A waste collection unit for collecting waste material. A reservoir is supported on a portable cart for storing a liquid on the portable cart when positioned away from a docking station. A sprinkler may be coupled to the waste container and in fluid communication with the reservoir. The sprinkler is configured to direct the liquid from the reservoir towards the waste container. The reservoir is configured to receive additional liquid from the docking station to urge the liquid from the reservoir towards the sprinkler. A prefill pump may be supported on the portable cart and in fluid communication with the waste container and operable to convey the liquid from the reservoir to the waste container. A controller may be in electronic communication with a valve assembly to control flow of the liquid from the docking station into at least one of the reservoir and a second waste container.

Dialysis systems and methods are described which can include a number of features. The dialysis systems described can be to provide dialysis therapy to a patient in the comfort of their own home. The dialysis system can be configured to prepare purified water from a tap water source in real-time that is used for creating a dialysate solution. The dialysis systems described also include features that make it easy for a patient to self-administer therapy.

A negative pressure wound therapy apparatus can include a source of negative pressure configured to aspirate fluid from a wound covered by a wound dressing, a first pressure sensor configured to measure pressure downstream of the source of negative pressure, and a controller configured to, in response to a determination that pressure measured by the first pressure sensor satisfies a threshold indicative of a first blockage downstream of the source of negative pressure, provide an indication of the first blockage. The system can further include a second pressure sensor configured to measure pressure upstream of the source of negative pressure and the controller can be further configured to, in response to a determination that pressure measured by the second pressure sensor satisfies a threshold indicative of a second blockage upstream of the source of negative pressure, provide an indication of the second blockage.

The principles and embodiments of the present invention relate to methods and systems for safely providing NO to a recipient for inhalation therapy. There are many potential safety issues that may arise from using a reactor cartridge that converts NO.sub.2 to NO, including exhaustion of consumable reactants of the cartridge reactor. Accordingly, various embodiments of the present invention provide systems and methods of determining the remaining useful life of a NO2-to-NO reactor cartridge and/or a break-through of NO.sub.2, and providing an indication of the remaining useful life and/or break-through.

The invention relates to a non-heated humidification device comprising a wick; a chamber for holding water in contact with the wick; and a gas inlet to the chamber, wherein the chamber and wick are configured to humidify gas passing through or over the wick at ambient conditions. The device may be modular and attachable to a flow generator. The device may comprise dual gas circuits and a control system for controlling the gas flow through the gas circuits in order to control the humidity of the gas output.

Simple-to-use systems, methods, and devices for priming replacement blood treatment devices, for swapping the blood treatment devices out, for replacing swapped-out blood treatment devices, and other related operations are described. In embodiments, a blood treatment device can be primed while a therapy is still running. When the replacement blood treatment device is needed, the therapy can be stopped momentarily (less than a minute) for the rapid and safe swap of the blood treatment device. Blood loss can be minimized. The down time from therapy can be minimized.

A method and apparatus for evaluating a condition of a water purification system (40, 110) comprising a water purification apparatus (110) arranged to output purified water through an outlet (128) and through at least one sterilizing grade filter (70a, 70b) of a line set (40) fluidly connected to the outlet (128), the method comprises: monitoring a flow rate (S1) correlated with the flow rate of the purified water flowing through the at least one sterilizing grade filter (70a, 70b); monitoring a pressure (S2) correlated with the pressure of the purified water flowing to the at least one sterilizing grade filter (70a, 70b); and evaluating (S3) a condition of the water purification system based on a relationship between the monitored flow rate and the monitored pressure.

A humidifier for humidification of air to be delivered to a patient's airways may include a humidification chamber, a reservoir and a water delivery mechanism. The humidification chamber may include a water retention feature such as a wick, a heating element for heating the humidification chamber, and an air flow baffle configured to promote humidification. The humidifier may be further configured to execute one or more algorithms, for example to determine a condition of the humidifier and/or to mitigate any detected faults. In some forms, the humidifier may also comprise algorithms for controlling one or more components of the humidifier.

The disclosure relates to a blood treatment device for use in blood treatment therapies, comprising: an extracorporeal blood circuit, a dialyzer and a dialysis fluid circuit, wherein the extracorporeal blood circuit and the dialysis fluid circuit are separated from each other via a membrane provided in the dialyzer, via which blood can be filtered; at least one substitution solution pump, which is configured to supply a substitution solution to the extracorporeal blood circuit before and/or after the dialyzer; an effluent pressure sensor, which is configured to measure a pressure in the dialysis fluid circuit after the dialyzer, and a control unit, which is configured to automatically reduce a flow rate of the at least one substitution solution pump when an effluent pressure measured by the effluent pressure sensor drops during an ongoing blood treatment therapy.

An object of the present invention is to provide a breathing apparatus, wherein current for keeping internal pressure of the face piece at a predetermined positive target value at the time of inhale is not applied to the motor fan in a large amount at the start of current application to the motor fan, and the internal pressure of the face piece is prevented from becoming far below the predetermined positive target value immediately after start of current application to the motor fan so as to keep the internal pressure of the face piece at the predetermined positive target value at the time of inhale. A breathing apparatus provided with a breath-synchronized motor fan comprising a face piece for covering a part of or all of a face of a user, an inhale valve and an exhale valve attached to the face piece, a motor fan for supplying internal space of the face piece with external air through the inhale valve, a filter for cleaning the external air to be sucked into the motor fan, a breath monitoring apparatus provided with a membrane member deforming in accordance with fluctuation of internal pressure of the face piece and a sensor for detecting the deformation of the membrane member, and a controller for controlling operation of the motor fan synchronously with breathing of the user in accordance with a detection signal from the breath monitoring apparatus, wherein the controller applies current to the motor fan at the time of inhalation so as to keep the internal pressure of the face piece at a predetermined positive target value, and stops current application to the motor fan so as to stop the motor fan at the time of exhalation, and wherein the controller applies micro-current to the motor fan so as to rotate the motor fan at extremely low speed from the middle of exhalation to inhalation.