Description from cid-9e3b45e706a6e578.skydrive.live.com:

Designed to run standard and custom tables with audio alerts, the ability to play media files and the ability to run up to 96 consecutive intervals of up to 59:59 each. Compatible with Windows and I think Mac operating systems. Has an extra large timer to assist those of us who are visually challenged.

Description from www.google.com:

iGoogle is your personalized Google page. Add news, photos, weather, and stuff from across the web to your page.

Description from forums.deeperblue.com:

I was getting bored at the computer and am trying to work on my static apnea (my best is 2:25, which i set today during my history exam). so I made these two sound files of the tables. they give you a five second countdown to when it begins, and a five sec til the end.

Summary: The physiological responses to apnea training exhibited by elite breath-hold divers may contribute to improving sports performance. Breath-hold divers have shown reduced blood acidosis, oxidative stress and basal metabolic rate, and increased hematocrit, erythropoietin concentration, hemoglobin mass and lung volumes. We hypothesise that these adaptations contributed to long apnea durations and improve performance. These results suggest that apnea training may be an effective alternative to hypobaric or normobaric hypoxia to increase aerobic and/or anaerobic performance. (Source: Medical Hypotheses)

Condition and mass impact oxygen stores and dive duration in adult female northern elephant seals.
J Exp Biol. 2010 Feb;213(Pt 4):585-92
Authors: Hassrick JL, Crocker DE, Teutschel NM, McDonald BI, Robinson PW, Simmons SE, Costa DP
The range of foraging behaviors available to deep-diving, air-breathing marine vertebrates is constrained by their physiological capacity to breath-hold dive. We measured body oxygen stores (blood volume and muscle myoglobin) and diving behavior in adult female northern elephant seals, Mirounga angustirostris, to investigate age-related effects on diving performance. Blood volume averaged 74.4+/-17.0 liters in female elephant seals or 20.2+/-2.0% of body mass. Plasma volume averaged 32.2+/-7.8 liters or 8.7+/-0.7% of body mass. Absolute plasma volume and blood volume increased independently with mass and age. Hematocrit decreased weakly with mass but did not vary with age. Muscle myoglobin concentration, while higher than previously reported (7.4+/-0.7 g%), did not vary w…

The rat: a laboratory model for studies of the diving response.
J Appl Physiol. 2010 Jan 21;
Authors: Panneton WM, Gan Q, Juric R
Underwater submersion in mammals induces an apnea, a parasympathetically-mediated bradycardia, and a sympathetically-mediated peripheral vasoconstriction. These effects are collectively termed the diving response, potentially the most powerful autonomic reflex known. Although these physiological responses are directed by neurons in the brain, the study of the neural control of the diving response has been hampered since: a) it is difficult to study the brains of animals while they are underwater, b) feral marine mammals are usually large and have brains of variable size, and c) there are but few references on the brains of naturally-diving species. Similar responses are elicited in anesthetized rodents after stimulating their nasal mucosa, but this nasopharyngeal reflex has not been compared directly to natural-diving behavior in the rat. In the present study, we compared…

(Source: Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine)

Related Articles

Marked pericardial inhomogeneity of specific ventilation at total lung capacity and beyond.
Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2009 Oct 31;169(1):44-9
Authors: Sun Y, Butler JP, Lindholm P, Walvick RP, Loring SH, Gereige J, Ferrigno M, Albert MS
We measured regional ventilation at 1l above functional residual capacity (FRC+1L) and total lung capacity (TLC) in three normal subjects and four elite breath-hold divers, and above TLC after glossopharyngeal insufflation (TLC+GI) in the divers. Hyperpolarized (3)He MRI was used to map the local ventilation per unit volume over the entire lung. At TLC and above, there was markedly increased regional ventilation of the lungs in the pericardial region compared with the relatively uniform ventilation throughout the rest of the lung. The distribution of fractional ventilation regionally was relatively uniform at FRC+1L, with a small non-gravitational cephalocaudal gradient of specific ventilation in the supine posture. Our observations at high lung volu…

Decompression sickness in breath-hold divers: A review.
J Sports Sci. 2009 Dec 3;:1-16
Authors: Lemaitre F, Fahlman A, Gardette B, Kohshi K
Although it has been generally assumed that the risk of decompression sickness is virtually zero during a single breath-hold dive in humans, repeated dives may result in a cumulative increase in the tissue and blood nitrogen tension. Many species of marine mammals perform extensive foraging bouts with deep and long dives interspersed by a short surface interval, and some human divers regularly perform repeated dives to 30-40 m or a single dive to more than 200 m, all of which may result in nitrogen concentrations that elicit symptoms of decompression sickness. Neurological problems have been reported in humans after single or repeated dives and recent necropsy reports in stranded marine mammals were suggestive of decompression sickness-like symptoms. Modelling attempts have suggested that marine mammals may live permanently with elevated nitrogen concentrations …

Linér MH, Andersson JPA. Hypoxic syncope in a competitive breath-hold diver with elevation of the brain damage marker S100B. Aviat Space Environ Med 2009; 80:1066-8.
Introduction: Competitive breath-hold divers can accomplish previously unbelievable performances; e.g., the current world record for apnea during rest (“static apnea”) is 11 min 35 s. However, whether such performances are associated with a risk for hypoxic brain damage has not been established. Case Report: A breath-hold diver's competitive performance resulted in a loss of consciousness, after which he was subjected to a medical examination by the event physician. Blood samples were collected for analysis of the brain damage marker S100B in serum. The S100B in serum was 0.100 μg · L−1 in the blood sample collected 15 min after the loss of consciousness. At 1 and 5 d after the incident it was 0.097 μg · L−1 and 0.045 μg · L−1, respectively. Discussion: The elevated level of S10…

Authors: Breskovic T, Ivancev V, Banic I, Jordan J, Dujic Z Apnea divers are exposed to repeated massive arterial oxygen desaturation, which could perturb chemoreflexes. An earlier study suggested that peripheral chemoreflex regulation of sympathetic vasomotor tone and ventilation may have recovered 4 or more weeks into the off season. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that peripheral chemoreflex regulation of ventilation and sympathetic vasomotor tone is present during the training season. We determined ventilation, heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac stroke volume, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) during isocapnic hypoxia in 10 breath hold divers and 11 matched control subjects. The study was carried out at the end of the season of intense apnea trainings. Baseline MSNA...

This study was conducted to determine whether ventilatory parameters would change in breath-hold divers (BHDs) after they performed the glossopharyngeal technique for lung insufflation. Fifteen elite BHDs, 16 non-expert BHDs and 15 control subjects participated in this cross-sectional study. Volumes and expiratory flow rates were measured twice, before and after the glossopharyngeal technique performed at rest. Before the technique, greater forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in 1_s (FEV1) and lower FEV1/FVC were noted in the elite and non-expert BHDs compared with controls. No difference was noted regarding the other pulmonary parameters. After the technique, increases were noted in FVC, FEV1 and maximal voluntary ventilation in the elite BHDs (P_<&n...

In conclusion, direct measurements of ABP during apnea diving showed no or only mild increases in ABP. However, our results cannot be extended over environmental conditions different from those of the present study. (Source: Journal of Applied Physiology)

Related Articles

The deepest dive: how far down can a free diver go?
New Yorker. 2009 Aug 24;:24-30
Authors: Wilkinson A

PMID: 19694091 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Description from YouTube.com

A SPOT-Freedive foi convidada a deslocar-se aos Açores para leccionar cursos 2* e 3* aqui estão os resultados....Mergulhos entre os 25/30m

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Description from YouTube.com

A SPOT-Freedive foi convidada a deslocar-se aos Açores para leccionar cursos 2* e 3* aqui estão os resultados....Mergulhos entre os 25/30m

...

Related Articles

Surgical removal of right-to-left cardiac shunt in the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) causes ventricular enlargement but does not alter apnoea or metabolism during diving.
J Exp Biol. 2009 Nov;212(Pt 21):3553-63
Authors: Eme J, Gwalthney J, Blank JM, Owerkowicz T, Barron G, Hicks JW
Crocodilians have complete anatomical separation between the ventricles, similar to birds and mammals, but retain the dual aortic arch system found in all non-avian reptiles. This cardiac anatomy allows surgical modification that prevents right-to-left (R-L) cardiac shunt. A R-L shunt is a bypass of the pulmonary circulation and recirculation of oxygen-poor blood back to the systemic circulation and has often been observed during the frequent apnoeic periods of non-avian reptiles, particularly during diving in aquatic species. We eliminated R-L shunt in American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) by surgically occluding the left aorta (LAo; arising from right ventricle) upstream and …

Peripheral chemoreflex regulation of sympathetic vasomotor tone in apnea divers.
Clin Auton Res. 2009 Oct 10;
Authors: Breskovic T, Valic Z, Lipp A, Heusser K, Ivancev V, Tank J, Dzamonja G, Jordan J, Shoemaker JK, Eterovic D, Dujic Z
OBJECTIVES: Involuntary apnea episodes in obstructive sleep apnea patients result in selective potentiation of peripheral chemoreceptor regulation of sympathetic vasomotor tone. Breath-hold diving is associated with repeated 'voluntary' apnea episodes and massive arterial oxygen desaturation, which could also perturb chemoreflex function. METHODS: We measured ventilation, heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac stroke volume, and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) during isocapnic hypoxia in 11 breath-hold divers and eleven matched control subjects. The study was carried out at least 1 month after intense apnea training. RESULTS: Baseline MSNA frequency was 30 +/- 4 bursts/min in control subjects and 31 +/- 7 bursts/min in divers (ns). During hypoxia MSNA frequency a…

Lemaitre, F, Seifert, L, Polin, D, Juge, J, Tourny-Chollet, C, and Chollet, D. Apnea training effects on swimming coordination. J Strength Cond Res 23(6): 1909-1914, 2009-Triathletes and elite breath-hold divers show an adaptive response to hypoxia induced by repeated epochs of breath holding. We hypothesized that hypoxic training could also improve swimming coordination. Before and after a 3-month breath-hold training program, 4 male swimmers performed a maximal incremental test on bicycle and a 50-m front crawl race at maximal speed without breathing so that interarm coordination could be assessed. Swim velocity, stroke rate (SR), stroke length (SL), and the arm stroke phases were calculated from video analysis. Arm coordination was quantified in terms of an index of coordination (IdC) b...

The concentration of the protein S100B in serum is used as a brain damage marker in various conditions. We wanted to investigate whether a voluntary, prolonged apnea in trained breath-hold divers resulted in an increase of S100B in serum. Nine trained breath-hold divers performed a protocol mimicking the procedures they use during breath-hold training and competition, including extensive preapneic hyperventilation and glossopharyngeal insufflation, in order to perform a maximum-duration apnea, i.e., 'static apnea' (average: 335 s, range: 281–403 s). Arterial blood samples were collected and cardiovascular variables recorded. Arterial partial pressures of O2 and CO2 (PaO2 and PaCO2) were 128 Torr and 20 Torr, respectively, at the start of apnea. The degree of asphyxia at the end of apnea was considerable, with PaO2 and PaCO2 reaching 28 Torr and 45 Torr, respectively. The concentration of S100B in serum transiently increased from 0.066 µg/l at the start of apnea to 0.083 µg/l after the apn…