Abstract: A method is presented for accelerating magnetic resonance imaging. In 3D MRI, the k-space in the phase encoding plane is divided into two symmetric parts and three asymmetric parts. Different sampling densities are applied in different parts. Images are reconstructed by iteratively minimizing a cost function when random sampling is applied in each part. A phase constraint term is added into the cost function to improve the quality of the reconstruction by exploiting the conjugate symmetry of k-space.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an in vitro process for the diagnosis of prostate cancer and other tumor types in exosomes obtained from a body fluid which comprises a) concentrating the exosomes and other extracellular vesicles from a body fluid of a patient, b) extraction of total RNA from the exosomes obtained in step a), c) conversion of the RNA obtained in step b) to cDNA, d) amplification of the cDNA obtained in step c) with a polymerase chain reaction whereby primers derived from the AGR2 nucleotide sequence or the complement thereof are used, and e) determining whether in the amplification product variants of the AGR2 gene can be identified.

Abstract: A device for dispensing or receiving a liquid volume includes a liquid reservoir having an outlet, a pressure generator which provides a compressible enclosed gas volume of a constant amount of substance with a pressure, wherein the gas volume is in direct or indirect fluidic contact with the liquid in the liquid reservoir, a dosing device coupled to the outlet of the liquid reservoir and operable in order to enable the liquid to pass the outlet, a pressure sensor arranged to measure a current pressure in the gas volume and to output an output signal indicating the current pressure in the gas volume and a controller coupled to the pressure generator, the dosing device and the pressure sensor.

Abstract: A device for insertion into a rotor of a centrifuge has at least two bodies stacked one above the other in a stacking direction inside a housing insertable into a holder of the rotor of the centrifuge. The two bodies are movably disposed in relation to each other inside the housing in order to fluidically couple, in a first phase, responding to a rotation of the rotor, a first cavity of the first body to a first cavity of the second body and to fluidically couple in a second phase a second cavity of the first body to the first cavity of the second body.

Abstract: The invention is related to a method and an apparatus for the automated fabrication of a molecular layer made from amphiphilic molecules, in particular lipids for a lipid bilayer membrane, in the apparatus, which has a support substrate for supporting the molecular layer, a rotation element, which can be rotated on top of the support substrate, and an actuator device, by means of which the rotation element can be automatically rotated, wherein the rotation element has an outer surface, which is formed hydrophobic at least in sections, the method having the following steps: placing a first solvent, which contains amphiphilic molecules, in a region above the support substrate; causing the automatic rotation of the rotation element above the support substrate; moving the first solvent between the support substrate and the rotation element by the interaction of the rotating rotation element with the first solvent, thus forming the molecular layer.

Abstract: The present invention relates to substrates comprising covalently attached antimicrobial polymers, which act as synthetic mimics of antimicrobial peptides (SMAMPs) and are preferably obtained by ring opening metathesis polymerization (ROMP). The inventive antimicrobial polymers exhibit a molecular weight of more than 100,000 g mol?1 and are preferably covalently attached to the surface of a substrate, e.g. an implant, a medical device, medical equipment or a (tissue-supporting) biomaterial, etc. Covalent bonding may be carried out using a photoreactive crosslinker but also by “grafting onto” or “grafting from”. The present invention is also directed to uses of the inventive antimicrobial polymers as defined herein, e.g. for antimicrobially coating a surface of such a substrate with a layer of the inventive antimicrobial polymer.

Abstract: A Hall effect sensor with multiple Hall effect elements, each of the Hall effect elements having a first contact terminal, a second contact terminal, and a third contact terminal arranged along a straight line. The multiple Hall effect elements are electrically connected in series in a closed circuit. The second contact terminals of the Hall effect elements are supply voltage connections or Hall voltage pickoffs, and the applicable second contact terminal of the Hall effect element is a center contact of the Hall effect element. The Hall effect elements form two pairs, and the Hall effect elements of one pair each measure the same component of a magnetic field and an operating current is impressed on the series circuit in the two Hall effect elements of this one pair, and a supply voltage is applied to the Hall effect elements of the other pair.

Abstract: A method for spatially determining the series resistance of a semiconductor structure by generating luminescent radiation in the semiconductor structure under measurement conditions A and B, by determining a local calibration parameter CV,i for a plurality of prescribed locations of the semiconductor structure and determining local series resistances RS,i for a plurality of prescribed locations of the semiconductor structure. It is essential that the local series resistances RS,i are each determined as a function of a global series resistance RSg of the semiconductor structure that is identical for all local series resistances.

Abstract: A Hall sensor is provided having a first Hall element with a first terminal contact and with a second terminal contact and with a third terminal contact, a second Hall element with a fourth terminal contact and with a fifth terminal contact and with a sixth terminal contact, a third Hall element with a seventh terminal contact and with an eighth terminal contact and with a ninth terminal contact, and a fourth Hall element with a tenth terminal contact and with an eleventh terminal contact and with a twelfth terminal contact. The first Hall element and the second Hall element and the third Hall element and the fourth Hall element are connectable in series.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an in vitro method for diagnosing and/or monitoring in a subject a gastrointestinal stromal tumor or a predisposition to develop a gastrointestinal stromal tumor, comprising detecting and/or analyzing in a test sample derived from the subject one or more mutations at the DNA level in any one or both of the marker genes cKIT (GenBank acc. no. NM_000222.2) and PDGFRA (GenBank acc. no. NM_006206.4), wherein the DNA is circulating DNA, and wherein the presence of any one of the mutations detected in the test sample is indicative of a gastrointestinal stromal tumor or a predisposition to develop a gastrointestinal stromal tumor in the subject.

Abstract: A mufti-channel coil array for use as a transceiver in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a plurality of radio frequency (RF) coils disposed next to one another, devices for electromagnetically decoupling the RF coils and coil elements which are applied onto a planar carrier element (5). The carrier elements (5) have a regular, equilateral polygonal outer contour and the shape of the individual coils (2) corresponds to the outer contour of the carrier element (5). An individual coil (2) has a loop-shaped structure (1), which leads to a decoupling of individual coils (2) not immediately adjacent to each other when a plurality of individual elements are arranged. The space requirement for adding new coils is reduced, and the modular design makes it possible to easily implement any three-dimensional or two-dimensional shape.

Abstract: The invention relates to a thermo-pneumatic actuator having a cavity defined by walls and being hermetically sealed, which is inflated with a working medium that alters the gas pressure thereof when a temperature change occurs. A wall region of the cavity is constructed as a ductile membrane, which can be deflected in at least two working positions located on both sides of a neutral position, in which the membrane is curved in opposite directions to one another. In order to alter the gas pressure in the cavity, and to adjust the membrane from one working position to the other working position, a tempering device is heat-conductively connected to the working medium. In the neutral position, the membrane is compressively loaded such that respectively, it maintains its position in both working positions if no outside force impacts the membrane.

Abstract: A method for producing a selective doping structure in a semiconductor substrate in order produce a photovoltaic solar cell. The method includes the following steps: A) applying a doping layer (2) to the emitter side of the semiconductor substrate, B) locally heating a melting region of the doping layer (2) and a melting region of the semiconductor substrate lying under the doping layer (2) in such a way that dopant diffuses from the doping layer (2) into the melted semiconductor substrate via liquid-liquid diffusion, so that a high doping region (3) is produced after the melt mixture solidifies, C) producing the planar low doping region by globally heating the semiconductor substrate, D) removing the doping layer (2) and E) removing or converting a layer of the semiconductor substrate on the doping side in such a way that part of the low doping region and of the high doping region close to the surface is removed or is converted into an electrically non-conducting layer.

Abstract: A magnetic field sensor is provided, having a first Hall sensor with a first terminal contact and with a second terminal contact and with a third terminal contact and with a fourth terminal contact and with a fifth terminal contact, and a second Hall sensor with a sixth terminal contact and with a seventh terminal contact and with an eighth terminal contact and with a ninth terminal contact and with a tenth terminal contact, whereby the first terminal contact is connected to the fifth terminal contact and to the sixth terminal contact and to the tenth terminal contact, and the second terminal contact is connected to the ninth terminal contact, and the fourth terminal contact is connected to the seventh terminal contact.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for local high-doping and contacting of a semiconductor structure which is a solar cell or a precursor of a solar cell and has a silicon semiconductor substrate (1) of a base doping type. The high-doping and contacting is effected by producing a plurality of local high-doping regions of the base doping type in the semiconductor substrate (1) on a contacting side (1a) of the semiconductor substrate and applying a metal contacting layer (7) to the contacting side (1a) or, if applicable, one or more intermediate layers wholly or partially covering the contacting side (1a), to form electrically conductive connections between the metal contacting layer (7) and the semiconductor substrate (1) at the high doping regions.

Abstract: A device for generating a drop of a primary liquid is described, including: a reservoir fillable with the primary liquid, a pressure generation device for generating a hydraulic pressure on the primary liquid, at least one inlet channel for introducing a secondary fluid, and a channel having a flow cross-section transverse to a main flow direction, wherein the flow cross-section includes a main region and at least one sub-region extending from the main region, designed such that the primary liquid can be held in the main region by capillary forces, and the secondary fluid can be held in the sub-region by capillary forces, wherein the reservoir is fluidically connected to a first end of the channel via an output opening, and the at least one inlet channel is also fluidically connected to the channel, and wherein the pressure generation device is implemented to apply a hydraulic pressure to the primary liquid, whereby the same is moved along the channel and output at a second end of the channel as free-flying d

Abstract: The present invention discloses a matrix comprising a modified polysaccharide consisting of repeating disaccharide units whereby in at least 11% of the disaccharide units one primary alcohol group is oxidized into a carboxylic acid group.

Abstract: In a method to associate k-space lines with echo trains of raw magnetic resonance data, parallel k-space lines orthogonally intersect a plane at respective intersection points. Each echo train has a trajectory length, and the k-space lines are associated with the echo trains such that a sum of trajectory lengths of all echo trains is minimal. The trajectory length TL of an echo train is defined by TL = ? i = 1 L - 1 ? ? P i ? P i + 1 _ wherein L is a sequence of k-space lines, Pi is an intersection point of the i-th k-space line of the echo train with the plane; and PiPi+1 is the length of the path from the i-th intersection point to the (i+1)-th intersection point.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for identifying aptamers, having the following steps bringing a mixture of oligonucleotides into contact with an aptamer target structure and binding at least some of the oligonucleotides to the target structure, separating the oligonucleotides which have been bound to the aptamer target structure from the aptamer target structure and from oligonucleotides that are not bound to the aptamer target structure, amplifying individual oligonucleotides which were bound to the aptamer target structure in a physically separate manner and producing a plurality of physically separate amplicons, each amplicon predominantly containing one type of oligonucleotides, specifying a specific marker for a plurality of the physically separate amplicons such that each of the marked amplicons can be uniquely identified using the specified marker of the amplicon, sequencing oligonucleotides in a plurality of marked amplicons and assigning the marker that is specific for the amplicon to the sequence

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of determining Botulinum toxin (BoNT) based on a luminescence assay. The present application further relates to a peptide that is susceptible to proteolytic cleavage by BoNT which is suitable for that method.