4209results about How to "Less discomfort" patented technology

A spine prosthesis is provided and in particular, related to the facet joint of a spine.

A device and method of spine distraction is provided.

An apparatus and method for non-invasive treatment in lieu of cosmetic surgery is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a combination of a high and low voltage pulse generators connected to two or more electrodes placed on a treatment site of the patient's body. High voltage pulses, delivered to the electrodes, create an electric field that kills subcutaneous fat cells. Low voltage pulses, delivered to the same or individual electrodes provide transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS), blocking the signals of discomfort or pain that may arise from the high voltage pulsing.

A method for indirectly assessing the gesture, posture or movement of a body part of a person includes transmitting an ultrasound signal into the soft tissue, particularly the muscle, of body part and manipulating the reflected ultrasound signal to obtain parameter data. The parameter data is compared to reference information to obtain gesture, posture or movement information for the body part. Apparatus includes an ultrasound transmitter and receiver for transmitting, a signal processor, and a processor for storing reference information and determining gesture, posture or movement information for the body part.

Ophthalmically compatible contact lenses include lens bodies configured for placement on a cornea of an animal or human eye. The lens bodies are made of a hydrophilic silicon-containing polymeric material. The lens bodies have oxygen permeabilities, water content, surface wettabilities, flexibilities, and / or designs to be worn by a lens wearer even during sleep. The present lenses can be worn on a daily basis, including overnight, or can be worn for several days, such as about thirty days, without requiring removal or cleaning.

An apparatus for indicating a health-related condition of a subject has an input interface for receiving a sequence of samples of a first biological quantity derived by a first measurement method, the first measurement method being an invasive measurement and having a first impact on the subject, and for receiving a sequence of samples of a second biological quantity derived by a second measurement method, the second measurement method being a non-invasive measurement and having a second impact on the subject, wherein the first biological quantity gives a more accurate indication of the health-related condition of the subject than the second biological quantity, wherein the first biological quantity and the second biological quantity have a correlation to the health-related condition of the subject, and wherein the second impact is smaller than the first impact; a predictor for providing, for a certain time, for which no sample for the first biological quantity exists, an estimated value of the first biological quantity using samples for the first biological quantity and, as far as available, samples for the second quantity; and an output interface for outputting the estimated value or data derived from the estimated value so that an indication for the health-related condition of the subject is obtained.

An acetabular prosthesis having an outer member for engaging the acetabulum. The outer member has a part-spherical bearing surface terminating in a distal rim. The rim has a contour such that the portion thereof to be located between the ischium and the pubis extends distally further from an equator of the bearing surface than the contour to be implanted between the pubis and the illium and between the ischium and the illium.

Silicone hydrogel contact lenses are provided which have reduced modulus and contact angle properties, and which have acceptable wettabilities for use in daily wear and extended or continuous wear applications.

A lancet device, a tip for a lancet device and method of using the lancet device. The lancet device has a body portion for firing the lancet and a tip portion. The tip for a lancet device includes a front assembly which includes a side wall portion, a skin-engaging portion at least partially defining a plane beyond which a lancet needle may extend, and a lancet stop element, a slot is disposed in one of the sidewall portion and the lancet stop element, and at least one following element extending into the slot, wherein the lancet stop element is moveable towards and away from the plane in response to movement of the at least one following element. The method includes adjusting a set depth of penetration of the needle by moving the at least one following element, disposing the distal end of the lancet device against a surface of skin, and triggering the firing mechanism to cause the needle to penetrate the surface of the skin to the set depth, wherein the puncture allows a blood sample to be taken.

The present invention provides protective eyewear for indoor and outdoor activities. In particular the present invention provides eyewear with an inner liner that protects the wearer's eyes from wind, dust, moisture, glare, allergens, and damaging ultraviolet radiation, while preventing lens fogging with a direct or indirect venting system.

A spine prosthesis is provided and in particular, related to the facet joint of a spine. A spinal implant comprises a facet prosthesis including an insert to be positioned within a joint capsule between facets of a zygapophyseal joint. The insert may comprise a member having two opposing facet interfacing portions. A facet prosthesis exerts a distraction force between facets of a facet joint and may comprise a curable material to be injected into the facet joint. A facet prosthesis may also comprise a pair of magnets, each magnet coupled to a facet and oriented with like poles facing each other to provide a distracting force away from each other. A spine implant may also include an insert to be positioned within the joint capsule, a securing member comprising an elongate portion extending through part of a facet, and an anchor to anchor the securing member to the facet.

A system and method for repairing fractured long bones. A guide wire is inserted through an opening drilled in a proximal bone segment and pushed through the intramedullary cavity of the proximal bone segment, across the fracture site and into the intramedullary cavity of a distal bone segment. A dilator is inserted over the guide wire and pushed through the intramedullary cavity into the distal bone segment to a stop at the distal end of the guide wire. A flexible tube having a radially expandable distal portion is then pushed over the guide wire into the distal bone segment and against the dilator. A compression nut is threaded over the proximal end of the guide wire to engage the proximal bone segment and compress the flexible tube. Compression of the flexible tube deploys the radially expandable distal portion to anchor the device in the distal bone segment.

An intra-luminal device for gastrointestinal electrical stimulation is self-powered and self-contained within a capsule-like housing, and is capable of non-surgical implantation within the patient. The device includes an implantable pulse generator and one or more electrodes mounted within a common device housing. The device housing is capable of endoscopic introduction to a desired location within the gastrointestinal tract, such as the stomach, via the esophagus. The device may be appropriate for short-term, mid-term or trial stimulation applications.

Disclosed herein is an optical position adjustment method of a head mounted display, the head mounted display including (a) an eyeglass type frame worn on the head of a viewer, and (b) two image display devices for the right and left eyes attached to the frame, and each of the image display devices including (A) an image forming device, and (B) an optical device adapted to receive, guide and emit light emitted from the image forming device, wherein the optical position adjustment method includes the step of: controlling an image signal that is supplied to the image forming device making up at least one of the image display devices so as to control the position of the image displayed on the optical device making up at least one of the image display devices and adjust the mutual positions of the two images.

In a vehicle seat air conditioning system, when air blows, discomfort in seating caused by the presence of an air-blowing unit is reduced and a depression is nearly avoided in the surface cover material. The system utilizes a surface cover material, a cushion member positioned on a backside of the surface cover material, an air-blowing hole penetrating through the thickness of said cushion member, an air-blowing unit positioned on a backside of said cushion member to supply air to said air-blowing hole, and a support portion, which is integral with the cushion member and that supports the surface cover material, provided in a position of said air-blowing hole. The size of an air-blowing hole proximate to the support portion is smaller than the size of an air-blowing hole proximate said air-blowing unit.

A dual balloon catheter apparatus for controlling postpartum hemorrhage in uterine or vaginal cavities or hemorrhage in other body cavities, comprising: (1) a catheter having an inflation lumen and a deflation lumen; (2) a first inflatable balloon in fluid communication with the inflation lumen; and (3) a second inflatable balloon encompassing the first balloon and in fluid communication with the deflation lumen. A gaseous inflation medium can be introduced from an external gas source through the inflation lumen to inflate the first balloon, so as to apply a substantially even pressure along a substantial portion of an inner surface of a uterine cavity to reduce or eliminate bleeding along such inner surface. The second inflatable balloon functions to confine any gaseous inflation medium that escapes from the first balloon, due to leakage or rapture of such first balloon, and to discharge such escaped gaseous inflation medium through the deflation lumen.

The invention provides a compression garment (50) for clothing a body part, such as a lower torso and the legs. The body part includes a muscle ridge, such as a lateral edge of the gluteus maximus (49). Compression garment (50) has first and second panels of stretchable material joined by a seam (32). At least part of the seam (32) is adapted to correspond to at least part of the muscle ridge, being at the edge of the gluteus maximus (49). The invention also provides a method of manufacturing a compression garment, using an algorithm to calculate size changes to produce desired compression.

An actuation system for a bodily fluid extraction device includes a detector cap, at least one vibration sensor connected to the detector cap, and at least one signal processing unit in communication with the vibration sensor. In addition, the signal processing unit is configured to receive an output signal from the vibration sensor, analyze the received output signal, and to send an actuation signal to the bodily fluid extraction device based on the analysis of the received output signal.

The invention relates to a dressing comprised of microbial-derived cellulose for aesthetic application The dressing is capable of donating liquid to dry substrates and is also capable of absorbing exudating wounds. Delivery of various medicaments using the dressing is possible. Positive clinical outcomes including reduced pain and discomfort, faster epithelialization, and healing were observed with use of the dressing.

A platoon model allows improved prediction of preceding vehicle future state. In this context, the preceding vehicle is a vehicle immediately ahead of the host vehicle, and the dynamic state of the preceding vehicle was predicted based on data received from one or more vehicles in the platoon. The intelligent driver model (IDM) was extended to model car-following dynamics within a platoon. A parameter estimation approach may be used to estimate the model parameters, for example to adapt to different driver types. An integrated approach including both state prediction and parameter estimation was highly effective.

Disclosed is a flexible battery including a sheet-like electrode group, an electrolyte, and a housing with flexibility enclosing the electrode group and electrolyte. The housing includes a film material folded into two in which the electrode group is inserted. The film material has two facing portions respectively facing two principal surfaces of the electrode group, a fold line which is between the two facing portions and along which the film material is folded, and two bonding margins respectively set around the two facing portions. The two bonding margins are bonded to each other into a bonded portion. At least the two facing portions of the film material are formed in a corrugated shape having a plurality of ridge and valley lines arranged in parallel to each other. The ridge lines in one of the two facing portions are overlapped with the valley lines in the other. The fold line is parallel to the ridge and valley lines.

A spine prosthesis is provided and in particular, related to the facet joint of a spine. A spinal implant comprises a facet prosthesis including an insert to be positioned within a joint capsule between facets of a zygapophyseal joint. The insert may comprise a member having two opposing facet interfacing portions. A facet prosthesis exerts a distraction force between facets of a facet joint and may comprise a curable material to be injected into the facet joint. A facet prosthesis may also comprise a pair of magnets, each magnet coupled to a facet and oriented with like poles facing each other to provide a distracting force away from each other. A spine implant may also include an insert to be positioned within the joint capsule, a securing member comprising an elongate portion extending through part of a facet, and an anchor to anchor the securing member to the facet.

An object of the present invention is to provide a forward collision avoidance assistance system that attains the reduction of driver's uncomfortable feeling and the improvement in drivability while ensuring the collision avoidance performance during operation for avoiding contact with an object.A collision avoidance calculation unit 3 determines a risk of collision between a host vehicle and an object detected in the host vehicle traveling direction based on information about the host vehicle detected by a host vehicle information detection unit 1 and information about the object detected by an object information detection unit 2, and calculates control information for object avoidance to be output to an actuator 5 based on a result of collision risk judgment. The collision avoidance calculation unit 3 uses a collision-avoidable limit distance Δxctl2 determined based on a physical limit that can avoid collision with the object, and a jerk-limited collision avoidable distance Δxctl1 determined based on the acceleration and jerk generated on the host vehicle by object avoidance movement, to control the brake force generated on the host vehicle by a brake actuator 5.

A self-occluding catheter includes a body portion for connection to extracorporeal equipment. An elongated tubular extension is provided for insertion into a body cavity. The body portion includes a resiliently biased spool supported therein which is slidable between an open and a closed position for alternately permitting and stopping the flow of blood through the catheter during a given medical procedure. The biasing device for resilient biasing the spool preferably comprises one or more magnets fixed within the body portion which generate a magnetic force for urging the magnetically polarized spool to its closed position.

A dual balloon catheter apparatus for controlling postpartum hemorrhage in uterine or vaginal cavities or hemorrhage in other body cavities, comprising: (1) a catheter having an inflation lumen and a deflation lumen; (2) a first inflatable balloon in fluid communication with the inflation lumen; and (3) a second inflatable balloon encompassing the first balloon and in fluid communication with the deflation lumen. A gaseous inflation medium can be introduced from an external gas source through the inflation lumen to inflate the first balloon, so as to apply a substantially even pressure along a substantial portion of an inner surface of a uterine cavity to reduce or eliminate bleeding along such inner surface. The second inflatable balloon functions to confine any gaseous inflation medium that escapes from the first balloon, due to leakage or rapture of such first balloon, and to discharge such escaped gaseous inflation medium through the deflation lumen.

A device and method for correcting a spinal deformity are provided. A spinal implant for correcting a spinal deformity includes a multipoint connector that connects to at least one vertebra of a spine at a plurality of locations and a force directing device that applies a force to the vertebra through the multipoint connector. The force directing device may include a rod which extends generally along an axis of the spine and a force directing member which is adjustably coupled to both the rod and the multipoint connector and which applies a corrective force to the at least one vertebra.

A control device configured with a vibration reduction necessity determination section that determines whether or not a required drive operation point falls within a reduction necessary range, which is prescribed in advance as a range in which it is necessary to reduce torque vibration transferred from the internal combustion engine to the rotary electric machine. A cancellation control execution determination section that determines whether or not torque vibration cancellation control can be executed in the case where it is determined that the required drive operation point falls within the reduction necessary range. An execution control decision section that decides to execute the torque vibration cancellation control in the case where it is determined that the torque vibration cancellation control can be executed and that decides to execute operation point change control in the case where it is determined that the torque vibration cancellation control cannot be executed.

Images are efficiently collected or delivered so that uncomfortable feeling given to users who view picked images picked up at vehicles and delivered by an image server is lessened. An image server is so constructed that the following operation is performed: the picked image of the surroundings of a vehicle, picked up with a camera mounted on the vehicle, and the image pickup information of the picked image, including information about the image pickup point, are stored on a storing medium; and picked images stored on the storing medium are delivered to users who view received picked images. One is selected from among picked images inputted from a vehicle with respect to each of areas to which the image pickup points of those picked images belong based on the image pickup information and a predetermined selection condition. The selected picked image is stored on the storing medium.