stress. The results illustrated that PWI scores were associated with some physical workloads. However, psychosocial stress levels couldn't be well related with the pain symptom as well as the actual incidence of low back injury since pain or discomfort regarding low back injury were more complex than that of other musculoskeletal disorders.

• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 2015

Objective : The purpose of this study was to investigate the velocity conversion coefficient and invariance for the optimal phase ratio on the performance of the women's triple jump. Methods : Three-dimensional kinematic data were obtained from the three finalists of the women's triple jumper competition at the 2011 Daegu IAAF World Championships. Computer simulations were performed using the biomechanical model of the triple jump to optimize the phase ratio for the longest actual distance for all athletes with altered velocity conversion coefficients. Results : Top elite triple jumpers showed better technical consistency at the phase ratio. Also, no consistent relationship was observed between the loss in horizontal velocity and the gain in vertical velocity across supporting the three phase. In addition, regardless of the magnitude A1, all athletes were optimized with jump-dominated technique. Finally, as the magnitude of A1 increased, the athletes showed better performance. The obtained overall distance jumped showed the longest actual distance when the optimal phase ratio was transferred from hop-dominated to jump-dominated(the step ratio was 30%~31%), and when the optimal phase ratio was transferred from balanced to jump-dominated(the step ratio was 27%~29%). Conclusion : Future studies need to be conducted in order to explore the active landing motion and the inclination angle of the body with the velocity conversion coefficient simultaneously at each supporting phase.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.161-173
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• 1991

A statistical approach was carried out to analyze joint moments acting on the six subjects performing a right-handed seated task. The dynamic task analyzed consisted of moving a hand-held weight of lkg mass back and forth in front of a subject's chest at the shoulder level in an upright seated position. We used experimental data obtained in the Biomechanics Laboratory of the University of Michigan. Based on the acquired data from three trials by each subject, moments were calculated using a 3-dimensional biomechanical model at such articulations as wrist, elbow, shoulder, the third lumbar spine, hip, knee, and ankle joints. The linear correlation and the two way analysis of variance were applied to the calculated joint moments in order to investigate inter-subject and inter-trial varations. The results obtained showed that the largest magnitude and deviation of moment was found at the third lumbar spine, that any linear relationship could not be found between moment and its equivalents attempted in this study, and that the maximum value and deviation of moment acting on each joint were statistically the same for all three trials but those were statistically not the same for all six subjects.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.451-456
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• 2008

Total knee arthroplasty(TKA) using computer-assisted navigation has been increased in order to improve the accuracy of femoral and tibial components implantation. Recently, a few clinical studies have reported on the femoral stress fracture after TKA using computer-assisted navigation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the stress concentration around the femoral pin-hole for different pin-hole diameter, the modes of pin penetration by finite element analysis to understand the effects of pin-hole parameters on femoral stress fracture risk. A three-dimensional finite element model of a male femur was reconstructed from 1 mm thick computed tomography(CT) images. The bone was rigidly fixed to a 25 mm above the distal end and 1500 N of axial compressive force and 12 Nm of axial torsion were applied at the femoral head. For all cases, transcortical pin penetration mode showed the highest stress fracture risk and unicortical pin penetration mode showed the lowest stress concentration. Pin-hole diameter increased the stress concentration, but pin number did not increase the stress dramatically. The results of this study provided a biomechanical guideline for pin-hole fracture risk of the computer navigated TKA.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2013

Finite element analysis(FEA) has been extensively applied in the analyses of biomechanical properties of stents. Geometrically, a closed-cell stent is an assembly of a number of repeated unit cells and exhibits periodicity in both longitudinal and circumferential directions. This study concentrates on various parameters of the FEA models for the analysis of drug-eluting biodegradable polymeric stents for application to the treatment of coronary artery disease. In order to determine the mechanical characteristics of biodegradable polymeric stents, FEA was used to model two different types of stents: tubular stents(TS) and helicoidal stents(HS). For this modeling, epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate (EGCG)-eluting poly[(L-lactide-co-${\varepsilon}$-caprolactone), PLCL] (E-PLCL) was chosen as drug-eluting stent materials. E-PLCL was prepared by blending PLCL with 5% EGCG as previously described. In addition, the effects of EGCG blending on the mechanical properties of PLCL were investigated for both types of stent models. EGCG did not affect tensile strength at break, but significantly increased elastic modulus of PLCL. It is suggested that FEA is a cost-effective method to improve the design of drug-eluting biodegradable polymeric stents.

• Proceedings of the SCSK Conference
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• 2003.09a
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• pp.192-202
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• 2003

The wrinkles correspond to the most obvious expression of skin ageing and are manifested by changes on the organization and dermal structure. In the extracellular matrix, decreased quantities of collagens and glycosaminoglycans as well as a deterioration of the fibrillary network is noted, result in a reduction of dermal thickness. In addition, the activity of the collagenases increases in contrast to the synthesis of collagen fibers. Nor are cells spared during the aging process. We thus studied and compared the contractile capacity as well as the synthesis capacity of normal human fibroblasts and human fibroblasts obtained from biopsies of forehead wrinkles. The capacity of the fibroblasts to be adhered to the collagen network and to maintain a three-dimensional structure of dermis was studied on a model of equivalent dermis. The metabolic activity was studied by evaluating the capacities of synthesis of collagen I, main component of dermis. Human fibroblasts resulting from the forehead wrinkle contract less the gel of collagen than the normal human fibroblasts and present an activity of biosynthesis of collagen I less important than normal human fibroblasts. These results show that fibroblasts with aging present a deceleration of their metabolic activity and lose their capacity of adhesion to collagen fibers thus limiting the possibility of organizing the dermal tissue. We investigated the potential of an active ingredient able to compensate for the reduction of the metabolic activity and to restore the contractile capacity of fibroblasts obtained from forehead wrinkles. This effect was compared with a reference molecule: the vitamin C.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.6 no.5
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• pp.346-350
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• 2014

PURPOSE. Impact forces in implant supported FDP (fixed dental prosthesis) are higher than that of tooth supported FDPs and the compositions used in frameworks also has a paramount role for biomechanical reasons. The aim of this study was to evaluate the flexural strength of two different zirconia frameworks. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Two implant abutments with 3.8 mm and 4.5 mm platform were used as premolar and molar. They were mounted vertically in an acrylic resin block. A model with steel retainers and removable abutments was fabricated by milling machine; and 10 FDP frameworks were fabricated for each Biodenta and Cercon systems. All samples were thermo-cycled for 2000 times in $5-55^{\circ}C$ temperature and embedded in $37^{\circ}C$ artificial saliva for one week. The flexural test was done by a rod with 2 mm ending diameter which was applied to the multi-electromechanical machine. The force was inserted until observing fracture. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS software ver.15, using Weibull modulus and independent t-test with the level of significance at ${\alpha}=.05$. RESULTS. The mean load bearing capacity values were higher in Biodenta but with no significant differences (P>.05). The Biodenta frameworks showed higher load bearing capacity ($F_0=1700$) than Cercon frameworks ($F_0=1520$) but the reliability (m) was higher in Cercon (m=7.5). CONCLUSION. There was no significant difference between flexural strengths of both zirconia based framework systems; and both Biodenta and Cercon systems are capable to withstand biting force (even parafunctions) in posterior implant-supported bridges with no significant differences.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.253-267
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the pattern and the magnitude of stress distribution in the supporting tissues surrounding implant fixture with different diameter of implant fixtures(3i implant, Ø4.0, Ø5.0, Ø6.0mm and UCLA abutments(Ø4.1, Ø5.0, Ø6.0mm using photoelastic stress analysis. Photoelastic model was made with PL-2 resin(Measurements Group, Raleigh, USA) and three implants of each diameter were placed in the mandibular posterior edentulous area distal to the canine. Individual crowns were fabricated using UCLA abutments. Photoelastic stress analysis was carried out to measure the fringe order around the implant supporting structure under simulated loading conditions(15 lb, 30 lb). The results were as follows; 1. The more the diameter of implant fixture was increased, the less the stress concentration on cervical area of fixture was observed under loading. 2. Increasing mesiodistal diameter of implant superstructure had no much influence on stress distribution around implant fixture. 3. The use of smaller abutment had no influence on stress distribution around implant fixture. The use of smaller abutment diameter than that of implant fixture had no favorable effect on implant supporting tissue at biomechanical consideration.

• Journal of computational fluids engineering
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.15-25
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• 2017

Swirl flow is often found in proximal coronary arteries, because the aortic valves can induce swirl flows in the coronary artery due to vortex formation. In addition, the curvature and tortuosity of arterial configurations can also produce swirl flows. The present study was performed to investigate fractional flow reserve alterations in a post-stenotic distal part due to the presence of pre-stenotic swirl flow by computational fluid dynamics analysis for virtual stenotic models by quantifying fractional flow reserve(FFR). Simplified stenotic coronary models were divided into those with and without pre-stenotic swirl flow. Various degrees of virtual stenosis were grouped into three grades: mild, moderate, and severe, with degree of stenosis of 0 ~ 40%, 50 ~ 60%, and 70 ~ 90%, respectively. In this study, three-dimensional computational hemodynamic simulations were performed under hyperemic conditions in virtual stenotic coronary models by coupling with a zero-dimensional lumped parameter model. The results showed that the influence of pre-stenotic swirl inflow is dominant on FFR alteration in mild stenosis, whereas stenosis is dominant on FFR alteration in moderate/severe stenosis. The decrease in FFR caused by swirl flow is more significant in mild stenosis than moderate/severe stenosis. Biomechanical modeling is useful for clinicians to provide insight for medical intervention strategies. This hemodynamic-based parameter study could play a critical role in the development of a non-invasive imaging-based strategy-support system for percutaneous transluminal angioplasty in cases of mild/moderate stenosis.