INTRODUCTION Previous research has documented that pressure and duration of brainstem-generated pharyngeal swallowing can be cortically modulated. But there is a commonly held belief that the sequence of pharyngeal pressure remains constant. However, Huckabee et al. [19] reported a patient cohort who demonstrated reduced latency of peak pressure in the proximal and distal pharynx, disproportion...

Although multiple regions of the cerebral cortex have been implicated in swallowing, the functional contributions of each brain area remain unclear. The present study sought to clarify the roles of these cortical foci in swallowing by comparing brain activation associated with voluntary saliva swallowing and voluntary tongue elevation. Fourteen healthy right-handed subjects were examined with s...

OBJECTIVES The objective of our study is to investigate extrinsic influences on heart rate variability using respiratory-phase domain analysis. Swallowing, coughing and vocalization (reading aloud and conversation) are adopted as extrinsic influences. METHODS In this study, an instantaneous R-R interval (RRI) is sampled at each pi/10 rad of the respiratory phase and the data is divided into t...

Background: Swallowing disorders are common in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) is used as a surgical treatment option for the disease. The surgery is well recognized in improving limb function, but it is unclear how swallowing is affected. Aim: To investigate the effect of DBS-STN on swallowing function and if pre-operative e...

OBJECTIVES Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES) has been proposed as an adjunctive modality for the treatment of swallowing disorders. We present data from a prospective case series to define and measure effects of a systematic therapy for chronic pharyngeal dysphagia using adjunctive NMES. METHODS Six adult patients with pharyngeal dysphagia received 15 sessions of a standardized prot...

The question of women‘s rights in Islam generates huge interest among Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Scholars of feminism are sharply divided on the question of women‘s status in Islam. One group associates Islam with misogyny and gender oppression, while the other celebrates the religion as a liberatory force for women. Remarkably, despite a surge in female educational attainment and conscious...

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...