The lung is a complex organ with multiple functions; in addition to facilitating gas exchange, it also serves as the first line of defense against inhaled environmental pathogens and toxins. Given these critical roles, disruption of normal cell function or cell-cell interactions can have devastating health consequences. The articles of this Review Series highlight recent progress in understandi...

OBJECTIVE Ultrasonographic studies have demonstrated transient reduction in spleen volume in relation to apnea diving. We measured spleen volume under various respiratory conditions by MR imaging to accurately determine the influence of ordinary breath holding on spleen volumetry. MATERIALS AND METHODS Twelve healthy adult volunteers were examined. Contiguous MR images of the spleen were acqu...

Deep convection is the major mechanism for replenishing oxygen in the deep interior of the world ocean, and its variability affects the use of atmospheric oxygen to monitor the global carbon cycle. Sensors mounted on autonomous floats allow this episodic breathing of the ocean to be monitored in near real time. The results suggest that the tools are available now to make oxygen a key parameter ...

Breath alcohol concentration, breath temperature, and body temperature are used to extrapolate the breath alcohol concentration to the concentration of alcohol in the deep lung air, which is in equilibrium with the pulmonary blood. Introduction The variability that is seen in the breath alcohol test (note: “alcohol” means ethyl alcohol) has always been more or less ignored as inevitable “biolog...

Each of four examiners performed standardized physical examinations on a group of patients who had just undergone tests of ventilatory function. The intensity of breath sounds heard with deep inspiration was graded on a rating scale of 0 to 4; the grades in six areas of the chest were added to give a total score, with possible values ranging from 0 to 24. Correlation of breath-sound scores with...

Deep inspiration breath-hold (DIBH) is used for whole breast radiotherapy, as a means of providing better dose homogeneity. This can be achieved by lower doses to the organs at risk, less patient movement and better set up. Most patients offered DIBH treatment are left-sided breast cancer, or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) patients, due to the proximity of the heart to the chest wall so it is ...