Muramic acid measurements in acid hydrolysed digesta samples are used to measure the activity of peptidoglycan hydrolyzing enzyme, as illustrated by the use of a muramidase, as determined by the degree of peptidoglycan hydrolysis, in the gastrointestinal tract of animals fed supplements with the muramidase.

A method of determining susceptibility to COVID-19 infection comprising the steps of providing a stool sample, and determining an amount of Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Faecalibacterium, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Ruminococcus, and Subdoligranulum in the stool sample. A method of determining susceptibility to COVID-19 infection comprising the steps of providing a stool sample, and determining an amount of Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium, in the stool sample. A method of reducing the severity of COVID-19 infection comprising the steps of providing the individual, and administering at least one of the following: Bifidobacterium and or Faecalibacterium. A method of reducing the risk of infection of COVID-19 comprising the steps of providing the individual, and administering Bifidobacterium and or Faecalibacterium. A method of increasing an amount of Bifidobacterium and Faecalibacterium in an individual, the method comprising the steps of providing the individual; and administering one or more of the following: Vitamin C, doxycycline, Zinc, and Ivermectin.

The present invention provides methods and systems to accurately detect and measure levels of endogenous antibodies, for examples endogenous IgA, to particular antigens in a biological sample from a companion animal, which is useful to diagnose inflammatory conditions, including bowel disease (IBD), gastrointestinal infections, and food sensitivities in companion animals, e.g., dogs or cats, and to distinguish among such gastrointestinal disorders. Such methods and systems identify whether a sample from the patient is associated with an inflammatory condition, infection, and/or food sensitivity condition, by using non-invasive means, thus conveniently providing information useful for guiding treatment decisions.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple and highly accurate method for detecting pancreatic exocrine dysfunction with minimal invasiveness to a subject. The method comprising in vitro measurement of two APOA2 protein variants, mutants thereof and/or fragments thereof in a body fluid sample derived from the subject and detection of the presence or absence of pancreatic exocrine dysfunction on the basis of the measured amounts, and a detection kit for pancreatic exocrine dysfunction including antibodies that can specifically bind to said proteins are provided.

A method of isotope-labelling a microbiota sample. It involves providing a first microbiota sample that was obtained from a given source; exposing the first microbiota sample to an isotope enriched medium; and culturing the exposed first microbiota sample in the isotope enriched medium to obtain an isotope-labelled microbiota sample, wherein the isotope labelled metaproteome of the isotope-labelled microbiota sample is taxon specific for taxa present in the first microbiota sample when initially obtained from the given source.

The aspects of the disclosed embodiments relate to method for determining a likelihood of an inflammatory gastrointestinal tract disease. The method includes diluting a biological sample of a human subject and contacting it with 8-anilinonaphthalene-1-sulfonic acid as modulating agent and further with a reagent, said reagent comprising a peroxidase enzyme and a label selected from a europium chloride and terbium chloride. The sample is incubated and excited, and the time-resolved luminescence signal of the label in the sample is measured. If the luminescence signal is at least 112% higher than for a control sample from a human so subject without of an inflammatory intestine disease, an increased likelihood of an inflammatory intestine disease of the human subject is determined.

The present disclosure relates to a method of analyzing a biofluid of a subject for the presence of bacterial extracellular vesicles (EV), the method comprising the steps of a) extracting bacterial EV from the biofluid, b) analyzing the bacterial EV-extracted molecular patterns for the presence of a disease marker, wherein the disease marker is a disease-specific molecular pattern of the subject; and the subject comprising patients diagnosed with HIV, IBD or cancer or the subject receiving a treatment.

Described herein are methods for assessing likelihood of response of subjects to activatable therapeutic agents and compositions, kits, and methods of preparing and using activatable therapeutic agents. Also described herein are methods for assessing likelihood of response of subjects to activatable therapeutic agents. In some cases, the activatable therapeutic agents of the compositions, kits, and methods disclosed herein can comprise a mammalian protein-derived sequence.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a simple and highly accurate method for detecting pancreatic exocrine dysfunction with minimal invasiveness to a subject. The method comprising in vitro measurement of two APOA2 protein variants, mutants thereof and/or fragments thereof in a body fluid sample derived from the subject and detection of the presence or absence of pancreatic exocrine dysfunction on the basis of the measured amounts, and a detection kit for pancreatic exocrine dysfunction including antibodies that can specifically bind to said proteins are provided.

The present invention relates to methods of treating, preventing or managing intestinal fibrosis by inhibiting SMAD7. The invention is also directed to methods of monitoring effectiveness of treatment or management of intestinal fibrosis using a SMAD7 antisense oligonucleotide, as well as methods of regulating SMAD7 antisense oligonucleotide treatment, based on analysis of Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) levels, α-Smooth Muscle Actin (a-SMA) levels, and/or phosphorylated Mothers Against Decapentaplegic Homolog 3 (p-SMAD3) levels.