Upper airway (UA) inflammation (oedema and hyperaemia) is frequently observed in snorers and patients with sleep apnoea/hypopnoea patients. The temperature of different UA regions measured in 11 male nonsnorers, 13 nonapnoeic snorers and 10 untreated sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (SAHS) patients using infra-red video recording. Measurements were taken with the mouth open during tidal volume m...

This study was investigated spawning behavior, structure of egg masses and egg development in Aplysia kurodai inhabiting the coastal waters of Jeju Island, Korea. The mating and courtship behavior of A. kurodai occurred in the form of unilateral copulating with chain formation. In chain copulation, only the first animal acted as a female; the second and succeeding animals acted as males (sperm ...

The human speech production system is composed of the lungs, trachea, larynx, nasal cavity and oral cavity as shown in Fig. 1. Speech is simply a sound wave originating from the lungs. Air coming out of the lungs first passes through the trachea and then through the vocal tract. The shape of the vocal tract determines the speech sound produced. The position of the lips, tongue, velum, teeth and...

Oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica) could enhance their settlement success by moving toward the seafloor in the strong turbulence associated with coastal habitats. We characterized the behavior of individual oyster larvae in grid-generated turbulence by measuring larval velocities and flow velocities simultaneously using infrared particle image velocimetry. We estimated larval behavioral velo...

Sleep Apnea Syndrome (SAS) is defined as a partial or total closure of the patient upper airways during sleep. The term ”collapsus” (or collapse) is used to describe this closure. From a fluid mechanical point of view, this collapse can be understood as a spectacular example of fluid-walls interaction. Indeed, the upper airways are delimited in their largest part by soft tissues having differen...

Fast-swimming hydromedusan jellyfish possess a characteristic funnel-shaped velum at the exit of their oral cavity that interacts with the pulsed jets of water ejected during swimming motions. It has been previously assumed that the velum primarily serves to augment swimming thrust by constricting the ejected flow in order to produce higher jet velocities. This paper presents high-speed video a...

Received December 21, 2006; accepted February 1, 2007. OBJECTIVE The aim of our study was to document the patterns of RLN spread by using MRI. METHODS The MR images of 294 patients with newly diagnosed NPC were reviewed retrospectively. Criteria for metastatic lymph nodes included: shortest axial diameter, nodal necrosis, extracapsular spread, and a contrast enhancing rim. RESULTS RLN involveme...

We present a portable minimally invasive system to determine the state of the velum (raised or lowered) at a sampling rate of 40 Hz that works both during normal and silent speech. The system consists of a small capsule containing a miniature loudspeaker and a miniature microphone. The capsule is inserted into one nostril by about 10 mm. The loudspeaker emits chirps with a power band from 12-24...