Abstract: An electrical feedthrough for an implantable medical device (IMD) is provided that employs a feedthrough conductor having a non-platinum based inner core and one or more layers of a conductive coating to control oxide growth on the surface of the conductor. The coating permits soldering the feedthrough conductor to IMD electronics. The resulting feedthrough provides a substantial cost savings over feedthroughs employing a solid platinum or platinum-iridium conductor.

Abstract: A procedure for extracting features from phonocardiographic signals without the use of synchronizing information from electrocardiographic signals. The features extracted are the timing and value of first and second heart sounds and various combinations of timing and value of signal components constituting heart murmur. Such combinations are directly related to various heart conditions, which are more easily diagnosable by a medically trained person when assisted by the signal extraction. The features are extracted by a novel combination of energy/time relationships for the heart signal and various novel classification schemes.