DARTMOUTH-HITCHCOCK CLINIC Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20120215172 | INTRAVASCULAR NEEDLE AND CATHETER ASSEMBLY - An intravascular needle and catheter arrangement that ensures flashback is indicated after the catheter is safely inserted through the needle puncture in the vascular wall and emplaced into the vessel. This placement location, at which flashback first occurs is sufficient to begin threading the catheter without risk of over-insertion or under-insertion. The catheter overlies a needle having a distal tip that defines a point. The needle tip includes an enclosed distal-most end and a port located along at least one of the proximal portion of the point and an adjacent cylindrical sidewall of the needle. The distal end of the catheter exposes the port for entry of blood from a vessel thereinto only after the distal end of the catheter has entered sufficiently into the interior of the vessel. An opposing second side of the tip defines a curved surface that prevents puncturing of the back vessel wall. | 08-23-2012 |
20110086051 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING AND OPTIMIZING IMMUNE STATUS IN TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS - This invention provides a system and method for an assay used in determining appropriate immunosuppressant levels relative to organ transplant in which PBMC is separated from whole blood by Ficoll®. An aliquot of PBMC is used for phenotyping of cells. CD4, CD8, memory and naïve subsets, B-cells regulatory T-cells and other cell markers (e.g. CD31) are examined. After an aliquot of PBMC is taken, CD4 cells are isolated. DNA is isolated from the cells. CD4 cells can be used for TREC at the defined time points. The TREC assay can be performed via a validated protocol. TREC levels are then measured using a quantitative RT-PCR for single jointed TREC. Alternatively, or additionally, TREC-correlated cell markers (e.g. CD31) can be analyzed. Approximately 100,000 cells, or 2 micrograms, of DNA are desired for TREC analysis. Normal control cells are run in parallel. A kit for performing the assay, including instructions and various components can be provided for practitioners. | 04-14-2011 |
20100137804 | INTRAVASCULAR NEEDLE AND CATHETER ASSEMBLY - An intravascular needle and catheter arrangement that ensures flashback is indicated after the catheter is safely inserted through the needle puncture in the vascular wall and emplaced into the vessel. This placement location, at which flashback first occurs is sufficient to begin threading the catheter without risk of over-insertion or under-insertion. The catheter overlies a needle having a distal tip that defines a point. The needle tip includes an enclosed distal-most end and a port located along at least one of the proximal portion of the point and an adjacent cylindrical sidewall of the needle. The distal end of the catheter exposes the port for entry of blood from a vessel thereinto only after the distal end of the catheter has entered sufficiently into the interior of the vessel. An opposing second side of the tip defines a curved surface that prevents puncturing of the back vessel wall. | 06-03-2010 |
20090115415 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR USE OF NANOPARTICLES IN IMAGING AND TEMPERATURE MEASUREMENT - This invention provides a system and method that improves the sensitivity and localization capabilities of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) by using combinations of time-varying and static magnetic fields. Combinations of magnetic fields can be used to distribute the signals coming from the magnetic particles among the harmonics and other frequencies in specific ways to improve sensitivity and to provide localization information to speed up or improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of imaging and/or eliminate the need for saturation fields currently used in MPI. In various embodiments, coils can be provided to extend the sub-saturation region in which nanoparticles reside; to provide a static field offset to bring nanoparticles nearer to saturation; to introduce even and odd harmonics that can be observed; and/or to introduce combinations of frequencies for more-defined observation of signals from nanoparticles. Further embodiments provide for reading of the signal produced by cyclically saturated magnetic nanoparticles in a sample so as to provide a measurement of the temperature of those nanoparticles. The spectral distribution of the signal generated provides estimates of the temperature of the nanoparticles. Related factors may also be estimated—binding energies of the nanoparticles, phase changes, bound fraction of the particles or stiffness of the materials in which the nanoparticles are imbedded. | 05-07-2009 |