According to a report by Dr. E.D. Thalmann, DAN Assistant Medical Director, DCS describes a condition “that happens to your body when you’re surfacing after a dive. It occurs in approximately 1,000 U.S. scuba divers each year. It affects scuba divers, aviators, astronauts and compressed-air workers.”
Last year In the U.S, more than 3 million people participated in scuba diving, a sport that is enjoyed by both sexes in all age groups. Recreational scuba diving is popular and world- wide with more than 23 million scuba diver certifications issued in 2015. However, its growth in popularity has been accompanied by an increase in the number of ear complaints associated with this activity.
“More than 200,000 people visit a doctor each year for problems with their ability to taste,” according to the National Institute of Health (NIH). Below is information about Gustation, the sense of taste.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia worldwide. It is widely regarded as an important cause of embolic stroke, that is brain infarction (damage) resulting from thrombotic (clots) s howering the bloodstream as they break off from the heart.
Taste and smell are connected in more ways than we realize. Eighty percent of what we taste is related to the sense of smell. There is virtually no flavor to food or beverages without the sense of smell. This article emphasizes the actions of the Olfactory nerve, i.e. the smell nerve, how it contributes to the enjoyment of food and drink, how it protects us from harmful irritants and how it enhances the quality of our life.
Our ancestors understood that certain foods or odors were dangerous and must be avoided. Today we still use the sensations of taste and smell as warning signals to avoid problems.
A baby girl screams in pain as the plane is landing, while the passengers around her watch in empathy. Another says, “My ears feel blocked as if cotton is stuck in them.”
We’ve been there. Check in at the airport, pick up our boarding passes at the check-in-counter, board the plane, spot our assigned seat and place the carry-on-luggage in the overhead compartment. We sit down and fasten our seat belts.
IN 2015, the Zika virus outbreak in Recife, Brazil made international headlines. The Brazilian Health Ministry and the World Health Organization rang the alarm bell because pregnant woman infected with the Zika virus were suspected of giving birth to children with birth defects, most notably, microcephaly. (1, 2)
“A sudden, sharp increase in babies with ‘no foreheads and very strange heads’ was baffling doctors in Brazil. That set off a search for answers that led to a little-known pathogen, the ZIKA virus.” — NY Times, February 6. 2016.