Dear Reader,

I hope you are doing well today. It is such a wonderful weather today here in UK with temperature where I am at 23 deg C (or 73 deg F). I hope you are also having a good time with the weather wherever you are right now. This week, I am going to reflect on the following:

1. Technical Reflection: Simulation of a Living Human Heart
2. Behind the Scenes: Thank you and a bit of statistics!

Let us get started!

Technical Reflections

Simulation of a Living Heart

The are many things that a computational model can do for you, and these can include shorten cost of production, reduce time from design to product as well as grant deeper insight into mechanics of loading on a structure beyond what is physically achievalbe or practically realistic. Yet the aspect of computational modelling that pleases me the most is when it is used to determine enhanced patient outcomes in area of biomedical engineering and medicine. This is why today, I am reflecting on how simulation plays a significant role in understanding the cardiovascular behaviour of the human heart.

This week, I attended a seminar in which a representative of Dassualt Systems came to explain to colleagues in my university about the products they have in their portfolio. The interest was on Simulia which is a package of software products of which ABAQUS is one of them. They introduced us to the Living Heart Project, as part of the Simulia offering.

The Living Heart Project aims to develop a highly accurate and detailed 3D model of the human heart using advanced simulation technologies. This model is intended to serve as a comprehensive tool for research, medical device development, and clinical decision-making. Beyond its research potential, the Living Heart Project would serve as a teaching resource for medical professionals and students, offering a detailed visual and functional understanding of cardiac anatomy and physiology. If you want more information about this project, then here is a video by the company.

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A typical simulation from the Living Heart Project is shown in the figure below. It shows mechanical displacement of the human heart under systolic and diastolic vasodynamics of the heart. We can see it is not always uniform and several sections of the heart see significant mechanical dispalcement (up to 10 mm) whilst some remain unexpanded at all. Such realistic mechanics are essential for medical research involving the heart.

Significance of this to my research: In silico studies of stent mechanics

Once I saw that and the capacity of what it can do, I quickly thought of my research in stent behaviour. One of the challenges of objectively assessing the suitability of bespoke designs of stents is the necessity for in vivo (within the body) assessment.

Since realistically you would not put a developmental stent, then the other objective is animal trials but this again is expensive and animal rights activists are increasingly kicking against such cruelty to animals. The third option is in silico studies. Such a study refers to research and experimentation conducted using computer simulations and computational models.

Therefore, using such a human heart, one can undertake in silico studies on stent mechanics. With a Living Heart like this, the stent can be deployed at the site of an occlusion and then the expansion and compression of the arteries will apply applicable load to the stent thereby showing the usefulness of the stent in such appropriate environment. Below is a video I made showing an ex vivo (outside human body) mechanics of a stent. You can imagine this being done inside such a human heart within the Living Hear Project: the true potential for such a simulation is immense.

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There are ample ways such a human heart can be used but this short reflection simply showcases what I was thinking about as I watched the presentation about the living heart project. Please let me know if you know about this project and how you think it might help your research, if you are working in this area. I understand that ABAQUS intends to make this available for researchers like me who are seeking such in silico platforms to test out effects of medical devices, medication and personalized healthcare programmes. This charts a future for personalized medicine that will significantly improve the outcomes of patients and their experience in clincial settings.

Behind the Scenes at CM Videos

Thank you for reading my newsletter articles

Last week, I took a first inside-my-newsletter poll of the audience that receive this newsletter. It was via a new functionality introduced by ConvertKit, the guys behind the software I use to send out these newsletter articles. The poll was aimed at assessing if you are enjoying the newsletter articles and here is the result.

Summary of Responses

As you can see, here are the findings from the poll:

• A significant 95.2% of the respondents said Yes that they enjoy reading my reflections captured on this newsletter.
• Only a 4.8% said No and most satisfyingly, none were unsure.
• Only 21 participants responded to the poll. I am very pleased by the high satisfaction rate. Looking more closely, 95.2% represent 20 out of 21 respondents. Only 1 respondent said they do not enjoy it.
• I am happy with the results and this will encourage me to continue writing the newsletter.
• I would have wanted more respondents because the potential reach of this newsletter is over 900 subscribers. So, 21 respondents represent a 2.3% response rate.

Assessing the statistical significance of the responses

Although my response rate is small, I wanted to know if there is any statistical significance to the fact that over 95.2% of you said Yes, they loved reading the newsletter. I asked ChatGPT using this prompt:

After a few calculations of sample population, standard error and Z-score, ChatGPT determined a Z-score for my case of 4.15. Based on this, a p-value approaching zero was determined. In conclusion, ChatGPT tells me:

Implications for me

I often wondered if my style of writing these newsletter articles is really resonating with the audience and if there is any need to change. This is because newsletters that I regular read have a different vibe and style to how they communicate with their audience. Most of the time, such newsletters are offering readers some quick tips and short cuts to doing things.

For mine, I have chosen to write in a reflective manner often discussing things I have done within the week, reviewing my videos to offer my readers insights into the thinking behind the videos and the like.

I do not see this approach common except maybe in a few newsletters. I have tried to stay away from demanding from my audience but rather simply serve them by giving you a window in my life, my academic mind and also my career. I want you to come along with me as we build a community of computational modelling enthusiasts who learn from each other and ultimately lift each other up in our collective as well as individual computational modelling journeys.

The response to this newsletter poll tells me that this is the right approach and I should keep it up. This is why I am very grateful to all of you who responded.

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Note: I wanted to write the Quote of the Week section but as the newsletter is already quite long, I am going to leave this off this week and return to it in a next week edition of this newsletter.