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Local lymph node activation and increased total serum IgE levels are suggested to be predictive parameters of airway hypersensitivity caused by low molecular weight (LMW) chemicals. Whether increases of total serum IgE are indicative of actual induction of specific airway reactions (morphological and functional) after inhalation challenge was examined in the present study. In Brown Norway (BN) and Wistar rats, serum IgE concentrations were examined following topical exposure of chemicals with known diverse sensitization potential in humans: trimellitic anhydride (TMA), a dermal and respiratory sensitizer; dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), a dermal sensitizer with no known potential to cause respiratory allergy; and methyl salicylate, a skin irritant devoid of sensitizing properties. Functional and histopathological changes in the respiratory tract were examined after subsequent inhalatory challenge with these chemicals. Of the three tested chemicals, only topical exposure to TMA resulted in a significant increase in total serum IgE concentrations in the high-IgE-responding BN rat. Upon subsequent inhalatory challenge of these rats, TMA induced specific airway reactions which included a sharp decrease in respiratory rate during challenge, followed by an increase in breathing rate with a concomitant decrease in tidal volume 24 and 48 h after inhalatory challenge, and histopathological changes in the larynx and lungs of animals necropsied 48 h after challenge. Interestingly, despite low IgE levels, TMA induced histopathological changes in the larynx and lungs of Wistar rats too. Laryngeal changes were also observed in Wistar rats upon sensitization and challenge with DNCB. These data suggest that increased total serum IgE after topical sensitization is associated with immediate-type specific airway reactivity after inhalation challenge in BN rats and thus may be a valuable parameter in testing for respiratory sensitization potential of LMW compounds. Histopathological examination upon subsequent inhalation challenge of sensitized low-IgE-responders may provide information on other allergic inflammatory airway reactions.

Local lymph node activation and increased total serum IgE levels are suggested to be predictive parameters of airway hypersensitivity caused by low molecular weight (LMW) chemicals. Whether increases of total serum IgE are indicative of actual induction of specific airway reactions (morphological and functional) after inhalation challenge was examined in the present study. In Brown Norway (BN) and Wistar rats, serum IgE concentrations were examined following topical exposure of chemicals with known diverse sensitization potential in humans: trimellitic anhydride (TMA), a dermal and respiratory sensitizer; dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB), a dermal sensitizer with no known potential to cause respiratory allergy; and methyl salicylate, a skin irritant devoid of sensitizing properties. Functional and histopathological changes in the respiratory tract were examined after subsequent inhalatory challenge with these chemicals. Of the three tested chemicals, only topical exposure to TMA resulted in a significant increase in total serum IgE concentrations in the high-IgE-responding BN rat. Upon subsequent inhalatory challenge of these rats, TMA induced specific airway reactions which included a sharp decrease in respiratory rate during challenge, followed by an increase in breathing rate with a concomitant decrease in tidal volume 24 and 48 h after inhalatory challenge, and histopathological changes in the larynx and lungs of animals necropsied 48 h after challenge. Interestingly, despite low IgE levels, TMA induced histopathological changes in the larynx and lungs of Wistar rats too. Laryngeal changes were also observed in Wistar rats upon sensitization and challenge with DNCB. These data suggest that increased total serum IgE after topical sensitization is associated with immediate-type specific airway reactivity after inhalation challenge in BN rats and thus may be a valuable parameter in testing for respiratory sensitization potential of LMW compounds. Histopathological examination upon subsequent inhalation challenge of sensitized low-IgE-responders may provide information on other allergic inflammatory airway reactions.

CASEOUS lymphadenitis (CLA) is a chronic disease of sheep and goats, characterised by the formation of suppurative abscesses in lymph nodes, caused by infection with the facultative anaerobe Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis. Infection is transmitted in the discharges from ruptured lymph nodes of affected animals. The disease causes significant economic impact on the small ruminant industry through decreased meat yield, damaged wool and leather, decreased reproductive efficiency, culling of affected animals, and mortality due to the internal lesions (Blood and others 1989, Gilmour 1991, Williamson 2001). The clinical diagnosis depends on the presence of enlarged superficial lymph nodes and caseous, greenish pus; diagnosis is confirmed by the isolation and identification of C pseudotuberculosis (Blood and others 1989, Davis 1990, Williamson 2001). Rifamycin (3-4-methyl-1-piperazinyliminomethyl) is a clinically useful macrolide antibiotic produced by the Grampositive bacterium Amycolatopsis mediterranei. It is primarily used against Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae, the causative agents of tuberculosis and leprosy, respectively (Lal and Lal 1994). Rifamycin SV has been shown to have in vitro activity against equine C pseudotuberculosis (Wilson and others 1988, Kohn and others 1993). However, it may cause hepatotoxicity and acute renal failure (Thornsbery and others 1983, Frank 1990, Molavi 1990, Plumb 1999), and thus it should be used with caution in patients with preexisting hepatic and renal dysfunction. There is no information about the adverse effects of the rifamycins in sheep. Resistance to the rifamycins can develop quickly, and the antibiotic is therefore most often used in combination with other antimicrobials (Thornsbery and others 1983, Davis 1990). This short communication describes a study of the efficacy of rifamycin SV, given in combination with a depot formulation of oxytetracycline, a broad-spectrum antibacterial agent with activity against a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including obligate anaerobes (Barragry 1994), in sheep with naturally occurring CLA.

Sensory irritation of formaldehyde (FRM), acrolein (ACR) and acetaldehyde (ACE) as measured by the decrease in breathing frequency (DBF) was studied in male Wistar rats using nose-only exposure. Groups of four rats were exposed to each of the single compounds separately or to mixtures of FRM, ACR and/or ACE. Exposure concentrations of the mixtures were chosen in such a way that summation of the effects of each chemical would be expected not to exceed 80% reduction of the breathing frequency. FRM, ACR and ACE appeared to act as sensory irritants as defined by Alarie (1966, 1973). With FRM and ACR desensitization occurred, whereas with ACE the breathing frequency gradually decreased with increasing exposure time (up to 30 min). For mixtures, the observed DBF was more pronounced than the DBF for each compound separately, but was less than the sum of the DBFs for the single compounds. A model for three compounds competing for the same receptor was applied to predict the DBF of mixtures of FRM, ACE and ACR. The results also showed that with mixtures no desensitization occurred; in fact, the breathing frequency further decreased in the last 15 min of exposure. These observations were similar to those found for ACE alone, and might have been caused by effects on the upper respiratory tract. The results of the present study allow the conclusion that sensory irritation in rats exposed to mixtures of irritant aldehydes is more pronounced than that caused by each of the aldehydes separately, and that the DBF as a result of exposure to a mixture could well be predicted using a model for competitive agonism, thus providing evidence that the combined effect of these aldehydes is basically a result of competition for a common receptor (trigeminal nerve).

1. The present investigation was conducted to test the hypothesis that the respiratory system is stressed more during exhaustive exercise in chronic hypoxia than in normoxia. 2. Four healthy male subjects (aged 33-35 years) exercised on a cycle ergometer at 75% of the local maximum oxygen consumption (Vo2,max) until exhaustion, at sea level (SL) and after a 1 month stay at 5050 m (HA). 3. Airflow at the mouth (V), oesophageal (Po) and gastric (Pg) pressures were measured at rest, during exercise and recovery. Minute ventilation (VE), respiratory power (Wresp), respiratory frequency (f) and transdiaphragmatic pressure (Pdi) were calculated from the measured variables. 4. The subjects' mechanical power output of cycling at HA was 23.7% lower than at SL. In spite of this reduction, time to exhaustion at HA was 55.3% less than at SL. VE increased slightly during exercise at SL, but showed a marked increase at HA, and at the end of exercise at HA was 47.3% higher than at SL. 5. Respiratory power increased more at HA than at SL (77.3% higher at the end of exercise) due to the increase in f needed to sustain the high VE. 6. Gastric pressure swings were negative at the end of HA exercise but always positive at SL. The Pai:Po ratio reached values below 1 at HA but never at SL. 7. These data seem to indicate that the respiratory system is stressed more during submaximal exercise at HA than at SL. We suggest that the exceedingly high VE demand, requiring an excessive Wresp, may lead to fatigue of the diaphragm.

Background Mercury poisoning can occur as a result of occupational hazard or suicide attempt. This article presents a 36-year-old case admitted to emergency department (ED) due to exposure to metallic mercury. Case Presentatıon A 36-year-old woman presented to the ED with a three-day history of abdominal pain, diarrhea and fever. One week ago her daughter had brought mercury in the liquid form from the school. She had put it on the heating stove. One day later, her 14-month old sister baby got fever and died before admission to the hospital. Her blood pressure was 134/87 mmHg; temperature, 40.2°C; heart rate 105 bpm and regular; respiration, 18 bpm; O2 saturation, 96%. Nothing was remarkable on examination and routine laboratory tests. As serine or urinary mercury levels could not be tested in the city, symptomatic chelation treatment with N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) was instituted with regard to presumptive diagnosis and history. At the 7th day of admission she was discharged without any sequelae or complaint. At the discharge day blood was drawn and sent for mercury levels which turned out to be 30 μg/dL (normal range: 0 - 10 μg/dL). Conclusion Public education on poisoning and the potential hazards of mercury are of vital importance for community health.

We humans are constantly preoccupied with our health and physiological status. From precise measurements such as the 12-lead electrocardiograms recorded in hospitals, we have moved on to mobile acquisition devices, now as versatile as smart-watches and smart-phones. Established signal processing techniques do not cater to the particularities of mobile biomedical health monitoring applications. Moreover, although our capabilities to acquire data are growing, many underlying physiological phenomena remain poorly understood. This thesis focuses on two aspects of biomedical signal processing. First, we investigate the physiological basis of the relationship between cardiac and breathing biosignals. Second, we propose a methodology to understand and use this relationship in health monitoring applications. Part I of this dissertation examines the physiological background of the cardio-respiratory relationship and indexes based on this relationship. We propose a methodology to extract the respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), which is an important aspect of this relationship. Furthermore, we propose novel indexes incorporating dynamics of the cardio-respiratory relationship, using the RSA and the phase lag between RSA and breathing. We then evaluate, systematically, existing and novel indexes under known autonomic stimuli. We demonstrate our indexes to be viable additions to the existing ones, thanks to their performance and physiological merits. Part II focuses on real-time and instantaneous methods for the estimation of the breathing parameters from cardiac activity, which is an important application of the cardio-respiratory relationship. The breathing rate is estimated from electrocardiogram and imaging photoplethysmogram recordings, using two dedicated filtering schemes, one of which is novel. Our algorithm measures this important vital rhythm in a truly real-time manner, with significantly shorter delays than existing methods. Furthermore, we identify situations, in which an important assumption regarding the estimation of breathing parameters from cardiac activity does not hold, and draw a road-map to overcome this problem. In Part III, we use indexes and methodology developed in Parts I and II in two applications for mobile health monitoring, namely, emotion recognition and sleep apnea detection from cardiac and breathing biosignals. Results on challenging datasets show that the cardio-respiratory indexes introduced in the present thesis, especially those related to the phase lag between RSA and breathing, are successful for emotion recognition and sleep apnea detection. The novel indexes reveal to be complementary to previous ones, and bring additional insight into the physiological basis of emotions and apnea episodes. To summarize, the techniques proposed in this thesis help to bypass shortcomings of previous approaches in the understanding and the estimation of cardio-respiratory coupling in real-life mobile health monitoring.

International audience; This paper investigates breathing profiles in eleven female speakers (subjects) when talking successively with the same two females (partners). Breathing kinematics of the two inter-locutors was recorded synchronously by means of two Induct-ance Plethysmographs. In order to understand the implication of breathing in dialogue, we analyzed changes in breathing pauses according to the main dialogue events (listening, back-channels, turns start and turns continuation). Breathing and syllable rates were also compared among partners and sub-jects. The duration of inhalations and related pauses was re-duced before a turn continuation in comparison to a turn start. The delay between speech offset in a breathing cycle and the onset of the next inhalation increased when a speaker and a listener swap roles as compared to a speaker who continued the turn. This was observed for both partners and subjects. The partners differed in their breathing and articulation rates but the two rates were not clearly correlated. In agreement with previous works, the current study shows that breathing kine-matics is strongly linked to dialogue events. However, it doesn't show any clear effect of partner on speaker's breath-ing. This last result is discussed relative to methodological as-pects.

Photoplethysmography (PPG) is typically used to extract cardiac-related information like heart rate and cardiac output, though extra-cardiac information like respiratory rate can also be extracted from PPG. The aim of the current study is to advance this approach further and investigate existence of gastric-related activity in PPG. To this end, we consider pulse rate variability (PRV), which provides information analogous to heart rate variability (HRV). Finger PPG and electrogastrography (EGG) signals were recorded from 8 healthy volunteers in fasting and postprandial state for 30 minutes. Peak-to-peak interval (PPI) analysis shows that the power of high frequency (HF) component in fasting and postprandial state changes significantly. The power ratio (PR), which is the ratio between powers of low frequency band (LF, 0.04-0.15 Hz) to that of high frequency band (HF, 0.15-0.4 Hz) and the EGG power were calculated in fasting and postprandial state. PR was positively correlated with EGG power (r = 0.46; P< 0.05). PR indicates the balancing sympathovagal modulation and vagal nervous activity. The significance of this study is that PR from PRV analysis could be used as a tool for diagnosing gastric system instead of the present invasive/cumbersome methods.