Introdução: A respiração diafragmática (RD) é uma técnica que integra um conjunto de ações de auto-cuidado no programa de reabilitação pulmonar com objetivo de melhorar a mecânica ventilatória e reduzir a dispnéia em pacientes com doença pulmonar obstrutiva crônica (DPOC). No entanto, questiona-se sua indicação e seus efeitos. Nesse contexto avaliamos o efeito da RD no padrão respiratório, movimento toracoabdominal e ventilação em pacientes com DPOC. Método: Foram estudados 44 indivíduos entre 45 e 75 anos conforme o grau de obstrução da via aérea (VEF1), divididos em grupos controle, DPOC moderado e DPOC grave. Avaliou-se padrão respiratório, movimento toracoabdominal e ventilação por meio de sistemas de pletismografia respiratória por indutância (Respitrace) e análise metabólica de gases (MGC) durante 10 minutos. Após quatro minutos de respiração tranqüila os indivíduos realizavam dois minutos de respiração diafragmática e novamente, quatro de respiração tranqüila. Dispnéia foi avaliada antes, durante e após a RD (escala de Borg modificada). Mobilidade diafragmática foi avaliada utilizando radiografias de tórax. Resultados: Verificou-se aumento do volume corrente e redução da freqüência respiratória durante a RD a partir da elevação do fluxo inspiratório médio e do tempo inspiratório. Houve maior participação do compartimento abdominal com o grupo moderado apresentando incoordenação. A ventilação pulmonar se elevou em associação à redução na ventilação em espaço morto, no equivalente ventilatório para o gás carbônico, e elevação da saturação periférica de oxigênio. Mobilidade diafragmática, ausência de dispnéia, menor grau de hipoxemia e movimento toracoabdominal coordenado associaram-se ao melhor desempenho da RD. Conclusões: A respiração diafragmática é capaz de promover melhora no padrão respiratório e eficiência ventilatória sem conduzir a dispnéia naqueles pacientes com sistema muscular respiratório preservado. / Introduction: Diaphragmatic breathing (DB) is a technique which is part of a set of self-care actions in the lung rehabilitation program for the purpose of improving the ventilatory mechanical and reducing dyspnea. There are doubts, however, as to its effects and recommended use. In this context we assessed the effect of the DB on respiratory pattern, thoracoabdominal motion and ventilation in patients with chronic pulmonary obstructive disease (COPD). Method: Forty-four subjects aged between 45 and 75 years were studied according to the degree of obstruction of the airway (FEV1). This group was subdivided into three: a control group and two others, respectively, of moderate and severe COPD. Their breathing pattern, thoracoabdominal motion and ventilation by means of respiratory inductive plethysmograph (Respitrace) and metabolic analysis of gases (MGC) systems were assessed during ten minutes. After four minutes of quiet breathing, the subjects would perform two minutes of the DB and four other minutes of quiet breathing. Dyspnea was assessed before, during and after diaphragmatic breathing (modified Borg scale). Diaphragmatic mobility was assessed by thoracic radiography. Results: An increase in tidal volume and a reduction in breathing frequency were found during DB as from the rise in mean inspiratory flow and inspiratory time. There was greater participation of the abdominal compartment with the moderate group presenting asynchronous motion. The pulmonary ventilation increased together with the reduction of the ventilation in the dead space and of the ventilatory equivalent for carbonic gas, with the increase in arterial oxygen saturation. Diaphragmatic mobility, absence of dyspnea, minor degree of hypoxemia and coordinated thoracoabdominal motion were associated with the better DB performance. Conclusions: Diaphragmatic breathing is capable of promoting an improvement in the breathing pattern and ventilatory efficiency without provoking dyspnea in patients whose muscular respiratory system has been preserved.

Les circuits nerveux s'organisent autour des grands axes de polarité du corps. Au cours du développement, la navigation ainsi que l'arrangement spatial des projections au sein de leurs territoires cibles sont contrôlés par de nombreux facteurs de guidage. Pendant ma thèse je me suis intéressée à deux modèles de formation des circuits neuronaux présentant une polarité dans l'axe droite-gauche. Le premier concerne la mise en place des projections des interneurones commissuraux de la moelle épinière, un modèle de navigation orientée et le second, porte sur l'innervation des motoneurones phréniques, un modèle d'organisation asymétrique dans le territoire cible. Les mouvements comme la marche, la course ou la nage font intervenir des circuits neuronaux particuliers dédiés à la coordination des deux côtés du corps. Ces circuits sont formés majoritairement par les projections des interneurones commissuraux de la moelle épinière. Au cours du développement, ces interneurones élaborent un axone qui traverse la ligne médiane partageant les deux moitiés du système nerveux central pour se connecter aux motoneurones ou à d'autres interneurones de l'hémi-moelle opposée. De nombreux travaux ont porté sur les mécanismes de traversée de la ligne médiane et ont mis en évidence un rôle fondamental de facteurs de guidage comme la Nétrine, les Slit et les Sémaphorines. Ces molécules sont secrétées par les cellules de la plaque du plancher (PP) environnant la ligne médiane ventrale. Lors de leur traversée les axones commissuraux sont tout d'abord attirés par les signaux attractifs secrétés par les cellules de la PP. Une fois que les axones ont traversé la ligne médiane, ils perdent leur sensibilité aux facteurs attractifs et développent des nouvelles sensibilités pour des facteurs répulsifs qui les guident hors de la PP. Une étude menée par mon équipe a permis de montrer que les axones commissuraux acquièrent une réponse à la Sémaphorine3B seulement après avoir traversé la ligne médiane. Dans cette étude, l'équipe a montré que pendant la phase qui précède la traversée de la PP, une protéase, la Calpaine-1, dégrade la Plexine-A1, le corécepteur de Sema3B (Nawabi et al., 2010). L'inhibition de cette voie pendant la traversée de la PP conduit à la stabilisation de la PlexineA1 à la surface du cône de croissance et la formation d'un complexe récepteur de Sema3B fonctionnel composé de la Plexine-A1 et de la sous-unité de liaison de Sema3B, la Neuropiline2. La suppression de l'activité Calpaine est contrôlée par des signaux de la PP dont la nature n'était pas connue. Au cours de ma thèse j'ai identifié et caractérisé les contributions fonctionnelles de deux signaux de la PP qui sont responsables de la suppression de l'activité Calpaine et la sensibilisation des axones à Sema3B après la traversée. Ces résultats ont permis d'élargir les fonctions du facteur neurotrophique gdnf, et d'apporter de nouveaux éléments sur les voies de contrôle de la signalisation Sémaphorine, les processus de traversée et les modulations post-traductionnelles des récepteurs Plexines. Dans un deuxième projet, je me suis intéressée aux asymétries droite-gauche du système nerveux, par l'étude d'un nouvel exemple de circuit neuronal asymétrique : l'innervation motrice du diaphragme. Le diaphragme est un muscle indispensable à la respiration, il est composé d'une région centrale tendineuse et de deux muscles latéraux. Ces muscles sont innervés par un groupe particulier de motoneurones provenant de la moelle épinière cervicale, qui forment les nerfs phréniques droits (D) et gauches (G). Malgré une position centrale dans l'organisme et une morphologie apparente symétrique, nous avons découvert que le diaphragme présente une asymétrie musculaire ainsi qu'une asymétrie nerveuse. Etonnamment les motoneurones phréniques établissent un motif de connexion typique et différent sur les muscles droit et gauche du diaphragme [etc...] / The nervous circuits have stereotype positions within the major body axes. During development, axonal navigation and special positioning of the axon tracts in the target territories are regulated by many axon guidance factors. During my thesis I have been interested in two models of neuronal circuit formation that present a leftright polarity. The first one concerns the formation of the spinal commissural neurons projections, a model of oriented navigation along the left-right axis and the second one is the innervation of the phrenic motoneurons, a novel model of left-right asymmetric innervation pattern. Rhythmic locomotor movements like walking, running or swimming require neuronal circuits ensuring left-right coordination. Central components of these circuits are commissural neurons of the spinal cord. During development theses neurons are projecting axons across the midline that divides the nervous system in two parts, which connect the contralateral side of the spinal cord. Extensive work focused on the mechanisms controlling midline crossing. These study revealed a fundamental role of guidance factors secreted by floor plate cells at the ventral midline such as Netrins, Slits and Semaphorins. They also revealed that before crossing, axons are attracted towards the floor plate, and navigating by the floor plate they lose responsiveness to these attractive factors and develop a new sensitivity to repulsive cues that drive them out of the floor plate. In a previous study, my team showed that commissural axons gain response to Sema3B only after floor plate crossing (Nawabi et al., 2010). Before crossing, Plexin-A1 the Sema3B receptor is processed by a protease: the Calpain1. During crossing suppression of this pathway enable Plexin-A1 expression at growth cone surface, leading to sensitization to Sema3B. The suppression of Calpain activity was found controlled by floor plate signals, which remained unknown. During my thesis I have identified and characterized the functional contribution of two floor plate signals that are responsible for the inhibition of Calpain activity and axon sensitization to Sema3B after midline crossing: the neurotrophic factor gdnf and the cell adhesion molecule NrCAM. My results bring new elements on the control of midline crossing processes, Semaphorin signaling, and post-translational modifications of the Plexins receptors. In my second project, I have been interested in left-right asymmetries of the nervous system through the study of a new model of left-right asymmetry: the diaphragm innervation. The diaphragm is a muscle essential for breathing, it is composed of one central tendinous region and two lateral muscles. These muscles are innervated by a subset of cervical spinal cord motoneurons which forms the left and right phrenic nerves. Despite its central disposition in the organism and its apparent symmetry, we noticed that the diaphragm presents nervous and muscular asymmetries. Surprisingly phrenic motoneurons present typical and different nerve patterns on the left and right diaphragm muscles. Diverse left-right characteristic have been documented in the brain but none concerned yet the spinal cord or peripheral projections. My thesis work has been dedicated to the identification of the mechanisms that control the asymmetry of the diaphragm innervation. My work showed that this asymmetry is set up very early during development via a molecular pathway that is known to control the visceral organ asymmetry. This work opens numerous perspectives and brings new information on the molecular diversity of spinal neurons that could shed a new light on the mechanisms of motoneuron physiopathology

Preliminary results of research focused on the applications of DC diaphragm discharge in water solutions containing humic substances are presented in this diploma thesis. Electrical discharges in water produce various reactive species such as radicals (•OH, •O, •H), ions and molecules (H2O2, O3). These species have high oxidation potential and thus they easily react with order species and molecules. Such reactions could lead, for example, to destruction of organic pollutants dissolved in water. This work studies this effect on humic matters that can be contained in water coming from floods. Diaphragm discharge investigated by this work was created in the reactor using konstant DC high voltage up to 2 kV that gave the total input power from 100 to 200 W. Breakdown and discharge ignition started in the pin-hole in the dielectric barrier separating two electrode spaces (anode and cathode space). Presented work investigates decomposition of humic substances by the electric discharge in the dependence of solution properties and discharge conditions. Parameters such as initial solution conductivity, electrolyte kind or input power have been investigated. Moreover, substantial effect of pH on humic acid decomposition has been observed. Refraktometry and absorption spectroscopy in UV-VIS region together with fluorescence spectroscopy has been used for the detection of changes in humic solutions.

The diploma thesis is focused on the identification of degradation products of organic dye Saturn Red L4B resulting by degradation in diaphragm discharge, using separation techniques with mass spectrometric detection.

The main object of this thesis is the diagnostics of the diaphragm discharge generated in water solutions containing supporting electrolytes (mostly NaCl), and description of particular processes before and after discharge breakdown by DC non-pulsed voltage up to 2 kV. Although many applications of electric discharge in liquids have been developed during the last years, the exact mechanism of the discharge ignition is not sufficiently known up to now. Based on this reason, this work is focused on the investigation of processes before the discharge ignition, breakdown parameters and the discharge itself both in the irregular and stable regime. The theoretical part of the work presents proposed mechanisms of the discharge generation in water solutions including the description of particular kinds of known discharges. Diaphragm discharge is one of many possible configurations of electrical discharges in liquids. In fact, electrical discharge in water forms non-thermal plasma, which is generated by high voltage, and many physical and chemical processes are started in plasma channels (so-called streamers). Among physical processes, high electrical field, shock waves and last but not least emission of electromagnetic radiation in visible and ultra-violet radiation belongs. The most important chemical processes are generation of various active species as hydrogen peroxide, and OH radical. Three batch plasma reactors using a diaphragm configuration with different total volume (4 l, 100 ml and 50 ml) are employed in the presented work. The discharge is created in an orifice (a pin-hole) in the dielectric barrier separating two electrode parts of the reactor. DC non-pulsed high voltage up to 4 kV is used for the discharge generation. Electrodes are made of stainless steel or platinum, and they are installed in parallel to the diaphragm in a variable distance from the dielectric barrier in each reactor part. The dielectric barrier is made of PET or Shapal-MTM ceramics with the variable thickness (0.2?2 mm). One pin hole st the diaphragm center with diameter of 0.2?1.5 mm are used in contemporary experiments. Time resolved characteristics of current and voltage are recorded using four-channel oscilloscope which detected their output values. Parameters are measured by the constantly increasing DC voltage with a step of 100 V. The solutions containing sodium chloride electrolyte are used at five different conductivities. Recorded time resolved characteristics determine breakdown moment, and describe current and voltage in particular parts within the static current-voltage curve. The breakdown appeared at lower applied voltage when the electrode distance is enhanced. However, the electrode distances higher than 4 cm does not induce any significant change of the breakdown voltage. The influence of pin-hole diameter is less obvious in the studied range, but a slight enhancement of breakdown voltage is observed with the increasing pin-hole diameter. Current-voltage characteristic curve moves towards lower voltage with the diaphragm thickness enhancement. The work compares the influence of conductivity change on current-voltage characteristics as well as the effect of inorganic salt kind. By the conductivity enhancement, the measured current-voltage curve moves towards lower voltage which means that the breakdown voltage is decreased. Sizes of the reactors do not have any effect on the processes before and after discharge breakdown.

In this paper, we present a new compact hydraulic linear actuator. The concept is developed to change the rolling piston diameter of an active air spring during usage. By doing so, the air spring can actively apply pressure and tension forces. The actuator is designed for small movements at high forces. It is insensitive to side forces, which are introduced by the bellows rolling on the rolling piston of the air spring. A diaphragm sealing is used to minimize friction. Hence a precise adjustment of small displacements at high dynamics is possible and the system is completely leakage-free. We describe the design and development of this actuator and show first measurement results from preliminary tests to show its functionality.

Author: Bc. Anežka Zasadilová Title: The effect of physiotherapy on patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease Objectives: The aim of this thesis is to design a therapeutic unit and evaluate its effect on long-term treatment in the therapy of selected patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease Methods: The group of patients treated for esophageal reflux disease was examined using a standardized questionnaire, esophageal manometry and postural tests. This was followed by a two-month therapy aimed at stretching and strengthening the diaphragm using several physiotherapeutic methods. After completing the therapy, the probands were measured again as in the same way as in the initial examination. The obtained data were evaluated by statistical analysis using a nonparametric test for one selection (Wilcoxon test). Results: The evaluation of the questionnaire survey resulted in the value of p-value = 0.007265, ie less than the selected level of alpha significance (= 0.05). Based on the Wilcoxon test, it was confirmed that the input score was statistically significantly higher than the output score. The evaluation of the esophageal manometry gave the value of p-value = 0.6956, ie greater than the selected level of significance alpha (= 0.05). Based on the Wilcoxon test, it was not confirmed that the...

This thesis is focusing on objectifying the postural function of diaphragm with a biofeedback sensor in patients with low back pain (LBP). The theoretical part provides an overview of known facts about the postural function of the abdominal muscles and diaphragm and the connection between their activation and the change in intra-abdominal pressure and the origin of LBP. The thesis gives specifics of LBP, its etiology and possible methods of classification of non-specific LBP, as well as the methods of evaluating subjective disability. Other methods of objectifying postural functions other than the one used in this thesis are mentioned briefly. Methodology: In the experimental part, we used a capacitive force sensor to test 31 patients with non-specific chronic LBP (aver. age 25.25, SD ± 4.66, aver. height 176.77 cm, SD ± 9.97, aver. weight 77.93 kg, SD ±18.40) in 3 posturally different seated scenarios - resting breathing, with added external load when the subjects held a dumbbell of 20 % of their body weight) and with maximum voluntary increase in intra-abdominal pressure (the diaphragm test). The sensor position was on lumbar triangle and in the groin area. Oswestry Questionaire v2.1a was used to evaluate subjective disability. Results: An independent t-test analysis showes increase in the...

Title: Effect of postural-respiratory physiotherapeutic intervention in the treatment of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) Objectives: The aim of the theoretical part of this thesis is to describe the problem and summarize the latest knowledge about gastroesophageal reflux and its current treatment approaches. Based on this theoretical knowledge, in the practical part to create a design and verify the functionality of a comprehensive therapeutic procedure and exercise set aimed at influencing the postural-respiratory function of the diaphragm and viscero- somatic manifestations of reflux disease of the oesophagus. Methods: The theoretical part of the work was processed in the form of literary research, based on information from book and electronic resources in Czech, English and German language. A total of 16 probands with a diagnosis of GERD were included in the research part, which were subsequently divided into two groups of 8 - experimental and control. Both groups were to undergo a series of 8 physiotherapies within one month as indicated by the physician. In addition, a set of yoga asanas and pranayama was added to the daily exercise sets of the experimental group, which were aimed at improving the postural-respiratory ability of the diaphragm, overall coactivation of myofascial chains...

<div> <p>Due to harsh environmental conditions, the deterioration of prestressed concrete bridge girders is a commonly observed phenomenon in Indiana and much of the Midwest. Concordantly, one widely observed damage scenario is deteriorated end regions of prestressed concrete girders. Damaged or failed expansion joints expose prestressed concrete girder end regions to chloride-laden water, resulting in a corrosive environment in which reinforcement section loss and concrete spalling can occur. For bridges experiencing this type of deterioration, action is needed to ensure the structure remains safe and serviceable. As such, an experimental program was developed to investigate the effectiveness of three repair techniques in restoring the structural behavior of prestressed concrete bridge girders with end region deterioration. The three examined repair techniques are (i) an externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) system, (ii) a near-surface-mounted (NSM) FRP system, and (iii) a concrete supplemental diaphragm. Additionally, installation procedures for the three end region repair techniques were developed. Results, conclusions, and recommendations from the experimental program are presented to help advise best practices for implementing end region repair techniques in the field. </p> </div> <br>