The present invention provides methods for the diagnosis and/or treatment of chronic kidney disease, immune complex-mediated GN, rheumatoid arthritis, and pulmonary fibrosis, and methods for identifying compounds for such therapeutic use.

A method of chronically reducing a patient's pathological inflammation via the administration of an agent that specifically binds to an alpha-4 integrin or a dimer comprising an alpha-4 integrin is disclosed. The agent provided must have a binding affinity such that administration is sufficient to suppress pathological inflammation, and the agent is administered chronically to provide long-term suppression of pathological inflammation.

Method of diagnosing and treating inflammatory bowel disease are disclosed herein. Inflammatory bowel disease can be treated and diagnosed using cathelicidin peptides and detection agents thereof. Specifically, method of treating and diagnosing Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are disclosed herein.

Subject of the present invention are biomarkers and methods for the identification of risk for subsequent cardiovascular event (e.g. coronary heart disease death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, hospitalizations for unstable angina pectotis, cardiac arrest) in patients that have experienced an acute coronary syndrome, comprising the detecting the level of NT-proBNP, homocysteine and CRP.

The application relates to an electrode for use in the electrochemical detection of a target species, wherein the electrode has a planar surface disposed on which are probe molecules that are capable of binding selectively to the target species, wherein the electrode, prior to binding of the probe molecules with the target species, has an electron transfer resistance per area of the electrode of from 10 megaohms cm.sup.−2 to 95 megaohms cm.sup.−2.

Sandwich-type lateral flow assay devices, systems, and methods described herein measure concentration of an analyte of interest in a sample, and can determine the precise concentration of the analyte when it is present at high concentrations. A signal of maximum intensity is generated when the concentration of analyte of interest in a sample is zero. For low concentrations of analyte, the lateral flow assays described herein generate signals that are the same as or substantially equivalent to the maximum intensity signal. High concentrations of the analyte of interest generate signals that are less than the maximum intensity signal. Lateral flow assays of the present disclosure solve drawbacks associated with the hook effect of sandwich-type lateral flow assays by eliminating the phase of the dose response curve where signals are increasing.

The present invention relates to a method for differentiating between heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) in a subject suffering from heart failure, said method comprising the steps of determining the amounts of IGFBP7 (Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7), of a BNP-type peptide, and optionally of CRP (C-reactive protein) in a sample from the subject, calculating (i) a ratio of the amount of IGFBP7 and the amount of the BNP-peptide or (ii) a ratio of the sum of the amounts of IGFBP7 and CRP and the amount of the BNP-type peptide, comparing the ratio calculated with a reference ratio, and differentiating between heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The present invention further concerns a method for the diagnosis of HFpEF.

The present invention provides devices and systems for use at the point of care. The methods devices of the invention are directed toward automatic detection of analytes in a bodily fluid. The components of the device are modular to allow for flexibility and robustness of use with the disclosed methods for a variety of medical applications.

The present invention is intended to provide a novel biomarker for detecting arteriosclerosis-related disease or for evaluating the stage of progression of arteriosclerosis, and specifically, the present invention relates to a marker for detecting arteriosclerosis-related disease or for evaluating the stage of progression of arteriosclerosis, comprising an NPC2 (Niemann-Pick disease type C2) protein and/or an IGFBP7 (Insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 7) protein.

The present invention provides devices and systems for use at the point of care. The methods devices of the invention are directed toward automatic detection of analytes in a bodily fluid. The components of the device are modular to allow for flexibility and robustness of use with the disclosed methods for a variety of medical applications.