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Just FYI everyone. The below was released today. Again, the experts have conveniently left out numerous variables. Even so, it could raise some interesting discussions. It sure would have been nice if they had done this study with data with other types of gas media and differential subject groups such as WKPP. Wonder how many stokes were in the study? BigVon, did you participate? ;-) Might explain his attitude and mind set. eeh, George? >"Monday November 29, 2:20 pm Eastern Time Scuba diving dangerous for heart defect sufferers CHICAGO, Nov 29 (Reuters) - Scuba diving can be dangerous for the one out of every four people who have a common heart defect that makes them susceptible to decompression sickness and brain lesions, researchers said on Monday. The heart condition, called patent foramen ovale (PFO), is an opening in the connection between the left and right sides of the heart. Those with PFO can have relatively harmless skin rashes or develop serious neurological problems such as vertigo or even paralysis. During dives, inert gas bubbles that form in the bloodstream can bypass the filter in the heart of PFO sufferers that would normally send the bubbles to the lungs. The bubbles then travel through the body, causing decompression sickness, and into the brain where they can create lesions, said Michael Knauth, a radiologist at the University of Heidelberg Medical School in Germany, who presented his findings to the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America in Chicago. Decompression sickness, which can be fatal, occurs when gas bubbles are released into tissue after a too rapid decrease in air pressure following a stay in a compressed atmosphere -- such as under water. In cranial examinations of 88 scuba divers, Knauth said four of five divers with PFO were found to have several brain lesions each. Brain lesions were rare among non-PFO divers. ``It is unclear whether the brain lesions can cause long-term problems, but common sense would tell you if you have enough of them and they're in the right places, they could cause problems, such as memory disturbances or difficulty concentrating,'' Knauth said. In another aspect of the study, 19 out of 24 divers who had unexplained diving incidents, despite following the rules of decompression such as descending and ascending slowly, turned out to have PFO. Some also had large brain lesions. ``Divers with PFOs should reduce the depth they are descending to, not stay deep too long, ascend slowly, increase the time they spend above water between dives and avoid several descents during one dive,'' Knauth said. Knauth suggested prospective divers get tested for PFO before being certified to dive."< Duh? That's a no brainer! Sincerely, William __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. All in one place. Yahoo! Shopping: http://shopping.yahoo.com -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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