Abstract: An atrial septal occluder device for repairing an atrial septal defect in a human heart includes an elongated catheter for insertion into and moved along a blood vessel and into the heart of a patient. The catheter includes a head portion, a tail portion and a neck portion between the head and tail portions. The neck portion is about 1 cm in length and 2 to 4 mm in diameter. The device also includes an Amplatzer ASO removably fixed to the head of the device and a moveable neck portion for positioning the ASO with respect to the ASD and an activator for closing the ASO over the ASD from outside of the patient's body.

Abstract: A training spoon for training an individual not to bite down on a spoon includes a longitudinally extending handle and a spoon shaped head portion integral with or attached to the handle. The head portion defines a relatively shallow concave bowl with a plurality of generally parallel alternating transverse ridges and adjacent grooves extending across a majority of the width of the head portion of the spoon.

Abstract: An atrial septal occluder device for repairing an atrial septal defect in a human heart includes an elongated catheter for insertion into and moved along a blood vessel and into the heart of a patient. The catheter includes a head portion, a tail portion and a neck portion between the head and tail portions. The neck portion is about 1 cm in length and 2 to 4 mm in diameter. The device also includes an Amplatzer ASO removably fixed to the head of the device and a moveable neck portion for positioning the ASO with respect to the ASD and an activator for closing the ASO over the ASD from outside of the patient's body.

Abstract: A voice activatable system for providing the correct spelling of a spoken word is disposed in an elongated body of a writing instrument such as a ball point pen. The system includes a microphone the output of which is fed to an amplifier analog to a digital converter and from there to a speech recognition program, the output of the speech recognition program is fed to a computer, namely a word processor/controller that includes a data base. The output of the speech recognition is compared with the digital library of words and when a match is found, it is amplified and fed to digital to analog connector. The output of the digital/analog computer is fed to a speaker that repeats the word with the correct pronunciation followed by a correct spelling of the word. The system includes a battery for powering the system as well as an on/off switch and a repeat button for repeating information from the system.

Abstract: A training spoon for training an individual not to bite down on a spoon includes a longitudinally extending handle and a spoon shaped head portion integral with or attached to the handle. The head portion defines a relatively shallow concave bowl with a plurality of generally parallel alternating transverse ridges and adjacent grooves extending across a majority of the width of the head portion of the spoon.

Abstract: An atrial septal occluder device for repairing an atrial septal defect in a human heart includes an elongated catheter for insertion into and moved along a blood vessel and into the heart of a patient. The catheter includes a head portion, a tail portion and a neck portion between the head and tail portions. The neck portion is about 1 cm in length and 2 to 4 mm in diameter. The device also includes an Amplatzer ASO removably fixed to the head of the device and a moveable neck portion for positioning the ASO with respect to the ASD and an activator for closing the ASO over the ASD from outside of the patient's body.

Abstract: A voice activatable system for providing the correct spelling of a spoken word is disposed in an elongated body of a writing instrument such as a ball point pen. The system includes a microphone the output of which is fed to an amplifier analog to a digital converter and from there to a speech recognition program, the output of the speech recognition program is fed to a computer, namely a word processor/controller that includes a data base. The output of the speech recognition is compared with the digital library of words and when a match is found, it is amplified and fed to digital to analog connector. The output of the digital/analog computer is fed to a speaker that repeats the word with the correct pronunciation followed by a correct spelling of the word. The system includes a battery for powering the system as well as an on/off switch and a repeat button for repeating information from the system.