Abstract: On a portable electronic device, multiple-position toggle button data entry keys are provided within the data entry keypad. A controller detects activation of each multiple-position toggle button data entry key on the keypad by a user, and also detects the number of times the data entry key is activated. The controller then accesses a key map in memory to determine the letter or numeric digit selected by the user. All letters and numbers represented on the communication device may be activated with no more than two depressions or activations of a corresponding toggle button.

Abstract: An enhanced method and device are provided to inhibit or reduce restenosis following angioplasty or stent placement. A porous balloon-tipped catheter is disposed in the area treated or opened through balloon angioplasty immediately following angioplasty. The balloon, which can have a dual balloon structure, may be delivered through a guiding catheter and over a guidewire already in place. A fluid such as a perfluorocarbon flows into the balloon to freeze the tissue adjacent the balloon, this cooling being associated with reduction of restenosis. A similar catheter may be used to reduce atrial fibrillation by inserting and inflating the porous balloon such that an exterior surface of the balloon, as well as a portion of the cold working fluid, from the microporosity contacts at least a partial circumference of the portion of the pulmonary vein adjacent the left atrium.

Abstract: A method for controlling phases of beams to make relative phases of the beams “0 ” in a beam splitting amplification laser using a stimulated Brillouin scattering phase conjugate mirror. A procedure of making a phase difference between laser beams reflected from the phase conjugate mirror “0” comprises a first step of inputting laser beams reflected from the phase conjugate mirrors to a light detector through light path converter a second step of using one of the reflected laser beams as a reference laser beam and making the reference laser beam interfere with another reflected laser beam; and a third step of detecting the interference result and finely driving piezoelectric element to control the positions of the reflectors, to thereby make a phase difference between the become “0”.

Abstract: A method is provided for making an inter-level dielectric for a microelectronic device formed on a substrate. The method begins by forming first and second spacer layers over a substrate layer. The spacer layers are formed from a sacrificial dielectric material. Next, first and second dielectric layers are formed on the first and second spacer layers, respectively, such that each of the first and second dielectric layers is separated by one of the spacer layers. The first and second dielectric layers each include a first and second dielectric component. The second dielectric component is a sacrificial dielectric material. At least a portion of the second dielectric component is removed to thereby form voids in the first and second dielectric layers. At least a portion of the sacrificial dielectric material in the first and second spacer layers is also removed to thereby form voids in the first and/or second spacer layers.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide a system for temperature control of the human body. The system includes an indwelling catheter with a tip-mounted heat transfer element. The catheter is fluidically coupled to a console that provides a heated or cooled heat transfer working fluid to exchange heat with the heat transfer element, thereby heating or cooling blood. The heated or cooled blood then heats or cools the patient's body or a selected portion thereof. In particular, strategies for providing cooling while reducing shivering are disclosed, including administration of various drugs and drug combinations.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to medical devices that contain at least one tissue contacting surface that is configured to undergo a variation in surface charge in response to a time-dependent signal. Such a variation in surface charge is provided, for example, to enhance or inhibit cellular growth adjacent to, on, or within the at least one tissue contacting surface.

Abstract: An optical spectral detection device utilizing free space optical beam propagation is provided. The device includes at least one optical fiber input, at least one opto-electronic detection device, an optical element having an actuator with at least one tilt axis, and a diffraction element having a surface thereon. The device also includes an optical beam transfer arrangement positioned between the optical element and the diffraction element such that tilt actuation of the optical element elicits a proportional change in an angle of incidence of the optical beam onto the diffraction element, wherein the center of rotation for the angular change is the surface of the diffraction element. The spectral properties of the optical beam that are detected are selected by selectively positioning the optical element about at least one of the tilt axes.

Abstract: An enzymatically active medical article is provided, which comprises a medical article and an enzyme disposed at or near a surface of the medical article such that the medical article is provided with an enzymatically active surface. The enzyme is selected, for example, from the group consisting of protease enzymes, glycosidase enzymes, enzymes that degrade cholesterol esters, enzymes that convert hydrocortisone to cortisone, enzymes that degrade oxalate, and enzymes that generate NO from arginine.

Abstract: In an anodized electrode which comprises a substrate, a vacuum deposited porous coating thereon comprising at least one substance selected from valve metals, valve metal oxides and mixtures thereof, and at least one ectrolytically produced anodized layer selected from valve metal oxides and mixtures thereof, the effective surface area is increased prior to deposition of the at least one anodized layer, e.g. by oxidizing the surface of the porous layer and removing thus formed oxide, and/or by roughening the surface of substrate mechanically, chemically and/or electrochemically, prior to vapor deposition.

Abstract: The present invention relates to vibration-insensitive point-diffraction interferometry. For the purpose of obtaining high immunity to vibration, a single-mode optical fiber is used to generate the reference wave, by means of point diffraction, directly from a measurement wave reflected from test objects. The capability of vibration desensitization is further strengthened by adding a spatial phase-shift device that enables four interferograms of different amounts of phase shift to be obtained simultaneously with no time delay between interferograms. The present invention may be effectively used in the design of measuring systems for in-line applications where measurements need to be performed in the presence of significant levels of vibration.

Abstract: The invention relates to an assembly to produce recipe mixtures, with a variable-speed agitator drive, a mixing chamber (1) whose capacity is matched to the desired quantity of recipe mixture and that is enclosed by a lid (9), and an agitator tool (2). The mixing chamber (1) and the agitator tool (2) may move with respect to each other along the axis of the drive shaft during the production of the recipe mixture. The agitator tool (2) may be driven by means of a drive shaft (15) that may be inserted through a sealable central aperture (11) of the mixing chamber. The agitator tool (2) possesses friction surface areas such that the material is drawn into the spaces between its ends and the opposing inner surfaces of the mixing chamber (1).

Abstract: A fluid level detector system, which may measure the amount of fluid in a reservoir, and may further trigger an alarm when the fluid level in the cassette reaches a low level condition. The cassette's reservoir may contain a transient sterile solution, which is moving through the cassette to be either cooled or heated in the heat exchanger area. The detection scheme includes a ring magnet housed in a float assembly located in the fluid reservoir of the cassette and, e.g., two magnetic sensors, such as may form a Hall effect integrated circuit, which may be fixed within the console.

Abstract: A CMOS device such as an NFET or a PFET and a method of forming a CMOS device are provided. The method begins by forming at least one patterned gate region atop a first semiconductor layer that includes silicon. Dielectric spacers are formed about exposed portions of the patterned gate region. Source-drain regions are formed in the first semiconductor layer. Recesses are formed in the first semiconductor layer that extends under the dielectric spacers. The first semiconductor layer has exposed surfaces that in part define sidewalls of the recesses. A nickel barrier layer is formed on each of the exposed surfaces of the first semiconductor layer. The nickel barrier layers are etched so that the nickel barriers remain only on portions of the exposed surfaces located under the dielectric spacers and not on remaining portions of the exposed surface. A silicon-containing layer is formed on the remaining exposed surfaces of the first semiconductor layer.

Abstract: A method for furnishing a therapeutic-agent-containing medical device is provided. The method comprises: (a) providing a reactive layer comprising a cross-linking agent on a medical device surface; and (b) subsequently applying a polymer-containing layer, which comprises a polymer and a therapeutic agent, over the reactive layer. The cross-linking agent interacts with the polymer to form a cross-linked polymeric region that comprises the therapeutic agent. Moreover, in certain embodiments, the polymer-containing layer does not comprise the cross-linking agent at the time the polymer-containing layer is applied over the reactive layer. Examples of medical devices include implantable or insertable medical devices, for example, catheters, balloon, cerebral aneurysm filler coils, arterio-venous shunts and stents.

Abstract: A beer mat having a compact disc and a beer-mat body, whereby the main surface of the beer-mat body has been provided with a flat recess, whose depth corresponds at least to the thickness of the compact disc, but less than the thickness of the beer-mat body outside of the recess, whereby the compact disc has been inserted into the recess, and with a cover film overspanning the recess and bonded to the main surface of the beer-mat cover outside of the recess, and whereby the perimeter line of the cover film runs outside of the perimeter line of the recess but within the perimeter line of the beer-mat body, so that a ring absorption area is formed.

Abstract: An implantable or insertable medical device which comprises (a) a therapeutic agent and (b) a polymeric release region that controls the release of the therapeutic agent upon administration to a patient. The polymeric release region comprises a radiation-crosslinked polymer, and the polymeric release region is crosslinked with a radiation dose of at least 10,000 rads. The radiation-crosslinked polymer can be, for example, a radiation-crosslinked methylene-containing polymer. The polymeric release region can be, for example, (a) a carrier region that comprises the therapeutic agent or (b) a barrier region that is disposed over a therapeutic-agent-containing region that comprises the therapeutic agent. The present invention is further directed to methods of forming such medical devices, methods of releasing a therapeutic agent within a patient using such medical devices, and methods of modulating the release of a therapeutic agent from such medical devices.

Abstract: An electronic element testing apparatus for use with a number of probes. Each probe has a lower pole and an upper pole. The apparatus includes: a first plate having a first side and a second side, the first side having an array of lower pole regions disposed thereabout, each lower pole region configured to receive a lower pole of a probe; and a plurality of signal conductor regions disposed proximate the array of lower pole regions, each signal conductor region arranged to provide a non-cable electrical path between a lower pole region and a switching circuit. The switching circuits are operable to sequentially connect each electronic element to a testing circuit via the upper and lower poles.