Abstract: The present invention relates to synthetic lipoteicoic acid (LTA) mimetics which are useful as vaccine components for therapy and/or prophylaxis of bacterial infection.

Abstract: Isolated monoclonal antibodies or an antigen binding portion thereof which bind to prostate specific membrane antigen in its native form occurring on the surface of tumor cells characterized in that it is linked to a label or a cytotoxic agent or constructed as a part of a bispecific antibody or a recombinant diabody.

Abstract: The present invention relates to antigens, more particularly protein antigens of enterococcal pathogens which are useful as vaccine components for therapy and/or prophylaxis.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an isolated soluble CCR6 receptor polypeptide capable of binding to CCL18 and/or CCL20 and to a method for quantifying the concentration of a soluble CCR6 receptor polypeptide in a liquid sample from a subject. The present invention also relates to a method for detecting and/or prognosticating an interstitial lung disease or a cancer in a subject by determining the level of a soluble CCR6 receptor polypeptide in a sample from said subject and further provides a pharmaceutical composition comprising a compound capable of inhibiting the activity and/or the expression of CCL18 or CCL20 for the treatment of said diseases. The present invention further relates to an isolated polypeptide capable of binding to and inhibiting the activity of the chemokine receptor CCR6 and to a method for identifying further inhibitors of CCR6 receptor activity.

Abstract: The present invention refers to a method for inducing tumor apoptosis by influencing the ROS (reactive oxygen species) signaling pathway in tumor cells. Increasing the level of ROS leads to the selective inactivation of a tumor cell catalase and subsequently to an apoptosis of these cells. The level of ROS can be increased by increasing the level of nitric oxide through inhibition of the enzymes nitric oxide dioxygenase or arginase. According to the present invention inhibitors of the nitric oxide dioxygenase or arginase can be used for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of cancer. The present invention further provides a method for identifying compounds which can be used for the treatment of cancer, wherein the method allows to specifically identify compounds which induce apoptosis through the ROS signaling pathway. The present invention also provides a kit for identifying compounds which induce tumor apoptosis by inactivating a catalase on the tumor cell surface.

Abstract: The present invention provides in vitro methods for detecting, grading or prognosticating cancer, in particular prostate cancer. The invention further provides isolated polynucleotides suitable for reducing or inhibiting the expression of protein kinase C beta I and/or II and/or alpha (and consequently the levels of histone H3 phosphorylated at threonine 6, histone H3 monomethylated at lysine 4, histone H3 dimethylated at lysine 4, histone H3 trimethylated at lysine 4) and further relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising said polynucleotides for the treatment or prevention of cancer, in particular prostate cancer.

Abstract: The invention relates to a multiple-specificity demethylase complex comprising a Jumonji C (JMJC) domain-containing enzyme, a process of its preparation and its use.

Abstract: The present invention refers to a method for inducing tumor apoptosis by influencing the ROS (reactive oxygen species) signaling pathway in tumor cells. Increasing the level of ROS leads to the selective inactivation of a tumor cell catalase and subsequently to an apoptosis of these cells. The level of ROS can be increased by increasing the level of nitric oxide through inhibition of the enzymes nitric oxide dioxygenase or arginase. According to the present invention inhibitors of the nitric oxide dioxygenase or arginase can be used for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of cancer. The present invention further provides a method for identifying compounds which can be used for the treatment of cancer, wherein the method allows to specifically identify compounds which induce apoptosis through the ROS signaling pathway. The present invention also provides a kit for identifying compounds which induce tumor apoptosis by inactivating a catalase on the tumor cell surface.

Abstract: Disclosed are split-core carrier substance which, as separate polypeptide, have the core N domain and the core C domain of the core protein of a hepatitis B virus and at least one foreign molecule against which an immune response is to be induced. According to the invention, the foreign molecule, especially the heterologous foreign amino acid sequence, is fused to the C terminus or the core N domain or to the N terminus of the core C domain and the core protein can form capsid-like particles. The invention also relates to the associated production method.

Abstract: The invention relates to new morphine compounds of the formula: where R1 represents a C1-6 alkyl radical and the radicals R2 and R3 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen atoms, methyl groups and acetyl groups.

Abstract: The invention relates to a multiple-specificity demethylase complex comprising a Jumonji C (JMJC) domain-containing enzyme, a process of its preparation and its use.

Abstract: Pharmaceutical compositions of Usnea barbata and the use thereof for the treatment of skin diseases are disclosed. A preferred composition is the combination with an extract of Hypericum perforatum. The extracts are obtained by supercritical high-pressure extraction with spring carbon-dioxide. A preferred form of preparation is the homogenization of 6% by weight of an extract of Usnea barbata, containing 96% of usnic acid, and 40% by weight of an extract of Hypericum perforatum, containing 39% of hyperforin, together. The pharmaceutical composition leads to a potentiation of the anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects of the extracts and to stabilization of the hyperforin. The combination is suitable for the external and internal treatment of various skin diseases, in particular skin inflammations and skin ageing, and for the treatment of skin infections with pityrosporon yeast fungi, acne and rosacea.

Abstract: Disclosed are split-core carrier substances which, as separate polypeptides, have the core N domain and the core C domain of the core protein of a hepatitis B virus and at least one foreign molecule against which an immune response is to be induced. According to the invention, the foreign molecule, especially the heterologous foreign amino acid sequence, is fused to the C terminus of the core N domain or to the N terminus of the core C domain and the core protein can form capsid-like particles. The invention also relates to the associated production method.

Abstract: The present invention relates to cationic colloidal preparations and their use for the diagnosis and/or treatment of ocular diseases.

Abstract: The present invention refers to a method for inducing tumor apoptosis by influencing the ROS (reactive oxygen species) signaling pathway in tumor cells. Increasing the level of ROS leads to the selective inactivation of a tumor cell catalase and subsequently to an apoptosis of these cells. The level of ROS can be increased by increasing the level of nitric oxide through inhibition of the enzymes nitric oxide dioxygenase or arginase. According to the present invention inhibitors of the nitric oxide dioxygenase or arginase can be used for the manufacture of a medicament for the treatment of cancer. The present invention further provides a method for identifying compounds which can be used for the treatment of cancer, wherein the method allows to specifically identify compounds which induce apoptosis through the ROS signaling pathway. The present invention also provides a kit for identifying compounds which induce tumor apoptosis by inactivating a catalase on the tumor cell surface.

Abstract: An implantable muscle closing prosthesis system, particularly for opening and closing the rectum, characterized in that it has a compression unit, which comprises a compression cuff (1) and a reservoir cuff (2) molded as hollow bodies, and may integrate a bidirectional micropump (4) of arbitrary construction via a support ring (3), the cuffs primarily being subjected to a material compression during the inflation and deflation and communicating with one another via the micropump (4), which may be activated using a separate control unit, or is also manually operable from the outside.

Abstract: The invention relates to new morphine compounds of the formula: where R1 represents a C1-6 alkyl radical and the radicals R2 and R3 are independently selected from the group consisting of hydrogen atoms, methyl groups and acetyl groups.

Abstract: Pharmaceutical compositions of Usnea barbata and the use thereof for the treatment of skin diseases are disclosed. A preferred composition is the combination with an extract of Hypericum perforatum. The extracts are obtained by supercritical high-pressure extraction with spring carbon-dioxide. A preferred form of preparation is the homogenization of 6% by weight of an extract of Usnea barbata, containing 96% of usnic acid, and 40% by weight of an extract of Hypericum perforatum, containing 39% of hyperforin, together. The pharmaceutical composition leads to a potentiation of the anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects of the extracts and to stabilization of the hyperforin. The combination is suitable for the external and internal treatment of various skin diseases, in particular skin inflammations and skin ageing, and for the treatment of skin infections with pityrosporon yeast fungi, acne and rosacea.

Abstract: A magnetic resonance tomography apparatus, includes a gradient system that can generate at least one spatially varying and optionally time-varying magnetic field for at least one-dimensional local encoding of measuring signals in an area of a test sample to be imaged. The gradient system contains at least one subsystem which can generate a non-bijective spatially varying magnetic (NBSEM) field for local encoding, such that the function of the field strength of such an NBSEM within the area to be imaged has at least one local extreme value (maximum or minimum), such that the area to be imaged is divided along the hyper surface formed by the entirety of all local extreme values of the at least one NBSEM. The apparatus can produce images of the same quality with smaller magnetic field differences and permits easy realization.

Abstract: A method according to the technique of a steady state free precession (SSFP) gradient echo method, in particular, of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tomography, wherein a regular sequence of radio frequency pulses with flip angle ? is applied at temporally constant intervals TR, wherein the phase of these pulses is increased in subsequent steps by a constant phase increment, is characterized in that a predetermined phase encoding scheme is performed in such a manner that each individual phase encoding step is identically repeated N times under the following conditions: N is an even number and N?2; successive measured NMR signals are averaged, which minimizes the artefacts produced due to incrementation of the phase encoding gradients.