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Intrathecal fentanyl affects a subset of Group III/IV muscle afferents, i.e., those that are μ-opioid receptor sensitive. The percentage of Group III/IV afferents that is opioid receptor sensitive is unknown. Therefore a considerable amount of afferent feedback likely remained intact during our

to the editor: Please note that on page 973 of our manuscript ([1][1]) we outlined our justification for attempting to quantify the ventilatory equivalent of the hypercapnia that accompanied the afferent blockade. Surely, it is obvious that the accompanying hypercapnia must prevent some further

to the editor: Our interpretation of Dr. White's letter ([10][1]) is that he pretty much agrees that our findings suggest that thin-fiber muscle afferents in the human are significantly involved in the cardiovascular and ventilatory responses to rhythmic exercise ([1][2]) and one of the possible

to the editor: The topic of this Point:Counterpoint, as suggested by Dr. Marcora, was to debate the relative importance of afferent feedback from fatiguing locomotor muscles in determining endurance performance. Being well aware of the fact that this feedback is only one of numerous determinants ([5

Emissions of S02, N0X and ammonia are major contributors to acidification of natural ecosystems. The paper reviews purpose and methods of emission inventories and compares the major international inventories in Europe. For each of the pollutants the major gaps in current knowledge and discrepancies in existing data are briefly discussed. Finally, national differences in per-capita emissions are analyzed for the year 1985.

Acid rain abatement in Europe are currently being discussed in view of the expiration of the Helsinki Protocol on SO 2 emission reduction. The changing energy situation in Eastern European countries is expected to have an influence on the deposition pattern in Europe. The paper presents a consistent energy scenario for Eastern European countries and compares optimal strategies to reduce SO 2 emissions. These strategies are based on runs with the RAINS model in which environmental targets have been set based on critical loads for sulphur. The analysis shows that economic restructuring and efficiency improvements in Eastern European countries, as well as in Western Europe, may result in significantly lower sulphur abatement. costs. Potential assistance to Eastern Europe to guarantee desired environmental standards in Western countries should therefore focus not only on providing emission control devices but also on the success of the economic transition process.

Estimates of Asian emissions of air pollutants and carbonaceous aerosols and their mid-term projections have been changing significantly in the last years. The remote sensing community has shown that increase in NO x in Central East Asia is much stronger than any of the emission inventories or projections indicated so far. A number of studies reviewing older estimates appeared. Here, we review the key contributions and compare them to the most recent results of the GAINS model application for Asia and to the SRES projections used in the IPPC work. The recent projections indicate that the growth of emissions of SO 2 in Asia should slow down significantly towards 2010 or even stabilize at the current level. For NO x , however, further growth is projected although it will be most likely slower that in the last decade, owing to introduction of measures in transport. Emissions of carbonaceous aerosols (black carbon and organic carbon) are expected to decline after 2010, largely due to reduced use of biofuels in residential sector and efficiency improvements. The estimates of these emissions are burdened with significantly larger uncertainties than SO 2 and NO x ; even for the year 2000 the differences in estimates between studies are up to a factor of 2. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0889.2009.00428.x

AMANN, M., A. SUBUDHI, and C. FOSTER. Influence of Testing Protocol on Ventilatory Thresholds and Cycling Performance.Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 36, No. 4, pp. 613– 622, 2004. Purpose: To compare the ventilatory response of two incremental exercise tests and determine their predictive validity on 40-km cycle time trial (40K) mean power output (40Kavgwatts). Methods: Fifteen male cyclists performed two incremental exercise tests (T50x3:100 W 50 W·3 min 1 ,T 25x1:20 W 25 W·min 1 ) and a 40K over an 8-d period. Key variable was power at ventilatory threshold (VT). For VT determination during each test we used: V u E/V u O2 method, first clear breakpoint on the V u E/V u CO2 plot, V-slope method, RER 1, and RER 0.95. Results: V u O2max during T50x3 and T25x1 was not different (66.6 vs 67.6 mL·kg 1 ·min 1 ), although T25x1 peak power output (MaxT25x1; 402 W) was significantly higher than MaxT50x3 (363 W). T50x3 and T25x1 VT power outputs indicated that the power output at T25x1:RER 1 and T25x1:RER 0.95 were significantly higher compared with T50x3 (324 vs 304 W and 282 vs 264 W, respectively). Regression analyses between T50x3 variables and 40Kavgwatts were significant for T50x3:V-slope (R 2 0.37; SEE 20.2 W), T50x3:V u E/V u O2 (R 2 0.64; SEE 15.3 W), T50x3:RER 0.95 (R 2 0.42; SEE 19.4 W), T50x3:RER 1( R 2 0.45; SEE 18.8 W), and MaxT50x3 (R 2 0.51; SEE 17.8 W). Regression analyses between T25x1 variables and 40Kavgwatts were significant for T25x1:V-slope (R 2 0.63; SEE 15.4 W), T25x1:V u E/V u O2 (R 2 0.64; SEE 15.2 W), T25x1:RER 0.95 (R 2 0.53; SEE 17.4 W), T25x1:RER 1( R 2 0.57; SEE 16.7 W), and MaxT25x1 (R 2 0.65; SEE 15.0 W). There was no significant difference between 40Kavgwatts (282 W) and power outputs at T50x3:V u E/V u O2 (277 W), T50x3:V-slope (289 W), T25x1:V u E/V u O2 (276 W), and T25x1:RER 0.95 (282 W). Conclusion: Generally, T25x1 based VT variables were superior to T50x3 variables regarding the prediction of 40Kavgwatts. We conclude that the V u E/V u O2 method is protocol independent and a valid

Long-term exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has been shown to have significant negative impacts on human health. It is estimated that current levels of air pollution shorten the statistical life expectancy of European citizens by several months. The GAINS integrated assessment model calculates shortening of life expectancy from population exposure to PM2.5 using epidemiologically-derived health impact functions. In addition, GAINS estimates PM2.5 concentrations at 1875 air quality monitoring stations located in diverse environments ranging from remote background locations to busy street canyons. In this article, different approaches to dealing with the PM2.5 pollution problem are compared. We assess for the present and future the attainment of EU and WHO air quality standards for PM2.5 and estimate the loss of life expectancy under different policy scenarios developed for the ongoing revision of the EU Air Quality Legislation. We present PM2.5 forecasts for 1875 individual air quality monitoring stations in Europe.Calculations bridge the gap between regional background and street canyons.Compliance with the EU limit value is achieved easily, but not with the WHO guideline.We quantify EU wide health benefits of future emission control legislation scenarios.We analyse the relationship between compliance and population exposure.

International audience; To explore the relationship between tropospheric ozone and radiative forcing with changing emissions, we compiled two sets of global scenarios for the emissions of the ozone precursors methane (CH4), carbon monoxide (CO), non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) up to the year 2030 and implemented them in two global Chemistry Transport Models. The "Current Legislation" (CLE) scenario reflects the current perspectives of individual countries on future economic development and takes the anticipated effects of presently decided emission control legislation in the individual countries into account. In addition, we developed a "Maximum technically Feasible Reduction" (MFR) scenario that outlines the scope for emission reductions offered by full implementation of the presently available emission control technologies, while maintaining the projected levels of anthropogenic activities. Whereas the resulting projections of methane emissions lie within the range suggested by other greenhouse gas projections, the recent pollution control legislation of many Asian countries, requiring introduction of catalytic converters for vehicles, leads to significantly lower growth in emissions of the air pollutants NOx, NMVOC and CO than was suggested by the widely used and more pessimistic IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) SRES (Special Report on Emission Scenarios) scenarios (Nakicenovic et al., 2000), which made Business-as-Usual assumptions regarding emission control technology. With the TM3 and STOCHEM models we performed several long-term integrations (1990-2030) to assess global, hemispheric and regional changes in CH4, CO, hydroxyl radicals, ozone and the radiative climate forcings resulting from these two emission scenarios. Both models reproduce broadly the observed trends in CO, and CH4 concentrations from 1990 to 2002. For the "current legislation" case, both models indicate an increase of the annual average ozone levels in the Northern Hemisphere by 5ppbv, and up to 15ppbv over the Indian sub-continent, comparing the 2020s (2020-2030) with the 1990s (1990-2000). The corresponding higher ozone and methane burdens in the atmosphere increase radiative forcing by approximately 0.2 Wm-2. Full application of today's emissions control technologies, however, would bring down ozone below the levels experienced in the 1990s and would reduce the radiative forcing of ozone and methane to approximately -0.1 Wm-2. This can be compared to the 0.14-0.47 Wm-2 increase of methane and ozone radiative forcings associated with the SRES scenarios. While methane reductions lead to lower ozone burdens and to less radiative forcing, further reductions of the air pollutants NOx and NMVOC result in lower ozone, but at the same time increase the lifetime of methane. Control of methane emissions appears an efficient option to reduce tropospheric ozone as well as radiative forcing.