Search

Aim of this review was to evaluate efficacy and safety of intravenous valproate (IV VPA) in the treatment of generalized convulsive status epilepticus (GCSE) in patients of any age, synthesizing available evidences from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RCTs on IV VPA administered in patients (no age restriction) for GCSE at any stage were searched in MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Studies were selected and data independently extracted. Following outcomes were considered: clinical seizure cessation after drug administration, seizure freedom at 24 h, and adverse effects. Outcomes were assessed using standard methods to calculate risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals. Five trials met inclusion criteria. Two different comparisons were available (IV VPA versus phenytoin (PHT), IV VPA versus IV Diazepam), but only the former included more than one study with enough information to permit a meta-analysis. Compared with PHT, VPA had statistically lower risk of adverse effects (RR 0.31, 95% CI 0.12-0.85), with no differences in GCSE cessation after drug administration (RR 1.31, 95% CI 0.93-1.84) and in seizure freedom at 24 h (RR 0.96, 95% CI 0.88-1.06). This review suggests that IV VPA has a better tolerability than PHT in treatment of GCSE, without any statistically significant differences in terms of efficacy. More rigorous RCTs of VPA versus an appropriate comparator, in a well-defined population with a systematic definition of SE, are however required to conclude about efficacy and tolerability of VPA in clinical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transient free-surface (FS) flows are numerically simulated by a finite element interface capturing method based on a level set approach. The methodology consists of the solution of two-fluid viscous incompressible flows for a single domain, where the liquid phase is identified by the positive values of the level set function, the gaseous phase by negative ones, and the FS by the zero level set. The numerical solution at each time step is performed in three stages: (i) a two-fluid Navier-Stokes stage, (ii) an advection stage for the transport of the level set function and (iii) a bounded reinitialisation with continuous penalisation stage for keeping smoothness of the level set function. The proposed procedure, and particularly the renormalisation stage, is evaluated in three typical two- and three-dimensional problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: A preconditioner for iterative solution of the interface problem in Schur Complement Domain Decomposition Methods is presented. This preconditioner is based on solving a global problem in a narrow strip around the interface. It requires much less memory and computing time than classical Neumann–Neumann preconditioner and its variants, and handles correctly the flux splitting among subdomains that share the interface. The aim of this work is to present a theoretical basis (regarding the behavior of Schur complement matrix spectra) and some simple numerical experiments conducted in a sequential environment as a motivation for adopting the proposed preconditioner. Efficiency, scalability, and implementation details on a production parallel finite element code [Sonzogni V, Yommi A, Nigro N, Storti M. A parallel finite element program on a Beowulf cluster. Adv Eng Software 2002;33(7–10):427–43; Storti M, Nigro N, Paz R, Dalcín L. PETSc-FEM: a general purpose, parallel, multi-physics FEM program, 1999–2006] can be found in works [Paz R, Storti M. An interface strip preconditioner for domain decomposition methods: application to hydrology. Int J Numer Methods Eng 2005;62(13):1873–94; Paz R, Nigro N, Storti M. On the efficiency and quality of numerical solutions in cfd problems using the interface strip preconditioner for domain decomposition methods. Int J Numer Methods Fluids, in press]. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A Lagrangian-type panel method in the time domain is proposed for potential flows with a moving free surface. After a spatial semi-discretization with a low-order scheme, the instantaneous velocity-potential and normal displacement on the moving free surface are obtained by means of a time-marching scheme. The kinematic and dynamic boundary conditions at the free surface are non-linear restrictions over the related Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE) system and, in order to handle them, an alternative Steklov-Poincaré operator technique is proposed. The method is applied to sloshing like flow problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A method for computing ship wave resistance from a momentum flux balance is presented. It is based on computing the momentum flux carried by the gravity waves that exit the computational domain through the outlet plane. It can be shown that this method ensures a non-negative wave-resistance, in contrast with straightforward integration of the normal pressure forces. However, this calculation should be performed on a transverse plane located far behind the ship. Traditional Dawson-like methods add a numerical viscosity that dampens the wave pattern so that some amount of momentum flux is lost, and resulting in an error in the momentum balance. The flow field is computed, then, with a centred scheme with absorbing boundary conditions. Copyright © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work is devoted to the simulation by finite elements of nearly incompressible inviscid flows in real 3D geometries, by means of an Euler code based on the SUPG (streamline upwind Petrov-Galerkin) method, explicit forward Euler pseudo-temporal time integration and periodic and absorbing boundary conditions, among other features. The main goal is the application to flow around turbomachinery, with special emphasis on the performance analysis of a given machine, that involves several numerical computations at different operation points. Finally, these results are summarized in the form of characteristic curves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a recent paper we presented a data structure to be used with multigrid techniques on non- homogeneously refined FEM meshes. This paper focuses on the adaptive refinement techniques used there. The error estimate is obtained from standard Taylor series. For each element we compute its efficiency in terms of the size, the norm of the second derivatives of the unknown and the parameter p, where Lp is the chosen norm. The way the norm influences the optimal mesh is studied. The number of elements to be refined at each step is such to produce a fast convergence to the optimal mesh, followed by successive homogeneous refinements. We hope that the analysis of these two subjects could be of value for people working with other (perhaps very dissimilar) adaptive refinement techniques (error estimate and data structure, for instance). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective:We report a previously undescribed association between transitory stapedial myoclonus, objective tinnitus and benign fasciculation syndrome.Method:Case report and review of the world literature regarding stapedial myoclonus.Results:A 30-year-old man with a diagnosis of benign fasciculation syndrome abruptly developed severe, low-pitched tinnitus on the right side. Otoscopic examination revealed rhythmic movement of the tympanic membrane, which was synchronous with the tinnitus. No palatal spasm was noted on nasopharyngeal examination. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and pure tone audiometry were unremarkable. Based on these findings, a diagnosis of objective tinnitus due to stapedial myoclonus was made. The objective tinnitus spontaneously disappeared within 48 hours of its appearance, but in the following days the patient suffered frequent, brief episodes of objective tinnitus lasting only a few seconds.Conclusion:The occurrence of stapedial myoclonus in this patient indicated the presence of an underlying motor unit hyper-excitability. This case suggests that, in some patients, stapedial myoclonus may represent the clinical expression of diffuse motor unit hyper-excitability. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A discrete non-local (DNL) boundary condition is used to solve the water waves propagation problem over variable depth. This condition is obtained by means of full solution of the discrete Helmholtz operator in a structured network. We consider a simulation of wave propagation around a circular island located on either a paraboloidal shoal or constant depth bathymetry. Such examples confirm the important improvement in accuracy for the DNL method over standard conditions in the near field. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glaucoma drainage device (GDD) has the potential to eliminate hypotony but still suffers from poor flow control and fibrosis. The ideal shunt should change its hydraulic resistance to achieve the desired intraocular pressure (IOP). In this study, the characterisation of a preliminary design of a new GDD is presented. This is activated by means of a diaphragm, which is actuated by conducting polymers. The valve can be manufactured employing microelectromechanical system technology by soft lithography. The characterisation process is performed by numerical simulation using the finite element method, considering the coupling between the fluid and the structure (diaphragm) obtaining the hydraulic resistance for several positions of the diaphragm. To analyse the hydraulic system of the microvalve implanted in a human eye, an equivalent circuit model was used. The parameters of the equivalent circuit model were obtained from numerical simulation. The hydraulic resistance of the designed GDD varies in the range of 13.08–0.36 mmHg min/μl compared with 3.38–0.43 mmHg min/μl for the Ahmed valve. The maximum displacement of the diaphragm in the vertical direction is 18.9 μm, and the strain in the plane is 2%. The proposed preliminary design allows to control the IOP by varying the hydraulic resistance in a greater range than the existing passive valves, and the numerical simulation facilitates the characterisation and the improvement of the design before its construction, reducing time and costs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

When a Galerkin discretization of a boundary integral equation with a weakly singular kernel is performed over triangles, a double surface integral must be evaluated for each pair of them. If these pairs are not contiguous or not coincident, the kernel is regular and a Gauss-Legendre quadrature can be employed. When the pairs have a common edge or a common vertex, then edge and vertex weak singularities appear. If the pairs have both facets coincident, the whole integration domain is weakly singular. Taylor ( IEEE Trans. Antenn. Propag. 2003; (7):1630-1637) proposed a systematic evaluation based on a reordering and partitioning of the integration domain, together with a use of the Duffy transformations in order to remove the singularities, in such a way that a Gauss-Legendre quadrature was performed on three coordinates with an analytic integration in the fourth coordinate. Since this scheme is a bit restrictive because it was designed for electromagnetic kernels, a full numerical quadrature is proposed in order to handle kernels with a weak singularity with a general framework. Numerical tests based on modifications of the one proposed by Wang and Atalla ( Commun. Numer. Meth. Engng 1997; (11):885-890) are included. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]