Saliva is secreted into the mouth at a rate of 0.3 to 0.4 ml per minute. Retained saliva in the mouth physiologically triggers swallowing to carry the saliva out of the mouth. Dawes (1983) have reported the volume of saliva in the mouth just before swallowing, the rate of swallowing, the volume swallowed per swallow, and the volume of saliva in the mouth just after swallowing. Clearance of mate...

OBJECTIVE The first democratic government elected in South Africa in 1994 inherited huge inequalities in health status and health provision across all sections of the population. This study set out to assess, 4 years later, the influence of race and socioeconomic status (SES) on perceived quality of care from health care providers. DESIGN A 1998 countrywide survey of 3820 households assessed ...

BACKGROUND Bulbar weakness and respiratory impairment have been associated with increased morbidity in retrospective studies of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) patients. The aim of this study was to prospectively explore the relationship between subclinical swallowing impairment, respiratory function parameters, the necessity to intubate patients and the development of early postintubation pneumo...

INTRODUCTION Dysphagia is relatively common in individuals with neurological disorders. OBJECTIVE To describe the swallowing management and investigate associated factors with swallowing in a case series of patients with Parkinson's disease. METHODS It is a long-term study with 24 patients. The patients were observed in a five-year period (2006-2011). They underwent Fiberoptic Endoscopic Ev...

It is unclear whether the cortical representation of swallowing is lateralized to the left cerebral hemisphere, right hemisphere, or bilaterally represented. As dysphagia is common in acute stroke, it is important to elucidate swallowing lateralization to facilitate earlier detection of stroke patients who may be at greater risk for dysphagia and aspiration. In this study, a modified dual task ...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) acts as an anorexigenic factor in the dorsal vagal complex (DVC) of the adult rat brainstem. The DVC contains the premotoneurons controlling swallowing, a motor component of feeding behavior. Although rats with transected midbrain do not seek out food, they are able to swallow and to ingest food. Because BDNF and Tropomyosin-related kinase B receptors (T...

BACKGROUND COPD is a common problem associated with morbidity and mortality. COPD may also affect the dynamics and coordination of functions such as swallowing. A misdirected swallow may, in turn, result in the bolus entering the airway. A growing body of evidence suggests that a subgroup of people with COPD is prone to oropharyngeal dysphagia. The aim of this study was to evaluate swallowing d...

Swallowing is a complex neurogenic sensorimotor process involving all levels of the neuraxis and a vast number of muscles and anatomic structures. Disruption of any of these anatomic or functional components can lead to swallowing disorders (also known as dysphagia). Understanding the neural pathways that govern swallowing is necessary in diagnosing and treating patients with dysphagia. Functio...

Mechanical stimulation of the pharyngeal areas readily elicits reflex swallowing. However, it is much more difficult for electrical stimulation of the glossopharyngeal nerve (GPN) to evoke reflex swallowing than it is for stimulation of the superior laryngeal nerve (SLN) to do so. These paradoxical findings remain unexplained; hence, the main purpose of this study was to explain this contradict...

We investigated the effects of water swallowing, pharyngeal stimulation, and oropharyngeal anesthesia on corticobulbar and craniobulbar projections to human swallowing musculature. Changes in pathway excitability were measured via electromyography from swallowed intraluminal pharyngeal and esophageal electrodes to motor cerebral and trigeminal nerve magnetic stimulation. After both water swallo...