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Biomedical subjects

J A Weiss

Publications and source records attributed to J A Weiss.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Strain transfer between a CPC coated strain gauge and cortical bone during bending.

The finite element method was used to simulate strain transfer from bone to a calcium phosphate ceramic (CPC) coated strain gauge. The model was constructed using gross morphometric and histological measurements obtained from previous experimental studies. Material properties were assigned based on experiments and information from the literature. Boundary conditions simulated experimental cantilever loading of rat femora. The model was validated using analytical solutions based on the theory of elasticity as well as direct comparison to experimental data obtained in a separate study. The interface between the bone and strain gauge sensing surface consisted of layers of polysulfone, polysulfone/CPC, and CPC/bone. Parameter studies examined the effect of interface thickness and modulus, gauge geometry, partial gauge debonding, and waterproofing on the strain transfer from the bone to the gauge sensing element. Results demonstrated that interface thickness and modulus have a significant effect on strain transfer. Optimal strain transfer was achieved for an interface modulus of approximately 2 GPa. Strain transfer decreased consistently with increasing interface thickness. Debonding along the lateral edges of the gauge had little effect, while debonding proximal and distal to the sensing element decreased strain transfer. A waterproofing layer decreased strain transfer, and this effect was more pronounced as the modulus or thickness of the layer increased. Based on these simulations, specific recommendations were made to optimize strain transfer between bone and CPC coated gauges for experimental studies.

Biocompatible Materials↗
PubMed2001

Strain in the human medial collateral ligament during valgus loading of the knee.

The medial collateral ligament is one of the most frequently injured ligaments in the knee. Although the medial collateral ligament is known to provide a primary restraint to valgus and external rotations, details regarding its precise mechanical function are unknown. In this study, strain in the medial collateral ligament of eight knees from male cadavers was measured during valgus loading. A material testing machine was used to apply 10 cycles of varus and valgus rotation to limits of +/- 10.0 N-m at flexion angles of 0 degrees, 30 degrees, 60 degrees, and 90 degrees. A three-dimensional motion analysis system measured local tissue strain on the medial collateral ligament surface within 12 regions encompassing nearly the entire medial collateral ligament surface. Results indicated that strain is significantly different in different regions over the surface of the medial collateral ligament and that this distribution of strain changes with flexion angle and with the application of a valgus torque. Strain in the posterior and central portions of the medial collateral ligament generally decreased with increasing flexion angle, whereas strain in the anterior fibers remained relatively constant with changes in flexion angle. The highest strains in the medial collateral ligament were found at full extension on the posterior side of the medial collateral ligament near the femoral insertion. These data support clinical findings that suggest the femoral insertion is the most common location for medial collateral ligament injuries.

Cadaver↗
PubMed2001

Simple shear testing of parallel-fibered planar soft tissues.

The simple shear test may provide unique information regarding the material response of parallel-fibered soft tissues because it allows the elimination of the dominant fiber material response from the overall stresses. However, inhomogeneities in the strain field due to clamping and free edge effects have not been documented. The finite element method was used to study finite simple shear of simulated ligament material parallel to the fiber direction. The effects of aspect ratio, clamping prestrain, and bulk modulus were assessed using a transversely isotropic, hyperelastic material model. For certain geometries, there was a central area of uniform strain. An aspect ratio of 1:2 for the fiber to cross-fiber directions provided the largest region of uniform strain. The deformation was nearly isochoric for all bulk moduli indicating this test may be useful for isolating solid viscoelasticity from interstitial flow effects. Results suggest this test can be used to characterize the matrix properties for the type of materials examined in this study, and that planar measurements will suffice to characterize the strain. The test configuration may be useful for the study of matrix, fiber-matrix, and fiber-fiber material response in other types of parallel-fibered transversely isotropic soft tissues.

Ligaments↗
PubMed2001

Computational modeling of ligament mechanics.

This article provides a critical review of past and current techniques for the computational modeling of ligaments and tendons. A brief overview of relevant concepts from the fields of continuum mechanics and finite element analysis is provided. The structure and function of ligaments and tendons are reviewed in detail, with emphasis on the relationship of microstructural tissue features to the continuum mechanical hehavior. Experimental techniques for the material characterization of biological soft tissues are discussed. Past and current efforts related to the constitutive modeling of ligaments and tendons are classified by the particular technique and dimensionality. Applications of one-dimensional and three-dimensional constitutive models in the representation of the mechanical behavior of joints are presented. Future research directions are identified.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Unusual proton Zeeman spin relaxation in an organic solid: several crystal polymorphs or different glass structures?

Solid state proton Zeeman relaxation rate R1z measurements in two isomers of an organic solid (1- and 2-ethylnaphthalene) are reported. The samples are liquids at room temperature and the temperature T and Larmor frequency omega dependence of R1z depends strongly on how the sample is solidified. Methyl group (CH3) rotation is responsible for the proton spin relaxation and the methyl groups serve as probes of the local environment. The R1z measurements clearly distinguish between different solid states due to the differences in local structure at the several-molecule level. The experiments cannot be used to determine the states of these Van der Waals solids although interpreting the relaxation rate data suggests the states are unusual. We propose that these systems might exist in two (2-ethylnaphthalene) or more (1-ethylnaphthalene) polycrystalline polymorphs or that we are observing distinguishable glassy states, or, both. A phase transition is observed in 1-ethylnaphthalene. Variable temperature X-ray studies of organic systems that solidify well below room temperature are difficult, or at least not routine, and proton spin relaxation measurements serve as a convenient starting point for investigating such systems.

Crystallization↗
PubMed1999

Reduced gap strains induce changes in bone regeneration during distraction.

A bilateral New Zealand white rabbit model of distraction osteogenesis (DO) was used to investigate the relationship between strain environment and bone regeneration during limb lengthening. In seven (n = 7) rabbits, a stiffener was applied to the fixator on one side to reduce strains within the gap tissue after lengthening was completed. Animals were euthanized six days later and their distraction zones were harvested and analyzed for changes in new bone volume and architecture. Nonlinear finite element analyses (FEA) were performed to predict changes in the gap strain environment. FEA results predicted a nearly uniform sevenfold decrease in average strain measures within the distraction zone. No change in total average new bone volume and significant decreases in both bone volume fraction (BV/TV) and trabecular thickness (Tb.Th) were observed in tibiae in which gap strains were reduced experimentally, compared to contralateral controls. These results suggest that fixator stiffening influenced the architecture but not the amount of newly formed bone. This animal model of distraction might be used to study the mechanisms by which strain fields affect events in bone repair and regeneration, such as cell proliferation, precursor tissue differentiation, and altered growth factor and nutrient delivery to tissues.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Finite element implementation of anisotropic quasi-linear viscoelasticity using a discrete spectrum approximation.

The objective of this work was to develop a theoretical and computational framework to apply the finite element method to anisotropic, viscoelastic soft tissues. The quasilinear viscoelastic (QLV) theory provided the basis for the development. To allow efficient and easy computational implementation, a discrete spectrum approximation was developed for the QLV relaxation function. This approximation provided a graphic means to fit experimental data with an exponential series. A transversely isotropic hyperelastic material model developed for ligaments and tendons was used for the elastic response. The viscoelastic material model was implemented in a general-purpose, nonlinear finite element program. Test problems were analyzed to assess the performance of the discrete spectrum approximation and the accuracy of the finite element implementation. Results indicated that the formulation can reproduce the anisotropy and time-dependent material behavior observed in soft tissues. Application of the formulation to the analysis of the human femur-medial collateral ligament-tibia complex demonstrated the ability of the formulation to analyze large three-dimensional problems in the mechanics of biological joints.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed1998

Material characterization of human medial collateral ligament.

The objectives of this study were to determine the longitudinal and transverse material properties of the human medial collateral ligament (MCL) and to evaluate the ability of three existing constitutive models to describe the material behavior of MCL. Uniaxial test specimens were punched from ten human cadaveric MCLs and tensile tested along and transverse to the collagen fiber direction. Using load and optical strain analysis information, the tangent modulus, tensile strength and ultimate strain were determined. The material coefficients for each constitutive model were determined using nonlinear regression. All specimens failed within the substance of the tissue. Specimens tested along the collagen fiber direction exhibited the typical nonlinear behavior reported for ligaments. This behavior was absent from the stress-strain curves of the transverse specimens. The average tensile strength, ultimate strain, and tangent modulus for the longitudinal specimens was 38.6 +/- 4.8 MPa, 17.1 +/- 1.5 percent, and 332.2 +/- 58.3 MPa, respectively. The average tensile strength, ultimate strain, and tangent modulus for the transverse specimens was 1.7 +/- 0.5 MPa, 11.7 +/- 0.9 percent, and 11.0 +/- 3.6 MPa, respectively. All three constitutive models described the longitudinal behavior of the ligament equally well. However, the ability of the models to describe the transverse behavior of the ligament varied.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Bone regeneration and fracture healing. Experience with distraction osteogenesis model.

The relation between physical forces and the processes of bone regeneration and healing remains incompletely understood. Gaps in understanding of these processes stem in part from models that produce inadequate amounts of new bone for study. Bone created through the use of distraction osteogenesis provides an attractive substrate for the study of mechanical forces and their effects on bone formation because this technique produces large volumes of new bone in a controlled fashion. The optimal mechanical environment in which bone formation occurs clinically has not been fully determined. In laboratory studies, however, the mechanical environment can be manipulated, and resultant changes in bone formation can be measured. To investigate how changes in strain environment influence patterns of bone formation, a bilateral New Zealand White rabbit model of bilateral distraction osteogensis was implemented. When a stiffener was applied to the external distractor, computation analyses predicted a sevenfold to eightfold decrease in all strain measures. These reductions in gap strains appeared to induce significant decreases in bone volume fraction and mean trabecular thickness. When osteotomies were created at a 30 degrees angle to the bony axis to generate more shear within the gap tissue, changes in the distribution of gap strains and resultant new bone architecture were observed. Specific correlations between changes in tissue level strains and the pattern of bone regeneration were seen in both experiments. These results provide direct in vivo evidence that pluripotential gap tissues are sensitive to their physical surroundings. Mechanisms responsible for this sensitivity might include vascularity, stem cell supply, and scaffolding architecture. The process of bone formation in distraction osteogenesis appears to be related to bone formation processes associated with more common conditions. The distraction osteogenesis model described suggests a mechanism for bone formation that seems applicable to other more common processes associated with bone formation, including fracture healing and impaired fracture healing.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Syntenic assignment of human chromosome 1 homologous loci in the bovine.

Three mouse chromosomes (MMU 1, 3, and 4) carry homologs of human chromosome 1 (HSA 1) genes. A similar situation is found in the bovine, where five bovine chromosomes (BTA 2, 3, 5, 16, and unassigned syntenic group U25) contain homologs of HSA 1 loci. To evaluate further the syntenic relationship of HSA 1 homologs in cattle, 10 loci have been physically mapped through segregation analysis in bovine-rodent hybrid somatic cells. These loci, chosen for their location on HSA 1, are antithrombin 3 (AT3), renin (REN), complement component receptor 2 (CR2), phosphofructokinase muscle type (PFKM), Gardner-Rasheed feline sarcoma viral (v-fgr) oncogene homolog (FGR), alpha fucosidase (FUCA1), G-protein beta 1 subunit (GNB1), alpha 1A amylase, (AMY1), the neuroblastoma RAS viral (v-ras) oncogene homolog (NRAS), and alpha skeletal actin (ACTA1). AT3, REN, CR2, and GNB1 mapped to BTA 16, PFKM to BTA 5, AMY1A and NRAS to BTA 3, FGR and FUCA1 to BTA 2, and ACTA1 to BTA 28.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Healing of the medial collateral ligament following a triad injury: a biomechanical and histological study of the knee in rabbits.

The effect of a partial medial meniscectomy and anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) transection on medial collateral ligament (MCL) healing was studied in skeletally mature rabbits. Two groups of animals, group I (isolated MCL rupture) and group II (MCL rupture with ACL transection and partial medial meniscectomy), were examined. At 6 and 12 weeks postoperatively, histological examination of the healing MCL and biomechanical evaluation of the varus-valgus (V-V) knee rotation and tensile properties of the femur-MCL-tibia complex (FMTC) were performed. Group II animals experienced substantial joint degeneration by 6 weeks. Progressive osteophyte formation was observed adjacent to the MCL insertions along with proximal migration of the MCL tibial insertion between 6 and 12 weeks. Histologic examination of the healing MCL substance from both groups showed disorganized collagen, inflammation, and fibroblast proliferation that decreased over time. For group II knees, the V-V knee rotation was found to be significantly elevated (4.7 to 5.2 times the contralateral control), and did not decrease with time. In contrast, the V-V knee rotations of the group I specimens were 1.8 times greater than control immediately following injury, and approached control values by 12 weeks. Tensile testing of the FMTCs revealed that the ultimate load increased with time for both groups, but group I had significantly higher values than group II. The linear stiffness in group I was not different than that group II and did not increase with time. For the mechanical (material) properties of the healed MCL substance, the modulus of the healing tissue for group II was only 40% that of group I. The structural properties of the FMTC and the mechanical properties of the MCL substance from both groups at 6 and 12 weeks were significantly different from the contralateral controls. We further demonstrated that immediately after ACL reconstruction, the V-V rotation of group II knees could be restored to group I levels. Recent clinical studies of MCL healing following isolated complete ligament tears have suggested that nonoperative management without immobilization leads to excellent treatment outcome. However, in more severe injuries involving additional tissues, poor quality of the healed ligament tissue and articular degeneration are observed. Our results demonstrate the deleterious effects of an untreated triad injury on the healing of the MCL substance and its insertions. Examination of the MCL substance suggests that a much larger healing mass is formed following a triad injury, which partially compensates for inferior ligament mechanical properties.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Evaluation of a new injury model to study medial collateral ligament healing: primary repair versus nonoperative treatment.

The medial collateral ligament (MCL) of the rabbit left hindlimb was ruptured by a rod placed beneath it, resulting in a "mop-end" tear of the ligament substance with simultaneous injury to the insertion sites. Using this model, we compared primary ligament repair and nonoperative treatment using biomechanical and histologic techniques at time zero, 10 days, and 6 and 12 weeks postoperatively. Biomechanical evaluation included measurement of varus-valgus (V-V) knee rotation, in situ load on the MCL, and tensile testing of the femur-MCL-tibia complex (FMTC). The V-V rotation of all experimental knees decreased over time. At 12 weeks, V-V rotation of experimental knees was still 1.3 times larger than that of controls. Primary repair initially decreased V-V rotation, but at 6 and 12 weeks there was no statistical difference between operated and nonoperated knees. The in situ load on the MCL followed the same trends. There was no significant effect of MCL repair on any of the tensile properties. However, postoperative healing time significantly improved the FMTC structural properties in both experimental groups. Failure modes of the FMTCs and histologic sections of the ligament insertion sites indicated that after injury the ligament insertion to bone recovered more slowly than the ligament substance. Tensile testing of the FMTC showed that even at 12 weeks postoperatively the mechanical properties of the healed ligament material remained significantly different from those of the controls.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Aging and sex-related changes in the biomechanical properties of the rabbit medial collateral ligament.

The effects of aging and sex on the tensile properties of the rabbit medial collateral ligament (MCL) were examined. The femur-MCL-tibia complex (FMTC) of male and female rabbits, of representative ages before and after epiphyseal closure up to the onset of senescence (i.e., 3.5, 6, 12 and 36 months of age) were examined. A group of 48-month-old female rabbits was also tested. The specimens were tensile tested to failure in order to obtain both the load-elongation curve of the FMTC (structural properties) and the stress-strain curve of the MCL substance (mechanical properties). Significant increases in the linear stiffness, ultimate load and energy absorbed at failure of the FMTC were noted in both the males and females during skeletal maturation, but the FMTCs of the older rabbits began to show a slight decrease in these properties. The ultimate load of the FMTC for the male rabbits reached its plateau at approximately 6 months of age, while that of the females did not plateau until 12 months of age. The modes of failure correlated well with closure of the epiphyses in both sexes, i.e., tibial avulsion failure for the skeletally immature groups and mid-substance for the skeletally mature groups. The modulus of the MCL substance increased during maturation for both sexes until 12 months, and then gradually declined until 48 months. The tensile strength remained relatively constant after 12 months of age but was slightly reduced at 48 months for the females. Thus, the rate of skeletal maturation contributed in part to the differences in the tensile properties of both the male and female rabbits.

Aging↗
PubMed1990

Measurement of changes in ligament tension with knee motion and skeletal maturation.

This study was designed to determine the in situ strains, stresses, and loads in the medial collateral ligament (MCL) of skeletally immature and mature rabbits. Using a noncontact method, the magnitudes of the in situ strains were first determined as a function of knee flexion angle. The MCL was divided into three anatomical regions (anterior, middle, and posterior) across its width. For strain measurements, the variation of a gauge length in these regions was obtained in the intact knee at 60, 90, and 120 deg of flexion. Subsequently, all soft tissues around the knee were dissected away, leaving the femur-MCL-tibia (FMT) complex. The MCL was allowed to retract freely and the new length, called the zero length, was measured. From this, the in situ strains were determined. To obtain the stress-strain relationship of the FMT complex, the specimens were subjected to tensile testing. Knowing the in situ strains and the stress-strain relationship, the in situ stresses in the three anatomical regions of the MCL were determined as a function of knee flexion angle. Multiplying these stresses by 1/3 of the cross-sectional area and summing the loads thus calculated, the in situ loads of the MCL were obtained. Our data suggest that the in situ load in the MCL is not large within the range of knee flexion angles studied, i.e., 1.4 to 2.7 N for the skeletally immature animals and 3.0 to 5.8 N for the skeletally mature animals. An increase in the in situ load with skeletal maturation was demonstrated.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Ideas and inducements in mental health policy.

Between 1946 and 1963, federal officials sought to change the national practice of providing mental health care, away from state-run mental institutions and toward outpatient care based in local communities. These policy makers relied on two policy instruments, ideas and inducements. Both instruments contributed to unexpectedly significant changes in federal, state, and local policy. I conclude that a policy instrument framework helps to disentangle the strands of successful public management, and that it is useful to think of ideas as policy instruments that offer leverage on policy outcomes.

Community Mental Health Centers↗
PubMed1986

Correlation of 1a afferent conduction with the ataxia of Fisher syndrome.

The pathophysiology of the ataxia in Fisher syndrome (the syndrome of acute ophthalmoplegia, ataxia, and areflexia) has been attributed to both peripheral nervous system pathology and cerebellar system dysfunction. Pathologic studies have demonstrated no consistent central nervous system abnormalities. We present a case in which abnormalities of 1a sensory conduction were found to correlate directly with the degree of ataxia, without impairment of motor or cutaneous sensory conduction. We propose that the ataxia seen in typical Fisher syndrome may be due to demyelination of 1a afferent fibers.

Adult↗