SEARCH · Search PubMed

Results for “Inventions”

Search indexed PubMed citations on genomics, clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health. Explore titles, authors and supplied subject terms, then open the PubMed record.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 865 records · Page 48Linked to original sources

PubMed1984

The choice of strategic alternatives under increasing regulation in high technology companies.

The strategic response of U.S. high technology companies in the medical X-ray manufacturing industry to increased governmental regulations from 1962 to 1977 is examined. Results suggest that regulations increase consumer and competitor uncertainty, with the consequence that firms select less risky strategies and decrease the riskier new product invention strategy. Larger firms reduce inventions less than smaller firms.

Facility Regulation and Control↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The patentability of living organisms between science, law and ethics.

The approval on May 1998 of the European Union (EU) directive on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions has aligned Europe to the international trend about the patenting of biotechnologies. Many questions are still unresolved, i.e. the differences between the article 53b of the European Patent Convention (EPC), which prohibits patenting of plants and animal varieties, whereas the directive states that Oinvention whose object are plants or animals may be patented if the practicability of the invention is not technically confined to a particular plant or animal varietyO (article 12). Again, the interpretation of plants or animal species specificity and that on the threatening public order and morality (which inhibits patenting) may have doubtful interpretations, according to the different EU States morality and law (e.g. Denmark does not admit patentability of transgenic animals). Despite difficulties, biotechnology Research and Development for applications to medicine, veterinary sciences, agriculture and foods is continuously growing. Bioethical independent evaluations of the applications of biotechnologies and of their side-effects (risk for biodiversity of plants and animals, safety of procedures to save mankind, respect of human dignity and of fundamental human rights, etc.) are mandatory to link the interests of science and industrial productions together with those of mankind. This is the original meaning given by van Potter to the word bioethics, as a bridge to the future.

Animal Population Groups↗

PubMed1999

Phenoptosis: programmed death of an organism.

Programmed cell death (apoptosis) is well-established in many multicellular organisms. Apoptosis purifies a tissue from cells that became useless or even harmful for the organism. Similar phenomena are already described also at subcellular level (suicide of mitochondria, i.e., mitoptosis) as well as at supracellular level (degradation of some organs temporarily appearing in the course of ontogenesis and then disappearing by means of apoptosis of the organ-composing cells). Following the same logic, one may put a question about programmed death of an organism as a mechanism of purification of a kin, community of organisms, or population from individuals who became unwanted for this kin, etc. A putative mechanism of such kind is proposed to be coined "phenoptosis" by analogy with apoptosis and mitoptosis. In a unicellular organism (the bacterium Escherichia coli), three different biochemical mechanisms of programmed death are identified. All of them are actuated by the appearance of phages inside the bacterial cell. This may be regarded as a precedent of phenoptosis which prevents expansion of the phage infection among E. coli cells. Purification of a population from infected individuals looks like an evolutionary invention useful for a species. Such an invention has high chances to be also employed by multicellular organisms. Most probably, septic shock in animals and humans serves as an analog of the phage-induced bacterial phenoptosis. It is hypothesized that the stress-induced ischemic diseases of brain and heart as well as carcinogenesis if they are induced by repeated stresses also represent phenoptoses that, in contrast to sepsis, are age-dependent. There are interrelations of programmed death phenomena at various levels of complexity of the living systems. Thus, extensive mitoptosis in a cell leads to apoptotic death of this cell and extensive apoptosis in an organ of vital importance results in phenoptotic death of an individual. In line with this logic, some cases are already described when inhibition of apoptosis strongly improves the postischemic state of the organism.

Aging↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[An analysis of surgical treatment methods in femoral neck fractures based on a patent information search].

Patent inventive discoveries in the USSR over the period 1949-1989 are analyzed together with the world patent discoveries, inventions, designs (Ukraine since 1989 included) over the period 1978-1998, which are divided into several groups different in principle, criteria of analysis are singled out, new notions of "cruel", dosage, dynamic compression are determined. By making use of principles of biological low-invasive metallo-osteosynthesis and new notions of "cruel", dosage, and dynamic compression optimal options were found for fixation of fractures of the femoral neck: low-traumatic nail set in the neck at an angle of 130 degrees fit with a small-sized diaphyseal put-in lamina and a local stimulation of union or spongiosa for the neck of the femur screw with an attachment preventing caput femoris rotation, and a springy element combined with a small-sized diaphyseal put-in lamina (that is, a modified system of the dynamic screw for the neck of the femur).

Bone Nails↗

PubMed1999

[They thought; therefore, they spoke].

All functions that characteristically define each form of life are the consequence of the unpredictable process of evolution. The appearance around 300,000 years ago of a complex system of language allowed the homo sapiens to verbally express his thoughts, feelings and experiences in a narrative manner. Thus began the great and continuous development of knowledge and the subsequent post-biological improvement of cognitive functions as a consequence of the stimulation of brain plasticity. This complex process vas not rapid. Important structural and functional craneofacial and pharyngo-laryngeal changes were necessary. Some were already present four million years ago in the australopitecus and became more efficient in homo erectus to reach the definite dimensions of modern humans 125,000 years ago in the homo sapiens-sapiens. From then on a continuous, productive and interactive relationship between the ability to think and the capacity to speak was established. New anonymous ideas invent their corresponding words which, in turn, create more complex sequential thoughts. The fundamental contribution of language in the development of human intelligence raises the question fo which of the two functions preceded the other or whether they both evolved simultaneously. Is it possible to assume that if the pharyngo-laryngeal structures ad not evolved at all, the brain would have invented another type of language?

Animals↗

PubMed1999

[Our brain deceives us].

The brain does not "objectively" reflect outer reality, but rather what is necessary in order to survive and adapt to the environment. The "phi" phenomenon, the eye's blind spot and cryptomnesia, reflect the brain's capacity to invent information. In split-brain patients, research has shown how one hemisphere, when it lacks certain information, invents a plausible story to explain the behaviour of the other hemisphere. All this would suggest that the brain deceives us, producing occurrences which in reality have never happened, in such a way that, for the brain, convenient reality and "objective" reality are two very different things.

Brain↗

PubMed2000

[Textual research on history of glasses].

Early glasses is nothing but a single piece of glass without a frame. The latter originating from the "Reading stone" was a long one. It was both aided and retarded by social condition style, quality of available materials and technology. It is reasonable to make a few conclusions about the invention along the line suggested by Rosen; most likely, the inventor was a lay person of Pisa who wished to keep the manufacturing processes a secret in order to make a profit, the date of the invention is most likely around 1270 - 1280. The inventor was by two missionaries of St. Catherine's Friar dirdano da Rivolta and Alessando Spina. Lastly, the author advocates the use of CR-39, based on the following reasons: a high resin plastic, fragile resistance, high refractive index, light weight, and resistance to fogging.

Eyeglasses↗

PubMed1992

[The analects of Hajime Hoshi (No. 3) - philosophy of Hoshi].

Hajime Hoshi was the founder of Hoshi Pharmaceutical Company and Hoshi University. He made one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Japan in the early 20th century, and furthermore was a journalist, member of the Diet, educator, and also a writer. With such a checkered career, he had an attractive and invincible philosophy. As well as his most import philosophy "kindness first" described in the previous paper, "cooperation first" also had weight in his thought. In the Creed of the Hoshi Pharmaceutical Company, he said "self-reliance should go hand-in-hand with cooperation. Cooperation is an essential requisite in all successful enterprises." "Cooperation is an order of the god, and leads directly to progress." "Cooperation is construction, but noncooperation is destruction." Besides the thought "cooperation first," a part of his profound aphorism is described below. "Patience produces everything and conquers everything." "Success is proportioned to the degree of patience." "Success or failure is determined not at the end, but at the start of an enterprise. A well-conceived plan is the mother of success." "Train your mind. Man's brains become the more fertile and keen, the more they are used." "The is no limit to improvement and invention. We should never relax our endeavor to improve and invent." "Smile! Smile! Do your work with a smile on your face. Conquer difficulty and discontent with smiles." "Yesterday's impossibility is today's possibility. Today's impossibility is tomorrow's possibility."

Commerce↗

PubMed1994

[Medical publications in the Scientific Thesaurus].

As a result of the increased public interest the first academic journals in sciences, providing anyone with easily accessible information, appeared from the 17th-18th century in Europe. These early journals were encyclopaedic and involved all branches of sciences. This was partly due to the few number of scientists but to the systematising methods of the Enlightenment as well. The first such paper in Hungarian came out only in 1814 (edited by Gábor Döbrentei) but owing to the little interest it had not lasted longer than four years. The next one, the Scientific Thesaurus, was the longest surviving journal in the first half of 19th century Hungary, published also in Hungarian. The Scientific Thesaurus was also characterised by the publication of a wide range of academic subjects, and though only in supplements, even literature. Dr. Jobst's paper investigated all the fifty medical publications of the Scientific Thesaurus. She concludes that it fulfilled the expectations academic journals were faced with. Through its publications it played an especially important role in distributing newly invented Hungarian terms for anatomy, medicine, and surgery (and for all other fields of natural sciences alike) which was indispensable for creating an independent Hungarian scientific language that could replace Latin and German, the two main lingue franca in Hungarian science so far. the Scientific Thesaurus gave way for special registers of invented scientific terms and also for the disputes that usually followed them. Another field was the presentation of the principles of recent medical schools into Hungarian academic life, such as homeopathy, Mesmerism, Brownism, balneology and traditional medicine. The editors equally stood for the publication of theoretical papers and those reciting the counter measures taken during cholera and small pox epidemics, the development of health organisations, hospital work, etc. In the field of medicine the Scientific Thesaurus carried out its mission in informing not only the Hungarian physician, pharmacist or scientist but the general public as well, about new schools, achievements, and breakthroughs of healing.

History, 19th Century↗

PubMed2001

[Convenience foods -- a simple way of healthy cooking].

Convenience foods stand for a culinary revolution that commenced just over 100 years ago. The food industry came into being parallel to industrialization and urbanization. Nicolas Appert invented the can at that time and Julius Maggi invented dehydrated soup. Today convenience foods--from powdered spices to ready-to-eat dishes--are prepared using state-of-the-art technology and offer a ubiquitous range of healthy, easy-to-serve foods.

Cooking↗

PubMed2001

Atomic force microscopy and its related techniques in biomedicine.

The atomic force microscope (AFM), invented in 1986, is a new instrument which provides three-dimensional surface images of samples by scanning a sharp probing tip over the sample surface. Unlike electron microscopes (EM), the AFM has the advantage to obtain high-resolution pictures not only in a vacuous but also in a non-vacuous (i.e., air or liquid) environment. This paper reviews our recent studies on the AFM application to the biomedical fields. AFM is useful for observing biological structures such as DNA, collagen molecules, collagen fibrils and chromosomes. AFM images of living cultured cells in liquid can be used for investigating the movement of cellular processes in relation to subcellular cytoskeletal elements. Recently, numerous AFM-related microscopes, or scanning probe microscopes (SPM), have been invented in parallel with the development of the AFM itself. These microscopes allow the simultaneous collection of topographical and other (e.g., viscoelastic, near-field optical) images of samples in the same portions. Thus, the combination of AFM and the other SPM has great potential for providing valuable new findings on structure and function of cells and tissues.

Animals↗

PubMed2000

US files WTO complaints against Brazil over requirement for "local working" of patents.

At the end of May 2000, the US (later joined by the European Communities) filed a complaint against Brazil at the World Trade Organization (WTO), alleging Brazil was in violation of its obligations under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the TRIPS Agreement) and the 1994 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. Brazilian legislation that came into force in 1997 establishes that, in order to enjoy exclusive patent rights in Brazil, the holder of a patent on an invention must satisfy a "local working" requirement. In other words, the patent holder must "work" the patent in Brazil to enjoy full patent protection. If it fails to do this, the law says it shall be subject to the possibility of the government issuing a compulsory license, allowing someone else to use the invention and pay a royalty fee to the patent holder.

Anti-HIV Agents↗

PubMed2002

[New Hebrew medical terms--what is their fate?].

The process of the Hebrew language revival, which is taking place more than a 100 years, necessitates the invention of new words. The medical field is not an exception. Certain new invented words are accepted and used routinely in hospital corridors while other words are rejected. Recently the Israel Academy for the Hebrew Language suggested new Hebrew words for two medical terms ('stethoscope' and 'stajer'). These new terms allow us to discuss possible reasons that a certain word is accepted and spoken in daily life while another is rejected and forgotten.

Israel↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Novel PKU treatment methods].

Identification of a disease causing gene rarely leads to the invention of a novel therapy. Even in the case of genetic disorders or diseases greatly influenced by a hereditary component, knowledge about the genotype does not necessarily result in the invention of a novel therapy. In many cases effective treatment was introduced earlier without any existing knowledge of the molecular basis of the disease, or even without a full recognition of the pathomechanisms. Phenylketonuria is the best known example. Great expectation are connected with experimental therapy of phenylketonuria: enzymatic therapy, blocking the brain-blood barrier for phenylalanine and novel forms of low phenylalanine diet. Molecular diagnostics could be helpful in identifying patients responsive to non-standard therapy, such as tetrahydrobipterin supplementation. Novel research and development strategies will contribute to a reduction of the negative aspects of present treatment and they will facilitate normal physical a intellectual development of children with phenylketonuria, as well as to help patients in their everyday life.

Antioxidants↗

PubMed2002

Contraception and society.

When an idea meets the exigencies of an epoch, it becomes stronger than any form of political power and it becomes the common property of humankind. Such an idea was the development of contraceptives. In retrospect, the invention of contraceptives was as fundamental for the evolution of humankind as the invention of the wheel; today more than 550 million couples are using contraceptive methods. The large-scale use of contraceptives triggered the most powerful social revolutions of a century in reproductive health and gender equity, and substantially contributed to an unparalleled demographic change, characterized by a rapid aging of populations. One of the important reasons for population aging is a significant decline in fertility rates, resulting in gradually changing population structures with fewer and fewer children and more and more elderly persons. The causes underlying these demographic changes are complex and manifold; they reflect major societal changes of historical dimensions. Many of our institutions cater increasingly for a population structure that no longer exists. There is therefore an increasing need for institutional reforms in social security, health care, housing and education. In addition, several surveys conducted in the developed world have indicated an erosion of confidence in our basic institutions, e.g. courts and justice, the Church and Parliament. Whereas modem sociologists are concerned about an increase in crime, decrease in trust and depleted social capital, one can also observe an accelerated perception of our global destiny and a re-awakening of the moral impulse with a strong demand for increased transparency in public affairs. Also, various global communities have assumed a growing importance. It can be predicted that international professional communities, such as the European Society of Contraception, will play an increasingly important future role in influencing policies in general and health policies in particular. because of their profound commitment to the improvement of the human condition by the judicious use of new scientific information.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

History of the toothbrush.

Civilized people have always used some type of instrument to clean and preserve their teeth. The first known instrument was a toothstick, referred to as a toothpick, woodmop, twigbrush, miswak, or siwak. Ancient Roman patricians employed special slaves to clean their teeth. The Chinese probably invented the bristle brush. French dentists, who were the most advanced in Europe, advocated the use of toothbrushes in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Still the toothbrush is a relative modern invention. Today, toothbrushes come in a variety of shapes and sizes with more choices than ever.

China↗

PubMed2003

[Quality. A universal story, as old as the hills].

If one were to define Quality today, it would be tempting simply to refer to ISO Norm 9000-2000 where quality is described as the aptitude of the intrinsic characteristics of a product, a system, or a process to satisfy the demands of clients and other interested parties. What is more interesting is to understand how the present notion of quality was fashioned. The process has involved several phases requiring centuries of experience. The idea of checking was first brought forward during an early phase, which ran from the invention of writing to the beginning of the 20th century. This first phase developed slowly and was marked by the invention of measuring instruments and standards. It saw the birth of industrial production which deprived the craftsman of the produced article. The second phase brought forward the notion that checking alone is insufficient. This led to a new concept, Quality Assurance, made possible by the development of mathematical tools (statistics) aimed at controlling the production process. The next phase first appeared in Japan. Faced with the problem of industrial reconstruction after World War II, the Japanese developed a new mode of production management where the two notions of checking and quality assurance were integrated into very concept of the industrial firm. The last phase corresponds to the response of western industry to Japanese competition. Quality is now conceived as a strategic marketing tool playing an essential role in management. Tracing the history of Quality to its origin in ancient times raises the intriguing question as to its profound, possibly archetypic, source.

Drug Industry↗

PubMed2003

[The generic Research and Development possibilities after Hungary accessed th European Patent Convention].

January 1, 2003 Hungary became a member of the Munich Convention on the Grant of European Patents (European Patent Convention, EPC). As from January 1, 2003 European patents may be claimed and obtained also for Hungary and European applications may be filed with the Hungarian Patent Office as well. This paper focuses on the exceptional generic R&D possibilities which can harmonize in harmony with all the claims of the Union in spite of the fact that it does not follow general European limitations and practises. Based on the amended Hungarian Patent Law (No. XXXIII of 1995 on the Protection of Inventions by Patents; Article 19 (6)b)) the exclusive right of exploitation shall not extend to acts done for experimental purposes relating to the subject matter of the invention, including experiments and tests necessary for the registration of medicines as well. The national and international legal history and background of the operative Hungarian Patent Law are also presented roughly. The paper deals with the divergence of the originator-generic industry and the EU-USA industry and with the incoherence within the EU itself on the early testing permissions and limitations.

Europe↗