Description: Background: Multiple solutes are retained in uremia, but it is currently unclear which solutes are toxic. Small studies suggest that protein-bound solutes, such as p-cresol sulfate and indoxyl sulfate and intracellular solutes, such as methylamine (MMA) and dimethylamine (DMA), may be toxic. Our objective was to test whether elevated levels of these solutes were associated with mortality. Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study in 521 U.S. incident hemodialysis patients to evaluate associations between these solutes and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. P-cresol sulfate, indoxyl sulfate, MMA and DMA levels were measured from frozen plasma samples obtained 2 to 6 months after initiation of dialysis. Mortality data was available through 2004 using the National Death Index. Results: Elevated (greater than the population median) p-cresol sulfate, MMA or DMA levels were not associated with all-cause or cardiovascular mortality. Elevated indoxyl sulfate levels were associated with all-cause mortality but not cardiovascular mortality (hazard ratio 1.30 (95% confidence interval 1.01, 1.69) p-value 0.043). Conclusions: In this cohort of 521 incident hemodialysis patients, only elevated indoxyl sulfate levels were associated with all-cause mortality. Further research is needed to identify causes of the toxicity of uremia to provide better care for patients with kidney disease.

Description: Background: Solely in Europoe, Salmonella Typhimurium causes more than 100,000 infections per year.Improved detection of livestock colonised with S. Typhimurium is necessary to preventfoodborne diseases. Currently, commercially available ELISA assays are based on a mixtureof O-antigens (LPS) or total cell lysate of Salmonella and are hampered by cross-reaction.The identification of novel immunogenic proteins would be useful to develop ELISA baseddiagnostic assays with a higher specificity. Results: A phage display library of the entire Salmonella Typhimurium genome was constructed and47 immunogenic oligopeptides were identified using a pool of convalescent sera from pigsinfected with Salmonella Typhimurium. The corresponding complete genes of seven of theidentified oligopeptids were cloned. Five of them were produced in E. coli. The immunogeniccharacter of these antigens was validated with sera from pigs infeced with S. Tyhimurium andcontrol sera from non-infected animals. Finally, human antibody fragments (scFv) againstthese five antigens were selected using antibody phage display and characterised. Conclusion: In this work, we identified novel immunogenic proteins of Salmonella Typhimurium andgenerated antibody fragments against these antigens completely based on phage display. Fiveimmunogenic proteins were validated using a panel of positive and negative sera forprospective applications in diagnostics of Salmonela Typhimurium.