The invention concerns a Thickness Shear Mode (TSM) biosensor (1) which comprises an ex vivo living skin explant (2), the skin explant (2) comprising at least one of the skin layers among: hypodermis, dermis (2A), epidermis (2B) and the stratum corneum (2C), a TSM transducer (3) which comprises: an AT cut quartz resonator 3C which has two opposite exterior surfaces (3A,3B), and two conducting electrodes (4A, 4B), each conducting electrode being deposited on one of the two exterior surfaces (3A,3B), the TSM transducer (3) allowing to determine micro rheological characteristics of the living skin explant (2) by piezoelectric transducing using shear waves, the TSM transducer (3) presenting: measuring means (30), monitoring and calculating means (31) which monitor an evolution in time of an electrical response of the living skin explant (2), and which calculate in time, from the electrical response, micro rheological characteristics of the living skin explant (2), a bottom surface of the skin explant (2) being in contact with the TSM transducer (3), a top surface of the skin explant (2) being in contact with air.

The present invention provides an inspection apparatus for osseointegration of implants, which comprises an inspection base, a holding end, and an inspection end. The holding end is disposed at one end of the inspection base; the inspection end is disposed at the other end of the inspection base. Beside, the inspection end is disposed on one side of the holding end. The holding end includes a signal processing module and a wireless transmission module therein. The inspection end includes an inspection probe, disposed at one end of the inspection end. The inspection probe includes one or more excitation device and a receiver located on the same side of the inspection probe. According to the present invention, the inspection apparatus detects the condition of an object under inspection in a non-contact manner by using an excitation source. An acquired displacement difference is then transmitted to an electronic apparatus through wireless transmission.

Systems and methods for ultrasound imaging and targeting. The systems and methods can improve targeting and imaging through a heterogenous medium by using the angular spectrum approach (ASA) alone or in combination with passive acoustic mapping (PAM). The systems and methods can improve the ultrasound imaging of vessels using microbubbles. The imaging of the vessels is also aided by the ASA and PAM. A closed loop controller is described that adjusts the ultrasound pressure provided to a region of interest to a desired pressure based at least in part on the harmonic, ultra-harmonic, sub-harmonic, or broadband frequency ranges for the microbubbles.

A probe has a light guide unit that guides the measurement light, an acoustic wave detection unit that detects a photoacoustic wave, and a storage unit that stores light intensity profile information that represents the light intensity profile of the measurement light emitted by the probe, and transmits a signal of the photoacoustic wave detected by the acoustic wave detection unit to the signal processing unit in a state in which the probe is mounted in the apparatus body. The apparatus body has a reading unit that reads the light intensity profile information from the storage unit, and the intensity adjusting unit adjusts the intensity of the measurement light employing the light intensity profile information read by the reading unit.

Method for non-invasively characterizing a heterogeneous medium using ultrasound, comprising a step of generating a series of incident ultrasonic waves, a step of recording an experimental reflection matrix R.sub.ui(t) defined between the input emission basis (i) and an output reception basis (u), a step of determining a response REP(r,r) of the medium between an input virtual transducer (TV.sub.in) calculated based on an input focusing of the experimental reflection matrix that creates an input focal spot around a first point (P1), and an output virtual transducer (TV.sub.out) calculated based on an output focusing of the experimental reflection matrix that creates an output focal spot around a second point (P2), said response being expressed as a function of a central point (PC) of spatial position (r) in the medium located midway between the first and second points (P1, P2).

The present invention relates to an apparatus for treating a pathology, comprising: an ultrasonic generation device (1), a remote control unit (2) to supply electricity to the device (1), electrical connection means (31, 32) between the device (1) and the control unit (2),
remarkable in that the control unit (2) is programmed to assess the quality of the acoustic coupling between the ultrasonic device (1) and a tissue to be treated.

A sonic speed measurement device in which reliability is enhanced while the amount of calculation is minimized is provided. A propagation path postulation component postulates the sonic speed through bone, and calculates propagation paths up until ultrasonic waves transmitted from a wave transmitter are received by oscillators. A postulated propagation time calculator calculates the propagation time it takes for the ultrasonic waves transmitted from the wave transmitter to be received by the oscillators, based on the propagation paths. A Fourier transform component subjects I signals and Q signals of signals outputted by the oscillators to Fourier transform to generate Fourier transform data. A phase shifter shifts the phase of the Fourier transform data for the oscillators in a frequency region according to the propagation time. A sonic speed derivation component determines the validity of the postulated sonic speed based on the Fourier transform data shifted by the phase shifter.

A test-object-information acquisition apparatus includes a light radiating unit, a first probe that receives an acoustic wave generated in a test object in response to the test object being irradiated with light radiated by the light radiating unit, a second probe that radiates an ultrasound beam towards the test object and receives a reflected wave from the test object, an ultrasound controller configured to control the second probe, and a scanning unit configured to cause the light radiating unit and the first and second probes to perform a reciprocating scan process across the test object. The ultrasound controller varies a radiation method for radiating the ultrasound beam from the second probe to the test object so that the radiation method is different between an outbound scan and a return scan of the reciprocating scan process.

An implantable wireless sensor apparatus comprises a transducer unit having at least one ultrasonic transducer, and at least one body sensor coupled to the transducer unit, wherein electrical resonance frequency of the apparatus (F.sub.e) is within the bandwidth (BW) of mechanical resonance frequency of the ultrasonic unit (F.sub.m).

Disclosed is an apparatus that comprises a photo-acoustic transceiver which outputs, through a laser generator, a laser pulse output toward an object to be examined, and receives, through an ultrasonic wave receiver, an ultrasonic wave image signal from the object to be examined; an analog-to-digital converter which receives the ultrasonic wave image signal and converts same into a digital image signal; a main control unit which receives the digital image signal to generate ultrasonic wave scanning three-dimensional image information about the object to be examined; and a trigger control unit which receives motion information of a photo-acoustic probe to generate a scanning trigger signal corresponding to the motion information, receives laser pulse output information to generate a laser trigger signal corresponding to the laser pulse output, and generates an output trigger signal corresponding to the laser trigger signal and outputs same to the analog-to-digital converter.