Systems and methods are provided for performing a medical procedure within a patient's body that involves a thoracic duct including an ostium communicating with the patient's venous system. A distal end of a catheter is introduced through the patient's venous system into a body lumen adjacent the ostium of the thoracic duct. An expandable member on the distal end of the tubular member may be expanded adjacent the ostium, e.g., within the body lumen or the thoracic duct itself, and used to isolate the thoracic duct from the body lumen, whereupon a medical procedure may be performed via the thoracic duct. For example, lymphatic fluid may be removed from the thoracic duct through a lumen of the tubular member and/or one or more agents may be introduced into the thoracic duct through the tubular member.

A method of imaging tissue of a subject using an electronic rolling shutter imager includes sequentially resetting rows of pixels of the rolling shutter imager from a first row to a last row for a first amount of time; illuminating the tissue of the subject with illumination light over an illumination period that begins once the last row of the rolling shutter imager has been reset and lasts for at least the first amount of time; accumulating charge at the rows of pixels over at least the illumination period based on light that is received from the tissue of the subject while the tissue of the subject is illuminated with the illumination light; sequentially reading charge accumulated at the rows of pixels from the first row to the last row once the illumination period has ended; and generating an image frame from the rows of pixels.

Stimulation of neural activity in a nerve supplying the spleen, wherein the nerve is adjacent to the splenic artery at a position where the splenic artery is not in direct contact with the pancreas, can modulate pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules levels, thereby reducing inflammation and providing ways of treating disorders, such as disorders associated with inflammation. The invention provides improved ways of reducing inflammation with minimized off-target effects, in particular surgical trauma.

The present invention is directed to a method for inducing an immune response in a subject, including a step of activating neurons in the mesolimbic network of the subject by applying a neurofeedback.

In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a chronic complement-mediated disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a Th17-associated disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of treating a subject in need of treatment for a chronic respiratory system disorder. In some aspects, the invention provides methods of administering a complement inhibitor to a subject. In some embodiments, a method of treating a subject comprises administering multiple doses of a complement inhibitor to the subject according to a dosing schedule that leverages the prolonged effect of complement inhibition in chronic respiratory disorders. In some embodiments, a subject has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. In some embodiments, a subject has asthma.

A closed system is provided for enlarging viral and bacterial particles for identification by diffraction scanning. The closed system includes a transparent tube, a deformable dispenser, a quantity of first antibodies, a quantity of second antibodies, and a diffraction scanning device. The transparent tube contains the quantity of first antibodies, the quantity of second antibodies, and receives the exhaled air from an individual. The deformable dispenser drives the quantity of second antibodies to mix with a complex formed by target matter in the exhaled air and the quantity of first antibodies. The quantity of first antibodies interacts with the target matter. The quantity of second antibodies interacts with the complex formed by the target matter and the quantity of first antibodies. The diffraction scanning device measures the number and size of particles within the transparent tube.

A system includes an illumination source and an imaging apparatus that includes an electronic rolling shutter imager and is configured for sequentially resetting rows of pixels of the rolling shutter imager from a first row to a last row, sequentially reading charge accumulated at the rows of pixels from the first row to the last row, wherein the first row is read after resetting the last row, controlling the illumination source to illuminate the tissue of the subject with illumination light for an illumination period that lasts longer than a vertical blanking period, wherein the vertical blanking period is the period from the resetting of the last row to the reading of the first row, and generating an image frame from the readings of charge accumulated at the rows of pixels, wherein at least one reading of charge accumulated at a row of pixels is removed or replaced.

Stimulation of neural activity in a nerve supplying the spleen, wherein the nerve is adjacent to the splenic artery at a position where the splenic artery is not in direct contact with the pancreas, can modulate pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules levels, thereby reducing inflammation and providing ways of treating disorders, such as disorders associated with inflammation. The invention provides improved ways of reducing inflammation with minimized off-target effects, in particular surgical trauma.

Stimulation of neural activity in a nerve supplying the spleen, wherein the nerve is adjacent to the splenic artery at a position where the splenic artery is not in direct contact with the pancreas, can modulate pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules levels, thereby reducing inflammation and providing ways of treating disorders, such as disorders associated with inflammation. The invention provides improved ways of reducing inflammation with minimized off-target effects, in particular surgical trauma.

The disclosure provides noninvasive methods for the in vivo identification and characterization of various immune cell populations in human skin. The methods of the disclosure employ advanced imaging systems based on nonlinear optical microscopy to generate images that are analyzed to detect, identify, differentiate, and quantify immune cell populations in human skin by their morphological, metabolic and behavioral signatures.