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2. A 56-year-old woman is started on mechanical ventilation after presenting to the emergency department with acute respiratory failure. The ventilator is set to deliver a tidal volume of 750 mL 10 times per minute. After transfer to the ICU, the physician decreases her tidal volume to 500 mL and raises her respiratory rate to 15 breaths per minute. She is heavily sedated and does not initiate any breaths beyond what the ventilator gives to her (in other words, total ventilation is fixed). Which of the following changes would you expect to occur as a result of the physician's intervention? A. Decrease in the volume of the anatomic dead space B. Decrease in airway resistance C. Decrease in PaCO2 D. Increase in the dead space fraction E. Increase in CO2 production

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