Nucleic acid-imaging compositions and methods for noninvasive imaging of a nucleic acid introduced into somatic tissues of an animal or human are disclosed. The noninvasive imaging enables quantitative assessment of the biodistribution of the introduced nucleic acid. The disclosed imaging compounds include a base-binding moiety, a phosphate-binding moiety, and a metal-binding moiety. A chelated metal is non-invasively detected for imaging by radioactivity or magnetic resonance.

This invention detects blood flow disorders by comparing the core body temperature, defined by a tympanic membrane measurement, to temperature measurements at various locations within the eye. The differential between the temperature measurement of the core body and that of selected site locations can yield an accurate indication of blood flow disorder within the eye. Areas at the back of the eye can be scanned at selected sites to obtain a temperature measurement profile, and again these temper...

A method and apparatus for the direct noninvasive prediction of hematocrit in mammalian blood using photoplethysmography techniques and data processing. The method and apparatus also include optional prediction of other analytes of interest: percent oxygen saturation of mammalian blood and methemoglobin of stored blood. The method and apparatus can be used for the immediate, periodic, or continuous noninvasive diagnosis or monitoring of hematocrit levels in mammalian patients without pain to the...

A tool for nondestructive interrogation of the tissue including a light source emitter and detector which may be mounted directly on the surgical tool in a tissue contacting surface for interrogation or mounted remotely and guided to the surgical field with fiber optic cables. The light source may be broadband and wavelength differentiation can be accomplished at the detector via filters or gratings, or using time, frequency, or space resolved methods. Alternatively, n discrete monochromatic lig...

An apparatus and method are described for detecting and measuring the physiologic response of a subject to chemical intake to determine impairment due to alcohol, inhalant, illicit drug or prescription medication. The method includes transducing a set of words spoken by the subject into electrical signals which are amplified and frequency band-limited and then Fast Fourier Transformed to obtain the frequency spectra of the speech. The ratio of speech energy in a first bandpass region with respec...

The invention provides improved devices, methods, and systems for shrinking of collagenated tissues, particularly for treating urinary incontinence in a noninvasive manner by directing energy to a patient's own support tissues. The energy can be applied intermittently, often between a pair of large plate electrodes having cooled flat electrode surfaces, the electrodes optionally being supported by a clamp structure. Such cooled plate electrodes are capable of directing electrical energy through ...

An ultrasonic-based method for continuous, noninvasive intracranial pressure (ICP) measurement and monitoring is described. The stress level in the skull bone is affected by pressure. This also changes the interfacial conditions between the dura matter and the skull bone. Standing waves may be set up in the skull bone and the layers in contact with the bone. At specific frequencies, there are resonance peaks in the response of the skull which can be readily detected by sweeping the excitation fr...

An apparatus and method for noninvasively measuring blood glucose concentration. The apparatus disclosed uses light pulses directed onto a patient's skin and reflected back from the patient to measure blood glucose. Reflected light is passed through light filters that transmit a narrow bandwidth of light within a range of wavelengths that is absorbed by glucose and then measured. Unreflected light is passed through identical light filters and also measured. The two measurements are then compared...

The mass of stockpiled materials is determined from detailed measurements of the elevation of the pile surface at many points and the measurement of the gravitational field along several profile lines across the surface of the stockpiled material. The elevation measurements allow the calculation of the pile volume. Measured gravity values are adjusted using standard gravity corrections in such a manner as to imply all gravity data are collected along the same reference datum. Variations in the c...

In order to perform a non-invasive measurement of the blood flow rate in the smallest vessels, i.e. the capillaries, of a blood vessel bed, and to detect the presence of erythrocyte aggregations therein, acoustic pulses containing oscillations at a frequency above 20 MHz are directed through the skin of a subject from a crystal transducer and the resulting echo pulses are processed to produce information based on the Doppler frequency signals relating to blood flow in a predetermined direction a...