Abstract: The cardiac ejection fraction EF is estimated based on the parameters of a model of an indicator (such as thermal) dilution through the heart. A channel model is defined by an upstream indicator injector, such as a heater, positioned preferably in the right atrium/ventricle and a downstream indicator concentration sensor, such as a thermistor. The preferred model is a lagged normal transfer function, which has as one of its output parameters the indicator decay constant .tau. of the blood channel. The heart rate HR is also measured. The ejection fraction EF is then calculated continuously as EF=1-exp(-60/(.tau.*HR)). The cardiac output CO is also estimated in the model, preferably based on an estimate of the zero-frequency gain of the lagged normal transfer function. End diastolic volume EDV is then also calculated continuously as a function of CO, HR and EF.

Abstract: A dental abrasion arrangement includes a pressure vessel that has an inlet port and an outlet port. A source of pressurized propellant gas is attached to the inlet port and a dental abrasion tool is attached to an outlet port of the pressure vessel. Abrasive powder is ejected from the pressure vessel and to the abrasion tool via a discharge assembly and the outlet port. A feeding and metering auger is mounted within the pressure vessel. The auger is mounted substantially horizontally within the pressure vessel. The auger is driven by a motor, so that the abrasive powder within the pressure vessel is fed to the discharge assembly as the motor causes the auger to rotate.

Abstract: A main processing system accesses a data base, which contains data records, each of which is divided into data fields. The system preferably automatically determine the type of data in each field, as well as its range of values. It then preferably determines one or more relational structures of the field data using a corresponding number of relevance measures. For each field, a preferably user-adjustable, software-generated query device is displayed, preferably in the order of the relevance measures of the respective fields. The plot of one or more fields' data relative to that of another field is initially generated using the fields in order of relevance. The relevance measure forming the basis of the field ordering, the order of fields, and the ranges of the plotted, displayed fields may be adjusted interactively by the user by moving and adjusting the various query devices.

Abstract: User data records, such as health or financial data, are stored in a data base at one or more remote facilities, for example, at one or more hospitals or one or more central processing facilities. For each of a card-holding group of users a card is provided. The card is preferably a "smart card," which has a memory and, preferably, an onboard processor. The card is encoded with the respective user's identifying information, as well as with information that identifies at least one remote network address of at least one remote facility where the user's records are stored. The user uses the card to activate a local processor, which then automatically accesses a network, generates and applies to the network a remote record request corresponding to the activating user's identification code, along with the appropriate remote network address(es).

Abstract: A needle guide mount has a main guide body, with a knob arm and a pivot arm each attached at one end to the main guide body. A gate assembly is pivotably in the pivot arm and has an open position, in which the gate assembly can pivot freely away from the knob arm, and a closed position, in which the gate assembly is secured in the knob arm. The gate assembly preferably has a shaft, a knob that can move longitudinally and rotatably on the shaft, and a locking arrangement that permits the gate assembly to enter the closed position only when the central axis of the gate assembly lies less than a predetermined maximum misalignment angle away from a correct mounting alignment axis. If the guide mount is not properly positioned on the probe, then the gate assembly is out of correct alignment and the locking arrangement is unable to engage. The operator can then easily feel that she is not able to mount the guide.

Abstract: A system interrogates a region with ultrasound and then generates a vector field of values representing the velocity sensed at a plurality of image element positions. Spatial changes in the velocity vector field are then determined and displayed to the user, preferably in real time. The spatial changes include divergence and/or the rotation (also known as "curl") of the velocity vector field. In order to enable display of the vector spatial change information, either magnitude values, projected values, or color-coded vector information may be computed and displayed. In order to reduce the effect of noise on differentiation operations, the system preferably smooths the velocity vector field before, after or at the same time as it determines divergence or rotation.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method and a device for separation and collection of substances floating in water by making use of a relative motion between the water containing the substances and a collection container having trapping means associated therewith. In accordance with the invention the water motion relatively to a collection container is made use of to create a circulating movement therein. The circulating movement is obtained by bringing the water to enter the collection container essentially tangentially with respect to the latter. The removal of the substances in question is effected in the circulating water flow. Cleaned water is evacuated along the collection container bottom.

Abstract: The invention relates to an apparatus (1) for locking a cord (2), a wire, a tube or any other bendable member into a locking position with a locking portion. The locking portion (3) has at least one open slits shaped receiving cavity (5) defined at one end of the locking portion, the cavities having an opening that is facing away from a portion (7) of the cord that is under tension and the cavity having a width that is less than a diameter of the cord so that the portion (7) that is under tension and a portion (8) of the cord that is received within the receiving cavity are substantially perpendicular to one another.

Abstract: Substantially cylindrical items are stacked in layers on a pallet. One or more sheets of paper, foil, or webbing is laid out on and around the items in a pattern of loops in such a way that the weight of the items themselves acting on the sheet locks the items in place on the pallet, with no need for the sheet to be attached to the pallet. A pick-up arrangement is provided for fetching the items from a supply area, and then placing them in layers onto the pallet. The tension in the paper sheet is controlled to optimize the locking effect while reducing the risk of over-tensioning.

Abstract: A guide for guiding a needle for insertion into a patient during a surgical procedure has a main guide body, a mounting arrangement for attaching the main guide body onto an ultrasound probe, and a needle cap that fits removably onto the needle guide. At least one channel is located between the main guide body and the needle cap. The needle cap is preferably made of a magnetic metal, and a magnet is preferably mounted in the main guide body. The needle cap is thus removably held on the main guide body by the force of the magnet. A multi-angle embodiment of the invention has a plurality of channels, each having a different, predetermined guide angle. The mounting arrangement preferably is in the form of a adjustable clamp, with a first and a second arm, which engage the housing of the ultrasound probe. The second arm preferably pivots in the main guide body depending on the position of an adjustment arrangement such as a thumbscrew.

Abstract: Cardiac output CO is separately estimated in a local estimator and a trend estimator to provide CO values. A thermal signal is injected preferably according to a pseudo-random binary sequence signal profile at an upstream position in a blood flow region of a patient's body and is sensed as an indicator output signal at a downstream position. Low-frequency noise is preferably removed from the sensed indicator output signal. The local and trend estimations are based on measured frequency-domain transfer function values between the sensed and input indicator signal in relation to a pre-determined transfer function model, which is preferably a lagged normal model. The trend estimator is preferably a Kalman filter. The local estimator preferably forms its estimate based on non-recursive optimization of a cost function. The local estimator preferably provides initial values to start the trend estimator.

Abstract: An image of an interrogation region of a patient's body is generated from the return signal from an ultrasound pulse, which is directed into the interrogation region by a transducer array, which may be linear (to create a planar image) or planar (to create a 3-D image). The time-domain signal back-scattered to the transducer is sensed at a reference plane (preferably, the transducer plane itself) and is transformed first by a temporal Fourier transform and then by a spatial Fourier transform, in order to generate an angular spectral decomposition of the back-scattered signal. This decomposed reference signal is then propagated to image planes (or lines) at depths other than at the reference plane, throughout the image volume. The resulting propagated signals are then inversely transformed twice, back into the time domain. An entire image is thus reconstructed from the back-propagated signal from a single input pulse.

Abstract: An ultrasonic imaging system has a three-dimensional acoustic display. Beam-formed ultrasound scan signals are separated into channel signals and are then filtered using head-related transfer function (HRTF) filters. An HRTF is associated with each of several points in an interrogation region. A filter coefficient processor selects, for each channel signal, a set of HRTF filter parameters according to which sample volume the channel signal comes from. Each HRTF parameter set defines left-ear and right-ear response functions to a calibration sound generated at a calibration point in a calibration space; the calibration point itself corresponds to a predetermined position in the interrogation region. The HRTF-filtered channel signals are then combined into left and right audio output signals which drive left and right speakers that the user listens to while performing the ultrasound scan.

Abstract: A pressurized feeder vessel feeds powdered material into a stream of propellant gas. The feeder vessel includes a funnel-shaped hopper that is resiliently suspended by an elastic member inside the vessel. A vibrator such as an electric motor with an eccentric weight on its shaft vibrates the bottom end of the hopper. The vibration forces of the vibrator are preferably transferred to the hopper via a flexible diaphragm. The hopper is thus subjected to primary vibration forces and torques from below, and secondary, reaction vibration forces and torques from above. This induces the powder in the hopper to fluidize thoroughly and to circulate. In particular, it circulates over and past an inlet orifice, through which powder exits the hopper and enters the propellant stream. Powder circulation thus also prevents clogging of the inlet orifice and leads to more even flow rates. The invention is particularly well suited for delivering abrasive powder to a hand-held dental tool for abrasive treatment of teeth.

Abstract: An ultrasonic transducer array has a piezoelectric ceramic layer that is separated in a longitudinal direction into n transducer groups. Each group is separated in a transverse direction into m elements. A double-sided flex circuit has a flexible, non-conductive base layer, through which conductive vias extend and are in electrical contact with a respective element. A conductive layer on a bottom side of the flex circuit is divided into a plurality of electrodes, each of which is in electrical contact with a respective one of the elements. For each group, electrically conductive traces connect predetermined ones of the flex circuit electrodes with external driving circuitry, and are located on a top side of the flex circuit. Transducer groups with different numbers of elements are provided, some with 1.5-D operation (with element pairs stimulated via a common trace) and some with 2-D operation (with separate traces for each element).

Abstract: An interrogation region, such as a portion of a patient's body, is imaged as an unfiltered pattern of image elements, to each of which is assigned a numerical value such as brightness. One element is selected either automatically or manually as a reference element, which lies in a substantially homogeneous image portion. For ultrasonic imaging, the homogeneous portion preferably corresponds to a region of speckle noise. A reference histogram of the numerical values is then accumulated for all the elements in a region or window about the reference element. All of the remaining elements are sequentially designated as current elements, for each of which a current histogram is accumulated. Each current histogram is compared with the reference histogram using an error function for each corresponding pair of histogram bins. The error function values for all bins, which may be normalized and weighted, are used to generate a similarity value between the current and reference histograms.

Abstract: Human body structures, for example, of a fetus, are automatically measured using ultrasound by first using an ultrasonic transducer or prestored ultrasound scan to generate an image frame as a pattern of pixels. Each pixel has a brightness value corresponding to an echo signal from a corresponding portion of an interrogation region of the patient's body, which includes the body structure. The image frame is displayed on a screen and includes a structure frame portion that corresponds to the body structure. The user then designates a general geometry feature of the displayed body structure and at least one measurement parameter associated with the designated geometry feature. For curved, closed structures such as the head or abdomen, the measurement parameters may, for example, be the circumference or at least one diameter. For mainly straight structures such as the femur or humerus, the measurement parameter will normally be the end-to-end length.

Abstract: A region of tissue is scanned as a series of 2-D frames. The correlation of substantially homogeneous speckle regions in the frames is determined and is compared with a precalibrated speckle correlation-versus-distance function to give an estimate of the distance between the frames. In some applications, the frames are partitioned into sub-frames, whose correlation values and distances are combined according to predetermined functions to give a distance estimate between the frames as a whole. The reliability of the distance estimates is improved and evaluated in various ways, for example, by comparing combinations of possible distances from end frames via intermediate frames, and by comparing computed frame or sub-frame velocities with a known or estimated transducer velocity. Once the relative distances of the 2-D frames are estimated, a 3-D image is compiled using registration techniques. Image frames need not be parallel.

Abstract: A container for storing bags for re-use includes a substantially flat rear wall that extends in a lengthwise direction and can be mounted on a supporting surface by, for example, adhesive tape or screws. A pair of opposing side wall portions are joined with the rear wall, extend in the lengthwise direction, and have inward extending, opposing inner edges opposite the rear wall. A bottom portion is joined to the rear wall and to each of the side walls. The rear wall, the side walls, and the bottom portion define between them a convex interior of the container. Bags can be inserted into the interior of container through a top opening. A slit that is at least as wide as a predetermined minimum user wrist width extends lengthwise between the inner edges of the side walls over substantially the entire length of the container and into the interior of the container.