0000000000164899
AUTHOR
Michael Melia
An acute exposure to ozone impairs human olfactory functioning
Ozone is a ubiquitous and irritant gas. We questioned whether an acute exposure to 0.2 ppm ozone impaired olfactory functioning.Healthy, normosmic subjects were exposed according to a parallel group design either to 0.2 ppm ozone (n = 15) or to sham (n = 13) in an exposure chamber for two hours. Possible irritating effects were assessed by questionnaire (range 0-5). The detection threshold of n-butanol was measured with the Sniffin' Sticks test before and after exposure. Olfactory thresholds were logarithmized and a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) with repeated measurements was carried out to test the effects of exposure (ozone vs. sham) and time (before vs. after exposure). Additional…
Pressure pain thresholds: Subject factors and the meaning of peak pressures.
Background The assessment of pressure pain has become an integral part in pain research. The distribution of pressure under a plunger can be uneven. However, measurements based on conventional devices show the applied force or mean pressure, failing to take local pressure peaks into account. Our main question was whether peak pressures under the probe are responsible for pain onset. Methods A force-controlled algometer was fitted with a newly developed pressure-indicating film. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) of 100 healthy subjects (57 men, age 18-66 years) were assessed at 29 sites across the body. Each site was measured three times, nonconsecutively and presented in randomized order. For…