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MIT's Emergency-Vent Project was launched in March 2020 to develop safe guidance and a reference design for a bridge ventilator that could be rapidly produced in a distributed manner worldwide. The system uses a novel servo-based robotic gripper to automate the squeezing of a manual resuscitator bag evenly from both sides to provide ventilation according to clinically specified parameters. In just one month, the team designed and built prototype ventilators, tested them in a series of porcine trials, and collaborated with industry partners to enable mass production. We released the design, including mechanical drawings, design spreadsheets, circuit diagrams, and control code into an open source format and assisted production efforts worldwide.Clinical relevance- This work demonstrated the viability of automating the compression of a manual resuscitator bag, with pressure feedback, to provide bridge ventilation support.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea/Hypopnea Syndrome (OSAHS) is sleep-disordered breathing distinguished by repetitive cessation or reduction of airflow due to the collapse or narrowing of the upper airway during sleep with continued respiratory effort. A high level of incidence of OSAHS is correlated with obesity. Both severely obese patients and OSAHS patients manifest Long QT Syndrome (LQTS). It is reported that most obese patients undergoing weight reduction surgery positively reverse symptoms of LQST. Also, severely obese OSAHS undergoing the same surgery report alleviation of OSAHS symptoms. In this study, we presented preliminary results of the changes in QT and QTc intervals for obese OSAHS patients undergoing Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB) surgery and had their weight reduced, and were treated from OSAHS post-RYGB surgery. We developed an algorithm to detect the different waveforms in the ECG signal and calculated QT and QTc intervals. Results comparing the changes in the QT and QTc pre- and post-RYGB surgery for four apneic subjects (Aged 37.0 ± 8.9 years, Pre-RYGB BMI 51.7 ± 10.1 kg/m 2 , Post-RYGB BMI 35.6 ± 7.9 kg/m 2 ) were contrasted with a control group of 3 non-apneic subjects (Aged 32.7 ± 7.0 years, Pre-RYGB BMI 50.8 ± 11.8 kg/m 2 , Post-RYGB BMI 31.6 ± 2.9 kg/m 2 ) who underwent the same surgery. The results suggest that although the RYGB surgery is successful in weight loss and OSAHS symptoms reduction, apneic patients may continue to have non-reversible LQTS despite long-term weight reduction.