Disclosed is a new and emerging serotype of Streptococcus pneumoniae designated serotype 6C, and assays and monoclonal antibodies useful in identifying same. Also disclosed is a novel pneumococcal polysaccharide with the repeating unit {2) glucose 1 (1.fwdarw.3) glucose 2 (1.fwdarw.3) rhamnose (1.fwdarw.3) ribitol (5.fwdarw.phosphate}. This new serotype may be included in pneumococcal vaccines.

The present invention relates to synthetic saccharides of general formula (I) that are related to Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 8 capsular polysaccharide, conjugates thereof and the use of said saccharides and conjugates for raising a protective immune response in a human and/or animal host. Furthermore, the synthetic saccharide structures of general formula (I) are useful as marker in immunological assays for detection of antibodies against Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteria.

It has been demonstrated that the level of HBP increases in individuals that have bacterial meningitis. Accordingly, the level of HBP in an individual can be used to determine whether or not an individual has bacterial meningitis.

An object of the present invention is to elucidate the cause of degradation of the reliability of detecting causative bacteria of environmental mastitis such as Escherichia coli, Klebsiella bacteria, Streptococcus bacteria, and CNS, and to provide a highly reliable detection means. Another object of the present invention is to provide a highly reliable detection means based on the immunochromatographic method, which enables quicker determination compared with the cultivation-based method, and a diagnosis kit using it. The present invention provides a method for detecting a causative bacterium of environmental mastitis of a livestock animal, which comprises: the step of determining whether number of the causative bacterium in a milk of a subject livestock animal is not smaller than a determination value defined beforehand on the basis of distribution of amounts of the causative bacterium in milks derived from a non-disease group and distribution of the amounts of causative bacterium in milks derived from a disease group by an immunological test method, and wherein the immunological test method is an immunochromatographic method using an antibody labeled with not less than 0.6/cm.sup.2 and not more than 3.5/cm.sup.2 of gold colloid particles (particle-labeled antibody).

The present invention has an object of providing: an immunochromatographic test strip, which controls the development of a specimen on the immunochromatographic test strip and appropriately controls a treatment with an acid reagent and a nitrite, and a neutralizing reagent; and an immunochromatography method using the test strip. The immunochromatographic test strip for extracting and measuring a sugar chain antigen in a specimen, comprising:

a sample pad to which the specimen mixed with a nitrite or an acid solution is added;
a label region comprising a labeled antibody obtained by labeling an antibody against the sugar chain antigen; and a detection region on which an antibody against the sugar chain antigen is immobilized,
wherein an antibody-sugar chain antigen-labeled antibody complex is formed in the detection region to measure the sugar chain antigen, and wherein the immunochromatographic test strip has a region impregnated with a neutralizing reagent upstream of the label region, and further has, upstream of the region impregnated with the neutralizing reagent, a region impregnated with a solid acid reagent when the specimen mixed with the nitrite is used, or a region impregnated with the nitrite when the specimen mixed with the acid solution is used,
wherein a hydrophobic material is used for the region impregnated with the nitrite or the solid acid reagent.

The present invention relates to the field of immunotherapeutics. It provides a method for characterisation and quality control, in particular for determining the potency of an immunoglobulin composition comprising immunoglobulins derived from a plurality of human donors, the method comprising contacting the immunoglobulin composition with pneumolysin, adding erythrocytes to the immunoglobulin composition and determining lysis of the erythrocytes. The invention also provides a corresponding use of pneumolysin, as well as a kit and composition useful in said method. The method can be used for quality control of immunoglobulin concentrate, e.g., of an IgM-containing immunoglobulin composition comprising IgM, IgA and IgG antibodies, and in a method of preparing an immunoglobulin composition. The immunoglobulin compositions obtainable from said method may be used, e.g., in the treatment of pneumonia, e.g., severe community-acquired pneumonia, which may be caused, e.g., by Streptococcus pneumoniae.

The disclosure provides methods, compositions, and kits for enhanced detection of microbes in samples and monitoring of antimicrobial activity in a subject.

A system comprised of an apparatus and a test device is described. The test device and the apparatus are designed to interact to determine the presence or absence of an analyte of interest in a sample placed on the test device.

The presently disclosed subject matter provides compositions, kits, and methods comprising imaging agents that can detect Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 (PD-L1). The presently disclosed imaging agents can be used to detect diseases and disorders, such as cancer, infection, and inflammation, in a subject.

Methods of determining infection type are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises measuring the amount of TRAIL and/or IP10 no more than two days from symptom onset.