Don’t Let Your Thoughts Die

They say that the diagnosis of end of life is by the diagnosis of brain death. And of course, as long as the brain is not dead, we do continue our thoughts. Sometimes, our thoughts are really powerful. These thoughts are meaningless unless we let others know about it. The best way to let our thoughts be known to others is to document it. There goes the importance of publishing our thoughts. And perhaps, this is the most consolidate manner of making ourselves immortal. Recently, during my fellowship in neonatology days in Delhi, I was literature searching for high frequency ventilation in neonates. During this adventure, I reached the website of “The American Journal of Physiology”, the official publication of The American Physiology Society. During this, I was mesmerized by their first publication which was dated January 1898!!! It was really worth noting that this society was established in 1887 and their publication started in 1898! Of course, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet are one of the oldest publication journals dated 1812 and 1823 respectively but it was amazing that the branch of physiology had journals more than a century ago!Yes of course, no doubt, we may be lagging behind our thoughts for even more than a century. This has no limitation for us to catch up and head towards the future. It is never too late, unless we do not start it. Let’s go ahead and move along with time, sharing our thoughts and trying to keep ourselves and our institution immortal forever.All the best.

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Quantitative evaluation of pulmonary stretch receptor activity during high-frequency ventilation

Journal of Applied Physiology ◽

10.1152/jappl.1992.72.3.1101 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 72 (3) ◽

pp. 1101-1110 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

S. L. Thompson-Gorman ◽

R. S. Fitzgerald ◽

W. Mitzner

Keyword(s):

Tidal Volume ◽

High Frequency ◽

Conventional Mechanical Ventilation ◽

High Frequency Ventilation ◽

Absolute Amount ◽

Pulmonary Stretch Receptors ◽

Frequency Ventilation ◽

The Brain ◽

Specific Contribution ◽

Pulmonary Stretch Receptor

The purpose of this study was to determine the neural output of pulmonary stretch receptors (PSRs) in response to conditions that, in previous studies (J. Appl. Physiol. 65: 179–186, 1988 and Respir. Physiol. 80: 307–322, 1990), produced apnea in anesthetized cats. These conditions included changes in airway pressure (Paw; 2 or 6 cmH2O), stroke or tidal volume (1–4 ml/kg), frequency [conventional mechanical ventilation (CMV) vs. high-frequency ventilation (HFV) at 10, 15, and 20 Hz], and levels of inspired CO2 (0, 2, and 5%). These data were needed to assess properly the specific contribution of the PSRs to the apnea found with certain combinations of the above variables. Each PSR was subjected to HFV over a range of mechanical and chemical settings, and its activity was recorded. PSRs exhibited continuous activity associated with pump stroke in 11 of 12 fibers tested. PSRs fired more rapidly when mean Paw was 6 cmH2O [45.3 +/- 0.8 (SE) impulses/s] than when it was 2 cmH2O (31.7 +/- 0.9 impulses/s, P = 0.0001). At both pressures, PSR activity increased as the volume of inflation, or tidal volume, was increased from 1 to 4 ml/kg. At Paw of 2 cmH2O, the number of impulses per second for HFV was not different from that for CMV (averaged over the respiratory cycle), under conditions previously demonstrated as apneogenic for both modes of ventilation. Therefore the absolute amount of information being sent to the brain stem processing centers via PSRs during HFV did not differ from that during CMV. Thus any PSR contribution to HFV-induced apnea must have been the result of changes in the pattern of the signal or the central nervous system's processing of it rather than an increase in the amount of inhibitory afferent signal.

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