Systems and methods are provided for sample processing. A device may be provided, capable of receiving the sample, and performing one or more of a sample preparation, sample assay, and detection step. The device may be capable of performing multiple assays. The device may comprise one or more modules that may be capable of performing one or more of a sample preparation, sample assay, and detection step. The device may be capable of performing the steps using a small volume of sample.

A method for detecting albumin based on a colorimetric assay and a system thereof are disclosed. Gold nanoparticles are added into the sample preparing device having a sample without spectroscopic tags, wherein the sample without spectroscopic tags is formed as the alkaline solution to avoid the interference substances adhering on the gold nanoparticles. The gold nanoparticles are concentrated by using the microfluidic concentrator with the circular ion exchange membrane by applying an external electric field across two electrodes. The image of the concentrated gold nanoparticles is captured by the image capturing device for measuring the saturation intensities of the image, wherein there is a relation between the saturation intensities and the concentration of the albumin in the sample without spectroscopic tags. The concentration of the albumin of the sample without spectroscopic tags is obtained by the relation and the measured saturation intensities.

The present disclosure provides methods and compositions that find use in facilitating a diagnosis of inflammatory liver disease in a subject. The methods and compositions generally involve detection of eotaxin-3 (E3) levels, either alone or with levels of eotaxin-1 (E1), and optionally, with levels of CCL22 and, further optionally, with levels of IL15. These levels can be used to facilitate a diagnosis of a liver disease of at least one of autoimmune hepatitis (AIH), primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC), and/or to facilitate a differential diagnosis between AIH, PBC, and PSC. The methods and compositions of the present disclosure also find use in facilitating treatment decisions for a subject.

A protein assay method, including: 1) dissolving 4-hydroxybenzenesulfonic acid in an ethanol, methanol, or acetonitrile aqueous solution to prepare a hydrolysis reagent, adding a protein sample and the hydrolysis reagent to a hydrolysis tube, and uniformly mixing the protein sample and the hydrolysis reagent, charging argon or nitrogen into the hydrolysis tube to remove dissolved oxygen, sealing and drying the hydrolysis tube, and hydrolyzing the protein sample; 2) cooling the hydrolysis tube to room temperature, filtering and adding a resulting hydrolysate to a volumetric flask, washing the hydrolysis tube and a filter paper, collecting and adding a resulting washing solution to the volumetric flask to a constant volume; 3) drawing a hydrolysate solution from the volumetric flask, completely drying the hydrolysate solution to yield a solid product; and 4) diluting the solid product using a diluent, and analyzing amino acids of the solid product.

In preferred the invention is directed to ocular compositions for the treatment of dry eye, methods for making such compositions, and suites comprising a plurality of different ocular compositions each having a defined composition. In preferred examples, the invention is directed to compositions comprising at least one natural oil, wherein a first member of the suite of compositions is effective in treating dry in in a first patient having a particular set of symptoms and a different second member of the suite of compositions is effective in treating dry in in a second patient having a different set of symptoms. The invention is also directed to methods of making and using the compositions, and to skin care compositions for use around the eye, such as the upper and lower eyelids having a lubricating, non-irritating base composition comprising at least one natural oil.

In various embodiments, provided are methods for selecting and formulating compositions for treating and maintaining the quality of skin in a select population, wherein a composition is selected for use in a personal care product based on its demonstrated biological effect to improve skin quality in the population as evidenced by one or more biomarker changes that correlate with improvement as evidenced by one or more objective measurements of skin health in the population.

An evaluating method includes an evaluating step of evaluating a future risk of relapse of ulcerative colitis for a subject to be evaluated having ulcerative colitis in a remission phase using a concentration value of histidine, albumin, hemoglobin, or glutamic acid in blood of the subject.

The present invention provides biomarkers of oxidative stress in subjects with retinitis pigmentosa, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, Fuchs' dystrophy, diabetic macular edema (DME), geographic atrophy, Stargardt's disease, or retinal vein occlusion (RVO), and their use in identifying subjects in need of treatment and methods for staging the severity of the disease.

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.

Provided are methods for the detection or quantitation of amyloid beta. In a particular aspect, provided herein are methods for detecting amyloid beta or fragments thereof by mass spectrometry. In another aspect, provided herein are methods for determining the ratio of amyloid beta 42 (A42) to amyloid beta 40 (A40). In another aspect, provided herein are methods for diagnosis or prognosis of Alzheimer's disease or dementia.