Mathematical Simulation and Numerical Computation of the Temperature Profiles in the Peripherals of Human Brain during the Tepid Sponge Treatment to Fever.

BACKGROUND: Fever is one of the frequently occurring diseases in human beings, and the body is said to have befallen in fever if the arterial or internal body temperature rises to 38°C. The patient who suffers from fever is either given paracetamol or tepid sponging or both. OBJECTIVE: This paper is aimed at studying the effects of the tepid sponge in normalizing the high temperature of the human body during fever. Among the various available methods for tepid sponging, the impact of holding a cool wet cloth on the forehead for reducing the fever is analyzed and pictured graphically. METHOD: For analyzing the effects of tepid sponge on the temperature distribution of the domain consisting of scalp, skull, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a cool wet cloth is brought in contact with the skin allowing the heat to transfer from the brain to the wet cloth through these layers. The heat transfer in living biological tissues is different from ordinary heat transfer in other nonliving materials. Therefore, a model based on the bioheat equation has been constructed. The model has been solved by numerical methods for both steady- and unsteady-state cases. The domain, which consists of the scalp, skull, and CSF layers of the human head, has been discretized into four equal parts along the axes of the three-dimensional coordinate system. The forward difference and forward time centered space approximations were employed for numerical temperature distribution results at the nodal points. RESULTS: The effects of tepid sponge in reducing the body temperature with fever at 38°C, 39.5°C, and 41°C have been numerically calculated, and the results were pictured graphically. For transient cases, the corresponding calculations have been carried out at times t = 2 minutes, 4 minutes, and 6 minutes. CONCLUSION: Among all the available remedies to fever, tepid sponging has shown a significant effect in controlling fever.

Mathematical estimation of fluid concentration in human skin during water immersion.

INTRODUCTION: The concentration of fluid and its analysis in human skin is innately a challenge due to its continuous movement and involvement in maximum life processes. The concentration of the fluid gets affected by the diffusion of fluids through the skin, which acts as the main barrier between the human body and the external environment. Therefore, it becomes imperative to study the process and impact of the diffusion of fluids through the skin. The problem becomes more interesting when the human body is immersed in water. OBJECTIVES: The present paper studies the change in the fluid distribution of human skin during its immersion in water of different temperatures. The application part of the paper visualizes various impaired vascular function and muscle soreness by water immersion during the physiotherapy treatment. METHODS: A mathematical model based on the two-dimensional diffusion equation, along with appropriate boundary conditions, has been formulated. The maximum of the relevant parameters, such as fluid regulation, transfer coefficient, evaporation rate, etc., influencing the fluid distribution, have been incorporated. The model has been solved by variational finite element method, and numerical results have been obtained by the Crank-Nicholson scheme. RESULTS: The increase in fluid concentration due to treatment with cold and acute hot water immersion has been noted, and the role of water immersion in enhancing the recovery in exercise-induced muscular damage has been analyzed. CONCLUSIONS: The paper addressed the issue of rate of water diffusion through human skin, which otherwise couldn't be drawn from the analogy of gas diffusion through the membrane due to the variation in permeabilities of the two processes. The paper has applications in water immersion therapies and other activities like monitoring swimming induced pulmonary edema, etc.