A device comprising a housing having a handle end and a treatment end. The treatment end is configured to provide an antimicrobial treatment and a heat treatment. The treatment end comprises an applicator having an applicator surface for providing at least the heat treatment. The device includes a heat generation unit configured to heat the applicator surface in use, a source of antimicrobial agent, and a control unit operatively connected to at least the heat generation unit for controlling the heat generation unit. The device can be a hand-held device and used to apply topical treatment to a treatment area of a subject.

Microfluidic systems including liquid containment regions and methods associated therewith for performing chemical, biological, or biochemical analyzes are provided. Liquid containment regions of a microfluidic device may include regions that capture one or more liquids flowing in the device, while allowing gases or other fluids in the device to pass through the region. This may be achieved, in some embodiments, by positioning one or more absorbent materials in the liquid containment region for absorbing the liquids. This configuration may be useful for removing air bubbles from a stream of fluid and/or for separating hydrophobic liquids from hydrophilic liquids. In certain embodiments, the liquid containment region prevents any liquid from passing through the region. In some such cases, the liquid containment region may act as a waste area by capturing substantially all of the liquid in the device, thereby preventing any liquid from exiting the device. This arrangement may be useful when the device is used as a diagnostic tool, as the liquid containment region may prevent a user from being exposed to potentially-harmful fluids in the device.

A skin-patch type medicament delivery device (10, 30, 50) comprises a housing (11) containing a medicament delivery mechanism (12) including an injection needle (13). An adhesive surface (19) is provided for securing the housing (11) to a patient's skin during a medicament delivery process. A sterilizing mechanism is connected to the housing (11) and thus integrated into the device, and comprises a pad (18) impregnated with sterilizing agent which contacts the skin once the housing (11) is secured to a patient, and which can, respectively has to be moved in a swiping action across the injection site to sterilize the latter before the needle insertion and drug administration can be performed.

The inventors provide a composition comprising an antimicrobial polypeptide comprising Blad or an active variant thereof for use in a method of treatment of the human or animal body by therapy or prophylaxis, such as for use in a method of treating or preventing an infection in or on a subject by a microorganism. Also provided is the use of a composition comprising an antimicrobial polypeptide comprising Blad or an active variant thereof to kill, or inhibit the growth of, a microorganism that is pathogenic to a human or an animal at a site that is not on or in the human or animal body.

A nasal insert including an antimicrobial agent is inserted into the nose to eliminate or reduce undesirable microbes in the area just inside the nose. Pads of the nasal insert can be formed from a blended polymer compound with a microbial agent. Processing of the pre-polymer results in the microbial agent being trapped in the polymer. A blowing agent or CO.sub.2 gas can be introduced in the process after decompression, and before molding to improve attraction of liquid born microbes to the nasal insert.

When using a Prep Pad that contains a solution soaked with alcohol, adhesive or patch remover, or any other kind of antibacterial agent, the act of operating it while trivial for one time use can quickly become inefficient, mundane and time consuming. The invention packs multiple, but single use encapsulated Pellets inside a cylindrical refill apparatus. The Pellet is made of soft material and it may be soaked or un-soaked. The refill apparatus is then inserted into a cylindrical pen like structure that automatically peels the Pellet when operated. The result is that in a few pen like clicks, an operator, using a single hand, can quickly get ready to cleanse or apply a Pellet onto a surface. An operator can easily store capacity for multiple applications in a pen pocket. The single hand use, quickness to readiness and compact easy storage makes the invention ideal alternative to a Prep Pad like use.

Methods for the steam sterilization of hydrogels crosslinked with a beta-eliminative linker without the drawback of significant degradation are provided.

The present disclosure relates to methods for producing large scale nanostructured material comprising carbon nanotubes. Therefore, there is disclosed a method for making nanostructured materials comprising depositing carbon nanotubes onto at least one substrate via a deposition station, wherein depositing comprises transporting molecules to the substrate from a deposition fluid, such as liquid or gas. By using a substrate that is permeable to the carrier fluid, and allowing the carrier fluid to flow through the substrate by differential pressure filtration, a nanostructured material can be formed on the substrate, which may be removed, or may act as a part of the final component.

A vessel harvesting apparatus for removing a blood vessel from a patient includes collection and conditioning (i.e., treatment) of expelled insufflation gas prior to releasing the gas into the air of the operating room. An endoscopic instrument has a distal end with a vessel harvesting tip and has a proximal end with a handle. An insufflation channel is configured to convey an insufflation gas subcutaneously into a dissected space within the patient. A removal channel is configured to evacuate fluidic contents from the dissected space, wherein the fluidic contents include insufflation gas and biological impurities. A processor/separator is coupled to the removal channel to process the fluidic contents to retain at least some of the biological impurities and to exhaust the insufflation gas.

The present invention offers infectious virus mitigation apparatus that utilize one or more 3-dimensional porous metal substrate that impart virus mitigation effect. Fluid that contains or may contain infectious virus traverses through said substrate to achieve virus mitigation effect. Additional virus mitigation effect can be achieved by subjecting said virus mitigation apparatus to suitable wavelength(s) of light that enhance total virus mitigation effect and/or utilizing contoured cover glazing to induce fluid dynamics that can enhance total virus mitigation effect per pass of said fluid through said apparatus. The utility includes a wide variety of practical uses such as filtration of air, water, blood, and other fluids that contain or may contain infectious virus such as coronavirus.