Abstract: The invention disclosed herein comprises methods for analyzing a biological sample, such as undiluted or diluted whole blood, as well as fractions thereof, for the presence or absence and/or the concentration of disease-specific and/or other medical condition-specific markers. Such markers may include platelet activation and coagulation activation markers. The methods may comprise combining the biological sample with a coated solid phase and analyzing for the presence or absence and/or the concentration of the markers. The analysis may be performed either before or after separation of the solid phase from the biological sample. The analysis may be performed on the combined components or on any of the separated components. A preferred solid phase may be paramagnetic microparticles coated with antibodies or proteins specific for platelet activation and/or coagulation activation markers.

Abstract: A method for determining concentration of an analyte in a biological sample comprising the steps of:(a) combining the biological sample, at least one oxidizing enzyme for the analyte of interest, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (hereinafter NAD.sup.+), and a chemiluminescent label to form a reaction mixture;(b) allowing the analyte to undergo an oxidation-reduction reaction and NAD.sup.+ to be converted to the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (hereinafter NADH) and further allowing the chemiluminescent label to react with NADH; and(c) determining the concentration of the analyte of interest in the biological sample by correlating the quantity of light emitted with the concentration of NADH.

Abstract: New assays for diagnosing NANBH utilizing novel peptide fragments derived from polypeptide antigens reactive to antibodies present in the sera of infected patients are disclosed. In producing these peptides, the portion of the polypeptide contributing to high backgrounds is deleted thereby resulting in assays with an exceptionally high signal to background ratio.