The fourth Oxford Conference entitled "Control of Breathing: A Model ing Perspective" was held in September of 1988 at Grand Lake, Colorado. Grand Lake, also called Spirit Lake, was chosen for the fourth meet i ng so as to continue the meditative atmosphere of the previ ous meetings and to put the conference on a new higher plane (8,500 feet). The weather, as promised, exhibited its random-like rain showers. The snow report became essential for traveling the 12,000 foot passes to and from Grand Lake. Even the servi ces such as telephone and elect ri city proved to be uncertain. In all, the overall atmosphere of Spirit Lake contributed to an uninhibited free-style of presentation and interaction. All of us who attend the Oxford Conferences share a common interest in exploring respiratory control and the regulation of breathing. Modeling has become an adjunct to our exploration process. For us, models are tools that extend our ability to conceptualize just as instruments are tools that extend our ability to measure. And so these meetings attract physicians, physiologists, mathematicians and engineers who are modelers and modelers who are engineers, mathematicians, physiologists and physicians. Four of these physician-modelers have now passed away. They have been very important mentors for many of us. J. W. Bellville was my Ph.D. dissertation advisor at Stanford who introduced me to the intrigue of respiratory control. G. F. Filley was my colleague at the University of Colorado who enhanced my thinking about respiratory control. E. S.

Understanding of the respiratory control system has been greatly improved by technological and methodological advances. This volume integrates results from many perspectives, brings together diverse approaches to the investigations, and represents important additions to the field of neural control of breathing. Topics include membrane properties of respiratory neurons, in vitro studies of respiratory control, chemical neuroanatomy, central integration of respiratory afferents, modulation of respiratory pattern by peripheral afferents, respiratory chemoreception, development of respiratory control, behavioral control of breathing, and human ventilatory control. Forty-seven experts in the field report research and discuss novel issues facing future investigations in this collection of papers from an international conference of nearly two hundred leading scientists held in October 1990. This research is of vital importance to respiratory physiologists and those in neurosciences and neurobiology who work with integrative sensory and motor systems and is pertinent to both basic and clinical investigations. Respiratory Control is destined to be widely cited because of the strength of the contributors and the dearth of similar works.

This text analyses the pathophysiology, diagnosis, treatment and control of respiratory disorders in the newborn infant. It explores the mechanisms, patterns and factors influencing respiratory activity and dysfunction, as well as the aetiology, management and evaluation of conditions such as respiratory distress syndrome, bronchopulmonary dysplasi

Breathing is performed by the rhythmic contraction of respiratory muscles. It ma- tains homeostasis of the organism by taking in the oxygen necessary to live and work and by controlling the level of CO within the organism. At first glance, breathing 2 seems simple; however, it is produced by a complex system in the brain with various afferents and efferents. The control of breathing is of the utmost importance in s- taining life, and although more than 150 years have passed since research on brea- ing control was first begun, many unsolved mysteries still remain. Breathing is like watching the tides at a beach that are created by the vast, complex open sea. The first Oxford Conference on Modeling and Control of Breathing was held 30 years ago in September of 1978 at the University Laboratory of Physiology in Oxford, England. During this first conference, the participants engaged in a hot d- cussion on the problem of whether breathing rhythm was produced by pacemaker cells or a neural network. This was before the discovery of the Bötinger complex in the medulla, and at the time, central chemoreceptive areas were still the focus of research. This conference was an especially unforgettable moment in the dawning of the new age of respiratory research. It has since been held every 3 years in various countries around the globe and is widely appreciated as the best respiratory meeting in the world.

This volume comprises the proceedings of the 10th Oxford Conference held at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada, in September, 2006. It contains the most up-to-date research in cardio-respiratory control and its content spans the disciplines of respiratory physiology, neurobiology, modeling, and biomedical engineering. The volume will be of interest to clinicians working with patients with breathing disorders.

Hopefully, this book will be taken off of the shelf frequently to be studied carefully over many years. More than 40 researchers were involved in this project, which examines respiration, circulation, and metabolism from ?sh to the land vertebrates, including human beings. A breathable and stable atmosphere ?rst appeared about 500 million years ago. Oxygen levels are not stable in aquatic environments and exclusively water-breathing ?sh must still cope with the ever-changing levels of O 2 and with large temperature changes. This is re?ected in their sophisticated count- current systems, with high O extraction and internal and external O receptors. 2 2 The conquest for the terrestrial environment took place in the late Devonian period (355–359 million years ago), and recent discoveries portray the gradual transitional evolution of land vertebrates. The oxygen-rich and relatively stable atmospheric conditionsimpliedthatoxygen-sensingmechanismswererelativelysimpleandl- gain compared with acid–base regulation. Recently, physiology has expanded into related ?elds such as biochemistry, molecular biology, morphology and anatomy. In the light of the work in these ?elds, the introduction of DNA-based cladograms, which can be used to evaluate the likelihood of land vertebrates and lung?sh as a sister group, could explain why their cardio-respiratory control systems are similar. The diffusing capacity of a duck lung is 40 times higher than that of a toad or lung?sh. Certainly, some animals have evolved to rich high-performance levels.

Experimentalists tend to revel in the complexity and multidimensionality of biological processes. Modelers, on the other hand, generally look towards parsimony as a guiding prin ciple in their approach to understanding physiological systems. It is therefore not surprising that a substantial degree of miscommunication and misunderstanding still exists between the two groups of truth-seekers. However, there have been numerous instances in physiology where the marriage of mathematical modeling and experimentation has led to powerful in sights into the mechanisms being studied. Respiratory control represents one area in which this kind of cross-pollination has proven particularly fruitful. While earlier modeling ef forts were directed primarily at the chemical control of ventilation, more recent studies have extended the scope of modeling to include the neural and mechanical aspects pertinent to respiratory control. As well, there has been a greater awareness of the need to incorpo rate interactions with other organ systems. Nevertheless, it is necessary from time to time to remind experimentalists of the existence of modelers, and vice versa. The 4th Annual Biomedical Simulations Resource (BMSR) Short Course was held in Marina Del Rey on May 21-22,1989, to acquaint respiratory physiologists and clinical researchers with state-of-the art methodologies in mathematical modeling, experiment design and data analysis, as well as to provide an opportunity for experimentalists to challenge modelers with their more recent findings.

"Provides an overview of the recent knowledge of the genetic factors underlying respiratory control disorders, an emerging field in respiratory biology. Identifying genes involved in respiratory control is crucial for understanding human diseases characterized by abnormal respiratory control." -- Back cover.

On 15 November 1997, the first international symposium "Neural and Chemical Control of Breathing: Pharmacological and Clinical Aspects" was held at Leiden University Medical Center on the occasion of the retirement of one of the members of the Control of Breathing Research Group of the Departments of Physiology and Anesthesiology, Dr. Aad Berkenbosch. Among others, Dr. Berkenbosch, played an important role in this research group, which made a large and significant contribution to scientific research on the regulation of breathing. This book presents the proceedings of that meeting together with papers of several authors who have strong bonds with the Leiden Departments of Physiology and Anesthesiology. All studies represent state of the art work on the subject of respiratory control and cardiovascular medicine, with emphasis on the physiological, pharmacological and anesthesiological aspects of both fields. The book is divided in several sections: Oxygen Physiology. Prof. John Severinghaus presents among other things his ideas on oxygen sensing and high altitude related diseases. Prof. Honda gives results from studies in a unique set of subjects without carotid bodies. The findings of Honda's group support the idea that an intact hypoxic drive from the carotid bodies is necessary for the generation of central hypoxic depression. Dr. Hans van Beek discusses the effects of hypoxia and hypercapnia on cardiac contractility in animal models. Prof. Oeseburg demonstrates the feasibility of Near Infra Red Oximetry for monitoring tissue oxygenation in patients. Central Chemoreception.