Changes in physical endurance following a 3-months' exam period

The question was raised to what extent in the course of a three-month examination period as a time of increased psychic stress, depending upon the distinction of the personal peculiarity "fear of examinations" of the students, reductions of the physical efficiency develop. On the basis of the lactate efficiency curves a significant decrease in vitality after a three-month examination period was proved. The determination of the efficiency in the aerobic-anaerobic transitional zone renders possible an exact evidence, independent upon motivation. According to the results the formation of the curriculum has a determining influence on the physical efficiency, however, not the personal peculiarity "fear of examinations".     

Aktivierungsverhalten bei sensumotorischer regeltätigkeit in abhängigkeit von der leistung

Zusammenfassung Mit 40 Versuchspersonen wurde Kompensationstracking durchgeführt. Anhand des Leistungsparameters Regelfehler wurden 2 Gruppen gebildet, bei denen untersucht wurde, ob sie sich im Aktivierungsverhalten unterscheiden. Es wurde gefunden, daß die Herzfrequenz- und Atemfrequenzsteigerungen in allen Versuchsabschnitten bei der Gruppe mit guter Trackingleistung signifikant höher waren. Die Streuung der Herzfrequenz war bei der schlechten Gruppe geringer.Die Aktivierungsvariablen Herz- und Atemfrequenz unterscheiden sich am deutlichsten in der jeweils ersten Belastungsminute der Versuchsabschnitte, dabei spiegelt die Herzfrequenz die Aufgabenschwierigkeit besser wider als die Atemfrequenz.Die Untersuchung der Korrelation zwischen dem Leistungsparameter Regelfehler und Herzfrequenzanstieg ergibt bei der Gruppe mit schlechterer Trackingleistung immer negative Werte für r, die in 3 Belastungsabschnitten signifikant sind. Bei der Gruppe mit guter Trackingleistung besteht eine positive Korrelation zwischen Herzfrequenzanstieg und Regelfehler bei geringerer statistischer Sicherheit.Die Ergebnisse werden diskutiert und Schlußfolgerungen für die psychophysiologische Eignungsbeurteilung werden abgeleitet.     

Can aerosol-derived airway morphometry detect early, asymptomatical lung emphysema?

The aerosol-derived airway morphometry technique (ADAM) can be used to assess non-invasively peripheral airspace dimensions. It has been shown that this technique can identify permanent peripheral airspace enlargement in patients with lung emphysema, but it is yet unknown if early stages of emphysema can be detected. In this study, 89 aluminum welders were investigated. Although all (except two subjects) showed normal spirometry, in 29% of the subjects visual signs of early emphysema were observed with high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) in a previous study. Using the ADAM technique, 28% of the subjects showed increased peripheral airspace dimensions. However, both groups with positive findings overlapped only in about half of the cases. Peripheral airspace dimensions correlated significantly with the mean lung density calculated from the HRCT scans, and lung density was significantly decreased in the group with increased airspace dimensions. The poor overlap of the positive findings observed with both techniques can be explained if it is considered that the visual HRCT technique and ADAM focus on different aspects of emphysematous changes in the lungs. Whereas visual HRCT is a powerful tool to identify focal changes in lung density but cannot detect mild homogeneous emphysema, ADAM delivers a measure for homogeneously distributed emphysema but cannot detect focal emphysema or regions with emphysema which are badly ventilated. Since ADAM is easy to perform, non-invasive, and can be repeatedly applied to human subjects without radiological concerns, this technique might become a useful tool for the detection and monitoring of lung emphysema in occupational medicine, epidemiology, and pharmaceutics.     

Deposition of Foradil P in human lungs: comparison of in vitro and in vivo data.

In order to characterize the efficacy of dry powder inhalers, in vitro measurements are much easier to perform than human deposition studies, especially in early stages of drug development. In this study, lung deposition and delivered dose of radiolabeled Foradil P inhaled with the Aerolizer were measured in 10 healthy subjects. These data were then compared with data derived from an in vitro assessment of the device output and particle size distribution combined with mathematical modeling of lung deposition (modified ICRP-model). Delivered dose and lung deposition increased slightly but statistically significant with the inhalation peak flow in both the in vivo data and the in vitro data. The delivered dose ranged from 60% to 80% and lung deposition, relative to the fill weight, from 13% to 28%. Differences between the in vitro and in vivo data were slight and statistically not significant. This study indicates that in vitro assessment of device performance, in combination with lung deposition delivery data, are in good agreement with deposition data measured in healthy subjects. Since there was only a slight flow rate dependency of lung deposition without clinical relevance, it may additionally be concluded that the Aerolizer is a robust, easy to handle inhalation device with stable and reproducible drug delivery characteristics.     

Akutes Abdomen – Eine haarige Überraschung

Pädiatrie & Pädologie - Bezoare sind Magensteine, die durch verschlucktes, unverdauliches Material entstehen. Bei Trichobezoaren handelt es sich um Haarknäuel, die infolge von...     

Inhaled antibiotic therapy in bronchiectasis?

Antimicrobial therapy is an important aspect of disease management for patients with bronchiectasis. Delivery of an inhaled antibiotic is an appealing alternative to oral or intravenous administration because the antibiotic is delivered in high concentrations directly to the site of infection, eliminating the need for high systemic concentrations and reducing the risk of systemic toxicity. In recent controlled studies these potential benefits have been assessed in patients with bronchiectasis who became colonized by P. aeruginosa and the results support the use of nebulized antibiotics. In up to one-third of patients P. aeruginosa was eradicated from their sputum by inhaled antibiotic therapy and up to 62 % of patients showed improved medical condition. The further development of new aerosol devices supported by clinical testing will allow effective management of patients with bronchiectasis by an inhalation therapy that minimizes time constraints and drug loss which may improve health status and quality of life.     

Increased fine particle deposition in women with asymptomatic nonspecific airway hyperresponsiveness

Previous studies suggest that lung function tests using monodisperse aerosols can help to identify early stages of lung diseases. We investigated intrapulmonary particle loss and aerosol bolus dispersion-a marker of convective gas transport-in 32 women with asymptomatic nonspecific bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) compared with 60 women without BHR. Deposition of inhaled particles (0.9 micrometer mass median aerodynamic diameter [MMAD]) was calculated from particle losses of inhaled aerosol boluses consisting of di-2-ethylhexyl sebacate droplets. Convective gas mixing was assessed by the aerosol bolus dispersion method. Women with BHR, nonsmokers as well as smokers, showed significantly increased deposition of aerosol particles (nonsmokers: 45.6 +/- 8.8%; smokers: 49.2 +/- 5.4%; mean +/- SD) compared with the control group of female nonsmokers without BHR (38.2 +/- 9.1%; mean +/- SD) (p < 0.01). Aerosol bolus dispersion values showed a trend for higher values in subjects with BHR (nonsmokers: 572 +/- 122 cm3; smokers: 587 +/- 85 cm3) compared with the control group (542 +/- 88 cm3) (p = 0.2). Also, the maximal expiratory flow at 25% vital capacity (MEF25) showed a trend for decreased values in nonsmokers with BHR compared with nonsmokers without BHR (64 +/- 16% of predicted versus 78 +/- 24% of predicted; p = 0.03). These results suggest that deposition of inhaled particles (0.9 micrometer MMAD) administered by the aerosol bolus technique is a sensitive index of peripheral lung injury that is usually not assessable by conventional methods.