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Biomedical subjects

M Cabanac

Publications and source records attributed to M Cabanac.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Control of local heat gain by vasomotor response of the hand.

Finger blood flow (BF) was measured by venous occlusion plethysmography using mercury-in-Silastic strain gauges during immersion of one hand in hot water (raised by steps of 2 degrees C every 10 min from 35 to 43 degrees C), the other being a control (kept immersed in water at 35 degrees C). The measurements were made in three different thermal states on separate days: 1) cool-25 degrees C, 40% rh, esophageal temperature (Tes) = 36.64 +/- 0.10 degrees C; 2) warm-35 degrees C, 40% rh, Tes = 36.71 +/- 0.11 degrees C; and 3) hot-35 degrees C, 80% rh with the legs immersed in water at 42 degrees C, Tes = 37.26 +/- 0.11 degrees C. When water temperature was raised at 42 degrees C, Tes = 37.26 +/- 0.11 When water temperature was raised to 39-41 degrees C in the warm state, finger BF in the hand heated locally (BFw) decreased. When water temperature was raised to 43 degrees C, however, BFw returned to the control value. In the hot state, Tes rose steadily, reaching 37.90 +/- 0.12 degrees C at the end of the 50-min sessions. BF in the control finger also increased gradually during the session. BFw showed a tendency to decrease when water temperature was raised to 39 degrees C, but the change was not greater than that observed in the warm state. In the cool state, no such reduction in BFw was observed when water temperature was raised to 39-41 degrees C. On the contrary, BFw increased at water temperatures of 41-43 degrees C.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

Intracranial temperature during passive heat exposure in humans.

Intracranial and skin temperature, evaporative response and rating of thermal comfort/discomfort were monitored during passive therapeutic hyperthermia. Intracranial temperature at the end of normal therapeutic sessions was significantly lower when face-fanning had been performed. Although face-fanned subjects remained in the sweating box twice as long as patients, their intracranial temperature was not statistically different from that of patients. Thermal injury to the human brain during passive therapeutic hyperthermia may therefore be efficaciously retarded by face-fanning.

Adult↗

Heat-induced vasoconstriction in the fingers: a mechanism for reducing heat gain through the hand heated locally.

This study examined the effect of local heating on the blood flow of the finger or forearm in male subjects in an environment of 35 degrees C--40% (r.h.). One hand or forearm was immersed in a water bath the temperature of which (Tw) was raised by 1 degrees C every 10th min from 35 degrees to 43 degrees C, while the other hand or forearm was kept at a constant Tw of 35 degrees C. Blood-flow (BF) was measured by venous occlusion plethysmography, using temperature-compensated mercury-in-Silastic strain gauges. Finger BF in the heated hand was significantly lower than that in the control hand at TwS of 37 degrees -41 degrees C, mostly for the first few minutes of each heating period. Thereafter, finger BF in the heated hand gradually returned toward the previous values. At TwS of 39 degrees -40 degrees C, however, finger BF in the heated hand remained lower than the control values for the entire period of heating. At TwS of 42 degrees -43 degrees C, finger BF in the heated hand greatly increased after an initial transitory fall. In the forearm skin, however, no such vasoconstriction in response to local heating was observed. All this suggests that a rise in skin temperature to above the core temperature produces paradoxical vasoconstriction in the finger, which may be a mechanism to reduce heat gain through the hand heated locally at higher temperatures.

Adult↗

Performance and perception at various combinations of treadmill speed and slope.

Three healthy young adult males were placed on a treadmill at 5 X 5 combination of speed and slope. They were instructed that the session would end when they had climbed 300 m. The results showed that the subjects' operant choices resulted in a quasi-constant duration of sessions, i.e., they tended to walk at constant power. Such a choice could be predicted from the sum of ratings for displeasure in the chest plus displeasure in the lower limbs. It is therefore likely that this bidimensional perception was the cue for working at constant power.

Adult↗

Behavioral fever and therapy in a rickettsia-infected Orthoptera.

Gryllus bimaculatus were infected with an intracellular prokaryote, Rickettsiella grylli, then reared either at fixed temperatures or in a temperature gradient (22-36 degrees C) where they could select the temperature they preferred. Only 50% of the infected insects reared at 28 degrees C or less survived after 20 days, against 75% of those reared at 30 degrees C or more and 90% of those in the temperature gradient. Examination of smears of insect tissue showed that all (100%) of the infected insects reared between 23 and 29 degrees C had developed a strong rickettsial infection. Only 20% of the insects reared in a gradient of temperature showed signs of strong infection. Body temperature of crickets in the temperature gradient, recorded using thin thermocouples, was 33 degrees C in infected crickets and 26.6 degrees C in controls. It is concluded that thermoregulatory behavior was used by the insects to produce a fever when infected with Rickettsiella grylli. This protected them and increased survival capacity.

Animal Husbandry↗

Money versus pain: experimental study of a conflict in humans.

Ten healthy human males volunteered to be subjects in an experiment in which they were to be paid to endure a painful sensation. This sensation was produced by isometric muscular contraction in the thighs. For each of six sessions the subjects received either a payment that was changed for each session (0.2, 0.5, 1.25, 3.125, 7.8125 French francs per 20 s) or a lump sum. At the beginning of a session, the subjects assumed a seated position against a wall, but without a seat, and the duration for which they could hold this position was the chief variable measured. Heart rate, blood pressure, and magnitude estimation of pain were also recorded periodically throughout each session. Pain was reported after a mean delay of 15 +/- 7 s (SE), and the magnitude estimates then increased linearly with time. The duration of maintaining the painful position increased linearly in relation to the logarithm of the increase in the amount of payment. Thus, utility of money decreased when pitted against pain.

Adult↗

Blood flow in the emissary veins of the human head during hyperthermia.

The direction of the blood flowing in the emissary veins (vena emissaria mastoidea and v. e. partietalis) was recorded in human subjects during moderate hyperthermia and hypothermia. During hyperthermia the blood flowed rapidly from skin to brain. During hypothermia either no flow could be detected or the blood flowed slowly from brain to skin. On two fresh cadavers the calvaria was removed with the scalp adhering. Gentle massaging of the scalp produced abundant drops of blood on the inner surface of the bone each time the scalp was massaged, thus showing that cutaneous blood can flow inward through the bone. These results support the hypothesis of selective brain cooling in hyperthermic humans by offering a possible mechanism.

Cerebrovascular Circulation↗

Influence of food and water deprivation on the behavior of the white rat foraging in a hostile environment.

Rats were trained to feed 2 hr per day, the food offered being placed at 16 m from a warm refuge and the ambient temperature being - 15 degrees C. They were food deprived for 0, 12, 22, 46, 70 and 94 hr prior to the six feeding sessions. Speed of feeding and meal duration were not influenced by food deprivation. The amount eaten, the number of meals, the time spent at the feeder, the speed of running to the feeder and the number of foraging rats increased from 0 hr fast to 22 hr then plateaued for the 46, 70 and 96 hr fasts. The same experiment was carried out after water deprivation for 0, 12, 22, 46 and 70 hr. Rats could find, at -15 degrees C, water kept at 30-40 degrees C and at 16 m from their warm refuge. The speed of running to water and the rate of drinking were not influenced by water deprivation. The amount drunk, drinking-bout duration, the number of drinking-bouts, total drinking time and the number of rats drinking increased monotonically from 0 to 70 hr deprivation. Two main conclusions are drawn from these data: (1) in the rat, up to 70 hr deprivation, the motivation to feed seems to be stronger than the motivation to drink; (2) to satisfy hunger or thirst, the nervous system uses several different motor subsystems of behavior.

Animals↗

Preferring for pleasure.

Recent review articles have confirmed that pleasure is a potent drive inducing forms of behavior adapted to physiological needs, especially in the case of temperature regulation and food-and-water intake. This point is accepted in the present article. The hypothesis of the usefulness of pleasure is pushed one step further by examining the results of experiments on conflicting motivations. In a conflict of fatigue vs thermal discomfort human subjects in a first series of sessions rated their fatigue and their thermal discomfort while walking on a treadmill placed in a climatic chamber. In further series of sessions the subjects could select either the treadmill slope or the ambient temperature. During these sessions the subjects behaved in such a way as to maximize the two-dimensional pleasure (or minimize the two-dimensional displeasure). Rats placed in a conflict of motivations of palatability vs cold discomfort behaved in a way that can also be interpreted as a tendency to maximize pleasure. It is therefore suggested that sensory pleasure is an incentive to useful behavior, and maximization of pleasure the answer to physiological conflicts.

Animals↗

[Optimization of behavior by minimization of displeasure in a 2-dimensional sensory space].

Three healthy young adult males were placed on a treadmill geared to five speeds and five slopes in combination. At minute 16 they gave estimates of displeasure for sensations aroused in their chest and lower limbs. These estimates were compared to the operant choice of the subjects when they were given the task, in other sessions, of climbing up 300 m on the treadmill at varying speeds and slopes. When speed was imposed, they could adjust slope and reciprocally. The were instructed that the session would end when they had reached the 300 m elevation. The results showed that the subjects adjusted slope and speed inversally; time for climbing up 300 m was almost constant, i.e. they tended to work at constant power in various conditions. Such performance could be predicted from the sum of ratings of displeasure aroused in the lower limbs and in the chest. These results suggest that optimalization of behaviour was obtained by minimization of bidimensional displeasure.

Behavior↗

Skin or hypothalamus cooling: a behavioral choice by rats.

Rats were chronically implanted with a hypothalamic thermode. After recovery the thermode was heated and the rats were exposed to 4 ambient temperatures (Ta) 20, 30, 35 and 40 degrees C. For each Ta they were subjected to 3 conditions: (1) they could press a bar which provided them with a cool wind; (2) they could press a bar which cooled the hypothalamic thermode; and (3) both bars were active and the rat could press either one. Skin, hypothalamic, and rectal temperatures were recorded at the same time. The results indicate that when rats had either only or by choice access to the lever that cooled their hypothalamus, they used it in such a way as to prevent their hypothalamus from overheating. A lower priority was given to the maintenance of skin temperature.

Animals↗

Effect of a cold ambient temperature on the rat's food hoarding behavior.

In a first experiment, the amount of food hoarded in three hour sessions (HB) by eight food deprived rats, was measured at three ambient temperatures: 30, 17.5 and 5 degrees C. At the three temperatures, the mass of food pellets hoarded by the rats was linearly related to the rats' body weight (BW) with a negative slope. The slope of the regression lines was significantly higher at 5 and 17.5 degrees C than at 30 degrees C. In a second experiment, BW and HB of ten non-deprived rats were measured every day, first at 30, then at 10 degrees C, then at 30 degrees C again (70 days). In the cold environment, HB immediately increased without BW loss. This effect was immediately reversible by the adjunction of an insulating styrofoam mattress. HB of non deprived rats in the cold was therefore more a thermoregulatory behavior than an alimentary response. In a third experiment, ad lib fed or deprived rats could hoard either food pellets or styrofoam lumps at 30 degrees C or at 5 degrees C. In the cold environment, when non-deprived, the rats hoarded styrofoam rather than food. However, as soon as they were food deprived, they reversed their choice and hoarded food rather than styrofoam. It is concluded that food can be hoarded as a thermal insulator in a cold environment but HB is mainly an alimentary response increased by a cold stress.

Animals↗

Reduced postprandial heat production with gavage as compared with meal feeding in human subjects.

The postprandial changes in resting metabolic rate (RMR) were measured in eight subjects after the ingestion of 735 kcal taken in the form of a meal or fed by stomach tube. A much larger increase in RMR was found with meal feeding (MF) as compared with tube feeding (TF). Measurements of respiratory quotient (RQ) indicated that the increase in RMR with MF is related to increased glucose oxidation, whereas with TF it is possibly explained primarily by the cost of energy storing. Determination of plasma norepinephrine (NE) indicated that the sympathetic nervous system is activated by MF but not by TF. Similarly, plasma glucose and insulin determinations have shown that the secretion of insulin is increased during food ingestion but only with the MF situation. Thus in the 30 min after the beginning of the meal, an increased glucose oxidation was observed that is possibly related to an enhanced NE and insulin secretion; such effects were nonexistent in the TF situation. These results would not substantiate the notion of the specific dynamic action of food and would indicate that independent of the composition of the ingested nutrients, the postprandial increase in RMR is also influenced by sensory and cognitive stimulations.

Adult↗

[Is baldness a thermoregulatory adaptive process?].

In 100 adult men the area of the face and neck where beard was growing was measured and compared to that of glabrous skin on the forehead and calvaria. In the population as a whole, forehead area was found to be proportional to bearded area. Forehead and calvaria sweat rate was measured on 10 baldheaded male subjects and compared with that of 10 hairy control subjects during mild hyperthermia. Bald skin was found to sweat more than twice as much as hairy skin. In the light of these results the hypothesis that baldness is a thermoregulatory adaptative process is proposed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Behavioural responses to hypothalamic cooling and heating in the rat.

Rats with hypothalamic thermodes had their hypothalamus cooled or warmed for short sessions. In a first series of experiments, rats could bar-press to obtain fanning with cool air. Cooling the hypothalamus did not suppress or inhibit this behaviour although rectal temperature was markedly increased. In a second series of experiments, bar-pressing would warm the water flowing in the thermode. The rats thus self suppressed the cooling of their hypothalamus. This behaviour was absent at 10 degrees C ambient temperature, and increased with increasing ambient temperature up to 35 degrees C. The result of this behaviour was a small hyperthermia in warm and hot environment compared to control when the rats could not self-suppress the cooling of hypothalamus. The results of both experiments suggest that no conscious direct sensation is aroused by hypothalamic cooling. Hypothalamic heating increased the rat's bar-pressing for cool air and decreased the rat's rectal temperature. When pressure on the lever would suppress a warm hypothalamic stimulus rats self-cooled their hypothalamus, especially in warm environments. Such behaviour resulted in an increased somatic hyperthermia due to the warm environment and hypothalamic cooling. These results are compatible with the hypothesis of a direct conscious sensation from a warm hypothalamus.

Animals↗

Water intake, pleasure and water temperature in humans.

The influence of water temperature on intake and affective ratings was explored in human subjects. Dehydration whether by profuse sweating (body weight loss: 289 +/- 11 g, N = 20) or mountain climbing (body weight loss: 1660 +/- 58 g, N = 20) resulted in the same intake. Maximal intake was observed for water at 15 degrees C with respectively 199.0 +/- 17.0 ml and 222.7 +/- 17.4 ml. Colder and warmer water was ingested to a lesser extent. When 20 subjects were allowed to mix water to their preferred temperature, they chose 14.9 +/- 1 degree C and drunk 211.0 +/- 19.5 ml. Votes on a pleasure/displeasure scale increased from 50 degrees C to 0 degree C. Cold water was therefore both more pleasureable and less drunk. Dehydration resulted in a negative alliesthesia for warm water. Positive alliesthesia for cold water was probably the result of hyperthermia rather than dehydration.

Affect↗

Human thermoregulatory behavior during a conflict between cold discomfort and money.

A conflict was contrived between thermal and non-thermal drives in humans to study the effects of varying degrees of voluntary suppression of behavioral temperature regulation. Five, young, near-nude males were paid 2, 5, 10, 20 or 40 cents per min to expose themselves to increasing cold (15 degrees to 0 degree C in 2 hours), after being instructed to terminate the exposure as soon as the cold discomfort exceeded the monetary reward. The duration of voluntary cold exposure was approximately linearly related to the logarithm of monetary reward. Reported cold discomfort was greater with high than with low rates of reward. Although V02 approached summit metabolism, the capacity for shivering did not appear to limit cold tolerance. Subjects adopted various strategies for coping with the conflict but, in general, greatest cold tolerance was recorded in subjects of large body mass and willing to tolerate low Tsk.

Adult↗