International audienceComparison exercises have been carried out by different research teams to study the sensitivity of the natural convection occurring in a vertical asymmetrically heated channel to four sets of open boundary conditions. The dimensionless parameters have been chosen so that a return flow exists at the outlet. On the whole, results provided by the partners are in good agreement; benchmark solutions are then defined for each of the boundary conditions. Whilst the local and average Nusselt numbers based on the entrance temperature do not depend much on conditions applied in the aperture sections, the net fluid flow rates crossing the channel and the characteristics of the recirculation cells are highly influenced. But we proved that these modifications of flow patterns do not alter significantly the fluid flow rates leaving the channel through the exit section

ObjectiveTo describe the most common reasons of admission of Tunisian patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and the outcomes of these hospitalisations.MethodThe charts of patients with SLE who were hospitalised at our Department of Internal Medicine during a 2-year period from January 2011 to December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed, and the demographic characteristics, clinical and laboratory features, as well as all comorbidities, were collected.ResultsThere were 128 episodes of hospitalisation of 87 patients with SLE. 25 patients (28.7%) were admitted twice or more. The median length of stay for all admissions was 11 days (2–76). The total number of days of hospitalisation was 1896 days, which represent 10.7% of the total number of days of hospitalisation in our department. The most common overall reason for hospitalisation was active SLE (55 events, 43%). In 29 patients, SLE was newly diagnosed during hospitalisation. Other causes of hospitalisation included assessment of the disease, infections (9.4%) and associated autoimmune disease (6.25%). Adverse drug reaction (3.1%) and thromboembolic events (1.25%) were uncommon causes of hospitalisations. There was a significant difference in length of stay between patients admitted with SLE flare and those admitted for non-SLE flare reasons (p<0.01). Four hospitalisations (3%) resulted in death. The principal cause of death was active SLE.ConclusionsHospitalisation of patients with SLE is common in our department. Our study of this North African SLE population confirms the findings of previous studies suggesting that active SLE and infection remain the most common causes of hospitalisation of patients with SLE.

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