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This descriptive study investigates breast thermal characteristics in females histologically diagnosed with unilateral breast cancer and in their contralateral normal breasts. The multi-institutional clinical pilot study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) at participating institutions. Eleven female subjects with radiologic breast abnormalities were enrolled in the study between June 2019 and September 2019 after informed consent was obtained. Static infrared images were recorded for each subject. The Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to conduct paired comparisons in temperature data between breasts among the eight histologically diagnosed breast cancer subjects (n = 8). Localized temperatures of cancerous breast lesions were significantly warmer than corresponding regions in contralateral breasts (34.0 ± 0.9 °C vs. 33.2 ± 0.5 °C, p = 0.0142, 95% CI 0.25–1.5 °C). Generalized temperatures over cancerous breasts, in contrast, were not significantly warmer than corresponding regions in contralateral breasts (33.9 ± 0.8 °C vs. 33.4 ± 0.4 °C, p = 0.0625, 95% CI −0.05–1.45 °C). Among the breast cancers enrolled, breast cancers elevated temperatures locally at the site of the lesion (localized hyperthermia), but not over the entire breast (generalized hyperthermia). 

The influence of external factors, including temperature, storage, aging, time, and shear rate, on the general rheological behavior of raw human milk is investigated. Rotational and oscillatory experiments were performed. Human milk showed non-Newtonian, shear-thinning, thixotropic behavior with both yield and flow stresses. Storage and aging increased milk density and decreased viscosity. In general, increases in temperature lowered density and viscosity with periods of inconsistent behavior noted between 6–16 ∘ C and over 40 ∘ C. Non-homogeneous breakdown between the yield and flow stresses was found which, when coupled with thixotropy, helps identify the source of nutrient losses during tube feeding. 

Abstract This study presents a 3-D Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) simulation of breastfeeding mechanism to provide a better understanding of the milk flow behavior in the ductal system of the human breast as the breast interacts with the infant's oral cavity. The breast geometry consists of one lobe with three-bifurcation levels. The boundary conditions include: (1) The intraoral vacuum pressure, obtained from the clinical measurements, (2) Dynamic motion of the tongue, nipple, and jaw (maxilla and mandible) motion captured by ultrasound images. Simulation is conducted from the instance of latching and continues for two cycles of periodic tongue motion and in various boundary conditions and mouthing positions. The results from the simulation show that milk removal is not only due to the negative pressure applied by the infant sucking, but also the tongue movement and mouthing and squeezing of nipple and breast, i.e. a positive force deforming the nipple is responsible for the expression of milk. The developed model can contribute to a better understanding of breastfeeding complications due to physical infant and/or breast abnormalities and the design of medical devices such as artificial teats and breast pumps.