Patents by Inventor Nicholas Whitaker

Nicholas Whitaker has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • P-cresol sulfate, a component of urinary myelin basic protein-like material, as a correlate of multiple sclerosis status
    Patent number: 6284473
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of determining the status of a multiple sclerosis patient, i.e., predicting the transition from a status of relapsing-remitting to a progressive phase of multiple sclerosis, comprising the step of measuring the amount of urinary p-cresol sulfate in the patient. The present invention also provides a method of determining the amount of lesions and total lesion area of a multiple sclerosis patient, comprising the step of measuring the amount of urinary p-cresol sulfate in the patient. Further provided is a method of monitoring myelination in a developing child, comprising the step of: measuring the amount of p-cresol sulfate in the urine of said child.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 1999
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Assignee: UAB Research Foundation
    Inventors: John Nicholas Whitaker, Robert David Kachelhofer, Edwin Luther Bradley, Jr., Sheila Loughran Burgard, Beverly Ann Layton, Anthony Thomas Reder, Wendy Jean Morrision, Guojun Zhao, Donald Winston Paty, Ligong Cao, Lori Coward, Patricia L. Jackson, Marion Kirk
  • Methods of measuring urinary myelin basic protein-like material
    Patent number: 5998150
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of determining the status of a multiple sclerosis patient, i.e., predicting the transition from a status of relapsing-remitting to a progressive phase of multiple sclerosis, comprising the step of measuring the levels of urinary myelin basic protein-like material in the patient. The present invention also provides a method of determining the amount of lesions and total lesion area of a multiple sclerosis patient, comprising the step of measuring the levels of urinary myelin basic protein-like material in the patient. Further provided is a method of monitoring myelination in a developing child, comprising the step of: measuring the levels of myelin basic protein-like material in the urine of said child.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 7, 1999
    Assignee: UAB Research Foundation
    Inventors: John Nicholas Whitaker, Robert David Kachelhofer, Beverly Ann Layton, Edwin Luther Bradley, Jr., Sheila Loughran Burgard, Anthony Thomas Reder, Wendy Jean Morrison, Guojun Zhao, Donald Winston Paty
  • Nail driver
    Patent number: 4483475
    Abstract: A nail driving tool includes a plunger rod attached to one end of a cylindrical handle including a radially extending finger guard located at the end of the handle nearer the plunger rod. A guide tube fits slidably on the plunger rod and has a flange extending radially from one end. When the flanged end of the guide tube is adjacent to the handle the plunger rod can be pushed through the guide tube until the driving face of its tip is approximately even with the opposite end of the guide tube. When the plunger rod is inserted into the guide tube with the flanged end away from the handle, the tube end fits to a predetermined depth into a cavity in the handle, exposing the tip of the plunger rod to that extent beyond the flange, for countersinking nails to the predetermined depth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 1982
    Date of Patent: November 20, 1984
    Inventor: Nicholas Whitaker