Publications by authors named "David A T Nguyen"

Article Synopsis
  • The study investigated how well different age groups and individuals with COPD can detect and perceive breathing resistance during simulated loads, emphasizing the importance for airway protection and breathlessness management.
  • It involved 18 participants with COPD, 17 older adults, and 23 young adults, comparing their ability to detect changes in airway resistance and their perceived effort while breathing.
  • Findings showed that older adults had a steeper relationship between perceived effort and resistance compared to younger adults, suggesting that they may experience greater difficulty in respiratory effort due to increased awareness of breathing resistance, especially at higher loads.
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Altered neural processing and increased respiratory sensations have been reported in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as larger respiratory-related evoked potentials (RREPs), but the effect of healthy-aging has not been considered adequately. We tested RREPs evoked by brief airway occlusions in 10 participants with moderate-to-severe COPD, 11 age-matched controls (AMC) and 14 young controls (YC), with similar airway occlusion pressure stimuli across groups. Mean age was 76 years for COPD and AMC groups, and 30 years for the YC group.

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A premotor potential, or Bereitschaftspotential (BP), is a low-amplitude negativity in the electroencephalographic activity (EEG) of the sensorimotor cortex. It begins ~1 s prior to the onset of inspiration in the averaged EEG. Although normally absent during quiet breathing in healthy, younger people, inspiration-related BPs are present in people with respiratory disease and healthy, older people, indicating a cortical contribution to quiet breathing.

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Key Points: A cortical contribution to breathing, as indicated by a Bereitschaftspotential (BP) in averaged electroencephalographic signals, occurs in healthy individuals when external inspiratory loads are applied. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a condition where changes in the lung, chest wall and respiratory muscles produce an internal inspiratory load. These changes also occur in normal ageing, although to a lesser extent.

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