4563results about How to "Reduce incidence" patented technology

An analyte sensor for use in connection with a biofluid is described. The analyte sensor may comprise any suitable interface between the biofluid and a derivative of the biofluid and any suitable transducer of information concerning an analyte. At least one catalytic agent is provided in a locale or vicinity of the interface. The catalytic agent, such as a proteinaceous agent or a non-proteinaceous, organic-metal agent, is sufficient to catalyze the degradation of reactive oxygen and/or nitrogen species that may be present in the vicinity of the interface. An analyte-sensing kit and a method of sensing an analyte are also described.

A method of ameliorating the adverse effects of a defect in the annulus fibrosus by applying a curable bio-compatible material to the defect, and curing that material, in situ, into a cross linked visco-elastic solid polymer adhering to remaining annulus fibrosus and thereby closing said defect. Alternatively, the bio-compatible material may be cross linked immediately before insertion into the annulus fibrosus.

Extended release formulations for the delivery of opioid agonists, including oxycodone, are provided which exhibit low peak to trough plasma concentration fluctuations and sufficiently high plasma concentrations over an extended period of time to provide a once a day dosage administration, wherein the formulations provide pain relief for up to 24 hours The extended release formulations may be customized to achieve the desired plasma concentration profile, e.g. two or more different extended release drug-loaded pellets or granules may be combined in a formulation. Additional formulations include combinations of drug loaded and extended release opioid agonists-loaded pellets or granules. Other formulations include a combination of an opioid agonist and an opioid antagonist, as well as a combination of an opioid agonist and a NSAID.

This invention provides an imaging lens system including, in order from an object side to an image side: a first lens with positive refractive power having a convex object-side surface; a second lens with negative refractive power; a third lens having a concave image-side surface; a fourth lens with positive refractive power; a fifth lens with negative refractive power having a concave image-side surface, at least one surface thereof having at least one inflection point; and an aperture stop disposed between an imaged object and the third lens. The on-axis spacing between the first lens and second lens is T12, the focal length of the imaging lens system is f, and they satisfy the relation: 0.5<(T12/f)×100<15.

System, devices and methods are presented that provide an imaging array fabrication process method, comprising fabricating an array of semiconductor imaging elements, interconnecting the elements with stretchable interconnections, and transfer printing the array with a pre-strained elastomeric stamp to a secondary non-planar surface.

Embodiments of a central security monitoring device for reducing incidences of false alarms in a security system is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method is described, comprising receiving an alarm signal from an occupancy sensor via a receiver, receiving a second alarm signal from a barrier alarm device after receiving the alarm signal, determining an elapsed time from when the alarm signal from the occupancy sensor was received to when the second alarm signal from the barrier alarm device was received, performing one or more actions when the elapsed time is greater than the predetermined time, and refraining from performing the one or more actions when the elapsed time is less than the predetermined time.

A patient monitoring system includes a replaceable laminar sensor to be placed on a bed, the sensor including distributed force sensing elements providing output signals to processing apparatus including a near-bed processor and a central processor coupled to the near-bed processor by a wireless communication link. The processing apparatus applies spatial weighting to the sensor output signals to derive the force distribution across the sensor, and processes the force distribution over time to generate patient status information such as patient presence, position, agitation, seizure activity, respiration, and security. This information can be displayed at a central monitoring station, provided to a paging system to alert attending medical personnel, and used to update medical databases. The sensor may be manufactured from layers of olefin film and conductive ink to form capacitive sensing elements.

The present invention is directed to controlled-release composition containing a solubilized material comprising an active agent and at least one oil-based surfactant capable of solubilizing the active agent, the solubilized material dispersed in a controlled-release particulate matrix.

Devices and methods for creating lumens in the articular process of the vertebra are provided. An embodiment of the invention can be a tool that can cut a curved lumen through the articular process. The tool can have a lumen-forming arm with a rotating drill contained within that can be powered by a drill motor. The lumen-forming arm can be axially translated to cut a path through the articular process. Methods of using the resulting lumens to anchor or stabilize facet joint prosthesis, and also altering the spacing and motion at the facet joints of the vertebral column, are provided.

A permanent thrombus and plaque filtering stent blocks and/or filters potential emboli in patients undergoing intravascular treatment and/or stent implantation. The stent has a plurality of movable magnetic or ultrasonic agitating elements attached thereto, which when remotely activated move, vibrate or rotate to break up the thrombus, plaque or tissue debris.

An apparatus and method to insert a spinal catheter and minimize incidence of post dural puncture headache. The apparatus typically includes a support needle with a non-cutting piercing tip and an exteriorly mounted catheter. The catheter gauge is reduced, while ease of use is increased by the exterior mounting. The catheter may include a kink sleeve that protects against kinking when bent during use. A central stylet maybe included to prevent entry of matter into the support needle opening during insertion. Methods using a single stick insertion procedure allow for catheter placement to be determined and adjusted based on physical feedback obtained during the single stick insertion.

Methods for treating various health ailments that arise from dysfunction of smooth muscle associated with organ function caused by neurological malfunction wherein an appropriate signal fails to properly drive the smooth muscle wherein the treatment includes reproducing an appropriate signal and applying same either directly to the smooth muscle exhibiting the failure to respond properly, or by applying the signal to the nerves that innervate the muscles. The various treatments contemplated by this invention include, but are not limited to: acid reflux (lower esophageal sphincter), gallbladder pain, post-cholecystectomy pain, obesity, and high cholesterol (the sphincter of Oddi), pancreatic function and pancreatic pain associated with cancer (sphincter of Oddi), and asthma (the anterior and posterior pulmonary plexuses and the bronchial plexuses).

This invention provides a class of androgen receptor targeting agents (ARTA). The agents define a new subclass of compounds, which are selective androgen receptor modulators (SARM). Several of the SARM compounds have been found to have an unexpected androgenic and anabolic activity of a nonsteroidal ligand for the androgen receptor. Other SARM compounds have been found to have an unexpected antiandrogenic activity of a nonsteroidal ligand for the androgen receptor. The SARM compounds, either alone or as a composition, are useful for a) male contraception; b) treatment of a variety of hormone-related conditions, for example conditions associated with Androgen Decline in Aging Male (ADAM), such as fatigue, depression, decreased libido, sexual dysfunction, erectile dysfunction, hypogonadism, osteoporosis, hair loss, anemia, obesity, sarcopenia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, benign prostate hyperplasia, alterations in mood and cognition and prostate cancer; c) treatment of conditions associated with Androgen Decline in Female (ADIF), such as sexual dysfunction, decreased sexual libido, hypogonadism, sarcopenia, osteopenia, osteoporosis, alterations in cognition and mood, depression, anemia, hair loss, obesity, endometriosis, breast cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer; d) treatment and/or prevention of acute and/or chronic muscular wasting conditions; e) preventing and/or treating dry eye conditions; f) oral androgen replacement therapy; and/or g) decreasing the incidence of, halting or causing a regression of prostate cancer.

A modular hydraulic spinal intervertebral prosthetic device offering individualized optimization of an implantable disc prosthesis by having selectable crown plates modules with differing lordosis angles and differing cross-sectional profiles, and selectable bellows cartridges having differing load-bearing capabilities. The device offers substantially full physiological degrees of motion, and by the incorporation of both a dashpot mechanism and a biasing element within reversibly displaceable and tiltable bellows provides hydraulic load bearing capability. The bellows assembly is advantageously pre-loaded to sub-atmospheric pressure. The dashpot assembly further increases resistance to lateral shear loading beyond the bellows convolutions acting alone. Rotational coupling of the upper crown plate and center bearings plate permits normal twisting movements, and spinal flexural freedom is provided by the bellows interposed between the center bearings plate and the lower end plate. The bellows also provides a hermetic seal which prevents any wear debris from migrating to the surrounding body tissue.

The invention discloses a system for achieving fatigue driving judgment on the basis of image processing and fusion between the heart rate characteristic and the expression characteristic. The system comprises an information collection device, an information processing device and an early warning device. The system is characterized in that the information collection device is used for collecting a driver face image sequence, and providing the driver face image sequence for the information processing device; the information processing device is used for carrying out processing and analysis on the collected driver face image sequence to obtain expression characteristic information and heart rate characteristic information of a driver, and carrying out information fusion on the expression characteristic and the heart rate characteristic so that whether the driver is in the fatigue state or not can be judged; the early warning device is used for sending an instruction to an early warning prompting device according to the early warning strategy and the fatigue level when the driver is in fatigue driving, and carrying out prompting and early warning on the driver. According to the system for achieving fatigue driving judgment on the basis of image processing and fusion between the heart rate characteristic and the expression characteristic, the heart rate characteristic and the expression characteristic are combined through an image processing method, a fatigue driving judgment algorithm is achieved, a vehicle-mounted fatigue driving judgment device is obtained, and accuracy, robustness and reliability of the system for achieving fatigue driving judgment are improved.

An article made of constituent elements is prepared by furnishing at least one nonmetallic precursor compound, wherein all of the nonmetallic precursor compounds collectively contain the constituent elements. The constituent elements include a titanium-base metallic composition, boron present at a level greater than its room-temperature solid solubility limit, and, optionally, a stable-oxide-forming additive element present at a level greater than its room-temperature solid solubility limit. The precursor compounds are chemically reduced to produce a material comprising a titanium-base metallic composition having titanium boride particles therein, without melting the titanium-base metallic composition. The titanium-base metallic composition having the titanium boride particles therein is consolidated without melting.

The invention relates to a bio-organic compound fertilizer, which comprises the following components in part by weight: 10 to 30 parts of organic matter, 2 to 10 parts of compound microbial inoculants, 5 to 20 parts of humic acid, 5 to 20 parts of amino acid, 4 to 10 parts of chitin, 1 to 5 parts of polypeptide, 530 parts of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, 5 to 10 parts of secondary and trace elements, 5 to 15 parts of algae fertilizer, 5 to 10 parts of zeolite powder and 1 to 5 parts of synergistic agent. Through the scientific and rational formula, the bio-organic compound fertilizer achieves nutritive equilibrium and can satisfy the need of crop growth in nutrient. The microbial inoculants are added to quickly degrade natural macromolecular organic compounds into the organic fertilizer and decompose organic pollutants, which effectively improves the capacity of crops in the absorption of nutrient components, reduces the waste of the fertilizer and reduces the damage of the chemical fertilizer to soil to further achieve the nutritive equilibrium, satisfy the need of the crop growth in the nutrient, achieve the aims of low investment and high output value, improve the quality of the crops and improve the economic benefit brought by the crops.

Various sensor unit configurations are disclosed within the context of a fluid quality monitoring system. The distribution of sensor units can be accomplished using existing product distribution channels to sell, distribute and install sensor units so that a fluid distribution monitoring system can be established at relatively low cost, on a wider basis, and by locating sensor units at the most desirable location from problem detection standpoint, the location of the end user.