Design and Evaluation of a Smooth-Locking-Based Customizable Prosthetic Knee Joint

Abstract

Limb loss affects many people from a variety of backgrounds around the world. The most advanced commercially available prostheses for transfemoral amputees are fully active (powered) designs but remain very expensive and unavailable in the developing world. Consequently, improvements of low-cost, passive prostheses have been made to provide high quality rehabilitation to amputees of any background. This study explores the design and evaluation of a smooth-locking-based bionic knee joint to replicate the swing phase of the human gait cycle. The two-part design was based on the condyle geometry of the interface between the femur and tibia obtained from MR images of the human subject, while springs were used to replace the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments. A flexible four-bar linkage mechanism was successfully achieved to provide not only rotation along a variable instantaneous axis but also slight translation in the sagittal plane, similar to the anatomical knee. We systematically evaluated the effects of different spring configurations in terms of stiffness, position and relaxion length on knee flexion angles during walking. A good replication of the swing phase was achieved by relatively high stiffness and increased relaxation length of springs. The stance phase of the gait cycle was improved compared to some models but remained relatively flat, where further verification should be conducted. In addition, 3D printing technique provides a convenient design and manufacturing process, making the prosthesis customizable for different individuals based on subject-specific modelling of the amputee's knee.

Electrochemical Determination of Cyclobenzaprine Hydrochloride Muscle Relaxant Using Novel S-GCN/TiO2-Based Carbon Electrode

“…The resulting regression equations from the data are as follows: Ipa (μA) = 37.3× – 4.35 ( R 2 = 0.985) for CPE; Ipa (μA) = 52.16× – 5.49 ( R 2 = 0.991) for GCN@CPE; Ipa (μA) = 70.31× – 9.51 ( R 2 = 0.995) for S-GCN@CPE; and Ipa (μA) = 83.82× – 9.73 ( R 2 = 0.983) for S-GCN/TiO 2 @CPE. Based on the Randles-Sevcik model, 41 the electrode’s effective surface area was calculated.…”

The impact of acute and chronic aerobic and resistance exercise on stem cell mobilization: A review of effects in healthy and diseased individuals across different age groups

“…The lack of mobilization among individuals with cardiovascular (CV) fitness suggests that the response of PCs may be dependent on baseline performance. A multitude of studies conducted in the field of biological and medical research have yielded significant results, expanding our understanding of numerous facets of these disciplines [ [104] , [105] , [106] , [107] , [108] ]. One important area that has been extensively explored is the regulation of RNA expression [ [109] , [110] , [111] , [112] , [113] ].…”