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...

BACKGROUND The physiological basis underlying the decline in the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) associated with changing the sleep position from prone to supine remains unknown. AIMS To evaluate diaphragm thickness (t(di)) and shortening in healthy term infants in the prone and supine positions in order to determine whether changes in body position would affect diaphragm res...

INTRODUCTION Pressure-support ventilation, is widely used in critically ill patients; however, the relative contribution of patient's effort during assisted breathing is difficult to measure in clinical conditions. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance of ultrasonographic indices of diaphragm contractile activity (respiratory excursion and thickening) in comparison to traditi...

Some scaling properties for classical light ray dynamics inside a periodically corrugated waveguide are studied by use of a simplified two-dimensional nonlinear area-preserving map. It is shown that the phase space is mixed. The chaotic sea is characterized using scaling arguments revealing critical exponents connected by an analytic relationship. The formalism is widely applicable to systems w...

Optical fiber Bragg gratings (FBG) are key devices for optical communication and sensors. FBGs are based on a periodic variation in the refractive index of the fiber core and allow for the reflection of a narrowband signal centered at a specific Bragg wavelength. Over the last two decades, FBGs have been manufactured mainly by modifying the core refractive index using interferometric or point-b...

Eventration of the diaphragm is a rare condition where the muscle is permanently elevated, but retains its continuity and attachments to the costal margins. It is seldom symptomatic and often requires no treatment, but may be confused with a traumatic rupture of the diaphragm. We present a 5I -year -old man with previously undiagnosed congenital eventration, mimicking traumatic rupture of the d...

Diaphragm eventration is partial or complete elevation of the diaphragm as a result of failure of muscular development. While diaphragm eventration has no symptoms in some cases, it may also cause life threatening problems. Thoracic ectopic kidney is a rare anomaly and usually does not produce symptoms. A 4-month-old male patient who has diaphragm eventration with left ectopic thoracic kidney w...

We have employed our recently developed Green’s function formalism to study the dielectric behavior of a model membrane, formed by two periodic interfaces separating two media of different dielectric constants. The Maxwell’s equations are converted into a surface integral equation; thus it greatly simplifies the solutions and yields accurate results for membranes of arbitrary shape. The integra...