1. A method of treating hypertension comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of an agent, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, capable of reducing uric acid levels in a patient in need of such treatment.
2. A method of preventing hypertension comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of an agent, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, capable of reducing uric acid levels in a patient in need of such treatment.
3. A method of treating coronary heart disease comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of an agent, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, capable of reducing uric acid levels in a patient in need of such treatment.
4. A method of treating and preventing eclampsia comprising administering a therapeutically effective amount of an agent, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, capable of reducing uric acid levels in a patient in need of such treatment.
5. An agent capable of reducing uric acid levels selected from the group consisting of: gene therapy, a xanthine oxidase inhibitor; a uricosuric agent; supplements of the uricase protein and a urate channel inhibitor, or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, or combinations therefrom.
6. The agent capable of reducing uric acid levels, as recited in claim 5, which is gene therapy that targets the overexpression of uricase.
7. The agent capable of reducing uric acid levels, as recited in claim 5, which is a xanthine oxidase inhibitor selected from the group consisting of: allopurinol, and carprofen, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
8. The agent capable of reducing uric acid levels, as recited in claim 5, which is a uricosuric agent selected from the group consisting of: losartan, benzbromarone, benziodarone, probenecid, sulfinpyrazone, ethebencid, orotic acid, ticrynafen and zoxazolamine, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
9. The agent capable of reducing uric acid levels, as recited in claim 5, which is a supplement of uricase protein that is delivered as a conjugate with polyethylene glycol or an alternate delivery system.
10. A pharmaceutical composition comprising a renin angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitor, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof and the agent, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, capable of reducing uric acid levels as recited in claim 5, and a pharmaceutical carrier.
11. A combination therapy comprising the administration, concomitantly, simultaneously or sequentially, of therapeutically effective amounts of a RAS inhibitor, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and the agent, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, capable of reducing uric acid levels as recited in claim 5.
12. The pharmaceutical composition levels as recited in claim 10, further comprising a diuretic, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof.
13. A combination therapy comprising the administration, concomitantly, simultaneously or sequentially, of therapeutically effective amounts of a combination of a RAS inhibitor, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof with a diuretic, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof and the agent, or pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, capable of reducing uric acid levels as recited in claim 5.
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 battery or AC-powered portable biosensor apparatus comprising:
a circuit board with a plurality of working and reference electrodes formed
thereon;
a plurality of nucleic acid segments attached to the surface of said plurality of working electrodes that capture nucleic acid targets by hybridization; and
a monitor for measuring a current produced following hybridization of targets with the nucleic acid segments, said monitor being operably connected so that it controls the electrical potential of the electrodes and records, analyzes and displays the currents generated at the individual electrodes.
2. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuit board is a printed circuit board or a screen printed circuit board or has a combination of printed and screen printed elements.
3. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 2 further comprising a multiplexed potentiostat to apply electrical potential and to measure the current generated by each of said nucleic acid segments following hybridization to different target nucleic acids.
4. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the monitor is a continuous or pulse amperometric monitor.
5. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 4 wherein the amperometric monitor measures the currents generated by the elements of a sensor array with one or more working electrodes associated with a single reference electrode and simultaneously detects and quantitates a plurality of targets.
6. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 5 wherein the amperometric monitor comprises pulse and intermittent pulse modes.
7. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an amperometric monitor operably linked to said plurality of electrodes so that currents at individual working electrodes are independent of each other.
8. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a touch memory chip to upload calibration curves and controlling parameters to the monitor.
9. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a liquid crystal display and an output port that enables data transfer to an external device.
10. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 further comprising an integrated microprocessor for changing parameters, saving and analyzing data.
11. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a single-key start operation.
12. The portable biosensor apparatus of claim 1 wherein the nucleic acid segments are hybridized with single strand DNA generated from an amplified RNA or genomic DNA sample digested with an exonuclease.
13. A battery or AC-powered portable biosensor apparatus comprising:
a circuit board with a plurality of working and reference electrodes formed thereon;
a plurality of nucleic acid segments attached to the surface of said plurality of working electrodes that capture nucleic acid targets by hybridization, wherein each hybrid formed has one or more labels attached that catalytically enhance the current generated following hybridization; and
a monitor for measuring the currents produced following hybridization of targets with the nucleic acid segments, said monitor being operably connected so that it controls the electrical potential of the electrodes and records, analyzes and displays the currents generated at the individual electrodes.
14. The biosensor apparatus of claim 13, wherein the nucleic acid segments are hybridized with single strand DNA generated from an amplified RNA or genomic DNA sample digested with an exonuclease.