Then a thin, flexible wire was threaded through the needle, and the needle and catheter were removed.

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Lucent's 30, 000 techies work on such advances as plastic fiber flexible enough to wire your home, a new over-the-air laser system for local optical transmission and routers with mind-boggling capacity.

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Tensegrity refers to the balance of pushing and pulling forces--the metal pushes, the wire pulls--that work to maintain a flexible, elastic shape.

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They ended up producing a flexible catheter tube that goes a bit of the way up the nostrils, then a guide wire is inserted into the targeted sinus. (In live patients this is done via an endoscope and fluoroscope.) A balloon catheter is advanced over the guide wire and positioned against the blocked ostium.

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