Apparatus, system and method for detecting and monitoring inhalations

Described herein are an interactive apparatus and methods for sensing and measuring real-time characteristic patterns of a subject's use of a dry powder inhalation system. The inhaler device can be used in a wireless communication mode to communicate with a display to assess the subject's usage of the inhalation system concurrently as the inhalation is performed and thus the subject's inhalation can be evaluated as well as the performance of the inhalation system. The system can also detect the identity of the medicament, its dosage, lot, expiration, etc. and the characteristics profile of a dry powder formulation emitted from the inhalation system in use.

System and method for medical instrument navigation and targeting

Certain aspects relate to systems and techniques for medical instrument navigation and targeting. In one aspect, a system includes a medical instrument having an elongate body and at least one sensor, a display, a processor, and a memory storing a model of a mapped portion of a luminal network and a position of a target with respect to the model. The processor may be configured to: determine, based on data from the at least one sensor, a position and orientation of a distal end of the medical instrument with respect to the model, and cause, on at least a portion of the display, a rendering of the model, the position of the target, and the position and orientation of the distal end of the medical instrument. The rendering may be based on a viewpoint directed at the target and different from a viewpoint of the medical instrument.

Method for manufacturing semiconductor device with helium-containing gas

A method for manufacturing a semiconductor device includes forming a SiN film on a substrate. Plasma treatment is applied to the SiN film using a He-containing gas.

Systems and methods for instrument based insertion architectures

Systems, devices and methods are provided in which an instrument can translate along an insertion axis. Rather than relying primarily on a robotic arm for instrument insertion, the instruments described herein have novel instrument based insertion architectures that allow portions of the instruments themselves to translate along an insertion axis. For example, an instrument can comprise a shaft, an end effector on a distal end of the shaft, and a handle coupled to the shaft. The architecture of the instrument allows the shaft to translate relative to the handle along an axis of insertion. The translation of the shaft does not interfere with other functions of the instrument, such as end effector actuation.

Directed fluidics

Methods and systems for administering directed fluidics during a medical procedure for removing an object are disclosed. A method includes inserting first and second medical instruments into a treatment site, providing irrigation and aspiration of the treatment site through the first and second medical instruments, determining a characteristic of one of the irrigation and the aspiration, and selecting a characteristic of the other of the irrigation and aspiration based on the determined characteristic.

Siloxane plasma polymers for sheet bonding

Described herein are glass articles and methods of making glass articles, comprising a thin sheet and a carrier, wherein the thin sheet and carrier or bonded together using a coating layer, which is preferably an organosiloxane polymer coating layer, and associated deposition methods and inert gas treatments that may be applied on the thin sheet, the carrier, or both, to control van der Waals, hydrogen and covalent bonding between the thin sheet and the carrier. The coating layer bonds the thin sheet and carrier together to prevent a permanent bond at high temperature processing while at the same time maintaining a sufficient bond to prevent delamination during high temperature processing.

Endolumenal object sizing

An object sizing system sizes an object positioned within a patient. The object sizing system identifies a presence of the object. The object sizing system navigates an elongate body of an instrument to a position proximal to the object within the patient. An imaging sensor coupled to the elongate body captures one or more sequential images of the object. The instrument may be further moved around within the patient to capture additional images at different positions/orientations relative to the object. The object sizing system also acquires robot data and/or EM data associated with the positions and orientations of the elongate body. The object sizing system analyzes the captured images based on the acquired robot data to estimate a size of the object.

Voice control of computing devices

Systems and methods for voice control of computing devices are disclosed. Applications may be downloaded and/or accessed by a device having a display, and content associated with the applications may be displayed. Many applications do not allow for voice commands to be utilized to interact with the displayed content. Improvements described herein allow for non-voice-enabled applications to utilize voice commands to interact with displayed content by determining screen data displayed by the device and utilizing the screen data to determine an intent associated with the application. Directive data to perform an action corresponding to the intent may be sent to the device and may be utilized to perform the action on an object associated with the displayed content.

Methods and apparatus for increasing a transfer of energy in an inductive power supply

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, generating, by a waveform generator, an alternating waveform by selectively enabling one or more switches coupled to a storage device, and supplying, by the waveform generator, the alternating voltage waveform to a winding coupled to a magnetic core of an inductive power supply to modify an alternating magnetic flux in the magnetic core from current alone flowing through a transmission medium coupled to the inductive power supply. Other embodiments are disclosed.

METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR LABELING CELLS

The present disclosure provides methods, systems, and compositions for parallel processing of nucleic acid samples. Methods and systems of the present disclosure comprise the use of sample-specific barcode sequences, which facilitate the multiplexing of samples, detection of discrete cell populations within a pooled population, and detection of partitions comprising more than one cell.