A hand dryer with a housing in which a cavity accessible from outside through a housing opening is formed for accommodating hands to be dried by means of an airflow, and with a device for generating the airflow, as well as a device for generating UV radiation comprising at least one lamp that emits light in the ultraviolet wavelength range, which is arranged in the housing in such a manner that it emits UV radiation into the cavity. The device for generating UV radiation is designed in such a manner that the UV radiation emitted into the cavity with a wavelength in the range from 228 to 380 nm has a maximum intensity of 20% of the intensity of the UV radiation emitted into the cavity with a wavelength in the range from 200 to 380 nm.

A fluid processing system including an integrated blood component collection and pathogen inactivation fluid circuit is disclosed.

A method of lamellar corneal graft implantation is disclosed herein. The method includes the steps of: (i) forming one or more intrastromal incisions in a cornea of an eye of a patient; (ii) removing a cut portion of the cornea defined by the one or more intrastromal incisions from the eye of the patient; (iii) applying laser energy to a lamellar corneal graft using an excimer laser so as to modify the refractive power of the lamellar corneal graft, the lamellar corneal graft being in the form of a autologous corneal graft or a homologous corneal graft; and (iv) implanting the lamellar corneal graft into the eye of the patient in a location previously occupied by the cut portion of the cornea so as to correct the refractive power of the eye of the patient.

Described herein are methods for disinfecting surfaces using a photon-emitting inorganic phosphor-doped substrate material. Methods for preparing the photon-emitting inorganic phosphor-doped substrate materials are additionally described.

In one illustrative example, a method for use in sterilization involves carrying a liquid or a flow of liquid comprising water; converting the liquid or the flow thereof into mist or steam; adding riboflavin in soluble form as a photosensitizer to the liquid or the flow thereof, converting the liquid or the flow thereof into mist or steam that carries the riboflavin; discharging the mist or the steam that carries the riboflavin into a chamber, a container, or a room; and emitting, on the mist or the steam that carries the riboflavin, a riboflavin-activating light sufficient to activate the riboflavin to enhance a cross-linking of genetic material including the amino acids of proteins of cells or pathogens or extracellular genetic material in the chamber, the container, or the room. Additional processing steps may be employed for disrupting barriers, for increased access of the riboflavin and light to the genetic material.

A method and a system for producing a change in a medium disposed in an artificial container. The method places in a vicinity of the medium at least one of a plasmonics agent and an energy modulation agent. The method applies an initiation energy through the artificial container to the medium. The initiation energy interacts with the plasmonics agent or the energy modulation agent to directly or indirectly produce the change in the medium. The system includes an initiation energy source configured to apply an initiation energy to the medium to activate the plasmonics agent or the energy modulation agent.

Disinfecting particulate material includes combining the particulate material with a photocatalyst to yield a mixture, irradiating the mixture for a length of time with pulses from a light source having broadband emission spectrum between 190 nm-1100 nm to yield an irradiated mixture, and separating the photocatalyst from the disinfected mixture to yield the disinfected particulate matter. Irradiating the mixture inactivates microorganisms in the mixture to yield a disinfected mixture. A system for disinfecting particulate material includes a pulsed light source having a broadband emission spectrum in a range between about 190 nm and about 1100 nm, a chamber defining a cavity optically coupled to the pulsed light source, a humidifier, a fan, and one or more sensors. The chamber includes a conveyor configured to accept the particulate material and arranged such that the pulses emitted by the pulsed light source irradiate the particulate material on the conveyor.

Disclosed herein is a photochemical preparation method of an autologous plasma inactivated vaccine for the treatment of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), including the following steps: drawing autologous blood from an AIDS patient to form blood to be treated; separating the blood to obtain plasma to be treated; adding a photosensitizer into the plasma to be treated to form plasma to be inactivated; and subjecting the plasma to be inactivated to photochemical inactivation to obtain the autologous plasma inactivated vaccine.

The present invention is directed to a system and method for photoeradication of microorganisms from a target. The method includes the step of obtaining test data for a plurality of experiments each of which comprises irradiating test microorganisms with a plurality of light pulses having a wavelength that ranges from 380 nm to 500 nm. The light pulses have a plurality of pulse parameters (peak irradiance, pulse duration, and off time between adjacent light pulses) and are provided at a radiant exposure that ranges from 0.5 J/cm.sup.2 to 60 J/cm.sup.2 during each of a plurality of irradiation sessions. The test data comprises a survival rate for the test microorganisms after irradiation with the light pulses. The method also includes the step of analyzing the test data to identify the pulse parameters for the light pulses and the radiant exposure for each of the irradiation sessions that result in a desired survival rate for the test microorganisms. The method further includes the step of irradiating the microorganisms of the target with light pulses having the identified pulse parameters at the identified radiant exposure for each of the irradiation sessions so as to photoeradicate all or a portion of the microorganisms.

Methods and systems for treating a biological fluid with light are disclosed. The methods and systems include determining the light dose being delivered to a biological fluid and adjusting the duration of a treatment or the intensity of light emitted in the event of a detected light source outage.