The invention relates to methods and compositions for restoring normal microbiota in pre-term newborns or newborns delivered by Cesarean section and methods for preventing or ameliorating diseases associated with delivery by Cesarean section or pre-term birth comprising administering to said newborns at the time of birth or shortly thereafter an effective amount of a vaginal microbiota inoculum obtained from the newborn's mother or a donor or an effective amount of a probiotic composition. The invention also relates to a device for collecting maternal vaginal microbiota from the vaginal canal of a patient. The device can have a housing forming a cavity, an absorbent material removable disposed within the cavity, and a deployment element disposed in the housing and movable along a length of the housing. The movement of the deployment element can displace the absorbent material out of the cavity and in to the vaginal canal.

Embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to methods of opening a lipid bilayer by associating the lipid bilayer with a molecule that includes a moving component capable of moving (e.g., rotating) in response to an external stimulus; and exposing the molecule to an external stimulus before, during or after associating the molecule with the lipid bilayer. The exposing causes the moving component of the molecule to move and thereby open the lipid bilayer (e.g., by pore formation). The external stimuli may include an energy source, such as ultraviolet light. The opened lipid bilayer may be a component of cell membranes in vitro or in vivo. The opening of the lipid bilayer may allow for the passage of various materials (e.g., active agents, such as peptide-based drugs) through the lipid bilayer and into cells. Additional embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to the aforementioned molecules for opening lipid bilayers.

Embodiments described herein relate to an apparatus for positioning and securing an excised biological tissue specimen for imaging and analysis. In some embodiments, an apparatus includes a sample bag defining an inner volume configured to receive a biological tissue sample, and a sealing member coupled to the sample bag. An imaging window is disposed and configured to be placed in contact with at least a portion of the biological tissue sample, and a positioning member is coupled to the imaging window and is configured to be disposed against the sealing member to substantially seal the inner volume. The positioning member includes a vacuum port disposed and configured to be aligned with a vacuum source to withdraw air from the inner volume of the sample bag.

A toilet is disclosed. The toilet has a bowl adapted to receive feces, a shelf for receiving feces in the bowl, a mechanism that places a consumable material on the shelf between uses of the toilet, and a removal mechanism for removing the feces and the consumable material from the bowl. The consumable material on the shelf is to separate feces from the shelf.

A system for detecting presence of coronavirus in a subject, the system including a first pad for placing a first hand, the pad including a contact to measure conductance of the subject's body, a conductance meter connected to the contact, a second pad for placing a second hand, a source of electromagnetic radiation for irradiating the second pad. A system for detecting presence of coronavirus in a subject, the system including a chip with a plurality of wires disposed on or in the chip, a conductance meter arranged to measure conductance between the wires, and biological material associated with the coronavirus disposed on or in the chip. Related apparatus and methods are also described.

A toilet system comprising a bowl and an outlet, the toilet system being adapted for discerning between types of excretion excreted by a user of the toilet system, where the toilet system comprises at least one first sensor device configured to capture at least one signal indicative of a type of excretion excreted by a user of the toilet system, and at least one second sensor device configured to capture at least one signal indicative of a quantity of excretion excreted by a user of the toilet system.

The device comprises a nib (12) having a working surface (16) exposed or exposable for acquiring a biological sample and a porous structure to absorb the sample thus acquired. A reservoir (28) provides fluid under pressure to the nib via a valve (29), conveying and dispensing the sample into a reaction chamber (14), where it reconstitutes a dried-down reagent (43) to perform an analytic reaction on the sample, for example, an isothermal amplification of nucleic acid released from the sample by a membrane-disrupting agent pre-functionalised in the porous nib. The nib may be initially mounted (A) in the outlet of the reservoir or (B) in the inlet to the reaction chamber, in either case with its working surface (16) initially exposed to acquire the sample before the components of the device are assembled for performing the analytical procedure.

A tissue handling system includes a biopsy device and a tissue storage container separate from the biopsy device. The biopsy device has a cutting cannula, a housing, and a tissue collecting device. The tissue collecting device is detachably received in the housing. The tissue collecting device is configured to receive at least one tissue sample. The tissue storage container is configured to detachably receive the tissue collecting device after the tissue collecting device is disengaged from the housing of the biopsy device to deliver the at least one tissue sample from the tissue collecting device to the tissue storage container.

An excrement analysis apparatus includes an inputter, a memory, a first analyzer, and a second analyzer. The inputter inputs imaging data captured by an image capture apparatus installed in such a way as to include, in a capturing range, an excretion range of excrement in a toilet bowl of a toilet. The memory temporarily holds the imaging data input by the inputter. The first analyzer analyzes first analysis target data being the imaging data input by the inputter, and outputs notification information to an observer who observes a user of the toilet. The second analyzer analyzes second analysis target data being the imaging data that is input by the inputter and temporarily held by the memory, and outputs detailed information indicating a content of excretion.

A breast cancer diagnosis system includes a probe that sequentially outputs light of a plurality of wavelengths of a near-infrared area to a target object, receives reflected light, and sequentially processes the reflected light; a central control device that receives optical data of the reflected light sensed by the probe, calculates a concentration of chromophore of the target object for each chromophore, and generates an image of the chromophores indicating a distribution of the concentration value of each chromophore; and a display that outputs the image, in which in the probe, one or more channel signal processing units including one or more light irradiation modules and light collection modules may be disposed, and each of the channel signal processing units sequentially operates so that each of the channel signal processing units may generate the optical data of the reflected light.