Attachment device and methods of using the same

Devices for attaching a first mass and a second mass and methods of making and using the same are disclosed. The devices can be made from an resilient, elastic or deformable materials. The devices can be used to attach a heart valve ring to a biological annulus. The devices can also be used for wound closure or a variety of other procedures such as anchoring a prosthesis to surrounding tissue or another prosthesis, tissue repair, such as in the closure of congenital defects such as septal heart defects, tissue or vessel anastomosis, fixation of tissue with or without a reinforcing mesh for hernia repair, orthopedic anchoring such as in bone fusing or tendon or muscle repair, ophthalmic indications, laparoscopic or endoscopic tissue repair or placement of prostheses, or use by robotic devices for procedures such as those above performed remotely.

System for tissue approximation and fixation

A system for tissue approximation and fixation is described herein. The devices are advanced in a minimally invasive manner within a patient's body to create one or several divisions or plications within a hollow body organ. The system comprises a tissue acquisition and folding device and a tissue stapling or fixation device, each of which is used together as a system. The acquisition device is used to approximate tissue regions from within the hollow body organ and the stapling device is advanced through a main lumen defined through the acquisition device and is used to affix the approximated tissue. The stapling device is keyed to maintain its rotational orientation relative to the acquisition device as well as to provide the user positional information of the stapling device. The acquisition device is also configured to provide lateral stability to the stapling device prior to the stapling device being clamped onto tissue.

Flexible medical device

This invention relates to flexible medical device. The flexible medical device may comprise interlocking portions formed of a continuous channel. When formed of a continuous channel, the medical device comprises interconnected interlocking portions, rather than independent interlocking portions. The flexible medical device may also be designed so that different portions of the device have different flexibility characteristics.

Device and system for in-vivo procedures

A system for performing in vivo procedures is provided. The system may include a tool for performing an in vivo procedure. The tool may have an in vivo sensor for obtaining in vivo information; a functional element for performing an interventional or diagnostic in-vivo procedure; a processor in communication with the tool for receiving and optionally processing the in vivo information obtained by the tool and a monitor in communication with the processor for displaying the optionally processed in vivo information. The communication between the elements of the system may be wireless, or, optionally, wired.

Bead emulsion nucleic acid amplification

Disclosed are methods for nucleic acid amplification wherein nucleic acid templates, beads, and amplification reaction solution are emulsified and the nucleic acid templates are amplified to provide clonal copies of the nucleic acid templates attached to the beads. Also disclosed are kits and apparatuses for performing the methods of the invention.

Method for producing microparticles loaded with proteins

The present invention concerns a method for producing microparticles loaded with proteins which is characterized in that the microparticles are loaded in suspension under strongly alkaline conditions. The invention also concerns microparticles which can be produced using this method and their use in a binding test e.g. in an immunoassay.

Interior rearview mirror assembly

An interior rearview mirror assembly for a vehicle includes a reflective element and a casing. An attachment plate is secured to the reflective element and an electronic circuitry element, such as a printed circuit board, is attached to the attachment plate. The attachment plate includes at least one mounting member protruding through the circuit board for engaging a mounting assembly that mounts the mirror assembly to an interior portion of the vehicle and directly supports the attachment plate, along with the printed circuit board and the reflective element at an end of the mounting assembly. The mounting assembly may comprise a toggle assembly for a prismatic reflective element.

System and method for natural language processing of query answers

Candidate answers responsive to a user query are analyzed using a natural language engine to determine appropriate answers from an electronic database. The system and methods are useful for Internet based search engines, as well as distributed speech recognition systems such as a client-server system. The latter are typically implemented on an intranet or over the Internet based on user queries at his/her computer, a PDA, or a workstation using a speech input interface.

Three-dimensional interior design system

A system and method in a client-server computing environment is provided for generating and rendering a photorealistic three-dimensional (3D) perspective view of a 3D object selectively positioned within a 3D scene. A client is configured for communicably accessing a server, and includes a client application configured for scene editing and rendering, using a graphical user interface (GUI). The 3D scene may be selectively displayed in a plurality of views, and a 3D object may be retrieved from the server and imported into the 3D scene to generate a composite. The 3D object may also be manipulated within the composite for placement and orientation. A 3D image of the composite may then be rendered at the client and selectively reconfigured in real time. Luminosity characteristics may be applied to the 3D image; followed by rendering a photorealistic 3D view of the composite image.

Distributed real time speech recognition system

A real-time system incorporating speech recognition and linguistic processing for recognizing a spoken query by a user and distributed between client and server, is disclosed. The system accepts user's queries in the form of speech at the client where minimal processing extracts a sufficient number of acoustic speech vectors representing the utterance. These vectors are sent via a communications channel to the server where additional acoustic vectors are derived. Using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), and appropriate grammars and dictionaries conditioned by the selections made by the user, the speech representing the user's query is fully decoded into text (or some other suitable form) at the server. This text corresponding to the user's query is then simultaneously sent to a natural language engine and a database processor where optimized SQL statements are constructed for a full-text search from a database for a recordset of several stored questions that best matches the user's query. Further processing in the natural language engine narrows the search to a single stored question. The answer corresponding to this single stored question is next retrieved from the file path and sent to the client in compressed form. At the client, the answer to the user's query is articulated to the user using a text-to-speech engine in his or her native natural language. The system requires no training and can operate in several natural languages.