Scuba diving

We report the case of a 23-year-old male novice diver who sustained cerebral arterial gas embolism (CAGE) during his open water certification training whilst practising a free ascent as part of the course. He developed immediate but transient neurological symptoms that had resolved on arrival to hospital. Radiological imaging of his chest showed small bilateral pneumothoraces, pneumopericardium and pneumomediastinum. In view of this he was treated with high flow normobaric oxygen rather than recompression, because of the risk of development of tension pneumothorax upon chamber decompression...

INTRODUCTION: While gas narcosis is familiar to most divers conducting deep (> 30 metres) dives, its effects are often considered minuscule or subtle at 30 metres. However, previous studies have shown that narcosis may affect divers at depths usually considered safe from its influence, but little knowledge exists on the effects of gas narcosis on higher cognitive functions such as decision-making in relatively shallow water at 30 metres. Impaired decision-making could be a significant safety issue for a multitasking diver...

PURPOSE: This study aimed to: (1) test and explain the type of experience scuba diving is among people with physical impairments based on the experience-type framework; (2) assess and describe their personality based on the Big Five domains; and (3) identify if personality, years diving, and diving level predict experience-type. METHODS: An explanatory sequential mixed methods design was employed. The quantitative phase used a cross-sectional survey ( n  = 103)...

Closed-circuit rebreather diving is becoming more common. Rebreathers are complicated, adding to the stress of diving. Also adding to this complexity in the presented case is diving at a high-altitude, cold-water reservoir in Colorado. One diver experienced an oxygen-induced seizure at depth. The other diver had a rapid ascent with loss of consciousness. In this case, two experienced divers recovered from a possible devastating dive. Fortunately, they both returned to their pre-dive baseline health. Dive plan- ning is important, but as in this case, dive execution is paramount...

INTRODUCTION: The United States Navy (USN) developed and refined standardized oxygen treatment tables for diving injuries, but USN tables may not address all situations of spinal decompression sickness (DCS). We describe a detailed recompression treatment regimen that deviated from standard USN protocol for an active-duty USN diver with a severe, delayed presentation of spinal cord DCS. CASE REPORT: A USN diver surfaced from his second of three dives on a standard Navy 'no-Decompression' Air SCUBA dive (Max depth 101 fsw utilizing a Navy Dive Computer) and developed mid-thoracic back pain, intense nausea, paresthesias of bilateral feet, and penile erection...

The most important fisheries are recording catches below their historical averages despite increased effort. This level of overfishing is worrying and requires the establishment of feasible and precise measures to prevent a continuing decrease in biomass. Determining the factors that lead to changes in the abundance and distribution of overfished resources would allow us to identify the strengths and weaknesses of management schemes; this approach would also make it possible to estimate more accurate parameters for their evaluation...

Underwater sea caves form a relatively under-examined habitat type within the marine regions of Europe, although they provide unique physical conditions such as reduced light and wave energy, in addition to reduced temperature amplitude. This study aimed at revealing the characteristics of submerged cavities on the southern Romanian continental shelf where six protected areas exist. We used high-resolution bathymetry data and side-scan sonar imaging to identify limestone outcrops where cavities would be most probable to form and then performed visual observation during SCUBA diving activities...

INTRODUCTION: Although very uncommon, severe injury and death can occur during scuba diving. One of the main causes of scuba diving fatalities is pulmonary barotrauma due to significant changes in ambient pressure. Pathology of the lung parenchyma, such as cystic lesions, might increase the risk of pulmonary barotrauma. AREAS COVERED: Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome (BHD), caused by pathogenic variants in the FLCN gene, is characterized by skin fibrofolliculomas, an increased risk of renal cell carcinoma, multiple lung cysts and spontaneous pneumothorax...

BACKGROUND: Immersion Pulmonary Edema (IPE) is a common and potentially serious diving accident that can have significant respiratory and cardiac consequences and, in some cases, be fatal. Our objective was to characterize cases of IPE among military trainees and recreational divers and to associate their occurrence with exposure and individual background factors such as age and comorbidity. We conducted a retrospective analysis on the medical records and diving parameters of all patients who were treated for IPE at the Hyperbaric Medicine Department of Sainte-Anne Military Hospital in Toulon, France, between January 2017 and August 2019...

The Neptune's cup sponge is an iconic species found in marine soft sediment habitats in the Indo-West Pacific, with a history of overharvesting and extreme population declines. Access to SCUBA diving surveys has allowed for its rediscovery at Singapore, its type locality; however, with fewer than ten living individuals documented in the twenty-first century, the species is believed to be in need of conservation. Here, we share the results from surveys across the Gulf of Thailand, allowing for a documentation of 29 additional individuals, with information on their ecology and distribution...

BACKGROUND: It is currently still not clarified whether diving using a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCUBA) is associated with intraocular pressure (IOP) fluctuations of clinical relevance and whether intensive diving could exacerbate the damage in glaucoma patients. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of SCUBA diving on IOP in healthy volunteers without prior eye injuries or surgery. HYPOTHESIS: recreational diving does not lead to significant increases or fluctuations of the IOP...

McArdle disease is a glycogen storage disease that results in rhabdomyolysis during intense exercise. A number of different triggers have been described. We evaluated a patient with McArdle disease who presented with rhabdomyolysis after recreational scuba diving. There was no concern for barotrauma or decompression sickness. His symptoms resolved with standard-of-care management for non-diving-related rhabdomyolysis. Features of his experience provoked questions about the diving-related factors contributing to his presentation...

Salps are marine pelagic tunicates with a complex life cycle, including a solitary and colonial stage composed of asexually budded individuals. These colonies develop into species-specific architectures with distinct zooid orientations, including transversal, oblique, linear, helical, and bipinnate chains, as well as whorls and clusters. The evolutionary history of salp colony architecture has remained obscured due to the lack of an ontology to characterize architectures, as well as a lack of phylogenetic taxon sampling and resolution of critical nodes...

Scuba diving is an activity that people engage in both for recreational purposes as well as having professional, commercial, and military applications. Scuba diving has often been considered a high-risk activity but, overall, scuba diving has been shown to be a safe activity when divers participate within their experiential, physical, and psychological limits. However, increased physical and psychological stress can quickly arise during diving activities due to unexpected events and situations and may lead to the onset of panic in an unprepared diver...

Scuba diving fatalities post-mortem diagnosis presents a higher level of forensic complexity because of their occurrence in a non-natural human life environment. Scuba divers are equipped with diving gas to breathe underwater. It is essential for them to be fully trained in order to be able to manage their dive safely despite the varying increase of ambient pressure and temperature decrease. Throughout the dive, the inhaled diving gas is dissolved in the diver's tissues during the descent and if the decompression steps are not respected during the ascent, the balance between the dissolved gas and the tissues (including blood) is disrupted, leading to a gaseous release in the organism...

Monitoring plastic litter in the environment is critical to understanding the amount, sources, transport, fate, and environmental impact of this pollutant. However, few studies have monitored plastic litter on lakebeds which are potentially important environments for determining the fate and transport of plastic litter in freshwater basins. In this study, a self-contained underwater breathing apparatus was used for litter collection at the lakebed along five transects in Lake Tahoe, United States. Litter was brought to the surface and characterized by litter type...

This review discusses the safety concerns associated with diving while using psychotropic medication and the limited literature available on the topic. Despite the risks, some divers continue to dive while taking these medications, and their reasons for doing so are unclear. The exact mechanisms of action of these drugs in hyperbaric environments are poorly understood. While current standards and advice for fitness-to-dive assessments are based on limited evidence and expert opinion, developing evidence-based strategies could improve patient care and optimise diving safety...

Studies evaluating the hearing function of professional divers have yielded mixed results. In this study, we aimed to observe the effect of diving on hearing function by comparing the audiometry of experienced divers with a non-diver control group. Secondly, we aimed to compare the hearing function among divers according to the diving years and the number of dives in terms of diving exposure. Experienced divers who applied to the University of Health Sciences Gűlhane Training and Research Hospital Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine Department between 2017-2021 for periodic fitness to dive examinations were included in our study...

OBJECTIVE: This study quantifies the change in intraocular pressure (IOP) secondary to wearing neck seals in scuba diving drysuits. Previous work demonstrates significant pressures exerted by these seals; we hypothesize that they would. METHODS: IOP was measured in 33 divers before and while wearing a drysuit using rebound tonometry. The drysuit neck seal pressures were measured using a manometer. A paired two-sample t-test was used to compare IOP before and after drysuit donning...

ABSTRACT To treat the impact of trauma, most current evidence supports the use of trauma-focused psychotherapy as the first line approach. However, millions of individuals exposed to trauma worldwide seek Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) therapies in hopes of achieving wellness above and beyond reducing symptoms. But what is the evidence for CIH interventions? What are potential pitfalls? Given the growing popularity of and strong interest in CIH, EJPT is featuring research on these approaches in this special issue...