In addition, electrochemical measurements demonstrated that the coating application does not increase the susceptibility of medical-grade stainless steel to corrosion. In vitro cell testing using all cell types with which such coatings come into contact in the body (osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs)) showed very good biocompatibility towards all of the mentioned cells. It further confirmed that the coatings promoted MSCs osteogenic differentiation, which is the desired mode of action for orthopedic implants.The level of spatial accessibility is directly related to how street networks are connected. Connected or so-called “permeable” network systems encourage walking, cycling, and riding public transit. Fast urbanization during the recent decades in the world metropolises has created separated urban areas. Gated-style apartment complexes have led this segregation more obviously with their inaccessible internal networks. Opening the internal network of apartment complexes and redesigning the pedestrian paths among apartment buildings will significantly mitigate these networks’ adverse effects on network permeability and increase spatial accessibility. This paper analyzes how such an opening design proposal for apartment complexes can change spatial accessibility using the case study of Mapo-gu, Seoul, Korea. It simulates three types of street networks and compares the results of accessibility in three conditions (1) the internal networks of apartment complexes are not used by outsiders; (2) the internal networks of apartment complexes are open to outsiders with its existing entrances and path; and (3) the internal networks of sites are opened and redesigned by the Voronoi diagram method, which generates the optimal shortest path. An urban network analysis tool, Rhinoceros three-dimensional software, and Grashopper3D visual programming language have been used for the study results, which shows that a policy change in opening the intra-network of apartment complexes is likely to make the city more permeable. In addition, this study suggests extra modification on the pedestrian path for a higher level of accessibility in neighborhoods.The design of high-performance nanocomposites with improved mechanical, thermal or optical properties compared to starting polymers has generated special interest due to their use in a wide range of targeted applications. In the present work, polymer nanocomposites composed of polyurethane elastomers based on polycaprolactone or polycaprolactone/poly(ethylene glycol) soft segments and titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as an inorganic filler were prepared and characterized. Initially, the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles was modified with (3-iodopropyl) trimethoxysilane as a coupling agent, and thereafter, the tertiary amine groups from polyurethane hard segments were quaternized with the silane-modified TiO2 nanoparticles in order to ensure covalent binding of the nanoparticles on the polymeric chains. In the preparation of polymer nanocomposites, two quaternization degrees were taken into account (1/1 and 1/0.5 molar ratios), and the resulting nanocomposite coatings were characterized by various methods (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, contact angle, thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis). The mechanical parameters of the samples evaluated by tensile testing confirm the elastomeric character of the polyurethanes and of the corresponding composites, indicating the obtaining of highly flexible materials. The absorbance/transmittance measurements of PU/TiO2 thin films in the wavelength range of 200-700 nm show that these partially block UV-A radiation and all UV-B radiation from sunlight and could possibly be used as UV-protective elastomeric coatings.Electromagnetic tracking is a safe, reliable, and cost-effective method to track medical instruments in image-guided surgical navigation. However, patient motion and magnetic field distortions heavily impact the accuracy of tracked position and orientation. The use of redundant magnetic sensors can help to map and mitigate for patient movements and magnetic field distortions within the tracking region. We propose a planar inductive sensor design, printed on PCB and embedded into medical patches. The main advantage is the high repeatability and the cost benefit of using mass PCB manufacturing processes. Selleckchem AZD9291 The article presents new operative formulas for electromagnetic tracking of planar coils on the centimetre scale. The full magnetic analytical model is based on the mutual inductance between coils which can be approximated as being composed by straight conductive filaments. The full model is used to perform accurate system simulations and to assess the accuracy of faster simplified magnetic models, which are necessary to achieve real-time tracking in medical applications.Every woman needs to know about the importance of the function of pelvic-floor muscles and pelvic organ prolapse prevention, especially pregnant women because parity and labor are the factors which have the biggest influence on having pelvic organ prolapse in the future. In this article, we searched for methods of training and rehabilitation in prepartum and postpartum periods and their effectiveness. The search for publications in English was made in two databases during the period from August 2020 to October 2020 in Cochrane Library and PubMed. 77 articles were left in total after selection-9 systematic reviews and 68 clinical trials. Existing full-text papers were reviewed after this selection. Unfinished randomized clinical trials, those which were designed as strategies for national health systems, and those which were not pelvic-floor muscle-training-specified were excluded after this step. Most trials were high to moderate overall risk of bias. Many of reviews had low quality of evidence. Despite clinical heterogeneity among the clinical trials, pelvic-floor muscle training shows promising results. Most of the studies demonstrate the positive effect of pelvic-floor muscle training in prepartum and postpartum periods on pelvic-floor dysfunction prevention, in particular in urinary incontinence symptoms. However more high-quality, standardized, long-follow-up-period studies are needed.