Medical Design Briefs - March 2022 - 36

vertebra replica. A robotic arm flexed and
extended the cervical spine replica while
the intervertebral loads were monitored
with the soft magnetic sensor array to classify
the spine posture with four different
machine-learning algorithms. The algorithms
classified the amplitude and the
locations that external loads were applied.
Researchers then compared the capabilities
of the algorithms to classify five different
postures of the human spine robotic
replica (center, mid-flexion, flexion, midextension,
and extension).
Results of the study, published in the
journal Sensors, showed that the soft magnetic
sensor array system had the high
capability to classify the five different postures
of the spine with 100 percent accuracy,
which can be a predictor of different
problems of the spine that people experience.
These results indicate that the integration
of the soft magnetic sensor array
within the artificial disc implanted, robotically
actuated spine replica has the
potential to generate physiologically relevant
data before invasive surgeries, which
could be used preoperatively to assess the
suitability of a particular intervention for
specific patients.
" A flexible magnetic sensor array is a
new method to realize soft and stretchable
magnets by mixing silicone with
magnetic powder, " says Engeberg, a professor
in the department of ocean and
mechanical engineering within the
College of Engineering and Computer
Science, member of FAU's Center for
Complex Systems and Brain Sciences
within the Charles E. Schmidt College of
Science, and a member of the FAU StilesNicholson
Brain Institute. " These sensors
are low cost, highly sensitive, and easily
integrated into robotic systems as the soft
medium can be manipulated in many
shapes and sizes. "
In addition to preoperatively assessing
the suitability of a particular intervention
for specific patients, this new
approach could potentially assist the
postoperative care of people with cervical
disc implants. Currently, postoperative
instructions for patients with spine
implants are qualitative (do as much as
you can until the pain starts), creating
fears in both the patient and the surgeon.
Questions regarding how much bending,
lifting, and exercising is permissible after
a cervical implant operation could be
studied and correlated with biomechanical
data generated by the sensorized
robotic replica with individually tailored
postoperative care that could be prescribed
to reduce complications.
" This new approach has a powerful
potential to enable surgeons to preview
and compare the effects of different surgical
interventions in a patient-specific
manner using robotically actuated spine
twins, " says Vrionis. " Moreover, the novel
system could help in determining
whether a constrained, semi-constrained,
or unconstrained device could be the
best fit or even a fusion device. Following
surgery, the spine replica could also assist
us in estimating whether there is sufficient
motion at the operated level and
possibly helping us to determine if we
need to change the rehabilitation program
to prevent calcification and subsequent
loss of intended motion. "
In the future, the researchers say that
this sensor could also potentially be coupled
with CT scans to address the issue of
spinal malalignment.
" Our new approach could provide surgeons
with firsthand data to compare
the effects of different surgical interventions
to treat diseases of the spine
before surgery and potentially reduce
the rates of complication and failure of
artificial disc implantation, " says study
co-author Chi-Tay Tsai, PhD, a professor
in FAU's department of ocean and
mechanical engineering.
Study co-authors are Maohua Lin,
PhD, research scientist; and Moaed A.
Abd, a PhD student and research assistant,
FAU's department of ocean and
mechanical engineering; and Alex
Taing, an undergraduate student at the
University of Virginia.
This article was written by Gisele Galoustian.
For more information, visit www.fau.edu. A
video of the technology is available at https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p4R8ju8c8Q.
Sustainable Silk Material Ideal for Wearable and
Implantable Applications
The material is optically
transparent and easily
manipulated.
AIP Publishing
Melville, NY
While silk is best known as a component
in clothes and fabric, the material
has plentiful uses, spanning biomedicine
to environmental science. In
Applied Physics Reviews, researchers from
Tufts University discuss the properties of
silk and recent and future applications
of the material.
Silk makes an important biomaterial,
because it does not generate an immune
response in humans and promotes the
growth of cells. It has been used in drug
36
Cov
delivery, and because the material is flexible
and has favorable technological properties,
it is ideal for wearable and
implantable health monitoring sensors.
As an optically transparent and easily
manipulated material at the nano- and
microscale, silk is also useful in optics and
electronics. It is used to develop diffractive
optics, photonic crystals, and waveguides,
among other devices.
More recently, silk has come to the forefront
of sustainability research. The material
is made in nature and can be re -
processed from recycled or discarded
clothing and other textiles. The use of silk
coatings may also reduce food waste,
which is a significant component of the
global carbon footprint.
" We are continuing to improve the integration
between different disciplines, " says
www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
ToC
author Giulia Guidetti. " For example, we
can use silk as a biomedical device for drug
delivery but also include an optical
response in that same device. This same
process could be used someday in the food
supply chain. Imagine having a coating
that preserves the food but also tells you
when the food is spoiled. "
Silk is versatile and often superior to
more traditional materials, because it can
be easily chemically modified and tuned
for certain properties or assembled into a
specific form depending on its final use.
However, controlling and optimizing
these aspects depends on understanding
the material's origin.
The bottom-up assembly of silk by silkworms
has been studied for a long time,
but a full picture of its construction is still
lacking. The team emphasized the imporMedical
Design Briefs, March 2022
http://www.fau.edu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3p4R8ju8c8Q http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com
Medical Design Briefs - March 2022

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