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    Improvement of mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite composites reinforced with i-Al64Cu23Fe13 quasicrystal
    (SAGE Publishing, 2020-10-15)
    Mechanical behavior of hydroxyapatite-based composites (HAp) was studied as a function of the reinforcement concentration of the quasicrystalline (QC) Al 64 Cu 23 Fe 13 alloy. The synthesis of the HAp matrix was carried out by sol-gel method, while the synthesis of the QC was performed by an arc furnace with a subsequent thermal treatment. The composites were made by powder metallurgy and cold compacted to form test pieces that were sintered with a constant flow of argon. The materials were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Fourier transform Raman spectroscopy. The study of mechanical strength was carried through compression tests. The biocompatibility of the composites was tested using an in-vitro cytotoxicity assay. The mechanical resistance of HAp/QC composites increased with the concentration of quasicrystalline reinforcement. Young’s modulus and compressive strength increased in 43% and 21%, respectively, with a 10 wt% QC reinforcement, which demonstrates an hybrid behaviour of the composite due to the inclusion of reinforcing particles in the pores of the matrix. This composite did not show cytotoxicity at any of the QC concentrations. A fabrication route is proposed as a fast, easy and high efficiency alternative for applications in the biomedical industry because of its high scalability potential.
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    Incorporating the six aims for quality in the analysis of trauma care
    (Taylor & Francis, 2021-07-20)
    The Institute of Medicine proposed six aims for healthcare quality improvement. Nevertheless, trauma care quality research still focuses on one aim at a time. This research investigates how to incorporate all aims into trauma care quality assessments using data from the Michigan Trauma Quality Improvement Program. Through a literature review, we identified quantifiable metrics for most aims, except for equity and patient-centeredness. We proposed two approaches to build composite scores accounting for equity via an adjustment procedure based on observed disparities. The single- and multi-aim approaches were compared through correlation, concordance of trauma centre categorisations, and hypothetical incentives. The differences in the approaches stemmed mainly from the weights allocated to the different aims. Results indicated the potential value of multi-aim quality assessment and provided insights about implementation challenges and opportunities. The methods are applicable to the preferred metrics; nevertheless, further research is needed in measuring patient-centeredness.