Abstract:
A service to coordinate the care of patients who are on a REMS-required medication. The service implements a monitoring hub for coordinating the work between a clinician, pharmacy, and laboratory in the care of a patient. The patient has blood samples tested for safety monitoring. The monitoring hub performs the task of entering the test results . . . into the REMS database. The monitoring hub has qualified personnel who are enrolled in the REMS program as a prescriber designee for the clinician. The prescriber designee works with the clinician, pharmacy, or laboratory to ensure compliance with the REMS requirements. In addition to providing administrative support for REMS compliance, the service could be an integrated care management system that assists patients/families and providers with other aspects of their care and practice needs.
Abstract:
A flow through Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) package and methods of operating a MEMS packaged using the same are provided. Generally, the package includes a cavity in which the MEMS is enclosed, an inlet through which a fluid is introduced to the cavity during operation of the MEMS and an outlet through which the fluid is removed during operation of the MEMS, wherein the package includes features that promote laminar flow of the fluid across the MEMS. The package and method are particularly useful in packaging spatial light modulators including a reflective surface and adapted to reflect and modulate a light beam incident thereon. Other embodiments are also provided.
Abstract:
A flow through Micro-Electromechanical Systems (MEMS) package and methods of operating a MEMS packaged using the same are provided. Generally, the package includes a cavity in which the MEMS is enclosed, an inlet through which a fluid is introduced to the cavity during operation of the MEMS and an outlet through which the fluid is removed during operation of the MEMS. In certain embodiments, the fluid includes an gas, such as nitrogen, and the inlet and outlet are adapted to provide a flow of gas of from 0.01 Standard Cubic Centimeters per Minute (sccm) to 10000 sccm during operation of the MEMS. The package and method are particularly useful in packaging spatial light modulators including a reflective surface and adapted to reflect and modulate a light beam incident thereon. Other embodiments are also provided.
Abstract:
Clostridium difficile disease involves a range of clinical presentations ranging from mild to self-limiting diarrhea to life-threatening pseudomembranous colitis and megacolon. Cases of C. difficile are treated differently depending on severity of disease. Mild and moderate cases may be treated with metronidazole while moderate-to-severe and relapsing cases are often treated with vancomycin or fidaxomicin. The presence of C. difficile disease is detected using a biomarker panel that includes C. difficile antigen (GDH), toxins A and B, and fecal lactoferrin. In patients suspected of C. difficile disease, if GDH is detected indicating the presence of C. difficile, and then toxins A and/or B are detected to indicate toxigenic C. difficile and support a diagnosis of C. difficile-associated disease, fecal lactoferrin concentrations are measured to determine severity of the disease by indicating the amount of intestinal inflammation.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for counting nominally identical articles employs weighing apparatus, which comprises a load hod (102) for holding a number of articles to be weighed and a load transducer (20) responsive to loading of the hod (102) to produce a derived electrical signal indicative of the apparent weight of articles in the hod (102). The signal is susceptible to fluctuation as a result of local air currents acting on the hod (102) or on the articles contained therein. The transducer derived signal is filtered to extract a component signal representative of such fluctuation. After further processing, the filtered component signal is used to correct the original transducer signal thereby to indicate the true weight of articles in the hod (102). The number of articles in the hod (102) is then determined by dividing the true weight indication by an expected average weight of an article. Fluctuations in the transducer signal due to air currents may also be removed by a system of validation of the signals depending on whether or not they are within range limits based on a running average.
Abstract:
A method and apparatus for processing seed or seed samples includes an autonomous sorter which sorts seed by pre-programmed criteria. Optional features can include a counter to autonomously ensure the correct number of seeds to a seed package, a cleaning device, a sheller, and a label applicator. A conveyance path, controlled automatically, can move the seed to appropriate and desired stations during the processing while maintaining the sample segregating from other samples. Validation of the sample can be pre-required and information about the sample can be derived and stored for further use.
Abstract:
An air amplifier apparatus and method for transferring or filling sand particles into a flask of a molding machine. A plurality of nozzles are each mounted with respect to the molding machine. A pressurized fluid, such as discharged from an air compressor or other pressure forming device, delivers pressurized fluid into each nozzle. The pressurized fluid flows through a passageway of each nozzle and can follow a Coanda profile as it accelerates the particles through the passageways. The accelerated particles are then discharged into a void formed by the flask of and pattern in the molding machine.
Abstract:
A method for aiding in differentiating irritable bowel syndrome from inflammatory bowel disease by determining the level of total endogenous human lactoferrin in clinical specimens, such as feces, mucus and bile, wherein an elevated level of lactoferrin substantially precludes diagnoses of IBS and other noninflammatory etiologies, and a kit usable in such method are provided. Further provided is a method for quantitating the level of total endogenous human lactoferrin in clinical specimens, such as feces, mucus and bile, to monitor gastrointestinal inflammation in persons having inflammatory bowel disease.
Abstract:
A virtualization infrastructure that allows multiple guest partitions to run within a host hardware partition. The host system is divided into distinct logical or virtual partitions and special infrastructure partitions are implemented to control resource management and to control physical I/O device drivers that are, in turn, used by operating systems in other distinct logical or virtual guest partitions. Host hardware resource management runs as a tracking application in a resource management “ultravisor” partition, while host resource management decisions are performed in a higher level command partition based on policies maintained in a separate operations partition. The conventional hypervisor is reduced to a context switching and containment element (monitor) for the respective partitions, while the system resource management functionality is implemented in the ultravisor partition. The ultravisor partition maintains the master in-memory database of the hardware resource allocations and serves a command channel to accept transactional requests for assignment of resources to partitions. It also provides individual read-only views of individual partitions to the associated partition monitors. Host hardware I/O management is implemented in special redundant I/O partitions. Operating systems in other logical or virtual partitions communicate with the I/O partitions via memory channels established by the ultravisor partition. The guest operating systems in the respective logical or virtual partitions are modified to access monitors that implement a system call interface through which the ultravisor, I/O, and any other special infrastructure partitions may initiate communications with each other and with the respective guest partitions. The guest operating systems are modified so that they do not attempt to use the “broken” instructions in the x86 system that complete virtualization systems must resolve by inserting traps.
Abstract:
A lithographic method to enhance image resolution in a lithographic cluster using multiple projections and a lithographic cluster used to project multiple patterns to form images that are combined to form an image having enhanced resolution.