728 results about "Volume reduction" patented technology

A reloadable device for deploying fasteners. The device has a handle and at least one actuator. The handle is connected to an elongated hollow housing having distal and proximal ends. The device has a first cartridge containing at least one fastener releasably connectable to the handle. The fastener has at least two anchors connected together by a non-resilient flexible suture which does not resist deformation under compressible loads. The device also includes a means, adjacent the handle, for facilitating removal of the first cartridge from the handle and replacing it with a second cartridge.

A reloadable device for deploying fasteners including a handle and at least one actuator. The handle is connected to an elongated hollow housing having distal and proximal ends. The device also includes a first cartridge containing at least one fastener releasably connectable to the distal end of hollow housing. The fastener has at least two anchors connected together by a non-resilient flexible suture which does not resist deformation under compressible loads. The device also includes a means for facilitating removal the first cartridge and replacing it with a second cartridge.

A cartridge containing a fastener, wherein the cartridge releasably connected to a fastener deploying device. The cartridge has a housing which houses at least one tissue penetrating member. The penetrating member at least partially houses a fastener. The fastener has at least two rigid anchors connected together by a flaccid member. The cartridge further includes a means for removably attaching the cartridge to a deployment device.

Surgical systems for less invasive access to and isolation of an atrial appendage are provided. A suturing grasper compresses soft tissue structures and deploys one or more sutures through complimentary pledget(s) carried by the grasper. The pledgets are reinforced, containing support members that define the profile of the stitch and distribute stresses applied by the stitch, once tightened, over a length of tissue. This hardware may be applicable to other surgical and catheter based applications as well including: compressing soft tissue structures lung resections and volume reductions; gastric procedures associated with reduction in volume, aneurysm repair, vessel ligation, or other procedure involving isolation of, resection of, and reduction of anatomic structures.

Disclosed are methods and devices for regulating fluid flow to and from a region of a patient's lung, such as to achieve a desired fluid flow dynamic to a lung region during respiration and / or to induce collapse in one or more lung regions. An identified region of the lung is targeted for treatment, such as to modify the flow to the targeted lung region or to achieve volume reduction or collapse of the targeted lung region. The targeted lung region is then bronchially isolated to regulate airflow into and / or out of the targeted lung region through one or more bronchial passageways that feed air to the targeted lung region. The bronchial isolation of the targeted lung region is accomplished by implanting a flow control device into a bronchial passageway that feeds air to a targeted lung region.

A cartridge containing a fastener. The cartridge has an elongated sheath containing at least one tissue penetrating member. The penetrating member at least partially houses a fastener. The fastener has at least two anchors connected together by a non-resilient flexible suture which does not resist deformation under compressible loads. The cartridge further includes a means for deploying the anchors, wherein the means is movable within the sheath.

This invention is directed to a process for irreversibly binding nucleic acid to solid phase and corresponding processes for the utilization thereof. Nucleic acid is bound to solid phase matrixes exhibiting sufficient hydrophilicity and electropositivity to irreversibly bind the nucleic acids from a sample. These processes include nucleic acid (double or single stranded DNA and RNA) capture from high volume:low concentration specimens, buffer changes, washes, and volume reductions, and enable the interface of solid phase bound nucleic acid with enzyme, hybridization or amplification strategies. The invention, solid phase irreversibly bound nucleic acid, may be used, for example, in repeated analyses to confirm results or test additional genes in both research and commercial applications. Further, a method is described for virus extraction, purification, and solid phase amplification from large volume plasma specimens.

Various obesity treatment tools and methods are described herein, as well as treatments for other gastric-related diseases, e.g., GERD. Treatment includes reducing the size of the stomach pouch to limit the caloric intake as well as to provide an earlier feeling of satiety. This may be done by creating a smaller gastric pouch within the stomach directly from the interior of the stomach itself. The smaller pouches may be made through the use of individual anchoring devices, rotating probes, or volume reduction devices. A pyloroplasty procedure may also be performed to render the pyloric sphincter incompetent. A gastric bypass procedure may additionally be performed using atraumatic magnetic anastomoses devices so that sugars and fats are passed directly to the bowel while bypassing the stomach. Many of these procedures may be done in a variety of combinations. Treatment may create enforced behavioral modifications by discouraging the ingestion of high-caloric foods.

A domestic fryer assembly and method of using which includes interconnected shell and cooking pot with the shell having an interior cavity receiving the cooking pot. A heating unit as in a resistance bar heater unit is supported by the combination shell and cooking pot and extends down into the cooking pot and features a generally horizontal portion suspended above the cooking pot bottom and preferably having a configuration of a horse-shoe with outer curved sides that generally follow the curvature of the supporting pot. The cooking pot is designed to hold sufficient cooking fluid to provide for deep frying relatively large single item food pieces as in a whole turkey of, for example, 8 to 18 pounds. The food item is preferably retained in a cooking basket that is dimensioned for insertion into the cooking pot. The cooking pot also preferably includes one or more volume reduction step-ins such as a bottom or lower one for doubling as a cooking basket support and / or an upper annular ledge step-in in the pot.

A handheld remote controller for a televisor that automatically prefixes a single-digit program channel selection, typically between 2 and 9, with a leading zero in response to a prolonged single digit keybutton actuation exceeding about 3 seconds or by an intended ersatz key entry, such as a star "*" key, either preceding or following the channel digit key entry. A HUSH control provides audio volume reduction intermediate between mute and normal volume levels, obtainable by pressing a HUSH keybutton, or automatically hushed concurrent with a program channel change. Maintaining a televisor's necessitous channel 3 or 4 selection when used in conjunction with a cable box, VCR or other intermediate device is assured by concurrently sending a reiterative channel 3 (or channel 4) tuning command to the televisor whenever a program channel change command or other function signal is dispatched to the cable box, VCR or other television signal tuning apparatus.

Surgical systems for less invasive access to and isolation of an atrial appendage are provided. A suturing grasper compresses soft tissue structures and deploys one or more sutures through complimentary pledget(s) carried by the grasper. The pledgets are reinforced, containing support members that define the profile of the stitch and distribute stresses applied by the stitch, once tightened, over a length of tissue. This hardware may be applicable to other surgical and catheter based applications as well including: compressing soft tissue structures lung resections and volume reductions; gastric procedures associated with reduction in volume, aneurysm repair, vessel ligation, or other procedure involving isolation of, resection of, and reduction of anatomic structures.

A method for treating a patient includes creating at least one incision to gain access to an petitoneal cavity, performing a gastric volume reduction procedure and introducing a device to prevent gastric contents from interacting with at least a portion of the duodenum.

A cooking apparatus, as in a domestic fryer, includes a stacked shell, cooking pot and basket combination. A heater element extends into the cooking pot and has a generally horizontal portion suspended above the pot bottom and supported by a support platform as in a volume reduction step-in region in the cooking pot and / or a removable basket support platform. The pot holds sufficient cooking fluid to provide for deep frying large food items as in a whole turkey (e.g., 3.63 Kg to 8.16 Kg). An embodiment includes a drain spigot with adjustable drain spigot cover assembly. The heating device includes a combination control unit and heating element that is releasably supported by the shell with a fail-safe electrical disconnect connection. The basket support platform and one or more temperature sensors are connected to the heating element and thus removable as well. The cooking pot has an edge recess for receipt of the heating element and for pot drainage.

Various obesity treatment tools and methods are described herein, as well as treatments for other gastric-related diseases, e.g., GERD. Treatment includes reducing the size of the stomach pouch to limit the caloric intake as well as to provide an earlier feeling of satiety. This may be done by creating a smaller gastric pouch within the stomach directly from the interior of the stomach itself. The smaller pouches may be made through the use of individual anchoring devices, rotating probes, or volume reduction devices. A pyloroplasty procedure may also be performed to render the pyloric sphincter incompetent. A gastric bypass procedure may additionally be performed using atraumatic magnetic anastomoses devices so that sugars and fats are passed directly to the bowel while bypassing the stomach. Many of these procedures may be done in a variety of combinations. Treatment may create enforced behavioral modifications by discouraging the ingestion of high-caloric foods.

The present invention provides stable aerosol cream mousse composition, preferably hair care composition, that can provide enhanced touch, combability, alignment and volume reduction to the hair, with low or reduced greasy, oily hair feel, while being formulated having a thick, rich, creamy, mousse-type rheology with excellent spreading, perception of spreading, and feel. The aerosol composition is based on the combination of component (A) a cationic surfactant, which is generally a quaternary ammonium compound such as e.g., ditallow dimethyl ammonium chloride; (B) a fatty alcohol, such as cetyl and stearyl alcohol; and (C) carbon dioxide.

The invention relates to a sludge drying and burning technique and its system devices, applying to the handling of active sludge in urban sewage treatment plants, its process flows through: wet sludge stock house, measuring bin, sludge mixer, sludge dryer, granular splitter, cooler, drying products storage bin, incinerator, smoke gas cleaning devices, which is characterized by: said incinerator is bubbling fluid bed incinerator with coal economizer, air heater fixed in its end part, high-heat smoke gas generated by burning is used to heat heat-conducting oil and cool air individually, and heat-conducting oil after being heated is transferred to sludge dryer through the circulating pump to dry wet-sludge. The invention is characterized by: take heat-conducting oil as heating medium, use the heat generated by burning dry sludge to heat heat-conducting oil and then dry wet-sludge to make full use of resources; the volume-reducing quantity after drying and burning could reach over 90%; the percentage of desulphurization in incinerator could reach 75% as a result of adopting two stage technology of sulfur removal, and the gross percentage of desulphurization meets national environmental legislation requirements. The invention accomplishes the resources, volume reduction, and innocence of sludge.

A method of deploying fasteners within a body by providing a device having a handle and at least one actuator. The handle is connected to an elongated hollow housing having distal and proximal ends, and a needle within the hollow housing. The device has a first cartridge containing at least one fastener releasably connectable to the distal end of the hollow housing. The fastener is at least partially housed within the needle and has at least two anchors connected together by a non-resilient flexible suture which does not resist deformation under compressible loads. The method uses the steps of inserting the distal end of the hollow housing to a target site within a body, attaching tissue together within the body by deploying the fastener, and removing the first cartridge and replacing it with a second cartridge.

The invention relates to a sludge treatment process based on a hydrothermal modification technology. The sludge treatment process is carried out by comprising the following steps of: (1) temporarily storing the sludge which is subjected to mechanical dehydration and has the water content of 70-85% to a pretreatment unit and deodorizing the sludge; (2) introducing to a homogeneous device, fully mixing and homogenizing, introducing the homogenized sludge to a slurrying device, introducing the slurried sludge to a hydrothermal reactor for hydrothermal reaction, and introducing the hydrothermal sludge to a flash evaporator for decompression and flash evaporation; (3) cooling to 35-45 DEG C by using a cooler, then introducing to a high-pressure diaphragm pressure filter for pressure filtering and dehydration to obtain a dehydrated mud cake with the solid content of 35-45% and dehydrated filtrate; (4) introducing the dehydrated filtrate to an intermediate temperature anaerobic reactor, wherein the residence time is for 5.5-7.5d, the inlet water temperature is controlled below 40 DEG C, and the anaerobic reaction temperature is 30-40 DEG C; and (5) preparing a biomass fuel rod by using the dehydrated mud cake, and introducing the biomass fuel rod to a boiler to provide steam for the hydrothermal reactor and the flash evaporator. The sludge treatment process has the advantages of goodtreatment effect, obvious volume reduction effect, high harmless degree, recycling of methane, good economic benefit and the like.

A bioreactor that combines the steps of recombinant expression and separation of a biological product by binding the secreted biological product with a resin, discarding the nutrient medium and eluting the biological product as a concentrated solution, eliminating the steps of sterile filtration and volume reduction. The method also allows loading of resin for column-purification, eliminating all steps of perfusion process and maintaining a sink condition of a toxic product in nutrient medium to optimize productivity of host cells. The instant invention also allows harvesting of solubilized inclusion bodies after the cells have been lysed and refolding of proteins inside the bioreactor.

The preferred methods and devices described herein relate to devices and methods for joining segments of soft tissue together. More particularly this invention relates to partitioning a body cavity or organ by joining together portions of the organ interior walls. This securement is particularly useful in gastric volume reduction surgery whereby the volume of the stomach is reduced by partitioning the stomach into a smaller pouch.

The invention discloses a method for performing microwave pyrolysis on garbage. The method comprises the following steps of: 1) pretreating the garbage to obtain structured garbage which is suitable for microwave pyrolysis; 2) performing microwave pyrolysis on the garbage, namely introducing pyrolysis gas out of a pyrolysis gas outlet of a microwave pyrolysis device, continuously outputting pyrolysis solid products from a pyrolysis solid residue discharge port on the microwave pyrolysis device, sealing the rest parts of the microwave pyrolysis device except a garbage inlet, the pyrolysis solid residue discharge port and a pyrolysis gas outlet to prevent the pyrolysis gas from being leaked and preventing external air from entering the microwave pyrolysis device to ensure that the pyrolysis gas is used as protective gas for pyrolysis reaction; and 3) recovering pyrolysis products, namely treating according to the pyrolysis products. The method has the characteristics of rapidness and high efficiency, low energy consumption, low cost, high resource utilization rate, simplicity in operation, high garbage volume reduction rate, capacity of obviously reducing damage of garbage to environment and the like; and by the method, innocent treatment of the garbage can be realized really.

Disclosed herein are methods, apparatuses, and devices for treating skin, such as skin tightening or for treating diseases, disorders, and conditions that would benefit from tissue area or volume reduction, skin restoration, skin tightening, skin lifting, or skin repositioning. Such methods and devices include an ablative apparatus, a removal apparatus, and / or a positioning apparatus.

Various obesity treatment tools and methods are described herein, as well as treatments for other gastric-related diseases, e.g., GERD. Treatment includes reducing the size of the stomach pouch to limit the caloric intake as well as to provide an earlier feeling of satiety. This may be done by creating a smaller gastric pouch within the stomach directly from the interior of the stomach itself. The smaller pouches may be made through the use of individual anchoring devices, rotating probes, or volume reduction devices. A pyloroplasty procedure may also be performed to render the pyloric sphincter incompetent. A gastric bypass procedure may additionally be performed using atraumatic magnetic anastomoses devices so that sugars and fats are passed directly to the bowel while bypassing the stomach. Many of these procedures may be done in a variety of combinations. Treatment may create enforced behavioral modifications by discouraging the ingestion of high-caloric foods.

A composite material for a bipolar plate of fuel cells is comprised of conductive carbon dispersed in polybenzoxazine matrix. The present invention also provides a composite material for preparing a bipolar plate for fuel cells comprising a polymer where a volume reduction percent is less than 5%, preferably 3%, and more preferably 1% after polymerization of the monomers with respect to total volume of the monomers before the polymerization thereof, and conductive carbon. The polymers of the present invention have good workability since there is little volume change during polymerization, and good mechanical and chemical properties, and they can be manufactured at a low cost.

A method for approximating tissue within a body including the step of providing a device having a handle, at least one actuator, an elongated hollow housing having a proximal end attached to the handle and a distal end extending therefrom, a first and second cartridge. Each the cartridge contains at least one fastener having at least two anchors connected together by a non-resilient flexible suture which does not resist deformation under compressible loads. The first cartridge being releasably connected to the distal end of hollow housing. The method also includes the step of inserting the first cartridge into a body and deploying each anchor into tissue in a spaced apart position. The method also involves moving the anchors adjacent one another by moving the suture in a proximal direction, and removing the first cartridge from the body and from the housing. The method then involves placing the second cartridge onto the housing thereby replacing the first cartridge with the second cartridge.

A silicon carbide-based porous structure material maintaining the shape of a cardboard or sponge-like porous structure, with a great relative surface area, and a process for producing the same, is provided. To this end, a cardboard or sponge-like shaped framework of silicon carbide-based porous structure material is impregnated with a slurry comprising a resin, as a carbon source, and silicon powder, and subjected to reactive sintering in a vacuum or inert atmosphere, or in a nitrogen gas atmosphere, generating silicon carbide. At the same time pores are generated due to volume reduction reaction, thereby allows obtaining a silicon carbide-based porous structure material with a great relative surface area. Furthermore, excess carbon is removed from the fabricated silicon carbide-based porous structure material, and impregnated with a solution which becomes an oxide ceramic coating upon firing, whereby oxidization resistance is excellent and relative surface area is markedly improved.

A cooking apparatus, as in a domestic fryer, includes a stacked shell, cooking pot and basket combination. A heater element extends into the cooking pot and has a generally horizontal portion suspended above the pot bottom and supported by a support platform as in a volume reduction step-in region in the cooking pot and / or a removable basket support platform. The pot holds sufficient cooking fluid to provide for deep frying large food items as in a whole turkey (e.g., 3.63 Kg to 8.16 Kg). An embodiment includes a drain spigot with adjustable drain spigot cover assembly. The heating device includes a combination control unit and heating element that is releasably supported by the shell with a fail-safe electrical disconnect connection. The basket support platform and one or more temperature sensors are connected to the heating element and thus removable as well. The cooking pot has an edge recess for receipt of the heating element and for pot drainage.

The present invention provides a fluid exchange cell culture technique and tissue repair cells (TRCs) made by these methods, as well as methods using these cells. The method includes a new wash step which increases the tissue repair properties of the TRCs of the invention. This wash step allows for the production of TRC populations with greater tissue repair and anti-inflammatory capabilities. Embodiments of the present invention include a post-culture process for cultured cells that preferably includes the steps of: a wash process for removing unwanted residual culture components, a volume reduction process, and a harvesting process to remove cultured cells. Preferably, all these steps are performed within a aseptically closed cell culture chamber by implementing a separation method that minimizes mechanical disruption of the cells and is simple to automate. The harvested cells may then be concentrated to a final volume for the intended use. In such embodiments, the final composition is a substantially purified and concentrated cell mixture suspended in a physiologic solution suitable for immediate use in humans without further washing, volume reduction, or processing. Embodiments are also applicable to harvesting (and / or washing) particles within a liquid or solution within a chamber.