Methods for diagnosing inflammatory and/or cardiovascular diseases by assaying for Fibroblast Activation Protein (FAP) expression in a body fluid is provided as well as therapeutic means based thereon.

The present invention related to a method for detecting a history of exposure to a chemical(s) comprising measuring the concentration of thrombomodulin in a sample isolated from a subject, and determining whether the concentration of thrombomodulin is altered compared to control reference levels.

In various embodiments, the application relates to methods for assessment of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in a patient comprising comparing pre-heparin LPL (lipoprotein lipase) levels which are associated with protection from CVD to remnant lipoprotein cholesterol (RLP-C) and/or remnant lipoprotein triglyceride content (RLP-Tg).

The present invention is based on the discovery of genetic polymorphisms that are associated with cardiovascular disorders, particularly acute coronary events such as myocardial infarction and stroke, and genetic polymorphisms that are associated with responsiveness of an individual to treatment of cardiovascular disorders with statin. In particular, the present invention relates to nucleic acid molecules containing the polymorphisms, variant proteins encoded by such nucleic acid molecules, reagents for detecting the polymorphic nucleic acid molecules and proteins, and methods of using the nucleic acid and proteins as well as methods of using reagents for their detection.

Provided are methods for determining the amount of thyroglobulin in a sample using various purification steps followed by mass spectrometry. The methods generally involve purifying thyroglobulin in a test sample, digesting thyroglobulin to form peptide T129, purifying peptide T129, ionizing peptide T129, detecting the amount of peptide T129 ion generated, and relating the amount of peptide T129 ion to the amount of thyroglobulin originally present in the sample.

A method for determining the biological age or pace of aging of an adult dog, said method comprising determining the levels of one or more biomarkers selected from the group consisting of (1) blood globulin levels, (2) blood total protein, (3) blood alkaline phosphatase, (4) blood platelet count, (5) blood mean corpuscular volume or (6) urine specific gravity, comparing the results with values obtained from healthy dogs of a known age and of a similar category (toy, small, medium, large or giant). Kits, systems and/or computer media for carrying out the method form further aspects of the invention.

The invention relates to a method comprising a) providing a blood sample from a subject b) determining the level of CPS-.sub.1 expression in said sample c) comparing the level of CPS-.sub.1 expression of (b) to the level of CPS-.sub.1 expression determined from a blood sample from a subject with mild to moderate fibrosis of the liver d) determining the level of glutamate in said sample e) comparing the level of glutamate of (d) to level of glutamate determined from a blood sample from a subject with mild to moderate fibrosis of the liver f) wherein if the level of glutamate of (d) and CPS-.sub.1 expression of (b) is higher than the level of glutamate and CPS-.sub.1 expression from a blood sample from a subject with mild to moderate fibrosis of the liver, it is inferred the subject has increased likelihood of having advanced or severe (F3/F4) fibrosis of the liver.

A method of predicting a sepsis condition in a subject, comprising: a. determining a level of a biomarker in a sample of said subject, wherein the biomarker is of structure (I): Formula (I) or a salt thereof; and b. comparing said level to a predetermined reference value of the biomarker, wherein an elevated biomarker level is indicative of the risk of the sepsis condition.

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The invention relates to in vitro methods for detecting bacteremia, for selecting a therapy for a subject with cystic fibrosis or for a subject with systemic inflammatory response syndrome and for selecting a subject with cystic fibrosis or with systemic inflammatory syndrome for a particular therapy based on the expression levels of a gene selected from tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), IL-1b, IL-10, CCL2, interferon beta (IFN-β), IL-17, IL-2, IL-4 and VEGF in a blood sample from the subject. The invention also relates to a kit comprising a TLR-4 agonist and a reagent specific for determining the level of at least one cytokine selected from the group consisting of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα), IL-1b, IL-10, CCL2, interferon beta (IFN-β), IL-17, IL-2, IL-4 and VEGF and to the uses of this kit.

A method is for correcting a concentration of a bone turnover marker to obtain an adjusted value which gives an indication of an individual's bone health status or amount of changes occurred over time or by treatment while eliminating the influence of possible pre-analytical variability. The method includes: obtaining the concentration of the bone turnover marker of a sample; correcting the obtained concentration using a mathematical model which comprises at least three factors, different from the bone health status, such that for the adjusted value variabilities in the concentration of the bone turnover marker, that are caused by the at least three factors, are substantially filtered out by the mathematical model.