Spolu s narastajúcimi nárokmi na kvalitu liečby v oblasti popálenin a plastickej chirurgie existuje možnosť ako uplatniť nové technologické riešenie na liečbu porúch s celkovou stratou kožnej vrstvy. Diplomová práca sa zaoberá prípravou nanoštrukturovaného, dvojvrstvového skafoldu pre využitie v tkánivovom inžinierstve, ktorý nahrádza kožnú časť dermis (dolná porézna vrstva) a bazálnu membránu (horná a tenká nanovlákenná vrstva). Zákaldom dolnej pórovitej vrstvy je kolagén, charakterizovaný v prítomnosti ďalších polysacharidových aditív: chitosan, vápenatá soľ oxidovanej celulózy (CaOC), sodná soľ karboxymetylcelulózy (NaCMC). Zároveň prídavok dopamínu a fibroblastového rastového faktoru (FGF), s cieľom zlepšiť biomechanické vlastnosti, regulovať a podporovať hojenie kože. Tenká nanovlákenná vrstva je zložená zo želatíny, polycaprolaktónu (PCL) a CaOC. Sú navrhnuté dva rôzne mechnizmy prípravy skafoldu, ktoré sa odlišujú sa v prítomnosti sieťovaných a nesieťovaných nanovláken. Skafoldy boli charakterizované z hľadiska biomechanických, štruktúrnych vlastností a in vitro. Vrchná nanovlákenná vrstva poskytuje mechanickú podporu, ktorá je výrazne zvýšená prítomnosťou polydopamínu (PDA). Test botnania poréznej vrstvy skafoldu ukázal na dostatočne veľké póry, umožňujúce filtráciu buniek. Táto botnatosť bola znížená v prítomnosti PDA, ktorý má zároveň významný vplyv na časové predĺženie degrádácie v prítomnosti kolagenázy a lyzozýmu. Spolu s FGF výrazne podporil proliferizáciu a životaschopnosť myších fibroblastov. Nanoštrukturovaný, dvojvrstvový skafold má potenciál pre budúce aplikácie pri hojení rán, kedže sa vyznačuje dobrými mechanickými vlastnosťami a umožňuje bunkám adherovať, proliferovať a formovať extra celulárny matrix.

This diploma thesis deals with the normative requirements on the activities of restraint systems. It includes biomechanical limits of the human body, restraint systems, description of the principle of their action and legislation. Legislation, particularly regulations of ECE and EC directives defines the normative requirements on the activity of restraint systems in the context of the approval process. There are described two types of restraint systems: seat belts and airbags in details. There are created simulations of crashtests and reviewed influence of using restraint systems on elimination of negative phenomenon of car accidents.

Les signaux électromyographiques de surface (sEMG) correspondent aux signaux électriques composés par les potentiels d’action produits par les unités motrices d’un muscle actif et enregistrés par des électrodes de surface. Les signaux sEMG sont largement utilisés dans la médicine, le contrôle des prothèses et plus généralement dans les études biomécaniques portant sur l’analyse du mouvement humain. Les signaux sEMG sont très souvent utilisés comme un indicateur d’activation musculaire.Bien que présentant un intérêt évident, l’utilisation de ces signaux reste difficile compte tenu qu’ils sont souvent susceptibles d’interférence (diaphonie, ou plus communément « crosstalk ») entre les muscles contigus, parfois même éloignés. Cette contamination croisée est particulièrement présente pour des muscles présents dans un volume restreint, ce qui est le cas des muscles extenseur de l’index et du petit doigt, extensor indicis et extensor digiti minimi. L’interférence induit la réduction de la précision de l’estimation des activations musculaires et reste, à ce titre, un problème important et récurrent de la biomécanique. Afin que les signaux sEMG puissent être utilisés de manière plus robuste en biomécanique, il convient de réduire cette interférence avant de procéder à l’estimation des activations musculaires. Les activations individuelles des muscles participant au mouvement correctement estimées peuvent être utilisées comme données d’entrées d’un modèle biomécanique. Cette démarche, nommée dynamique directe, permet notamment d’estimer la force externe produite par le système et dans un second temps de comparer cette dernière avec la mesure réalisée grâce à un système dynamométrique. En ce sens cette démarche permet une validation indirecte des estimations réalisées à partir des signaux sEMG. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous avons modélisé le doigt et plus particulièrement le mécanisme extenseur qui est une structure qui transmet les forces des muscles-extenseurs aux articulations digitales. Cette structure est très mal connue du point de vue biomécanique et le plus souvent représentée par un ensemble des coefficients établis sur l’analyse de mains de cadavres dans des situations très particulières et standardisées (doigts en extension). Ainsi, l’objectif de ce travail de thèse était double : (1) améliorer l’estimation de la force au bout du doigt à partir des mélanges des sEMG sur la base d’extraction des activations des signaux sEMG des muscles extensor indicis et extensor digiti minimi, et (2) modélisation biomécanique du mécanisme extenseur du doigt. Pour cela, les signaux sEMG ont été enregistrés avec une matrice d’électrodes de surface haute densité à 64 capteurs. Ensuite, l’extraction des activations musculaires a été réalisée sur la base d’une procédure de classification des potentiels détectés en utilisant les invariants musculaires que sont la direction de propagation et la profondeur de l’unité motrice à l’origine du signal.Dans un deuxième temps, un modèle biomécanique précis du mécanisme extenseur du doigt a été créé, qui contient les tendons et les principaux ligaments représentés par des bandes et des surfaces élastiques. Un algorithme de paramétrage du modèle a été proposé. Ce type d ‘approche est nécessaire pour mieux décrire les déformations du système anatomique dans des situations de mouvement sain ou pathologique.Cette démarche a montré qu’elle était pertinente pour l’étude biomécanique du doigt. Elle présente des utilisations judicieuses pour les études biomécaniques portant sur l’évaluation clinique, la réhabilitation et le contrôle des prothèses myoélectriques. / The surface electromyographic signals (SEMG) are the electric signals, composed of electric potentials. These potentials are produced by the recruited motor units of an active muscle and captured by the surface electrodes. The SEMG signals are widely used in medicine, prosthesis control and biomechanical studies as an indicator of muscle activity.However, SEMG measurements are usually subjects of crosstalk or interference from nearby muscles. It appears when two or more muscles situated close to each other are active during a SEMG recording. An example of such muscles are the extensors of index and little finger, extensor indicis and extensor digiti minimi, situated close to each other and creating a significant amount of mutual crosstalk when simultaneously active. The crosstalk causes precision decrease of SEMG-based estimation of muscle activations. Hence, the crosstalk-reducing problem must be preliminary solved before muscle activation evaluation.Once the activations of individual muscles are estimated from the mixture, they may be used as an input of a finger biomechanical model to calculate a fingertip force. These models usually contain an extensor mechanism of the finger, which is a structure, transmitting the force from the extensor muscles to the finger joints. This structure is often taken into account as a set of coefficients. However, there is a lack of study about how these coefficients vary with posture, applied force, and subject variability.The purpose of this work is to improve the finger force estimation from the crosstalk-contaminated signals for isometric tasks by extracting the activations of individual muscles and improving the finger biomechanical model.Firstly, the SEMG signals were recorded with high-density surface electromyographic (HD-EMG) electrode matrix. The extraction was based on classifying the detected potentials according their propagation direction and depth of originating motor unit.Secondly, a precise biomechanical model of the finger extensor mechanism was created, containing the principal tendons and ligaments. The algorithm of the model parametrization was proposed as well.The proposed methods of muscle activation estimation along with the created extensor mechanism model may be used for calculating the fingertip force and internal tissues deformations for normal or pathological fingers.

Intervertebral discs (IVD) degenerate earlier than many other musculoskeletal tissues and will continue to degenerate with aging. IVD degeneration affects up to 80 percent of the adult population and is a major contributing factor to low back pain. Anti-sclerostin antibody is an FDA-approved treatment for osteoporosis in postmenopausal women at high-risk for fracture and, as a systemic stimulant of the Wnt/LRP5/b-Catenin signaling pathway, may impact the IVD. Stabilization of b-Catenin in the IVD increases Wnt signaling and is anabolic to the extracellular matrix (ECM), while deletion of b-catenin or LRP5 decreases Wnt signaling and is catabolic to the ECM. Here, we hypothesized that a reduction of Sost would stimulate ECM anabolism. Lumbar and caudal (tail) IVD and vertebrae of Sost KO and WT (wildtype) mice (n=8 each) were harvested at 16 weeks of age and tested by MRI, histology, immunohistochemistry, Western Blot, qPCR, and microCT. Compared to WT, Sost KO reduced sclerostin protein and Sost gene expression. Next, Sost KO increased the hydration of the IVD and the proteoglycan stain in the nucleus pulposus and decreased the expression of genes associated with IVD degeneration, e.g., heat shock proteins. However, deletion of Sost was compensated by less unphosphorylated (active) b-Catenin protein in the cell nucleus, upregulation of Wnt signaling inhibitors Dkk1 and sFRP4, and catabolic ECM gene expression. Consequently, notochordal and early chondrocyte-like cells (CLCs) were replaced by mature CLCs. Overall, Sost deletion increased hydration and proteoglycan protein content, but activated a compensatory suppression of Wnt signaling that may trigger chondrogenesis and may potentially be iatrogenic to the IVD in the long-term.

Coronary artery disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States with over 1 million acute coronary events predicted to take place in 2019 alone. Heart failure, a common and deadly sequela of myocardial infarction (MI), is attributed to adverse ventricular remodeling driven by cardiomyocyte death, inflammation, and mechanical factors. Despite strong evidence suggesting the importance of myocardial mechanics in driving cardiac remodeling, many <i>in vivo</i> MI studies still rely on 2D analyses to estimate global left ventricular (LV) function and approximate strain using a linear definition. These metrics, while valuable in evaluating the overall impact of ischemic injury on cardiac health, do not capture regional differences in myocardial contractility. The objective of this work is therefore to expand upon existing ultrasound studies by enabling regional analysis of 3D myocardial strain. By integrating our recently developed four-dimensional ultrasound (4DUS) imaging technique with a direct deformation estimation algorithm for 3D strain, we identified unique remodeling patterns and regional strain differences between two murine models of MI with different infarct severities. By constructing 3D strain maps of the remodeling LVs, we were able to capture strain heterogeneity and characterize a sigmoidal strain profile at infarct border zones. Finally, we demonstrated that the maximum principal component of the 3D Green-Lagrange strain tensor correlates with LV remodeling severity and is predictive of final infarct size. Taken together, the presented work provides a novel and thorough approach to quantify regional 3D strain, an important component when assessing post-MI remodeling.

Aus Punkt 1: "Neben der Funktionserfüllung und den Kosten ist der wirtschaftliche Erfolg eines Produktes nicht zuletzt dadurch gegeben, wie gut es den Wünschen, Bedürfnissen und Fähigkeiten seiner Nutzer entspricht. Zwischen Nutzer und Produkt existieren vielfältige Wechselwirkungen, die erfasst und verstanden werden müssen, um Produktkonzepte hinsichtlich der oben genannten Kriterien bewerten und optimieren zu können. Die Philosophie der menschzentrierten Produktentwicklung (MZP) besteht folglich darin, in allen Phasen der Produktentwicklung konsequent das Gesamtsystem bestehend aus Nutzer, Produkt und Umwelt zu betrachten."

Title: Analysis of the immediate effect of kinesiotaping on the upper limbs when landing into a press-up position when doing gymnastic aerobics Objectives: The aim of this diploma thesis is to find out if the use of the tape on the upper limbs changes the acceleration associated with the reaction inertial force of the arm, the angle in the elbow joint and wrist when landing into the press-up position, as well as subjective evaluation of probands. The hypothesis for the practical part is that the angles in the joints mentioned and the magnitude of the force with the applied tap change, which would result in better stabilization of the upper limbs in this element, as well as positive evaluation of the probands. Methods: The theoretical part deals with kinesiological-biomechanical description of upper limbs and the characteristics of gymnastic aerobics. Moreover, biomechanical analysis and kinesiotaping are described. The practical part is devoted to the measurement of landings into the press-up position  first without tape and then with tape. The tape is described in detail. The XSens MVN was used to record motion. Results: The results showed that kinesiotape had no effect on the angle of the elbow and wrist joints or shoulder joints when landing into the press-up position. However, a positive...

This doctoral thesis investigates the application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) for detection of labeled biomolecules on nitrocellulose paper. Nitrocellulose paper is a material often used for assays involving the concentration and labeling of a target analyte, followed by label detection. Among paper-based diagnostics are lateral-flow immuno-assays (LFIAs). Research efforts have made LFIAs into accessible, portable,and low-cost tools for detecting targets such as allergens, toxins,and microbes in food and water.Gold (Au) nanoparticles are standard biomolecular labels among LFIAs, typically detected via colorimetric means.Other labels, such as quantum dots, are also often metallic, and research is ongoing to expand the number of portable instrumentations applied to their detection. A wide diversity of lanthanide-complexed polymers (LCPs) are used as immunoassay labels but have been inapt for portable paper-based assays owing to lab-bound detection instrumentation, until now. LIBS is a multi-element characterization technique which has recently developed from a bench-top to a portable/hand-held analytical tool. This is among the first studies to show that LCPs can be considered as options for biomolecule labels in paper-based assays using bench-based and hand-held LIBS as label detection modalities.<div>Chapter one reviews the importance of rapid, multiplexed detection of chemical and biological contaminants, the application of current biosensors, and the role of LIBS as an emerging biosensor. Paper-based bioassays were identified as a promising approach for contaminant detection whose capabilities could be enhanced by LIBS. The next chapter dives into LIBS system designs to address which LIBS parameters were appropriate for label detection on paper assay material. A balance of LIBS parameters was found to be important for successful analyte detection. Chaptert hree optimizes a LIBS design for sensitive detection of 17 metals and establishes limit of detection values for 7 metals. Optimal detection parameters depended on the metal being detected and were applied to the objective of the final chapter: LIBS detection of labeled antigen immobilized on a paper-based assay. Both antibody and bacteria detection assays were successfully performed and analyzed using bench top and portable LIBS,suggesting an exciting future for the use of LIBS as a biosensor.The prospect of using LIBS for multiplexed, rapid and sensitive detection of biomolecules in assays is explored, laying grounds for future work in the ever-relevant field of biological and chemical hazard detection.<br></div>

<div>The thesis includes two application studies of computational fluid dynamics. The first is new and efficient drug delivery to the posterior part of the eye, a growing health necessity worldwide. Current treatment of eye diseases, such as age related macular degeneration (AMD), relies on repeated intravitreal injections of drug-containing solutions. Such a drug delivery has significant drawbacks, including short drug life, vital medical service, and high medical costs. In this study, we explore a new approach of controlled drug delivery by introducing unique porous implants. Computational</div><div>modeling contains physiological and anatomical traits. We simulate the IgG1 Fab drug delivery to the posterior eye to evaluate the effectiveness of the porous implants to control the drug delivery. The computational model was validated by established computation results from independent studies and experimental data. Overall, the results indicate that therapeutic drug levels in the posterior eye are sustained for</div><div>eight weeks, similar to those performed with intravitreal injection of the same drug. We evaluate the effects of the porous implant on the time evaluation of the drug concentrations in the sclera, choroid, and retina layers of the eye. Subsequent simulations were carried out with varying porosity values of a porous episcleral implant.</div><div>Our computational results reveal that the time evolution of drug concentration is distinctively correlated to drug source location and pore size. The response of this porous implant for controlled drug delivery applications was examined. A correlation between porosity and fluid properties for the porous implants was revealed in this study. The second application lays in the computational modeling of the oscillating flow in rectangular ducts. This computational study has further applications in investigating the fluid flow motion in bodily organs. It can be useful in studying the</div><div>response of bone cells to the wall shear stress in the human body. </div>

Motion capture has in recent years grown in interest in many fields from both game industry to sport analysis. The need of reflective markers and expensive multi-camera systems limits the business since they are costly and time-consuming. One solution to this could be a deep neural network trained to extract 3D joint estimations from a 2D video captured with a smartphone. This master thesis project has investigated the accuracy of a trained convolutional neural network, MargiPose, that estimates 25 joint positions in 3D from a 2D video, against a gold standard, multi-camera Vicon-system. The project has also investigated if the data from the deep neural network can be connected to a biomechanical modelling software, AnyBody, for further analysis. The final intention of this project was to analyze how accurate such a combination could be in golf swing analysis. The accuracy of the deep neural network has been evaluated with three parameters: marker position, angular velocity and kinetic energy for different segments of the human body. MargiPose delivers results with high accuracy (Mean Per Joint Position Error (MPJPE) = 1.52 cm) for a simpler movement but for a more advanced motion such as a golf swing, MargiPose achieves less accuracy in marker distance (MPJPE = 3.47 cm). The mean difference in angular velocity shows that MargiPose has difficulties following segments that are occluded or has a greater motion, such as the wrists in a golf swing where they both move fast and are occluded by other body segments. The conclusion of this research is that it is possible to connect data from a trained CNN with a biomechanical modelling software. The accuracy of the network is highly dependent on the intention of the data. For the purpose of golf swing analysis, this could be a great and cost-effective solution which could enable motion analysis for professionals but also for interested beginners. MargiPose shows a high accuracy when evaluating simple movements. However, when using it with the intention of analyzing a golf swing in i biomechanical modelling software, the outcome might be beyond the bounds of reliable results.