Abstract: Coater for coating particles is provided with a casing and a cylinder having apertures rotatably mounted within the casing. Gas is blown into the casing and onto the host particles through the slots of the cylinder. Guest particles may be inserted into the casing initially or subsequently after rotation of the cylinder begins. The particles are fluidized when a balance is attained between the centrifugal force from the rotation of the cylinder and the force exerted upon the particles from the air flow. The centrifugal force exerted on the particles within the cylinder in an operating state is at least about 25 gs so as to cause guest particles of different sizes to be coated onto the host.

Abstract: An apparatus for weighing a patient while the patient remains in bed including at least one flexible potentiometer mounted on top of a bed or mattress having a known compliance, i.e. known degree of flexure for a given weight, and connected to an electrical system for detecting and measuring the resistance of the potentiometer, so as to indicate the weight of the patient. The flexible potentiometer may also be adhered to a sheet of plastic, such as Mylar, and placed upon the bed like a protective sheet for the bed. The apparatus may include a multiple of flexible potentiometers. Further, the device to which the flexible potentiometer is connected may be used to help control servo mechanisms in medication dispensing devices such as infusion pumps and/or hemodialysis machines (artificial kidneys).

Abstract: This invention relates to nucleic acid, or fragments thereof, encoding the retinoblastoma polypeptide, the retinoblastoma polypeptide itself, methods of detecting a defective retinoblastoma gene in human patients, and methods of treating these patients.