A therapeutic endotracheal tube assembly is provided for insertion into a patient's trachea to ventilate, to maintain patency of the patient's airway, and to deliver therapeutic electromagnetic radiation (EMR) to the patient. The therapeutic endotracheal tube assembly has an endotracheal tube and an EMR delivery system. The EMR delivery system has an EMR source for emitting non-ultraviolet, therapeutic EMR having intensity sufficient to activate desired therapeutic properties within the patient and an EMR conduction line conducive to the propagation of EMR from the EMR source along the endotracheal tube. The EMR conduction line is removably insertable into the endotracheal tube. The therapeutic endotracheal tube assembly may be custom made or may be constructed by retrofitting a removably insertable EMR delivery system to an existing endotracheal tube.

The disclosure pertains to a vessel for holding replacement heart valves and associated positioning and installation apparatus which is configured and adapted to contain a biocidal sterilization fluid during and following exposure of a delivery system for the replacement heart valve to sterilization by ionizing radiation and methods of use therefor. The vessel includes a shield which limits exposure of biologically derived material therein to radiation. The vessel also provides a storage and shipping container for the replacement heart valve in which the biologically derived material is maintained in a sterile fluid environment.

The present invention relates to a method for sampling an egg, the method comprising;

a) fluid coupling an interior of the egg to a source of pressure,
b) controlling the pressure in the interior of the egg by the source of pressure,
c) expelling an amount of fluid, in particular allantoic fluid, from the interior of the egg to the exterior of the egg as a result of the pressure in the interior of the egg, and
d) collecting at least a portion of the amount of fluid at the exterior surface of the egg.

Methods and systems for treating a biological fluid with light are disclosed. The methods and systems provide for determining a target light dose for the biological fluid; loading a treatment container holding the biological fluid into an irradiation chamber of an irradiation device comprising: with the treatment container being supported in the irradiation device in between a first array of light sources and first light energy sensors and a second light energy sensor. The first array of light sources is activated, and a first light intensity is measured with the first light energy sensors. A second light intensity is measured with the second light energy sensor, and the first light intensity is compared to the second light intensity to determine an attenuation factor. The attenuation factor is applied to the first light intensity to determine a time to achieve the target light dose, with the first array of multiple light sources being deactivated after the time to achieve the target light dose has elapsed.

A portion of a treatment device for treating bacteria may be coupled with the bacteria through direct or indirect contact. Mechanical stress energy and electromagnetic energy are generated with the treatment device, and are transmitted from the treatment device to the bacteria during the coupling. The bacteria are treated with both the mechanical stress energy and the electromagnetic energy to produce a killing effect on the bacteria. A treatment device may include a mechanical stress energy emitting portion, an electromagnetic energy emitting portion, and a contacting portion for coupling into direct or indirect contact with the bacteria and transmitting mechanical stress energy to the bacteria during the coupling. The mechanical stress energy emitting portion and the electromagnetic energy emitting portion are operable to treat the bacteria with a combination of mechanical stress energy and electromagnetic energy to produce a killing effect on the bacteria.

A method, system, and apparatus for sterilization, decontamination, and antimicrobial therapeutic treatment, which may include a dispensing device to cover a person, plant, animal, surface, enclosure, room or other structure or area with an antimicrobial solution. Radiation sources may expose the antimicrobial agent to a certain wavelength of radiation. The combination of the solution and the radiation may create a synergistic reaction that causes an effect greater than the radiation or solution separately. The same reaction creates a residual antimicrobial effect. A container, area or passageway including an dispensing device a solution so that a person, plant, animal or object is covered or saturated with an antimicrobial solution. Exposure to a certain wavelength of radiation creates a residual, synergistic reaction resulting in a supercharged antimicrobial agent that exhibits retained antimicrobial effects that exist longer than previously discovered due to the antimicrobial agent being exposed to the radiation together.

Sterilisation apparatus comprising a sterilisation instrument configured inserted through the instrument channel of a surgical scoping device and a withdrawal device for withdrawing the sterilisation instrument from the instrument channel predetermined rate. The sterilisation instrument comprises an elongate probe having probe tip with a first electrode and a second electrode arranged to produce an electric field from received RF and/or microwave frequency EM energy. In operation the instrument may disinfect an inner surface of the instrument channel by emitting energy whilst being withdrawn through the channel.

An implantable article comprising a dissolvable sponge derived from the mixture of chitosan, a first polysaccharide and a second polysaccharides. The polysaccharides have different number average molecular weight characteristics to enable the control of the mechanical features of the sponge.

Disclosed herein are cohesive soft tissue fillers, for example, dermal and subdermal fillers, based on hyaluronic acids and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof. In one aspect, hyaluronic acid-based compositions described herein include a therapeutically effective amount of at least one anesthetic agent, for example, lidocaine. The present hyaluronic acid-based compositions including lidocaine have an enhanced stability and cohesivity, relative to conventional compositions including lidocaine, for example when subjected to sterilization techniques or when stored for long periods of time. Methods and processes of preparing such hyaluronic acid-based compositions are also provided.

The application relates to a cleaning system configured for cleaning of cavities filled with a liquid, including fragmentation, debridement, material removal, irrigation, disinfection, and decontamination. The cleaning system includes an electromagnetic radiation system and a liquid. A treatment handpiece irradiates the liquid within a cavity with a radiation beam, producing a first vapor bubble using first pulse, and, at a different location, a second vapor bubble using a second pulse. The pulse repetition time is adjusted to ensure efficacy, for example such that an onset time of the second vapor bubble is within the first contraction phase of the first vapor bubble, when the first vapor bubble has contracted from its maximal volume to a size in a range from about 0.7 to about 0.1 of the maximal volume.