PURPOSE This article describes our clinical experience with a new needle driver (Olympus, Tokyo, Japan), which we have produced to facilitate minithoracotomy or port-access coronary artery anastomosis with the running suture technique. METHODS The needle driver is 21 cm long, weighs 38 g, and has a grip shaft 1.4 cm in diameter. The device is held like a pencil. A side lever and a revolving d...

A novel in-trap decay spectroscopy facility has been developed and constructed for use with TRIUMF’s Ion Trap for Atomic and Nuclear science (TITAN). This apparatus consists of an open-access spectroscopy ion-trap, which is surrounded radially with up to seven low-energy planar Si(Li) detectors. The ion-trap environment allows for the detection of low-energy photons by providing backing-free st...

A sensory substitution technique is presented in which the kinesthetic and tactile feedback are substituted by tactile feedback only provided by two wearable devices able to apply forces to the index finger and thumb holding a handle during a needle insertion task. The force pattern fed back to the user while using the tactile device is similar, in terms of intensity and area of application, to...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Real-time tomographic reflection is a novel technique that uses a geometrically fixed arrangement of a conventional ultrasound transducer, a transducer-incorporated monitor, and a half-silvered mirror. This device, dubbed the Sonic Flashlight, generates a virtual anatomically scaled image, obviating the need for a separate monitor. It may therefore facilitate invasive pro...

Influence of temperature on photoconductivity of single Se nanowires has been studied. Time response of photocurrent at both room temperature and low temperature suggests that the trap states play an important role in the photoelectrical process. Further investigations about light intensity dependence on photocurrent at different temperatures reveal that the trap states significantly affect the...

We fabricated a microfluidic device consisting of ciliated micropillars, forming a porous silicon nanowire-on-micropillar structure. We demonstrated that the prototype device can preferentially trap exosome-like lipid vesicles, while simultaneously filtering out proteins and cell debris. Trapped lipid vesicles can be recovered intact by dissolving the porous nanowires in PBS buffer.

The universal mercury vapor black light trap is an effective device used for collecting moth specimens in a wide variety of habitats; yet, they can present challenges for researchers. The mercury vapor trap is often powered by a heavy automotive battery making it difficult to conduct extensive surveys in remote regions. The mercury vapor trap also carries a considerable financial cost per trap ...