Identification of human brain regions underlying responses to resistive inspiratory loading with functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Compensatory ventilatory responses to increased inspiratory loading are essential for adequate breathing regulation in a number of pulmonary diseases; however, the human brain sites mediating such responses are unknown. Midsagittal and axial images were acquired in 11 healthy volunteers during unloaded and loaded (30 cmH2O; 1 cmH2O = 98 Pa) inspiratory breathing, by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) strategies (1.5-tesla MR; repetition time, 72 msec; echo time, 45 msec; flip angle, 30 degrees; field of view, 26 cm; slice thickness, 5 mm; number of excitations, 1; matrix, 128 x 256). Digital image subtractions and region of interest analyses revealed significantly increased fMRI signal intensity in discrete areas of the ventral and dorsal pons, interpeduncular nucleus, basal forebrain, putamen, and cerebellar regions. Upon load withdrawal, certain regions displayed a rapid fMRI signal off-transient, while in others, a slower fMRI signal decay emerged. Sustained loading elicited slow decreases in fMRI signal across activated regions, while second application of an identical load resulted in smaller signal increases compared to initial signal responses (P < 0.001). A moderate inspiratory load is associated with consistent regional activation of discrete brain locations; certain of these regions have been implicated in mediation of loaded breathing in animal models. We speculate that temporal changes in fMRI signal may indicate respiratory after-discharge and/or habituation phenomena.

Paul–Straubel–Kingdon trap for true zero-point confinement of an individual ion and reservoir

A modification of the Paul–Straubel trap previously described by us may profitably be operated in a Paul–Straubel–Kingdon (PSK) mode during the initial loading of an individual ion into the trap. Thereby the coating of the trap ring electrode by the atomic beam directed upon it in earlier experiments is eliminated, as is the ionization of an already trapped ion. Coating created serious problems as it spot-wise changed the work function of the ring electrode, which caused large, uncontrolled dc fields in the trap center that prevented zero-point confinement. Operating the Paul–Straubel trap with a small negative bias on the ring electrode wire is all that is required to realize the PSK mode. In this mode the tiny ring trap in the center of the long, straight wire section is surrounded by a second trapping well shaped like a long, thin-walled cylindrical shell and extending to the end-caps. There, ions may be conveniently created in this well without danger of coating the ring with barium. In addition, the long second well is useful as a multi-ion reservoir.