A method of pereparing a rediographic contrast medium containing liposomes is disclosed, comprising (a) dissolving a phospholipid and a sterol in a supercritical or subcritical carbon dioxide in the presence of a compound containing a hydroxyl group or a polyalkyleneoxide group, (b) adding thereto an aqueous solution containing an iodine compound to form micelles and (c) discharging the carbon dioxide to form liposomal vesicles enclosing the iodine compound.

A bio-molecular contrast agent (BMCA) is introduced into a biological organism such that the agent binds or reacts with target tissue within that organism. The BMCA is also signal-giving, and signal reactive, capable of being inactivated by delivery of energy thereto. By monitoring the decrease in signal strength of the BMCA, the actual dosage delivered to the target can be determined and monitored. The decrease in BMCA signal strength can also be correlated to the level of destruction of the ta...

A radiopharmaceutical for diagnostic imaging containing as an active ingredient a technetium-99m nitride heterocomplex comprising technetium-99m nitride and two different ligands coordinated therewith, i.e., a bisphosphinoamine compound as a .pi. electron acceptor and a bidentate ligand as a .pi. electron donor and represented by the following formula (I): [.sup.99mTc(N)(PNP)(XY)].sup.+ (I)wherein .sup.99mTc(N) is technetium-99m nitride, PNP is a bisphosphinoamine compound and XY is a bidentate ...

The invention concerns the use of hemoglobin derivatives for determining plasma and/or blood volume, wherein the hemoglobin derivatives are stable chromoproteins with a molecular weight of at least 64 kDa. The use can encompass the treatment of a patient wherein (a) a defined quantity of hemoglobin derivative is applied to a patient, (b) the mixing of hemoglobin derivative with the blood of the patient is awaited, (b) at least one sample is taken from the patient, (c) the content of the hemoglob...

The invention provides modified virus Ankara (MVA), a replication-deficient strain of vaccinia virus, expressing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) env, gag, and pol genes.

Inhibition of HIV-1 replication by disrupting the processing of the viral Gag capsid (CA) protein (p24) from the CA-spacer peptide 1 (SP1) protein precursor (p25) is disclosed. Amino acid sequences containing a mutation in the Gag p25 protein, with the mutation resulting in a decrease in the inhibition of processing of p25 to p24 by dimethylsuccinyl betulinic acid or dimethylsuccinyl betulin, polynucleotides encoding such mutated sequences and antibodies that selectively bind such mutated sequen...

The present invention relates to novel modified fatty acid analogs, where a positron or gamma-emitting label is placed at a position on a fatty acid backbone and an organic substituent is substituted at the 2,3; 3,4; 4,5; 5,6 and other sequence positions of a fatty acid backbone. These novel fatty acid analogs are designed to enter the tissues of interest by the same long chain fatty acid carrier mechanism as natural fatty acids, however, functional substituents in the 2,3; 3,4; 4,5; 5,6 and oth...

Disclosed are methods for detecting multidrug resistance in neoplastic or damaged cells or multidrug resistant (MDR) neoplastic or damaged cells by detecting an increase in the cell surface expression of vimentin protein in such cells as compared to the level of cell surface expression of vimentin protein in a normal cell or a non-MDR neoplastic cell.

The present invention provides a composition which includes a sclareol or a derivative thereof, wherein the sclareol or a derivative thereof is bound by a glycoprotein matrix. The composition of the invention provides improved potency, stability and bioactivity characteristics of sclareol, or its derivatives.

Screening assays for identifying agents that modulate BK channel activity and further modulate the sleep/wake cycle in a subject, circadian regulated locomotor activity in a subject, or both are provided, as are agents identified using such screening assays. Also provided are methods of modulating the sleep/wake cycle in a subject and methods of modulating circadian regulated locomotor activity in a subject by administering an agent that modulates BK channel activity to the subject, for example,...