The function of bipolar hip prostheses--a laboratory study using cadaveric acetabula.

Cadaveric acetabula were mounted in a hip simulator and the friction developed in each during articulation with a series of metal femoral head prostheses of differing sizes was measured. In a separate study, assembled Hastings bipolar hip prostheses were subjected to weight-bearing forces in the same acetabula and their self-righting mechanism was observed. The self-righting mechanism was found to function efficiently, in most cases overcoming the combined friction of the inner and outer articulations of the Hastings hip. However, during motion in the hip simulator a wide variation of friction was observed between different acetabula and within the same acetabulum with differing head size. In several cases this acetabular friction was found to be less than the friction in the inner articulation of the Hastings bipolar hip prosthesis, and this may explain some cases of reported failure of biarticular function.     

Wear and surface analysis of 38 mm ceramic-on-metal total hip replacements under standard and severe wear testing conditions

The purpose of this study was to compare the wear of zirconia-toughened alumina (ZTA) and alumina femoral heads tested against as-cast CoCrMo alloy acetabular cups under both standard and severe wear conditions. A new severe test, which included medio-lateral displacement of the head and rim impact upon relocation, was developed. This resulted in an area of metal transfer and an area of increased wear on the superior-anterior segment of the head that were thought to be due to dislocation and rim impact respectively. While the wear of all ceramic heads was immeasurable using the gravimetric method, the wear rates for the metallic cups from each test were readily calculated. An average steady state wear rate of 0.023 +/- 0.005 mm3/10(6) cycles was found for the cups articulating against ZTA under standard wear conditions. A similar result had previously been obtained for the wear of cups articulated against alumina heads of the same size (within the same laboratory). Under severe wear conditions an increase in the metallic cup steady state wear rate was found with the ZTA and alumina tests giving 0.623 +/- 0.252 and 1.35 +/- 0.154 mm3/10(6) cycles respectively. Wear of the ceramic heads was detected using atomic force microscopy which showed, under severe wear conditions, a decrease in polishing marks and occasional grain removal. The surfaces of the ZTA heads tested under standard conditions were virtually unchanged from the unworn samples. Friction tests showed low friction factors for all components, pre and post wear.     

Tribological assessment of a flexible carbon-fibre-reinforced poly(ether-ether-ketone) acetabular cup articulating against an alumina femoral head

New material combinations have been introduced as the bearing surfaces of hip prostheses in an attempt to prolong their life by overcoming the problems of failure due to wear-particle-induced osteolysis. This will hopefully reduce the need for revision surgery. The study detailed here used a hip simulator to assess the volumetric wear rates of large-diameter carbon-fibre-reinforced pitch-based poly(ether-ether-ketone) (CFR-PEEK) acetabular cups articulating against alumina femoral heads. The joints were tested for 25 x 10(6) cycles. Friction tests were also performed on these joints to determine the lubrication regime under which they operate. The average volumetric wear rate of the CFR-PEEK acetabular component of 54 mm diameter was 1.16 mm(3)/10(6) cycles, compared with 38.6 mm(3)/10(6) cycles for an ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene acetabular component of 28 mm diameter worn against a ceramic head. This extremely low wear rate was sustained over 25 x 10(6) cycles (the equivalent of up to approximately 25 years in vivo). The frictional studies showed that the joints worked under the mixed-boundary lubrication regime. The low wear produced by these joints showed that this novel joint couple offers low wear rates and therefore may be an alternative material choice for the reduction of osteolysis.     

Is the wear factor in total joint replacements dependent on the nominal contact stress in ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene contacts?

The exact dependence of wear factor on contact stress, load and apparent contact area is much disputed in the literature. This study attempts to solve this dispute. Pin-on-plate studies of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene against stainless steel were conducted under different combinations of load (33-250 N), nominal stress (0.56-12.73 MPa) and face diameter, as well as two tests where both stress and load were kept constant, while the diameter was changed. For these tests the centre of the pin face was bored out to create four different average pin diameters with similar face areas. Diameter and load were found to have no significant effect on the wear factor, while the wear factor decreased with increasing contact stress according to the relation K = 2 x 10(-6) sigma(-0.84).     

Pin-on-plate studies on the effect of rotation on the wear of metal-on-metal samples

An important cause of osteolysis and subsequent loosening of replacement hip joints is the body's biological response to polyethylene wear debris. Interest has thus been renewed in hard bearing surfaces such as metal-on-metal implants. Tests were performed on a pin-on-plate machine to determine the effects of pin rotation on the wear of two different compositions of cobalt chrome molybdenum (CoCrMo) against itself (high carbon and low carbon). With reciprocating motion only, the low carbon material gave an order of magnitude higher wear than the high carbon material. The overall wear (that for both the pin and the plate) was significantly reduced with added rotation for the low carbon material but remained approximately the same for the high carbon material. However, the wear of the low carbon material was not reduced below that of the high carbon material which remained the best material in terms of wear. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers     

A five-station hip joint simulator

A five-station hip joint wear simulator was designed and built which featured simplified motion and loading. An elliptical wear path was produced using approximately sinusoidal motion in the flexion/extension and internal/external rotation axes and the dynamic loading approximated to a square wave. Five 28 mm diameter zirconia femoral heads articulated against ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene acetabular cups in 25 per cent bovine serum for 5 x 10(6) cycles. Gravimetric wear measurement was used with moisture absorption compensation using a dynamically loaded soak control. With motion of physiological magnitude, the mean acetabular cup wear rate was 52.2 mm3/10(6) cycles which is comparable with a number of clinical studies.     

Design of a surface replacement prosthesis for the proximal interphalangeal joint

A surface replacement finger joint prosthesis was designed specifically for the proximal interphalangeal joint (PIPJ). The two-piece design consisted of a bi-condylar proximal phalangeal head and a conforming bi-concave middle phalangeal base. The bearing surfaces were designed as close to the original anatomy of the PIPJs as possible, using detailed information obtained from a previous anatomical study of 83 PIPJs by the present authors. Four sizes of prosthesis were designed with maximum head diameters of 7, 8, 9 and 10 mm. Fixation of the joint prosthesis was achieved by an interference fit between the stems of semicircular cross-section and the phalangeal bone shafts. The main considerations for the stem designs were the offset from the centre of rotation, angle of inclination, length, and cross-sectional shape and size. It is proposed that the two components will be made from cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) because it can be injection moulded to produce the complex shapes of the joint prosthesis. In addition, XLPE against itself has shown comparable wear rates with stainless steel against ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene from previous work by Joyce et al.     

Wideband quasi-optical Fresnel rhomb for millimetre wavelengths

The construction and performance measurement of a quasi-optical Fresnel rhomb for millimetre wavelengths is described. The Fresnel rhomb was found to operate successfully over W-band with an efficiency ranging from 85 to 95% as the frequency increased from 85 to 99 GHz. Thus, the device offers a wideband performance quarter-wave plate, suitable for quasi-optical systems at millimetre wavelengths     

Fixation of a surface replacement endoprosthesis of the metacarpophalangeal joint.

Surface replacement of the metacarpophalangeal joint would provide many benefits over current conservative treatment or the use of hinged spacers in excision arthroplasty. One of the main problems in surface replacement is securing adequate fixation of the prosthesis, especially if cement is not to be used. The direction and size of the forces that cause loosening have been described and a series of experiments in cadaveric bone have been used to elucidate the best shape of the component and stem to resist these forces. A 5 mm square section stem of 30 mm length gave the best overall result when combined with a flat on the palmar aspect of the inner bearing surface.     

Speed and accuracy of accessing information in working memory: An individual differences investigation of focus switching.

Three experiments examined the nature of individual differences in switching the focus of attention in working memory. Participants performed 3 versions of a continuous counting task that required successive updating and switching between counts. Across all 3 experiments, individual differences in working memory span and fluid intelligence were related to the accuracy of the counts, but not to the time cost associated with switching between counts. The authors suggest that working memory span and fluid intelligence measures partially index the ability to accurately switch information in and out of the focus of attention, but this variation is not related to the speed of switching. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)