Disorders of breathing and continence have a stronger association with back pain than obesity and physical activity

Although obesity and physical activity have been argued to predict back pain, these factors are also related to incontinence and breathing difficulties. Breathing and continence mechanisms may interfere with the physiology of spinal control, and may provide a link to back pain. The aim of this study was to establish the association between back pain and disorders of continence and respiration in women. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of self-report, postal survey data from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. We used multinomial logistic regression to model four levels of back pain in relation to both the traditional risk factors of body mass index and activity level, and the potential risk factors of incontinence, breathing difficulties, and allergy. A total of 38 050 women were included from three age-cohorts. When incontinence and breathing difficulties were considered, obesity and physical activity were not consistently associated with back pain. In contrast, odds ratios (OR) for often having back pain were higher for women often having incontinence compared to women without incontinence (OR were 2.5, 2.3 and 2.3 for young, mid-age! and older women, respectively). Similarly, mid-aged and older women had higher odds of having back pain often when they experienced breathing difficulties often compared to women with no breathing problems (OR of 2.0 and 1.9, respectively). Unlike obesity and physical activity, disorders of continence and respiration were strongly related to frequent back pain. This relationship may be explained by physiological limitations of co-ordination of postural, respiratory and continence functions of trunk muscles.

Relations between physiologic parameters and pulse transit time during loaded breathing

Pulse transit time (PTT) is a non-invasive measure, defined as time taken for the pulse pressure waves to travel from the R-wave of electrocardiogram to a selected peripheral site. Baseline PTT value is known to be influenced by physiologic variables like heart rate (HR), blood pressure (BP) and arterial compliance (AC). However, few quantitative data are available describing the factors which can influence PTT measurements in a child during breathing. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of changes in breathing efforts on PTT baseline and fluctuations. Two different inspiratory resistive loading (IRL) devices were used to simulate loaded breathing in order to induce these effects. It is known that HR can influence the normative PTT value however the effect of HR variability (HRV) is not well-studied. Two groups of 3 healthy children ( 0.05) HR changes during all test activities. Results showed that HRV is not the sole contributor to PTT variations and suggest that changes in other physiologic parameters are also equally important. Hence, monitoring PTT measurement can be indicative of these associated changes during tidal or increased breathing efforts in healthy children.

"It's no skin off my nose":Why people take part in qualitative research

In this article, the authors analyze participants' accounts of why they took part in a repeat-interview study exploring newly diagnosed patients' perceptions of diabetes service provision in Lothian, Scotland. The study involved three semistructured in-depth interviews with each patient (N = 40), which spanned a year. The authors provide a thematic discursive analysis of responses to the question, Can I ask you what made you decide to part in the study and why you've stayed involved over the past year? The main themes are (a) recruitment within health contexts ("the nurse said it would help"), (b) altruism ("if it can help somebody"), (c) qualitative research being seen as inherently innocuous ("nothing to lose"), and (d) therapeutic aspects of interviewing ("getting it off my chest"). The analysis contributes both to the qualitative literature about generic research participation and to a germinal literature exploring qualitative health research participation. © 2006 Sage Publications.

Improving brain drug targeting through exploitation of the nose-to-brain route:a physiological and pharmacokinetic perspective

With an ageing population and increasing prevalence of central-nervous system (CNS) disorders new approaches are required to sustain the development and successful delivery of therapeutics into the brain and CNS. CNS drug delivery is challenging due to the impermeable nature of the brain microvascular endothelial cells that form the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and which prevent the entry of a wide range of therapeutics into the brain. This review examines the role intranasal delivery may play in achieving direct brain delivery, for small molecular weight drugs, macromolecular therapeutics and cell-based therapeutics, by exploitation of the olfactory and trigeminal nerve pathways. This approach is thought to deliver drugs into the brain and CNS through bypassing the BBB. Details of the mechanism of transfer of administrated therapeutics, the pathways that lead to brain deposition, with a specific focus on therapeutic pharmacokinetics, and examples of successful CNS delivery will be explored. © 2014 Bentham Science Publishers.

Pulse-to-pulse spectral evolution of breathing bound solitons in a mode-locked fiber laser

We make first direct observation of breathing bound solitons in mode-locked laser. We measure pulse-to-pulse spectrum evolution and reveal internal interactions between bound solitons in real-time. © OSA 2015.

A comparison of breathing patterns of normal full term infants in supine versus right side-lying during quiet and active behavioral sleep states

This study investigated the effect of sleep position on breathing patterns of normal full term infants during quiet and active behavioral sleep states. Tidal volume, percent contribution of rib cage to tidal volume, and respiration rate were measured via respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP) and pneumotachograph (PNT) in ten infants sleeping in supine versus right side-lying. Data was collected immediately following two consecutive feedings. Paired t tests and ANOVA comparisons showed no significant differences between the two postures (p $<$.05) in mean tidal volume (supine, M = 19.16, right side, M = 22.45), percent contribution of rib cage to tidal volume (supine, M = 30.55, right side M = 33.20), or respiration rate (supine, M = 49.13, right side, M = 49.37) during quiet sleep. Comparisons also showed no significant differences between the two postures (p $<$.05) in mean tidal volume (supine, M = 18.89, right side, M = 20.12), percent contribution of rib cage to tidal volume (supine, M = 6.43, right side, M = 6.97) or respiration rate (supine, M = 62.18, right side, M = 61.04) during active sleep. Therefore, no differences were found in the three respiratory variables measured between the supine and right side-lying positions. These findings suggest that infants may be positioned in either sleep position without detriment to respiratory function. This information may benefit occupational therapists and other health professionals involved in the education of parents on infant positioning and their respective advantages. ^

Electrocardiogram breathing: A study of electrocardiogram derived respiration plus multiresolution wavelet analysis of heartbeat interval variability in sleep study patients

This dissertation presents a unique research opportunity by using recordings which provide electrocardiogram (ECG) plus a reference breathing signal (RBS). ECG derived breathing (EDR) is measured and correlated against RBS. Standard deviations of multiresolution wavelet analysis coefficients (SDMW) are obtained from heart rate and classified using RBS. Prior works by others used select patients for sleep apnea scoring with EDR but no RBS. Another prior work classified select heart disease patients with SDMW but no RBS. This study used randomly chosen sleep disorder patient recordings; central and obstructive apneas, with and without heart disease.^ Implementation required creating an application because existing systems were limited in power and scope. A review survey was created to choose a development environment. The survey is presented as a learning tool and teaching resource. Development objectives were rapid development using limited resources (manpower and money). Open Source resources were used exclusively for implementation. ^ Results show: (1) Three groups of patients exist in the study. Grouping RBS correlations shows a response with either ECG interval or amplitude variation. A third group exists where neither ECG intervals nor amplitude variation correlate with breathing. (2) Previous work done by other groups analyzed SDMW. Similar results were found in this study but some subjects had higher SDMW, attributed to a large number of apneas, arousals and/or disconnects. SDMW does not need RBS to show apneic conditions exist within ECG recordings. (3) Results in this study support the assertion that autonomic nervous system variation was measured with SDMW. Measurements using RBS are not corrupted due to breathing even though respiration overlaps the same frequency band.^ Overall, this work becomes an Open Source resource which can be reused, modified and/or expanded. It might fast track additional research. In the future the system could also be used for public domain data. Prerecorded data exist in similar formats in public databases which could provide additional research opportunities. ^

White-nose syndrome initiates a cascade of physiologic disturbances in the hibernating bat host

Acknowledgments This project was financially supported by the US Geological Survey through a cooperative agreement with the University of Wisconsin – Madison. We are indebted to Dave and Jennifer Redell and Paul White from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for collecting the animals used to complete this study and for assisting with data collection. We thank Melissa Behr for assistance with necropsies and NWHC Animal Care Staff for their help with set-up and maintenance of animals. We thank Lobke Vaanholt and Catherine Hambly (University of Aberdeen, Scotland) for their expertise and coordination in the analyses of the DLW blood samples. Funds were used for direct project costs only. Use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government.

Phytochemical-loaded mesoporous silica nanoparticles for nose-to-brain olfactory drug delivery

Central nervous system (CNS) drug delivery is often hampered due to the insidious nature of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Nose-to-brain delivery via olfactory pathways have become a target of attention for drug delivery due to bypassing of the BBB. The antioxidant properties of phytochemicals make them promising as CNS active agents but possess poor water solubility and limited BBB penetration. The primary aim of this study was the development of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) loaded with the poorly water-soluble phytochemicals curcumin and chrysin which could be utilised for nose-to-brain delivery. We formulated spherical MSNP using a templating approach resulting in ∼220nm particles with a high surface porosity. Curcumin and chrysin were successfully loaded into MSNP and confirmed through Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and HPLC approaches with a loading of 11-14% for curcumin and chrysin. Release was pH dependant with curcumin demonstrating increased chemical stability at a lower pH (5.5) with a release of 53.2%±2.2% over 24h and 9.4±0.6% for chrysin. MSNP were demonstrated to be non-toxic to olfactory neuroblastoma cells OBGF400, with chrysin (100μM) demonstrating a decrease in cell viability to 58.2±8.5% and curcumin an IC50 of 33±0.18μM. Furthermore confocal microscopy demonstrated nanoparticles of <500nm were able to accumulate within cells with FITC-loaded MSNP showing membrane localised and cytoplasmic accumulation following a 2h incubation. MSNP are useful carriers for poorly soluble phytochemicals and provide a novel vehicle to target and deliver drugs into the CNS and bypass the BBB through olfactory drug delivery.

Periodic Breathing and Behavioral Awakenings at High Altitude.

Objectives. To study the relationship between nocturnal periodic breathing episodes and behavioral awakenings at high altitude. Methods. Observational study. It is 6-day ascent of 4 healthy subjects from Besisahar (760 meters) to Manang (3540 meters) in Nepal in March 2012. A recording pulse oximeter was worn by each subject to measure their oxygen saturation and the presence of periodic breathing continuously through the night. An actigraph was simultaneously worn in order to determine nocturnal behavioral awakenings. There were no interventions. Results. 187-hour sleep at high altitude was analyzed, and of this, 145 hours (78%) had at least one PB event. At high altitude, 10.5% (95% CI 6.5-14.6%) of total sleep time was spent in PB while 15 out of 50 awakenings (30%, 95% CI: 18-45%) occurring at high altitudes were associated with PB (P < 0.001). Conclusions. Our data reveals a higher than expected number of behavioral awakenings associated with PB compared to what would be expected by chance. This suggests that PB likely plays a role in behavioral awakenings at high altitude.