Electricity: magnetically operated switches – magnets – and electr – Magnets and electromagnets – Magnet structure or material
Reexamination Certificate
2001-11-13
2004-11-16
Donovan, Lincoln (Department: 2832)
Electricity: magnetically operated switches, magnets, and electr
Magnets and electromagnets
Magnet structure or material
C600S009000, C600S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06819210
ABSTRACT:
INTRODUCTION
This invention relates generally to devices and methods for generating volumes of space containing generally uniform static magnetic fields suitable for systemic treatment of an afflicted patient. More particularly, this invention relates to a device, and method of use therefor, which generates a substantially uniform static magnetic field in a sizeable volume of space defined in part by a plurality of DC electromagnetic coils, a method for systematically arranging and configuring these coils, and a patient supporting surface which may be placed therein and which an afflicted patient may be placed upon.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Throughout history, human beings have lived in an analog, rather than a digital world. Neither the sun nor the sundial kept precise time, but both were more than sufficient to fix dinnertime. Uniform likely once meant one part in ten or twenty, or one part in fifty or one hundred. A slide rule was, at best accurate to one part in one thousand, and was used for all but the most precise engineering and scientific work of its day. Applicant doubts that the basic human physiology or biology has changed much from then.
Although scientists disagree regarding what causes the earth's magnetic field or the exact nature of the historical intensity changes of that field, there is general agreement that, in recent years, it has been decreasing. Some analysts conclude that the earth's magnetic field has decreased 5% per century for at least the last 1000 years. If this rate of decline has been occurring over the 6000 years of history recorded in the Bible, it would indicate that the earth's magnetic field at the time of Adam and Eve could have been as high as 20 gauss compared to the present 0.5 gauss geomagnetic field. Life spans recorded in the Biblical Chronology were at least an order of magnitude greater than they are today. Applicant believes that a more intense geomagnetic field may have been a contributory factor and that the recent measured decreases of geomagnetic field may be related to the increasing incidence of certain disease states. Research into the effects of magnetic fields upon living things began thousands of years ago and continues.
Recently, this research has primarily focused on the adverse effects of electromagnetic fields generated by A.C., and the therapeutic effects of permanent magnets used to treat specific localized afflictions. The fields of these magnets rapidly diminish with distance from the magnet. The actual field strength generated more than an inch or two from a typical permanent magnet, or a plurality of them is much weaker than the nominal strength of the magnet, and is quite nonuniform.
What appears to be a scholarly review of the history and current trends in biomagnetism appears at http://www.spot4u.com/post/doc.html. Extracts from this report appear below:
Bioelectromagnetics Applications in Medicine
PANEL MEMBERS AND CONTRIBUTING AUTHORS
Beverly Rubik, Ph.D.—Chair, Robert O. Becker, M. D., Robert G. Flower, M. S., Carlton F. Hazlewood, Ph.D., Abraham R. Liboff, Ph.D., Jan Walleczek, Ph.D.
Overview
Bioelectromagnetics (BEM) is the emerging science that studies how living organisms interact with electromagnetic (EM) fields
All of the known frequencies of EM waves or fields are represented in the EM spectrum, ranging from DC (zero frequency) to the highest frequencies, such as gamma and cosmic rays. The EM spectrum includes x rays, visible light, microwaves, and television and radio frequencies, among many others. Moreover, all EM fields are force fields that carry energy through space and are capable of producing an effect at a distance.
Endogenous fields (those produced within the body) are to be distinguished from exogenous fields (those produced by sources outside the body). Exogenous EM fields can be classified as either natural, such as the earth's geomagnetic field, or artificial (e.g., power lines, transformers, appliances, radio transmitters, and medical devices). The term electropollution refers to artificial EM fields that may be associated with health risks.
It is possible that the effects (both beneficial and harmful) of exogenous fields may be mediated by alterations in endogenous fields. Thus, externally applied EM fields from medical devices may act to correct abnormalities in endogenous EM fields characteristic of disease states.
Medical Applications of Bioelectromagnetics
Bone Repair
Three types of applied EM fields are known to promote healing of nonunion bone fractures (i.e., those that fail to heal spontaneously):
Pulsed EM fields (PEMFs) and sinusoidal EM fields (AC fields).
DC fields.
Combined AC-DC magnetic fields tuned to ion-resonant frequencies (these are extremely low-intensity, physically nonthermal fields) (Weinstein et al., 1990).
Approval of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been obtained on PEMF and DC applications and is pending for the AC-DC application. In PEMF and AC applications, the repetition frequencies used are in the ELF range (Bassett, 1989). In DC applications, magnetic field intensities range from 100 microgauss to 100 gauss (G), and electric currents range from less than 0.1 microampere to milliamperes (Baranowski and Black, 1987). FDA approval of these therapies covers only their use to promote healing of nonunion bone fractures, not to accelerate routine healing of uncomplicated fractures.
Efficacy of EM bone repair treatment has been confirmed in double-blind clinical trials (Barker et al., 1984; Sharrard, 1990). A conservative estimate is that as of 1985 more than 100,000 people had been treated with such devices (Bassett et al., 1974, 1982; Brighton et al., 1979, 1981; Goldenberg and Hansen, 1972; Hinsenkamp et al., 1985).
Regeneration
Animal research in this area indicates that the body's endogenous EM fields are involved in growth processes and that modifications of these fields can lead to modest regeneration of severed limbs (Becker, 1987; Becker and Spadero, 1972; Smith, 1967). Russian research and clinical applications, along with studies now under way in the United States, indicate that low-intensity microwaves apparently stimulate bone marrow stem cell division and may be useful in enhancing the effects of chemotherapy by maintaining the formation and development, or hematopoiesis, of various types of blood cells (Devyatkov et al., 1991).
The following studies are also relevant to the use of BEM for regeneration:
DC applications to promote rat spinal cord regeneration (Fehlings et al., 1992; Hurlbert and Tator, 1992).
Swedish work showing that BEM promotes rat sciatic nerve regeneration (Kanje and Rusovan, 1992; Rusovan and Kanje, 1991, 1992; Rusovan et al., 1992).
Immune System
In wound healing and regeneration, repair of soft tissue and reduction of collagenous tissue in scar formation; regrowth via blastemal (primitive cell) formation and increase in tensile strength of surgical wounds; alleviation of decubitus chronic ulcers (bedsores); increased angiogenesis (regrowth of vascular tissue such as blood vessels); and healing of recalcitrant (i.e., unresponsive to treatment) chronic venous ulcers.
For instance, a short-term, double-blind clinical trial of magnetic field therapy could be based on the protocol of Trock et al. (1993) for osteoarthritis of the knee or elbow. This protocol is as follows:
A suitable patient population is divided into treatment and control groups. Individual assigmnents are coded and remain unknown to patients, clinicians, and operators until treatment and assessment are complete.
Pretreatment clinical markers are assessed by clinicians or by patients themselves or both.
Treatments consist of 3 to 5 half-hour sessions each week for a total of 18 treatments over 5-6 weeks.
During treatment, each patient inserts the affected limb into the opening of a Helmholtz coil (a solenoid about 12 inches in diameter and 6 inches long) and rests while appropriate currents are applied to the coil via a preset program.
The treatment is noninvasive and painless; the patient feels nothing; there is n
Boynton Thomas
Tumey David M.
Donovan Lincoln
KCI Licensing Inc.
Rojas Bernard
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