INTRODUCTION An individual case review of diving-related deaths reported as occurring in Australia in 2007 was conducted as part of the on-going Divers Alert Network (DAN) Asia-Pacific dive fatality reporting project. METHOD The case studies were compiled using reports from witnesses, the police and coroners. In each case, the particular circumstances of the accident and details from the post...

Despite the abundance of telemetric applications for ecology, behavior and physiology of marine life, few efforts were reported about the use of acoustic telemetry for SCUBA divers. The objective of this study is to design and test an acoustic telemetry system for monitoring breathing gases of a Dräger Dolphin semi-closed circuit rebreather as well as the depth of the diver. The system is desig...

Recent years have seen a growing interest in underwater communication and some progress has been made in this area. However, underwater communication is still immature compared with terrestrial communication. A prime reason for this is that the underwater environment is intrinsically not suitable for propagation of electric waves. Instead, ultrasonic waves are mainly used for underwater communi...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of varying interdental bite platform thickness of the scuba mouthpiece on airway efficiency. METHODS 10 male divers had their mean peak flow measured for free breathing, maximum flow with diving mouthpiece, teeth in occlusion, and for five experimental mouthpieces with different thickness of interdental bite platform (1 mm, 2 mm, 3 mm, 4 mm, and 5 mm). RE...

We describe the first case of Weber's Syndrome to present as a manifestation of decompression illness in a recreational scuba diver. Weber's Syndrome is characterized by the presence of an oculomotor nerve palsy and contralateral hemiparesis. The patient was a 55 year-old male with a past medical history of a pulmonary cyst, in whom symptoms developed after a multilevel drift dive to a depth of...

Artificial reefs are increasingly used worldwide as a method for managing recreational diving since they have the potential to satisfy both conservation goals and economic interests. In order to help maximize their utility, further information is needed to drive the design of stimulating resources for scuba divers. We used a questionnaire survey to explore divers' perceptions of artificial reef...

INTRODUCTION It has been suggested that repeated compression-decompression cycles reduce diver susceptibility to decompression sickness (DCS). This study examined whether intensive scuba dive training would reduce bubble formation and modulate endothelial function as shown by skin circulation. METHODS There were 22 military divers who were studied before and after a 90-d program of physical t...

This paper presents the steps for developing a low-cost POrtableNavigation Tool for Underwater Scenarios (PONTUS) to be used as a localization device for subsea targets. PONTUS consists of an integrated ultra-short baseline acoustic positioning system aided by an inertial navigation system. Built on a practical design, it can be mounted on an underwater robotic vehicle or be operated by a scuba...

Manta rays ( Mobula birostris, Mobula. cf. birostris , and alfredi ), the largest mobulid rays, are subjected to exploitation overfishing in certain parts of world. Tourism has been supported as a sustainable alternative for conservation species, potential source economic spillover local populations. Nevertheless, effects tourism over these highly social animals remains unknown. aggregate at th...