Knee wear simulation under conditions of highly demanding daily activities--influence on an unicompartmental fixed bearing knee design.

The objectives of our in vitro study were to evaluate a knee wear simulation based on patient daily activities in combination with artificial ageing of polyethylene inserts to create an optimised simulation of in vivo wear modes. A wear simulation was performed on fixed bearing unicompartmental knee arthroplasty (UKA) devices in a direct comparison of level walking (as given by the ISO 14243-1:2002(E) profiles) and in a customised test configuration based on activities for level walking (10%), stairs ascending (40%), stairs descending (40%), chair rising (8%) and deep squatting (2%). The cumulative gravimetric wear was estimated to be 15.

Gas temperature measurements inside a hot wall chemical vapor synthesis reactor.

One key but complex parameter in the chemical vapor synthesis (CVS) of nanoparticles is the time temperature profile of the gas phase, which determines particle characteristics such as size (distribution), morphology, microstructure, crystal, and local structure. Relevant for the CVS process and for the corresponding particle characteristics is, however, not the T(t)-profile generated by an external energy source such as a hot wall or microwave reactor but the temperature of the gas carrying reactants and products (particles). Due to a complex feedback of the thermodynamic and chemical processes in the reaction volume with the external energy source, it is very difficult to predict the real gas phase temperature field from the externally applied T(t)-profile.

Definition and evaluation of testing scenarios for knee wear simulation under conditions of highly demanding daily activities.

The objective of our study was the definition of testing scenarios for knee wear simulation under various highly demanding daily activities of patients after total knee arthroplasty. This was mainly based on a review of published data on knee kinematics and kinetics followed by the evaluation of the accuracy and precision of a new experimental setup. We combined tibio-femoral load and kinematic data reported in the literature to develop deep squatting loading profiles for simulator input.

Delineation of distinct tumour profiles in mantle cell lymphoma by detailed cytogenetic, interphase genetic and morphological analysis.

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is an aggressive lymphoid tumour characterized by the translocation t(11;14)(q13;q32) and a poor clinical outcome (median survival: 3-4 years). Recent studies revealed that increased proliferation of the tumour cells and certain chromosomal aberrations, such as deletions of 17p13 and 9p21 represent major adverse biological markers in this disease, although the molecular targets of chromosomal imbalances in MCL have not been identified for the large majority of loci affected. To correlate histomorphological and proliferation features of MCL with genetic findings, we investigated 223 MCL by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) (n = 157) and/or classical cytogenetic banding analysis (n = 129).