An observation method of a sample containing a target substance, the observation method including an imaging step in which a step of obtaining a speckle image including, as a speckle, light emitted from a luminescent substance in which a medium is brought into contact with the sample is performed a plurality of times so as to obtain a plurality of speckle images, the medium containing a probe that contains the luminescent substance emitting light and that repeatedly binds to and dissociates from the target substance directly and specifically, and an observation image generation step of generating an observation image of the target substance in the sample from the plurality of speckle images, wherein a half-life of a probe-target complex formed by binding between the probe and the target substance is equal to or more than 10 milliseconds and equal to or less than 3 seconds.

The invention provides methods of detecting a natriuretic protein, a troponin, and galectin-3 in samples from subjects in order to determine risk of developing new onset heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Methods of treating a subject with myocardial infarction are provided, which include selective targeting time-dependent iron products at different phases of the infarction. It is discovered that during acute phase of myocardial infarction, ferrous iron in the form of heme accumulate, often followed by infarct expansion, and during the chronic phase, ferric iron in the form of crystals are dominant Chelator agents specific for ferrous iron, heme or ferric iron are demonstrated in the protection of cardiomyocytes, reduction of infarct expansion, or improving cardiac remodeling following myocardial infarction. Also provided are methods for determining the presence of intramyocardial hemorrhage by measuring plasma level of cardiac troponin before and after re-vascularization or a reperfusion therapy, which can be used to guide therapeutic treatment or intervention procedures to control the hemorrhage and mitigate infarct expansion.

The present invention provides a method of treating, preventing, diagnosing and prognosing sepsis, and septic shock, and subjects likely to progress to sepsis and subjects in septic shock using biomarkers that can be used to stratify treatment procedures in response to the diagnosis.

The present invention provides systems and methods for determining and reporting the cardiac troponin I (cTnI) concentration in a sample from a pregnant woman (in the first, second, or third trimester) by determining whether the sample (cTnI) concentration is higher than a 99.sup.th percentile cTnI concentration from a corresponding first, second, or third trimester uncomplicated pregnancy control group, thereby determining if the pregnant woman has or is at risk of developing cardiovascular disease, such as gestational hypertension.

The invention provides decision tree based systems and methods for estimating the risk of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in subjects suspect of having ACS. In particular, systems and methods are provided that employ additive decision tree based algorithms to process a subject's initial cardiac troponin I or T (cTnI or cTnT) concentration, a subject's cTnI or cTnT rate of change, and at least one of the following: the subject's age, the subject's gender, the subject's ECG value, the subject's hematology parameter value, to generate an estimate risk of ACS. Such risk stratification allows, for example, patients to be ruled in or rule out with regard to needing urgent treatment.

The present invention relates generally to assays, methods and kits for the prognosis and/or diagnosis of cardiac disorders. The present invention also provides, for example, binding agents to a novel class of circulating cardiac troponin T upstream open reading frame (TnTuORF) peptide biomarkers for use in predicting or diagnosing a cardiac disorder other than myocardial infarction or unstable angina. In addition, the binding agents of the present invention may be used to enhance the sensitivity and false positive performance of cardiac troponins in the prognosis and diagnosis of myocardial infarction.

The invention, in part, includes methods and compounds useful to prepare and functional class XIV myosin. Functional class XIV myosin prepared using methods of the invention may be useful to screen for and identify compounds that inhibit and treat parasitic infections and contamination.

The disclosure concerns a method for assessing muscular dystrophy-linked protein expression in muscle fibers using digital image analysis of tissue. The method relates to assessing disease severity in individuals with muscular dystrophy. Muscle tissue samples are obtained from patients submitted for evaluation and processed to produce tissue sections mounted on glass slides which have been stained for a muscular dystrophy-linked protein. Digital images of the stained tissue sections are generated and analyzed by applying an algorithm process implemented by a computer to the images. The algorithm process extracts the morphometric and staining features of the muscular dystrophy-linked protein staining in the tissue, and parameters relating to these features are used to score the disease status for each patient submitted for evaluation. The score of disease status is ultimately used to infer disease severity, monitor the efficacy of a therapeutic approach, or select patients as candidates for a therapeutic approach.

The invention relates to the use of gelsolin to treat inflammatory diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis) and to the use of gelsolin to diagnose, monitor, and evaluate therapies of inflammatory diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis).