DESCO is an underwater diving equipment maker which was first organized in 1937 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as Diving Equipment and Salvage Co.
41-631: It was founded by: In 1935, Nohl, Craig and Browne designed a lightweight heliox diving suit to dive to the liner Lusitania , sunk in May 1915 by a German U-boat in 312 feet of water, 11 miles (18 km) off the southern coast of Ireland. On 1 December 1937, in Lake Michigan , Max Nohl dived to 420 feet (130 m) with DESCO equipment, breaking the previous record of 344 feet (105 m) set by British divers in 1930. In World War II DESCO made hardhat diving gear and oxygen rebreathers for
82-483: A steeple in shape. The steeple sign is suggestive of the diagnosis, but is absent in half of cases. Other investigations (such as blood tests and viral culture ) are discouraged, as they may cause unnecessary agitation and thus worsen the stress on the compromised airway. While viral cultures, obtained via nasopharyngeal aspiration, can be used to confirm the exact cause, these are usually restricted to research settings. Bacterial infection should be considered if
123-476: A Hyperbaric Experimental Centre operated by the French company COMEX specializing in engineering and deep diving operations. Owing to the expense of helium, heliox is most likely to be used in deep saturation diving . It is also sometimes used by technical divers , particularly those using rebreathers , which conserve the breathing gas at depth much better than open circuit scuba . The proportion of oxygen in
164-646: A commercial catalogue in 1949 and water sports catalogues in 1949–1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957. DESCO continues in business in Milwaukee. They produce various models of diving helmets, and related diving gear, and represent Viking Dry Suits, Composite Beat Engel DeepSea helmets, and Broco Welding. The DESCO "air hat", introduced in 1968, is still manufactured and is popular among air divers and particularly those working in contaminated environments; its free-flow, positive-pressure design affords an extra safety margin when contaminants are present. As compared to demand helmets,
205-629: A day and 80% of cases in two days. It can very rarely result in death from respiratory failure and/or cardiac arrest . Symptoms usually improve within two days, but may last for up to seven days. Other uncommon complications include bacterial tracheitis , pneumonia , and pulmonary edema . Croup affects about 15% of children, and usually presents between the ages of 6 months and 5–6 years. It accounts for about 5% of hospital admissions in this population. In rare cases, it may occur in children as young as 3 months and as old as 15 years. Males are affected 50% more frequently than are females, and there
246-727: A diphtherial disease, but with vaccination, diphtheria is now rare in the developed world. Most children with croup have mild symptoms and supportive care at home is effective. For children with moderate to severe croup, treatment with corticosteroids and nebulized epinephrine may be suggested. Steroids are given routinely, with epinephrine used in severe cases. Children with oxygen saturation less than 92% should receive oxygen, and those with severe croup may be hospitalized for observation. In very rare severe cases of croup that result in respiratory failure, emergency intubation and ventilation may be required. With treatment, less than 0.2% of children require endotracheal intubation . Since croup
287-581: A diving mix depends on the maximum depth of the dive plan, but it is often hypoxic and may be less than 10%. Each mix is custom made using gas blending techniques, which often involve the use of booster pumps to achieve typical diving cylinder pressures of 200 to 300 bar (2,900 to 4,400 psi ) from lower pressure banks of oxygen and helium cylinders. Because sound travels faster in heliox than in air, voice formants are raised, making divers' speech very high-pitched and hard to understand to people not used to it. Surface personnel often employ
328-505: A higher fraction of oxygen – might also have the same beneficial effect on upper airway obstruction. Patients with these conditions may develop a range of symptoms including dyspnea (breathlessness), hypoxemia (below-normal oxygen content in the arterial blood) and eventually a weakening of the respiratory muscles due to exhaustion , which can lead to respiratory failure and require intubation and mechanical ventilation. Heliox may reduce all these effects, making it easier for
369-402: A mixture of 21% O 2 (the same as air ) and 79% He, although other combinations are available (70/30 and 60/40). Heliox generates less airway resistance than air and thereby requires less mechanical energy to ventilate the lungs. " Work of breathing " (WOB) is reduced by two mechanisms: Heliox 20/80 diffuses 1.8 times faster than oxygen, and the flow of heliox 20/80 from an oxygen flowmeter
410-488: A person does not improve with standard treatment, at which point further investigations may be indicated. The most commonly used system for classifying the severity of croup is the Westley score. It is primarily used for research purposes rather than in clinical practice. It is the sum of points assigned for five factors: level of consciousness, cyanosis, stridor, air entry, and retractions. The points given for each factor
451-434: A piece of communications equipment called a "helium de-scrambler", which electronically lowers the pitch of the diver's voice as it is relayed through the communications gear, making it easier to understand. Trimix is a less expensive alternative to heliox for deep diving, which uses only enough helium to limit narcosis and gas density to tolerable levels for the planned depth. Trimix is often used in technical diving , and
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#1732786651363492-431: A very sick appearance can indicate other medical conditions, such as epiglottitis or tracheitis . Croup is usually deemed to be due to a viral infection. Others use the term more broadly, to include acute laryngotracheitis ( laryngitis and tracheitis together), spasmodic croup, laryngeal diphtheria, bacterial tracheitis, laryngotracheobronchitis, and laryngotracheobronchopneumonitis. The first two conditions involve
533-462: A viral infection and are generally milder with respect to symptomatology; the last four are due to bacterial infection and are usually of greater severity. Viral croup or acute laryngotracheitis is most commonly caused by parainfluenza virus (a member of the paramyxovirus family), primarily types 1 and 2, in 75% of cases. Other viral causes include influenza A and B, measles , adenovirus and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Spasmodic croup
574-581: Is 1.8 times the normal flow for oxygen. Heliox has a similar viscosity to air but a significantly lower density (0.5 g/L versus 1.25 g/L at STP ). Flow of gas through the airway comprises laminar flow, transitional flow and turbulent flow. The tendency for each type of flow is described by the Reynolds number . Heliox's low density produces a lower Reynolds number and hence higher probability of laminar flow for any given airway. Laminar flow tends to generate less resistance than turbulent flow. In
615-417: Is a breathing gas mixture of helium (He) and oxygen (O 2 ). It is used as a medical treatment for patients with difficulty breathing because this mixture generates less resistance than atmospheric air when passing through the airways of the lungs, and thus requires less effort by a patient to breathe in and out of the lungs. It is also used as a breathing gas diluent for deep ambient pressure diving as it
656-528: Is also sometimes used in professional diving . In 2015, the United States Navy Experimental Diving Unit showed that decompression from bounce dives using trimix is not more efficient than dives on heliox. Croup Croup ( / k r uː p / KROOP ), also known as croupy cough , is a type of respiratory infection that is usually caused by a virus . The infection leads to swelling inside
697-581: Is an increased prevalence in autumn. The word croup comes from the Early Modern English verb croup , meaning "to cry hoarsely." The noun describing the disease originated in southeastern Scotland and became widespread after Edinburgh physician Francis Home published the 1765 treatise An Inquiry into the Nature, Cause, and Cure of the Croup . Diphtheritic croup has been known since
738-451: Is caused by the same group of viruses as acute laryngotracheitis, but lacks the usual signs of infection (such as fever, sore throat, and increased white blood cell count ). Treatment, and response to treatment, are also similar. Croup caused by a bacterial infection is rare. Bacterial croup may be divided into laryngeal diphtheria, bacterial tracheitis, laryngotracheobronchitis, and laryngotracheobronchopneumonitis. Laryngeal diphtheria
779-464: Is due to Corynebacterium diphtheriae while bacterial tracheitis, laryngotracheobronchitis, and laryngotracheobronchopneumonitis are usually due to a primary viral infection with secondary bacterial growth. The most common cocci implicated are Staphylococcus aureus and Streptococcus pneumoniae , while the most common bacteria are Haemophilus influenzae , and Moraxella catarrhalis . The viral infection that causes croup leads to swelling of
820-455: Is important. Children with croup should generally be kept as calm as possible. Over the counter medications for pain and fever may be helpful to keep the child comfortable. There is some evidence that cool or warm mist may be helpful, however, the effectiveness of this approach is not clear. If the child is showing signs of distress while breathing ( inspiratory stridor , working hard to breathe, blue (or blue-ish) coloured lips, or decrease in
861-424: Is it due to a bacterial infection . Croup is typically diagnosed based on signs and symptoms after potentially more severe causes, such as epiglottitis or an airway foreign body , have been ruled out. Further investigations, such as blood tests, X-rays and cultures, are usually not needed. Many cases of croup are preventable by immunization for influenza and diphtheria . Most cases of croup are mild and
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#1732786651363902-512: Is listed in the adjacent table, and the final score ranges from 0 to 17. 85% of children presenting to the emergency department have mild disease; severe croup is rare (<1%). Croup is contagious during the first few days of the infection. Basic hygiene including hand washing can prevent transmission. There are no vaccines that have been developed to prevent croup, however, many cases of croup have been prevented by immunization for influenza and diphtheria . At one time, croup referred to
943-433: Is needed, "blow-by" administration (holding an oxygen source near the child's face) is recommended, as it causes less agitation than use of a mask . While other treatments for croup have been studied, none has sufficient evidence to support its use. There is tentative evidence that breathing heliox (a mixture of helium and oxygen ) to decrease the work of breathing is useful in those with severe disease, however, there
984-468: Is not narcotic at high pressure, and for its low work of breathing. Heliox has been used medically since the 1930s, and although the medical community adopted it initially to alleviate symptoms of upper airway obstruction, its range of medical uses has since expanded greatly, mostly because of the low density of the gas. Heliox is also used in saturation diving and sometimes during the deep phase of technical dives . In medicine , heliox may refer to
1025-408: Is often described as resembling the call of a sea lion . The stridor is worsened by agitation or crying , and if it can be heard at rest, it may indicate critical narrowing of the airways. As croup worsens, stridor may decrease considerably. Other symptoms include fever , coryza (symptoms typical of the common cold ), and indrawing of the chest wall –known as Hoover's sign . Drooling or
1066-476: Is slightly more common in males than females. It occurs most often in autumn. Before vaccination , croup was frequently caused by diphtheria and was often fatal. This cause is now very rare in the Western world due to the success of the diphtheria vaccine . Croup is characterized by a "barking" cough , stridor , hoarseness , and difficult breathing which usually worsens at night. The "barking" cough
1107-424: Is to exclude other obstructive conditions of the upper airway, especially epiglottitis , an airway foreign body , subglottic stenosis , angioedema , retropharyngeal abscess , and bacterial tracheitis . A frontal X-ray of the neck is not routinely performed, but if it is done, it may show a characteristic narrowing of the trachea, called the steeple sign , because of the subglottic stenosis, which resembles
1148-447: Is uncertainty in the effectiveness and the potential adverse effects and/or side effects are not well known. In cases of possible secondary bacterial infection, the antibiotics vancomycin and cefotaxime are recommended. In severe cases associated with influenza A or B infections, the antiviral neuraminidase inhibitors may be administered. Viral croup is usually a self-limiting disease, with half of cases resolving in
1189-409: Is usually a viral disease, antibiotics are not used unless secondary bacterial infection is suspected. The use of cough medicines , which usually contain dextromethorphan or guaifenesin , are also discouraged. Supportive care for children with croup includes resting and keeping the child hydrated. Infections that are mild are suggested to be treated at home. Croup is contagious so washing hands
1230-512: The US Navy . In 1946, DESCO was sold to Alfred Dorst, who expanded the company's product base of exclusively professional, commercial and military designs to supply a growing peacetime leisure market with water sports equipment. Introduced in 1947 and discontinued in 1960, the DESCO sporting goods range included regulators, masks, fins, snorkels, spearguns, aquaplanes and water-skis. DESCO published
1271-424: The larynx , trachea , and large bronchi due to infiltration of white blood cells (especially histiocytes , lymphocytes , plasma cells , and neutrophils ). Swelling produces airway obstruction which, when significant, leads to dramatically increased work of breathing and the characteristic turbulent, noisy airflow known as stridor . Croup is typically diagnosed based on signs and symptoms. The first step
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1312-436: The trachea , which interferes with normal breathing and produces the classic symptoms of "barking/brassy" cough , inspiratory stridor and a hoarse voice . Fever and runny nose may also be present. These symptoms may be mild, moderate, or severe. Often it starts or is worse at night and normally lasts one to two days. Croup can be caused by a number of viruses including parainfluenza and influenza virus . Rarely
1353-515: The advent of bronchodilators . Currently, heliox is mainly used in conditions of large airway narrowing (upper airway obstruction from tumors or foreign bodies and vocal cord dysfunction ). Helium diluted breathing gases are used to eliminate or reduce the effects of inert gas narcosis , and to reduce work of breathing due to increased gas density at depth. From the 1960s saturation diving physiology studies were conducted with helium from 45 to 610 m (148 to 2,001 ft) over several decades by
1394-517: The air hat is simple and inexpensive to operate and maintain. In 2016 DESCO purchased the assets of Morse Diving International out of bankruptcy. They went into production of Morse Helmet models under the brand name A J Morse and Son. Current AJMS models in production are the US Navy Mark V and first generation commercial helmets in breastplate feed and bonnet feed variants. All helmets are available in polished or tinned. Heliox Heliox
1435-463: The benefits are short-lived and last for only about 2 hours. If the condition remains improved for 2–4 hours after treatment and no other complications arise, the child is typically discharged from the hospital. Epinephrine treatment is associated with potential adverse effects (usually related to the dose of epinephrine) including tachycardia , arrhythmias , and hypertension . More severe cases of croup may require treatment with oxygen. If oxygen
1476-409: The level of alertness ), immediate medical evaluation by a doctor is required. Corticosteroids , such as dexamethasone and budesonide , have been shown to improve outcomes in children with all severities of croup, however, the benefits may be delayed. Significant relief may be obtained as early as two hours after administration. While effective when given by injection , or by inhalation, giving
1517-447: The medication by mouth is preferred. A single dose is usually all that is required, and is generally considered to be quite safe. Dexamethasone at doses of 0.15, 0.3 and 0.6 mg/kg appear to be all equally effective. Moderate to severe croup (for example, in the case of severe stridor) may be improved temporarily with nebulized epinephrine . While epinephrine typically produces a reduction in croup severity within 10–30 minutes,
1558-468: The patient can be treated at home with supportive care. Croup is usually treated with a single dose of steroids by mouth. In more severe cases inhaled epinephrine may also be used. Hospitalization is required in one to five percent of cases. Croup is a relatively common condition that affects about 15% of children at some point. It most commonly occurs between six months and five years of age but may rarely be seen in children as old as fifteen. It
1599-400: The patient to breathe. Heliox has also found utility in the weaning of patients off mechanical ventilation, and in the nebulization of inhalable drugs, particularly for the elderly. Research has also indicated advantages in using helium–oxygen mixtures in delivery of anaesthesia . Heliox has been used medically since the early 1930s. It was the mainstay of treatment in acute asthma before
1640-568: The small airways where flow is laminar, resistance is proportional to gas viscosity and is not related to density and so heliox has little effect. The Hagen–Poiseuille equation describes laminar resistance. In the large airways where flow is turbulent, resistance is proportional to density, so heliox has a significant effect. There is also some use of heliox in conditions of the medium airways ( croup , asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ). A recent trial has suggested that lower fractions of helium (below 40%) – thus allowing
1681-577: The time of Homer 's ancient Greece , and it was not until 1826 that viral croup was differentiated from croup due to diphtheria by Bretonneau . Viral croup was then called "faux-croup" by the French and often called "false croup" in English, as "croup" or "true croup" then most often referred to the disease caused by the diphtheria bacterium . False croup has also been known as pseudo croup or spasmodic croup. Croup due to diphtheria has become nearly unknown in affluent countries in modern times due to