António C. M. Pinho

Nanostructured hollow tubes based on chitosan and alginate multilayers

The design and production of structures with nanometer-sized polymer films based on layer-by-layer (LbL) are of particular interest for tissue engineering since they allow the precise control of physical and biochemical cues of implantable devices. In this work, a method is developed for the preparation of nanostructured hollow multilayers tubes combining LbL and template leaching. The aim is to produce hollow tubes based on polyelectrolyte multilayer films with tuned physical-chemical properties and study their effects on cell behavior. The final tubular structures are characterized by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), microscopy, swelling, and mechanical tests, including dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) in physiological simulated conditions. It is found that more robust films could be produced upon chemical cross-linking with genipin. In particular, the mechanical properties confirms the viscoelastic properties and a storage and young modulus about two times higher. The water uptake decreases from about 390% to 110% after the cross-linking. The biological performance is assessed in terms of cell adhesion, viability, and proliferation. The results obtained with the cross-linked tubes demonstrate that these are more suitable structures for cell adhesion and spreading. The results suggest the potential of these structures to boost the development of innovative tubular structures for tissue engineering approaches.

Adhesive nanostructured multilayer films using a bacterial exopolysaccharide for biomedical applications

Medical adhesives and sealants often require that long-term adhesiveness is achieved. In this work, nanostructured coatings consisting of chitosan and the adhesive bacterial exopolysaccharide levan are fabricated using layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly. Taking advantage of the electrostatic self-assembly mechanism of LbL, the charges of both chitosan and a phosphonate-derivatized levan (Ph-levan) are measured and the feasibility of constructing hybrid films is monitored and confirmed using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). The adhesive properties between two identical bonded films with a total of 100 layers are compared to control films in which Ph-levan is replaced by alginate, revealing that the detachment force of the former is about 3 times higher than the control. Scanning electron microscopy of the films surface shows that the surface of Ph-levan films is smooth and homogeneous. Cell adhesion tests were conducted using a L929 cell line. Early cell adhesion is significantly higher in chitosan/Ph-levan films when compared to chitosan/alginate controls. These findings establish levan derivatives as bioinspired ingredients for conceiving medical adhesive devices that allow achieving enhanced mechanical and biological performance.

Non-contact 3D acquisition system based on stereo vision and laser triangulation

This paper proposes a novel contact 3D acquisition system based on stereo vision and laser triangulation. The system is composed by several software modules for data acquisition purposes, data calibration, data processing and data reconstruction of 3D scenes. Different 3D image techniques, such as, polynomial determination, cubic spline interpolation and hierarchical space decomposition were used. To validate this method, a simple laboratory prototype machine was built for the purpose of road profile acquisition, road macro and mega texture characterization. In this paper, only the results and discussion of road profile acquisition are presented.

Study of Viscoplasticity Models for the Impact Behavior of High-Strength Steels

This study reports on modeling the mechanical behavior of high-strength steels subjected to impact loading. The materials studied were steel grades of interest for crashworthiness applications: dual-phase and transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) steels. The challenges associated with the numerical simulation of impact events involving these materials include the modeling of extensive plastic deformation, particularly the change of material properties with strain rate. Tensile testing was performed at different strain rates on the materials studied. The test results were used to compare and validate constitutive equations that provide a mathematical description of strain-rate dependence of the material properties. The Cowper-Symonds equation and modified variants were examined. The crashworthiness performance of thin-walled sections made of dual-phase and TRIP steels was also investigated. Axial crushing tests were performed at different speeds on top-hat and hexagonal tubes. The experimental results were compared with numerical simulations obtained using an explicit finite element program (LS-DYNA) and the original and modified Cowper-Symonds equations.

Accuracy Comparison of Implant Impression Techniques: A Systematic Review

BACKGROUND Several studies link the seamless fit of implant-supported prosthesis with the accuracy of the dental impression technique obtained during acquisition. In addition, factors such as implant angulation and coping shape contribute to implant misfit. PURPOSE The aim of this study was to identify the most accurate impression technique and factors affecting the impression accuracy. MATERIAL AND METHODS A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted analyzing articles published between 2009 and 2013. The following search terms were used: implant impression, impression accuracy, and implant misfit. A total of 417 articles were identified; 32 were selected for review. RESULTS All 32 selected studies refer to in vitro studies. Fourteen articles compare open and closed impression technique, 8 advocate the open technique, and 6 report similar results. Other 14 articles evaluate splinted and non-splinted techniques; all advocating the splinted technique. Polyether material usage was reported in nine; six studies tested vinyl polysiloxane and one study used irreversible hydrocolloid. Eight studies evaluated different copings designs. Intraoral optical devices were compared in four studies. CONCLUSIONS The most accurate results were achieved with two configurations: (1) the optical intraoral system with powder and (2) the open technique with splinted squared transfer copings, using polyether as impression material.

Pectus excavatum postsurgical outcome based on preoperative soft body dynamics simulation

Pectus excavatum is the most common congenital deformity of the anterior chest wall, in which an abnormal formation of the rib cage gives the chest a caved-in or sunken appearance. Today, the surgical correction of this deformity is carried out in children and adults through Nuss technic, which consists in the placement of a prosthetic bar under the sternum and over the ribs. Although this technique has been shown to be safe and reliable, not all patients have achieved adequate cosmetic outcome. This often leads to psychological problems and social stress, before and after the surgical correction. This paper targets this particular problem by presenting a method to predict the patient surgical outcome based on pre-surgical imagiologic information and chest skin dynamic modulation. The proposed approach uses the patient pre-surgical thoracic CT scan and anatomical-surgical references to perform a 3D segmentation of the left ribs, right ribs, sternum and skin. The technique encompasses three steps: a) approximation of the cartilages, between the ribs and the sternum, trough b-spline interpolation; b) a volumetric mass spring model that connects two layers - inner skin layer based on the outer pleura contour and the outer surface skin; and c) displacement of the sternum according to the prosthetic bar position. A dynamic model of the skin around the chest wall region was generated, capable of simulating the effect of the movement of the prosthetic bar along the sternum. The results were compared and validated with patient postsurgical skin surface acquired with Polhemus FastSCAN system.

Application of Dual-Phase and TRIP Steels on the Improvement of Crashworthy Structures

The improvements in vehicle crashworthiness observed in recent years have been closely linked to advanced high-strength steels that are currently being produced or in process of development. Amongst these, Dual-Phase and TRIP (Transformation Induced Plasticity) steels have presented excellent properties for use in crashworthy structures. For these steel grades an understanding of material behaviour at relevant strain rates is needed as well as constitutiv eequations suitable for use in analytic and numerical calculations. In this study the crashworthiness of thin-walled sections made of Dual-Phase and TRIP steels was investigated. Tensile tests were performed at different strain rates in a range of interest for crashworthiness problems. The results allowed the determination of parameters of Cowper-Symonds equation. Crush tests were performed at different speeds for top-hat and hexagonal tubes manufactured using laser welding. The experimental results were compared with numerical simulations obtained with LS-DYNA software. The influence of different material parameters on the accuracy of the simulations was examined.

Variations of the soft tissue thicknesses external to the ribs in pectus excavatum patients.

BACKGROUND Surgical repair of pectus excavatum (PE) has become more popular due to improvements in the minimally invasive Nuss procedure. The pre-surgical assessment of PE patients requires Computerized Tomography (CT), as the malformation characteristics vary from patient to patient. OBJECTIVE This work aims to characterize soft tissue thickness (STT) external to the ribs among PE patients. It also presents a comparative analysis between the anterior chest wall surface before and after surgical correction. METHODS Through surrounding tissue segmentation in CT data, STT values were calculated at different lines along the thoracic wall, with a reference point in the intersection of coronal and median planes. The comparative analysis between the two 3D anterior chest surfaces sets a surgical correction influence area (SCIA) and a volume of interest (VOI) based on image processing algorithms, 3D surface algorithms, and registration methods. RESULTS There are always variations between left and right side STTs (2.54 ± 2.05 mm and 2.95 ± 2.97 mm for female and male patients, respectively). STTs are dependent on age, sex, and body mass index of each patient. On female patients, breast tissue induces additional errors in bar manual conception. The distances starting at the deformitys largest depression point at the SCIA are similar in all directions. Some diverging measures and outliers were found, being difficult to find similar characteristics between them, especially in asymmetric patients. CONCLUSION The Nuss procedure metal bar must be modeled according to each patients special characteristics. The studied relationships between STT and chest surface could represent a step forward to eliminate the CT scan from PE pre-surgical evaluation.

A new machine for acquire pavement texture

This paper presents a prototype machine for the acquisition and characterization of the macrotexture and megatexture of road surfaces. The development stages of the prototype machine involved: 3D data acquisition system configuration and calibration - based on laser triangulation technique, 3D surface reconstruction of the road surface and texture characterization using appropriated indicators, such as the Mean Profile Depth (MPD) and the Texture Profile Level (L), by applying different and complementary mathematical techniques. The prototype machine created is able to work in laboratory and in field, allowing an acquisition accuracy of 0.5 mm. The contribution of this research is in developing a prototype machine capable of acquiring an extensive area road surface with high precision 3D data.

Thoracic wall reconstruction using ultrasound images to model/bend the thoracic prosthesis for correction of pectus excavatum

Pectus excavatum is the most common congenital deformity of the anterior thoracic wall. The surgical correction of such deformity, using Nuss procedure, consists in the placement of a personalized convex prosthesis into sub-sternal position to correct the deformity. The aim of this work is the CT-scan substitution by ultrasound imaging for the pre-operative diagnosis and pre-modeling of the prosthesis, in order to avoid patient radiation exposure. To accomplish this, ultrasound images are acquired along an axial plane, followed by a rigid registration method to obtain the spatial transformation between subsequent images. These images are overlapped to reconstruct an axial plane equivalent to a CT-slice. A phantom was used to conduct preliminary experiments and the achieved results were compared with the corresponding CT-data, showing that the proposed methodology can be capable to create a valid approximation of the anterior thoracic wall, which can be used to model/bend the prosthesis.