Role of Synaptic Inhibition in the Coupling of the Respiratory Rhythms that Underlie Eupnea and Sigh Behaviors

The preBötzinger complex (preBötC) gives rise to two types of breathing behavior under normal physiological conditions: eupnea and sighing. Here, we examine the neural mechanisms that couple their underlying rhythms. We measured breathing in awake intact adult mice and recorded inspiratory rhythms from the preBötC in neonatal mouse brainstem slice preparations. We show previously undocumented variability in the temporal relationship between sigh breaths or bursts and their preceding eupneic breaths or inspiratory bursts. Investigating the synaptic mechanisms for this variability in vitro, we further show that pharmacological blockade of chloride-mediated synaptic inhibition strengthens inspiratory-to-sigh temporal coupling. These findings contrast with previous literature, which suggested glycinergic inhibition linked sigh bursts to their preceding inspiratory bursts with minimal time intervals. Furthermore, we verify that pharmacological disinhibition did not alter the duration of the prolonged interval that follows a sigh burst before resumption of the inspiratory rhythm. These results demonstrate that synaptic inhibition does not enhance coupling between sighs and preceding inspiratory events or contribute to post-sigh apneas. Instead, we conclude that excitatory synaptic mechanisms coordinate inspiratory (eupnea) and sigh rhythms

Government policy failure in public support for research and development

peer-reviewedPromoting Research and Development (R&D) and innovative activity is a key element of the EU Lisbon Agenda and is seen as playing a central part in stimulating economic development. In this paper we argue that, even allowing for benevolent policy-makers, informational asymmetries can lead to a misallocation of public support for R&D, hence government policy failure, with the potential to exacerbate preexisting market failures. Initially, we explore alternative allocation mechanisms for public support, which can help to minimize the scale of these government policy failures. Of these mechanisms (grants, tax credits, or allocation rules based on past performance), our results suggest that none is universally most efficient. Rather, the effectiveness of each allocation rule depends on the severity of financial constraints and on the level of innovative capabilities of the firms themselves.ACCEPTEDpeer-reviewe

Display's the thing: The real stakes in the conflict over high-resolution displays

Japan has a strong lead over both the United States and Western Europe in the development of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). We argue in this article that LCDs and associated integrated display technologies are critical for competition in a growing proportion of global electronics markets. The “architecture of supply” is the issue here, and U.S. firms need help from the government to insure that they will have access to the latest display technologies in a timely manner at market prices. Besides adopting foreign economic policies designed to achieve this purpose, it will be necessary for the government to continue to work with the domestic electronics industry to raise the industry's technological capabilities in new display technologies.