A system includes a collar that is worn around a neck of the user. A stimulator is coupled to the collar such that the stimulator is positioned adjacent to an airway of the user. The sensor is coupled to the collar and configured to generate data associated with the airway of the user. The memory is coupled to the collar and storing machine-readable instructions. The control system is coupled to the collar and includes one or more processors configured to execute the machine-readable instructions to determine, based at least on an analysis of the generated data, that the user is currently experiencing an apnea event. In response to the determination, the control system causes the stimulator to provide electrical stimulation, at a first intensity level, to one or more muscles of the user that are adjacent to the airway to aid in stopping the apnea event.

The present invention provides, among other things, apparatus and methods of use for treating a subject in need of assistance with breathing. In some embodiments the subject suffers from airflow obstruction. In some embodiments, the subject suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

A method of controlling an analysis of electromagnetic (EM) signal of a human subject. The method comprises positioning an EM transducer unit in front of a skin area above a target intrabody volume of a human subject, the EM transducer unit having at least one EM transducer, a pressure applying unit that applies a variable pressure on the skin area, and a pressure sensor, measuring at least one pressure parameter indicative of the variable pressure using the pressure sensor, capturing EM signal using the at least one EM transducer, and performing an analysis of the EM signal to infer at least one intrabody parameter of the target intrabody volume. The analysis is controlled according to the at least one pressure parameter.

Systems and techniques for reliably predicting a motion phase for non-invasive treatment of the heart. The system and methods may account for both respiratory and cardiac cycles in characterizing the motion of the heart relative to the irradiation source. The system and methods may also include a heartbeat sensor that provides an independent reference indication of the cardiac phase to provide real-time or near real-time quality assurance of a current predicted phase indication. The disclosed system and methods may be configured for use in one of two modes: “beam-gating” and “beam-tracking”. For beam-gating, the predicted cardiac phase is compared to the desired gating window, based on the patient-specific treatment plan, to determine if a gate ON or gate OFF signal should be set. For beam-tracking, the predicted cardiac phase is used to load the appropriate beam parameters based on the patient-specific and motion phase-dependent treatment plans.

A computer implemented system and method include one or more processors configured to receive a plurality of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals from one or more subcutaneous implantable medical devices (IMDs) and combine at least two of the plurality of ECG signals to form a first composite ECG signal.

In one embodiment, a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) apparatus includes: an RF coil configured to perform A/D conversion on a magnetic resonance (MR) signal received from an object and wirelessly transmit the MR signal; a main body configured to wirelessly receive the MR signal and generate a system clock; first communication circuitry configured to transmit the system clock by surface electric field communication using electric field propagation along a body surface of the object; and second communication circuitry provided in the RF coil and configured to receive the system clock transmitted by the surface electric field communication, wherein the RF coil is configured to operate based on the received system clock.

A method for measuring respiratory parameters of a subject using a range imaging sensor, wherein the method includes: receiving from the range imaging sensor at least one raw image of at least one portion of the torso of the subject, wherein each point of the raw image represents the distance between the range imaging sensor and the subject; generating a surface image of at least one portion of a surface of the torso of the subject by surface interpolation of the raw image; estimating a respiratory signal as a function of time calculated as the spatial average, in a given region of interest (ROI) defined on the torso of the subject, of the differences between the depth values of the surface image at a given time and the depth values of a reference surface image; and estimating a lung volume.

There is described a method of assessing severity of a respiratory distress of a patient. The method generally has, using a three dimensional (3D) camera, generating at least a 3D image encompassing at least a thorax region and an abdomen region of the patient; and using a computer, accessing said 3D image; identifying thorax coordinates indicating coordinates of at least a point of the thorax region of the patient in the 3D image; identifying abdomen coordinates indicating coordinates of at least a point of the abdomen region of the patient in the 3D image; determining a thoraco-abdominal distance based on the thorax coordinates and on the abdomen coordinates; comparing the thoraco-abdominal distance with a threshold; and generating a signal based on said comparison, said signal being indicative of a degree of severity of the respiratory distress of the patient.

There is described a wearable respiration sensor generally having a stretchable substrate to be worn around a user's torso; and a dipole antenna having two flexible conductive elements extending in opposite directions from a center, relative to a dipole axis, and being secured to the stretchable substrate, each of the two flexible conductive elements having a proximate end near the center, a distal end away from the center, and a curved portion curving away from and back towards the dipole axis between the proximate end and the distal end, the two flexible conductive elements being in a point reflection symmetry relative to one another relative to said center in a manner that, when the stretchable substrate is stretched along the dipole axis, the curved portions of the two flexible conductive elements are flattened and the distal ends are moved away from one another.

According to one embodiment, MRI apparatus includes processing circuitry and an imaging device. The processing circuitry is configured to acquire at least one of body size information relating to a size of an object and breath-hold information relating to a breath-holdable time of the object. The processing circuitry is further configured to determine an imaging condition to be performed on the object based on the at least one of the body size information and the breath-hold information. The imaging device performs imaging of the object in accordance with the determined imaging condition.