Use of probes for unbound metabolites

A method of screening a patient for cardiac dysfunction, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), stroke, sepsis or diabetes comprising:

• withdrawing a fluid sample from the patient;
• contacting the fluid sample with at least two probes selected from the group consisting of L1P8H2, L2P22G6, L10P7A4, L11P7B3, L13P7B4, L18P5G12 and ADIFAB2;
• measuring the change in fluorescence of the probes;
• determining the binding of at least two FFAu in the fluid sample from the measured change in fluorescence;
• comparing the probe binding in the sample to probe binding in a normal population, without symptoms of cardiac dysfunction, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), stroke, sepsis or diabetes using statistical classification analysis;
• and
• correlating the probe binding with the presence or absence of cardiac dysfunction, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), stroke, sepsis or diabetes in the patient.

A method to determine the concentration of free unconjugated bilirubin (UCBf) in body fluids of a mammal which comprises:

• withdrawing a body fluid from the mammal;
• contacting the body fluid with a probe capable of binding to UCBf;
• and
• determining the level of UCBf by measuring binding to the probe and comparing to a standard.