Viscoelastic parameters of blood in patients with myocardial infarction compared to normal donors

The viscoelastic measurements of whole blood in regard to blood and plasma is a sensitive method for the acquisition of pathological changes in flexibility and aggregation tendency of erythrocytes. This could be demonstrated at the example of patients with myocardial infarction.     

Growth and remodeling of the left ventricle: A case study of myocardial infarction and surgical ventricular restoration

Cardiac growth and remodeling in the form of chamber dilation and wall thinning are typical hallmarks of infarct-induced heart failure. Over time, the infarct region stiffens, the remaining muscle takes over function, and the chamber weakens and dilates. Current therapies seek to attenuate these effects by removing the infarct region or by providing structural support to the ventricular wall. However, the underlying mechanisms of these therapies are unclear, and the results remain suboptimal. Here we show that myocardial infarction induces pronounced regional and transmural variations in cardiac form. We introduce a mechanistic growth model capable of predicting structural alterations in response to mechanical overload. Under a uniform loading, this model predicts non-uniform growth. Using this model, we simulate growth in a patient-specific left ventricle. We compare two cases, growth in an infarcted heart, pre-operative, and growth in the same heart, after the infarct was surgically excluded, post-operative. Our results suggest that removing the infarct and creating a left ventricle with homogeneous mechanical properties does not necessarily reduce the driving forces for growth and remodeling. These preliminary findings agree conceptually with clinical observations.     

Alignment and aggregation effects in suspensions of spheres in non-Newtonian media

Summary Photographs are presented which demonstrate the alignment and aggregation effects in suspensions of spheres in viscoelastic media. Pictures were taken from plane shear flows between two glass plates. The spheres line up in flow direction and come into contact. If the spheres touch, the rotation ceases. This alignment and association was also observed and photographed in elongational and in pipe flow.The alignment process could be related to normal stresses. A further observation is that the ratio of the first normal stress difference to the shear stress is the determining parameter.Practical aspects are mentioned.

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Zusammenfassung Ausrichtungs- und Aggregationseffekte in Kugelsuspensionen mit viskoelastischer Suspensionsflüssigkeit werden aufgezeigt. Bei einem Teil der Bilder handelt es sich um Mikroaufnahmen von ebenen Schichtenströmungen zwischen zwei Glasplatten. Die Kugeln richten sich in Strömungsrichtung aus und kommen einander näher. Bei Berührung verschwindet die Rotationsgeschwindigkeit der Kugeln. Diese Ausrichtung und Anlagerung wird auch in der Dehn- und Rohrströmung beobachtet.Der Orientierungsvorgang ist ein Normalspannungseffekt. Nicht die absolute Höhe der ersten Normalspannungsdifferenz, sondern das Verhältnis der ersten Normalspannungsdifferenz zur Schubspannung ist der wesentliche Parameter.Auf praktische Folgerungen wird kurz hingewiesen.

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With 7 figures in 11 details     

Dose response of surfactants to attenuate gas embolism related platelet aggregation

Intravascular gas embolism promotes blood clot formation, cellular activation, and adhesion events, particularly with platelets. Populating the interface with surfactants is a chemical-based intervention to reduce injury from gas embolism. We studied platelet activation and platelet aggregation, prominent adverse responses to blood contact with bubbles. We examined dose–response relationships for two chemically distinct surfactants to attenuate the rise in platelet function stimulated by exposure to microbubbles. Significant reduction in platelet aggregation and platelet activation occurred with increasing concentration of the surfactants, indicating presence of a saturable system. A population balance model for platelet aggregation in the presence of embolism bubbles and surfactants was developed. Monte Carlo simulations for platelet aggregation were performed. Results agree qualitatively with experimental findings. Surfactant dose-dependent reductions in platelet activation and aggregation indicate inhibition of the gas/liquid interface’s ability to stimulate cellular activation mechanically.     

Familial predictors of childhood shyness: a study of the United Arab Emirates population

OBJECTIVES: Phobic anxiety disorders generally breed true. In this regard, family studies have suggested an association between childhood shyness and maternal social phobia. In this study, the relationship between childhood shyness and maternal social anxiety was examined. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: 203 5-year-old children from an Arabian Gulf community and their mothers were evaluated. The children were assessed in stage 1 using the shyness scale of Stevenson-Hinde and Glover and the Preschool Behavior Checklist (PBCL), while mothers completed the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale. In the second stage, blind clinical interviews were carried out to ascertain the diagnosis of psychiatric diagnoses, if any, using DSM-IV criteria. RESULTS: 27% of the children were identified as shy using the shyness scale of Stevenson-Hinde and Glover and 19% scored above the cutoff for behavioral disturbance on the PBCL. Child shyness was associated with female gender and maternal social anxiety as indicated by scores on the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, while an inverse relationship was noted with behavioral disturbance. The odds of the child having a high shyness score was increased if the mother had social anxiety (odds ratio = 2.14) and the child lived in a family that was 'not socially active' (odds ratio = 1.42). CONCLUSION: Our initial findings suggest that there may be a complex interaction between maternal social anxiety and family sociability in childhood shyness. Prospective longitudinal work is indicated.     

Finite-element simulation of myocardial electrical excitation

Based on a single-domain model of myocardial conduction, isotropic and anisotropic finite element models of the myocardium are developed allowing excitation wave propagation to be studied. The Aliev-Panfilov phenomenological equations were used as the relations between the transmembrane current and the transmembrane potential. Interaction of an additional source of initial excitation with an excitation wave that passed and the spread of the excitation wave are studied using heart tomograms. A numerical solution is obtained using a splitting algorithm that allows the nonlinear boundary-value problem to be reduced to a sequence of simpler problems: ordinary differential equations and linear boundary-value problems in partial derivatives.     

Modeling of aggregation kernels for fluidized beds using discrete particle model simulations

Aggregation is one of the many important processes in chemical and process engineering. Several researchers have attempted to understand this complex process in fluidized beds using the macro-model of population balance equations （PBEs）. The aggregation kernel is an effective parameter in PBEs, and is defined as the product of the aggregation efficiency and collision frequency functions. Attempts to derive this kernel have taken different approaches, including theoretical, experimental, and empirical techniques. The present paper calculates the aggregation kernel using micro-model computer simulations, i.e., a discrete particle model. We simulate the micro-model without aggregation for various initial conditions, and observe that the collision frequency function is in good agreement with the shear kernel. We then simulate the micro-model with aggregation and calculate the aggregation efficiency rate.     

Shear-induced aggregation and break up of fibril clusters close to the percolation concentration

To probe the behaviour of fibrillar assemblies of ovalbumin under oscillatory shear, close to the percolation concentration, c_p (7.5%), rheo-optical measurements and Fourier transform rheology were performed. Different results were found close to c_p (7.3%), compared to slightly further away from c_p (6.9 and 7.1%). For 6.9 and 7.1%, a decrease in complex viscosity, and a linear increase in birefringence, n, with increasing strain was observed, indicating deformation and orientation of the fibril clusters. For 7.3%, a decrease in complex viscosity was followed by an increase in complex viscosity with increasing strain, which coincided with a strong increase in n, dichroism, n, and the intensity of the normalized third harmonic (I₃/I₁). This regime was followed by a second decrease in complex viscosity, where n,n and I₃/I₁ decreased. In the first regime where the viscosity was decreasing with increasing strain, deformation and orientation of existing clusters takes place. At higher oscillatory shear, a larger deformation occurs and larger structures are formed, which is most likely aggregation of the clusters. Finally, at even higher strains, the clusters break up again. An increase in complex viscosity, n, n and I₃/I₁ was observed when a second strain sweep was performed 30 min after the first. This indicates that the shear-induced cluster formation and break up are not completely reversible, and the initial cluster size distribution is not recovered after cessation of flow.     

Particulate aggregation through a modulated annular one-dimensional acoustic field at resonant frequencies

The visualization and analysis of a novel acoustic-particulate system is the objective of this study.The system is composed of rice-husk fired smoke particulate...     

Application of Chimera grid to modelling cell motion and aggregation in a narrow tube

A computational scheme using the Chimera grid method is presented for simulation of three‐dimensional motion and aggregation of two red blood cells (RBCs) in a narrow tube. The cells are modelled as rigid ellipsoidal particles; the computational scheme is applicable to deformable fluid‐filled particles. Attractive energy between two RBCs is modelled by a depletion interaction theory and used for simulating aggregation of two cells. Through the simulation, we show that the Chimera grid method is applicable to the simulation of three‐dimensional motion and aggregation of multiple RBCs in a microvessel and microvascular network. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flow of colloidal suspension and irreversibility analysis with aggregation kinematics of nanoparticles in a microchannel

The current exploration focuses on the ethylene glycol(EG) based nanoliquid flow in a microchannel. The effectiveness of the internal heat source and linear radiation is reflected in the present investigation. The estimation of suitable thermal conductivity model has affirmative impact on the convective heat transfer phenomenon. The examination is conceded with the nanoparticle aggregation demonstrated by the MaxwellBruggeman and Krieger-Dougherty models which tackle the formation of nanolayer.T...     

Performance of algebraic multi‐grid solvers based on unsmoothed and smoothed aggregation schemes

A comparison is made of the performance of two algebraic multi‐grid (AMG0 and AMG1) solvers for the solution of discrete, coupled, elliptic field problems. In AMG0, the basis functions for each coarse grid/level approximation (CGA) are obtained directly by unsmoothed aggregation, an appropriate scaling being applied to each CGA to improve consistency. In AMG1 they are assembled using a smoothed aggregation with a constrained energy optimization method providing the smoothing. Although more costly, smoothed basis functions provide a better (more consistent) CGA. Thus, AMG1 might be viewed as a benchmark for the assessment of the simpler AMG0. Selected test problems for D'Arcy flow in pipe networks, Fick diffusion, plane strain elasticity and Navier–Stokes flow (in a Stokes approximation) are used in making the comparison. They are discretized on the basis of both structured and unstructured finite element meshes. The range of discrete equation sets covers both symmetric positive definite systems and systems that may be non‐symmetric and/or indefinite. Both global and local mesh refinements to at least one order of resolving power are examined. Some of these include anisotropic refinements involving elements of large aspect ratio; in some hydrodynamics cases, the anisotropy is extreme, with aspect ratios exceeding two orders. As expected, AMG1 delivers typical multi‐grid convergence rates, which for all practical purposes are independent of mesh bandwidth. AMG0 rates are slower. They may also be more discernibly mesh‐dependent. However, for the range of mesh bandwidths examined, the overall cost effectiveness of the two solvers is remarkably similar when a full convergence to machine accuracy is demanded. Thus, the shorter solution times for AMG1 do not necessarily compensate for the extra time required for its costly grid generation. This depends on the severity of the problem and the demanded level of convergence. For problems requiring few iterations, where grid generation costs represent a significant penalty, AMG0 has the advantage. For problems requiring a large investment in iterations, AMG1 has the edge. However, for the toughest problems addressed (vector and coupled vector–scalar fields discretized exclusively using finite elements of extreme aspect ratio) AMG1 is more robust: AMG0 has failed on some of these tests. However, but for this deficiency AMG0 would be the preferred linear approximation solver for Navier–Stokes solution algorithms in view of its much lower grid generation costs. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation of high-purity monodisperse silica microspheres by the sol-gel method coupled with polymerization-induced colloid aggregation

Ultra-pure mesoporous silica microspheres with good monodispersity were synthesized in two steps:nanometer-sized silica sol was produced by the sol-gel process,then micrometer-sized silica microspheres were synthesized by polymerization-induced colloid aggregation of the silica sol.The total metal content of the microspheres was extremely low,which eliminated the tailing of chromatographic peaks by chelating reagents.The pore structure of the silica microspheres could be controlled by altering the sol-gel conditions.The silica microsphere particle size could be adjusted by using different polymerizationinduced colloid aggregation conditions.     

Nanoparticle aggregation effects on radiative heat transport of nanoliquid over a vertical cylinder with sensitivity analysis

A sensitivity analysis is performed to analyze the effects of the nanoparticle(NP) aggregation and thermal radiation on heat transport of the nanoliquids(titania based on ethylene glycol) over a vertical cylinder. The optimization of heat transfer rate and friction factor is performed for NP volume fraction(1% φ 3%), radiation parameter(1 Rt 3), and mixed convection parameter(1.5 λ 2.5) via the facecentered central composite design(CCD) and the response surface methodology(RSM).The modified Krie...     

Prediction of aggregation behavior of submicron-sized particles of praseodymium-doped zirconium silicate in aqueous suspension by population balance model

The aggregation behavior of submicron-sized particles of praseodymium-doped zirconium silicate, a ceramic pigment, in aqueous suspension was predicted by a modified population balance model. In the model, the collision frequencies were selected to describe evolution of the particle size distribution of the suspension. The collision efficiency was estimated as a function of interaction potential between particles based on Derjaguin–Landau–Verwey–Overbeek theory. The population balance model was modified to predict the stable state of the aggregation by introducing the volume mean size of aggregate to stability ratio. In addition, aggregation of the particles in aqueous suspension in the presence of sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate or potassium chloride was experimentally investigated. The predicted data (i.e., the final aggregate size, aggregation rate, and particle size distribution) were similar to the experimental results.     

Rheometrical and molecular dynamics simulation studies of incipient clot formation in fibrin-thrombin gels: An activation limited aggregation approach

A rheometrical investigation of incipient clots formed in fibrin-thrombin gels is reported in which the Gel Point (GP) is characterised by frequency independence of the loss tangent in small amplitude oscillatory shear measurements over a wide range of thrombin concentration. Values of the fractal dimension (D_f) of the GP network calculated from measurements are consistent with those reported in simulations of diffusion limited cluster-cluster aggregation (DLCCA) and reaction limited cluster-cluster aggregation (RLCCA), but differ insofar as the values of D_f calculated from the present experiments increase progressively with a reduction in gel formation time. A molecular dynamics simulation (MDS) of systems of rod-like particles was designed to (i) test the hypothesis that the presence of an activation profile in a cluster aggregation model could account for the trend of D_f as a function of gel formation time observed experimentally in fibrin-thrombin gels and whole heparinised blood without recourse to the inclusion of fibrinogen-specific interactions; and (ii) to explore the effect of monomer activation kinetics on the microstructure of fractal clusters formed in systems of rigid rod-like particles. The results identify two possible mechanisms for the increase in D_f as the gel formation time decreases, both being a consequence of altering the evolution of the clustering dynamics by a process referred to herein as activation limited aggregation (ALA). This ALA-based MDS substantiates the experimental findings by confirming the trend evident in the formation of incipient clots in fibrin-thrombin gels and in whole heparinised blood. A mechanism for ALA involving the aggregation of pre-GP sub-clusters is proposed.     

A simple model for myocardial changes in a failing heart

In a simplified setting, a multi-network model for remodeling in the left ventricle (LV) is developed that can mimic various pathologies of the heart. The model is an extension of the simple model introduced by Nardinocchi and Teresi [9], Nardinocchi et al. [10], [11] that results in an algebraic relation for LV pressure–volume–contraction. We considered two networks, the original tissue and a new tissue, each of which has its own volume fraction, stress-free reference configuration, elastic properties, and contractility. This is used to explore the consequences of microstructural changes in the muscle tissue on LV function in terms of the pressure–volume loop during a single cardiac cycle. Special attention is paid to the stroke volume, which is directly related to cardiac output, and changes in LV wall stress caused by various disease states, including wall thinning (dilated cardiomyopathy), wall thickening (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy), contractility degradation, and stiffness changes (scarring). Various scenarios are considered that are of clinical relevance, and the extent and nature of remodeling that could lead to heart failure are identified.