Medical Devices

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A cochlear implant placed in a cochlea of a living subject for stimulating the auditory system of the living subject, where the auditory system comprises auditory neurons. In one embodiment, the cochlear implant includes a plurality of light sources, {L.sub.i}, placeable distal to the cochlea, each light source, L.sub.1, being operable independently and adapted for generating an optical energy, E.sub.i, wherein i=1, . . . , N, and N is the number of the light sources, and delivering means placeable in the cochlea and optically coupled to the plurality of light sources, {L.sub.i}, such that in operation, the optical energies {E.sub.i} generated by the plurality of light sources {L.sub.i} are delivered to target sites, {G.sub.i}, of auditory neurons, respectively, wherein the target sites G.sub.1 and G.sub.N of auditory neurons are substantially proximate to the apical end and the basal end of the cochlea, respectively.

Vanderbilt researchers have developed an optical system for the differentiation of normal and cancerous skin lesions. The system combines the diagnostic prowess of two separate techniques to provide non-invasive, real-time, in-situ evaluation of lesions.

The A.R.M.A. Laboratory of Vanderbilt University has developed a novel continuum robot design enabling multi-scale motion at the macro and micro scale. The unique design allows miniaturization with minimal added cost thereby potentially giving rise to a new generation of surgical robots capable of both macro-motion for surgical intervention and micro-scale motion for cellular-level imaging or intervention. Micro-motion is achieved through a unique method for altering the equilibrium pose of the robot via material re-distribution throughout the length of the robot. This process ushers in a new class of surgical robotics termed continuum robots with equilibrium modulation (CREM).

There is currently no radiotherapy phantom capable of quantitatively assessing all components of an online adaptive radiotherapy (online ART) system in a comprehensive end-to-end test.Represented here is a novel, rigid phantom that can simultaneously evaluate an online ART system's image acquisition, deformable image registration, contour propagation, plan re-optimization, dose calculation, and beam delivery in a single process that is robust, quantitative, and convenient.