TY - JOUR A1 - Staat, Manfred A1 - Trenz, Eva A1 - Lohmann, Philipp A1 - Frotscher, Ralf A1 - Klinge, Uwe A1 - Tabaza, Ruth A1 - Kirschner-Hermanns, Ruth T1 - New measurements to compare soft tissue anchoring systems in pelvic floor surgery JF - Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials N2 - Suburethral slings as well as different meshes are widely used treating stress urinary incontinence and prolaps in women. With the development of MiniSlings and special meshes using less alloplastic material anchorage systems become more important to keep devices in place and to put some tension especially on the MiniSlings. To date, there are many different systems of MiniSlings of different companies on the market which differ in the structure of the used meshes and anchors. A new objective measurement method to compare different properties of MiniSling systems (mesh and anchor) is presented in this article. Ballistic gelatine acts as soft tissue surrogate. Significant differences in parameters like pull-out strength of anchors or shrinkage of meshes under loading conditions have been determined. The form and size of the anchors as well as the structural stability of the meshes are decisive for a proper integration. The tested anchorings sytems showed markedly different mechanical function at their respective load bearing capacity. As the stable fixation of the device in tissue is a prerequisite for a permanet reinforcement, the proposed test system permits further optimisation of anchor and mesh devices to improve the success of the surgical treatment Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jbm.b.32654 SN - 1552-4981 VL - 100B IS - 4 SP - 924 EP - 933 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken, NJ ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Staat, Manfred A1 - Vu, Duc Khoi T1 - Limit analysis of flaws in pressurized pipes and cylindrical vessels Part II: Circumferential defects JF - Engineering Fracture Mechanics ; 97(2013), H. 1 N2 - Upper and lower bound theorems of limit analyses have been presented in part I of the paper. Part II starts with the finite element discretization of these theorems and demonstrates how both can be combined in a primal–dual optimization problem. This recently proposed numerical method is used to guide the development of a new class of closed-form limit loads for circumferential defects, which show that only large defects contribute to plastic collapse with a rapid loss of strength with increasing crack sizes. The formulae are compared with primal–dual FEM limit analyses and with burst tests. Even closer predictions are obtained with iterative limit load solutions for the von Mises yield function and for the Tresca yield function. Pressure loading of the faces of interior cracks in thick pipes reduces the collapse load of circumferential defects more than for axial flaws. Axial defects have been treated in part I of the paper. Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.engfracmech.2012.05.017 SN - 0013-7944 VL - 97 SP - 314 EP - 333 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stadler, Andreas M. A1 - Garvey, G. J. A1 - Bocahut, A. A1 - Sacquin-Mora, S. A1 - Digel, Ilya A1 - Schneider, G. J. A1 - Natali, F. A1 - Artmann, Gerhard A1 - Zaccai, G. T1 - Thermal fluctuations of haemoglobin from different species : adaptation to temperature via conformational dynamics JF - Journal of the Royal Society Interface N2 - Thermodynamic stability, configurational motions and internal forces of haemoglobin (Hb) of three endotherms (platypus, Ornithorhynchus anatinus; domestic chicken, Gallus gallus domesticus and human, Homo sapiens) and an ectotherm (salt water crocodile, Crocodylus porosus) were investigated using circular dichroism, incoherent elastic neutron scattering and coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations. The experimental results from Hb solutions revealed a direct correlation between protein resilience, melting temperature and average body temperature of the different species on the 0.1 ns time scale. Molecular forces appeared to be adapted to permit conformational fluctuations with a root mean square displacement close to 1.2 Å at the corresponding average body temperature of the endotherms. Strong forces within crocodile Hb maintain the amplitudes of motion within a narrow limit over the entire temperature range in which the animal lives. In fully hydrated powder samples of human and chicken, Hb mean square displacements and effective force constants on the 1 ns time scale showed no differences over the whole temperature range from 10 to 300 K, in contrast to the solution case. A complementary result of the study, therefore, is that one hydration layer is not sufficient to activate all conformational fluctuations of Hb in the pico- to nanosecond time scale which might be relevant for biological function. Coarse-grained Brownian dynamics simulations permitted to explore residue-specific effects. They indicated that temperature sensing of human and chicken Hb occurs mainly at residues lining internal cavities in the β-subunits. Y1 - 2012 U6 - http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2012.0364 SN - 1742-5689 VL - 9 IS - 76 SP - 2845 EP - 2855 PB - The Royal Society CY - London ER -