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- Terhal, Paulien A., et al.
(author)
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A Study of the Clinical and Radiological Features in a Cohort of 93 Patients with a COL2A1 Mutation Causing Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Congenita or a Related Phenotype
- 2015
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In: American Journal of Medical Genetics. Part A. - : Wiley. - 1552-4825 .- 1552-4833. ; 167A:3, s. 461-475
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Type 2 collagen disorders encompass a diverse group of skeletal dysplasias that are commonly associated with orthopedic, ocular, and hearing problems. However, the frequency of many clinical features has never been determined. We retrospectively investigated the clinical, radiological, and genotypic data in a group of 93 patients with molecularly confirmed SEDC or a related disorder. The majority of the patients (80/93) had short stature, with radiological features of SEDC (n=64), others having SEMD (n=5), Kniest dysplasia (n=7), spondyloperipheral dysplasia (n=2), or Torrance-like dysplasia (n=2). The remaining 13 patients had normal stature with mild SED, Stickler-like syndrome or multiple epiphyseal dysplasia. Over 50% of the patients had undergone orthopedic surgery, usually for scoliosis, femoral osteotomy or hip replacement. Odontoid hypoplasia was present in 56% (95% CI 38-74) and a correlation between odontoid hypoplasia and short stature was observed. Atlanto-axial instability, was observed in 5 of the 18 patients (28%, 95% CI 10-54) in whom flexion-extension films of the cervical spine were available; however, it was rarely accompanied by myelopathy. Myopia was found in 45% (95% CI 35-56), and retinal detachment had occurred in 12% (95% CI 6-21; median age 14 years; youngest age 3.5 years). Thirty-two patients complained of hearing loss (37%, 95% CI 27-48) of whom 17 required hearing aids. The ophthalmological features and possibly also hearing loss are often relatively frequent and severe in patients with splicing mutations. Based on clinical findings, age at onset and genotype-phenotype correlations in this cohort, we propose guidelines for the management and follow-up in this group of disorders.
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- Cloots, R. J. H., et al.
(author)
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Micromechanics of diffuse axonal injury : influence of axonal orientation and anisotropy
- 2011
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In: Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1617-7959 .- 1617-7940. ; 10:3, s. 413-422
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Multiple length scales are involved in the development of traumatic brain injury, where the global mechanics of the head level are responsible for local physiological impairment of brain cells. In this study, a relation between the mechanical state at the tissue level and the cellular level is established. A model has been developed that is based on pathological observations of local axonal injury. The model contains axons surrounding an obstacle (e.g., a blood vessel or a brain soma). The axons, which are described by an anisotropic fiber-reinforced material model, have several physically different orientations. The results of the simulations reveal axonal strains being higher than the applied maximum principal tissue strain. For anisotropic brain tissue with a relatively stiff inclusion, the relative logarithmic strain increase is above 60%. Furthermore, it is concluded that individual axons oriented away from the main axonal direction at a specific site can be subjected to even higher axonal strains in a stress-driven process, e.g., invoked by inertial forces in the brain. These axons can have a logarithmic strain of about 2.5 times the maximum logarithmic strain of the axons in the main axonal direction over the complete range of loading directions. The results indicate that cellular level heterogeneities have an important influence on the axonal strain, leading to an orientation and location-dependent sensitivity of the tissue to mechanical loads. Therefore, these effects should be accounted for in injury assessments relying on finite element head models.
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4. |
- Cloots, Rudy J.H., et al.
(author)
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Multi-scale mechanics of traumatic brain injury : predicting axonal strains from head loads
- 2013
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In: Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1617-7959 .- 1617-7940. ; 12:1, s. 137-150
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The length scales involved in the development of diffuse axonal injury typically range from the head level (i.e., mechanical loading) to the cellular level. The parts of the brain that are vulnerable to this type of injury are mainly the brainstem and the corpus callosum, which are regions with highly anisotropically oriented axons. Within these parts, discrete axonal injuries occur mainly where the axons have to deviate from their main course due to the presence of an inclusion. The aim of this study is to predict axonal strains as a result of a mechanical load at the macroscopic head level. For this, a multi-scale finite element approach is adopted, in which a macro-level head model and a micro-level critical volume element are coupled. The results show that the axonal strains cannot be trivially correlated to the tissue strain without taking into account the axonal orientations, which indicates that the heterogeneities at the cellular level play an important role in brain injury and reliable predictions thereof. In addition to the multi-scale approach, it is shown that a novel anisotropic equivalent strain measure can be used to assess these micro-scale effects from head-level simulations only.
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5. |
- Giordano, Chiara, et al.
(author)
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The influence of anisotropy on brain injury prediction
- 2014
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In: Journal of Biomechanics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0021-9290 .- 1873-2380. ; 47:5, s. 1052-1059
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) occurs when a mechanical insult produces damage to the brain and disrupts its normal function. Numerical head models are often used as tools to analyze TBIs and to measure injury based on mechanical parameters. However, the reliability of such models depends on the incorporation of an appropriate level of structural detail and accurate representation of the material behavior. Since recent studies have shown that several brain regions are characterized by a marked anisotropy, constitutive equations should account for the orientation-dependence within the brain. Nevertheless, in most of the current models brain tissue is considered as completely isotropic. To study the influence of the anisotropy on the mechanical response of the brain, a head model that incorporates the orientation of neural fibers is used and compared with a fully isotropic model. A simulation of a concussive impact based on a sport accident illustrates that significantly lowered strains in the axonal direction as well as increased maximum principal strains are detected for anisotropic regions of the brain. Thus, the orientation-dependence strongly affects the response of the brain tissue. When anisotropy of the whole brain is taken into account, deformation spreads out and white matter is particularly affected. The introduction of local axonal orientations and fiber distribution into the material model is crucial to reliably address the strains occurring during an impact and should be considered in numerical head models for potentially more accurate predictions of brain injury.
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- Gao, K., et al.
(author)
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A homogenization approach for characterization of the fluid-solid coupling parameters in Biot's equations for acoustic poroelastic materials
- 2015
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In: Journal of Sound and Vibration. - : Elsevier. - 0022-460X .- 1095-8568. ; 351, s. 251-267
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, a homogenization method is proposed to obtain the parameters of Biot's poroelastic theory from a multiscale perspective. It is assumed that the behavior of a macroscopic material point can be captured through the response of a microscopic Representative Volume Element (RVE) consisting of both a solid skeleton and a gaseous fluid. The macroscopic governing equations are assumed to be Biot's poroelastic equations and the RVE is governed by the conservation of linear momentum and the adopted linear constitutive laws under the isothermal condition. With boundary conditions relying on the macroscopic solid displacement and fluid pressure, the homogenized solid stress and fluid displacement are obtained based on energy consistency. This homogenization framework offers an approach to obtain Biot's parameters directly through the response of the RVE in the regime of Darcy's flow where the pressure gradient is dominating. A numerical experiment is performed in the form of a sound absorption test on a porous material with an idealized partially open microstructure that is described by Biot's equations where the parameters are obtained through the proposed homogenization approach. The result is evaluated by comparison with Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS), showing a superior performance of this approach compared to an alternative semiphenomenological model for estimating Biot's parameters of the studied porous material.
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8. |
- Gao, K., et al.
(author)
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Computational homogenization of sound propagation in a deformable porous material including microscopic viscous-thermal effects
- 2016
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In: Journal of Sound and Vibration. - : Academic Press. - 0022-460X .- 1095-8568. ; 365, s. 119-133
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Porous materials like acoustic foams can be used for acoustic shielding, which is important for high-tech systems and human comfort. In this paper, a homogenization model is proposed to investigate the relation between the microstructure and the resulting macroscopic acoustic properties. The macroscopic absorption ability is due to the microscopic viscous-thermal coupling between an elastic solid skeleton and a gaseous fluid in the associated Representative Volume Element (RVE). The macro-to-micro relation is realized through the boundary conditions of the microscopic RVE, which relies on the macroscopic solid deformation and fluid pressure gradient. By assuming that the variation of the macroscopic energy per unit volume equals the volume average of the variation of the microscopic energy, the macroscopic solid stress and fluid displacement can be calculated from the corresponding microscopic quantities. Making additional assumptions on this approach, Biot's poroelastic theory is recovered. A case study is performed through the simulations of sound absorption in three porous materials, one made from aluminum and two from different polyurethane foams. For simplicity, an idealized partially open cubic microstructure is adopted. The homogenization results are evaluated by comparison with Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS), revealing an adequate performance of the approach for the studied porous material. By comparing the results of different solid materials, it is found that the solid stiffness has a limited effect when resonance does not occur. Nevertheless, due to the absence of the microscopic fluctuation, Biot's model with the parameters obtained from the homogenization approach predicts a higher resonance frequency than the DNS, whereas a full homogenization modification improves the prediction.
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9. |
- Gao, K., et al.
(author)
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Homogenization of sound propagation in a deformable porous material based on microscopic viscous-thermal effects
- 2015
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In: Euronoise 2015. - : DC/ConfOrg. ; , s. 1173-1177
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Porous materials like acoustic foams can be used for shielding and their absorption abilities depend on the interaction of the acoustic wave and the complex microstructure. In this paper, a homogenization model is proposed to investigate the relation between the microstructure and the macroscopic properties. A numerical experiment is performed in the form of simulations of sound absorption tests on a porous material made from polyurethane. For simplicity, an idealized partially open cubic microstructure is adopted. The homogenization results are evaluated by comparison with Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS), showing a good performance of the approach for the studied porous material. By comparing the results, it is found that Biot's model with the parameters obtained from the homogenization approach predict a higher resonance frequency than the DNS, whereas a full homogenization modification improves the prediction due to the incorporation of the microscopic fluctuation.
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11. |
- Gao, Kun, et al.
(author)
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Microstructure-based numerical modeling of the solid-fluid coupling interaction in acoustic foams
- 2013
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In: Poromechanics V - Proceedings of the 5th Biot Conference on Poromechanics. - Reston, VA : American Society of Civil Engineers. ; , s. 2123-2130
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, based on a representative volume element (RVE) and Slattery’s averaging theorem, parameters of Biot’s poroelastic equations for homogenous isotropic porous materials are obtained. According to Slattery’s averaging theorem, the coupling terms, which describe the inertial effects and the viscous effects, are represented by an integral of the solid-fluid interaction force. This relation provides a new approach to obtain the parameters required in Biot’s equations through a direct numerical simulation of the RVE. An example of a 2D RVE is given and simulations of sound propagation in an impedance tube with a foam are conducted using Biot’s equations. It is shown that the numerical coupling mass obtained from this new approach behaves qualitatively the same as an associated phenomenological model.
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12. |
- Gao, Kun, et al.
(author)
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Microstructure-based numerical modelling of foams for acoustic shielding
- 2014
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In: 21st International Congress on Sound and Vibration 2014, ICSV 2014. - : International Institute of Acoustics and Vibrations. - 9781634392389 ; , s. 881-887
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this paper, a numerical homogenization approach is proposed to obtain isotropic Biot's parameters based on the microstructure of an porous material. It is assumed that a macroscopic point can be represented by a microscopic Representative Volume Element (RVE) consisting of the solid and the fluid. The macroscopic properties are controlled by Biot's equations and the RVE is governed by linearized balance equations for momentum and linear constitutive laws. With suitable boundary conditions, the micro-macro relation is formulated based on consistency of energy. Then, Biot's parameters are calculated through the response of the RVE. By following this new homogenization approach, examples with simple microstructures are given and simulations of two sound absorption experiments are conducted by using Biot's equations. The results are compared with Direct Numerical Simulations and it shows a favourable performance of this new approach compared to the alternative Transfer Matrix Method.
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