RATIONALE Studies show that the myosin content of the diaphragm in patients with mild to moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is reduced, compromising diaphragm contractile performance. The mechanisms for reduced contractile protein content are unknown. In the present study we hypothesized that the loss of contractile protein content is associated with activation of the ubiquit...

Conventional wisdom maintains that the diaphragm lifts the lower ribs during isolated contraction. Recent studies in dogs have shown, however, that supramaximal, tetanic stimulation of the phrenic nerves displaces the lower ribs caudally and inward. In the present study, the hypothesis was tested that the action of the canine diaphragm on these ribs depends on the magnitude of muscle activation...

AIM The goal of the work was comparing gas ultrasound images below the right diaphragm in two groups: in people with intestinal interposition below the diaphragm and ones with pneumoperitoneum and extracting the traits differentiating these two conditions. MATERIAL AND METHODS Retrospectively, the documentation of 22 patients with intestinal interposition below the diaphragm (group 1) was uti...

Our previous experimental results (A. M. Boriek, S. Lui, and J. R. Rodarte. J. Appl. Physiol. 75: 527-533, 1993 and A. M. Boriek, T. A. Wilson, and J. R. Rodarte. J. Appl. Physiol. 76: 223-229, 1994) showed that 1) costal diaphragm shape is similar at functional residual capacity and end inspiration regardless of whether the diaphragm muscle shortens actively (increased tension) or passively (d...

The effect of emphysema on the ability of the diaphragm to generate force was examined in costal diaphragm muscle strips from 10 Golden hamsters killed 18 mo after intratracheal injection of pancreatic elastase in a dose producing hyperinflation (mean total lung capacity [TLC] = 163% of control) and generalized panacinar emphysema. 13 saline-injected normal animals served as controls. The time ...

BACKGROUND Diaphragm weakness is the main reason for respiratory dysfunction in patients with Pompe disease, a progressive metabolic myopathy affecting respiratory and limb-girdle muscles. Since respiratory failure is the major cause of death among adult patients, early identification of respiratory muscle involvement is necessary to initiate treatment in time and possibly prevent irreversible ...

The cecal ligation perforation (CLP) model of sepsis is known to induce severe diaphragm dysfunction, but the cellular mechanisms by which this occurs remain unknown. We hypothesized that CLP induces diaphragm caspase-3 and calpain activation, and that these two enzymes act at the level of the contractile proteins to reduce muscle force generation. Rats (n = 4/group) were subjected to 1) sham s...

This article deals with effects of thermal stresses on stability and frequency response of a fully clamped circular microplate, which acts as the diaphragm of a capacitive MEMS microphone. Static and dynamic pull-in phenomena limit the stable regions of a capacitive MEMS microphone. The results show that the non-dimensional static pull-in voltage of the studied case is about 5.23 (38.6 V). On t...

We tested the hypothesis that diaphragm muscle shortening modulates volume displacement and kinematics of the lower rib cage in dogs and that posture and mode of ventilation affect such modulation. Radiopaque markers were surgically attached to the lower three ribs of the rib cage and to the midcostal region of the diaphragm in six dogs of ∼8 kg body masses, and the locations of these markers w...

RATIONALE Functional interaction between upper airway (UA) dilator muscles and the diaphragm is crucial in the maintenance of UA patency. This interaction could be altered by increasing respiratory drive. The aim of our study was to compare the effects of hypercapnic stimulation on diaphragm and genioglossus corticomotor responses to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). METHODS 10 self-re...