Abstract: A sternum plate set for securing a patient's ribcage following surgery and for protecting internal organs during subsequent surgical procedures. The plate set is constructed of biocompatible material intended to be implanted into a patient's body during a surgical procedure behind the sternum and to remain in contact with or as a substitute for the sternum following surgery. The plate set is slightly convex in shape on a side facing the sternum, and is provided with at least one transverse channel having a suture strand and passing therethrough. The suture strand has free ends which are equipped with curved needles and are passed through the sternum and joined together to secure the plate behind the sternum so that the plate permanently remains inside the patient's body between the sternum and internal organs.

Abstract: A wheelchair lift for a vehicle in which the lift platform serves as part of the floor of the vehicle, and does not need to be extended outwardly of the vehicle to load or unload a wheelchair passenger. The lift operates within a shaft extending between the floor and the undercarriage of the vehicle, and sliding pulley panels are provided at two opposing sides of the shaft below the floor of the vehicle. Pulleys are mounted adjacent the top edges of the pulley panels, and chains are passed over the pulleys, and attached at one end to a fixed point on the vehicle at or below the midpoint between the floor of the vehicle and ground level, and attached at the other end to a lift platform. Other chains are attached at one end to the pulley panels and at the opposite end to a hydraulic cylinder, such that the pulley panels are lowered or raised as the hydraulic cylinder is retracted or extended, in turn causing the lift platform to traverse between the floor of the vehicle and ground level within the shaft.