Appeal No. 1996-2240
Application No. 08/105,482
sample from a test subject with a data base representative of the frequency distribution of
those same constituents in samples from epidemiologically significant populations with,
and without, that disorder.
Claims 1 through 32 stand rejected as obvious over Miyagi, Long and the admitted
state of the prior art.
Miyagi discloses a method of screening for disease by comparing a two-
dimensional pattern diagram representing a test subject’s integrated values of
chromatographic peaks and retention times, with a reference data base of two-
dimensional patterns generated the same way.
Long teaches that liquid chromatography, followed by electrochemical detection
and analysis of the effluent, is conventional. At pages 2 and 5 of the specification,
appellant indicates that “abnormalities in neurotransmitters and related substances are
related to degenerative, neuropsychiatric and behavioral disorders” and that Liquid
Chromatography with Electrochemical Detection (LCEC) is “a common tool for the
determination of . . . metabolites in biological fluids.”
According to the examiner, “it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in
9
Page: Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Next
Last modified: November 3, 2007