A fibrosis measurement device that measures fibrosis of a biological tissue non-invasively includes: a sound wave emitter that performs scanning over a surface of a biological tissue as a measurement object to emit sound waves; an electromagnetic wave receiver that receives an electromagnetic wave generated at each location of a biological tissue irradiated with sound waves; a signal extractor that extracts a signal indicating physical property, based on at least one selected from a group including the amplitude, phase, and frequency of an electromagnetic wave received by the electromagnetic wave receiver; an imaging unit that images signals extracted by the signal extractor; and an area comparison unit that compares the area of a portion of the two-dimensional image in which signals indicating a property are displayed, with an area corresponding to a preset threshold of the strength of the signals.

A system may include an implantable structure with a plurality of electrodes attached thereto, where the implantable structure is configured to be implanted proximate to a nerve that innervates and is proximate to an organ involved with glucose control. The system may further include a controller configured for use to control which of the plurality of electrodes are modulation electrodes and which of the plurality of electrodes are sense electrodes, a modulation energy generator configured to deliver modulation energy using one or more of the modulation electrodes, and a nerve traffic sensor configured to sense nerve traffic in the nerve using one or more of the sense electrodes. The controller may be configured to determine if the delivered modulation energy captures the nerves based on the sensed neural activity.

An apparatus for determining a shape of a luminal sample including: a catheter including a lens, the catheter disposed within a strain-sensing sheath such that the lens rotates and translates; a structural imaging system optically coupled to the catheter; a strain-sensing system optically coupled to the catheter; and a controller coupled to the strain-sensing system and the structural imaging system. The controller determines: a first position of the catheter relative to the luminal sample at a first location within the strain-sensing sheath; a second position of the catheter relative to the luminal sample at a second location within the strain-sensing sheath; a first strain of the strain-sensing sheath at the first location; a second strain of the strain-sensing sheath at the second location; a local curvature of the luminal sample relative to the catheter; a local curvature of the catheter; and a local curvature of the luminal sample.

A system and method for measuring biomechanical properties of tissues without external excitation are capable of measuring and quantifying these parameters of tissues in situ and in vivo. The system and method preferably utilize a phase-sensitive optical coherence tomography (OCT) system for measuring the displacement caused by the intrinsic heartbeat. The method allows noninvasive and nondestructive quantification of tissue mechanical properties. Preferably, the method is used to detect tissue stiffness and to evaluate its stiffness due to intrinsic pulsatile motion from the heartbeat. This noninvasive method can evaluate the biomechanical properties of the tissues in vivo for detecting the onset and progression of degenerative or other diseases and evaluating the efficacy of therapies.

A biomagnetic measurement system includes a magnetism measurement apparatus configured to measure a magnetism of a target; and an electrical stimulation apparatus configured to apply a stimulation current to the target. The magnetism measurement apparatus includes a confirming unit configured to confirm a magnitude of an artifact caused by the stimulation current. The electrical stimulation apparatus is configured to output a compensation current for reducing the artifact after the stimulation current is output, based on information from the confirming unit.

A food packaging system has a housing that includes a food receptacle. The food receptacle includes a food product that is available for purchase. A slot formed in the housing, and an induction heating element is positioned in the slot.

A method and system for enhancing radio frequency energy delivery to a tissue region of interest. The method and system direct with a radio frequency (RF) applicator, one or more RF energy pulses into the tissue region of interest, the tissue region of interest comprising an object of interest and at least one reference that are separated by at least one boundary; detect with an acoustic receiver, at least one bipolar acoustic signal generated in the tissue region of interest in response to the RF energy pulses and processing the at least one bipolar acoustic signal to determine a peak-to-peak amplitude thereof; adjust the RF applicator to maximize the peak-to-peak amplitude of bipolar acoustic signals generated in the tissue region of interest in response to RF energy pulses generated by the adjusted RF applicator; and direct with the adjusted RF applicator, one or more RF energy pulses into the region of interest.

Systems and methods for electronically monitoring chest sounds and/or sensing electrical cardiac signals such as ECG signals are provided. In one embodiment, a hybrid stethdiographer has a sensing assembly with a chestpiece and a user interface. Stethdiographer also includes a conduit, a power source compartment, a pair of binaurals and a corresponding pair of earpieces. The user interface includes a record button, a mode selector and a display screen. The chestpiece includes a diaphragm and a plurality of electrical cardiac sensors.

A method for determining a material type of an object of interest comprises: directing, using a radio frequency (RF) source, RF energy into a region of interest, the region of interest comprising the object of interest, a known reference and a boundary between the object of interest and the known reference; detecting, using an acoustic receiver, at least one thermoacoustic multi-polar signal generated in response to the RF energy; correlating, by one or more processors, the at least one thermoacoustic multi-polar signal to a transmitted power correction factor to generate a corrected thermoacoustic multi-polar signal; and determining, by the one or more processors, the material type of the object of interest as a function of the corrected thermoacoustic multi-polar signal and a transmitted power of the RF energy.

A thermoacoustic transducer integrating at least one piezoelectric element having a first surface and a second surface, a potential electrode that is electrically connected to the second surface, a ground electrode that is electrically connected to the first surface, a switch electrically connected to both the potential electrode and the ground electrode, a timer configured to match a pulse emanating from a radio-frequency emitter, further wherein the potential electrode and the ground electrode are electrically connected through an impedance when the switch is in an active state, further wherein the potential electrode and the ground electrode are not electrically connected when the switch is in an inactive state; and a housing accommodating the at least one piezoelectric element, potential electrode, ground electrode, and switch.