Xiaogai Li

KTH Royal Institute of Technology | KTH · Division of Neuronic Engineering

Road traffic injuries are a leading public health concern worldwide. Almost half of all traffic-related deathsinvolve vulnerable road users [1], such as pedestrians and cyclists, and there are no indicators of any downward trends [2-3]. To establish targeted intervention strategies, investigations of traffic accident situations using virtual human...

Traumatic head injuries remain a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Although skull fractures are one of the most common head injuries, the fundamental mechanics of cranial bone and its impact tolerance are still uncertain. In the present study, a strain-rate-dependent material model for cranial bone has been proposed and implemented i...

Finite element human body models (HBMs) are becoming increasingly important numerical tools for traffic safety. Developing a validated and reliable HBM from the start requires integrated efforts and continues to be a challenging task. Mesh morphing is an efficient technique to generate personalized HBMs accounting for individual anatomy once a base...

Vulnerable road users are overrepresented in the worldwide number of road-traffic injury victims. Developing biofidelic male and female pedestrian HBMs representing a range of anthropometries is imperative to follow through with the efforts to increase road safety and propose intervention strategies. In this study, a 50th percentile male and female...

Traumatic head injuries remain a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Although skull fractures are one of the most common head injuries, the fundamental mechanics of cranial bone and its impact tolerance is still uncertain. In the present study, a strain-rate-dependent material model for cranial bone has been proposed and implemented in...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an alarming global public health issue with high morbidity and mortality rates. Although the causal link between external insults and consequent brain injury remains largely elusive, both strain and strain rate are generally recognized as crucial factors for TBI onsets. With respect to the flourishment of strain-base...

Introduction Despite demonstrated effectiveness of child restraint system (CRS), its use in China is extremely low due to the lack of national legislation requiring the use of CRS, as well as lack of child passenger safety knowledge among caregivers. Implementing an effective intervention is urgently needed to promote the use of CRS. In this study,...

Incorporating neuroimaging-revealed structural details into finite element (FE) head models opens vast new opportunities to better understand brain injury mechanisms. Recently, growing efforts have been made to integrate fiber orientation from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) into FE models to predict white matter (WM) tract-related deformation that...

Hippocampal injury is common in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients, but the underlying pathogenesis remains elusive. In this study, we hypothesize that the presence of the adjacent fluid-containing temporal horn exacerbates the biomechanical vulnerability of the hippocampus. Two finite element models of the human head were used to investigate th...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an alarming global public health issue with high morbidity and mortality rates. Although the causal link between external insults and consequent brain injury remains largely elusive, both strain and strain rate are generally recognized as crucial factors for TBI onsets. With respect to the flourishment of strain-base...

Hippocampal injury is common in traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients, but the underlying pathogenesis remains elusive. In this study, we hypothesize that the presence of the adjacent fluid-containing temporal horn exacerbates the biomechanical vulnerability of the hippocampus. Two finite element models of the human head were used to investigate th...

Incorporating neuroimaging-revealed structural details into finite element (FE) head models opens vast new opportunities to better understand brain injury mechanisms. Recently, growing efforts have been made to integrate fiber orientation from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) into FE models to predict white matter (WM) tract-related deformation that...

Finite element (FE) models of the human head are valuable instruments to explore the mechanobiological pathway from external loading, localized brain response, and resultant injury risks. The injury predictability of these models depends on the use of effective criteria as injury predictors. The FE-derived normal deformation along white matter (WM)...

Finite element (FE) head models have become powerful tools in many fields within neuroscience, especially for studying the biomechanics of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Subject-specific head models accounting for geometric variations among subjects are needed for more reliable predictions. However, the generation of such models suitable for studyin...

Background Hyperosmotic therapy is a mainstay treatment for cerebral edema. Although often effective, its disadvantages include mainly acting on the normal brain region with limited effectiveness in eliminating excess fluid in the edema region. This study investigates how to configure our previously proposed novel electroosmosis based edema treatme...

Concussion and repeated exposure to mild traumatic brain injury are risks for athletes in many sports. While direct head impacts are analyzed to improve the detection and awareness of head acceleration events so that an athlete's brain health can be appropriately monitored and treated. However, head accelerations can also be induced by impacts with...

Treatment of cerebral edema remains a major challenge in clinical practice and new innovative therapies are needed. This study presents a novel approach for mitigating cerebral edema by inducing bulk fluid transport utilizing the brain's electroosmotic property using an anatomically detailed finite element head model incorporating anisotropy in the...

Objective: Neck muscle activation plays an important role in maintaining posture and preventing trauma injuries of the head-neck system, levels of which are primarily controlled by the neural system. Thus, the present study aims to establish and validate a neuromuscular head-neck model as well as to investigate the effects of realistic neural refl...

Sports concussion is a form of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) caused by an impulsive force transmitted to the head. While concussion is recognized as a complex pathophysiological process affecting the brain at multiple scales, the causal link between external load and cellular, molecular level damage in mTBI remains elusive. The present study p...

Finite element (FE) models of the human head are valuable instruments to explore the mechanobiological pathway from external loading, localized brain response, and resultant injury risks. The injury predictability of these models depends on the use of effective criteria as injury predictors. The FE-derived normal deformation along white matter (WM)...

Finite element (FE) head models have emerged as a powerful tool in many fields within neuroscience, especially for studying the biomechanics of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Personalized head models are needed to account for geometric variations among subjects for more reliable predictions. However, the generation of subject-specific head models wi...

Finite element head (FE) models are important numerical tools to study head injuries and develop protection systems. The generation of anatomically accurate and subject-specific head models with conforming hexahedral meshes remains a significant challenge. The focus of this study is to present two developmental works: first, an anatomically detaile...

Bicycle helmets are shown to offer protection against head injuries. Rating methods and test standards are used to evaluate different helmet designs and safety performance. Both strain-based injury criteria obtained from finite element brain injury models and metrics derived from global kinematic responses can be used to evaluate helmet safety perf...

Traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is a critical public health issue with its pathogenesis remaining largely elusive. Finite element (FE) head models are promising tools to bridge the gap between mechanical insult, localized brain response, and resultant injury. In particular, the FE-derived deformation along the direction of white matter (WM) tracts (i...

Objective: Cerebral edema characterized as an abnormal accumulation of interstitial fluid has not been treated effectively. We propose a novel edema treatment approach to drive edematous fluid out of the brain by direct current utilizing brain tissue's electroosmotic property. Methods: A finite element (FE) head model is developed and employed t...

The meninges are membranous tissues which are pivotal in maintaining homeostasis of the central nervous system. Despite the importance of the cranial meninges in nervous system physiology and in head injury mechanics, our knowledge of the tissues’ mechanical behaviour and structural composition is limited. This systematic review analyses the existi...

Traumatic axonal injury (TAI) is a critical public health issue with its pathogenesis remaining largely elusive. Finite element (FE) head models are promising tools to bridge the gap between mechanical insult and localized brain response and resultant injury. In particular, the FE-derived deformation along the direction of white matter (WM) tracts...

Porous fusion cage is considered as a satisfactory substitute for solid fusion cage in transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) surgery due to its interconnectivity for bone ingrowth and appropriate stiffness reducing the risk of cage subsidence and stress shielding. This study presents an integrated global-local topology optimization approach...

Finite element head (FE) models are important numerical tools to study head injuries and develop protection systems. The generation of anatomically accurate and subject-specific head models with conforming hexahedral meshes remains a significant challenge. The focus of this study is to present two developmental work: First, an anatomically detailed...

Acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) in the elderly is currently a matter of concern due to the growing number of the aging population and their higher incident rate compared to the younger adults. Computational head models that can replicate this age-related injury pattern are valuable tools to help addressing this concern. Although a biofidelic brain-s...

Brain strain secondary to head impact or inertial loading is closely associated with pathologic observations in the brain. The only experimental brain strain dataset under loadings close to traumatic levels was calculated by imposing the experimentally measured motion of markers embedded in the brain to an auxiliary model formed by triad elements (...

Periventricular injury is frequently noted as one aspect of severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and the presence of ventricles has been hypothesized to be a primary pathogenesis associated with the prevalence of periventricular injury in TBI victims. Although substantial endeavors have been made to elucidate the potential mechanism, a thorough expl...

Brain strain secondary to head impact or inertial loading is closely associated with pathologic observations in the brain. The only experimental brain strain dataset under loadings close to traumatic levels was calculated by imposing the experimentally measured motion of markers embedded in the brain to an auxiliary model formed by triad elements (...

Playgrounds surface test standards have been introduced to reduce the number of fatal and severe injuries. However, these test standards have several simplifications to make it practical, robust and cost-effective, such as the head is represented with a hemisphere, only the linear kinematics is evaluated and the body is excluded. Little is known ab...

Acute subdural hematoma (ASDH) due to bridging vein (BV) rupture is a frequent and lethal head injury, especially in the elderly. Brain atrophy has been hypothesized to be a primary pathogenesis associated with the increased risk of ASDH in the elderly. Though decades of biomechanical endeavours have been made to elucidate the potential mechanisms,...

Traumatic brain injury is a leading cause of disability and mortality. Finite element-based head models are promising tools for enhanced head injury prediction, mitigation and prevention. The reliability of such models depends heavily on adequate representation of the brain–skull interaction. Nevertheless, the brain–skull interface has been largely...

Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) is considered by some authors to be a leading cause of traumatic death in children less than two years of age and skull fractures are commonly seen in cases of suspected AHT. Today, diagnosing whether the observed fractures are caused by abuse or accidental fall is still a challenge within both the medical and the legal co...

Relative motion between the brain and skull and brain deformation are biomechanics aspects associated with many types of traumatic brain injury (TBI). Thus far, there is only one experimental endeavor (Hardy et al., 2007) reported brain strain under loading conditions commensurate with levels that were capable of producing injury. Most of the exist...

Abstract Playground-related traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) in children remain a considerable problem world-wide and current safety standards are being questioned due to historical reasons where the injury thresholds had been perpetuated from automobile industry. Here we investigated head injury mechanisms due to falls on playgrounds using a previo...

Human body models (HBMs) have the potential to provide significant insights into the pediatric response to impact. This study describes a scalable/posable approach to perform child accident reconstructions using the Position and Personalize Advanced Human Body Models for Injury Prediction (PIPER) scalable child HBM of different ages and in differen...

Material properties of the head components. (DOCX)

Animations of HBM kinetics during the simulated entire impact for Case 2012. (MP4)

In detail description of accident Case 2017 from the CASPER accident reconstruction database. The pdf file reports details about the accident circumstances, the vehicles and the child occupant analyzed in this paper. (PDF)

In detail description of accident Case 2043 from the CASPER accident reconstruction database. The pdf file reports details about the accident circumstances, the vehicles and the child occupant analyzed in this paper. (PDF)

Sensor and dummy readings for Case 2017 from the CASPER accident reconstruction database. This zip folder contains input accelerations for reproducibility of the accident reconstruction. Also, the readings from the dummy sensor are reported for reproducibility of the calculations. (ZIP)

In detail description of accident Case 2012 from the CASPER accident reconstruction database. The pdf file reports details about the accident circumstances, the vehicles and the child occupant analyzed in this paper. (PDF)

Compiled supplementary figures for Cases 2012, 2017 and 2043. (DOCX)

Animations of HBM kinetics during the simulated entire impact for Case 2017. (MP4)

Sensor and dummy readings for Case 2012 from the CASPER accident reconstruction database. This zip folder contains input accelerations for reproducibility of the accident reconstruction. Also, the readings from the dummy sensor are reported for reproducibility of the calculations. (ZIP)

Animations of HBM kinetics during the simulated entire impact for Case 2043. (MP4)

Sensor and dummy readings for Case 2043 from the CASPER accident reconstruction database. This zip folder contains input accelerations for reproducibility of the accident reconstruction. Also, the readings from the dummy sensor are reported for reproducibility of the calculations. (ZIP)

Despite recent efforts on the development of finite element (FE) head models of infants, a model capable of capturing head responses under various impact scenarios has not been reported. This is hypothesized partially attributed to the use of simplified linear elastic models for soft tissues of suture, scalp and dura. Orthotropic elastic constants...

The use of combat helmets has greatly reduced penetrating injuries and saved lives of many soldiers. However, behind helmet blunt trauma (BHBT) has emerged as a serious injury type experienced by soldiers in battlefields. BHBT results from nonpenetrating ballistic impacts and is often associated with helmet back face deformation (BFD). In the curre...

Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is a reliable neurosurgical approach to reduce a pathologically increased intracranial pressure after neurological diseases such as severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke. The procedure has substantially reduced the mortality rate but at the expense of increased neurological cognitive impairments. Finite Eleme...

Cytotoxic brain tissue edema is a complicated secondary consequence of ischemic injury following cerebral diseases such as traumatic brain injury and stroke. To some extent the pathophysiological mechanisms are known, but far from completely. In this study, a hypothesis is proposed in which protein unfolding and perturbation of nucleotide structure...

Objective: Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is efficient in reducing the intracranial pressure in several complicated disorders such as traumatic brain injury (TBI) and stroke. The neurosurgical procedure has indeed reduced the number of deaths. However, parallel with the reduced fatal cases, the number of vegetative patients has increased significa...