Abstract: A lightweight construction material, a method of fabricating building panels utilizing said material and device therefore. The formulation utilizes silicone-treated expanded perlite in combination with cement, alpha gypsum, polyvinyl alcohol fibers and powder, and water. Building panels are formed utilizing fiber mesh to reinforce them while minimizing their weight. The building panel may be formed with one layer or two layers of different formulations.

Abstract: Polyaxial bone anchors include a retainer for holding a shank within a receiver, the retainer being in at least two discrete pieces and cooperating with a variety of inserts, some of which independently lock the polyaxial mechanism. Polyaxial and mono-axial bone anchor assemblies include pivot and/or pressure inserts or pads that cooperate with longitudinal connecting members to provide a desired degree of continued control of angulation of the longitudinal connecting member in the sagittal plane or to hold the connecting member in place. Pressure pads for deformable rods may also be made from a deformable plastic material.

Abstract: A spinal screw assembly providing an adjustable securement of a fixation rod across at least two vertebrae. The assembly includes a pedicle screw having a spherical head portion, a threaded shaft portion and a tool engagement surface in the head portion for use in driving the screw into a vertebrae. The head portion of the screw is positioned in a body member adjacent a curvilinear surface disposed about an aperture in the end of the body member such that the shaft portion of the screw extends therethrough and the curvilinear inner surface abuts and mates with the head portion of the screw so as to define a ball joint therewith. The body member additionally defines a pair of opposed parallel slots therein adapted to receive a portion of the fixation rod and a locking cap bears against the fixation rod to releasably secure the rod within the assembly.

Abstract: An improved dietary and/or therapeutic supplement composition comprising a quantity of a dietary and/or therapeutic supplement agent having a pH that upon ingestion with food or a beverage would limit the effectiveness of the agent and a sufficient amount of an alkaline electrolyte additive is provided in combination with the agent to raise the pH of the composition to a level of from about 8 to about 12.5 to increase the effectiveness and functional utilization of the agent while the composition is in the person's stomach. The supplement composition is designed to provide for optimum utilization of a dietary and/or therapeutic supplement agent when taken orally with food or a beverage.

Abstract: A dynamic fixation medical implant having at least two bone anchors includes a longitudinal connecting member assembly having an elongate core and an outer sleeve. The core is of one-piece construction, elastic, and includes end portions for attachment to the bone anchors. The outer sleeve may include compression grooves. The sleeve surrounds the core and extends between the pair of bone anchors, the sleeve being compressible between the bone anchors.

Abstract: A tool set for implanting a rod in a human spine in conjunction with bone screws. The tool set includes a pair of end guide tools that receive opposite ends of the rod in channels and under manipulation by a surgeon facilitate transport of the rod toward the bone screws attached to the guide tools. Intermediate guide tools having guiding pass through slots are utilized to guide intermediate locations along the rod toward associated bone screws. An attachment structure operably connects the guide tools to the bone screws. The guide tools each include a lower guide and advancement structure to allow a closure top with mating structure to be rotated and driven downward against the rod and to cooperate with similar structure in the bone screw to seat and lock the rod therein. A method utilizing the tool set allows a surgeon to percutaneously implant the rod in the patient.

Abstract: An anti-splay closure with a multi-surfaced aperture, such as a multi-lobular socket, includes a cylindrical body with an external, continuous, helically extending anti-splay guide and advancement flange and a breakaway installation head. The multi-lobular socket includes a plurality of circumferentially spaced lobes extending parallel to a closure axis of the plug and which circumferentially alternate with spline receiving grooves extending parallel to the closure axis. The closure is used with an open headed bone implant screw having arms that are provided with internal, helically extending mating guide and advancement structures complementary to the body flange to allow slidable mating with the body upon rotation thereof and radial interlocking between the arms and the body.

Abstract: A structure including a pair of helically wound interlocking forms located on a cylindrical closure for an open headed medical implant and in a receiver between arms of the implant respectively. The interlocking forms each include overlapping gripping elements that engage mating elements during assembly to prevent radial splaying of arms of the implant.

Abstract: A tool set for implanting a rod in a human spine in conjunction with bone screws includes a pair of end guide tools that receive opposite ends of the rod in channels and under manipulation by a surgeon facilitate transport of the rod toward the bone screws attached to the guide tools. Each end guide tool includes a laterally extending, rigid, rod holding structure located near a bottom surface thereof. Intermediate guide tools having pass-through slots are utilized to guide the rod to the bone screws at intermediate locations.

Abstract: A preassembled and portable crude oil processing apparatus includes a support platform with a gas separator vessel covered by a shed structure and an elongated liquid separator vessel pivotally connected to the support platform. The liquid separator vessel includes support structure which supports it an a horizontal transport configuration. The apparatus is loaded onto a flatbed trailer and transported to a crude oil processing site with the liquid vessel in the horizontal configuration. At the processing site, the apparatus is hoisted off the trailer and deposited on the ground, and the liquid separator vessel is pivoted to a vertical configuration supported by the platform and secured in place. Plumbing associated with the gas separator vessel is then interconnected with plumbing associated with the liquid separator, with piping carrying a crude oil emulsion for processing, and with tanks for storing products of the process.

Abstract: A polyaxial bone screw assembly includes a threaded shank body member having an upper portion with an internal drive and, alternatively, a laterally extending alignment rib or fin. The bone screw assembly also includes a lockable receiver coupling member, an open retainer ring member having a slit or gap and a compression insert member. An inset conical or cylindrical surface on the shank upper portion frictionally engages a similarly shaped inner surface of the retainer ring. The receiver includes a restrictive lower opening that allows for uploading the shank upper portion and compressed retainer ring into the receiver cavity, but prevents passage of the retainer ring out of the receiver once the ring inner surface engages the conical surface of the shank upper portion.

Abstract: A polyaxial bone screw assembly includes a threaded shank body having an upper portion with a laterally extending lug and a retainer having an inner cam track for receiving the lug and thus attaching the shank upper portion to the retainer within a receiver. The retainer may be a closed or open ring. The receiver has a cavity and a U-shaped cradle defining a channel for receiving a longitudinal connecting member such as a spinal fixation rod. The retainer has an external surface that mates with an internal surface of the receiver, providing a ball joint.

Abstract: A convex spinal fusion interbody space device includes spaced apart superior and inferior abutment surfaces which are effectively medially convex. The peak of such convexity is displaced anteriorly of a central plane through the device. The spacer device has a height which is greater than the width of the device. The spacer device is implanted between a pair of adjacent vertebrae by insertion in a tipped-over orientation and then reoriented to an upright orientation for engagement by facing surfaces of the vertebrae. Fusion promoting bone material is packed between the vertebrae and about and within the spacer device subsequent to implantation.

Abstract: An anti-splay closure with a left handed threaded removal bore, includes a cylindrical closure body with an external, continuous, helically extending anti-splay guide and advancement flange and a breakaway installation head. The removal bore is aligned with an axis of the closure body. The bore thread is sized and shaped to receive a removal tool having mating left handed thread. The closure is used with an open headed bone implant screw which is provided with internal, helically extending mating guide and advancement structure complementary to the flange of the closure body.

Abstract: A fluid shear actuated brake mechanism includes an outer hub secured to a hoist frame, a main brake disc stack engaged between the outer hub and a hoist drum shaft, an actuator hub helically engaged with the outer hub, and an actuator disc stack engaged between the actuator hub and the shaft. The main disc stack and the actuator disc stack are immersed in a fluid. Rotation of the shaft in a load lowering direction generates fluid shear in the actuator disc stack which rotates the actuator hub in a lowering direction and advances it toward the main disc stack, compressing it and the actuator disc stack. Rotation of the shaft in an opposite load lift direction retract the actuator hub from the main disc stack.

Abstract: A polyaxial bone screw includes a head member and a shank member. The shank has a capture end and an opposite threaded end for threaded insertion into a vertebra. The head has a U-shaped cradle for receiving a spinal fixation rod and a central bore for receiving the capture end of the shank. An expandable retainer ring with a radial split is snapped onto the capture end of the shank to retain it within the head. The retainer ring has a spherical outer surface which forms a ball joint with a spherical socket cavity within the head to enable the head to be angled relative to the shank. A threaded closure plug is tightened within the cradle to clamp the rod into engagement with a knurled dome on the capture end of the shank to secure the rod relative to the vertebra.

Abstract: A container for over-the-counter drugs or the like that includes a cylindrical plastic bottle with a closure. The closure including a cap and a ring that mates with the mouth of the bottle. The cap ring has a tongue that mates with a capture structure on the cap in a child resistant configuration. The tongue being lockable by a pad lock to block access by unwanted adults and teenagers. The tongue having a senior friendly configuration also.

Abstract: A solar concentration plant which uses water/steam as a heat-carrying fluid, in any thermodynamic cycle or system for the exploitation of process heat, which is comprised of an evaporation subsystem, where saturated steam is produced under the conditions of pressure of the system, and a superheater subsystem through which the steam reaches the required conditions of pressure and temperature at the turbine inlet, and in which an attemperation system (10) may be incorporated, these being physically separated and interconnected by means of a drum (5) in which the separation of water and steam takes place, and in which a strategic control of the pointing of the field of heliostats (1) towards either of the subsystems (evaporator or superheater) may be carried out, with individual or group pointing of the heliostats, in such a way that they jointly control both the pressure within the drum (5) and the outlet temperature of the superheated steam (11).

Abstract: A tool set for implanting a rod in a human spine in conjunction with bone screws. The tool set includes a pair of end guide tools that receive opposite ends of the rod in channels and under manipulation by a surgeon facilitate transport of the rod toward the bone screws attached to the guide tools. Intermediate guide tools having guiding pass through slots are utilized to guide intermediate locations along the rod toward associated bone screws. An attachment structure operably connects the guide tools to the bone screws. The guide tools each include a lower guide and advancement structure to allow a closure top with mating structure to be rotated and driven downward against the rod and to cooperate with similar structure in the bone screw to seat and lock the rod therein. A method utilizing the tool set allows a surgeon to percutaneously implant the rod in the patient.

Abstract: A tool set for implanting a rod in a human spine in conjunction with bone screws includes a pair of end guide tools that receive opposite ends of the rod in channels and under manipulation by a surgeon facilitate transport of the rod toward the bone screws attached to the guide tools. Each end guide tool includes a laterally extending, rigid, rod holding structure located near a bottom surface thereof. Intermediate guide tools having pass-through slots are utilized to guide the rod to the bone screws at intermediate locations. For bone screw implantation, the end guide tools and intermediate guide tools are assembled with a driver. The driver is coaxial with the respective guide tool and rotatingly mateable thereto. The driver includes a stem and a nut-type fastener, the stem receivable in the guide tool. The fastener allows for rotation of the bone screw without rotating the attached guide tool.