Abstract: The present invention provides a medical implant material comprising mammalian transglutaminase and a polymer, wherein the transglutaminase is provided in the absence of free divalent metal ions and wherein the polymer is associated with the transglutaminase binding protein. Preferably, the transglutaminase is a tissue transglutaminase, which is coated on, impregnated into or covalently linked to the polymer. The polymer may be naturally occuring or synthetic, and may be biodegradable or non-biodegradable. The medical implant material may further comprise a reinforcing agent and/or one or more additional polymers. The invention further provides the use of a mammalian transglutaminase in a method for improving the biocompatibility of a medical implant material, the method comprising the steps of (i) providing a medical implant material comprising a polymer associated with a binding protein for binding the transglutaminase, and (ii) treating said material with a mammalian transglutaminase.

Abstract: The present invention relates to use of a transglutaminase in the preparation of a medicament for inhibiting angiogenesis. Preferably, the transglutaminase is a human tissue transglutaminase. Advantageously, the medicament is for treating cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, retinopathy and/or psoriasis. Additionally, the invention relates to compositions comprising a transglutaminase in an amount sufficient to inhibit angiogenesis.

Abstract: A method of coding a view in a CAD drawing comprises: identifying a feature of the view; extracting properties of the feature from the CAD drawing, the properties including vector properties associated with a graphic entity or group of entities which make up the feature; generating code bits representative of the extracted properties; adding the code bits to a view code for the view; and storing the view code. A CAD drawing is selected for retrieval from a database of drawings by producing a CAD source drawing having a source view, coding the source view to produce a source code as described above, comparing the source code with stored view codes, calculating a similarity index for each stored view code and selecting the drawing for retrieval from the database on the basis of the similarity index.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an ablative thermolysis reactor (12) comprising a reaction vessel (20), and inlet (14) into the reaction vessel (20) for receiving feedstock, and an outlet from the reaction vessel (20) for discharging thermolysis product. Within the reaction vessel (20), is provided an ablative surface (20a) defining the periphery of a cylinder, and heating means (22) are arranged to heat the ablative surface (20a) to an elevated temperature. In addition at least one rotatable surface (28) having an axis of rotation coincident with the longitudinal axis of said cylinder. The rotatable surface (28) is provided relative to the ablative surface (20a) such that feedstock is pressed between a part of the rotatable surface (28) and said ablative surface (20a) and moved along the ablative surface (20a) by the rotatable surface (28), whereby to thermolyse said feedstock.

Abstract: A process for pyrolysing biomass is provided. The process comprises providing biomass to a pyrolysis reactor to produce a vapour product and condensing said vapour product to produce a condensed product, wherein a phase separation suppression agent is added during said process so as to promote the formation of a single phase condensed product.

Abstract: A Gires-Tournois etalon (GTE) (10) comprising an optical fiber (12) in which a primary chirped fiber Bragg grating (FBG) (16) is provided, an RF signal generator (20), a piezoelectric transducer (22), and a glass horn (24), for coupling an acoustic wave (26) into the fiber (12). The acoustic wave (26) causes a periodic compression within the fiber (12), which induces a low frequency periodic refractive index modulation within the grating section (14) of the fiber (12). This causes two side frequency components to be generated for each high-frequency component of the FBG (16). Two secondary grating are thus excited, having the same spectral bandwidth as the FBG (16), but a lower reflectivity and different central wavelengths. The free spectral range of the GTE (10) can be adjusted by varying the frequency of the acoustic wave (26). The reflectivity of the excited secondary gratings can be adjusted by adjusting the amplitude of the acoustic wave (26).

Abstract: A method for diagnosing coeliac disease in a patient comprising (a) providing an antibody sample from the patient to be tested, (b) contacting said antibody sample with cross-linked extracellular matrix (ECM) material immobilized on a surface and (c) detecting binding of antibodies present in the sample to the ECM-coated surface, wherein the binding of antibodies present in the sample to the ECM-coated surface being indicative of a positive diagnosis. Preferably, step (c) comprises an ELISA. The invention further provides a kit of parts for use in diagnosing coeliac disease in a patient.

Abstract: A biologically active lipid mobilising agent for use in therapy is disclosed which has the properties and characteristics of a Zn-?2-glycoprotein, or of a fragment thereof having an apparent molecular mass Mr greater than 6.0 kDa as determined by gel exclusion chromatography. Methods of isolation and purification from biological material are also disclosed together with uses of the material for making up pharmaceutical compositions, especially pharmaceutical compositions useful for treating mammals to achieve weight reduction or for controlling obesity. In addition, uses of the material for developing diagnostic agents and for identifying inhibitors of lipolytic activity for therapeutic purposes are disclosed.

Abstract: A coating for a medical device, the device generally being of the type which is to be used internally in a subject, includes a transglutaminase (TGase) inhibitor. The Tgase inhibitor effectively prevents the activity of any Tgase involved in clot formation or clot stability. Preferably, the transglutaminase inhibitor is a factor XIIIa inhibitor. The coating may be prepared by suitable processes such as esterification. The coating may be immobilized on a suitable medical device in a number of ways and is preferably included in a TGase inhibitor containing polymer. The coating may also include a suitable antimicrobial agent.

Abstract: A method of processing a signal to infer a information encoded in the signal, measuring characteristics of the signal, making an estimate of the information from measured signal characteristics, using an expanded set of information, the expanded set of information being correlated to the measured signal characteristics, determining an update rule and applying the update rule to the expanded set of information to generate an inferred set of information representative of that encoded in the signal. The method may be used in many applications, for example inferring information in CDMA signals, learning in an Ising perceptron and lossy compression.

Abstract: An optical pulse regenerator comprising means for broadening the temporal widths and flattening the centre portions of an optical pulse in optical communication using a saturable absorber such as, an unbalanced optical interferometer, and with an optical amplifier.

Abstract: A Gires-Tournois etalon (GTE) (10) comprising an optical fibre (12) in which a primary chirped fibre Bragg grating (FBG) (16) is provided, an RF signal generator (20), a piezoelectric transducer (22), and a glass horn (24), for coupling an acoustic wave (26) into the fibre (12). The acoustic wave (26) causes a periodic compression within the fibre (12), which induces a low frequency periodic refractive index modulation within the grating section (14) of the fibre (12). This causes two side frequency components to be generated for each high-frequency component of the FBG (16). Two secondary grating are thus excited, having the same spectral bandwidth as the FBG (16), but a lower reflectivity and different central wavelengths. The free spectral range of the GTE (10) can be adjusted by varying the frequency of the acoustic wave (26). The reflectivity of the excited secondary gratings can be adjusted by adjusting the amplitude of the acoustic wave (26).

Abstract: The present invention relates to a sensing system which is capable of discriminating types of causes of changing loads on a surface, such as the type of motion of a human subject. The system has wide ranging applications including sports performance (e.g. golf club swing analysis). The system comprises a deformable load bearing surface (2), a plurality of mutually spaced sensors (6), a processor (8) and an output (10). The sensors (6) are coupled through the deformation response of the surface (2) to an applied load (4) to receive local sensory data from the surface (2). The processor (8) is operatively coupled to the sensors (6) and is arranged to transform the sensory data into information data relating to a load (4) applied to the surface (2), e.g. by means of a neural network algorithm. In an alternative embodiment, a housing including the deformable load bearing surface (2) contains a flowable material (e.g. liquid) which flows in response to the deformation of the surface.

Abstract: A first embodiment of the invention provides a Gires-Tournois etalon (DGTE) 20 comprising a cladding mode suppressed optical fibre 22, including an etalon section 24 in which a weakly reflective optical waveguide grating 26 and a strongly reflective optical waveguide grating 28 are provided. The two gratings 26, 28 are chirped fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs). The chirped FBGs 26, 28 are arranged to together define an etalon cavity. Another aspect of the invention provides a dispersion compensator 60 comprising two DGTEs 62, 64 according to the first embodiment of the invention. The DGTEs 62, 64 have a linearly varying dispersion over a selected optical bandwidth. The first DGTE 62 has a positive dispersion slope and the second DGTE 64 has a negative dispersion slope. The magnitudes of the dispersion slopes of the two DGTEs 62, 64 are substantially equal, so that the dispersion compensator 60 has a constant dispersion across the selected bandwidth.

Abstract: The present invention provides compounds of formula (I); wherein each of R1 to R4 is independently selected from hydrogen, a halogen, a substituted or unsubstituted cyclic and heterocyclic moiety, substituted or unsubstituted, linear or branched alkyl, alkyloxy, alkylcarbonyl, alkyloxycarbonyl, alkenyl, alkenyloxy, alkenylcarbonyl, alkenyloxycarbonyl, alkynyl, alkynyloxy, alkynylcarbonyl, alkynyloxycarbonyl, aryl, benzyl, arlyoxy, arylcarbonyl, aryloxycarbonyl and sulphur equivalents of said oxy, carbonyl and oxycarbonyl moieties, and A is NH, or (CH2)n, where n is preferably 0, 1 or 2. The invention also relates to methods for preparing the compounds and their uses as CCK receptor ligands and CCK antagonists.

Abstract: The present invention relates to compounds of formula (1): wherein X is selected from hydrogen, a halogen, a substituted or unsubstituted cyclic and heterocyclic moiety, substituted or unsubstituted, linear or branched alkyl, alkyloxy, alkylcarbonyl, alkyloxycarbonyl, alkenyl, alkenyloxy, alkenylcarbonyl, alkenyloxycarbonyl, alkynyl, alkynyloxy, alkynylcarbonyl, alkynyloxycarbonyl, aryl, benzyl, arlyoxy, arylcarbonyl, aryloxycarbonyl and sulphur equivalents of said oxy, carbonyl and oxycarbonyl moieties, R is selected from hydrogen, a halogen, an amide, a substituted or unsubstituted cyclic and heterocyclic moiety, substituted or unsubstituted, linear or branched alkyl, alkyloxy, alkylcarbonyl, alkyloxycarbonyl, alkenyl, alkenyloxy, alkenylcarbonyl, alkenyloxycarbonyl, alkynyl, alkynyloxy, alkynylcarbonyl, alkynyloxycarbonyl, aryl, benzyl, arlyoxy, arylcarbonyl, aryloxycarbonyl and sulphur equivalents of said oxy, carbonyl and oxycarbonyl moieties, and R1 and R2 arc each independently selected from H, C1-18 s

Abstract: Surface profiling apparatus (10) according to one embodiment comprises three long period gratings (LPGs) (12, 14, 16) fabricated in progressive three layered (PTL) fibre (18) and embedded within a deformable carrier member (40) comprising a skeleton (42) provided between two sheets of flexible rubber skin (44, 46). The LPGs (12, 14, 16) are illuminated by three wavelength modulated, narrow bandwidth optical signals, each having a different wavelength and modulation frequency. A photodetector (26) connected to three lock-in amplifiers (28, 30, 32) measures the amplitudes of the first and second harmonic frequency components of the photodetector output signal corresponding to each LPG (12, 14, 16). Similar surface profiling apparatus (10) forms the basis for respiratory function monitoring apparatus (100) in which five LPGs are provided within each of four PTL fibres (104, 106, 108, 110) and embedded in four carrier members (40a–d) attached to a garment (114) to be worn by a subject.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a compound of formula (I):—wherein A is an aromatic moiety or selected from benzyl, C1-C16 alkyl dialkylamino, dialkylaminoalkyl, alkoxyalkyl, cyano, and mono-, di-, or tri-hydroxyalkyl and/or aryl, B is an aromatic moiety, R1 and R2 are independently C1 to C6 alkyl or NR1R2 forms a 5 to 8 membered ring optionally containing one or two additional heteroatoms selected from nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur and which is optionally substituted by C1 to C6 alkyl, and n is 0 or 1, and salts and hydrates thereof. The invention is also concerned with methods of synthesising the compounds and their uses as 5-HT7 ligands.

Abstract: A dual wavelength optical fiber distributed feedback laser comprises a pump laser coupled to a birefringent fiber in which a first grating device (two co-located single phase-shift fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs)) is provided. The grating device gives the laser two potential lasing modes in each of two orthogonal polarization states. A polarization mode coupling FBG selects two orthogonally polarized modes on which the laser oscillates. In a photonic data carrying signal source, the laser is coupled to a polarization dependent, optical modulator operable to apply a modulation, at a data signal frequency, to one polarization mode of the laser output. In an optical waveguide based electronic signal transmission system the modulated and un-modulated polarization modes output from the source are transmitted across a fiber transmission line to a polarizing optical fiber in which the two modes heterodyne to generate an electronic carrier signal in the optical domain.

Abstract: Apparatus (10) for interrogating an optical signal (not shown) propagating in an optical waveguide, such as an optical fiber, having an input section (12) and a second section (14) through which light entering from the input section (12) will subsequently propagate. The second section (14) includes a grating portion, such as a tilted chirped fiber Bragg grating (16). The grating (16) causes at least part of the optical signal to be coupled out of the optical fiber, through the fiber cladding. A photodetector (18) is provided generally alongside the grating (16). The photodetector (18) is arranged to collect and detect substantially all of the outcoupled optical signal. The relationship between the optical power outcoupled by the grating (16) and the wavelength of the optical signal is known, allowing a measurement of the outcoupled optical power to be used to determine the wavelength of the optical signal propagating through the grating (16).