End effector with compliant clamping jaw

An apparatus for operating on tissue includes an end effector assembly, a body, and a shaft. The shaft extends from the body to the end effector assembly. The body is operable to communicate with the end effector assembly via the shaft. The end effector assembly includes a pair of pivoting jaws and a firing beam. The firing beam is operable to advance distally through slots in the jaws to close the jaws. One of the jaws comprises a plurality of segments that are movable relative to each other. The segments may be joined by living hinges, pivoting hinges, or sliding features. One of the jaws may be formed by a combination of a distally projecting tongue of the shaft and two members that are secured above and below the tongue, respectively. An end effector jaw may also include a resiliently biased electrode cartridge.

FOAM APPLICATION TO STAPLING DEVICE

A surgical stapling apparatus includes a cartridge assembly, an anvil assembly, a surgical buttress, and a low molecular weight bioabsorbable adhesive. The cartridge assembly includes a plurality of staples and a tissue contacting surface defining staple retaining slots. The anvil assembly includes a tissue contacting surface defining staple pockets for forming staples expelled from the staple retaining slots of the cartridge assembly. The surgical buttress is disposed on at least one of the tissue contacting surfaces of the cartridge assembly and the anvil assembly. The low molecular weight bioabsorbable adhesive releasably retains the surgical buttress on the at least one of the tissue contacting surfaces of the cartridge assembly and the anvil assembly.

Systems and methods of tissue closure

Apparatus, systems, and methods are described for closing the base of a left atrial appendage or other tissue structure. A tissue closure device comprises a pair of legs having compliant surfaces for engaging against opposite sides of the tissue structure. A plurality of axially spaced-apart tissue-penetrating fasteners are delivered from one leg to the other to pierce the intervening tissue and hold the closure device in place on the tissue structure.

Endoscopic surgical system

The present invention is an apparatus, device or tool for performing endoscopic (that is, minimally invasive) surgery. An exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a video endoscope whilst in another embodiment of the invention includes an endoscopic surgical tool which, when equipped with one of a suite of endoscopic surgical instruments, can be used by a surgeon to perform surgical procedures inside a body. Another embodiment of the present invention includes a suite of endoscopic surgical instruments designed to work co-operatively with the endoscopic surgical tool. In another embodiment of the present invention, a video-assisted endoscopic surgical tool system is provided. In one embodiment, the system includes the video-assisted endoscopic surgical tool and a suite of at least one endoscopic surgical instrument.

Cooperative flash memory control

This disclosure provides for host-controller cooperation in managing NAND flash memory. The controller maintains information for each erase unit which tracks memory usage. This information assists the host in making decisions about specific operations, for example, initiating garbage collection, space reclamation, wear leveling or other operations. For example, metadata can be provided to the host identifying whether each page of an erase unit has been released, and the host can specifically then command each of consolidation and erase using direct addressing. By redefining host-controller responsibilities in this manner, much of the overhead association with FTL functions can be substantially removed from the memory controller, with the host directly specifying physical addresses. This reduces performance unpredictability and overhead, thereby facilitating integration of solid state drives (SSDs) with other forms of storage. The disclosed techniques are especially useful for direct-attached and/or network-attached storage.

Surgical instrument with blade compliant along vertical cutting edge plane

An apparatus comprises a body, a shaft, an end effector, and a firing beam. The shaft extends distally from the body. The end effector is positioned at the distal end of the shaft. The end effector comprises a first jaw and a second jaw, with the first jaw being pivotable toward the second jaw. The firing beam is operable to translate relative to the end effector to thereby drive the first jaw toward the second jaw. The firing beam includes a deformable portion operable to deform in response to a stress imposed by the end effector on the firing beam as the jaws clamp on dense or thick tissue. The deformable portion is defined in part by a cutout. A compliance restriction feature restricts deformation in the firing beam. A resilient member biases the firing beam to a non-deformed configuration.

Multi-tenant cloud storage system

A multi-tenant cloud storage system is provided. The cloud storage system a plurality of tenants, each tenant is configured to utilize an isolated logical partition of the cloud storage system accessible to a respective tenant portal, wherein the plurality of tenants includes at least a first type tenant and a second type tenant, each of the first type tenant and the second type tenant are configured to provision its respective set of members with a different storage policy.

Wick suitable for use in an electronic smoking article

The present disclosure relates to an electronic smoking article that provides for improved aerosol delivery. Particularly, the article comprises a wicking element useful for improving delivery of aerosol precursor to a heating element. In particular, the wick can take on a brush-like configuration. The present disclosure further relates to methods of forming an aerosol in a smoking article.

Bipolar electrosurgical hand shears

An apparatus comprises a first jaw, a second jaw, a first handle, and a second handle. The second jaw is pivotally coupled with the first jaw. The first jaw and the second jaw are configured to grasp tissue. The jaws provide offset electrode surfaces that are operable to deliver bipolar RF energy to tissue grasped between the jaws. The apparatus is further operable to sever tissue. A lockout feature selectively prevents tissue severing, based on an energization state of the jaws.

EAR SENSOR

An ear sensor provides physiological parameter monitoring. The ear sensor may comprise an in-ear portion configured to fit in an ear of a user. The in-ear portion may include at least one light emitter configured to emit light into an ear tissue site of the user and at least one light detector configured output a signal responsive to at least a portion of the emitted light after attenuation by ear tissue of the ear tissue site.