The problem based learning (PBL) model of learning inherently provides an environment in which students can practice real world biomedical engineering utilizing cutting edge tools. The independent nature of the model promotes leadership and lifelong learning behaviors because the students are responsible for their learning and progress. The open-endedness of the problems encourages creativity and innovation as the students are allowed to define the direction and scope of the project. Since PBL is a team approach, students will become familiar with diversity of thought but also diversity in learning and problem solving styles. The proposed case will be on a much grander scale than anything the students have previously experienced. The activities will reinforce material from lecture and previous courses as well as teach the problem solving process.

Specialized surgical cutting instruments are required to provide orthopedic surgeons with access to joints of the body, without causing extensive harm to native tissue, thus enhancing post-operative outcome. Orthopaedic intervention inevitably exposes bone tissue to elevated temperatures due to mechanical abrasion. Elevated temperatures lead to thermal necrosis and apoptosis of bone cells, surrounding soft tissue, bone marrow and stem cells crucial for postoperative healing (1–4). Thermally damaged bone tissue is subsequently resorbed and in severe cases replaced by connective tissue (2, 5) Bone thermal damage occurs when the local temperature exceeds a thermal threshold, largely recognised as ≥47°C (4, 6). Furthermore, it has been proposed that the area of bone to experience thermal damage is directly proportional to the duration of exposure to the heat source (7, 8). However, precise thermal elevations occurring throughout bone during surgical cutting are not well defined. It is also unclear whether temperatures generated in osteocytes in vivo are sufficient to induce cellular responses. Experimental analysis of temperature generation throughout bone is challenging due to its complex heterogeneous composition. There is a specific need for advanced 3D computational models that incorporate multi-scale variability in both bone tissue composition and thermal properties to predict how organ level thermal elevations are distributed throughout bone cells and tissue during orthopaedic cutting procedures.

Endoscopic techniques require small perforation holes only as entries for optical and surgical instruments; such enabling the treatment of injuries with a minimized damage of the surrounding health tissue. But the surgeon has to operate in a 3D domain by looking at a distorted 2D image at the screen. It is well known, that a good surgeon needs a continuous training to perform such operations reliable in a top quality. To overcome the high costs and tight ethical restrictions of animal based education and training has result in an increasing development and application of virtual surgery simulators [1]. One of the main issues of surgery simulators is to ensure simultaneously the real time performance of the device, the high-level image representation and an acceptable force-feedback behavior. The basics of such simulators are mathematical models of the involved soft tissues, which have to perform in a realistic physical manner, with dynamic nonlinear large deformations, including the interaction of the different constituents (instrument/organ, organ/organ, organ by itself, cutting, bleeding etc). In the paper the focus is on realistic organ models and the realization of a fast contact search and reaction algorithm.

The Mitral Valve (MV) is the left atrioventricular valve that controls blood flow between the left atrium and the left ventricle (Fig 1A-B). It has four main components: (i) the mitral annulus – a fibromuscular ring at the base of the left atrium and the ventricle; (ii) two collagenous planar leaflets – anterior and posterior; (iii) web of chordae tendineae – classified into primary (inserting at the free edge of the leaflet), secondary (inserting into the base of the leaflet), tertiary (inserting into the annulus); and (iv) two papillary muscles that are part of the left ventricle. Normal function of the mitral valve involves a delicate force balance between different components of the valve.

A National survey approximately estimates 57 million people rode a bicycle in 2002. Males were more likely to ride bicycle than were females 1 . Another survey estimates US bicycles and accessories sales in 2010 to be 6 billion dollars. Several research studies implicated bicycle riding as risk factor for erectile dysfunction 2 . One possible reason is ischemic injury due to compression of perennial arteries between the bony pelvis and the bicycle seat. Previous studies attempted to measure this damage employed several indirect methods including computational models 3 , pressure mats on a stationary bike 4 , measuring transcutaneous oxygen pressure in the penis 5 , MR imaging of the pelvic region 6 , doppler flowmetry. None of these studies measured forces exerted directly on the perennial arteries and correlated to each riders occlusion force. Most of these studies are done on a stationary bike set up inside the lab. The objective of our study is to build a device to measure the forces exerted on the perennial arteries and develop a method to correlate the forces with each riders occlusion force. Another goal is to conduct the rides on the road where actual bike riding takes place. Recent publications 4 suggested that cutting off the nose from the saddles may help to prevent the damage to the arteries. Based on these findings several noseless seats came to market. We also wanted to test some of them in our study.

Abnormal knee movement during dynamic activities after ACL rupture has been reported[1–3]. A reconstructive surgery is recommended by orthopedic surgeons to restore joint stability. After ACL reconstructive surgery and rehabilitation that follows the normal knee movement has not been fully restored, especially for the nonsagittal plane rotations, during walking and high demanding activities (stairs, pivoting, cutting, jump and landing, etc.) [2, 4–10].

Stability has been defined as the ability to transfer the vertical projection of the center of gravity to the supporting base and keep the knee as still as possible 1 . The transfer of weight (load) to a single limb while still in double-stance is functional and simulates every day activities such as loading the dishwasher, transferring laundry, or reaching to pick up an item. Adding rotation in a transverse plane to this weight shift challenges knee stability, especially those with a total knee replacement (TKR). A clinical sign of laxity in mid-flexion indicates a risk for developing symptomatic instability; a common reason for TKR revision 2 . Laxity is usually measured clinically in a single plane (anterior-posterior) and functionally with added turning maneuvers. Single-leg weight acceptance has been analyzed during athletic activities such as hopping, landing with cutting as well as in the older population with stair ascent and descent 3–5 . Although single-leg performance tests are a good indicator of knee stability, weight shift during double-stance may be more functional for individuals with a TKR. A functional double-stance test should include both flexion/extension with rotation and loading. Our study utilizes a novel approach (Target Touch Task) in order to facilitate transfer of load to one extremity during squatting or extending while still in double-stance. The objective of this study was to identify strategies utilized by individuals with a TKR while in double-stance transferring load during rotational activities.

Recently, computer-aided robotic systems, such as Robodoc ® system and Makoplasty ® system, have been used to enable surgeons to improve the accuracy of cutting and alignment in knee and hip arthroplasty [1,2,3]. The incision is normally done at the anterior part of the knee and the cutting is performed from the frontal direction during the TKA because enough working space of the tools is required during cutting process. Currently minimal invasive surgery (MIS) is the most popular keyword in the arthroplasty [4], and at this moment the MIS could not be performed common in the TKA using the robotic system. This MIS TKA could be achieved in lateral direction, and different cutting process also changes the robot configuration, which mainly affect the system accuracy. In this study, we investigated what additional advantages could be achieved in the bone cutting process laterally using laboratory-level less-invasive TKA surgical robot system.

Both expandable and non-expandable interbody cage designs are available to surgeons for cases involving spinal reconstruction and stabilization following single level lumbar corpectomy [1]. Different expandable cage designs are on the market [2], but all involve a manual mechanism to intraoperatively adjust the compressive load applied by the cage against the vertebral body endplates. Non-expandable cages do not have such a mechanism, and surgeons rely on cutting the cage to the appropriate length to achieve a “press-fit.” The clinical reasoning behind the expandable cage design is that the adjustability of the device will allow the surgeon to achieve the maximum contact area between the cage and the vertebral endplate without “overstuffing” the interbody space and thus causing a sagittal-plane deformity.