Diving

Since always and whatever the category, professional divers encountered a lot of accidents which are, due to the environment often lethal.  As the causes of these accidents are often the same, the purpose of the present article is to highlight those most frequently encountered and therefore no less than 577 diving fatalities spread over the last forty years have been analyzed in this study. The results of the survey led to the conclusion that many of these accidents could have been avoided.

During diving, marine mammals must rely on the efficient utilization of a limited oxygen reserve sequestered in the lungs, blood and muscles. To determine the effects of exercise and apnea on the use of these reserves, we examined the physiological responses of adult bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) trained to breath-hold on the water surface or to dive to submerged targets at depths between 60 and 210 m. Changes in blood lactate levels, in partial pressures of oxygen and carbon dioxide and in heart rate were assessed while the dolphins performed sedentary breath-holds. The effects of exercise on breath-hold capacity were examined by measuring heart rate and post-dive respiration rate and blood lactate concentration for dolphins diving in Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaii. Ascent and descent rates, stroke frequency and swimming patterns were monitored during the dives. The results showed that lactate concentration was 1.1+/-0.1 mmol l(-1) at rest and increased non-linearly with the ...

This survey addresses the immediate physiological reactions to immersion in cold water: cold shock response, diving reflex, cardiac arrhythmias and hypothermia. Cold shock response is the initial sympathetic reaction to immersion in cold water. The diving reflex is elicited by submersion of the face. Afferent and efferent nerves are the trigeminal and vagal nerves. Cardiac arrhythmias occur immediately after immersion. If the immersion persists, hypothermia becomes an issue. Hypothermia is delayed by habituation to immersion in cold water as well as insulating garments, subcutaneous fat and a large lean body mass.

Permanent neuropsychological changes such as memory disturbances and depression have been found in professional divers, even in those who have never had decompression sickness. The changes are probably the result of intravascular gas bubbles insufficient to cause acute symptoms. We examined amateur divers with long histories of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus diving by magnetic resonance imaging and compared them with normal controls. Hyperintense lesions of the subcortical cerebral white matter and degenerative changes of the cervical disks were significantly more common in the divers. 27 of 52 divers had a total of 86 focal hyperintensities versus 10 of 50 controls with 14 focal hyperintensities (p < 0.01). 32 divers had at least one degenerated intravertebral disc versus 9 controls (p < 0.0001). These results suggest that amateur divers are at risk of accumulating lesions in the central nervous system and in cartilage.

Questo manuale è il frutto di grande conoscenza ed esperienza ed è stato progettato per addestrare all'immersione tecnica i subacquei sportivi che siano già esperti ed abili e che posseggono come prerequisito minimo di addestramento il brevetto IANTD Advanced EANx Diver o un livello equivalente. Il suo scopo è quello di fornire le migliori informazioni e addestramento a coloro che desiderano diventare IANTD Technical Diver pienamente certificati o a coloro che desiderano avere informazioni limitate relative al conseguimento dei brevetti di IANTD Advanced Deep Air Diver o Normoxic Trimix Diver. Questo manuale svilupperà all'allievo le tre categorie didattiche necessarie del percorso evolutivo per diventare un IANTD Technical Diver:
 conoscenze teoriche
 addestramento psico-fisico
 corretto utilizzo dell’equipaggiamento
Attraverso lo sviluppo equilibrato di queste categorie il subacqueo potrà acquisire il brevetto di IANTD Advanced Deep Air Diver ed una volta stabilito questo prerequisito procedere verso la piena qualifica di IANTD Technical Diver. Inoltre le informazioni contenute nel manuale per accedere alla qualifica di IANTD Normoxic Trimix Diver rappresentano principalmente l’acquisizione del subacqueo della padronanza nell'utilizzo delle miscele trimix normossiche (max 20% O2 e 30% He). La configurazione adottata e le miscele decompressive saranno in funzione del brevetto già posseduto dal subacqueo per accedere al corso, cioè Advanced EANx Diver o Technical Diver.
ISBN 978-88-8250-223-2

Исследование посвящено изучению восприятия российскими дайверами мест погружений, природных и социальных условий подводных погружений, взаимосвязи предпочтений в отношении дайвинга и уровня опыта подводного пловца. Работа базируется на результатах социологического опроса, проведенного на базе социальных сетей.

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The study is devoted to the study of Russian divers' perception of diving sites, natural and social conditions of diving, the relationship between diving preferences and the level of diving experience. The work is based on the results of a sociological survey conducted on the basis of social networks.

Acute pulmonary edema may be induced by diving and strenuous swimming. We report the case of a diver using closed-circuit, scuba equipment who developed acute dyspnea, hemoptysis, and hypoxemia following a dive in 18 degreesC (64.4 degrees F) water and physical exertion during the swim back to shore. With the growing popularity of recreational scuba diving, emergency physicians are liable to be faced with increasing numbers of diving-related medical problems. Diving-induced pulmonary edema should be included in the differential diagnosis of acute hypoxemia, sometimes accompanied by acid-base abnormalities, when this is seen in a diver.

The number of recreational scuba divers is steadily increasing. In its latest recommendations, the French Federation of Undersea Studies and Sports listed congenital heart disease as a formal and final contraindication to scuba diving. On the other hand, with the progress made in their management, the prognosis and quality of life of patients with congenital heart diseases have improved considerably, enabling them to engage in physical and sports endeavours, which are known to confer general health and psychological benefits. As a consequence, the ability of these patients to dive has become a regular and recurrent issue. We review the various types of scuba diving, the physical performance required for its practice, its effects on cardiovascular function and the elements that need to be considered before recommending whether it can be practiced safely at various levels of difficulty. Because of the diversity and broad heterogeneity of congenital heart diseases, a detailed evaluatio...

One of the reasons for the emergency use of a hyperbaric chamber concerns a diving-related accident. Decompression sickness is potentially serious; it requires urgent treatment and hyperbaric recompression. It is caused by the formation of nitrogen bubbles in the organism which appear during the diver's ascent and throughout his or her decompression.

Geoposizionamento, rilievo, campionatura e analisi dendrocronologica delle specie arboree della foresta sommersa del lago di Tovel (TN). Con il patrocinio del Parco Naturale Adamello Brenta e del Comune di Ville d'Anaunia (TN) e la collaborazione di: CNR-IBE di S. Michele all'Adige (TN)

Scuba diving injuries vary greatly in severity and prognosis. While decompression sickness (DCS) and arterial gas embolism can be tracked easily, other forms of diving injury remain unaccounted for. The purpose of this paper is to assess rates of overall self-reported scuba-diving-related injuries, self-reported DCS-like symptoms, and treated DCS and their association with diver certification level, diving experience and demographic factors. We analyzed self-reported data from a Divers Alert Network membership health survey conducted during the summer of 2011. Poisson regression models with scaled deviance were used to model the relative rates of reported injuries. Models were adjusted for sex, age, body mass index (BMI) and average annual dives, based on the bias-variance tradeoff. The overall rate of diving-related injury was 3.02 per 100 dives, self-reported DCS symptoms was 1.55 per 1,000 dives and treated DCS was 5.72 per 100,000 dives. Diving-related injury and self-reported D...

Nella formazione di un subacqueo questo corso è il più importante dopo quello iniziale e determina il definitivo passaggio da una attività ricreativa e non impegnativa ad una piùcosciente e ragionata. Per questo bisogna essere consapevoli che l’attività che sta per essere intrapresa è entusiasmante, ma comporta dei rischi e che, per essere goduta appieno, deve essere svolta con disciplina e pieno senso di responsabilità. Ignoranza, leggerezza, scarso addestramento e presunzione possono determinare incidenti a se stessi o ad altri, talvolta anche mortali. La consapevolezza, la determinazione e il senso di responsabilità invece permetteranno di affrontare con successo il corso e quelli successivi che miglioreranno le vostre capacità d’immersione mettendovi in grado di esplorare in sicurezza profondità maggiori e per
tempi di permanenza più lunghi, oppure esplorare relitti, grotte ed altri ambienti fino ad ora preclusi. La padronanza di queste tecniche e conoscenze inoltre potranno aprire la porta, a coloro di voi che lo desidereranno, della vera e propria subacquea tecnica e delle
immersioni con trimix. Probabilmente l’aria è il gas che la maggioranza dei subacquei ancora utilizza, ma chi affronta questo corso deve avere come prerequisito il brevetto IANTD EANx Diver od uno equivalente che gli dia le basi sicure per uno sviluppo ulteriore delle conoscenze dell’immersione con gas respiratori diversi dall'aria. Gli obbiettivi d’addestramento saranno soddisfatti quando sarete in grado di padroneggiare completamente la conoscenza e l’utilizzo di miscele nitrox idonee per ottimizzare il tempo di fondo dell’immersione e la
decompressione, anche per periodi prolungati ed oltre i limiti della curva di non decompressione. Il primo passo verso queste capacità future ed entusiasmanti è lo studio di questo manuale che è il più completo e migliore testo sulla materia. Esso è la sorgente originale e basilare che deve essere padroneggiata da chi vuole intraprende questo tipo di attività d’immersione. E’ stato sviluppato specificatamente per formare le conoscenze, l’addestramento e la maturità dello studente. Esse comprendono la conoscenza teorica dei principi fisici e fisiologici, gli esercizi psicomotori, il giusto allenamento, la forma fisica, l’esperienza, la maturità caratteriale e la conoscenza dell’attrezzatura. Tutti argomenti
indispensabili, la cui padronanza è fondamentale per affrontare nel modo giusto le immersioni profonde ad aria e/o miscele di nitrox (EANx) fino al limite dei 42 m con decompressione.
Questo manuale tratta ed insegna tutti questi argomenti ed è il frutto di grandi conoscenze che solo venti anni fa, agli inizi degli anni ’90, non erano a disposizione di una utenza generalizzata, ciò che vi è scritto è frutto di grande studio, esperienza e sacrifici, è la base di conoscenza futura e un rifermento sempre affidabile.

Decompression Sickness (DCS) may occur when divers decompress from a hyperbaric environment. To prevent this, decompression procedures are used to get safely back to the surface. The models whose procedures are calculated from, are traditionally validated using clinical symptoms as an endpoint. However, DCS is an uncommon phenomenon and the wide variation in individual response to decompression stress is poorly understood. And generally, using clinical examination alone for validation is disadvantageous from a modeling perspective. Currently, the only objective and quantitative measure of decompression stress is Venous Gas Emboli (VGE), measured by either ultrasonic imaging or Doppler. VGE has been shown to be statistically correlated with DCS, and is now widely used in science to evaluate decompression stress from a dive. Until recently no mathematical model has existed to predict VGE from a dive, which motivated the development of the Copernicus model. The present article compiles a selection experimental dives and field data containing computer recorded depth profiles associated with ultrasound measurements of VGE. It describes a parameter estimation problem to fit the model with these data. A total of 185 square bounce dives from DCIEM, Canada, 188 recreational dives with a mix of single, repetitive and multi-day exposures from DAN USA and 84 experimentally designed decompression dives from Split Croatia were used, giving a total of 457 dives. Five selected parameters in the Copernicus bubble model were assigned for estimation and a non-linear optimization problem was formalized with a weighted least square cost function. A bias factor to the DCIEM chamber dives was also included. A Quasi-Newton algorithm (BFGS) from the TOMLAB numerical package solved the problem which was proved to be convex. With the parameter set presented in this article, Copernicus can be implemented in any programming language to estimate VGE from an air dive.

Le découpage thermique sous eau est une technique de travail couramment utilisée par les plongeurs-scaphandriers depuis plus d'un siècle, mais elle est malheureusement aussi responsable de nombreux accidents graves et mortels dont la principale cause est liée aux explosions.
Pourtant, et aussi étonnant que cela puisse paraitre, aucune étude n'a semble-t-il été réalisée sur ce sujet.
Le but de ce petit document, qui na aucune vocation scientifique, est dès lors principalement destiné aux scaphandriers afin de leur expliquer d'une manière simple, quelles sont les causes, les effets ainsi que les conséquences de ces explosions liées au découpage sous eau, de manière à ce qu'ils puissent s'en protéger au maximum.

Since the introduction of recreational closed-circuit rebreathers (CCRs) in 1998, there have been many recorded deaths. Rebreather deaths have been quoted to be as high as 1 in 100 users. Rebreather fatalities between 1998 and 2010 were extracted from the Deeplife rebreather mortality database, and inaccuracies were corrected where known. Rebreather absolute numbers were derived from industry discussions and training agency statistics. Relative numbers and brands were extracted from the Rebreather World website database and a Dutch rebreather survey. Mortality was compared with data from other databases. A fault-tree analysis of rebreathers was compared to that of open-circuit scuba of various configurations. Finally, a risk analysis was applied to the mortality database. The 181 recorded recreational rebreather deaths occurred at about 10 times the rate of deaths amongst open-circuit recreational scuba divers. No particular brand or type of rebreather was over-represented. Closed-c...

Ecolodge is a type of hotel that focuses on saving and protecting the environment, either it was natural, biological, or even cultural. Ecolodges promotes ecotourism and it can be “cultural, recreational” tourism by understanding the importance of the location. And working on keeping it safe from the full scale harm use of the environment; e.g. “restoration of reserves”, as well as encouraging local and their right to prosper lives, for example “knowing new language, helping them prosper”. Our collective study will give us the guide to operate and design an Ecolodge, in order to support Sustainable Development. Sustainable development is where it meets the needs of the present time without depletion of the resources and forget the right of future generations to meet its need from these resources. Efficiency Program is vital part of operating the Ecolodge, where renewable and non-renewable resources are efficiently utilized. Hiring professional locals and empowering their skills is a successful vital too, and all of that is considered to achieve balance of nature.

Manuale per l'addestramento di subacquei per l'immersione in caverna. Viene descritta la geologia dell'ambiente, l'equipaggiamento e la configurazione necessaria, l'attitudine e la psicologia per questo tipo di attività,  le tecniche e la programmazione, la gestione dei gas e il dettagliato addestramento. Un manuale indispensabile per chi si voglia impegnare in questa impegnativa attività.
ISBN 978-88-8250-230-0
€ 35

Данный сборник материалов разработан для водолазов, специалистов обеспечивающих водолазные спуски, слушателей водолазных школ и всех заинтересованных лиц в учебных и ознакомительных целях.
В издании собрана информация по организации водолазных
спусков в соответствии с приказом Министерства здравоохранения и социального развития РФ от 13 апреля 2007 г. № 269 «Об утверждении Межотраслевых правил по охране труда при проведении водолазных работ», сформированная в простом и удобном формате для изучения и дальнейшего использования.
При подготовке были использованы только действующие в Российской Федерации нормативно-правовые акты в области организации водолазных спусков. Издание может использоваться при подготовке к экзаменам в водолазных школах, сдаче ежегодного техминимуму на водолазной квалификационной комиссии, сдаче зачётов специалистами в организации, а также стать незаменимым помощником в повседневной рабочей деятельности.

This is the second report based on a survey of Divers Alert Network Asia-Pacific (DAN AP) members who dive with cardiovascular and respiratory conditions and diabetes. It examines the medical management of the divers' conditions, any diving modifications used to mitigate the risk and outcomes. An online cross-sectional survey was sent to 833 divers who had declared a targeted medical condition when applying for DAN AP membership between July 2009 and August 2013. Two-hundred-and-sixty-eight respondents (32%) provided sufficient information on their conditions to be included in the analyses. These included ischaemic heart disease (31), arrhythmias (20), cardiac septal defects (31), other cardiac conditions (10), hypertension (127), diabetes (25), asthma (40) and pneumothorax (5). Forty-nine per cent had sought specialist diving medical advice about their condition and 23% reported modifying their diving practices to mitigate their risk. The cohort had completed 183,069 career div...

The body of a 44-year-old scuba diver was examined using postmortem multislice computed tomography (MSCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and findings were verified by subsequent autopsy. The goal was to find out whether the important pathomorphological findings for the reconstruction of events and the identification of cause and manner of death could be identified using modem digital cross-sectioning techniques. The findings of a massive vital decompression with pulmonary barotrauma and lethal gas embolism were identified in the radiological images. MSCT and MRI were superior to autopsy in the demonstration of the extent and distribution of gas accumulation in intraparenchymal blood vessels of internal organs as well as in areas of the body inaccessible by standard autopsy.