Myelopathy is a recognized complication of diving and usually presents with upper motor neuron weakness and sensory loss of the lower limbs due to thoracic spinal cord damage. Here we present a case of lower motor neuron upper limb weakness due to infarction of the anterior horn cells of the spinal cord following diving. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an isolated lower motor neur...

BACKGROUND Heart rate variability (HRV) describes the cyclic variations in heart rate and offers a non-invasive tool for investigating the modulatory effects of neural mechanisms elicited by the autonomic nervous system on intrinsic heart rate. OBJECTIVE To introduce the HRV concept to healthy volunteers under control conditions and during scuba diving. In contrast with more established manoe...

Underwater submergence produces autonomic changes that are observed in virtually all diving animals. This reflexly-induced response consists of apnea, a parasympathetically-induced bradycardia and a sympathetically-induced alteration of vascular resistance that maintains blood flow to the heart, brain and exercising muscles. While many of the metabolic and cardiorespiratory aspects of the divin...

A variety of ecological, physiological and environmental factors influence the energy budgets of diving animals. For common eiders Somateria mollissima sedentaria wintering in sea ice habitats in the Canadian Arctic, time and energy costs of diving increase exponentially with tidal current speed. Here we use literature estimates of diving energetics and underwater dive data to quantitatively mo...

INTRODUCTION Need for recommendations on respiratory aspects of fitness to dive Diving has long been performed for commercial and military purposes but it has undergone a dramatic increase in popularity as a leisure pursuit over the past 30 years. It is estimated that, in the United Kingdom, 100 000 individuals participate in diving activities. In addition, diving technology has evolved rapidly...

Understanding the diving behaviour of diving predators in relation to concomitant prey distribution could have major practical applications in conservation biology by allowing the assessment of how changes in fine scale prey distribution impact foraging efficiency and ultimately population dynamics. The southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina, hereafter SES), the largest phocid, is a major pre...

OBJECTIVES To explore relationships between scuba diving activity, brain, and behaviour, and more specifically between global cerebral blood flow (CBF) or cognitive performance and total, annual, or last 6 months' frequencies, for standard dives or dives performed below 40 m, in cold water or warm sea geographical environments. METHODS A prospective cohort study was used to examine divers fro...

Murder and suicide in involving scuba are extremely rare. A systematic search identified 19 published studies describing 4,339 recreational diving fatalities occurring between 1956 and 2011. Case vignettes identified three possible murders and eight likely suicides. These are summarised and the victims' demography described. Prevalences of 69 murders per 105 diving fatalities and 184 suicides p...