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At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed2005

Diagnosis of patent foramen ovale using contrast-enhanced dynamic MRI: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI for detection of patent foramen ovale. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Fifteen patients with and five patients without patent foramen ovale underwent transesophageal echocardiography and MRI, which were performed during the Valsalva maneuver. Grading results (grade 0, no patent foramen ovale and grades 1-3, minor to major enhancement due to intracardiac shunt) were assessed visually. Signal-intensity curves in the left atrium and in a pulmonary vein served to underline the diagnosis. RESULTS: The diagnoses of all patients with (15/15) and without patent foramen ovale (5/5) were correct compared with the findings of the reference transesophageal echocardiography. In 12 (60%) of 20 patients, the grading scores were identical, and in four (20%) of 20 patients, the scores differed by more than one grade. Overall, there was a good correlation of grading scores (r = 0.7, p < 0.05). Using signal-intensity curves, we found that the patients with patent foramen ovale showed an additional signal peak in the left atrium before the enhancement of the pulmonary vein because of an intracardiac shunt. In three of 15 patients with patent foramen ovale, an atrial septal aneurysm was correctly diagnosed. CONCLUSION: This pilot study shows that MRI is a new noninvasive method to detect patent foramen ovale and atrial septal aneurysm. A grading is possible but warrants further investigation regarding its predictive value and impact on treatment strategies.

Contrast Media↗
PubMed2001

Relation between directly detected patent foramen ovale and ischemic brain lesions in sport divers.

BACKGROUND: In divers, the significance of a patent foramen ovale and its potential relation to paradoxical gas emboli remain uncertain. OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of symptoms of decompression illness and ischemic brain lesions in divers with regard to the presence of a patent foramen ovale. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: University hospital and three diving clubs in Switzerland. PARTICIPANTS: 52 sport divers and 52 nondiving controls. MEASUREMENTS: Prevalence of self-reported decompression events, patent foramen ovale on contrast transesophageal echocardiography, and ischemic brain lesions on magnetic resonance imaging. RESULTS: The risk for decompression illness events was 4.5-fold greater in divers with patent foramen ovale than in divers without patent foramen ovale (risk ratio, 4.5 [95% CI, 1.2 to 18.0]; P = 0.03). Among divers, 1.23 +/- 2.0 and 0.64 +/- 1.22 ischemic brain lesions per person (mean +/- SD) were detected in those with and those without patent foramen ovale, respectively. Among controls, 0.22 +/- 0.44 and 0.12 +/- 0.63 lesion per person were detected (P < 0.001 for all groups). CONCLUSIONS: Regardless of whether a diver has a patent foramen ovale, diving is associated with ischemic brain lesions.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Evaluation of preparations of patent blue (Alphazurine 2G) dye for parenteral use.

The stability and the behavior of patent blue (Alphazurine 2G) dye in a vehicle such as lidocaine hydrochloride injection were studied with regard to medication orders which may be prepared by hospital pharmacists. The patent blue family of dyes are sulfonated diaminotriphenylmethane, vital, acid dyes which have been used as diagnostic aids in both lymphography and burn debridement. A literature review, including some toxicological information, is presented. The occurrence of the sodium salt form and the equilibrium solubility of the patent blue sample studied are reported. Some implications of patent blue injections include: Clinical literature reports of toxicities, the unapproved status of patent blue by the Food and Drug Administration, results of stability studies, and the formation of viscid, water-insoluble precipitates of patent blue in combination with lidocaine hydrochloride. The extemporaneous preparation and subsequent use of parenteral prescriptions of patent blue dye in vehicles containing lidocaine hydrochloride and methylparaben are not recommended.

Aniline Compounds↗
PubMed2001

DNA patents and scientific discovery and innovation: assessing benefits and risks.

This paper focuses on the question of whether DNA patents help or hinder scientific discovery and innovation. While DNA patents create a wide variety of possible benefits and harms for science and technology, the evidence we have at this point in time supports the conclusion that they will probably promote rather than hamper scientific discovery and innovation. However, since DNA patenting is a relatively recent phenomena and the biotechnology industry is in its infancy, we should continue to gather evidence about the effects of DNA patenting on scientific innovation and discovery as well the economic, social, and legal conditions relating to intellectual property in biotechnology. We should give the free market, the courts, researchers, and patent offices a chance to settle issues related to innovation and discovery, before we seek legislative remedies, since new laws proposed at this point would lack adequate foresight and could do more harm than good. However, we should be open to new laws or regulations on DNA patents if they are required to in order to deal with some of the biases and limitations of the free market.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed2005

Surgical patents and patients--the ethical dilemmas.

It is obvious that every inventor should be rewarded for the intellectual effort, and at the same time be encouraged to successively improve his or her discovery and to work on subsequent innovations. Patents also ensure that patent owners are officially protected against intellectual piracy, but protection of intellectual property may be difficult to accomplish. Nevertheless, it all comes down to this basic question: Does a contradiction exist between medical ethics and the "Medical and Surgical Procedure Patents" system? It may well turn out that medical-procedure patents can have a negative influence on the standard of medical care. Medical-method patents may also interfere with the physician-patient relationship. At present, physicians do not question the usefulness of patent protection for medicines, biotechnology, equipment and devices, but they strongly oppose it for surgical procedures.

Ethics, Medical↗
PubMed2005

Patents and ethics: is it possible to be balanced?

In this presentation, principles of ethics are confronted with the desire of the inventor to make a profit. To this end the presentation is focused on patent protection. Patents should guarantee the return of an inventor's investment and profit and, on the other side, ensure availability--by patent disclosure--of the invention for the society when the patent terminates. Recent patent applications made by inventors are infringing this principle and societies are paying an unexpected price for these practices. Patent claims are too broad and disclosures too poor. Extreme examples will be discussed.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed1994

Patent information in biotechnology.

Patents represent an important source of scientific and legal information. Unfortunately, many of the major sources of biotechnology scientific information (for example, Medline and Biosis) do not index patents. It is probable that information of importance to the field of biotechnology reported in patents is not available in the scientific-journal literature. This article gives a brief overview of patent law from the standpoint of the technical information content of patents, and provides a survey of relevant sources of patent information for retrospective searching and for current awareness.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed1995

Cerebral blood flow and EEG changes in preterm infants with patent ductus arteriosus.

It is unknown whether the decreased cerebral blood flow seen in infants with a large patent ductus arteriosus is associated with cerebral dysfunction. Decreased cerebral blood flow in adult human and animal models has been associated with altered electroencephalography (EEG), spectral-analyzed EEG, and EEG response to photic stimulation. Cerebral blood flow velocity, EEG, spectral analysis of EEG, and photic alteration of EEG spectra were evaluated in 8 infants before and after closure of a significant patent ductus arteriosus and in 10 control infants without a patent ductus arteriosus. All infants with patent ductus arteriosus had moderate or large shunts associated with a 25% mean reduction in cerebral blood flow velocity. There were no differences, however, in EEG, spectral analysis of EEG, or photic alteration of the spectral analysis for these infants before and after patent ductus arteriosus closure as compared to controls. It is concluded that the degree of decreased cerebral blood flow in infants with a significant patent ductus arteriosus is not sufficient to cause measurable alteration in electrocortical activity.

Blood Flow Velocity↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Patenting genome research tools and the law.

Patenting genes encoding therapeutic proteins was relatively uncontroversial in the early days of biotechnology. Controversy arose in the era of high-throughput DNA sequencing, when gene patents started to look less like patents on drugs and more like patents on scientific information. Evolving scientific and business strategies for exploiting genomic information raised concerns that patents might slow subsequent research. The trend towards stricter enforcement of the utility and disclosure requirements by the patent offices should help clarify the current confusion.

Genome, Human↗
PubMed2006

Intellectual property organizations and pharmaceutical patents in Africa.

This article builds on a previous study which found low numbers of patent applications for HIV antiretroviral drugs in African countries. A high level of variation was noted across individual countries, and consequently, the present study has sought to account for sources of the variation through statistical analyses. First, a correlation between the number of patents and HIV infection rate was observed (r=0.448, p<0.001). T-tests identified significantly higher numbers of patents in national members of two intellectual property organizations (IPOs)-African Regional Intellectual Property Orginisation (ARIPO) and the Organisation Africaine de la Propriété Intellectualle (OAPI)-than in countries who did not belong to an intellectual property organization. The relationship between IPO membership and number of patents was also statistically significant in a multivariate Poisson regression. These findings demonstrate that higher numbers of patents are found in countries where they are more easily filed. This has important policy implications given the worldwide trend toward increased recognition of pharmaceutical patents.

Africa↗
PubMed2002

The moral tollbooth: a method that makes use of the patent system to address ethical concerns in biotechnology.

Patents granted for biotechnological innovations continue to cause social and ethical dilemmas. For example, much controversy surrounds the patenting of genes that predispose to breast-cancer, and in the USA the debate continues about whether or not stem-cell technology should be accessible to all. In this report, we argue that some of these concerns can be addressed within national patent systems. In particular, we examine the "order public or morality" clause that exists in most national patent procedures. Furthermore, we propose that patents for inventions that present social and ethical questions should be subject to suspension by an independent, transparent, and responsible tribunal made up of specialists in ethics, research, and economics. This suspension should be reversible so that, when the social or ethical concerns have been addressed in an appropriate manner, the suspension can be lifted. Although controversial, such a flexible mechanism would assist governments and industry in enhancing public support for patents in the biotechnology area.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Real-time Doppler color flow mapping for detection of patent ductus arteriosus.

In this study, ultrasound Doppler color flow mapping systems were utilized to examine flow in the pulmonary artery in 31 premature and term infants (aged 4 hours to 9 months) with patent ductus arteriosus accompanying respiratory distress syndrome, as an isolated lesion, or with patent ductus in association with other cyanotic or acyanotic congenital heart disorders. The flow mapping patterns were compared with those of a control population of 15 infants who did not have patent ductus arteriosus. In unconstricted ductus arteriosus, the flow from the aorta into the pulmonary artery was detected in late systole and early diastole and was distributed along the superior leftward lateral wall of the main pulmonary artery from the origin of the left pulmonary artery back in a proximal direction toward the pulmonary valve. In constricted patent ductus arteriosus, or especially in a ductus in association with cyanotic heart disease, the position of the ductal shunt in the pulmonary artery was more variable, often directed centrally or medially. Waveform spectral Doppler sampling could be performed in specific positions guided by the Doppler flow map to verify the phasic characteristics of the ductal shunt on spectral and audio outputs. Shunts through a very small patent ductus arteriosus were routinely detected in this group of infants, and right to left ductal shunts could also be verified by the Doppler flow mapping technique. This study suggests substantial promise for real-time two-dimensional Doppler echocardiographic flow mapping for evaluation of patent ductus arteriosus in infants.

Blood Flow Velocity↗
PubMed1979

An evaluation of the leading patent equivalents services.

Patent equivalent services are useful tools for identifying patent families. A patent family consists of a group of patents in various countries which cover the same invention. The patent equivalents services provided by the three leading suppliers--Chemical Abstracts Service, Derwent Publications Ltd., and INPADOC--have been tested and evaluated for coverage, recall, and accuracy. Results are reported for a test sample consisting of 75 pharmaceutical patent families.

Drug Industry↗
PubMed2006

Kinase patent space visualization using chemical replacements.

Here we present a methodology for characterizing the structure of patented chemical space. This approach identifies those chemical replacements that can connect sets of exemplified compounds in individual patents. Chemists can then search these replacements to help them discover the architecture within their patent space of interest. To demonstrate the utility of such an approach, we characterize a set of kinase inhibitors from patents and literature and find that many companies' patents can be understood to be straightforward modifications of competitors' patents. By reapplying these same chemical themes to other related compound series, novel, biologically active compounds can be discovered.

Databases, Factual↗
PubMed2003

Genetic technologies, health care policy and the patent bargain.

The idea of granting patents on human genetic material continues to cause controversy. The debate is largely focussed on the moral acceptability of human gene patents, the impact of gene patents on the research environment and the value of patents to stimulate innovation and the commercialization and dissemination of genetic discoveries. As highlighted by a recent controversy in Canada, patents can also have a profound effect on health policy and access to genetic services. Creative and bold patent reform initiatives are necessary to ensure that society will, to the highest degree possible, reap the health care benefits of the genetic revolution.

Canada↗
PubMed2004

Patent prosecution strategies for biotechnological inventions.

This article describes patent prosecution strategies for new biotechnological inventions. The first part of the article discusses general strategies for patent prosecutors, including several prosecution considerations and methods for increasing patent prosecution speed. The second part of the article presents patent prosecution challenges in genomics and bioinformatics-related patents and provides solutions to these challenges. The last part of the article discusses how ethical and public policy issues play a role in the patentability of biotechnological inventions.

Biotechnology↗
PubMed2002

Patents, genomics, research, and diagnostics.

Two kinds of currently available genomic patents may significantly interfere with medical research: (1) patents such as those on specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which may include claims that control the inference of phenotypic characteristics from specific genotypes, and (2) patents on computer-based genomic information, databases, or manipulation procedures. These will create more serious encumbrances than will patents on expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Two approaches should be considered vis-à-vis these genomic patents: (1) Reconsideration and redefinition of the recent extensions of patentable subject matter into more and more intangible areas. This could be pursued by legislation or by test litigation to seek Supreme Court reversal of certain of the decisions of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC). (2) A narrow legislative exemption protecting the ability to use SNPs and phenotypic-genotypic relationships in medical research, including contexts in which medical research and clinical practice are substantially intertwined.

Databases, Nucleic Acid↗
PubMed2002

The economics of human gene patents.

The author examines patents on DNA sequences, including data on gene sequence grants issued by the PTO during a 33-month period from 1998 to 2001. Policy supporting patents on DNA sequences and other elemental information that are far "upstream" in the product development pathway is contrasted with the economic bases and rationale for patents to pharmaceuticals, which require a protracted and expensive process of development and testing but that can be relatively cheaply and competitively imitated once they are approved and disclosed. How to allocate appropriately the economic returns among the upstream and downstream inventors is a challenging problem for economic theory, as well as for contemporary biomedical research, and is perhaps most familiarly embodied in licensing and cross-licensing disputes involving "reach-through" and "reach-back" rights. Such disputes can generate enormous transaction costs. They may become increasingly frequent and vexing with respect to the scope and overlap of patent claims on human gene sequences. On the basis of his analyses, the author argues that genome patent claims should be interpreted narrowly. He is particularly concerned with ensuring that the development of new (therapeutic) products is not blocked or retarded by a multiplicity of prior patent claims, but he is pessimistic that the diversity of participants in biotechnology will provide a "sufficient community of interest to organize comprehensive low-royalty cross-licensing" regimes. Accordingly, he suggests mandatory arbitration as one mechanism for resolving such problems.

Genetic Research↗