No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Background: Long-term compliance is suboptimal in the treatment of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Objectives: We compared the efficacy of and the adherence to automatic continuous positive airway pressure (APAP) and constant continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) based on a night-by-night analysis. Methods: We performed a randomized, single-blind crossover study in 20 patients with moderate-to-severe OSAS. After diagnostic polysomnography and manual titration, patients were treated for 8 weeks with both constant CPAP and APAP in random order. Compliance and leakage were analyzed night by night using the software LOGSoft® of the Magellan® iPAP device. Results: The reduction in the apnea/hypopnea index (baseline 32.9 ± 19.1/h, CPAP 4.6 ± 2.9/h, APAP 5.6 ± 3.6/h; p < 0.001 compared to baseline) and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (baseline 10.3 ± 5.7, CPAP 6.6 ± 4.8, APAP 4.9 ± 4.6; p < 0.001 compared to baseline) did not significantly differ between the treatment modes. Leakage time and compliance per night were not statistically different (leakage CPAP 31 ± 57 min, APAP 25 ± 49 min; compliance CPAP 383 ± 116 min, APAP 382 ± 107 min). There was no correlation between leakage and compliance. Thirteen patients (65%) preferred APAP at the end of the study. Conclusions: Treatment efficacy and adherence are similar with CPAP and APAP. There is a trend towards lower leakage with APAP therapy. Patients prefer the automatic mode to fixed pressure.

A significant challenge for developmental systems biology is balancing throughput with controlled conditions that minimize experimental artifacts. Large-scale developmental screens such as unbiased mutagenesis surveys have been limited in their applicability to embryonic systems, as the technologies for quantifying precise expression patterns in whole animals has not kept pace with other sequencing-based technologies. Here, we outline an open-source semi-automated pipeline to chemically fixate, stain, and 3D-image Drosophila embryos. Central to this pipeline is a liquid handling robot, Flyspresso, which automates the steps of classical embryo fixation and staining. We provide the schematics and an overview of the technology for an engineer or someone equivalently trained to reproduce and further improve upon Flyspresso, and highlight the Drosophila embryo fixation and colorimetric or antibody staining protocols. Additionally, we provide a detailed overview and stepwise protocol for our adaptive-feedback pipeline for automated embryo imaging on confocal microscopes. We demonstrate the efficiency of this pipeline compared to classical techniques, and how it can be repurposed or scaled to other protocols and biological systems. We hope our pipeline will serve as a platform for future research, allowing a broader community of users to build, execute, and share similar experiments.