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The main results of the present study are as follows: 1) breathing gas mixtures containing 2% or 4% CO2significantly attenuated bronchoconstrictor responses to methacholine, not differently in healthy subjects and subjects with mild asthma, and 2) the causal inhibitory effect of CO2was significantly mediated via an indirect effect of the increment of V̇e in response to intrapulmonary hypercapnia.

We introduce Ricerca Operativa Applicazioni Reali (ROAR; in English, Real Applications of Operations Research), a three-year project for higher secondary schools. Its main aim is to improve students’ interest, motivation, and skills related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics disciplines by integrating mathematics and computer science through operations research. ROAR offers examples and problems closely connected with students’ everyday life or with the industrial reality, balancing mathematical modeling and algorithmics. The project is composed of three teaching units, addressed to grades 10, 11, and 12. The implementation of the first teaching unit took place in Spring 2021 at the scientific high school IIS Antonietti in Iseo (Brescia, Italy). In particular, in this paper, we provide a full description of this first teaching unit in terms of objectives, prerequisites, topics and methods, organization of the lectures, and digital technologies used. Moreover, we analyze the feedback received from students and teachers involved in the experimentation, and we discuss advantages and disadvantages related to distance learning that we had to adopt because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Funding: E. Taranto and G. Colajanni were partially supported by the research projects “Programma Ricerca di Ateneo UNICT 2020-22 linea 2,” “EEEP&DLaD,” and “OMNIA” of the University of Catania. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/ited.2022.0271 .

The aim of this paper is to bridge macro agent-based models with mainstream macroeconomic models by agentifying the baseline New Keynesian DSGE model. The model features multiple, boundedly rational, optimizing agents and is analyzed through numerical simulations. We exploit the flexibility of agent-based modeling to explore the effect of dispersed information on the learning process and on macroeconomic outcomes. We find that with dispersed information monetary and fiscal policy acquire the role of public signals.

Operations Research (OR) is a branch of applied mathematics usually taught in undergraduate and graduate courses at the university level. Nevertheless, during the last years, various initiatives have been developed to introduce some topics to younger students. These initiatives usually aim to improve students’ interest and motivation towards mathematics and other STEM disciplines. They also allow students to acquire new skills and abilities as well as increase their awareness of a discipline with several applications. In this review, we analyze the state of the art related to Grades 9–12. We present and classify local, national and international OR educational initiatives we were able to collect. Then, we compare their objectives and focus, topics introduced, teaching methods, instruments and software chosen, and feedback received. Finally, we discuss some of the main current international and national guidelines for mathematics education of Grades 9–12, showing how OR could be suitable to fulfil many of these.

We study the effects on economic activity of a pure temporary change in government debt and the relationship between the debt multiplier and the level of debt in an overlapping generations framework. The debt multiplier is positive but quite small during normal times while it is much larger during crises. Moreover, it increases with the steady state level of debt. Hence, the call for fiscal consolidation during recessions seems ill-advised. Finally, a rise in the steady state debt-to-GDP level increases the steady state real interest rate providing more room for manoeuvre to monetary policy to fight deflationary shocks.

BackgroundTelemonitoring trials for early detection of acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) have provided mixed results. Day-to-day variations in lung function measured by the forced oscillation technique (FOT) may yield greater insight. We evaluated the clinical utility of home telemonitoring of variability in FOT measures in terms of 1) the relationship with symptoms and quality of life (QoL); and 2) the timing of variability of FOT measures and symptom changes prior to AECOPD.MethodsDaily FOT parameters at 5 Hz (resistance (R) and reactance (X); Resmon Pro Diary, Restech Srl, Milan, Italy), daily symptoms (COPD Assessment Test (CAT)) and 4-weekly QoL data (St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ)) were recorded over 8–9 months from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. Variability of R and X was calculated as the standard deviation (sd) over 7-day running windows and we also examined the effect of varying window size. The relationship of FOT versus CAT and SGRQ was assessed using linear mixed modelling, daily changes in FOT variability and CAT prior to AECOPD using one-way repeated measures ANOVA.ResultsFifteen participants with a mean±sd age of 69±10 years and a % predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) of 39±10% had a median (interquartile range (IQR)) adherence of 95.4% (79.0–98.8%). Variability of the inspiratory component of X (indicated by the standard deviation of inspiratory reactance (SDXinsp)) related to CAT and weakly to SGRQ (fixed effect estimates 1.57, 95% CI 0.65–2.49 (p=0.001) and 4.41, 95% CI −0.06 to 8.89 (p=0.05), respectively). SDXinsp changed significantly on the same day as CAT (1 day before AECOPD, both p=0.02) and earlier when using shorter running windows (3 days before AECOPD, p=0.01; accuracy=0.72 for 5-day windows).ConclusionsSDXinsp from FOT telemonitoring reflects COPD symptoms and may be a sensitive biomarker for early detection of AECOPD.

The adoption of a "makeup'' strategy is one of the proposals adopted in the ongoing review of the Fed's monetary policy framework. Another suggestion, to avoid the zero lower bound, is a more active role for fiscal policy. We put together these ideas to study monetary-fiscal interactions under price level targeting. Under price level targeting and a fiscally-led regime, we find that following a deflationary demand shock: (i) the central bank increases (rather than decreases) the policy rate; (ii) the central bank, thus, avoids the zero lower bound; (iii) price level targeting is generally welfare improving if compared to inflation targeting.

Background The forced oscillation technique (FOT) allows non-invasive lung function testing during quiet breathing even without expert guidance. However, it still relies on an operator for excluding breaths with artefacts such as swallowing, glottis closure and coughing. This manual selection is operator-dependent and time-consuming. We evaluated supervised machine learning methods to exclude breaths with artefacts from data analysis automatically. Methods We collected 932 FOT measurements (Resmon Pro Full, Restech) from 155 patients (6–87 years) following the European Respiratory Society (ERS) technical standards. Patients were randomly assigned to either a training (70%) or test set. For each breath, we computed 71 features (including anthropometric, pressure stimulus, breathing pattern, and oscillometry data). Univariate filter, multivariate filter and wrapper methods for feature selection combined with several classification models were considered. Results Trained operators identified 4333 breaths with- and 10244 without artefacts. Features selection performed by a wrapper method combined with an AdaBoost tree model provided the best performance metrics on the test set: Balanced Accuracy = 85%; Sensitivity = 79%; Specificity = 91%; AUC-ROC = 0.93. Differences in FOT parameters computed after manual or automatic breath selection was less than ∼0.25 cmH2O*s/L for 95% of cases. Conclusion Supervised machine-learning techniques allow reliable artefact detection in FOT diagnostic tests. Automating this process is fundamental for enabling FOT for home monitoring, telemedicine, and point-of-care diagnostic applications and opens new scenarios for respiratory and community medicine.

According to the long-run Taylor principle (Davig and Leeper, 2007), a central bank can deviate to a passive monetary policy and still obtain equilibrium uniqueness if a sufficiently aggressive monetary policy is expected for the future. Does this principle hold true when both monetary and fiscal policies can switch between active and passive and there is positive trend inflation? We find that passive monetary detours are no longer possible when trend inflation is high, whatever fiscal policy is in place. This has important policy implications in terms of flexibility and monetary-fiscal authorities coordination.

This paper studies the debt multiplier, that is the effects of a temporary and pure change in government debt on economic activity. Contrary to an infinitely-lived representative agent model, in an overlapping generations (OLG) framework output increases even after a temporary increase in debt due to a lump-sum tax reduction that is totally reversed in the future. When nominal interest rates are positive, the debt multiplier is generally quite small. However, the debt multiplier is much larger when the nominal interest rate is at the zero lower bound. Hence, the call for fiscal consolidation in recession times seems ill-advised. Moreover, the steady state level of debt matters in an OLG framework. Multipliers tend to increase with the level of debt in steady state. A rise in the steady state debt-to-GDP level increases the steady state real interest rate and thus it provides an alternative route to increase the room for manoeuvre for monetary policy facing deflationary shocks.

Background: environmental pollution, mostly in urban area, represents an increasing burden in human health (WHO, Global update 2005). However, the effects of pollutants on the respiratory impedance are not well known, especially in childhood and adolescence. Aim: to investigate the impact of environmental exposure on the respiratory function in school-aged children. Methods: 175 children (from 7 to 19 years) underwent to spirometry and impedance measurement by using forced oscillation technique (FOT, Resmon PRO FULL, Restech, Italy). Total respiratory resistance at 5 Hz (R tot5 ), total respiratory reactance at 5 Hz (X tot5 ) and FEV 1 /FVC% were compared to the level of exposure to pollutants, reported by patients through questionnaire and measured through a urinary biomarker of tobacco smoke exposure (cotinine). The relative risk (OR) of abnormal R tot5 , X tot5 and FEV 1 /FVC% have been computed by means of logistic regression analysis for the level of exposure to pollutants (table). Results: both spirometry and FOT parameters revealed a risk of impairment of the respiratory function in active smokers. Furthermore, FOT parameters demonstrated a reduction of the respiratory function also in children exposed to passive smoking and high traffic. Conclusions: high traffic exposure and active and passive exposure to tobacco smoke can reduce the respiratory function in childhood.

Rationale: Forced oscillation technique (FOT) is a very feasible and reliable technique for young children. A new equipment has recently been released on the market, which is based on intrabreath analysis of respiratory impedance. Aim of this study was to verify the applicability of previously published FOT reference values to the new equipment. Methods: Children were recruited in randomly selected kindergartens using a standardized questionnaire (modified ISAAC), translated into Italian. Preemies ( 30 days were excluded. Other exclusion criteria were history of asthma diagnosed by a physician and wheezing during the previous 12 months or >3 episodes of wheezing ever. FOT was performed with a Resmon Pro Full device (Restech Srl, Milan, Italy). To allow the comparison with previously published reference values (Calogero, C. et al. Pediatr Pulmonol 2010;45:1086-94) measured with the “i2m” device (Cosmed, Rome, Italy), total resistance (R8tot) and reactance (X8tot) at 8 Hz were calculated as the mean of at least 3 acceptable measurements, as recommended (Beydon, N. et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2007;175:1304-45). Results: A total of 38 healthy children (18 male, 20 female; age 3.2-6.3 yr) were tested. Mean (SD) respiratory impedance indices are reported in the table. Conclusions: Although the difference was minimal for R8, impedance values measured in a small sample size of healthy prechoolers using intrabreath analysis were statistically different from those previously published.

Background: Current ERS recommendations suggest recording 3-5 acceptable FOT tests to measure a subject’s resistance (Rrs) and reactance (Xrs). A different approach that evaluates Rrs and Xrs during 10-15 breaths from a single test, excludes breaths with artefacts and calculates Rrs and Xrs as the mean value of the accepted breaths has been introduced. However, no data is available to support the equivalence between the methods. Aim: To assess the impact of using an increasing number of complete breaths without artefacts for calculating Rrs and Xrs as compared with the method recommended by ERS in healthy children. Methods: 155 subjects (8.3±2.1 years old) without a history of asthma, wheezing or systemic diseases were recruited in primary schools. 3 FOT tests of 10-15 breaths each were performed using the Resmon PRO FULL (Restech, Italy). Rrs and Xrs were computed at 5Hz for each test using the cross-spectrum method and results were averaged as per ERS recommendations. For the first test, Rrs and Xrs were also computed as the average of the first 3, 4, 5, 7 and 10 full free-from-artefacts breaths. Differences were tested by ANOVA for repeated measurements. Results: Significant differences between the methods were found only for Xrs (Figure) and associated with a higher within-breath variation of this parameter. Conclusions: Rrs can be reliably calculated by the within-breath method from a single FOT test.

To improve children’s comfort during FOT measurement, use of full face masks has been suggested as an alternative to mouthpieces. However, mask’s additional internal dead space and the presence of both nose and mouth breathing paths may influence the breathing pattern (BP) and FOT measurements. Different mask designs allowing or excluding nasal breathing are commercially available. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of mask design on measured FOT and BP parameters. Twenty-four children (14/10 males/females; 3.9±1.0 years) were recruited between those attending the pulmonary function test lab. Within-breath FOT at 8 Hz and BP parameters were measured during 10-15 quiet breaths using a commercial device (RESMON PRO FULL, RESTECH Italy) using in random order: 1) a mouthpiece with a nose clip; 2) a full face mask A allowing nasal and mouth breathing and 3) a full face mask B allowing only mouth breathing. Differences in variables were tested by ANOVA for repeated measurements. Compared to mouthpiece, full face mask A generated an underestimation of both resistance and reactance but not in BP parameters. Use of mask B provided similar results to mouthpiece and no differences were observed in any of the FOT and BP parameters. Mask design had an impact on FOT measurements. Only masks impeding nasal breathing provided comparable results to conventional mouthpieces.

Introduction: Early detection of acute exacerbations in COPD (AECOPD) may allow early intervention, however practical markers are limited. The forced oscillation technique (FOT) is known to be a sensitive predictor of recovery from AECOPD in hospital. As a home monitoring tool, the feasibility of FOT has been established, but not its utility in detection of AECOPD. Aim: To study changes in resistance (Rrs) and reactance (Xrs) versus symptoms obtained from home telemonitoring prior to AECOPDs. Methods: Severe to very severe COPD patients were monitored over a period of 8-9 months. They performed unsupervised FOT measurements once daily using the Resmon Pro Diary (Restech srl, Milan, Italy). Daily symptoms were assessed by an electronic diary based on the COPD Assessment Test (CAT). AECOPD was assessed by weekly phone interviews, and defined as initiation of oral/systemic steroid or antibiotic treatment, a visit to the emergency department or hospitalisation. Daily Rrs, Xrs and their coefficient of variation (CV, over a 7-day running window) and CAT scores within a week prior to an AECOPD were compared using one-way repeated measures ANOVA. Results: Data from 10 patients are presented (7:3 male:female, mean±SD age 69.7±10.8 years, %predFEV1 38.4±5.2). 27 AECOPDs were identified; 3 excluded due to missing FOT/CAT data. Out of the FOT indices examined, only CV Xrs changed significantly with time (p=0.0018), from 20.9±12.2% at 7 days to 26.6±3.9% at 1 day prior to AECOPD. Daily CAT increased from 21.8±6.2 to 23.7±7.5, but not significantly (p=0.08). Conclusions: FOT is more sensitive than symptoms in detecting changes prior to an AECOPD, and may be useful as an early marker.

In various speeches, former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke contrasted the proposal of setting a higher inflation target by claiming that it could unanchor inflation expectations. A standard New Keynesian framework with learning supports this claim both asymptotically, because a higher inflation target shrinks the E-stability region when a central bank follows a Taylor rule, and in the transition phase, because a higher inflation target slows down the speed of convergence of expectations. Transparency helps anchoring expectations. However, the importance of being transparent diminishes with the level of the inflation target. Finally, the higher the inflation target, the more policy should respond to inflation and the less to output to guarantee E-stability. Hence, a policy that increases both the inflation target and the monetary policy response to output would be “reckless”.

Obesity is associated with important decrements in lung volumes. Despite this, ventilation remains normally or near normally distributed at least for moderate decrements in functional residual capacity (FRC). We tested the hypothesis that this is because maximum flow increases presumably as a result of an increased lung elastic recoil. Forced expiratory flows corrected for thoracic gas compression volume, lung volumes, and forced oscillation technique at 5–11–19 Hz were measured in 133 healthy subjects with a body mass index (BMI) ranging from 18 to 50 kg/m2. Short-term temporal variability of ventilation heterogeneity was estimated from the interquartile range of the frequency distribution of the difference in inspiratory resistance between 5 and 19 Hz (R5–19_IQR). FRC % predicted negatively correlated with BMI ( r = −0.72, P < 0.001) and with an increase in slope of either maximal ( r = −0.34, P < 0.01) or partial flow-volume curves ( r = −0.30, P < 0.01). Together with a slight decrease in residual volume, this suggests an increased lung elastic recoil. Regression analysis of R5–19_IQRagainst FRC % predicted and expiratory reserve volume (ERV) yielded significantly higher correlation coefficients by nonlinear than linear fitting models ( r2= 0.40 vs. 0.30 for FRC % predicted and r2= 0.28 vs. 0.19 for ERV). In conclusion, temporal variability of ventilation heterogeneities increases in obesity only when FRC falls approximately below 65% of predicted or ERV below 0.6 liters. Above these thresholds distribution is quite well preserved presumably as a result of an increase in lung recoil.

Inspiratory resistance (RINSP) and reactance (XINSP) were measured for 7 min at 5 Hz in 10 subjects with mild asymptomatic asthma and 9 healthy subjects to assess the effects of airway smooth muscle (ASM) activation by methacholine (MCh) and unloading by chest wall strapping (CWS) on the variability of lung function and the effects of deep inspiration (DI). Subjects were studied at control conditions, after MCh, with CWS, and after MCh with CWS. In all experimental conditions XINSP was significantly more negative in subjects with asthma than in healthy subjects, suggesting greater inhomogeneity in the former. However, the variability in both RINSP and XINSP was increased by either ASM activation or CWS, without significant difference between groups. DI significantly reversed MCh-induced changes in RINSP both in subjects with asthma and healthy subjects, but XINSP in the former only. This effect was impaired by CWS more in subjects with asthma than in healthy subjects. The velocity of RINSP and XINSP recovery after DI was faster in subjects with asthma than healthy subjects. In conclusion, these results support the opinion that the short-term variability in respiratory impedance is related to ASM tone or operating length, rather than to the disease. Nevertheless, ASM in individuals with asthma differs from that in healthy individuals in an increased velocity of shortening and a reduced sensitivity to mechanical stress when strain is reduced.

Background: diagnosis of asthma is based on respiratory symptoms and airflow obstruction, both characterized by variability over time, assessed by questionnaires and expiratory peak flow (PEF) monitoring (GINA report 2015). Pathophysiology of asthma is characterized by airway hyperresponsiveness, which may be assessed by metacholine (MCh) challenge and more recently by measuring variability of inspiratory resistance at 5 Hz (R insp5 ) by FOT (Gulotta et al. AJRCCM 2012;185: 1330-1331). Aim: to investigate the variability of R insp5 measured by FOT compared to PEF variability in assessing patients reporting asthma symptoms. Methods: 21 healthy, 28 mild asthmatics and 16 subjects with asthma symptoms but negative MCh challenge test (MChNeg) were monitored for 14 consecutive days by FOT and PEF measured twice a day (morning and evening). Results: R insp5 variability, expressed as standard deviation (SD 14Rinsp ) and PEF variability were equally significantly higher in asthmatics compared to MChNeg subjects, while only R insp5 variability was significantly higher in MChNeg vs healthy subjects. Conclusions: day-to-day inspiratory resistance variability on a temporal window of 14 days measured by FOT could be employed at home in remote mode in order to assess subjects with asthma like symptoms but negative MCh challenge. The clinical and pathophysiological characteristics of these subjects need to be furtherly investigated.

Rationale: It is known that day-to-day variability of lung function is increased in asthma but it is also increased in COPD (Timmins et al. 2012). Objectives: To identify possible FOT parameter and time window for calculating the day-to-day variability of airway obstruction and compare its accuracy, sensitivity and specificity for identifying asthma from healthy and COPD. Methods: Daily home FOT measurements were collected from 47 mild-to-moderate asthmatics, 20 moderate-to-severe COPD patients and 35 healthy controls. The mean and day-to-day variability (standard deviation, SD, or coefficient of variation, CV) of FOT time-series were then calculated over multiple time windows. PEF variability was calculated as per current recommendations. Measurements and Main Results: A two-week day-to-day variability of inspiratory resistance (CV 14 R insp ) allowed an optimal and significant separation of the asthma from the healthy and COPD groups (p 2 = 0.49, p 2 = 0.44, p 2 = 0.30, p 14 R insp was significantly higher in asthma (0.14±0.05) than both in the healthy (0.07±0.02, p 14 R insp for separating asthmatics from healthy subjects was significantly greater than PEF (91% vs. 57%, p Conclusions: CV 14 R insp is a sensitive and specific marker of asthma.

How does a higher inflation target affect determinacy and learnability of rational expectations equilibria under alternative monetary/fiscal policy mixes in new Keynesian models? What is the role of central bank transparency? This article proves that in a non-Ricardian regime, determinacy and learnability conditions are insensitive to changes in trend inflation and to transparency issues: expectations stabilization requires taxes to react weakly to government debt. Conversely, a higher inflation target always destabilizes expectations under active monetary regimes. In a Ricardian regime, raising the inflation target requires a more hawkish central bank to attain determinacy. However, determinacy implies learnability only when agents are aware of both the inflation target and the central bank reaction function. If agents need to learn a positive inflation target, active monetary regimes are unstable. Therefore, fully disclosing the reaction function, including the target inflation rate, greatly increases the central bank’s effectiveness in stabilizing expectations.

Current guidelines recommend severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease be graded by using forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1). But this measurement is biased by thoracic gas compression depending on lung volume and airflow resistance. The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the effect of thoracic gas compression on FEV1 is greater in emphysema than chronic bronchitis because of larger lung volumes, and this influences severity classification and prognosis. FEV1 was simultaneously measured by spirometry and body plethysmography (FEV1-pl) in 47 subjects with dominant emphysema and 51 with dominant chronic bronchitis. Subjects with dominant emphysema had larger lung volumes, lower diffusion capacity, and lower FEV1 than those with dominant chronic bronchitis. However, FEV1-pl, patient-centered variables (dyspnea, quality of life, exercise tolerance, exacerbation frequency), arterial blood gases, and respiratory impedance were not significantly different between groups. Using FEV1-pl instead of FEV1 shifted severity distribution toward less severe classes in dominant emphysema more than chronic bronchitis. The body mass, obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise (BODE) index was significantly higher in dominant emphysema than chronic bronchitis, but this difference significantly decreased when FEV1-pl was substituted for FEV1. In conclusion, the FEV1 is biased by thoracic gas compression more in subjects with dominant emphysema than in those with chronic bronchitis. This variably and significantly affects the severity grading systems currently recommended.

What are the effects of a higher inflation target on the determinacy properties under alternative monetary/fiscal policy mixes in New Keynesian models? Would it be more difficult for the central bank to stabilize inflation expectations if the inflation target is raised? What role for central bank transparency? We find that trend inflation does not affect determinacy as long as monetary policy is passive. Conversely, an active central bank should fight inflation more strongly with higher trend inflation, in order to guarantee the determinacy of the AM/PF equilibrium. Furthermore, this equilibrium, if determinate, is always E-stable under transparency. In the AF/PM case the equilibrium is always determinate and E-stable under both transparency and opacity. We find the degree of price stickiness to be a crucial structural parameter. In particular, in a low price rigidity country, say the United States, adhering to the Taylor principle is a sufficient condition for equilibrium determinacy under the AM/PF regime, irrespective of the level of trend inflation. Still, the central bank must be transparent to stabilize expectations. On the contrary, in a high price rigidity economy, say Europe, to have determinacy under AM/PF mix, the inflation target cannot be larger than 2% but the central bank needs not to be transparent to stabilize expectations. Furthermore, high rigidity makes non-Ricardian policies less E-stable.

We hypothesized that dyspnea and its descriptors, that is, chest tightness, inspiratory effort, unrewarded inspiration, and expiratory difficulty in asthma reflect different mechanisms of airflow obstruction and their perception varies with the severity of bronchoconstriction. Eighty‐three asthmatics were studied before and after inhalation of methacholine doses decreasing the 1‐sec forced expiratory volume by ~15% (mild bronchoconstriction) and ~25% (moderate bronchoconstriction). Symptoms were examined as a function of changes in lung mechanics. Dyspnea increased with the severity of obstruction, mostly because of inspiratory effort and chest tightness. At mild bronchoconstriction, multivariate analysis showed that dyspnea was related to the increase in inspiratory resistance at 5 Hz (R5) (r2 = 0.10, P = 0.004), chest tightness to the decrease in maximal flow at 40% of control forced vital capacity, and the increase in R5 at full lung inflation (r2 = 0.15, P = 0.006), inspiratory effort to the temporal variability in R5‐19 (r2 = 0.13, P = 0.003), and unrewarded inspiration to the recovery of R5 after deep breath (r2 = 0.07, P = 0.01). At moderate bronchoconstriction, multivariate analysis showed that dyspnea and inspiratory effort were related to the increase in temporal variability in inspiratory reactance at 5 Hz (X5) (r2 = 0.12, P = 0.04 and r2 = 0.18, P < 0.001, respectively), and unrewarded inspiration to the decrease in X5 at maximum lung inflation (r2 = 0.07, P = 0.04). We conclude that symptom perception is partly explained by indexes of airway narrowing and loss of bronchodilatation with deep breath at low levels of bronchoconstriction, but by markers of ventilation heterogeneity and lung volume recruitment when bronchoconstriction becomes more severe., In asthma, respiratory symptom perception is qualitatively different depending on the level of bronchoconstriction. During the early phases of an attack dyspnea and its descriptors appear to be related to the severity of airway narrowing and loss of bronchodilatation with deep breath, whereas when narrowing worsens they depend on more profound changes in lung periphery as suggested by increased ventilation heterogeneity and reduced lung volume recruitment with breathing.

A kinetic study of the alkylation reaction of deoxybenzoin (1) with alkylating agents 2−4, catalyzed by PHDB18C6 7 or [2.2.2,C10]cryptand 8, has been performed in chlorobenzene−aqueous (or solid) b...

The catalytic activity of cyclophosphazenic polypodand 3b, obtained as a crude mixture from the commercial Brij 30, was compared with that of the corresponding pure ligand in a number of solid-liquid (SL) and liquid-liquid (LL) phase-transfer reactions. The comparison was also extended to the commonly used catalysts 4-9 under the same conditions. The obtained results show that the crude mixture of 3b, due to its excellent cation-binding properties, has a catalytic efficiency higher than that exhibited by the other ligands. Furthermore its catalytic activity is comparable to that of the much more expensive 3b, in line with the very close complexation values found in both systems. For this reason the cheap and efficient crude mixture can be considered competitive with the most common phase-transfer catalysts, particularly under SL-PTC conditions

Since dollarized countries import US monetary policy, identifying US monetary shocks through sign restrictions on US variables only, does not use all available information. In this paper we therefore include dollarized countries, which enable us to restrict more variables and leave the responses of US output and prices unrestricted (to allow for the working capital view of monetary shocks). We find only little evidence for the latter in the US, as prices fall immediately after most contractionary shocks that we identify. Furthermore, monetary shocks do not seem to have a clear effect on real GDP.

A kinetic study of the alkylation reaction of deoxybenzoin (1) with alkylating agents 2−4, catalyzed by PHDB18C6 7 or [2.2.2,C10]cryptand 8, has been performed in chlorobenzene−aqueous (or solid) b...

Spirometry is the gold standard to determine the presence of airflow obstruction, but it requires volitional participation and needs qualified supervision. The forced oscillation technique (FOT) measures respiratory input impedance (Zrs) during spontaneous breathing and it could be useful for unsupervised monitoring of airway obstruction. We developed a FOT device for home monitoring of Zrs which transmits the data through the Internet. Its accuracy, stability and reliability were evaluated in a pilot study measuring the Zrs in the unsupervised self-measurements of five healthy subjects. Finally, to explore the applicability of the concept, 36 consecutive daily home measurements were recorded from one healthy subject and one chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient. The accuracy of the device fulfilled FOT guidelines, and the reliability test showed a mean discrepancy of resistance of 0.10 +/- 0.01 cmH(2)O s L(-1). The data from the healthy subjects demonstrated high repeatability in assessing Zrs. The measurements on the healthy subjects and the patient with COPD suggest the feasibility of unsupervised FOT measurements. The healthy subjects showed minimal daily variations in Zrs, whereas the patient with COPD had large differences in mean values and important fluctuations over day-to-day measurements. The results of the pilot study demonstrate that unsupervised home monitoring of Zrs using the FOT yields accurate and reproducible data. It could provide new insights into the dynamics of airway obstruction and improve the understanding and management of obstructive diseases.

The conventional pulmonary function tests are based on spirometry, which unfortunately doesn't produce accurate and reproducible results if performed without the supervision of specially trained staff. We recently showed that forced oscillation technique is best suited for the home-monitoring of respiratory patients. The aim of this study was to develop a real-time data processing algorithm for the automatic unsupervised assessment of the lung obstruction, a network architecture for the data transmission and a web-based application for the storage and management of the data. The results demonstrated a high reliability of the algorithm, the robustness of the data communication protocols and the effectiveness of the data management web portal. In conclusion, our system allows a reliable automatic home monitoring of lung obstruction and it may improve the efficacy and efficiency of the management of respiratory patients through an improved tailoring of the clinical treatments and an early detection of exacerbations.

The dissemination of the available telemedicine systems for the optimization of home mechanical ventilation (HMV) is prevented by the need of complex infrastructures. We developed a device which, once connected to Internet through the mobile phone network, allows an authorized physician connected to Internet to monitor the ventilator signals and modify the settings in real-time without the need of external data servers. The system was evaluated during experiments performed by tele-controlling a mechanical ventilator in Barcelona from Milano. A bench study verified the reliability and robustness of the system while an in-vivo test showed that it was possible to monitor and tele-control the ventilator to maintain the oxygen saturation of a rat ventilated in Barcelona subjected to interventions. Given that the system avoids the need for any complex telemedicine architecture and allows an individual and independent ventilator tele-control, it can be a new helpful tool to optimize HMV.

Inflation depends on both monetary and fiscal policies and on how agents believe that these policies will evolve in the future. Can monetary policy control inflation, when both monetary and fiscal policies are allowed to change over time? To analyse this problem, we study a model in which both monetary and fiscal policies may switch according to a Markov process. Controlling inflation entails a unique and Ricardian solution. We propose a natural generalisation of the original Leeper (1991) taxonomy, introducing the concepts of globally active (or passive) and globally switching policies to define the conditions that allow monetary policy to control inflation under Markov switching. First, monetary and fiscal policies need to be globally balanced to guarantee a unique equilibrium: globally active monetary policies need to be coupled with globally passive fiscal policies, and switching monetary policies with switching fiscal policies. Second, this distinction characterises the nature of the solutions: a globally AM/PF regime is Ricardian, while a globally switching regime features expectation and wealth effects. Third, the strength of policy deviations across regimes is key, insofar a globally active (or passive) policy allows only timid deviations. Finally, our framework can rationalise the impulse responses from a Bayesian VAR on U.S. data for the recent zero lower bound period as being due to "timidity" in fiscal actions that have been unable to spur inflation.