RATIONALE Hypercapnic respiratory failure because of inspiratory muscle weakness is the most important cause of death in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, the pathophysiology of failure of the diaphragm to generate force in COPD is in part unclear. OBJECTIVES The present study investigated contractile function and myosin heavy chain content of diaphragm muscle single fibe...

Garcia-Cazarin ML, Gamboa JL, Andrade FH. Rat diaphragm mitochondria have lower intrinsic respiratory rates than mitochondria in limb muscles. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 300: R1311–R1315, 2011. First published March 9, 2011; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00203.2010.—The mitochondrial content of skeletal muscles is proportional to activity level, with the assumption that intrinsic mitochondria...

RATIONALE The clinical significance of diaphragm weakness in critically ill patients is evident: it prolongs ventilator dependency, and increases morbidity and duration of hospital stay. To date, the nature of diaphragm weakness and its underlying pathophysiologic mechanisms are poorly understood. OBJECTIVES We hypothesized that diaphragm muscle fibers of mechanically ventilated critically il...

CONTEXT Interest in the diaphragm has been growing, in part because it is a female-controlled method that might protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). A better understanding of diaphragm acceptability is needed. METHODS In 2001-2002, female members of a managed care organization were interviewed by telephone. The 215 participants, aged 19-49, who reported diaphrag...

Background. The role of the crural diaphragm during increased intra-abdominal pressure is not exactly known. We investigated the hypothesis that the crural diaphragm undergoes reflex phasic contraction on elevation of the intra-abdominal pressure with a resulting increase of the lower esophageal pressure and prevention of gastro-esophageal reflux. Methods. The esophageal pressure and crural dia...

Diaphragm paralysis is a recognized complication of neuralgic amyotrophy that causes severe dyspnoea. Although recovery of strength in the arm muscles, when affected, is common, there are little data on recovery of diaphragm function. This study, therefore, re-assessed diaphragm strength in cases of bilateral diaphragm paralysis due to neuralgic amyotrophy that had previously been diagnosed at ...

RATIONALE Mechanical ventilation is known to induce ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction. Patients submitted to mechanical ventilation often receive massive doses of corticosteroids that may cause further deterioration of diaphragm function. OBJECTIVES To examine whether the combination of 24 hours of controlled mechanical ventilation with corticosteroid administration would exacerbate ve...

Changes in intrathoracic pressure produced by the various inspiratory intercostals are essentially additive, but the interaction between these muscles and the diaphragm remains uncertain. In the present study, this interaction was assessed by measuring the changes in airway opening (DeltaPao) or transpulmonary pressure (DeltaPtp) in vagotomized, phrenicotomized dogs during spontaneous inspirati...

While animal studies indicate that controlled mechanical ventilation (MV) induces diaphragm weakness and myofiber atrophy, there are no data in humans that confirm MV per se produces diaphragm weakness. Whether or not diaphragm weakness results from MV, sepsis, corticosteroids, hyperglycemia, or a combination of these factors, however, is not the most important issue raised by the recent study ...

In view of the fact that right-sided hernia of the diaphragm is relatively infrequent, a report on the following case, observed in our Cinic, is of interest. In a series of 276 cases collected by Lacher, only I5 per cent of the total number of diaphragmatic hernias occurred on the right side. The reason seems quite obvious; the bulk of the liver, occupying the right dome of the diaphragm, preve...