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Air-conditioning characteristics of the human nose

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 March 2006

Michael Wolf
Affiliation:
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The H. Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 52621Israel
Sara Naftali
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel
Robert C. Schroter
Affiliation:
Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, LondonUK.
David Elad
Affiliation:
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel

Abstract

Nasal inspiration is important for maintaining the internal milieu of the lung, since ambient air is conditioned to nearly alveolar conditions (body temperature and fullysaturated with water vapour) upon reaching the nasopharynx. This literature review of the existing in vivo, in vitro and computational studies on transport phenomena that take place within the human nasal cavity summarizes the current knowledge on air-conditioning characteristics of the human nose.

Type
Review Article
Copyright
© Royal Society of Medicine Press Limited 2004

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