World Congress in Computational Biomechanics, Dublin, July 2018
Alfons Hoekstra (UvA) organised a session called Computational challenges in multi scale modelling in biomechanics, From CompBioMed Alessandro Melis (USFD) gave a lecture entitled Embarrassingly parallel analysis of a 1D cardiovascular network towards the generation of a virtual population.
In addition a large representative of delegates from INSIGENO Institute for in silico medicine (USFD) attended the 8th World Congress in Biomechanics in Dublin. The delegates gave 9 oral presentations and presented 10 posters. Topics of research spanned several areas of biomechanics, with particular attention to the human musculoskeletal (MSK) and cardiovascular (CV) systems and to animal studies. The main direction of the studies regarding the MSK system was the understanding of its behaviour through investigation of the material properties of the bone at the cellular level [1,2], and the use of subject specific MSK modelling techniques to evaluate the joint load [3]. These, together with subject specific finite element bone models, were integrated within a stochastic framework for the prediction of the risk of hip fracture [5].
The CompBioMed project contributed to one poster and one oral presentation in the cardiovascular domain, and one poster in MSK. A 1D model of the cerebral circulation network was used, in conjunction with Gaussian emulators and HPC facilities, to identify a number of features characteristic of cerebral vasospasm and favour its diagnosis [6]. Also, HPC systems made possible to assess how pressure waves in the entire cardiovascular network are affected by local variations of geometries and material parameters of the vessels, and lead to the development of an extensive database of physiological values of pressure and flow rate available as boundary condition for local haemodynamic simulations [7]. The CompBioMed project contributed also to the investigation of fracture mechanism in non-ambulant children by means of subject specific finite element models of humeri [8].
1. Boyle, L., Lacroix, D., Reilly, G.: Manipulation of primary cilia mechanotransduction
2. Shuaib, A., Motan, D., Bhattacharya, P., Skerry, R., Lacroix, D., Interpretation of mechanical stimulus by osteoblasts dependence on combination of mechanosensitivity heterogeneity in integrin populations and mechanosensitivity threshold
3. Montefiori, E., Modenese, L., Viceconti, M., Mazza, C., MD-Paedigree Consortium: A patient-specific model of the subtalar and tibiotalar joints to assess gait in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis
4. Winsor, C., Qasim, M., Zhang, J., Li, X., Szcykutowicz, T., Henak, C., Pickhardt, P., Ploeg, H., Viceconti, M.: Sensitivity analysis of density calibration phantom on finite element-predicted femoral strength
5. Bhattacharya, P., Altai, Z., Qasim, M., Viceconti, M.: Reducing osteoporotic hip fractures, predictively
6. Melis, A, Moura, F., Larrabide, I., Clayton, R., Narata, A., Marzo, A.: Improved diagnosis of cerebral vasospasm through a sensitivity analysis of a 1D cerebral circulation model
7. Melis, A., Verdicchio, M., Narracott, A., Viceconti, M., Marzo, A.: Embarrassingly parallel analysis of a 1D cardiovascular network towards the generation of a virtual population
8. Altai, Z., Viceconti, M., Offiah, A., Li, X.: Investigating a possible mechanism of humeral fracture in non-ambulant children