Among the several functions of the nasal cavity, temperature and humidity adjustments are important for preserving the trachea and lungs. The functions of the nasal cavity have been clarified in experiments investigating the conditions in the nasal cavity. However, the difficulties of noninvasive measurements have rendered nasal cavity simulations an attractive alternative. Data are readily obtained from a simulated result. In this study, airflow, temperature, and humidity transfer in the human nasal cavity were investigated in a nasal cavity wall model of temperature and humidity transport. The simulated result was verified by comparison with experimental data. A reasonable agreement was attained between experimental data and a model incorporating the latent heat effect. The model simulates heat and water exchange in the nasal cavity. In all cases, the temperature and humidity of the inhaled air were adjusted to suitable physiological values. Temperature and humidity gradients were highest at the front of the nasal cavity. The influence of latent heat was clarified by comparing simulation results with and without latent heat under several inhaled air conditions. In the hot-humid inhaled air case, temperature in the Kiesselbach area was increased by latent heat of condensation, and relative humidity declined. In the other inhaled air cases, the temperature in the Kiesselbach area was decreased by latent heat of evaporation, while relative humidity increased. Latent heat effect was particularly influential in the hot inhaled air case.
We are flat-faced hominins with an external nose that protrudes from the face. This feature was derived in the genus Homo, along with facial flattening and reorientation to form a high nasal cavity. The nasal passage conditions the inhaled air in terms of temperature and humidity to match the conditions required in the lung, and its anatomical variation is believed to be evolutionarily sensitive to the ambient atmospheric conditions of a given habitat. In this study, we used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) with three-dimensional topology models of the nasal passage under the same simulation conditions, to investigate air-conditioning performance in humans, chimpanzees, and macaques. The CFD simulation showed a horizontal straight flow of inhaled air in chimpanzees and macaques, contrasting with the upward and curved flow in humans. The inhaled air is conditioned poorly in humans compared with nonhuman primates. Virtual modifications to the human external nose topology, in which the nasal vestibule and valve are modified to resemble those of chimpanzees, change the airflow to be horizontal, but have little influence on the air-conditioning performance in humans. These findings suggest that morphological variation of the nasal passage topology was only weakly sensitive to the ambient atmosphere conditions; rather, the high nasal cavity in humans was formed simply by evolutionary facial reorganization in the divergence of Homo from the other hominin lineages, impairing the air-conditioning performance. Even though the inhaled air is not adjusted well within the nasal cavity in humans, it can be fully conditioned subsequently in the pharyngeal cavity, which is lengthened in the flat-faced Homo. Thus, the air-conditioning faculty in the nasal passages was probably impaired in early Homo members, although they have survived successfully under the fluctuating climate of the Plio-Pleistocene, and then they moved “Out of Africa” to explore the more severe climates of Eurasia.
The nasal passages mainly adjust the temperature and humidity of inhaled air to reach the alveolar condition required in the lungs. By contrast to most other non-human primates, macaque monkeys are distributed widely among tropical, temperate and subarctic regions, and thus some species need to condition the inhaled air in cool and dry ambient atmospheric areas. The internal nasal anatomy is believed to have undergone adaptive modifications to improve the airconditioning performance. Furthermore, the maxillary sinus (MS), an accessory hollow communicating with the nasal cavity, is found in macaques, whereas it is absent in most other extant Old World monkeys, including savanna monkeys. In this study, we used computational fluid dynamics simulations to simulate the airflow and heat and water exchange over the mucosal surface in the nasal passage. Using the topology models of the nasal cavity with and without the MS, we demonstrated that the MS makes little contribution to the airflow pattern and the air-conditioning performance within the nasal cavity in macaques. Instead, the inhaled air is conditioned well in the anterior portion of the nasal cavity before reaching the MS in both macaques and savanna monkeys. These findings suggest that the evolutionary modifications and coetaneous variations in the nasal anatomy are rather independent of transitions and variations in the climate and atmospheric environment found in the habitats of macaques.
BACKGROUND: Stent placement for cerebral aneurysms leads to a decrease in blood flow. This occurs not only through the direct obstruction of flow but also by the expansion of the parent artery. The latter has been observed in several clinical studies. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to clarify the effects of parent artery expansion after stent treatment on the following: 1) decrease in blood flow to an aneurysm, 2) wall shear stress (WSS), and 3) oscillatory shear index (OSI). METHODS: The parent artery geometry constructed U-shape. The aneurysm location with respect to the U-shaped parent artery was determined according to previous clinical data. We performed calculations in unsteady-state situations using constructed models. RESULTS: Parent artery expansion with stent reduces blood inflow to an aneurysm and WSS of the aneurysm wall, in addition to increasing OSI. The aneurysm position affects the decrease of the inflow rate and WSS ratio and increases the OSI ratio. Expansion causes the majority of effects on flow reduction inside an aneurysm model. Thus, the expansion effects of all samples should not be neglected. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that parent artery expansion and its effect should be measured and included in the total decrease in blood flow. Parent artery expansion may induce intimal hyperplasia, thus increasing the thickness of the aneurysm wall.
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