The clarity method for biotissue using a biotissue clearing agent including CHAPS of the present invention enables fast tissue clarity without denaturation.

The present invention provides biomarkers useful for evaluating the risk that a subject will develop diabetes, monitoring such risk, identifying members of a population at risk of developing diabetes, calculating risk of a subject developing diabetes, advising subjects of risk for developing diabetes, providing diagnostic tests for identifying subjects at risk for developing diabetes or kits there for, and providing diagnostic tests for determining risk of a subject developing diabetes and kits there for. The present invention also provides compounds and methods for treating subjects.

The present invention relates to compounds which are intermediates in the synthesis of bile acid derivatives with pharmacological activity. The invention relates to compounds of general formula (I): ##STR00001##
wherein:
, R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.6 and Y are as defined herein. The compounds are intermediates in the synthesis of synthetic bile acids which are useful in the treatment of conditions such as liver disease. In addition, the invention relates to a method of synthesizing these intermediates and a method of preparing obeticholic acid and obeticholic acid analogues from the compounds of the invention.

The application relates to compounds of formula A:

##STR00001##

or a salt, solvate, ester, tautomer, amino acid conjugate, or metabolite thereof. The compounds of formula A are TGR5 modulators useful for the treatment of various diseases, including metabolic disease, inflammatory disease, autoimmune disease, cardiac disease, kidney disease, cancer, and gastrointestinal disease.

Methods of preventing or retarding or reversing or abolishing the onset of Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases are discussed.

Processes for the synthesis and purification of glycoconjugate derivatives of cholic acid are provided herein.

The present invention relates to compounds derived from ursodeoxycholic acid of formula (I), to methods for obtaining same, as well as the use thereof in the treatment of polycystic diseases, particularly autosomal dominant polycystic liver disease, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease, or autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease.

The present invention relates to a compound represented by formula (I), a tautomer thereof or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, and relates to applications thereof in the preparation of drugs for treating FXR related diseases.

##STR00001##

Disclosed are a composition for clearing spheroids, a method for clearing spheroids using same, and a kit comprising same. The composition for clearing spheroids can clear the spheroids in a convenient and rapid manner and thus may be usefully used for imaging of spheroids and in identifying the causes of various diseases, treating the diseases, and predicting the therapeutic effects and toxicity of drugs. In addition, the composition may be used in combination with various medical devices, and in particular, can be prepared as a kit and usefully used as an in vitro medical diagnostic device.

The present invention provides biomarkers useful for evaluating the risk that a subject will develop diabetes, monitoring such risk, identifying members of a population at risk of developing diabetes, calculating risk of a subject developing diabetes, advising subjects of risk for developing diabetes, providing diagnostic tests for identifying subjects at risk for developing diabetes or kits there for, and providing diagnostic tests for determining risk of a subject developing diabetes and kits there for. The present invention also provides compounds and methods for treating subjects.