Regional aerosol deposition in the human airways: the SimInhale benchmark case and a critical assessment of in silico methods

Regional deposition effects are important in the pulmonary delivery of drugs intended for the topical treatment of respiratory ailments. They also play a critical role in the systemic delivery of drugs with limited lung bioavailability. In recent years, significant improvements in the quality of pulmonary imaging have taken place, however the resolution of current imaging modalities remains inadequate for quantifying regional deposition. Computational Fluid-Particle Dynamics (CFPD) can fill this gap by providing detailed information about regional deposition in the extrathoracic and conducting airways. It is therefore not surprising that the last 15 years have seen an exponential growth in the application of CFPD methods in this area. Survey of the recent literature however, reveals a wide variability in the range of modelling approaches used and in the assumptions made about important physical processes taking place during aerosol inhalation. The purpose of this work is to provide a concise critical review of the computational approaches used to date, and to present a benchmark case for validation of future studies in the upper airways. In the spirit of providing the wider community with a reference for quality assurance of CFPD studies, in vitro deposition measurements have been conducted in a human-based model of the upper airways, and several groups within MP1404 SimInhale have computed the same case using a variety of simulation and discretization approaches. Here, we report the results of this collaborative effort and provide a critical discussion of the performance of the various simulation methods. The benchmark case, in vitro deposition data and in silico results will be published online and made available to the wider community. Particle image velocimetry measurements of the flow, as well as additional numerical results from the community, will be appended to the online database as they become available in the future

Semi-Hard Scattering Unraveled from Collective Dynamics by Two-Pion Azimuthal Correlations in 158 A GeV/c Pb + Au Collisions

Elliptic flow and two-particle azimuthal correlations of charged hadrons and high-$p_T$ pions ($p_T>$ 1 GeV/$c$) have been measured close to mid-rapidity in 158A GeV/$c$ Pb+Au collisions by the CERES experiment. Elliptic flow ($v_2$) rises linearly with $p_T$ to a value of about 10% at 2 GeV/$c$. Beyond $p_T\approx$ 1.5 GeV/$c$, the slope decreases considerably, possibly indicating a saturation of $v_2$ at high $p_T$. Two-pion azimuthal anisotropies for $p_T>$ 1.2 GeV/$c$ exceed the elliptic flow values by about 60% in mid-central collisions. These non-flow contributions are attributed to near-side and back-to-back jet-like correlations, the latter exhibiting centrality dependent broadening.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Letters, 4 pages, 5 figure

Low-mass e+e- pair production in 158 A GeV Pb-Au collisions at the CERN SPS, its dependence on multiplicity and transverse momentum

We report a measurement of low-mass electron pairs observed in 158 GeV/nucleon Pb-Au collisions. The pair yield integrated over the range of invariant masses 0.2 < m < 2.0 GeV is enhanced by a factor of 3.5 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.9 (syst) over the expectation from neutral meson decays. As observed previously in S-Au collisions, the enhancement is most pronounced in the invariant-mass region 300-700 MeV. For Pb-Au we find evidence for a strong increase of the enhancement with centrality. In addition, we show that the enhancement covers a wide range in transverse momentum, but is largest at the lowest observed pt.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys.Lett.

Recent results from Pb-Au collisions at 158 GeV/c per nucleon obtained with the CERES spectrometer

During the 1996 lead run time, CERES has accumulated 42 million events, corresponding to a factor of 5 more statistics than in 1995 and 2.5 million events of a special photon-run. We report on the results of the low-mass e$^+$e$^-$-pair analysis. Since the most critical item is the poor signal-to-background ratio we also discuss the understanding of this background, in absolute terms, with the help of a detailed Monte Carlo simulation. We show preliminary results of the photon analysis and summarize the results of the hadron analysis preliminarily reported on already at QM'97Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Proceedings of the XIV Int. Conf. on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions,Quark Matter 99, Torino, Italy, May 10 - 15, 199

e+e--pair production in Pb-Au collisions at 158 GeV per nucleon

We present the combined results on electron-pair production in 158 GeV/n {Pb-Au} ($\sqrt{s}$= 17.2 GeV) collisions taken at the CERN SPS in 1995 and 1996, and give a detailed account of the data analysis. The enhancement over the reference of neutral meson decays amounts to a factor of 2.31$\pm0.19 (stat.)\pm0.55 (syst.)\pm0.69 (decays)$ for semi-central collisions (28% $\sigma/\sigma_{geo}$) when yields are integrated over $m>$ 200 MeV/$c^2$ in invariant mass. The measured yield, its stronger-than-linear scaling with $N_{ch}$, and the dominance of low pair $p_t$ strongly suggest an interpretation as {\it thermal radiation} from pion annihilation in the hadronic fireball. The shape of the excess centring at $m\approx$ 500 MeV/$c^2$, however, cannot be described without strong medium modifications of the $\rho$ meson. The results are put into perspective by comparison to predictions from Brown-Rho scaling governed by chiral symmetry restoration, and from the spectral-function many-body treatment in which the approach to the phase boundary is less explicit.Comment: 39 pages, 40 figures, to appear in Eur.Phys.J.C. (2005

Computational simulation of carotid artery: From patient-specific images to finite element analysis

© Serbian Society of Computational Mechanics. Nowadays, finite element analysis is a well-assessed technique which enables investigation of blood vessels behavior under different boundary conditions. Given the rapid progression of both medical imaging techniques and computational methods, the challenge of using the simulation of human arteries such as carotid arteries to address different medical conditions and support the clinical practice can be approached. Within this context, this study investigates the recent achievements in the field of computational examinations of carotid artery and presents the method for analysis of patient-specific carotid artery model and its application for simulation of atherosclerosis progression. In particular, we focus on the patient-specific anatomical geometry reconstruction and then on the examination of the plaque progression within carotid artery, by examining the parameters such as blood velocity and shear stress distribution. This type of simulation and determination of plaque zone and its progression in time for a specific patient has shown a potential benefit for future prediction of this vascular disease using the computer simulation

Computational and experimental model of electroporation for human aorta

Purpose: In this study the computational and experimental electroporation model with human aorta tissue is made in order to examine the reduction of smooth muscle cells. Methods. The segments in native state of the aorta are treated by electroporation method through a series of electrical impulses from 50 V/cm to 2500 V/cm. For each patient we analyzed one sample with and one sample without electroporation as a control. In the computational study, electrical field distribution is solved by the Laplace equation. The Pennes Bioheat equation without metabolism and blood perfusion heating is used to solve heat transfer problems. Different conductivity values are used in order to fit the experimental results. Results: Experimental histology has shown us that there are a smaller number of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) nuclei at the tunica media, while the elastic fibre morphology is maintained 24 h after electroporation. In the computational model, heat generation coupled with electrical field is included. The fitting procedure is applied for conductivity values in order to make material properties of the aorta tissue. The fitting procedure gives tissue conductivity of 0.44 [S/m] for applied electrical field of 2500 V/cm. Conclusions: Future studies are necessary for investigation of a new device for in-vivo ablation with electroporation of plaque stenosis. It will open up a new avenue for stenosis treatment without stent implantation

Thermal analysis of solid and vented disc brake during the braking process

Braking system is one of the most important components of a vehicle on the road. This system has the task to bring the vehicle to stop or slow down. Friction brakes, during the braking process, convert the kinetic and potential energy into the thermal energy (heat). The basic components of braking systems, brake discs and brake pads, in a short period of time absorb a large amount of heat release (Travaglia et al. 2014). The absorbed heat must be, as far as possible, effectively dissipated in order to ensure the normal operation of the braking system (Day et al. 1984). High temperature during the braking process may cause many problems such as thermal cracks, premature wear, brake fade and thermally-excited vibration (Lee 1999). In this study, a typical disc brake system was modeled including brake disc and pads. Using COMSOL Multiphysics 5.0, we investigated thermal behavior of two types of discs - solid and vented dics. The results show that the vented disc is a much better solution than the solid disc, because the greater amount of heat is released for the same amount of time

Development of the software tool for generation and visualization of the finite element head model with bone conduction sounds

© 2015 AIP Publishing LLC. Vibration of the skull causes a hearing sensation. We call it Bone Conduction (BC) sound. There are several investigations about transmission properties of bone conducted sound. The aim of this study was to develop a software tool for easy generation of the finite element (FE) model of the human head with different materials based on human head anatomy and to calculate sound conduction through the head. Developed software tool generates a model in a few steps. The first step is to do segmentation of CT medical images (DICOM) and to generate a surface mesh files (STL). Each STL file presents a different layer of human head with different material properties (brain, CSF, different layers of the skull bone, skin, etc.). The next steps are to make tetrahedral mesh from obtained STL files, to define FE model boundary conditions and to solve FE equations. This tool uses PAK solver, which is the open source software implemented in SIFEM FP7 project, for calculations of the head vibration. Purpose of this tool is to show impact of the bone conduction sound of the head on the hearing system and to estimate matching of obtained results with experimental measurements

Abrupt Deterioration of COVID-19 Patients and Spreading of SARS COV-2 Virions in the Lungs

© 2020, Biomedical Engineering Society. A unique feature of COVID-19 interstitial pneumonia is an abrupt progression to respiratory failure. Our calculation shows that this abrupt deteriorate may be caused by a sudden shift in the spread of virus-laden bioaerosols through the airways to many different regions of the lungs from the initial site of infection