Recurring Meeting of Cleveland Clinic - University of Utah

Date: August 12, 2015

Time: 2:00 PM EST

Means: Conference call

Attendees:

1. Ahmet Erdemir (Cleveland Clinic)
2. Jeff Weiss (University of Utah)
3. Ben Ellis (University of Utah)
4. Steve Maas (University of Utah)

Agenda:

1. In situ strain feature - publication progress and running simulations.

   • http://wiki.simtk.org/openknee/Febio/InSituStrain

2. Implementation of connector elements - cross verification.

   • http://wiki.simtk.org/openknee/Febio/RigidBodyMotions

3. New springs in Open Knee(s) - Generation 1 model.
4. Update on data dissemination.
5. Decide action items for next meeting.
6. Other.

Immediate Action Items:

• Cleveland Clinic (Ahmet)
  • Troubleshoot Grood and Suntay linkage system implemented in Abaqus for cross-verification.

• University of Utah (Steve & Jeff)

  • Finalize draft of in situ strain manuscript for submission.

Notes:

1. In situ strain feature - publication progress and running simulations.
   • Jeff sent Ahmet a copy of the draft manuscript which included an introduction and the methods section. The group discussed what to include in the paper. Steve was working on adding the MCL model from a previous study by Jeff. In addition, he had some simulation results with the Open Knee(s) - Generation 1 model. The goal is to first illustrate the method with simple problems and than show exciting case studies, e.g., MCL, Open Knee(s).
   • Steve was wondering if we should try to enhance the Open Knee(s) model for simulations. Both Jeff and Ahmet recommended to move away from knee flexion and focus on illustration of in situ strain feature at zero flexion with the existing model. Some examples are application of anterior translation or a rotation, e.g. varus-valgus. These may illustrate how in situ strain feature may change the ligament strain and reaction force to keep the joint at the desired translation or rotation.
   • In response to Jeff, Steve confirmed that in situ strains from Dhaher's study were implemented in the Open Knee(s) - Generation 1 model with some tweaks. It is desirable to cite Dhaher's study as a source for in situ strains.
   • Jeff asked Steve to provide results to edit the manuscript further. He also advised Steve to focus on methods and describe all the applications including the test problems and case studies. Once Steve drafts the results and the set of figures with legends, Jeff and Ahmet can take over.
   • Potential journals for submission were considered. Jeff has an interest in submitting to Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology. Ahmet also mentioned International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering as another possibility.
   • Jeff warned Steve about color printing of figures: if necessary, to combine color figures together to decrease costs; otherwise, to be attentive to gray scale view of the color figures as the print copies will be in gray scale.
2. Implementation of connector elements - cross verification.
   • Ahmet implemented the Grood and Suntay linkage system in Abaqus. He tried to reproduce the model and simulation scenario provided by Gerard Ateshian. He noticed some issues when resolving the movements. He needs to troubleshoot the implementation to ensure that the origin of these issues, e.g. a gimbal lock or an implementation error.
3. New springs in Open Knee(s) - Generation 1 model.
   • Ahmet summarized work by summer students to implement various sets of springs to stabilize the menisci. The Cleveland Clinic team will need to evaluate these and implement them to the main branch of Open Knee(s) - Generation 1 model. The University of Utah team may want to utilize these for simulations with the Open Knee(s) model.
4. Update on data dissemination.
   • Ahmet mentioned that anatomical imaging data for seven knees are publicly available in the project site.
5. Decide action items for next meeting.
   • See Immediate Action Items above.
6. Other.

   • Jeff asked about progress by Stanford University team. Ahmet noted that the Open Knee(s) team is waiting for the SimTk.org update to focus on cloud computing feature.

   • The participants discussed if current conference call schedule works or not. Jeff has a conflict for next month's meeting. Otherwise, the scheduling works for the group.
   • The University of Utah team noted that there were some students in the FEBio workshop (~3) who were using Open knee as part of their training objective. The workshop had 48 attendees with diverse experience.