Study Objectives: This study aimed to determine whether tongue stiffness (shear modulus) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is different for controls matched for age, sex, and body mass index (BMI), and to investigate the effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on stiffness.
Design: Controlled experimental study.
Setting: Medical research institute.
Participants: Patients with OSA and age-, sex-, and BMI-matched healthy controls.
Measurements: Magnetic resonance elastography was performed in nine patients with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) > 15 events/h) and seven controls (AHI < 10 events/h) matched for age, sex, and BMI. Six of these OSA subjects were also scanned while 10 cmH2O CPAP was applied. Mean isotropic shear modulus and anisotropic shear moduli parallel and perpendicular to the muscle fascicles in the tongue were calculated.
Results: Tongue shear modulus in patients with OSA was lower than that in matched controls (2.68 ± 0.35 (mean ± standard deviation) kPa versus 2.98 ± 0.44 kPa, P < 0.001). Shear modulus decreased with increasing AHI (R = -0.496, P = 0.043), but not age, BMI, or percentage tongue fat. Anisotropic analysis revealed that reduction in stiffness was greatest parallel to the muscle fibers. CPAP had no significant effect on tongue shear modulus.
Conclusions: In awake subjects with obstructive sleep apnea, the tongue is less stiff than in similar healthy subjects and this difference occurs in the muscle fiber direction. CPAP did not significantly reduce tongue stiffness. Thus, any change in neural drive to genioglossus during wakefulness is insufficient to restore normal tongue stiffness.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.5665/sleep.4566 | DOI Listing |
Front Robot AI
January 2025
School of Engineering, Institute of Science Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Animal muscles have complex, three-dimensional structures with fibers oriented in various directions. The tongue, in particular, features a highly intricate muscular system composed of four intrinsic muscles and several types of extrinsic muscles, enabling flexible and diverse movements essential for feeding, swallowing, and speech production. Replicating these structures could lead to the development of multifunctional manipulators and advanced platforms for studying muscle-motion relationships.
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December 2024
Department of Oral Medicine, Nihon University School of Dentistry, Tokyo, JPN.
Calcinosis, Raynaud's phenomenon, esophageal dysmotility, sclerodactyly, and telangiectasia (CREST) syndrome, a systemic sclerosis subtype, features skin thickening, vascular issues, and organ involvement, causing complications in the gastrointestinal and musculoskeletal systems. Herein, we present a rare case of oral candidiasis, with CREST syndrome. The patient presented with xerostomia, tongue erythema, and burning pain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJASA Express Lett
January 2025
Department of Linguistics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520,
This study investigates the articulatory correlates of consonantal length contrasts in Japanese mimetic words using electromagnetic articulography data. Regression and dynamic time warping analyses applied to intragestural timing, kinematic properties, and intergestural timing reveal that Japanese geminates are characterized by longer closure phases, longer gestural plateaus, higher tongue tip positions, larger movements, and lower stiffness. Geminates also exhibit distinct timing relationships with adjacent vowels, specifically, longer times to target that allow for longer preceding vowels.
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Service de Neuropédiatrie, CHU Montpellier, Montpellier, France.
Cureus
October 2024
Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, University of Kansas School of Medicine, Kansas City, USA.
Background Radiation-induced fibrosis (RIF) is a common side effect in head and neck cancer (HNC) patients treated with radiotherapy. A validated tool to measure RIF does not currently exist. In this study, we evaluate the ability of shear wave elastography (SWE) to measure RIF in HNC survivors.
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