Increase in pediatric recurrent fever evaluations during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in North America

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new diagnoses of recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases is largely unknown. The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) PFAPA/AID Working Group aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of pediatric patients evaluated for recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases in North America. The absolute number of new outpatient visits and the proportion of these visits attributed to recurrent fever diagnoses during the pre-pandemic period (1 March 2019–29 February 2020) and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (1 March 2020–28 February 2021) were examined. Data were collected from 27 sites in the United States and Canada. Our results showed an increase in the absolute number of new visits for recurrent fever evaluations in 21 of 27 sites during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. The increase was observed across different geographic regions in North America. Additionally, the proportion of new visits to these centers for recurrent fever in relation to all new patient evaluations was significantly higher during the first year of the pandemic, increasing from 7.8% before the pandemic to 10.9% during the pandemic year (p < 0.001). Our findings showed that the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a higher number of evaluations by pediatric subspecialists for recurrent fevers. Further research is needed to understand the reasons behind these findings and to explore non-infectious triggers for recurrent fevers in children

Influence of geometrical and thermal parameters on the thermal component of a pin-on-disk system

Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Turkey, 19-21 July, 2010.Strong temperature gradients are often the cause of malfunctions taking place in mechanical systems which associate two rubbing solids. This work presents the thermal behaviour of a system consisting on a rotating disk in rubbing contact with a pin. Immersed in an environment characterized by a surface conductance h ͚. and a temperature T ͚ ,the disk is subjected to localised beat flux generated by the friction with the pin, eccentric with respect to the rotating axis of the disk. Several parameters intervene decisively on the local heat transfer and therefore on the temperature of the contact surface between the two solids in friction. In addition to the conductance, other parameters as the angular velocity of the disk, the frictional heat flux or the pin diameter and its off­-center with respect to the disk rotation axis, play a major role in the thermal exchange. The present work examines the influence of such parameters on the thermal solution. An analytical expression is proposed for the calculation of the 3D disk's temperature. The presented thermal cartographies make possible to locate the zones of the system undergoing the greatest temperature gradients and thus the associated spots of mechanical rupture. Results are compared with other analytical solutions found in the specialized literature.ej201

Nu-Ra correlations for steady state laminar natural convection in 2D parallelogrammic enclosures

Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Turkey, 19-21 July, 2010.ej201

Increase in Pediatric Recurrent Fever Evaluations During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic in North America

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new diagnoses of recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases is largely unknown. The Childhood Arthritis and Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) PFAPA/AID Working Group aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the number of pediatric patients evaluated for recurrent fevers and autoinflammatory diseases in North America. The absolute number of new outpatient visits and the proportion of these visits attributed to recurrent fever diagnoses during the pre-pandemic period (1 March 2019-29 February 2020) and the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (1 March 2020-28 February 2021) were examined. Data were collected from 27 sites in the United States and Canada. Our results showed an increase in the absolute number of new visits for recurrent fever evaluations in 21 of 27 sites during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period. The increase was observed across different geographic regions in North America. Additionally, the proportion of new visits to these centers for recurrent fever in relation to all new patient evaluations was significantly higher during the first year of the pandemic, increasing from 7.8% before the pandemic to 10.9% during the pandemic year ( \u3c 0.001). Our findings showed that the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a higher number of evaluations by pediatric subspecialists for recurrent fevers. Further research is needed to understand the reasons behind these findings and to explore non-infectious triggers for recurrent fevers in children