Johns Hopkins University

Columbia Gas System Service Corporation

Southern California Gas Company

New York Gas Group

International Business Machines Corporation

John C Murphy

Robert Osiander

Dennis K Wickenden

Robert B Givens

Igal Madar

Patrick J Moran

Thomas J Kistenmacher

Ralph F Cohn

Glenn S Hartong

Leonard C Aamodt

Jane W Maclachlan Spicer

Robert J Von Gutfeld

James F Ziegler

Scott A Ecelberger

James H Anderson

Scott J McAllister

Jerry R Williams

Christopher Graham

Raymond C Cole

Ron S Rosen

Matthias D Ziegler

The present invention relates to methods of passive infrared imaging and dynamic infrared imaging of a tumor or lesion ('DIR') where multiple images are taken before, during and after heating or cooling the tumor or lesion. Patterns of intensity of infrared emission in the infrared image(s) are related to the level of vascularity or metabolic activity of the tumor or lesion, and are used to identify size and shape of the tumor or lesion. The patterns can also be used to determine whether Kaposi's sarcoma lesions, skin cancer lesions and melanomas are active or inactive. Changes in the patterns of infrared emission determined by comparing images taken before, during and after the onset of drug or radiation therapy, are used to assess efficacy of the therapy. The methods can also be used to study tissue affected by angiogenic diseases.

Method for imaging and spectroscopy of tumors and determination of the efficacy of anti-tumor drug therapies

Techniques for detecting fluorescence emitted by molecular constituents in a wall of a body lumen include introducing an autonomous solid support into the body lumen. Cells in a lumen wall of the body lumen are illuminated by a light source mounted to the solid support with a wavelength that excites a particular fluorescent signal. A detector mounted to the solid support detects whether illuminated cells emit the particular fluorescent signal. If the particular fluorescent signal is detected from the illuminated cells, then intensity or position in the lumen wall of the detected fluorescent signal, or both, is determined. These techniques allow the information collected by the capsule to support diagnosis and therapy of GI cancer and other intestinal pathologies and syndromes. For example, these techniques allow diagnostic imaging using endogenous and exogenous fluoroprobes, treating diseased sites by targeted release of drug with or without photoactivation, and determining therapeutic efficacy.

Techniques for identifying molecular structures and treating cell types lining a body lumen using fluorescence

A Lorentz Force magnetometer based on a mechanical resonator including a resonant, vibrating electrically conducting string or insulating fiber coated with an electrically conducting material and its response to a Lorentz Force wherein the string or fiber, fixed at two ends, is tensioned over two frets (supports) separated by a distance, L, hence, becoming mechanically resonant with high Q. The frets constrain the position of the string or fiber but not the angle it makes with the fret, thus, permitting measurement of multiple vector magnetic fields. The magnetometer can be easily manufactured in arrays with the tension and, hence, resonant frequency for each magnetometer being rapidly, sequentially, and dynamically varied through the use of, e.g., piezo/MEMS elements. If the fiber is light conducting, a compact and sensitive detector using light escaping from an aperature in the conducting material coating the fiber can be implemented.

Apparatus and methods using mechanical resonators to enhance sensitivity in lorentz force magnetometers

The present invention is a device and method for gaining access, quickly and inexpensively, to a body cavity for the purpose of inserting into the cavity a medical device, such as a chest tube. The device generally comprises a catheter and a cannula insertable into the catheter during an insertion procedure. The cannula has a cutting tip that extends beyond one end of the catheter. The cutting tip enables simple insertion of the device into the body without requiring substantial pushing force. Once the device is inserted in the body, the cannula is removed, leaving a path of entry into the body cavity, while removing the sharp cutting tip from the area to reduce the likelihood of injury to a patient in whom the device is inserted.

Device and method for rapid chest tube insertion

Nondestructive/noncontact evaluation of a material for electrical and magnetic property discontinuities, e.g., a dielectric loss or the presence of a conducting contaminant, is accomplished by using microwaves to heat microwave-absorbing regions of the material caused by such discontinuities; monitoring the change in temperature of the material's surface due to the heating of the microwave-absorbing region as a function of time; and detecting the electrical and magnetic property discontinuities, e.g., the dielectric loss or the conducting contaminant, using the change in the material's surface temperature.

Method for nondestructive/noncontact microwave detection of electrical and magnetic property discontinuities in materials

The invention describes methods for locating a treatment device disposed within a living body by means of magnetic fields that are produced by Barkhausen jumps, principally from amorphous tag wires with high permeability that exhibit reentrant flux reversal. When wires of this type are attached to concealed treatment devices such as catheters, interrogation or scanning of the tag wire by a low frequency ac magnetic field affords an accurate means for locating the treatment devices using a sensor coil to detect the magnetic field signal from the wire locating tag. The strength of the field detected by the position of a sensor coil with respect to the locator tag is used to determine the location of the tag. A favorable signal to noise detection ration is obtained as the signal emitted by the wire is at a very high frequency compared to that of the frequency of the interrogation field.

System of providing medical treatment

A microelectromechanical-based magnetostrictive magnetometer that uses, as an active element, a commercial (001) silicon microcantilever coated with an amorphous thin film of the giant magnetostrictive alloy Terfenol-D and a compact optical beam deflection transduction scheme. A set of Helmholtz coils is used to create an ac magnetic excitation field for driving the mechanical resonance of the coated microcantilever. When the coated microcantilever is placed in a dc magnetic field, the dc field will change the amplitude at the mechanical resonance of the coated microcantilever thereby causing a deflection that can be measured. The magnetometer has been demonstrated with a sensitivity near 1 .mu.T.

Microelectromechanical (MEMS)-based magnetostrictive magnetometer

The invention consists, in one embodiment, of a resonator such as a conductive bar supported by two wires placed at the nodal points of the fundamental resonance frequency. The wires also supply current of this frequency to the resonator. In the presence of a magnetic field, the Lorentz force causes the resonator to vibrate. The amplitude of this vibration is proportional to a vector component of the magnetic field. The motion of the resonator is detected using one of a number of possible methods including optical beam deflection. The invention has a sensitivity of at least 1 nT, comparable to that of a commercial fluxgate magnetometer, and a dynamic range exceeding 80 dB.

Lorentz force magnetometer having a resonator

Electrical current distribution in the soil surrounding a buried pipeline is detected by applying an AC electrical potential between the pipe and a buried electrode spaced from the pipe. The magnetic field at spaced localities along the pipe arising from currents transverse to the pipe is detected. Additionally, a potential containing a plurality of alternating frequencies is similarly applied to the pipe and the magnetic field induced by the resulting electrical current both along the pipe and transversely of the pipe is detected. The magnetic field is detected by correlation discrimination at spaced locations along the pipe and across the spectrum of the impressed frequencies. The detected data is used to determine the capacitance and resistance of the soil/pipe interface at localities along the pipe and to generate impedance plots which indicate characteristics of that interface.

Non-invasive, high resolution detection of electrical currents and

The present invention provides a thermal imaging method to evaluate the surface and subsurface properties of a material and is based on techniques of optical beam deflection thermal imaging. The invention uses a localized excitation source, such as an optical beam, to provide localized heating of the sample surface. A surface thermal gradient is induced on the sample surface as heat flows, in three dimensions, from the area of localized excitation into the test material. The surface temperature gradient causes a thermal refractive lens to be generated in the fluid (gas or liquid) adjacent to the sample surface. An optical probe beam is directed through the thermal lens and is deflected by changes in a refractive index of the thermal lens. Changes in the refractive index are induced by variations of the surface temperature. In this manner, a detailed surface temperature profile can be generated which reveals surface and subsurface properties of the material tested.

Optical beam deflection thermal imaging

Pulsed light and readily measurable pulsed electrical energy are independently applied to a solid black, conductive sample in a gas-filled photoacoustic cell, each causing the black sample to heat. The heating of the black sample causes a pressure wave in the cell, which can be detected and measured. By adjusting the pulsed electrical energy, the pressure wave resulting from the pulsed electrical energy can be made to relate to the pressure wave resulting from the pulsed light in a predetermined manner. The pulsed light input intensity can then be measured in electrical units based on the measurable input of the electrical energy pulses. In this manner, the invention can be used as a radiometer. A second application for the present apparatus is in calibrating photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) cells. The PAS cell can be self-calibrated by discontinuing the light pulses and relating the pressure wave output to the electrical energy pulse input. The measurement then of light absorption in a test sample, which need be neither black nor conductive, can be made in absolute energy units based on the self-calibration relationship.

Self-calibrating photoacoustic apparatus for measuring light intensity

The present invention relates generally to the utilization of laser interferometry for performing detection of buried structures such as underground natural gas pipeline. More specifically, the invention relates to the use of a laser interferometer system for detecting leaks and similar defects, such as corrosion, in buried pipelines, pressurized containers or other metallic structures, based upon the sensing of subnanometer earth surface displacements produced by elastic waves which are emanated from the leak or defect and propagate in the surrounding earth medium.

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Clarksville, MD, United States of America

John C Murphy