1. A dispenser for a volatile liquid, comprising:
a housing;
a fan mounted to the housing to generate an air stream;
a guide including a projection disposed on an inside surface of the housing provides at least one boundary in defining an opening in which the opening has a predetermined dimension to selectively receive a wick and to position the wick in alignment with the fan to immerse the wick into an air stream when the fan is activated.
2. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the guide comprises two spaced apart projections extending from a surface of the housing.
3. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the two projections are positioned in an interior portion of the housing.
4. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the two projections extend in the general direction of the air stream generated by the fan.
5. The dispenser of claim 4, wherein the predetermined dimension is the distance between the two projections.
6. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the guide includes a second set of spaced apart projections in which the two spaced apart projections and the second set of projections are spaced apart from one another.
7. The dispenser of claim 6, wherein the second set of spaced apart projections defines a second opening having a second pre-determined dimension to selectively receive and to position a portion of the wick in alignment with the fan.
8. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the two spaced apart projections are positioned at an entrance of another opening defined in the housing.
9. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the projections are positioned in the air stream generated by the fan.
10. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the projection is positioned in an interior portion of the housing.
11. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the two spaced apart projections extend in the general direction of the air stream generated by the fan.
12. The dispenser of claim 2, wherein the two spaced apart projections are positioned in the air stream generated by the fan.
13. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the guide is integral with the housing.
14. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the guide comprises a wall member surrounding the opening.
15. The dispenser of claim 14, wherein the wall member is positioned entirely around the opening.
16. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the guide includes a wall member positioned to surround a top portion of the wick.
17. The dispenser of claim 16 wherein the wall member is positioned entirely around the top portion of the wick.
18. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the opening of the guide is positioned relative to the fan to position the wick in alignment with a rotational axis of the fan.
19. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the predetermined dimension of the opening is greater than a dimension of the wick.
20. The dispenser of claim 1, including a fan blade of the fan having a length R measured from an axis of rotation of the fan to the farthest end of the fan blade away from the axis of rotation and wherein the predetermined dimension of the opening does not exceed 1.25 R.
21. The dispenser of claim 20, wherein the predetermined dimension of the opening does not exceed 1.1 R.
22. The dispenser of claim 20, wherein the predetermined dimension of the opening does not exceed 0.9 R.
23. The dispenser of claim 20, wherein the predetermined dimension of the opening does not exceed 0.7 R.
24. The dispenser of claim 20, wherein the predetermined dimension of the opening does not exceed 0.5R.
25. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the wick has a dimension not to exceed 1.2 of a length R of a fan blade of the fan measured from an axis of rotation to a farthest end of the fan blade away from the axis of rotation.
26. The dispenser of claim 25, wherein the dimension of the wick does not exceed R.
27. The dispenser of claim 25, wherein the dimension of the wick does not exceed 0.8R.
28. The dispenser of claim 25, wherein the dimension of the wick does not exceed 0.6R.
29. The dispenser of claim 25, wherein the dimension of the wick does not exceed 0.4R.
30. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the predetermined dimension of the opening is positioned generally transverse to an axis of rotation of the fan.
31. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the dispenser operates at room ambient temperature.
32. The dispenser of claim 1, wherein the guide is adapted to position the wick within a cylindrical volume centered along an axis of rotation of the fan and having a radius which extends from the axis of rotation to the farthest extension of a fan blade of the fan.
33. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the guide comprises a projection extending from a surface of the housing and positioned spaced apart from another surface of the housing, and the opening comprises a separation between the projection and the other surface of the housing.
34. The dispenser of claim 33 wherein the projection is spaced apart from a rotational axis of the fan in a direction transverse to a direction in which the wick is received into the opening.
35. A dispenser for a volatile liquid, comprising:
a housing;
a fan mounted to the housing to generate an air stream;
a guide associated with the housing provides at least one boundary in defining an opening in which the opening has a predetermined dimension to selectively receive a wick and to position the wick in alignment with the fan to immerse the wick into an air stream when the fan is activated, wherein the guide is integral with the housing, and wherein the guide comprises opposing sidewalls defining another opening of the housing.
36. A method for assembling a dispenser for a volatile liquid, comprising the steps of:
providing a fan mounted to a housing; and
providing a guide associated with the housing in which the guide includes a projection disposed on an inside surface of the housing that at least partly defines an opening having a predetermined dimension to selectively receive a wick and align the wick to be immersed in an air stream when the fan is activated.
37. The method of claim 36 including the step of inserting a wick into the opening to be aligned with the fan.
38. The method of claim 36 in which the step of inserting includes positioning the wick in alignment with an axis of rotation of the fan.
39. The method of claim 38 in which the step of inserting includes providing the predetermined dimension to be larger than a dimension of the wick.
40. The method of claim 36 includes providing the predetermined dimension of the opening not to exceed 1.25 of the length R of a fan blade of the fan measured from an axis of rotation of the fan to a farthest end of a fan blade away from the axis of rotation of the fan.
41. The method of claim 40 in which the step of providing includes providing the predetermined dimension of the opening not to exceed 1.1 R.
42. The method of claim 40 in which the step of providing includes providing the predetermined dimension of the opening not to exceed 0.9 R.
43. The method of claim 40 in which the step of providing includes providing the predetermined dimension of the opening not to exceed 0.7R.
44. The method of claim 40 in which the step of providing includes providing the predetermined dimension of the opening not to exceed 0.5R.
45. The method of claim 36, includes the step of providing the dimension of the wick not exceed 1.2 of the length R of a fan blade of the fan measured from an axis of rotation of the fan to a farthest end of the fan blade away from the axis of rotation.
46. The method of claim 43, includes the step of providing a, dimension of the wick not to exceed R.
47. The method of claim 43, includes the step of providing a dimension of the wick not to exceed 0.8R.
48. The method of claim 43, includes the step of providing a dimension of the wick not to exceed 0.6R.
49. The method of claim 43, includes the step of providing a dimension of the wick not to exceed 0.4R.
50. The method of claim 36 in which the step of providing a guide includes positioning the wick within a cylindrical volume centered along an axis of rotation of the fan and having a radius which extends from the axis of rotation to the farthest end of a fan blade from the axis of rotation of the fan.
51. The method of claim 36 including the step of providing the predetermined dimension of the opening in an orientation generally transverse to an axis of rotation of the fan.
52. The method of claim 36 wherein the dispenser operates at room ambient temperature.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A method for evaluating the presence, absence, nature or extent of breast cancer or a precancerous condition of the breast, the method comprising:
providing a biological sample obtained from a subject, the biological sample comprising glycoproteins;
contacting the biological sample with a glycan-binding molecule specific for a glycan, under conditions that permit binding of the glycan-binding molecule to a glycoprotein comprising said glycan, wherein the glycan comprises a GlcNAc \u03b2(1,6) Man branched N-linked glycan;
contacting the glycoprotein with an anti-periostin antibody; and
detecting binding of the glycan-binding molecule and the anti-periostin antibody to the glycoprotein to determine the presence, absence or amount of a cancer-specific glycoform of periostin in the biological sample, wherein said cancer-specific glycoform comprises the glycan and is indicative of breast cancer or a precancerous condition of the breast; and wherein the presence, absence or amount of the cancer-specific glycoform is indicative of the presence, absence, nature or extent of breast cancer or a precancerous condition of the breast.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the glycan-binding molecule comprises a detectable label.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the glycan-binding molecule is selected from the group consisting of a lectin, a glycospecific antibody, a glycospecific aptamer, a glycospecific peptide, and a glycospecific small molecule.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the lectin comprises leukoagglutinating phytohemagglutinin (L-PHA).
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the glycan comprises a branched N-linked glycan extended with N-acetyllactosamine.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the biological sample comprises a biological fluid.
7. The method of claim 1 wherein the biological sample comprises serum or plasma.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the biological sample comprises tissue.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the subject is a human.
10. A method for evaluating the presence, absence, nature or extent of breast cancer or a precancerous condition of the breast, the method comprising:
contacting a biological sample obtained from a subject, with a glycan-binding molecule specific for a glycan under conditions that permit binding of the glycan-binding molecule to a glycoprotein comprising said glycan, wherein the glycan comprises a GlcNAc \u03b2(1,6) Man branched N-linked glycan;
contacting the glycoprotein with an anti-periostin antibody; and
detecting binding of the glycan-binding molecule and the anti-periostin antibody to the glycoprotein to determine the presence of a cancer-specific glycoform of periostin in the biological sample, wherein the cancer-specific glycoform comprises the glycan and is indicative of the presence of cancer or a precancerous condition.
11. A diagnostic composition comprising a biomarker comprising a isolated cancer-specific glycoform of periostin comprising a GlcNAc \u03b2(1,6) Man branched N-linked glycan component.