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Biomedical subjects

K L Koch

Publications and source records attributed to K L Koch.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Electrical acustimulation relieves vection-induced motion sickness.

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of electrical acustimulation on gastric myoelectric activity and severity of symptoms of motion sickness. In experiment 1, 16 Chinese subjects received electrical acustimulation in one of two sessions. In experiment 2, 45 white and black American subjects were randomly divided into three groups: acustimulation, sham acustimulation, and control. Each subject sat in an optokinetic drum for 15 minutes baseline and 15 minutes of drum rotation. Subjects' electrogastrograms and subjective symptoms of motion sickness were obtained. In experiment 1, the mean symptom score and tachyarrhythmia during acustimulation sessions were significantly lower than during no-acustimulation sessions. In experiment 2, the mean symptom score of the acustimulation group was significantly lower than that of the sham-stimulation group and the control group; tachyarrhythmia in the acustimulation group was significantly less than that of the control group but not the sham-stimulation group. In conclusion, electrical acustimulation reduces the severity of symptoms of motion sickness and appears to decrease gastric tachyarrhythmia.

Adult

Effects of eating on vection-induced motion sickness, cardiac vagal tone, and gastric myoelectric activity.

This study investigated the effect of food ingestion on motion sickness severity and its physiological mechanisms. Forty-six fasted subjects were assigned either to a meal group or to a no-meal group. Electrogastrographic (EGG) indices (normal 3 cpm activity and abnormal 4-9 cpm tachyarrhythmia) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured before and after a meal and during a subsequent exposure to a rotating drum in which illusory self-motion was induced. The results indicated that food intake enhanced cardiac parasympathetic tone (RSA) and increased gastric 3 cpm activity. Postprandial effects on motion sickness severity remain equivocal due to group differences in RSA baseline levels. During drum rotation, dysrhythmic activity of the stomach (tachyarrhythmia) and vagal withdrawal were observed. Furthermore, high levels of vagal tone prior to drum rotation predicted a low incidence of motion sickness symptoms, and were associated positively with gastric 3 cpm activity and negatively with tachyarrhythmia. These data suggest that enhanced levels of parasympathetic activity can alleviate motion sickness symptoms by suppressing, in part, its dysrhythmic gastric underpinnings.

Adult

Effects of pre-exposures to a rotating optokinetic drum on adaptation to motion sickness.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of two different pre-exposure procedures on adaptation to motion sickness in a rotating circular vection drum. The 45 subjects were randomly divided into three groups. The control group only had a standard 16-min exposure to the drum rotating at 60 degrees/s with no pre-exposure. The incremental exposure group had two separated 4-min pre-exposure periods at 15 degrees/s and 30 degrees/s in the rotating drum immediately prior to the standard 16-min exposure period in the drum rotating at 60 degrees/s. The abrupt-exposure group had the same pre-exposure procedure except the pre-exposure drum rotation speed was 60 degrees/s and was followed by the same standard exposure periods. Subjective motion sickness reports and a measure of gastric myoelectric activity (electrogastrogram, EGG) were obtained during the standard 16-min drum rotation period in all three groups. The results showed that subjects in the incremental exposure group reported significantly fewer motion sickness symptoms during the standard 16-min rotation period than did the subjects in the abrupt exposure group and the control group. Subjects in the incremental exposure group also had less tachyarrhythmia, abnormal gastric myoelectric activity associated with nausea, during the 16-min rotation period than did the subjects in the control and abrupt exposure group. Incremental exposure to motion stimuli may be a useful method for training resistance to visually-induced motion sickness.

Adaptation, Physiological

Motion sickness severity and physiological correlates during repeated exposures to a rotating optokinetic drum.

Fifty-two subjects were exposed to a rotating optokinetic drum. Ten of these subjects who became motion sick during the first session completed two additional sessions. Subjects' symptoms of motion sickness, perception of self-motion, electrogastrograms (EGGs), heart rate, mean successive differences of R-R intervals (RRI), and skin conductance were recorded for each session. The results from the first session indicated that the development of motion sickness was accompanied by increased EGG 4-9 cpm activity (gastric tachyarrhythmia), decreased mean successive differences of RRI, increased skin conductance levels, and increased self-motion perception. The results from the subjects who had three repeated sessions showed that 4-9 cpm EGG activity, skin conductance levels, perception of self-motion, and symptoms of motion sickness all increased significantly during the drum rotation period of the first session, but increased significantly less during the following sessions. Mean successive differences of RRI decreased significantly during the drum rotation period for the first session, but decreased significantly less during the following sessions. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that the development of motion sickness is accompanied by an increase in gastric tachyarrhythmia, and an increase in sympathetic activity and a decrease in parasympathetic activity, and that adaptation to motion sickness is accompanied by the recovery of autonomic nervous system balance.

Adaptation, Physiological

Gastric dysrhythmias and nausea of pregnancy.

Gastric dysrhythmias have been recorded from patients with a variety of nausea syndromes. The aim of this study was to measure gastric myoelectric activity in women with and without nausea during the first trimester of pregnancy. In 32 pregnant women gastric myoeletric activity was recorded for 30-45 min with cutaneous electrodes that yielded electrogastrograms (EGGs). Frequencies of the EGG waves were analyzed visually and by computer. Subjects rated their nausea at the time of EGG recording on a visual analog scale with 0 representing no nausea and 300 mm severe nausea. Gastric dysrhythmias were found in 26 pregnant subject: Seventeen had tachygastrias (EGG frequencies of 4-9 cpm), five had 1- to 2-cpm EGG waves, and four had flat-line patterns Mean nausea scores of the subjects with tachygastrias, 1- to 2-cpm, and flat-line patterns were 64.8 +/- 13, 93.4 +/- 23, and 77.2 +/- 36, respectively. Six pregnant subjects had normal 3-cpm EGG patterns, and their nausea scores averaged 2.8 +/- 1.1 (P less than 0.05 compared with nausea scores in subjects with tachygastrias, 1- to 2-cpm, and flat-line rhythms). Six subjects with gastric dysrhythmias during pregnancy were restudied after delivery; each of these subjects had normal 3-cpm EGG patterns and none had nausea. Thus, gastric dysrhythmias are objective pathophysiologic events associated with symptoms of nausea reported during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Adult

Ischemic gastroparesis: resolution after revascularization.

Patients with chronic nausea and vomiting frequently present challenging diagnostic and therapeutic problems. In such patients, gastroparesis of unknown cause, or "idiopathic" gastroparesis, may be the only objective finding. Two middle-aged women with nausea, vomiting, and weight loss of 10 and 26 kg over 6 and 18 months, respectively, were evaluated. Routine laboratory and barium study results were normal. Solid-phase gastric emptying studies showed severe gastroparesis in both patients. Upper endoscopies excluded gastric outlet obstruction. Gastric dysrhythmias (4-cpm and 1-cpm patterns) were recorded using cutaneous electrodes. An abdominal bruit was ascultated in one patient. Abdominal arteriograms in both patients showed total occlusion of all three major mesenteric vessels with collaterals supplied via hemorrhoidal arteries. Bypass grafting procedures of the celiac and superior mesenteric arteries in one patient and of the celiac artery in the other patient were performed. Six months after mesenteric artery revascularization, upper gastrointestinal symptoms had resolved and original weights were regained. Furthermore, normal 3-cpm gastric myoelectrical activity and normal gastric emptying of solids were restored in both patients. In these patients, chronic mesenteric ischemia resulted in a novel and reversible cause of gastroparesis, gastric dysrhythmias, and accompanying symptoms.

Blood Vessel Prosthesis

Neuroendocrine and gastric myoelectrical responses to illusory self-motion in humans.

We compared gastric myoelectrical activity and endogenous neuroendocrine responses in subjects with and without motion sickness elicited by illusory self-motion or vection. Rotating a drum with black and white vertical stripes around seated stationary subjects (n = 22) produced vection. Gastric myoelectrical activity was recorded with cutaneous electrodes. Thirteen subjects developed gastric dysrhythmias [4- to 9-cycles/min (cpm) signals] and motion sickness during vection, whereas nine subjects maintained normal 3-cpm gastric rhythms and remained symptom free. Base-line plasma cortisol and beta-endorphin levels were significantly greater (P less than 0.01) in the subjects who would develop gastric dysrhythmias and nausea compared with the subjects who would not develop motion sickness. Norepinephrine levels increased in the nauseated group immediately after vection ceased (354.6 +/- 41.1 pg/ml) compared with the symptom-free subjects (223.1 +/- 22.8 pg/ml, P less than 0.05). Epinephrine increased significantly (P less than 0.05) after vection only in the nauseated subjects, whereas dopamine levels were not altered by vection in either group. We conclude that 1) anticipatory increases in plasma cortisol and beta-endorphin occurred in subjects who would develop nausea and gastric tachyarrhythmias during vection; 2) endogenous epinephrine and norepinephrine were increased in subjects who had vection-induced nausea and gastric dysrhythmias; and 3) vection stimulates brain-gut interactions, resulting in gastric tachyarrhythmias and complex neuroendocrine responses in subjects with motion sickness.

Adult

Vasopressin and oxytocin responses to illusory self-motion and nausea in man.

Vasopressin and oxytocin are nonapeptides secreted from the neurohypophysis; increases in vasopressin are associated with nausea and vomiting in some, but not all, species. Our aim was to determine whether plasma vasopressin and oxytocin levels were altered in healthy volunteers who did or did not develop nausea during vection, an optokinetic stimulus which produces the illusion of self-motion. Vection was produced by rotating a drum with an inner surface of black and white vertical stripes around the seated stationary subject. Gastric myoelectrical activity was recorded continuously throughout the experiment with electrodes positioned on the abdominal surface. Plasma samples were obtained before vection and after drum rotation stopped when nausea and tachygastria were present. Vasopressin and oxytocin were extracted from plasma and quantified by RIA. During vection six subjects reported nausea and developed gastric dysrhythmias; six other subjects had no nausea and remained in normal 3-cpm myoelectrical rhythms. Vasopressin and oxytocin values before vection were similar in each group of subjects. One minute after vection stopped, plasma vasopressin levels were significantly greater (P less than 0.05) in subjects experiencing nausea and tachygastrias (35.4 +/- 26.7 pmol/L) than in those without symptoms (2.7 +/- 0.47 pmol/L). Oxytocin levels were unchanged by either vection or nausea. It is concluded that 1) vasopressin, not oxytocin, neurons in the magnocellular-neurohypophyseal system are activated during vection-induced nausea and gastric dysrhythmias; and 2) illusory self-motion may be used safely to study the neuroendocrine responses to brain-gut interactions and nausea in man.

Adult

Afferent loop obstruction presenting as acute pancreatitis and pseudocyst: case reports and review of the literature.

Afferent loop obstruction after gastrectomy and Billroth II reconstruction is an uncommon problem. Complete acute obstruction requires emergent laparotomy. However, chronic obstruction may begin insidiously and its symptoms may reflect other gastrointestinal diseases. Two patients are described who developed acute abdominal pain, marked hyperamylasemia, and palpable abdominal masses 5 and 15 years after Billroth II gastrectomy. The masses were initially interpreted as pancreatic pseudocysts. Both patients were found to have chronically obstructed afferent limbs, and in one the obstruction was associated with hundreds of stasis stones within the afferent limb. Surgical decompression was accomplished in each patient. Patients who have undergone Billroth II reconstruction have signs, symptoms, and laboratory findings consistent with acute pancreatitis. A history of previous gastrectomy, recurrent or severe abdominal pain, hyperamylasemia with characteristic tomography, and endoscopic findings will establish the diagnosis and necessitate surgical evaluation and intervention.

Acute Disease

The effects of fixation and restricted visual field on vection-induced motion sickness.

Approximately 60% of healthy human subjects experience motion sickness when exposed to a rotating optokinetic drum. The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of certain visual factors on susceptibility to motion sickness. Vection data (illusory self-motion), horizontal eye movement recordings, subjective motion sickness report, and a measure of gastric myoelectric activity (electrogastrogram, EGG) were obtained from 45 subjects, who were randomly divided into the following three groups: a control group that observed the entire visual field with no fixation, a group that fixated on a central target, and a third group that had a visual field restricted to 15 degrees. The experimental session was divided into the following three 12-min periods: baseline, drum rotation, and recovery. The results showed that fixation greatly reduced nystagmus and slightly reduced vection. The restricted visual field slightly reduced nystagmus and greatly reduced vection. Both of these manipulations significantly reduced symptoms of motion sickness and tachyarrhythmia, the abnormal gastric myoelectric activity that usually accompanies nausea.

Electromyography

Recurrent autonomous esophageal peristalsis in patients with chest discomfort.

Routine esophageal manometry revealed a novel pattern of esophageal motility, recurrent autonomous peristalsis, in five patients evaluated for chest discomfort and heartburn. In the absence of swallowing, esophageal peristalsis occurred at frequencies of 4-8 peristaltic sequences per minute for periods of 2-8 min. The recurrent peristaltic sequences developed spontaneously during manometry and were associated with the onset of vague chest discomfort in four patients; one patient reported no symptoms during recurrent peristalsis. Duration and propagation velocity of the recurrent peristaltic contractions differed significantly from primary peristalsis in four patients. Recurrent autonomous esophageal peristalsis is an unusual motor pattern that may be associated with vague chest discomfort. The circuit(s) mediating recurrent autonomous peristalsis are unknown.

Adult

Sham feeding. Cephalic-vagal influences on gastric myoelectric activity.

The effects of sham feeding on gastric motility of human subjects have not previously been studied. The amplitude of 3-cpm electrogastrogram (EGG) waves increases after the ingestion of food. We hypothesized that sham feeding would stimulate a similar, but briefer gastric myoelectric response. Healthy human subjects chewed and expectorated a hot dog on a roll and later ate a second hot dog. EGGs were continuously recorded before, during, and after sham feeding and eating. The results of experiment I (N = 27) showed that the hand-scored amplitude of the 3-cpm waves increased significantly (P less than 0.01) during sham feeding. Two minutes after sham feeding, the mean amplitude of 3-cpm EGG waves returned to baseline level. The increase in EGG amplitude during eating was also significant (P less than 0.01), and remained increased for approximately 30 min after ingestion. The procedure used in experiment II (N = 20) was similar to experiment I, but EGGs were computer analyzed and power, ie, spectral intensities, at 3 cpm were obtained. The increase in power at 3 cpm during sham feeding and during eating was significant (P less than 0.05 and P less than 0.02, respectively). Similar to experiment I, the duration of increase in power at 3 cpm was brief during sham feeding compared to the postprandial increase. Four vagotomized subjects failed to show an increase in power at 3 cpm in response to sham feeding. We conclude: (1) The cephalic-vagal stimulation of sham feeding increases briefly the amplitude and power of 3-cpm gastric myoelectric activity in healthy subjects but not vagotomized patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult

Esophageal dysfunction and chest pain in patients with mitral valve prolapse: a prospective study utilizing provocative testing during esophageal manometry.

PURPOSE: The cause of chest discomfort in patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP) remains unknown. Our aim was to determine prospectively the incidence of esophageal disorders and abnormal responses to edrophonium chloride and esophageal acid infusions in patients with MVP and troublesome non-ischemic chest pain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: After coronary artery disease was excluded, 20 patients with MVP and chest pain underwent esophageal manometry and provocative testing with edrophonium chloride and acid infusion. Seven patients with MVP but without chest pain served as control subjects; they also underwent esophageal manometry with provocative testing. RESULTS: Esophageal manometry revealed esophageal disorders in 16 patients: diffuse esophageal spasm in 14 patients, nutcracker esophagus in one, and hypotensive lower esophageal sphincter in one. Esophageal motility was normal in four patients. Injection of edrophonium and acid infusion tests evoked typical chest discomfort in three of 18 and five of 19 patients, respectively. In six of seven control subjects with MVP but with no chest discomfort, esophageal motility was normal and provocative testing did not produce chest discomfort (p less than 0.05 versus results in patients). CONCLUSION: Esophageal disorders were common and may account for chest discomfort in certain patients with MVP and persistent chest pain syndromes.

Adult

Motion sickness and gastric myoelectric activity as a function of speed of rotation of a circular vection drum.

Motion sickness symptoms and electrogastrograms (EGGs) were obtained from 60 healthy subjects while they viewed an optokinetic drum rotated at one of four speeds: 15, 30, 60 or 90 degrees.s-1. All subjects experienced vection, illusory self-motion. Motion sickness symptoms increased as drum speed increased up to 60 degrees.s-1; i.e., symptoms decreased at 90 degrees.s-1. Power, spectral intensity, of the EGG at the tachygastria frequencies (4-9 cpm) was calculated at each drum rotation speed since previous studies have shown a close correspondence between development of tachygastrias and motion sickness symptoms. Power at 4-9 cpm increased as a function of drum speed up to 60 degrees.s-1 and then decreased at 90 degrees.s-1. Power at 4-9 cpm and 60 degrees.s-1 was significantly greater than at 15 degrees.s-1. The correlation between the motion sickness symptoms and the power at 4-9 cpm was significant. Thus, drum rotation speed influenced the spectral power of the EGG at 4-9 cpm, tachygastria, and the intensity of motion sickness symptoms.

Adult

Adaptation to vection-induced symptoms of motion sickness.

The visual-vestibular-proprioceptive sensory mismatch of vection provokes motion sickness in approximately 60% of healthy subjects. Approximately 60% of astronauts experience motion sickness in microgravity where vestibular/otolith function is altered. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which symptoms of motion sickness and tachygastria, an abnormal 4-9 cpm rhythm of the stomach, decrease or adapt during three repeated exposures to a rotating circular vection drum. Subjects sat in the drum for 45 min: 15 min baseline, 15 min drum rotation at 60 degrees.s-1, and 15 min recovery. Gastric myoelectric activity was continuously recorded with the electrogastrogram (EGG). Symptom reports were obtained during rotation. In Experiment I, 10 subjects were exposed to the drum 3 times with intersession intervals of 4-24 d. They failed to show adaptation based on subjective reports and all showed tachygastria. In Experiment II, 14 new subjects were exposed to the drum 3 times with intersession intervals of 48 h. The group experienced a reduction in symptoms and tachygastria with repeated exposure to the drum. Thus, symptomatic and physiological improvement occurred after training in subjects susceptible to vection-induced motion sickness. Preflight adaptation to visual-vestibular sensory mismatch may reduce motion sickness experienced in the environment of microgravity.

Adaptation, Physiological

Gastric emptying and gastric myoelectrical activity in patients with diabetic gastroparesis: effect of long-term domperidone treatment.

We measured gastric emptying and gastric myoelectrical activity with solid-phase gastric-emptying tests and cutaneously recorded electrogastrograms (EGGs), respectively, in six insulin-dependent diabetic patients with nausea and vomiting who did not respond to standard treatments. Baseline solid phase gastric emptying was markedly delayed (78 +/- 8% retained at 120 min) and EGG recordings revealed gastric dysrhythmias; tachygastria (4-9 cpm signals) in one patient, 1- to 2-cpm waves in two patients, and flatline patterns in three patients. No patient had a normal 3-cpm EGG pattern. After 6 months of domperidone treatment, mean upper gastrointestinal symptoms scores decreased from 17.8 to 3.7 (p less than 0.01), and normal 3-cpm EGG frequencies were recorded from each of the six patients. The mean percentage of meal retained at 120 min decreased but did not improve significantly. Thus, establishment of normal 3-cpm gastric myoelectric activity and resolution of dysrhythmias, not normalization of emptying rates, was associated with improvement in upper gastrointestinal symptoms in these diabetic patients.

Adult

Effects of acetylsalicylic acid on electromechanical activity of in vivo rabbit ileum.

Aspirin has antisecretory and ulcerogenic properties in the gastrointestinal tract. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) on the electrical and mechanical activity of the ileum in anesthetized New Zealand White rabbits. Ileal electromechanical activity was recorded from serosal electrodes and a miniature intraluminal balloon. Thirty minutes after injection of ASA (30, 60 and 100 mg/kg intravenous) significant and dose-dependent increases in the percentage of slow waves with action potentials were observed when compared with saline-infected animals. The onset of action potentials correlated with phasic increases in intraluminal pressure, indicating the onset of circular muscle contractions. Injection of 15 mg/kg ASA, sodium salicylate (100 mg/kg intravenous) or saline had no effect on baseline action potential activity. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) (5 and 10 micrograms/kg intravenous) significantly increased slow-wave frequency and decreased ASA-induced action potential activity. This study demonstrates that (1) ASA, but not sodium salicylate, stimulates phasic ileal action potential and contractile activity and (2) in ASA-treated animals, PGE2 produces differential effects on in vivo slow-wave frequency and action potential activity.

Action Potentials