>What are your thoughts on this Rob, and do you have any recommendations in 
>how to implement this as a modification to the tables using VO2 max. I am 
>copying this to George as well, and hopefully he will print it out and show 
>it to Bill Hamilton, for his views and expertise in the physiological and  
>statistical decompression model arena.

WOW! I just took the exam to prove that I can *USE* the tables and now 
you're asking me to *rewrite* them?

Seriously, the differences in gas exhange differentials between high 
altitude low pressure physiology and high pressure dive hyperbarics is 
too great for me to meaningfully comment (just not enough carry-over 
between the two diciplines... I'm still learning this stuff!). This 
really is a question for the formally trained hyperbaric docs. Any 
comments from me at this stage of my reading and I'd peg the needle of my 
BS meter!

One factor to think about though in the "elite" fit diver/athlete, 
irrespective of speculated differences or causes in gas diffusion 
exchange rates, is that most likely the fit diver is carrying a *lower 
percentage of body fat*.

Now, writing a complex differential equation to describe alterations in 
in-gasing vs off-gasing with depth and time between fluid compartments is 
one tough #$&(@ of a  math problem (at least for me) but it might be 
somewhat simplified by accounting for differences in  gas solubilities 
between divers. 

If we agree that N2 is some 5 times more soluble in fat than in lean 
muscle tissue (I've got a reference for that somewhere around here) then 
a relatively small reduction in body fat would have a significant effect 
of the total amount of desolved N2. The fit diver may simply not be 
picking up as much N2 in the first place (and that may be more important 
than any difference in vascularity).

This last comment falls into the speculation catagory on my part. We've a 
real live hyperbaric physiologist at AFIP who dives and occasionally 
lurks here who I could ask Monday (and is probably having a hoot watching 
me twist in the wind!)

Robb Wolov

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