Journal of applied physiology
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Static transpulmonary pressure (Pao-Pes) and the vertical gradient of transpulmonary pressure were determined in five sitting conscious normal subjects at mean airway pressures of 0 (ambient), 11, and 21 cmH2O. All subjects exhibited a nonuniform transpulmonary pressure gradient down the esophagus. ⋯ Continuous positive airway pressure also did not result in a consistent change of the overall static pressure-volume curve of the lung. There was a small but statistically significant increase in TLC with each increase in airway pressure.
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To clarify the mechanisms by which high-altitude Camelidae can adapt to hypoxia, the study of some blood characteristics were carried out in apacas and llamas. The results show that there is a peculiar dissociation curve of hemoglobin in alpacas which permits great affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen at lung level and the release of oxygen at the tissue level with a facility similar to that in man. Fetal hemoglobin was found high in adult alpacas (55 percent). ⋯ Alpacas have erythrocytes in which the amount of 2,3-DPG is approximately the same as in man. RBC are more resistent to hypotonic solutions than humans. The amount of lactic dehydrogenase, myoglobin, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase dimishes when alpacas are bought down to sea level.