SIMULATION-BASED ANALYSIS OF 3D FLOW INSIDE A MICROPUMP WITH PASSIVE VALVES

It is expected that chemical, biological and environmental applications of microdevices will increase with new developments in micromachining techniques. In this work, a micropump design that utilizes passive valves and an actuated diaphragm is presented. The flow rate is controlled by the deflection and the frequency of the diaphragm’s displacement. Passive valves are used for directing the flow. Poiseuille flow analogy is used to generate the equivalent pressure drop and flow rate via modifying the viscosity in the valve-channel in order to replace the variation of the channel width due to valve movement. Overall flow in the micropump is governed by three-dimensional time-dependent Navier Stokes equations. Deformation of the domain due to moving boundaries that coincide with the diaphragm motion is handled with the arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian method. Flow rate, hydraulic power and the efficiency of the micropump are obtained with respect to driving frequency and displacement of the diaphragm

Clinical and molecular evaluation of MEFV gene variants in the Turkish population: a study by the National Genetics Consortium

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a monogenic autoinflammatory disorder with recurrent fever, abdominal pain, serositis, articular manifestations, erysipelas-like erythema, and renal complications as its main features. Caused by the mutations in the MEditerranean FeVer (MEFV) gene, it mainly affects people of Mediterranean descent with a higher incidence in the Turkish, Jewish, Arabic, and Armenian populations. As our understanding of FMF improves, it becomes clearer that we are facing with a more complex picture of FMF with respect to its pathogenesis, penetrance, variant type (gain-of-function vs. loss-of-function), and inheritance. In this study, MEFV gene analysis results and clinical findings of 27,504 patients from 35 universities and institutions in Turkey and Northern Cyprus are combined in an effort to provide a better insight into the genotype-phenotype correlation and how a specific variant contributes to certain clinical findings in FMF patients. Our results may help better understand this complex disease and how the genotype may sometimes contribute to phenotype. Unlike many studies in the literature, our study investigated a broader symptomatic spectrum and the relationship between the genotype and phenotype data. In this sense, we aimed to guide all clinicians and academicians who work in this field to better establish a comprehensive data set for the patients. One of the biggest messages of our study is that lack of uniformity in some clinical and demographic data of participants may become an obstacle in approaching FMF patients and understanding this complex disease