Abstract: This invention is directed to the three dimensional crystal structure of Beta-site APP Cleaving Enzyme (BACE), and to the use of this structure in rational drug design methods to identify agents that may interact with active sites of BACE. Such agents may represent new therapeutics in the treatment and/or prevention of Alzheimer's Disease.

Abstract: The present invention provides methods of decreasing the frequency of emergence, decreasing the level of resistance, and delaying the emergence of a treatment-resistant Hepatitis C viral infection, by administering to a subject, either in combination or in series, an inhibitor of the Hepatitis C RNA-dependent RNA polymerase NS5B, e.g., a benzofuran, such as 5-cyclopropyl-2-(4-fluorophenyl)-6-[(2-hydroxyethyl)(methylsulfonyl)amino]-N-methyl-1-benzofuran-3-carboxamide (HCV-796), and at least one additional anti-Hepatitis C agent, e.g., a ribavirin product or an immunomodulator, such as an interferon product. Additionally, the invention relates to methods of monitoring the course of treatment of a Hepatitis C viral infection, methods of monitoring and prognosing a Hepatitis C viral infection, and methods of identifying an individual with a decreased likelihood of responding to an anti-Hepatitis C viral therapy.

Abstract: Techniques are described for detecting inappropriate activities based on interactions with Web sites and other electronic information services. In some situations, the techniques involve analyzing user interactions with an electronic information service in order to determine whether the user interactions are likely to reflect fraudulent activities by the user. In at least some situations, information about user interactions may be analyzed by applying one or more assessment tests that are each configured to assess one or more aspects of the interactions and to provide indications of whether those interaction aspects reflect inappropriate activities. If an analysis of one or more user interactions determines that a user is suspected of inappropriate activity, various actions may be taken to inhibit the inappropriate activity from continuing or recurring in the future.

Abstract: The invention provides a method and apparatus for monitoring a thermal effect of a conformal thermal treatment to diseased tissue in a target volume. The method includes acquiring a reference image of the volume containing the diseased tissue at a first position of the device, determining a baseline temperature distribution of the reference image, acquiring an image of the volume containing the diseased tissue while delivering a treatment to the volume, performing a phase subtraction between the image and the reference image to determine a change in phase between the image and the reference image and determining a current spatial temperature distribution in the volume containing the diseased tissue.

Abstract: This invention is directed to the crystal structure of yqeJ, and to the use of this structure in rational drug design methods to identify agents that may interact with active sites of yqeJ. Such agents may be useful as antibacterial agents.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method and apparatus for delivering and controlling thermal therapy to a volume of diseased tissue. Specifically, the invention includes using thermal imaging and other inputs to determine an acoustic (ultrasonic) treatment regime employing interstitial ultrasound applicators to deliver a required therapeutic temperature or thermal dose to the affected region in a body or organ. Various aspects of the treatment that can be controlled include individual transducer element operating power and frequency, as well as the rate of cooling and rotation of the entire applicator.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to an imaging-compatible device for insertion into a region of tissue under image guidance, which employs ultrasound energy for the generation of thermal lesions. Coagulation can be confined to particular sectors in tissue through rotational control of the device. The depth of coagulation can be controlled through simultaneous modulation of the operating frequencies and powers. Described is a device which comprises a transducer located within a housing suitable for tissue insertion. The transducer comprises at least one piezoceramic element with at least one acoustic matching layer comprising a high acoustic impedance material for generating acoustic energy in narrow passbands around multiple resonant frequencies with high acoustic efficiency. The magnitude and frequency of the electrical power delivered to each element can be manipulated simultaneously providing control over the 3-dimensional shape of the thermal lesion created in tissue.

Abstract: This invention is directed to the crystal structure of yqeJ, and to the use of this structure in rational drug design methods to identify agents that may interact with active sites of yqeJ. Such agents may be useful as antibacterial agents.

Abstract: A system creates and uses a visual image index for visual image retrieval. The visual image index uses multi-level filtering to reduce the processing and storage needed to identify visual images in a table that have similar characteristics to those of a query image. Information about a visual image is stored in an image signature that contains data about basic visual primitives of the image (e.g., global color, local color, texture and structure). The signature is stored in a database table along with the image itself (or a link to the image). Visual image retrieval is performed by searching for signatures in the database that are similar to the signature of the query image. The multi-level filtering reduces the number of candidate images, before a full comparison is done on the filtered-set of candidate image signatures. The first sub-filter performs a range-based query on a table of image attributes culled from the image signature, each attribute in this table is indexed.

Abstract: This invention is directed to the three dimensional crystal structure of Beta-site APP Cleaving Enzyme (BACE), and to the use of this structure in rational drug design methods to identify agents that may interact with active sites of BACE. Such agents may represent new therapeutics in the treatment and/or prevention of Alzheimer's Disease.

Abstract: A system, method, computer program product, and application program interface for indexing data relating to results of speech recognition in a database management system provides the capability to perform simple and efficient searches on audio speech data with reduced development effort. An application program interface for indexing data relating to results of speech recognition in a database management system comprises an indextype operable to support text queries on speech recognition results, an interface operable to provide interaction with an index of the indextype, and a format adapter interface a format adapter that the index creation activity will invoke to extract relevant information from a proprietary speech recognition format.