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Introduction: Increasing data suggest that elevated body temperature may be helpful in resolving a variety of diseases, including sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and viral illnesses such as SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A mechanical provision of elevated temperature focused in a body region of high viral activity in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation may offer a therapeutic option that avoids arrhythmias seen with some pharmaceutical treatments. This study investigated the potential to actively provide core warming to the lungs of patients with a commercially available heat transfer device via mathematical modeling, and examined the influence of blood perfusion on temperature using this approach. Methods: Using the software Comsol Multiphysics, the authors modeled and simulated heat transfer in the body from an intraesophageal warming device, taking into account the airflow from patient ventilation. The simulation was focused on heat transfer and warming of the lungs and performed on a simplified geometry of an adult human body and airway from the pharynx to the lungs. Results: Simulations were run over a range of values for blood perfusion rate, since the heat capacity and density remain relatively constant. The highest temperature in this case is the device warming water temperature, and that heat diffuses by conduction to the nearby tissues, including the air flowing in the airways. At the range of blood perfusion investigated, maximum lung temperature ranged from 37.6 to 38.6°C. Conclusions: The provision of core warming may offer an innovative approach to treating infectious diseases from viral illnesses such as COVID-19, while avoiding the arrhythmogenic complications of currently used pharmaceutical treatments.

Treatments based on nanocarriers such as nanoparticles have emerged as alternatives to overcome common limitations and side effects caused by traditional treatments against cancer and neurological diseases. The main attribute of nanoparticles stems from the fact that they can transport pharmacological agents in a guided manner. This allows drugs to selectively target diseased rather than healthy tissues. This work was aimed at modeling and simulating fluid flow inside small arteries and experimentally validating the model through quantitative measurements of pressure and flow rates. The validity of the model was evaluated in the light of different indexes of percentage agreement between simulated and measured values. The model was previously verified via mesh convergence analysis and qualitative observations of velocity profile. Our findings provide a robust basis for studying nanoparticle transport in arteries as the developed platform enables their releasing and remote manipulation both in silico and in vitro.

Molecular dynamic (MD) simulation is an approach frequently employed in computational biology for exhaustive sampling of the protein-ligand conformational space. Hence, it is useful for structural analysis and the study of molecular interactions. In this study, we report on a MD simulation protocol to understand the dynamics of β-secretase 1 (BACE1) and 2 (BACE2), widely known to play a critical role in the etiology of Alzheimer’s disease, by a structure change evaluation of their transmembrane domains while inserted in a simulated neural membrane system. We considered two different levels in membrane cholesterol content. Because there is no evidence supporting the capacity of BACE1 and BACE2 to exist as a dimer, single and double (BACE1/BACE1, BACE2/BACE2, BACE1/BACE2) systems, either in parallel or antiparallel orientation, were prepared for each run. Analysis of tridimensional structure of BACE1 and BACE2, after 10ns of MD simulation, revealed a correlation between higher cholesterol levels and both peptide refolding and changes in the secondary structure of both transmembrane domains in single and double systems. Interestingly, our results also indicate a potential interaction in the double system BACE2/BACE2, particularly when the domains had an antiparallel orientation.

Background: Increasing data suggest that elevated body temperature may be helpful in resolving a variety of diseases, including sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and viral illnesses. SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), may be more temperature sensitive than other coronaviruses, particularly with respect to the binding affinity of its viral entry via the ACE2 receptor. A mechanical provision of elevated temperature focused in a body region of high viral activity in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation may offer a therapeutic option that avoids arrhythmias seen with some pharmaceutical treatments. We investigated the potential to actively provide core warming to the lungs of patients with a commercially available heat transfer device via mathematical modeling, and examine the influence of blood perfusion on temperature using this approach. Methods: Using the software Comsol Multiphysics, we modeled and simulated heat transfer in the body from an intraesophageal warming device, taking into account the airflow from patient ventilation. The simulation was focused on heat transfer and warming of the lungs and performed on a simplified geometry of an adult human body and airway from the pharynx to the lungs. Results: The simulations were run over a range of values for blood perfusion rate, which was a parameter expected to have high influence in overall heat transfer, since the heat capacity and density remain almost constant. The simulation results show a temperature distribution which agrees with the expected clinical experience, with the skin surface at a lower temperature than the rest of the body due to convective cooling in a typical hospital environment. The highest temperature in this case is the device warming water temperature, and that heat diffuses by conduction to the nearby tissues, including the air flowing in the airways. At the range of blood perfusion investigated, maximum lung temperature ranged from 37.6°C to 38.6°C. Conclusions: The provision of core warming via commercially available technology currently utilized in the intensive care unit, emergency department, and operating room can increase regional temperature of lung tissue and airway passages. This warming may offer an innovative approach to treating infectious diseases from viral illnesses such as COVID-19, while avoiding the arrhythmogenic complications of currently used pharmaceutical treatments.

Background: Increasing data suggest that elevated body temperature may be helpful in resolving a variety of diseases, including sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and viral illnesses. SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), may be more temperature sensitive than other coronaviruses, particularly with respect to the binding affinity of its viral entry via the ACE2 receptor. A mechanical provision of elevated temperature focused in a body region of high viral activity in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation may offer a therapeutic option that avoids arrhythmias seen with some pharmaceutical treatments. We investigated the potential to actively provide core warming to the lungs of patients with a commercially available heat transfer device via mathematical modeling, and examine the influence of blood perfusion on temperature using this approach. Methods: Using the software Comsol Multiphysics, we modeled and simulated heat transfer in the body from an intraesophageal warming device, taking into account the airflow from patient ventilation. The simulation was focused on heat transfer and warming of the lungs and performed on a simplified geometry of an adult human body and airway from the pharynx to the lungs. Results: The simulations were run over a range of values for blood perfusion rate, which was a parameter expected to have high influence in overall heat transfer, since the heat capacity and density remain almost constant. The simulation results show a temperature distribution which agrees with the expected clinical experience, with the skin surface at a lower temperature than the rest of the body due to convective cooling in a typical hospital environment. The highest temperature in this case is the device warming water temperature, and that heat diffuses by conduction to the nearby tissues, including the air flowing in the airways. At the range of blood perfusion investigated, maximum lung temperature ranged from 37.6°C to 38.6°C. Conclusions: The provision of core warming via commercially available technology currently utilized in the intensive care unit, emergency department, and operating room can increase regional temperature of lung tissue and airway passages. This warming may offer an innovative approach to treating infectious diseases from viral illnesses such as COVID-19, while avoiding the arrhythmogenic complications of currently used pharmaceutical treatments.

Background: Increasing data suggest that elevated body temperature may be helpful in resolving a variety of diseases, including sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and viral illnesses. SARS-CoV-2, which causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), may be more temperature sensitive than other coronaviruses, particularly with respect to the binding affinity of its viral entry via the ACE2 receptor. A mechanical provision of elevated temperature focused in a body region of high viral activity in patients undergoing mechanical ventilation may offer a therapeutic option that avoids arrhythmias seen with some pharmaceutical treatments. We investigated the potential to actively provide core warming to the lungs of patients with a commercially available heat transfer device via mathematical modeling, and examine the influence of blood perfusion on temperature using this approach. Methods: Using the software Comsol Multiphysics, we modeled and simulated heat transfer in the body from an intraesophageal warming device, taking into account the airflow from patient ventilation. The simulation was focused on heat transfer and warming of the lungs and performed on a simplified geometry of an adult human body and airway from the pharynx to the lungs. Results: The simulations were run over a range of values for blood perfusion rate, which was a parameter expected to have high influence in overall heat transfer, since the heat capacity and density remain almost constant. The simulation results show a temperature distribution which agrees with the expected clinical experience, with the skin surface at a lower temperature than the rest of the body due to convective cooling in a typical hospital environment. The highest temperature in this case is the device warming water temperature, and that heat diffuses by conduction to the nearby tissues, including the air flowing in the airways. At the range of blood perfusion investigated, maximum lung temperature ranged from 37.6°C to 38.6°C. Conclusions: The provision of core warming via commercially available technology currently utilized in the intensive care unit, emergency department, and operating room can increase regional temperature of lung tissue and airway passages. This warming may offer an innovative approach to treating infectious diseases from viral illnesses such as COVID-19, while avoiding the arrhythmogenic complications of currently used pharmaceutical treatments.

Background Proactive cooling with a novel cooling device has been shown to reduce endoscopically identified thermal injury during radiofrequency (RF) ablation for the treatment of atrial fibrillation using medium power settings. We aimed to evaluate the effects of proactive cooling during high-power short-duration (HPSD) ablation.Methods A computer model accounting for the left atrium (1.5 mm thickness) and esophagus including the active cooling device was created. We used the Arrhenius equation to estimate the esophageal thermal damage during 50 W/ 10 s and 90 W/ 4 s RF ablations.Results With proactive esophageal cooling in place, temperatures in the esophageal tissue were significantly reduced from control conditions without cooling, and the resulting percentage of damage to the esophageal wall was reduced around 50%, restricting damage to the epi-esophageal region and consequently sparing the remainder of the esophageal tissue, including the mucosal surface. Lesions in the atrial wall remained transmural despite cooling, and maximum width barely changed (