Respiratory center

“ It thus for a time, during the earlier stages of a task and before fatigue sets in, augments our working power. One of its most striking services is that of acting as the stimulus to that part of our nervous systems which presides over our respiratory movements. After each expiratory act the accumulating carbon dioxide within our blood excites our respiratory center to a subsequent inspiration, and except for this substance within us respiration would be impossible. ”

“ The impulse which comes from within, from the so-called respiratory centers, so excites the respiratory muscles that they cause the chest to execute the strongest breathing movements with the greatest ease, ventilating every portion of the lungs, filling every air-cell to its utmost capacity. ”

“ The purity of the blood is influenced by the condition of the lungs. When the bronchial tubes and air-cells have become partially impervious to air, from pressure upon the lungs, from fluids in the chest, from tumors, or from the consolidation of the cells and tubes from disease,—as inflammation, or the deposition of yellow, cheesy matter, called tubercles,—the blood will not be purified, even if the air is pure, the lungs voluminous, and the respiratory movements unrestricted, as the air cannot permeate the air-cells. ”

“ A definite increase in the volume of the lungs is the consequence of frequent repetition of this supplemental respiration. The air-cells which are as a rule inactive, and which are reserved for cases of excessive respiratory strain, arise from their inaction; their walls, which are usually collapsed, and even stuck together, separate and give entrance to the air which can not find room in the confined space sufficient for ordinary breathing. ”

“ Breathing by the lungs is simply the means by which the taking up of oxygen and the giving off of carbon dioxide by the cells is made possible.
HYGIENE OF RESPIRATORY ORGANS The liability of the lungs to attacks from such dread diseases as consumption and pneumonia makes questions touching their hygiene of first importance. Consumption does not as a rule attack sound lung tissue, but usually has its beginning in some weak or enfeebled spot in the lungs which has lost its "power of resistance." ”

“ The two lungs must, therefore, be alternately affected as to their capacity according as the heart occupies space on either side of the thorax. In expiration, the heart, E, is more uncovered by the shelving edges of the lungs than in inspiration. In pneumothorax of either of the pleural sacs the air compresses the lung, pushes the heart from its normal position, and the space which the air occupies in the pleura yields a clear hollow sound on percussion, whilst, by the ear or stethoscope applied to a corresponding part of the thoracic walls, we discover the absence of the respiratory murmur. ”

“ Though the emphysematous lung is distended to a size equal to the healthy lung in deep inspiration, yet we know that emphysematous distention, being produced by extrabronchial air accumulation, is, in fact, obstructive to the respiratory act. ”

“ Abstract: The article presents information about studies that had been performed to assess the effectiveness of personal respiratory protection (RPD) in the workplace environment for the last 45 years. These data necessitate a revision of fundamental provisions of the respirators selection depending on a known degree of air pollution in the breathing zone. ”

“ But however much the lungs vary in capacity, or the heart as to position in the respiratory motions, still the lungs are always closely applied to the thoracic walls. Between the pleura costalis and pulmonalis there occurs no interval in health. The thoracic parietes expand and contract to a certain degree; and to that same degree, and no further, do the lungs within the thorax expand and contract. By no effort of expiration can the animal expel all the air completely from its lungs, since by no effort of its own, can it contract thoracic space beyond the natural limit. ”

“ Writers and professors advocating exclusively so-called diaphragmatic, or costal, or abdominal respiration, are incorrect and perfectly deceived. The diaphragm, the ribs, and the muscles of the abdomen must all do more or less their special work, in order to carry on a normal and healthy respiratory act. An eminent physician, Dr. Ed. Fournié of Paris, says: “He who respires exclusively by one or the other of these alone (diaphragm, ribs or abdomen) must be indeed a sick man.” ”

“ But more wonderful yet is its effect on the disorders of the respiratory organs. Under anything like favorable circumstances the lungs are, indeed, the most curable part of the human body. With every inspiration the balm of pure air can be brought into contact with the thousand times thousand air-cells of the respiratory apparatus, [2] and, as we breathe about twenty times per minute, the panacea can be applied twenty-seven thousand times in twenty-four hours. ”

“ The lungs have attained a high degree of efficiency. Each lung is an oval sac, and is transformed into a complicated system of tubes, at the end of which are the countless honeycomb-like respiratory cells, the whole lung being spongy. The main bronchus is continued straight down to the posterior end of the lung, and sends off during its course regular secondary bronchi, and these send off tertiary bronchi. The whole arrangement is very regular, the tubes coming off like rows of organ-pipes. Each lung hangs freely in the thoracic cavity. ”

“ The respiratory murmur may be lessened in certain morbid conditions, such as emphysema and congestion of the lung, and may completely disappear in pneumonia or broncho-pneumonia, a fact which is even of greater significance. ”

“ Protection of the respiratory organs can to some extent be obtained by so-called respirators worn over the mouth and nose. Often they consist simply of a moist sponge or folds of cloth, or again may be complicated air-proof affairs enclosing mouth and nose, or the whole face like a mask, or even the head like a helmet ”

“ The bronchial breathing is due to the fact that the vesicular element of the respiratory sound disappears on account of the complete consolidation of the vesicular structure, and the tracheal element of the respiration is conveyed to the chest-walls through the consolidated lung. It often has a metallic element, or may sound like the tearing of a piece of linen. Bronchial respiration is more intense in pneumonia than in any other disease. ”

“ Chronic obstructive lung diseases afflict an estimated 17.2 million Americans, with more than three million being disabled to a greater or lesser degree by such disorders as chronic bronchitis, asthma, and emphysema and many other serious lung diseases of known and unknown causes. ”

“ Their use is explained primarily by the fact that in some cases, measures of engineering and technology and sanitary-technical nature are not able to reduce the concentration of harmful substances in the air in the breathing zone to acceptable levels, safe for health. ”

“ The lungs can easily be kept in good condition, and when we ponder on the beautiful and effective way in which nature has equipped us with a respiratory apparatus and an inexhaustible store of oxygen, surely we must understand the folly of not helping ourselves to what is so vital, yet absolutely free.
Wrong eating and impure air are largely responsible for all kinds of respiratory troubles, from a simple cold to the most aggravated form of pulmonary tuberculosis. ”

“ In addition to the effect on the circulation, the respiratory movements keep up the nutrition and efficiency of the lungs, which in old age undergo a kind of atrophy, and also maintain the elasticity of the chest-walls, which are apt to become stiff through disuse, and so interfere with the movements of the lungs and pleura. ”

“ Respiratory therapy may take many forms, including drugs to dilate open air passages or protect against respiratory infections; respiratory-assistance techniques to maintain adequate blood oxygen levels; and exercise programs to improve the efficiency of breathing and condition respiratory muscles to bear the increased burden imposed on them. ”

“ Furthermore, the air expired from the infected lung is sensibly hot, especially if the inflammation is of the erysipelatous variety, and, as a consequence, the patient shows a disposition to draw long breaths, knowing that the cold air which he thus draws into his lungs will afford him some measure of relief. ”

“ Therefore, it was impossible to highlight the contribution of respirators in reducing the occupational morbidity of workers. The authors ( [2] p. 13) noted that occupational disease specialists rarely study personal protective equipment, and that there are very few publications on the impact of respirators on the occupational morbidity of workers ( [3] p. 26) .
Table
If the article described the usage of 2 or more types of the respirators, then this article was converted: 1 article was divided into 2 or more separate articles with information about respirators of the 1 type. ”

“ When little or no respiratory murmur can be heard after symptoms of inflammation have existed for some time, the case is very serious, implying that [369] effusion into the cavity, or condensation of the lung, has taken place to a considerable extent.
298. The number of inspirations in a minute in the adult and elderly persons varies from eighteen to twenty-two in a state of health: from twenty-two to twenty-six in children. The stroke of the pulse is generally as four to one. If the inspirations are eighteen, the pulse will in general be seventy-two. ”

“ The free and equable expansion of the lungs by full inspiration, necessarily takes place; this maintains their healthy structure, by keeping all the air-passages open and pervious; it prevents congestion in the pulmonary circulation, and at the same time provides more completely for the necessary chemical action on the blood, by changing, at each act of respiration, a sufficient proportion of the whole air contained in the lungs,—all objects of great importance, and all capable of being promoted, more or less, by the means in question. ”

“ If the patient is breathing from twenty-five to thirty-five times per minute, the respiration being confined to one lung as indicated by the lack of expansion in the other, and if he lies so as to take the strain off the lung that does not expand, it is almost sure that the patient has pneumonia. In case the lung is fixed rigidly by the muscles and the opposite lung forced to do all the work, then the patient has pleurisy. ”

“ When we consider the size and peculiar construction of the lungs, their perpetual motion, the chemical process going on in them, and their exposure to the action of contaminated air, or sudden changes in its temperature, it can be no matter of surprise that Pulmonary Complaints are so frequent; and the lungs, not possessing the same natural powers of removing diseased structure, or of mutation as other parts of the body, we may account for their fatal termination from the want of application of proper auxiliaries, as counteractives. ”

“ As the congestion increases, however, and the lungs become more affected, the signs of malaëration are more conspicuous. Dyspnoea is more oppressive, the face and surface generally, especially the lips and extremities, become cyanotic and cold, and the patient perishes from apnoea and from coma occasioned by oedema of the brain or medulla or stasis of blood in the cerebral veins, the respiratory centres being paralyzed. With the occurrence of somnolence the efforts to free the air-passages from fluid by coughing and expectoration grow less and less as the sensibility is obtunded. ”

“ There is a tendency to respiratory disorders and a thickening of the blood plasma which disrupts the circulatory system. Heat also has a detrimental effect upon the eyes and there is a tendency to rheumatism.
Air of a high relative humidity is objectionable from a hygienic standpoint because it interferes with perspiration and evaporation. Workers constantly exposed to atmosphere that is too damp will have a tendency to incoördinations involving the bodily secretions and respiratory disorders. ”

“ A characteristic change in the respiration, known as Cheyne-Stokes breathing occurs prior to death in some cases; it indicates that the respiratory centre in the medulla is becoming exhausted, and is stimulated to action only when the venosity of the blood has increased sufficiently to excite it. The breathing consequently loses its natural rhythm, and each successive breath becomes deeper until a maximum is reached ”

“ Simple diffusion through the narrow bronchial tubes could not possibly bring oxygen into the lung sacs fast enough to supply the requirements of the blood flowing through their walls. The situation is met by active lung ventilation; that is, by forcibly changing the air in the lungs at frequent intervals. The way in which this is done is, as we all know, by breathing. Breathing is nothing but a bellows movement of the chest by which air is alternately expelled and allowed to enter. ”

“ But it has now been clearly shown that in the asthmatic state the respiratory centre is in an unstable and excitable condition, and that there is a morbid connexion between this and some part of the nasal apparatus. ”

“ When the circumference of the chest bears a due proportion to the size of the body generally; when its walls and the lungs possess a suitable degree of elasticity; when the strength of the respiratory muscles is adequate to their work, and no undue opposition is offered to the breathing motions by the clothing—then the vital volume is always up to the full requirements of the system. But when one or all of these are lacking in any important degree, the breathing capacity is proportionately diminished. ”