The objective of this study was to investigate associations between injury-related kinematic parameters and overweight measures for youth baseball pitchers. The injury-related kinematic parameters considered were measurements 1) at foot contact: stride length, front foot position, shoulder external rotation, shoulder abduction, and elbow flexion; 2) between FC and ball release: peak knee extension; and 3) at BR: shoulder abduction. Data from three separate collection sites examined pitching mechanics of 18 10- to 11-year-old pitchers, 11 14- to 16-year-old pitchers, and 104 16- to 18-year-old pitchers Linear regression analyses were performed to determine significant correlations between kinematic parameters and body mass index (BMI) for each of the three age groups (10- to 11-year-olds, 14- to 16-year-olds, 16- to 18-year-olds). The significant findings were 1) for 10- to 11-year-old pitchers, stride length was negatively correlated with BMI and front foot position was positively correlated with BMI and 2) for 16- to 18-year-old pitchers, shoulder external rotation was negatively correlated with BMI and elbow flexion was positively correlated with BMI. A key clinical implication of this study is that select kinematic parameters have been identified that could guide coaches and trainers when working with overweight pitchers. In addition, select kinematic parameters of concern have been identified for different age ranges.

The nanoscale dimension known as D-spacing describes the staggering of collagen molecules, which are fundamental to the biphasic makeup of bone tissue. This dimension was long assumed to be constant, but recent studies have shown that the periodicity of collagen is variable. Given that the arrangement of collagen molecules is closely related to the degree of bone mineralization, recent studies have begun to look at D-spacing as a potential factor in the ongoing effort to battle postmenopausal osteoporosis. The theoretical models presented by previous studies have only opted to model a single collagen-hydroxyapatite period, so the creation of an intricate computational approach that more exhaustively models a network of collagen and mineral is well-warranted. Sheep present an excellent opportunity to examine metabolic disorders, as their bone structure similar to that of the human skeleton. Six Rambouillet-cross ewes were used for the purpose of gathering experimental data. Three ewes underwent a sham surgery (controls), while an ovariectomy (OVX) was performed on the remaining three sheep. Each sheep was sacrificed after 12 months and their radius and ulna were harvested for atomic force microscopy and mechanical testing. Each sheep bone produced up to 25 beam samples that were available for analysis, and two were randomly selected from each test sheep. The cranial anatomical sector was selected for testing as it replicates the tensile loading condition characteristically experienced by collagen molecules and its exclusive examination removes any unintended variation due to bone section. Experimental D-spacing measurements were used in a finite element software, Abaqus, to create the ``Complex Model'': a large-scale, 2-D staggered array representation of collagen and hydroxyapatite periodicity. D-spacings intrinsic variability was mimicked through a Gaussian distribution that randomly determined periodic lengths based on provided experimental data. The model was generated with these random conditions for 2 x 100 units. Safeguards were implemented to ensure appropriate ratios of collagen to hydroxyapatite throughout the randomization. Collagen was assigned viscoelastic material properties originally developed by Dr. Frank Richter and modified by Miguel Mendoza. Hydroxyapatite was modeled as an elastic isotropic material. Four models were created using randomized D-spacings from control sheep and four separate models were created based on OVX sheep. Tangent delta--a damping characteristic--was recorded to evaluate bone viscoelasticity across four test frequencies: 1, 3, 9, and 15 Hz. Results strongly suggest that the Complex Model matches experimental findings more accurately than previous computational approaches. These results indicate the complicated network of many collagen units is an essential parameter of adequate modeling. A repeated measures analysis of variance was performed to examine the differences between control and OVX sheep. After adjusting for all other predictors, at the 1% significance level, after adjusting for all other variables, there is not enough evidence to convince this study that the Surgical Treatment alone has a significant impact on output tangent delta. This finding leads this study to conclude that OVX is fully accounted for within the Complex Model through the inclusion of its D-spacing, and the answers to bone's complicated mechanical properties during estrogen loss may lie in how OVX changes collagen viscoelasticity. Significant interactions were found between the Model Type and the Test Frequency. A Tukey-Kramer pairwise comparison was performed between Complex and Experimental data, which determined the Complex Model did not behave statistically differently from experimental findings at 15 Hz. This result suggests the Complex Model may begin to be validated to experimental results in a statistically meaningfully way that is a first for this style of FEA approach. The flexibility implemented in the randomization of the Complex Model welcomes refinement primarily in modeling viscoelasticity and fine-tuning the representation of mineralization. Through adjusting these material characteristics, the Complex Model may become an even more powerful tool in examining bone viscoelasticity and metabolic disorders.

The purpose of this thesis project is to demonstrate the ability to utilize electrophoresis in a cellulose paper microfluidic chip to manipulate charged particles. Materials were selected and a manufacturing protocol was created to successfully apply the electric field onto the paper chip. Experiments were performed to characterize the separation rates for charged, colorimetric dye, Orange G in the membrane as a function of an applied electric field, dye concentration, and distance traveled. The experiments confirmed that the electric field can be applied to the chip and particle separation rates were characterized. Next, the determined rates results were used to design a device that used a transverse electric field to the flow direction to separate Orange G into a collection channel. Results showed that electrophoresis can be used to separate the flow of charged particles on a paper microfluidic device. In conclusion, the application of electrophoresis was shown to be successful. An approach to be utilized as a sample treatment to improve the detecting capability of low cost paper devices for a more accurate diagnostic test in the developing world.

The D-spacing that is characteristic of collagen and its structural arrangement was previously thought to be a constant value. Much research is revealing that it is actually a distribution of values in biological tissues. Recent ovine experimentation has also shown that the D-spacing distribution is significantly altered following estrogen depletion. While ewes contain some major biological differences between their human counterparts, they are an economical and robust large animal model for postmenopausal osteoporosis. So, the exploration of the possible implications that D-spacing has on the mechanical properties of the whole bone utilizing animal models and computational methods is warranted. Six Warhill ewes were used in this experiment and were either ovariectomized or underwent a sham surgery. The animals were sacrificed after 3 years and the radius and ulna bone were harvested for further analysis. Rectangular beams of compact bone tissue were machined from six different sectors in the whole bone and dynamic mechanical analysis tests were performed on the 24 specimens. The viscoelastic property, tangent delta, was measured from each test at varying frequencies. A composite arrangement of collagen and hydroxyapatite were then computationally modeled utilizing finite element analysis to observe the effects of altered D-spacing on the mechanical properties. Jager and Fratzl’s staggered array model allowed the inclusion of a D-spacing configuration as well as the simplified 2 dimensional plane strain analysis. Hydroxyapatite was modeled as a perfectly elastic material, while the hydrated collagen component was linear viscoelastic through the use of the standard linear solid model. The main finding of the work is that D-spacing only significantly altered the tangent delta of the computational model when the mineral volume fraction changed. Since the composite model analyzed the structural arrangement of compact bone at such a small scale, the change in mineral volume fraction could only be realistically attributed to intrafibrillar mineral. The results of this preliminary analysis are promising and warrant the continued investigation of D-spacing and mineral content and their significance in the osteoporotic condition.

The objectives of this study were to (1) develop a non-invasive method (referred to as Smart Photo-Tape) to calculate participant-specific upper arm, forearm, and hand segment inertial properties (SIPs) (e.g. mass, center of mass, and radii of gyration) and (2) use those Smart Photo-Tape properties in inverse dynamics (ID) analyses to calculate injury-related pitching arm kinetics. Five 20- to 23- year-old baseball pitchers were photographed holding a baseball and analyzed using the Smart Photo-Tape method to obtain 3-D inertial properties for their upper arm, forearm, and hand. The upper arm and forearm segments were modelled as stacked elliptic cylinders and the hand was modelled as an ellipsoid. One participant received a dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scan and conducted a motion analysis study, pitching 10 fastballs. Scaled SIPs from cadaver studies and Smart Photo-Tape SIPs were compared using one sample t-tests. Pitching arm kinetic predictions were calculated and compared using scaled inverse dynamics (ID), Smart Hand ID (a combination of scaled SIPs for the upper arm and forearm and Smart Photo-Tape SIPs for the hand), and Smart Photo-Tape ID. The major result was that the Smart Photo-Tape SIPs were significantly different when compared to their respective scaled inertial properties, with the hand segment producing the largest difference between the scaled SIPs and Smart Photo-Tape SIPs. The implication of this study is that researches or coaches can use the Smart Photo-Tape method to calculate participant specific SIPs for pitching arm kinetic analysis.

Congenital and developmental limb deformities in canines are rare and can occur as a genetic disorder or be caused by extrinsic factors. Without surgery to correct the deformity, conservative management can be implemented to manage exercise and restrict high-intensity activity of the canine. However, any alteration to the normal gait and locomotive biomechanics of a canine can have significant long-term effects on the musculoskeletal health and quality of life of the canine. To improve quality of life and provide an alternative and more cost-effective approach to surgery, a custom prosthetic was designed and developed for a canine born with a congenital right forelimb deformity. Since canine prosthetics that are currently on the market are limited and expensive, the goal of this thesis was to create a durable and inexpensive prosthetic to stabilize the gait of a canine. A 1-year-old German Shepherd was the single subject of this research project. The major results indicated that the custom-designed, 3D printed prosthetic parts, which included the foot and the body of the prosthetic, were strong enough to withstand the high-impact forces and stresses experienced during the gait of a canine. The results also indicated that the prosthetic was comfortable and did not cause any pain or discomfort to the canine, as well as the prosthetic leg and foot being the correct length to stabilize the gait of the canine and redistribute the body weight of the tripod canine to that of a tetrapod canine. This study also developed and outlined a feasible fabrication process that could be repeated and used to produce other custom prosthetics for canines with rare congenital or development limb deformities as an alternative to surgery. In a future study, fatigue testing, tensile testing, and impact testing should be performed to determine the failure points. Fatigue testing is a critical factor in determining failure of a part.

Mechanical conditioning has been shown to promote tissue formation in a wide variety of tissue engineering efforts. However the underlying mechanisms by which external mechanical stimuli regulate cells and tissues are not known. This is particularly relevant in the area of heart valve tissue engineering (HVTE) owing to the intense hemodynamic environments that surround native valves. Some studies suggest that oscillatory shear stress (OSS) caused by steady flow and scaffold flexure play a critical role in engineered tissue formation derived from bone marrow derived stem cells (BMSCs). In addition, scaffold flexure may enhance nutrient (e.g. oxygen, glucose) transport. In this study, we computationally quantified the i) magnitude of fluid-induced shear stresses; ii) the extent of temporal fluid oscillations in the flow field using the oscillatory shear index (OSI) parameter, and iii) glucose and oxygen mass transport profiles. Noting that sample cyclic flexure induces a high degree of oscillatory shear stress (OSS), we incorporated moving boundary computational fluid dynamic simulations of samples housed within a bioreactor to consider the effects of: 1) no flow, no flexure (control group), 2) steady flow-alone, 3) cyclic flexure-alone and 4) combined steady flow and cyclic flexure environments. We also coupled a diffusion and convention mass transport equation to the simulated system. We found that the coexistence of both OSS and appreciable shear stress magnitudes, described by the newly introduced parameter OSI-t , explained the high levels of engineered collagen previously observed from combining cyclic flexure and steady flow states. On the other hand, each of these metrics on its own showed no association. This finding suggests that cyclic flexure and steady flow synergistically promote engineered heart valve tissue production via OSS, so long as the oscillations are accompanied by a critical magnitude of shear stress. In addition, our simulations showed that mass transport of glucose and oxygen is enhanced by sample movement at low sample porosities, but did not play a role in highly porous scaffolds. Preliminary in-house in vitro experiments showed that cell proliferation and phenotype is enhanced in OSI-t environments.

<p>This thesis presents a computational model of the surgical stitching tasks and a path planning algorithm for robotic assisted stitching. The overall goal of the research is to enable surgical robots to perform automatic suturing. Suturing comprises several distinct steps, one of them is the stitching. During stitching, reaching the desired exit point is difficult because it must be accomplished without direct visual feedback. Moreover, the stitching is a time consuming procedure repeated multiple times during suturing. Therefore, it would be desirable to enhance the surgical robots with the ability of performing automatic suturing. The focus of this work is on the automation of the stitching task. The thesis presents a model based path planning algorithm for the autonomous stitching. The method uses a nonlinear model for the curved needle - soft tissue interaction. The tissue is modeled as a deformable object using continuum mechanics tools. This thesis uses a mesh free deformable tissue model namely, Reproducing Kernel Particle Method (RKPM). RKPM was chosen as it has been proven to accurately handle large deformation and requires no re-meshing algorithms. This method has the potential to be more realistic in modeling various material characteristics by using appropriate strain energy functions. The stitching task is simulated using a constrained deformable model; the deformable tissue is constrained by the interaction with the curved needle. The stitching model was used for needle trajectory path planning during stitching. This new path planning algorithm for the robotic stitching was developed, implemented, and evaluated. Several simulations and experiments were conducted. The first group of simulations comprised random insertions from different insertion points without planning to assess the modeling method and the trajectory of the needle inside the tissue. Then the parameters of the simulations were set according to the measured experimental parameters. The proposed path planning method was tested using a surgical ETHICON needle of type SH 1=2 Circle with the radius of 8:88mm attached to a robotic manipulator. The needle was held by a grasper which is attached to the robotic arm. The experimental results illustrate that the path planned curved needle insertions are fifty percent more accurate than the unplanned ones. The results also show that this open loop approach is sensitive to model parameters.</p> / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

This study explored hydrostatic pressure as a mechanobiological parameter to control in vitro endothelial cell tubulogenesis in 3-D hydrogels as a model microvascular tissue engineering approach. For this purpose, the present investigation used an endothelial spheroid model, which we believe is an adaptable microvascularization strategy for many tissue engineering construct designs. We also aimed to identify the operating magnitudes and exposure times for hydrostatic pressure-sensitive sprout formation as well as verify the involvement of VEGFR-3 signaling. For this purpose, we used a custom-designed pressure system and a 3-D endothelial cell spheroid model of sprouting tubulogenesis. We report that an exposure time of 3 days is the minimum duration required to increase endothelial sprout formation in response to 20 mmHg. Notably, exposure to 5 mmHg for 3 days was inhibitory for endothelial spheroid lengths without affecting sprout numbers. Moreover, endothelial spheroids exposed to 40 mmHg also inhibited sprouting activity by reducing sprout numbers without affecting sprout lengths. Finally, blockade of VEGFR-3 signaling abolished the effects of the 20-mmHg stimuli on sprout formation. Based on these results, VEGFR-3 dependent endothelial sprouting appears to exhibit a complex pressure dependence that one may exploit to control microvessel formation.

ACL injury has been shown to have long-lasting and severe consequences on the different structures of the knee such as the articular cartilage and meniscus. Cartilage thickness changes in particular are indicative of osteoarthritic changes in the tibiofemoral joint. While there has been significant research focused on cartilage changes of the tibia and femur, there has been little work looking at patellar cartilage. The following goals were set forth for this study. First, to establish a robust coordinate system to accurately determine the location and orientation of the patella. Secondly, to determine the effects of ACL injury on patellar cartilage thickness. Twenty-one individuals (10 males, 11 females) were studied. All individuals had suffered first time ACL injuries to one of their knees. MRI data from both the healthy and injured knees were collected an average of 4 ± 0.9 years. Using MRI data, the bone and cartilage surfaces were manually segmented and imported into MATLAB for study. Differences in cartilage thickness values between the healthy and unhealthy knees within individuals was the primary measure of analysis. Analysis revealed a total of 9 square millimeters of cartilage surface area that were statistically significant. Four square millimeters of significant difference were found in males in the medial superior compartment, (mean thickness difference = -0.381 mm, with SD = 0.084mm, indicating thinning). Five square millimeters of significant difference were found in females in the medial inferior compartment (mean thickness difference = 0.551 mm, SD = 0.015mm, indicating thickening). This suggests regional and sex related cartilage thickness changes occur following ACL injury, surgery, and 4 year follow-up.