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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>An
Open Invitation to the Musculoskeletal Modeling Research Community:</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>We
would like to invite you to participate in the second “Grand Challenge
Competition to Predict In Vivo Knee Loads" to be held at the 2011 ASME
Summer Bioengineering on June 22-25 in Farmington, Pennsylvania (</span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a
href="http://www.asmeconferences.org/SBC2011/index.cfm">http://www.asmeconferences.org/SBC2011/index.cfm</a></span><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Thanks
to funding provided by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
at the National Institutes of Health, we will be hosting the Grand Challenge
Competition at the ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference for four more years.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
goal of the competition is to evaluate quantitatively model-based estimates of
muscle and contact forces in the knee during gait using in vivo tibial contact
force data collected from subjects implanted with force-measuring knee
replacements. Competitors will use any musculoskeletal (or other) modeling
software and methods they desire to estimate medial and lateral tibial contact
forces for two specified gait trials WITHOUT knowing the actual contact force
measurements. Data files containing predicted medial and lateral contact forces
will be submitted with each competition abstract. Abstracts will be judged
using standard ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference criteria along with two
additional criteria: Accuracy and Novelty. The highest scoring abstracts will
be presented in a special session at the conference. At the end of the session,
the in vivo contact force measurements will be revealed, and lessons learned by
the competitors will be discussed. The winner of the competition will be
announced at the conference awards ceremony.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>The
research team has updated the existing SimTK.org project (<a
href="https://simtk.org/home/kneeloads">https://simtk.org/home/kneeloads</a>)
to provide all of the necessary information and data for the second competition.
All data collection and distribution have been IRB approved. Some in vivo
contact force data are included with the data sets to assist competitors in
developing their musculoskeletal models.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>If
you encounter any problems with the data, or if you have any questions, we will
be using the Public Forum feature of SimTK.org (under Advanced ->Public
Forums->open-discussion) as a central location for researchers to post their
inquiries and for the research team to respond.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Last
year, research teams from six countries participated in the competition. We
hope to have even broader participation for the second competition. We look
forward to having researchers from around the world take our challenge to see
how well they can predict in vivo knee loads during gait.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Sincerely,</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>B.J.
Fregly, Ph.D., University of Florida</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Darryl
D'Lima, M.D., Ph.D., Shiley Center at Scripps Clinic</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Thor
Besier, Ph.D., Stanford University</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>David
Lloyd, Ph.D., University of Western Australia</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Marcus
Pandy, Ph.D., University of Melbourne</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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