17548results about How to "Reduce stress" patented technology

A support member for a catheter sheath is disclosed. The support member has a series of ribs with a distal member having integrated fingers for providing radial compliance. The support member provides sufficient axial stiffness to provide a desired pushability of a minimally invasive device for replacing a heart valve. Various alternative embodiments are also described.

The present invention provides a catheter balloon, and balloon catheter incorporating the catheter balloon, useful in medical dilation procedures. The catheter balloon includes at least one microscalpel operatively disposed on an outer surface thereof. The microscalpel may advantageously be operatively disposed relative to a power source so as to be controllably activatable. Also provided are methods of making the inventive balloon and / or catheter as well as methods of using the inventive catheter in a dilation / incising treatment.

Described are devices and methods for treating degenerative, congestive heart disease and related valvular dysfunction. Percutaneous and minimally invasive surgical tensioning structures offer devices that mitigate changes in the ventricular structure (i.e., remodeling) and deterioration of global left ventricular performance related to tissue damage precipitating from ischemia, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or other abnormalities. These tensioning structures can be implanted within various major coronary blood-carrying conduit structures (arteries, veins and branching vessels), into or through myocardium, or into engagement with other anatomic structures that impact cardiac output to provide tensile support to the heart muscle wall which resists diastolic filling pressure while simultaneously providing a compressive force to the muscle wall to limit, compensate or provide therapeutic treatment for congestive heart failure and / or to reverse the remodeling that produces an enlarged heart.

When a two-division structure heat treatment jig for semiconductor substrate that includes a silicon first jig that comes into direct contact with a semiconductor substrate that is heat treated and supports the semiconductor substrate, and a second jig (holder) that holds the first jig and is mounted on a heat treatment boat is adopted as a heat treatment boat of a vertical heat treatment furnace, the stress concentrated during the heat treatment on a particular portion of the semiconductor substrate can be reduced; in the case of a semiconductor substrate large in the tare stress and having an outer shape of 300 mm being heat treated, or even in the case of the heat treatment being carried out under very high temperature conditions, the slips can be suppressed from occurring. The present invention can be widely applied as a stable heat treatment method of semiconductor substrates.

A method of forming features on substrates by imprinting is provided. The method comprises: (a) forming a polymer solution comprising at least one polymer dissolved in at least one polymerizable monomer; and (b) depositing the polymer solution on a substrate to form a liquid film thereon; and then either: (c) curing the liquid film by causing the monomer(s) to polymerize and optionally cross-linking the polymer(s) to thereby form a polymer film, the polymer film having a glass transition temperature (Tg); and imprinting the polymer film with a mold having a desired pattern to form a corresponding negative pattern in the polymer film, or (d) imprinting the liquid film with the mold and curing it to form the polymer film. The temperature of imprinting is as little as 10° C. above the Tg, or even less if the film is in the liquid state. The pressure of the imprinting can be within the range of 100 to 500 psi.

The invention relates to an input device having multifunctional keys, wherein the different functions are triggered by varying the pressure on the keys or by varying the depth to which the key is depressed or the distance it is moved (see FIG. 3). The input device requires substantially fewer keys than a standard qwerty keyboard to input data and requires less physical space. In certain instances the keyboard can be operated with one hand.

Methods and apparatuses for restoration of human or animal bone anatomy, which may include introduction, into a bone of an expansible implant capable of expansion in a single determined plane, positioning the expansible implant in the bone in order to correspond the single determined plane with a bone restoration plane and opening out the expansible implant in the bone restoration plane. A first support surface and a second support surface spread tissues within bone. The embodiments of the invention may also include injecting a filling material around the implant.

Described are devices and methods for treating degenerative, congestive heart disease and related valvular dysfunction. Percutaneous and minimally invasive surgical tensioning structures offer devices that mitigate changes in the ventricular structure (i.e., remodeling) and deterioration of global left ventricular performance related to tissue damage precipitating from ischemia, acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or other abnormalities. These tensioning structures can be implanted within various major coronary blood-carrying conduit structures (arteries, veins and branching vessels), into or through myocardium, or into engagement with other anatomic structures that impact cardiac output to provide tensile support to the heart muscle wall which resists diastolic filling pressure while simultaneously providing a compressive force to the muscle wall to limit, compensate or provide therapeutic treatment for congestive heart failure and / or to reverse the remodeling that produces an enlarged heart.

Methods and apparatuses for restoration of human or animal bone anatomy, which may include introduction, into a bone of an expansible implant capable of expansion in a single determined plane, positioning the expansible implant in the bone in order to correspond the single determined plane with a bone restoration plane and opening out the expansible implant in the bone restoration plane. A first support surface and a second support surface spread tissues within bone. The embodiments of the invention may also include injecting a filling material around the implant.

An electro-optic window is provided which is powered solely by at least one discrete photovoltaic cell within an electro-optic window. The electro-optic window has front and back spaced-apart glass elements sealably bonded together in a spaced-apart relationship and defining a chamber filled with an electro-optic material. The front glass element has a transparent conductive layer on the face of the front glass element confronting the rear glass element and the rear glass element has a transparent conductive layer on the face confronting the front glass element. The seal is generally disposed along the perimeter of three edges of both glass elements and some distance in from the remaining (fourth) edge. The photovoltaic assembly is electrically connected to the two transparent conductive layers and is placed on the outer perimeter along this fourth edge with the photon-absorbing side of all the photovoltaic cells within the photovoltaic assembly facing in one direction ("out" the window). When light impinges on the photovoltaic cell a current is created which darkens the electro-optic material in proportion to the amount of impinging light. By choosing the relative area of the photovoltaic assembly to produce the correct current for the electro-optically active window area, the darkening of the electro-optic portion can be directly and accurately controlled without the need for any circuit, wires or shorting resistors. In addition, an apparatus for making an electro-optic window having two members capable of securing and holding two glass elements in a spaced-apart and parallel relationship is provided. The glass elements may be secured by vacuum-applying members or simple clips. The glass elements may be held in a spaced-apart and parallel relationship by a hydraulic mechanism or by simple spacers placed between the securing members.

A method for writing data in a non volatile memory unit having memory pages includes a predetermined number of memory cells storing a memory word being a predetermined sequence of digital values. An erase operation erases the memory words in the memory page, setting the predetermined sequence of digital values to a sequence of complementary values. A program operation stores in the memory cell a word and sets a sequence of a word to be stored. For the memory cells of the memory page, the memory word is compared with the word to be stored. A positive check is returned if complementary values of the sequence correspond to complementary values of the predetermined sequence. If the check is negative, the erase operation is executed. The memory word is compared with the word to be stored and the program operation is executed if the word to be stored is different.

An apparatus for plating a conductive film directly on a substrate with a barrier layer on top includes anode rod (1) placed in tube (109), and anode rings (2), and (3) placed between cylindrical walls (107) and (105), (103) and (101), respectively. Anodes (1), (2), and (3) are powered by power supplies (13), (12), and (11), respectively. Electrolyte (34) is pumped by pump (33) to pass through filter (32) and reach inlets of liquid mass flow controllers (LMFCs) (21), (22), and (23). Then LMFCs (21), (22) and (23) deliver electrolyte at a set flow rate to sub-plating baths containing anodes (3), (2) and (1), respectively. After flowing through the gap between wafer (31) and the top of the cylindrical walls (101), (103), (105), (107) and (109), electrolyte flows back to tank (36) through spaces between cylindrical walls (100) and (101), (103) and (105), and (107) and (109), respectively. A pressure leak valve (38) is placed between the outlet of pump (33) and electrolyte tank (36) to leak electrolyte back to tank (36) when LMFCs (21), (22), (23) are closed. A wafer (31) held by wafer chuck (29) is connected to power supplies (11), (12) and (13). A drive mechanism (30) is used to rotate wafer (31) around the z axis, and oscillate the wafer in the x, y, and z directions shown. Filter (32) filters particles larger than 0.1 or 0.2 mum in order to obtain a low particle added plating process.

A device for heart valve repair including at least one tension member having a first end and second end. A basal anchor is disposed at the first end of the tension member and a secondary anchor at the second end. The method includes the steps of anchoring the basal anchor proximate a heart valve and anchoring the secondary anchor at a location spaced from the valve such that the chamber geometry is altered to reduce heart wall tension and / or stress on the valve leaflets.

A method for writing data in a non volatile memory unit having memory pages includes a predetermined number of memory cells storing a memory word being a predetermined sequence of digital values. An erase operation erases the memory words in the memory page, setting the predetermined sequence of digital values to a sequence of complementary values. A program operation stores in the memory cell a word and sets a sequence of a word to be stored. For the memory cells of the memory page, the memory word is compared with the word to be stored. A positive check is returned if complementary values of the sequence correspond to complementary values of the predetermined sequence. If the check is negative, the erase operation is executed. The memory word is compared with the word to be stored and the program operation is executed if the word to be stored is different.

Ultrasonic waveguides having improved velocity gain are disclosed for use in ultrasonic medical devices. Specifically, the ultrasonic waveguides comprises a first material having a higher acoustic impedance and a second material having a lower acoustic impedance.

A golf club (40) having a club head (42) with a face component (60) and an aft body (61) is disclosed herein. The face component (60) has a striking plate portion (72) and a return portion (74). The aft-body (61) is composed of a crown portion (62), a sole portion (64) and optionally a ribbon section (90). The face component (60) is composed of a metal material, and the aft-body (61) is preferably composed of a non-metal material such as a composite material or a thermoplastic material. The face component (60) is bonded to the aft-body (61) with a leading edge (180) of an undercut portion (62a and 64a) of the aft-body positioned a distance of 0.100 inch to 0.500 inch from the interior surface (60a) of the face component (60) in order to reduce the stress on the bonded joint of between the face component (60) and the aft-body (61). The club head (42) has a volume in the range of 290 cubic centimeters to 600 cubic centimeters, a weight in the range of 165 grams to 300 grams, and a striking plate portion (72) surface area in the range of 4.00 square inches to 7.50 square inches.