Award Data

THE USE OF LASERS AS A SURGICAL MODALITY HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED IN RECENT YEARS. LASERS OF VARIOUS WAVELENGTHS ARE SUITED FOR DIFFERENT SPECIFIC SURGICAL FUNCTIONS. CO2 (10.6 ) RADIATION HAS SMALL PENETRATION DEPTHS IN TISSUES. THIS LEADS TO HIGH SURFACE TEMPERATURES WHICH ARE DESIRABLE FOR TISSUE INCISION THROUGH EVAPORATION. ND:YAG LASERS (1.06 ) PROVIDE VOLUMETRIC TISSUE HEATING WHICH IS EFFECTIV ...

THE SCATTERING OF X-RAYS CAN BE USED TO IMAGE THE DENSITY OFANATOMICAL STRUCTURES UP TO SEVERAL CENTIMETERS DEEP IN THE HUMAN BODY. THIS RESEARCH DESCRIBES A TECHNIQUE OF USING COMPTOM SCATTERED X-RAYS IN AN IPSILATERAL (BACKSCATTER) GEOMETRY TO OBTAIN THREE-DIMENSIONAL DENSITY INFORMATION FORMAXILLODENTAL IMAGING. THE TECHNIQUE IS CALLED COMPTON SCATTER TOMOGRAPHY (CST). CURRENTLY, IN THIS ANATOM ...

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ultimate objective of this proposed program is the commercialization of a universal transcutaneous energy transfer (TET) system with a high performance implantable battery. This integrated power system will be adapt able to a host of next generation fully implantable mechanical circulatory support (MCS) systems. To date, fully implantable systems (i.e. the ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): It is widely accepted that the existing clinical paradigm of one treatment fits all is a major factor in the lack of progress in the effective treatment of a highly heterogeneous diseases. We propose a new innovative cl inical paradigm that optimizes brain cancer therapy using patient-specific markers of therapeutic response. Our long-term objective is to impro ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Ischemic ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a contributing cause to more than half of the 300,000 sudden cardiac deaths that occur annually in the United States. Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are the stand ard therapy but they are expensive the total cost of an ICD implant approaches 50,000 and the United States spends more than 2.2B on these im ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Vestibular disorders represent a debilitating medical problem by causing balance and vision impairments that adversely affects the lives of people of all ages and backgrounds. The restoration of vestibular function by d irect stimulation of the vestibular nerve, bypassing the sensory organs, is expected to alleviate these symptoms in some patients. Currently, t ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Iatrogenic nerve damage is one of the most adverse sequalae of tumor resection surgery in all parts of the body. Many neuromonitoring techniques have been developed to lower the incidence of damage, most notably electr ostimulation. However, the clinical potential of precise neuromonitoring remains unfulfilled, due to several key limitations intrinsic to elect ...

Project Summary Embryonic stem cells offer considerable potential for cell replacement therapy where cells have been lost to injury or disease because of their capacity for continual self renewal and ability to differentiate into virtually any cell type or tissue. Currently, however the process by which human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) differentiate into various mature functional cell types is ...

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Sufficient general clinical knowledge, DNA sequence technology and understanding of genetic mutations for over 2,600 human genes can support beginning the integration of individual genome sequence into clinical practic e for a number of medical specialties. With the 2007 deployment of novel DNA sequence technologies that permit cost-effective interrogation of ...