INTRODUCTION An individual case review of diving-related deaths reported as occurring in Australia in 2006 was conducted as part of the Divers Alert Network Asia-Pacific (DAN AP) 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-morte...

During the last decade, the recreational diving community demonstrated a renewed interest in deep scuba diving. In spite of instructional agency decree, increasing numbers of divers are answering the call of the deep. Mixtures of helium, nitrogen, and oxygen were used to extend scuba diving depth beyond 800 feet. This paper explores individual motivations, physiological responses, and diver res...

Environmental conditions and increased physical activity during scuba diving are followed by increased production of free radicals and disturbed redox balance. Redox balance disorder is associated with damage of cellular components, changes of cellular signaling pathways and alterations of gene expression. Oxidative stress leads to increased expression of sirtuins (SIRTs), molecules which play ...

The field of blood oxygen transport and delivery to tissues has been studied by comparative physiologists for many decades. Within this general area, the particular differences in oxygen delivery between marine and terrestrial mammals has focused mainly on oxygen supply differences and delivery to the tissues under low blood flow diving conditions. Yet, the study of the inherent flow properties...

A survey was conducted in the northern district of Yamaguchi, Japan to determine the relationship between neurological diving accidents and risk factors among commercial breath-hold divers (Ama). A questionnaire was distributed to 381 Ama divers who are members of the Ama diving union. We sought information on their dive practices (depth of single dive, single dive time, surface interval, lengt...

—A female whale shark Rhincodon typus satellite tagged off the coast of Mozambique and moving to the east coast of Madagascar where the tag popped off after 87 d showed increased mesoand bathypelagic diving while crossing the bathymetrically nonconstraining southern part of the Mozambique Channel. After three weeks with daily maximum diving depths in the epipelagic zone at the beginning of the ...

Pulmonary function was measured in 152 professional saturation divers and in a matched control group of 106 subjects. Static lung volumes, dynamic lung volumes and flows, transfer factor for carbon monoxide (T1CO), transfer volume per unit alveolar volume (KCO), delta-N2, and closing volume (CV) were measured and compared with reference values from recent Scandinavian studies, British submarine...

The purpose of this review is to outline the physiological responses associated with the diving response, its functional significance, and its cardiorespiratory control. This review is separated into four major sections. Section one outlines the diving response and its physiology. Section two provides support for the hypothesis that the primary role of the diving response is the conservation of...