Recent Patents on Biomedical Engineering (Discontinued) - Volume 3, Issue 1, 2010

The advent of the biotechnology industry as well as the continued usage of enzymes in the bioprocess industries have resulted in increased demand for the creation of proteins with enhanced properties as well as the desire to create proteins of novel functionalities. Protein engineering is the field that is concerned with achieving such goals. Over the course of the last decade protein engineering efforts have come to increasingly rely on computational means. This review seeks to highlight computational methods of protein engineering that appear in recently issued patents.

Class II malocclusion is considered as the most frequent treatment problem in orthodontics. Maxillary molar distalization is usually applied to correct this type of malocclusion, however with some drawbacks. The present article presents a patented (German patent No. 10 2006 033 774; U.S. patent application No. 11/822,799 pending) miniscrew implant supported “Advanced Molar Distalization Appliance” (AMDA) which was invented by the author, and which is a novel technique aiming to eliminate the problems of conventional and noncompliance distalization appliances used for the correction of Class II malocclusion, such as anchorage loss of the anterior dental unit in terms of mesial movement of the premolars and canines, and proclination of the incisors, as well as distal tipping and rotation of the molars. During molar distalization AMDA remains invisible, while afterwards the same appliance can provide the necessary anchorage for the subsequent anterior teeth retraction which is performed in conjunction with conventional fixed appliances. This article describes the general biomechanical principles, clinical applications and advantages of the AMDA. Initial treatment results highly support this new approach, since the miniscrew implant supported AMDA can be used efficiently, not only to distalize maxillary molars, but also to subsequently retract the anterior teeth without relying on patients’ cooperation; in other words for the complete management of Class II malocclusion.

Portable biomedical devices for health care management are producing a great impact in the monitoring of patients located in areas different from clinical environments such as houses, military bases, ships, and the like. A number of applications, ranging from data collection, to chronic patient surveillance, and even to the control of therapeutic procedures, are being implemented in many parts of the world. The development of portable devices for telemedicine is accelerated by new technologies such as wireless transmission, GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers, Internet applications and GSI (Giga Scale of Integration) of electronic devices. In recent decades the development of portable biomedical devices has led to the presentation of numerous patents. The aim of this paper is to review some of these patents, with emphasis on the possibilities of patients remote monitoring, providing all necessary information in real-time from their homes to the health facility. Thus the specialist can make his diagnosis from the hospital. This is the new concept of home care.

In recent years polymer science has been developed enormously. Researchers have made some significant discoveries and advancements in this field. All these things have lead to a new era of polymer science especially biodegradable polymers. Today a number of biopolymers are known and used for different purposes in biomedical applications. Biodegradable polymers have played a significant role in therapeutics and drug delivery. These biopolymers are advantageous in tissue engineering and other drug delivery systems. A number of biopolymers and their blends are available in market with various physical, chemical and biological properties. The suitability of polymer for biomedical applications depends on its biocompatibility, degradation process (metabolites) and non-immunogenic property. This review summarizes different polymers, their physiological characters, and their use in biomedical applications along with the compilation of recent patents related to biodegradable polymers.

The operational complexity and extremely high cost in a conventional biomedical imaging device usually prevent patients from monitoring their health conditions or obtaining primary diagnosis themselves via a cheap and flexible way. The increasing demand for convenient medicine at low cost has significantly stimulated the innovations in extending the capabilities of a mobile phone as a basic tool in biomedical imaging area, whose low cost and easy access make it a rather perfect option for miniaturization and simplification of conventional medical devices. Combined with other technologies, the mobile phone is playing an increasingly important role in biomedical diagnosis and treatment owing to its imaging function. Such newly emerging frontier raises many challenging fundamental as well as very practical issues waiting for solving. Based on reviewing recent patents and some related researches, this article is dedicated to drafting this new biomedical imaging area and presenting a comprehensive evaluation on the latest achievements on developing the mobile phone based biomedical imaging technology. Important issues either in theory or hardware designs will be presented. Some important technical investigations worth of pursuing in the near future will be suggested. Particularly, direct optical or functional image acquisitions enabled from mobile phones will be illustrated with typical implementations in teledermatology, telemedicine, microscope, endoscope and ultrasound, X-CT, infrared, ECG mapping, biometric authentication, etc. Remote image detection using mobile phone as the imaging terminal is also proposed. Challenges for further development will be pointed out. From the technical routes as clarified and outlined in the present article, it can be found that there is plenty of space in the coming era of mobile phone based biomedical imaging technology.

This paper presents and discusses a number of significant seminal patents on implantable heart-assist and compression devises. It further discusses active, electrically controllable and implantable heart compression/assist systems equipped with ionic polymeric artificial muscles. A brief description of the characteristics and modeling of ionic polymer metal composites (IPMCs) as artificial muscles is also included in this paper. These polymeric artificial muscles can be suitably integrated with or sutured to the myocardium. In particular, they can be sutured to the left ventricle and placed around a failing heart's ischemic muscle tissues and snugly conformed to the size and the shape of the heart muscle to cyclically and synchronously assist the systolic and diastolic activities and functions of a failing heart. These systems will be designed for selectively assisting the ventricles or atria, and in particular the left ventricle of a weak heart to produce enough internal pressure and to pump blood from one or more sides in synchrony with the natural systolic contraction of the ventricle, as well as providing arrhythmia control of the beating heart. The proposed compression heart assist system is microprocessor based and electrically-controlled and completely implantable in the body of a patient for treating congestive heart diseases and related cardiac complications such as cardiomyopathy and valvular disorders. The same technology can also be applied to atrial fibrillation which is a malfunction of the right atrium as well other bio-organ compression such as thrombo-embolic deterrent (TED) type enhancement of venous circulation in the legs. The power supply for the implanted system can be multi-year long lasting batteries that can be recharged transcutaneously. The proposed multi-fingered heart compression device (MFHCD) is entirely endoscopically implantable and can be directly or transcutaneously energized by inductive magnetoresonant generators.

The patents annotated in this section have been selected from various patent databases. These recent patents are relevant to the articles published in this journal issue, categorized by medical imaging, bioinformatics, image processing, biomaterials, pharmaceutical drugs, bioengineering, medical devices, design, biological devices, biomechanics & diagnostic devices related to biomedical engineering.