Abstract: The invention relates to a neural prosthesis, a neural prosthesis for use in the treatment of severed nerves and to a method for producing a neural prosthesis. Said neural prosthesis comprises a coupling element receptacle and at least one coupling element having a first and a second coupling section, wherein the coupling element is fixed by the coupling element receptacle, and wherein the first coupling section can be arranged on a first nerve region and the second coupling section on a second nerve region so that both nerve regions can be coupled by means of the neural prosthesis.

Abstract: Methods, systems and kits for the early diagnosis or prediction of systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) including sepsis in asymptomatic patients, such as patients undergoing a surgical intervention, are provided. Some embodiments include a method and system for the detection or diagnosis of SIRS, or detection or diagnosis of a risk to suffer from or develop SIRS, in an asymptomatic patient comprising the steps of determining the level of IL-6 (or a variant thereof) in a sample from the patient; comparing the level of IL-6 (or a variant thereof) to a reference level; detecting or diagnosing SIRS or diagnosing a risk to suffer from or develop SIRS, wherein the sample is isolated at least 2 times at short intervals and the determining and comparing steps are both repeated for each sample. Also provided are methods, systems and kits for therapy monitoring and mortality prediction.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method for detecting a wound infection comprising the steps of: contacting a sample obtained from a wound with at least two substrates for at least two enzymes selected from the group consisting of lysozyme, elastase, cathepsin G and myeloperoxidase, and detecting a wound infection when a conversion of the at least two substrates with said at least two enzymes are determined.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for the transcutaneous, in vivo measurement of the concentration of at least one analyte in a living organism, comprising a carrier which can be introduced into the organism, and a luminescence indicator which is immobilized on the carrier and which reacts to a change in the concentration of the analyte to be measured with a change in at least one optical property, wherein the luminescence indicator is transcutaneously connected to a source for providing the excitation radiation and a detector for detecting the measuring radiation. According to the invention, the luminescence indicator is immobilized on the outer circumference of a catheter, which is used to dispense a fluid medium, for example a medicament, into the organism or to suck up a body fluid.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for localizing and tracking acoustic sources (101) in a multi-source environment, comprising the steps of recording audio-signals (103) of at least one acoustic source (101) with at least two recording means (104, 105), creating a two- or multi-channel recording signal, partitioning said recording signal into frames of predefined length (N), calculating for each frame a cross-correlation function as a function of discrete time-lag values (?) for channel pairs (106, 107) of the recording signal, evaluating the cross-correlation function by calculating a sampling function depending on a pitch parameter (f0) and at least one spatial parameter (?0), the sampling function assigning a value to every point of a multidimensional space being spanned by the pitch-parameter and the spatial parameters, and identifying peaks in said multidimensional space with respective acoustic sources in the multi-source environment.

Abstract: Use of an inhibitor or activator of the triglyceride hydrolyse activity of a protein comprising a polypeptide strand encoded by the DNA sequence according to SEQ No. 1 for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of medical disorders where it is desirable to modulate the activity of a protein encoded by the DNA sequence according to SEQ No. 1.

Abstract: An assay library comprising 14 fluorescently labeled phosphonate esters which act as serine hydrolase inhibitors is provided as an analytical tool enabling activity based identification of serine hydrolases and characterization of enzyme preparations, protein mixtures and complex proteome samples.

Abstract: A receiver device for detecting a multi-band signal, the receiver device comprising a bank of autocorrelation units adapted for separating the multi-band signal into a set of autocorrelation signals, and a sampling stage arranged downstream the bank of autocorrelation units and adapted for sampling the set of autocorrelation signals to thereby select individual signal components for detection.

Abstract: A sensor system being is located in an environment composed of a first medium, where waves propagate with a first phase velocity, the sensor system including at least one main enclosure and a sensor array with at least two sensors, said sensor array being arranged inside the main enclosure, wherein the space inside the main enclosure between the sensor array and the inner surface of the main enclosure is filled with a second medium, in which waves propagate with a second phase velocity, the second phase velocity being different from the first velocity.

Abstract: A mutant Pichia pastoris alcohol oxidase 1 (AOX1) promoter of the wild type Pichia pastoris AOX1 promoter (SEQ ID No. 1) comprising at least one mutation selected from the group consisting of: a) a transcription factor binding site (TFBS), b) nucleotides 170 to 235 (?784 to ?719), nucleotides 170 to 191 (?784 to ?763), nucleotides 192 to 213 (?762 to ?741), nucleotides 192 to 210 (?762 to ?744), nucleotides 207 to 209 (?747 to ?745), nucleotides 214 to 235 (?740 to ?719), nucleotides 304 to 350 (?650 to ?604), nucleotides 364 to 393 (?590 to ?561), nucleotides 434 to 508 (?520 to ?446), nucleotides 509 to 551 (?445 to ?403), nucleotides 552 to 560 (?402 to ?394), nucleotides 585 to 617 (?369 to ?337), nucleotides 621 to 660 (?333 to ?294), nucleotides 625 to 683 (?329 to ?271), nucleotides 736 to 741 (?218 to ?213), nucleotides 737 to 738 (?217 to ?216), nucleotides 726 to 755 (?228 to ?199), nucleotides 784 to 800 (?170 to ?154) or nucleotides 823 to 861 (?131 to ?93) of Seq ID No.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method which makes use of the Zeeman effect for measuring magnetic fields, by way of dark resonances. According to said method, a measuring cell (14) is exposed to the magnetic field (B) to be measured and contains the atoms of a measuring medium in a buffer gas, a radiation source (11) being provided for exciting the atoms by radiation and being connected to the modulation frequency generator and emitting electromagnetic radiation with different frequencies. A frequency detector (17) is mounted downstream of the measuring cell (14) and comprises a control loop (18) for the frequency tuning to a dark resonance frequency.

Abstract: The invention relates to a method for the oxidative cleavage of vinyl aromatics of the formula (1) characterized in that (a) compound(s) of the formula (1) is/are oxidized to aldehydes and ketones of the formulas (2) and (3), respectively, in the presence of molecular oxygen using at least one enzyme selected from peroxidases and laccases as a catalyst, according to the following general reaction scheme: wherein n is an integer of 0 to 5; the R1 are selected from saturated or unsaturated hydrocarbon groups with 1 to 10 carbon atoms, wherein carbon atoms are optionally substituted by heteroatoms and are optionally further substituted, amino, C1-6 alkylamino and C1-6 dialkylamino groups, halogens, hydroxy and cyano, wherein two of the substituents R1 may be linked to form a ring; R2 and R3 are each independently hydrogen or one of the options for R1, wherein R2 and/or R3 may be linked with R1 to form a ring, in which case R2 and R3 may each represent a chemical bond.

Abstract: An apparatus for determining a thickness of a layer of fat of an organism, the apparatus comprising a plurality of electromagnetic radiation sources adapted for illuminating the layer of fat with a plurality of pulses of electromagnetic radiation, at least one electromagnetic radiation detector adapted for detecting detection signals indicative of the pulses of electromagnetic radiation after transmission through the layer of fat, and a determining unit adapted for determining a plurality of values of the thickness of the layer of fat based on an analysis of a plurality of ratios between the detection signals, wherein only those values are used for calculating an average thickness of the layer of fat which values result in deviations from the average thickness of less than a predetermined threshold value.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for magnetic induction tomography, in which an object with inhomogeneous passive electrical properties is exposed to an alternating magnetic field by excitation coils located at different positions, from which receiver coils located at different positions pick up AC signals which contain information concerning the electrical conductivity and its distribution in the object, and images of the spatial electrical properties in the interior of the object are reconstructed from the amplitudes and phases of the received signals, whereas the measurement is carried out at least 2 frequencies and an additional perturbation of the coils and/or the field geometry so as to determine a correction factor with which it is possible to widely eliminate spurious signals generated by changes of the geometry during the object measurement.

Abstract: A method and system for recovering useful information, in particular useful information transmitted in digital form on terrestrial or satellite-based information paths, for example as voice, image or data signal, from channel-coded data streams encoded with turbo codes with a predefined code rate is disclosed. The data streams are received by a turbo decoder with a presettable number of decoder components and subsequently decoded in an iterative process according to the MAP and/or Max-Log-MAP standard. The iterative process is controlled by a stop criterion, wherein after termination of the iterative process in the turbo decoder at least one of the decoder components, in particular the associated lattice diagram, is used for an additional decoding process that is different from the MAP and/or Max-Log-MAP standard. This approach lowers the error floor of the turbo code.

Abstract: An apparatus for noise suppression having a linear prediction analysis circuit having an LP error filter (LFF), which takes a first, noisy voice signal y(n)=x(n)+?(n) as a basis for producing an LP-error-filter output signal e(n), having a coefficient calculation unit (KBE), which updates the coefficients of the LP error filter on the basis of the internal signals (including the input and out signals y(n) and e(n)) in the LP error filter, and having a subtraction unit, which subtracts the LP error filter output signal e(n) from the first voice signal y(n) in a subtractor and, following the subtraction, outputs the remainder as a second voice signal x(n)=y(n)?e(n) in which the noise is suppressed.

Abstract: The present invention relates to the use of nor-ursodeoxycholic acid for the manufacture of a drug for the treatment and/or the prevention of liver diseases, preferably chronic liver diseases.

Abstract: The invention relates to oxidized phospholipids having one of the general formulas (I) or (II) wherein A=O, C, NH, or S; B?O, C, NH, or S; and R2 is selected from the group consisting of —CO—(CH2)n—CH3; —CO—(CH2)b—CHO; and —CO—(CH2)n—COOH, with n=3-7, with the proviso that in general formula (I), R1 is selected from the group consisting of —CH2—(CH2)n—X; a —CO—(CH2)n—X with n=5-11, wherein X is a fluorophore; and in general formula (II), R1 is selected from the group consisting of —CH?CH—(CH2)n—CH3 with n=9-15; —(CH2)n—CH3 with n=11-17; and —CO—(CH2)n—CH3 with n=10-16; and R3 is selected from the group consisting of —CO—(CH2)n—X; and —SO2—(CH2)n—X, with n=0-5, wherein X is a fluorophore.

Abstract: Use of an inhibitor or activator of the triglyceride hydrolyse activity of a protein comprising a polypeptide strand encoded by the DNA sequence according to SEQ No. 1 for the preparation of a pharmaceutical composition for the treatment of medical disorders where it is desirable to modulate the activity of a protein encoded by the DNA sequence according to SEQ No. 1.

Abstract: A device (10) for delivery of glucose-regulating medication depending on the measured tissue glucose concentration, having a sensor (7) for measuring the glucose concentration in the tissue fluid, possibly a unit (1) for removing fluid from subcutaneous tissue (11), as well as a container (14) for the medications, having a unit (23) for subcutaneous delivery of the glucose-regulating medications, and having a unit (12) connected to the glucose sensor (7) for regulating the delivery of the glucose-regulating medication depending on the measured tissue glucose concentrations. To provide a device (10) simulating the function of the natural pancreas and being compact, the sensor (7) for measuring the tissue glucose concentration or the unit (1) for removing the tissue fluid is combined with the delivery unit (23), particularly in a shared catheter (25), so that the measurement of the tissue glucose concentration is essentially performed at the location of the delivery of the glucose-regulating medication.