Did You Know...
...that while attempting to develop a super strong glue, 3M employee Spencer Silver accidentally developed a glue that was so weak it would barely hold two pieces of paper together? However, his colleague Art Fry needed the glue. Fry sang with his church choir and marked the pages of his hymnal with small scraps of paper that often fell out. He used Silver's glue to hold the papers in place. Today we call this invention Post-it Notes.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8185210 | Communication system and method with preamble encoding for an implantable medical device Medical data is communicated from a transmitter of an external unit to a receiver of an implantable medical device. The transmitter generates a preamble signal having encoded configuration data that informs the receiver of configuration settings to be used in receiv... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185207 | Medical device configuration based on sensed brain signals The invention is directed to techniques and systems in which external brain monitoring is used to facilitate implantation and configuration of an implantable medical device. The techniques may create an open loop or closed loop system in which brain signals quantify... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185206 | Electrical stimulation therapy to promote gastric distention for obesity management The disclosure is directed to techniques for delivering electrical stimulation therapy to support obesity management. The electrical stimulation therapy is configured to cause at least partial gastric distention. Gastric distention tends to induce a sensation of ful... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185192 | Correcting for distortion in a tracking system A volume of a patient can be mapped with a system operable to identify a plurality of locations and save a plurality of locations of a mapping instrument. The mapping instrument can include one or more electrodes that can sense a voltage that can be correlated to a ... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8185184 | Fiducial marker devices, tools, and methods This document discusses, among other things, fiducial marker devices, tools, and methods. One example illustrates a combined computed tomography (CT) imagable fiducial locator head, an integral bone screw, and an integral divot for receiving a positioning wand of an... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8183221 | Suppression of SCN9A gene expression and/or function for the treatment of pain Disclosed herein are methods, sequences and nucleic acid molecules used to treat pain. Specifically, the methods and sequences include locally administering molecules that suppress the expression of amino acid sequences that encode for Nav1.7 channels or ... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8183219 | Therapeuting compositions comprising an RNAi agent and a neurotrophic factor and methods of use thereof The invention provides novel combination therapies for treating neurodegenerative disease which comprise a) neurotrophic factors or suitable fragments thereof and b) agents capable of causing inhibition of a gene responsible for the neurodegenerative disease. The in... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8182460 | Infusion device and method for infusing material into the brain of a patient A fluid infusion device and a method of using the same. The device includes an outer, flexible guide catheter having a distal end for introduction beneath the skull of a patient and a proximal end remaining external of the patient. A flexible infusion fiber is locat... | 05/22/2012 |
| 8180428 | Methods and systems for use in selecting cardiac pacing sites A method and system for use in selecting a cardiac pacing site includes sensors for tracking wall motion (e.g., sensors coupled to the right and left ventricular heart wall). The wall motion of one or more non-paced cardiac cycles is compared to the wall motion of o... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8180129 | Electrode-to-lead association using post-implant imaging In general, the disclosure is related to electrode-to-lead association using post-implant imaging. An image analysis unit may calculate distances between representations of electrodes in an electronic image and identify groups based on the calculated distances. Each... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8179663 | Capacitor liner A capacitor is presented that includes a housing, an electrode assembly, a liner, and a fill port. The liner is located between the housing and the electrode assembly. The liner includes a recessed portion. A fill port extends through the housing across from the rec... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8178242 | Lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion battery includes a positive electrode having a current collector and a first active material and a negative electrode comprising a current collector, a second active material, and a third active material. The second active material comprises a lithium ... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8177836 | Apparatus and methods for minimally invasive valve repair A surgical fastening apparatus including at least one self-closing clip and a deployment device. The self-closing clip comprises a wire defining an intermediate portion interconnecting opposing, first and second side portions having a memory set loop shape. The depl... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8177787 | Disposable battery pack for a surgical drill; and method A surgical procedure is disclosed utilizing a cordless surgical handpiece powered from a sterile battery pack that contains a battery in condition for immediate use without further charging or sterilization. The battery chemistry is based upon lithium/manganese diox... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8177735 | Cardiotomy and venous blood reservoir and method A cardiotomy and venous blood reservoir including a housing assembly, a downtube, and a bowl. The housing assembly forms a chamber. The downtube extends from an inlet port to a downstream end within the chamber. A diameter of the tube lumen increases to the downstre... | 05/15/2012 |
| 8175720 | Posture-responsive therapy control based on patient input Patient efficacy inputs are received over a period of time during which posture-responsive therapy is delivered to the patient while the patient occupies a plurality of posture states. The patient inputs are correlated with the times at which the inputs were receive... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175706 | Overlapping pacing and tachyarrhythmia detection zones An example implantable medical device (IMD), such as an implantable cardioverter defibrillator, may be configured to store a ventricular tachycardia zone, wherein the ventricular tachycardia zone specifies ventricular depolarization rates indicative of ventricular t... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175695 | T-wave alternans train spotter A method and system for detecting T-wave alternans for use in an implanted medical device uses wave transformation of QT intervals to obtain a reliable measure of TWA. In one embodiment, an array provides alternating sign multiplication factors which are applied res... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8175694 | Heart failure monitor quicklook summary for patient management systems Continuous remote monitoring of patients based on data obtained from an implantable hemodynamic monitor provides an interactive patient management system. Using network systems, patients are remotely monitored to continuously diagnose and treat heart-failure conditi... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8173622 | Antimicrobial compounds having protective or therapeutic leaving groups Antimicrobial compounds, such as silanol or alcohol, include a protecting or leaving group that can protect the compound from degradation during the process of preparing a medical device containing the compound or reduce the volatility of the compound relative to it... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8173614 | Therapeuting compositions comprising an RNAi agent and a neurotrophic factor and methods of use thereof The invention provides novel combination therapies for treating Huntington's disease which comprise a) BDNF or suitable fragments thereof and b) agents capable of causing inhibition of a gene responsible for the neurodegenerative disease. The invention provides nucl... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8172893 | Expandable stent A stent has a porous surface having a repeating pattern generally in the shape of a “butterfly” comprising alternative concave and convex segments which give the stent good flexibility when unexpanded, and good shape retention once expanded. ... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8172837 | Clamping ablation tool and method Method and apparatus for ablating target tissue adjacent pulmonary veins of a patient. A clamping ablation tool can include an upper arm having an upper neck, a link assembly, and an upper actuator. The link assembly can include a distal electrode and a proximal ele... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8172760 | Medical device encapsulated within bonded dies An implantable medical system includes a first die substrate with a first outer surface. The system also includes a second die substrate with a second outer surface. Furthermore, the system includes a medical device with a first portion that is mounted to the first ... | 05/08/2012 |
| 8170681 | Method of charging an implantable medical device A rechargeable implantable medical device with a magnetic shield placed on the distal side of a secondary recharging coil to improve charging efficiency is disclosed. The rechargeable implantable medical device can be a wide variety of medical devices such as neuro ... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170666 | Method for scheduling atrial-ventricular conduction checks in minimum ventricular pacing A medical device and associated method deliver cardiac pacing in a dual chamber pacing mode and schedule an atrial-ventricular (AV) conduction check during the dual chamber pacing mode to detect the presence of AV conduction. If AV conduction is detected during the ... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170654 | Sequential discrimination approach for detecting treatable cardiac rhythms A system and method for use in a medical device for discriminating cardiac events establishes population-based thresholds corresponding to cardiac signal morphology metrics for discriminating between a first cardiac event and a second cardiac event. A population-bas... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170650 | Implantable tissue perfusion sensing system and method A medical device for sensing cardiac events that includes a plurality of light sources capable of emitting light at a plurality of wavelengths, and a detector to detect the emitted light. A processor generates an ambient light measurement in response to ambient ligh... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170645 | Fiducial marker and protective cap This document discusses, among other things, a fiducial marker kit. In one example, the kit includes a fiducial marker assembly that includes a bone screw base for receiving an imageable marker or locatable divot. A valved protective sleeve prevents debris from accu... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170636 | Optical sensor confidence algorithm An implantable medical device system including an optical sensor monitors for the presence of overgrowth on the sensor by sensing light scattered by a measurement volume, the sensed light corresponding to a first wavelength, and deriving an overgrowth metric in resp... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8170515 | Method and apparatus for the phased detection of a signal including a frequency deviation detection phase A plurality of phases of sniff operations are performed for detecting wake-up signals being received by an implantable medical device (IMD), including a phase that performs a staged detection of whether the integrated frequency deviation of a received signal is outs... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8167933 | Annuloplasty apparatus and methods An annuloplasty system for repairing a valve in a patient's heart comprises a surgical implant including a member having first and second end portions. The implant member further is configured and/or adapted to form a partial ring along a portion of one of the valve... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8167867 | Oval-shaped cardiac cannula A method of performing minimally invasive cardiac surgery includes the step of creating an access aperture into a patient's chest cavity, the access aperture being considerably smaller than a traditional cardiac surgery incision. A cannula is provided that has an ov... | 05/01/2012 |
| 8165691 | Implantable medical device with selectively configurable exposure operating mode programming options An IMD is selectively configurable to support a plurality of programming options for enabling and disabling an exposure operating mode of the device. In one example, the IMD may support at least two of a manual exposure mode programming option in which the exposure ... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165683 | Method and apparatus for detection of nervous system disorders Systems and methods for detecting and/or treating nervous system disorders, such as seizures. Certain embodiments of the invention relate generally to implantable medical devices (IMDs) adapted to detect and treat nervous system disorders in patients with an IMD. Ce... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165681 | Method for blocking activation of tissue or conduction of action potentials while other tissue is being therapeutically activated A desired effect is produced by therapeutically activating tissue at a first site within a patient's body and a corresponding undesired side effect is reduced by blocking activation of tissue or conduction of action potentials at a second site within the patient's b... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165678 | Inductively rechargeable external energy source, charger and system for a transcutaneous inductive charger for an implantable medical device A mechanism for transferring energy from an external power source to an implantable medical device is disclosed. An antenna is positioned in proximity of the implantable medical device. The position of a core of the antenna is adjusted relative to the implantable me... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165676 | Optical sensor and method for detecting a patient condition An implantable medical device for monitoring tissue perfusion that includes a light source emitting light having a light wavelength corresponding to a blue to ultraviolet light spectrum and a light detector receiving light emitted by the light source and scattered b... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165672 | Therapeutic method with pain relief A desired effect is produced by therapeutically activating tissue at a first site within a patient's body and a corresponding undesired side effect is reduced by blocking activation of tissue or conduction of action potentials at a second site within the patient's b... | 04/24/2012 |
| 8165662 | Implantable tissue perfusion sensing system and method A medical device for sensing cardiac events that includes a plurality of electrodes sensing cardiac signals utilized to identify a cardiac event, a plurality of light sources capable of emitting light at a plurality of wavelengths, and a detector to detect the emitt... | 04/24/2012 |
