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Flatfoot is a common musculoskeletal deformity. One of the most effective treatments is to wear individually customized plantar pressure-based insoles to help users change the abnormally distributed pressure on the pelma. However, most previous studies were divided only into several plantar areas without detailed plantar characteristic analysis. In this study, a new insole is designed which redistributes pressure following the analysis of characteristic points of plantar pressure, and practical evaluation during walking of subjects while wearing the insole. In total, 10 subjects with flexible flatfeet have participated in the performance of gait experiments by wearing flat insoles, orthotic insoles, and plantar pressure redistribution insoles (PPRI). The results showed that the stance time of PPRI was significantly lower than that of the flat insoles under slow gait. PPRI in the second to third metatarsal and medial heel area showed better unloading capabilities than orthotic insoles. In the metatarsal and heel area, the PPRI also had its advantage in percentage of contact area compared to flat insole and orthotic insole. The results prove that PPRI improves the plantar pressure distribution and gait efficiency of adults with flexible flatfeet, and can be applied into clinical application.

Background In China, reprocessing and reuse of single-use medical devices (SUDs) are banned. However, the actual situation has not been reported so far. The study aims to clarify the perceptions and concerns of various sectors of the community on the reuse of SUDs, and whether such practice exists. In addition, we are also wondering how acceptable the respondents are on this matter. Methods A cross-sectional study based on a national survey which was conducted on the professional online questionnaire survey platform ( www.wjx.cn ) from July 26 to August 4, 2015. We analyzed the data according to the work fields, sex, age, education level, professional background and participants’ answers to 49 other questions. Results Five hundred forty-four nationwide respondents belong to nine different work fields. In general, participants had positive attitudes towards the reprocessing and reuse of SUDs. However, many respondents doubted the hygienic and functional safety of the reprocessed SUDs. They also tended to think that the reuse of SUDs should have lower prices and more technical training as well as patient advocacy. Further analysis demonstrated the work fields, education level and professional background of respondents were statistically associated with their responses to certain questions. Conclusions The research indicated that although the reuse of SUDs is prohibited legally in China, there were extensive reprocessing and reuse in hospitals. Most responses tended to accept reprocessed SUDs if safety and low prices were guaranteed. These existing contradictions and the lack of relevant research led to policy makers in China will confront numerous challenges in building and improving this use system of medical devices to meet escalating demands of social sectors. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-6835-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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A well-design facility layout planning refers to the reduction of the operation cost in the manufacturing and service industry. This work consists of reliability analysis of facility layout for an operating theatre; it aims at proposing a new evaluation approach, which integrated the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process and human reliability tool, for optimization of facility layout design with safety and human factors in an operating theatre. Firstly, the systematic layout planning is used to design the layout schemes on the basis of field investigations. Then, the criteria system is proposed based on human reliability analysis from four perspectives: software, hardware, environment, and liveware. Finally, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, a fuzzy extension of the multicriteria decision-making technique analytic hierarchy process, is used to compare these layout schemes based on the criteria system. The results that are obtained reveal interesting properties of facility layout planning in hospitals. It reveals that decision in selecting a suitable layout must meet not only the strategies and goals of the system but also meet the safety, security, and reliability of the system.