There are ethnic differences in lung function, with white subjects having larger height-normalised forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) than black people or Asians [1, 2]. It has been argued that these differences might be explained by environmental and social factors associated with poverty [3, 4]. Alternatively, the differences in lung volume might be explain...

KONNO, KIMIO, AND JERE MEAD. Measurement of the separate volume changes of rib cage and abdomen during breathing. J. Appl. Physiol. 22(3) : 407-422. I 967 .-Changes in the anteroposterior diameters of the rib cage and abdomen were recorded on the axes of a direct-writing X-Y recorder both during relaxation against a closed airway at different lung volumes, and while, at fixed lung volumes, disp...

-We describe a system of computer algorithms that finds the rib cage in chest radiographs. Our algorithms link the dorsal and ventral portions of the rib contours such that each rib is identified and can be displayed individually. In a preliminary application of our system to five adult chest radiographs, about 90)o of the ribs were found, and ca. 15% of the computed rib contours were false. Pa...

OBJECTIVE Traumatic rupture of thoracic aorta (TRA) was reported in the literature to be a major cause of death in motor vehicle crashes. This study aims at evaluating the most relevant risk factors of TRA. It also aims at analyzing the types of TRA as a function of car crash conditions and rib cage fractures. METHODS In-depth crash data collected from 1998 to 2006 as part of the Co-operative...

The feasibility of using electrical stimulation of abdominal muscles to produce or augment cough in spinal cord injury has been demonstrated. Past studies have focused exclusively on the measurement of airflow at the mouth or expiratory pressures during electrically stimulated cough. The present study examined the actual movements of the trunk during electrical stimulation of the abdominal musc...

A 3D finite element model of rib cage movement is developed and used to study the role of age-related costal cartilage and sternocostal joint calcification, as well as respiratory muscle weakness on the 'bucket-handle' movement of human rib. The volume displacement of the rib cage is related to changes in its circumference using an empirical equation presented by Agostoni et al. (1965, J Appl P...

BACKGROUND We have shown in acute lung injury patients that lung elastance can be determined by a positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) step procedure and proposed that this is explained by the spring-out force of the rib cage off-loading the chest wall from the lung at end-expiration. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the expanding chest wall on pleural pressure during P...

Lung volumes are decreased by tense ascites and increase after large volume paracentesis (LVP). The overall effect of ascites and LVP on the respiratory function is poorly understood. We studied eight cirrhotic patients with tense ascites before and after LVP. Inspiratory muscle force (maximal transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi,max), and the lowest pleural pressure (Pp1,min)) was assessed while t...

Prolonged high-intensity ventilation is associated with the development of rapid shallow breathing with decreased end-inspiratory volumes of all chest wall compartments. During respiratory muscle endurance training using normocapnic hyperpnoea, tidal volume (V(T)) is normally kept constant. The aim of this study was to investigate possible changes in muscle recruitment during constant-V(T) hype...