Dysglycemia as a risk factor for neurodevelopmental disorder or developmental diabetes. The risk is assessed based on measurement of a glucose control indicator in a blood sample. One particular example of a neurodevelopmental disorder is retinopathy of prematurity in an infant. One particular example of a glucose control indicator is ‘comprehensive glycated hemoglobin fraction’ or ‘comprehensive glycated albumin fraction.’ This is calculated using ‘total whole blood protein’ in the denominator. In the case of chronic hyperglycemia, there is an increased risk of proliferative retinopathy of prematurity. In the case of chronic hypoglycemia, there is an increased risk of non-proliferative retinopathy of prematurity. This ‘total whole blood protein’ technique could also be used to determine the glucose control status in other types of patients.

The invention relates to allergic disease, to the development of allergic disease in infants, to determining the likelihood of development of allergic disease in infants and to minimizing the likelihood of development of allergic disease in infants.

The disclosure relates to methods of preparation of fetal nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs) from biological samples for diagnostic testing.

Disclosed herein is the use of plasma osteopontin (OPN) levels for diagnosing and predicting the severity and outcomes in traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as adult and pediatric TBI. The disclosed method can be used to diagnose TBI in any subject, such as pediatric, adult, and geriatric subjects. However, the method is particularly useful in pediatric subjects where current methods are insufficient. A particularly useful advantage of the disclosed methods is the ability to diagnose Abusive Head Trauma (AHT) in a pediatric subject.

The invention relates to biomarkers in children's skin, in particular in the skin of infants, the expression of which changes when the skin is affected by atopic dermatitis. Such markers are particularly advantageous in that they allow the skin's response to atopic dermatitis to be monitored. The inventors have developed methods for evaluating the in vitro efficacy of formulations in preventing the effects of atopic dermatitis on a child's skin, using a skin model specifically capable of reproducing the characteristics of children's skin.

Methods of diagnosis and methods of treatment and prevention for autism spectrum disorder are provided using decoy antigens to maternal brain-reactive antibodies.

The present disclosure provides peptides that specifically bind to maternal autoantibodies that are generated in the mother or potential mother against the endogenous polypeptide antigen neuron specific enolase (NSE) protein. The peptides described herein are useful for determining a risk of an offspring for developing an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by detecting the presence of maternal autoantibodies in a biological sample of the mother or potential mother. The peptides or mimotopes thereof can also be administered to the mother or potential mother to block the binding between maternal autoantibodies and their antigens, thereby neutralizing the maternal autoantibodies.

The present invention provides a method for measuring growth hormone level in a human child, including a method of assessing pituitary-related growth hormone deficiency in a human child as a stand-alone test. The method includes the steps of oral administration of an effective amount of macimorelin to the child, collecting from the child two or three post-administration blood samples within a range of about 60 minutes after administration, and determining the level of growth hormone in the samples. The method can be used for diagnosing pituitary-related growth hormone deficiency in a child when the peak level of determined growth hormone in the samples is below a cut-off value.

The disclosure features methods for treating hypophosphatasia (HPP) in a patient (e.g., a child or an adolescent having HPP) exhibiting gait impairments or decreased walking ability by administering a soluble alkaline phosphatase (sALP) to the patient and assessing improvement in the gait impairment using a modified Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment—Gait (mPOMA-G) analysis and score.

In certain embodiments, the invention stems from the discovery that analysis of population distribution curves of metabolite levels in blood can be used to facilitate predicting risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and/or to differentiate between ASD and non-ASD developmental delay (DD) in a subject. In certain aspects, information from assessment of the presence, absence, and/or direction (upper or lower) of a tail effect in a metabolite distribution curve is utilized to predict risk of ASD and/or to differentiate between ASD and DD.