Author: claimsbot

1. A composition comprising a plurality of yeast cells, wherein said plurality of yeast cells are characterized by their ability to ameliorate or reduce the incidence of gastritis in a mammal, said ability resulting from their having been cultured in the presence of an alternating electric field having a frequency in the range of about 7900-13000 MHz and a field strength in the range of 200 to 420 mVcm, as compared to yeast cells not having been so cultured.
2. The composition of claim 1, wherein said frequency is in the range of about 8000 to 8100, or 12200-12900 MHz.
3. The composition of claim 1, wherein said field strength is in the range of about 225-245, 240-260, 250-270, 270-290, 275-295, 290-310, 295-315, 300-320, 320-340, 340-360, or 370-390 mVcm.
4. The composition of claim 1, wherein said yeast cells are of the species selected from the group consisting of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis, Saccharomyces rouxii, Saccharomyces sake, Saccharomyces uvarum, Saccharomyces sp., Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and Rhodotorula aurantiaca.
5. The composition of claim 1, wherein said yeast cells are derived from the strain deposited at the China General Microbiological Culture Collection Center with an accession number selected from the group consisting of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hansen AS2.501 and AS2.69, Saccharomyces sp. AS2.311, Schizosaccharomyces pombe Lindner AS2.994, Saccharomyces sake Yabe ACCC2045, Saccharomyces uvarum Beijer IFFI1044, Saccharomyces rouxii Boutroux AS2.180, Saccharomyces cerevisiae Hansen Var. ellipsoideus AS2.612, Saccharomyces carlsbergensis Hansen AS2.377, and Rhodotorula rubar (Demme) Lodder AS2.282.
6. The composition of claim 1, wherein said composition is in the form of a tablet, powder, or a health drink.
7. The composition of claim 1, wherein said composition is in the form of a health drink.
8. A method of treating or preventing gastritis in a subject, comprising administering the composition of claim 1 to the subject.
9. The method of claim 8 comprising oral administration.
10. A method of preparing a yeast composition, comprising culturing a plurality of yeast cells in the presence of an alternating electric field having a frequency in the range of about 7900-13000 MHz and a field strength in the range of about 200 to 420 mVcm for a period of time sufficient to substantially increase the capability of said plurality of yeast cells to ameliorate or reduce the incidence of gastritis in a mammal as compared to yeast cells not having been so cultured.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

What is claimed is:

1. A method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility, comprising the steps of:
assigning a predefined template to a facility to be modeled, said predefined template including default facility attribute data;
obtaining resource utilization data for such facility; and
normalizing such resource utilization data based on said predefined template.
2. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, further comprising the step of creating an attributes catalog, wherein said attributes catalog comprises selected of user-defined and system-defined attributes.
3. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 2, further comprising the step of using a template editor to assign said attributes to a facility template.
4. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 2, wherein said attributes catalog is maintained in a predetermined electronic storage.
5. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 2, further including a system level process, not accessible to a user, which reclassifies a user-defined attribute as a system-defined attribute whenever a predetermined percentage of users have added such user-defined attribute to the attributes catalog.
6. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, wherein said normalizing step is activated by selected of the following events:
(a) a user update of a facility model by modifying facility attribute values to reflect changes to said attribute values;
(b) the demand of a user; and
(c) the elapse of a predetermined period of time.
7. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, further comprising the step of estimating facility attribute data and facility resource utilization data for any period of time in the past.
8. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, further comprising the step of obtaining said resource utilization data and facility attribute data for two or more facilities.
9. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 8, further comprising the step of aggregating said resource utilization data and said facility attribute data, said data selected according to user defined criteria for a user defined group of facilities.
10. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 8, wherein said facility attribute data and resource utilization data include the aggregate sum of said data for two or more facilities.
11. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, further comprising the step of comparing said normalized resource utilization data for a user defined group of facilities.
12. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 11, further comprising the step of benchmarking said facilities based on said comparing step.
13. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, further comprising the step of presenting said data in the form of one of historical reports and real-time reports.
14. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, wherein said resource utilization data is selected from the resources of energy, water, natural gas and oil.
15. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 1, wherein said modeling method and said resource utilization data are provided to a customer via intercommunicating electronic media.
16. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, comprising the steps of:
creating an attributes catalog wherein said attributes catalog comprises selected of user-defined attributes and system-defined attributes;
assigning attributes to a template selected of user-defined or system-defined templates;
assigning selected of said templates to a facility to be modeled;
obtaining resource utilization data for such facility;
normalizing such resource utilization data based on said predefined template; and
comparing selected of said resource utilization data so as to benchmark each facility based on said comparing.
17. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, further comprising the step of using a template editor to assign selected of said attributes to a facility template.
18. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 17, further comprising the step of estimating facility attribute data and facility resource utilization data for any period of time in the past.
19. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 17, further comprising the step of aggregating said resource utilization data and facility attribute data, said data selected according to user defined criteria for a user defined group of facilities.
20. The method for modeling the performance of a facility, in relation to resource utilization of such facility as in claim 16, wherein said normalizing step is activated by selected of the following events:
(a) a user update of a facility model by modifying facility attribute values to reflect changes to said attribute values;
(b) the demand of a user; and
(c) the elapse of a predetermined period of time.
21. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, further comprising the step of using a facility editor to assign selected of said templates to a facility.
22. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, further comprising the step of obtaining resource utilization data and for obtaining facility attribute data for two or more facilities.
23. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 22, wherein said facility attribute data and resource utilization data include the aggregated sum of said data from two or more facilities.
24. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, comprising the step of presenting said data in the form of one of historical reports and real-time reports.
25. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, further including a system level process, not accessible to a user, which reclassifies a user-defined attribute as a system-defined attribute whenever a predetermined percentage of users have added such user-defined attribute to the attributes catalog.
26. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, wherein said attributes catalog is maintained in predetermined electronic storage.
27. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, wherein said resource utilization data is selected from resources of energy, water, natural gas and oil.
28. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, and comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities as in claim 16, wherein said modeling method and said resource utilization data are provided to a customer via intercommunicating electronic media.
29. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format, comprising the steps of:
creating an attributes catalog wherein said attributes catalog comprises selected of user-defined attributes and system-defined attributes;
using a template editor to assign attributes to a template selected of user-defined or system-defined templates;
using a facility editor to assign selected of said templates to a facility to be modeled;
obtaining resource utilization data for such facility;
normalizing such resource utilization data based on said predefined template;
comparing selected of said resource utilization data so as to benchmark each facility based on said comparing; and
generating one of historical and real-time reports, the data contained in such reports selected from facility modeling data, facility resource utilization data, and facility benchmarking data.
30. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 29, further comprising the step of estimating facility attribute data and facility resource utilization data for any period of time in the past.
31. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 29, further comprising the step of obtaining said resource utilization data and facility attribute data for two or more facilities.
32. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 31, further comprising the step of aggregating said resource utilization data and facility attribute data, said data selected according to user defined criteria for a user defined group of facilities.
33. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 31, wherein said resource utilization data and said facility attribute data includes the aggregated sum of said data from two or more facilities.
34. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 29, wherein said attributes catalog is maintained in predetermined electronic storage.
35. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 29, further including a system level process, not accessible to a user, which reclassifies a user-defined attribute as a system-defined attribute whenever a predetermined percentage of users have added such user-defined attribute to the attributes catalog.
36. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 29, wherein said resource utilization data is selected from resources of energy, water, natural gas and oil.
37. A method for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comparing resource utilization efficiency of such facilities, and generating reports in a user defined format as in claim 29, wherein said modeling method and said resource utilization data are provided to a customer via intercommunicating electronic media.
38. Apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities, comprising:
a facility editor for assigning a predefined template to a facility to be modeled, said predefined template including default facility attribute data;
data retrieval means for obtaining resource utilization data for such facility; and
data normalization means for normalizing said resource utilization data based on said predefined template.
39. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 38, further comprising an attributes catalog editor for performing functions selected of:
(i) creating new facility attributes;
(ii) adding new facility attributes to said attributes catalog; and
(iii) deleting user-defined attributes from said attributes catalog.
40. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 39, further comprising data storage means for storing said attributes catalog.
41. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 38, further comprising means for reclassifying a user-defined attribute as a system-defined attribute whenever a predetermined percentage of users have added such user-defined attribute to said attributes catalog.
42. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 38, further comprising a template editor for assigning said facility attributes, contained in said facility attributes catalog, to a facility template.
43. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 42, further comprising means for estimating facility attribute data and facility resource utilization data, for any period of time in the past.
44. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 38, wherein said data retrieval means is further operative for obtaining said resource utilization data and said facility attribute data for two or more facilities.
45. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 44, further comprising means for aggregating said resource utilization data and facility attribute data.
46. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 45, further comprising means for aggregating said facility attribute data and said resource utilization data, said data selected according to user defined criteria for a user defined group of facilities.
47. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 38, further comprising means for comparing normalized resource utilization data for the purpose of ranking the resource utilization of each facility based on such comparing.
48. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 38, further comprising means for generating one of historical and real-time reports of selected data.
49. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 48, further comprising electronic media means for supplying customer access to selected of said:
(i) predefined template;
(ii) resource utilization data retrieval means;
(iii) data normalization means;
(iv) default facility attribute data; and
(v) historical and real-time reports.
50. An apparatus for creating dynamic facility models, in relation to resource utilization of such facilities as in claim 38, wherein said resource utilization data is selected from the resources energy, water, natural gas and oil.

1. A method for registering a patient’s body part in a medical workspace of a medical navigation system, wherein said body part is supported by at least one support device, comprising:
obtaining at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings of the body part, wherein the at least one support device is situated in a radiation path of an x-ray or fluoroscopic recording apparatus during recordation of the at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings;
using the medical navigation system to ascertain a position of the at least one support device and of the x-ray or fluoroscopic apparatus during recordation of the at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings;
using the ascertained position of the at least one support device and the x-ray or fluoroscopic apparatus to identify an image of the at least one support device in the at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings;
using the at least two recordings to register the body part in the medical workspace, wherein image data corresponding to the image of the at least one support device are not used to register the body part.
2. The method according to claim 1, wherein ascertaining a position of the at least one support device includes:
attaching a reference device to the at least one support device; and
using the navigation system to track a position of the reference device.
3. The method according to claim 1, wherein ascertaining a position of the at least one support device includes using known geometric data of the at least one support device to ascertain said position.
4. The method according to claim 3, wherein using known geometric data includes retrieving geometric data of the at least one support device from memory of the medical navigation system.
5. The method according to claim 1, wherein using the at least two recordings to register the body part includes subtracting the image data of the of the at least one support device from the at least two recordings.
6. The method according to claim 1, wherein image data corresponding to the image of the at least one support device includes image contours of the at least one support device.
7. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the image of the at least one support device includes using known grey values generated in the at least two recordings as an aid for identifying the image of the at least one support device.
8. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the image of the at least one support device includes using known distances between support elements of the at least one support device as an identification aid.
9. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the image of the at least one support device includes using known distances between support elements of the at least one support device and markers attached to the support device as identification aids.
10. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the image of the at least one support device includes using known distances between support elements of the at least one support device and connecting lines of specific markers in or on the support as identification aids.
11. A system for registering a patient’s body part in a medical workspace of a medical navigation system, wherein said body part is supported by at least one support device, comprising:
a medical navigation system including a processor and memory;
a reference device coupled to said at least one support device;
a tracking device communicatively coupled to said medical navigation system and operative to determine a position of said reference device;
an x-ray or fluoroscopic apparatus for capturing x-ray or fluoroscopic images of the body part; and
logic stored in said memory and executable by said processor, said logic including logic that eliminates an effect of image artefacts on registration of the body part, wherein said artefacts are caused by said at least one support device.
12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said logic that eliminates the effect of image artefacts includes:
logic that ascertains a position of the at least one support device and of the x-ray or fluoroscopic apparatus during image capture;
logic that uses the ascertained position of the at least one support device and of the x-ray or fluoroscopic apparatus to identify an image of the at least one support device in the captured image; and
logic that prior to registration removes the image data corresponding to the at least one support device from the captured image data.
13. The system according to claim 11, wherein geometric data of the at least one support device are stored in said memory.
14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one support device consists of a material that is permeable to x-ray radiation.
15. The system according to claim 12, further comprising at least one marker arranged on the at least one support device at known locations relative to support elements of the at least one support device, said at least one marker comprising a material that is substantially impermeable to x-ray radiation.
16. A computer program stored on a machine readable medium for registering a patient’s pelvis in a medical workspace of a medical navigation system, wherein said pelvis is supported by at least one support device, comprising:
code that directs the acquisition of at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings of the body part, wherein the at least one support device is situated in a radiation path of an x-ray or fluoroscopic recording apparatus during recordation of the at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings;
code that ascertains a position of the at least one support device and of the x-ray or fluoroscopic apparatus during recordation of the at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings;
code that uses the ascertained position of the at least one support device and the x-ray or fluoroscopic apparatus to identify an image of the at least one support device in the at least two x-ray or fluoroscopic recordings;
code that uses the at least two recordings to register the body part in the medical workspace, wherein image data corresponding to the image of the at least one support device are not used to register the body part.

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. An optical system comprising:
a first subsystem comprising:
a first reflecting optical component;
at least one other reflecting optical component optically disposed to provide, for an input beam of electromagnetic radiation, a plurality of propagation paths between said first reflecting optical component and said at least one other reflecting optical component;
a first pixellated volume holographic switchable element optically disposed between said first reflecting optical component and said at least one other reflecting optical component; and

a second subsystem comprising:
a second reflecting optical component;
at least one other second reflecting optical component optically disposed to provide, for an incoming beam of electromagnetic radiation, a plurality of propagation paths between said second reflecting optical component and said at least one other reflecting optical component;
a second pixellated volume holographic switchable element optically disposed between said second reflecting optical component and said at least one other second reflecting optical component;

said first pixellated volume holographic switchable element being capable of directing electromagnetic radiation, from said first sub-system, to said second pixellated switchable element;
said second pixellated volume holographic switchable element being capable of directing received electromagnetic radiation to said second reflecting optical component or said at least one other reflecting optical component of the second subsystem.
2. The optical system of claim 1 further comprising:
an imaging optical element optically disposed between said first reflecting optical component and said first pixellated volume holographic switchable element.
3. The optical system of claim 1 further comprising:
an imaging optical element optically disposed between said at least one other reflecting optical component and said first pixellated volume holographic switchable element.
4. The optical system of claim 1 further comprising:
an imaging optical element optically disposed between said second reflecting optical component and said second pixellated volume holographic switchable element.
5. The optical system of claim 1 further comprising:
an imaging optical element optically disposed between said at least one other reflecting optical component of the second subsystem and said second pixellated volume holographic switchable element.
6. The optical system of claim 1 further comprising:
an imaging optical element optically disposed between said first said first pixellated volume holographic switchable element and said second pixellated volume holographic switchable element.
7. The optical system of claim 1 further comprising:
a variable optical path length element optically disposed to intersect at least some of the plurality of propagation paths in said first subsystem.
8. The optical system of claim 1 further comprising:
a variable optical path length element optically disposed to intersect at least some of the plurality of propagation paths in said second subsystem.
9. The optical system of claim 1 wherein said first pixellated switchable element comprises a first pixellated volume holographic switchable volume holographic transmission grating, and said second pixellated volume holographic switchable element comprises a second pixellated switchable volume holographic transmission grating.
10. The optical system of claim 1 wherein said first pixellated volume holographic switchable element comprises a first pixellated switchable volume holographic reflection grating, and said second pixellated volume holographic switchable element comprises a second pixellated switchable volume holographic reflection grating.
11. An optical system comprising:
a first plurality of reflecting optical components;
a second plurality of reflecting optical components;
a pixellated switchable volume reflecting element optically disposed between said first plurality of reflecting optical components and said second pluralities of reflecting optical components;
a first imaging optical element optically disposed between said first plurality of reflecting optical components and said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element; and
a second imaging optical element optically disposed between said second plurality of reflecting optical elements and said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element;
said first plurality of reflecting optical components being optically disposed to provide, for an input beam of electromagnetic radiation, a plurality of propagation paths between said first plurality of reflecting optical components and said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element;
said first plurality of reflecting optical components, said first imaging optical element and said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element comprising a first sub-system;
said second plurality of reflecting optical components being optically disposed to provide, for another input beam of electromagnetic radiation, a plurality of propagation paths between said second plurality of reflecting optical components and said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element;
said second plurality of reflecting optical components, said second imaging optical element and said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element comprising a second sub-system;
said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element being capable of transmitting electromagnetic radiation from said first sub-system to said second sub-system and being also capable of transmitting electromagnetic radiation from said second sub-system to said first sub-system, when said pixellated switchable volume reflecting element is a transmissive state.
12. The optical system of claim 11 further comprising:
a variable optical path length element optically disposed to intersect at least some of the plurality of propagation paths in said first subsystem.
13. The optical system of claim 11 further comprising:
a variable optical path length element optically disposed to intersect at least some of the plurality of propagation paths in said second subsystem.