A bioreactor is provided which contains cells capable of producing cytokine inhibitors in response to cytokines, in a manner regulated by the local or systemic milieu of an individual patient and predicted by mechanistic computational simulations. The bioreactor transfers the cytokine inhibitors to a patient in need of control of the inflammation process as part of a disease or condition in the patient, such as sepsis, trauma, traumatic brain injury, or wound healing. Related methods also are provided.

Provided is a water collection header (5) for collecting and extracting filtrate from a plurality of membrane modules (4), comprising: a plurality of cylinder portions (6) each including a cylinder body (61) formed in a cylindrical shape in which at least one end portion is opened and formed such that the end portions are sequentially connected to each other in a water-tight state, wherein at least one cylinder portion (6) of the plurality of cylinder portions (6) includes a connection portion (62) connected to the membrane module (4) so that the filtrate flows from the membrane module (4), and wherein at least one cylinder portion (6) of the plurality of cylinder portions (6) includes a water intake portion (63) capable of discharging the filtrate inside the cylinder body (61) to the outside, which is easily assembled.

Provided is a water collection header (5) for collecting and extracting filtrate from a plurality of membrane modules (4), comprising: a plurality of cylinder portions (6) each including a cylinder body (61) formed in a cylindrical shape in which at least one end portion is opened and formed such that the end portions are sequentially connected to each other in a water-tight state, wherein at least one cylinder portion (6) of the plurality of cylinder portions (6) includes a connection portion (62) connected to the membrane module (4) so that the filtrate flows from the membrane module (4), and wherein at least one cylinder portion (6) of the plurality of cylinder portions (6) includes a water intake portion (63) capable of discharging the filtrate inside the cylinder body (61) to the outside, which is easily assembled.

A membrane separation type activated sludge treatment method according to an aspect of the present invention includes a step of performing biological treatment on waste water and a step of performing membrane separation on water having been treated in the biological treatment step. The membrane separation step employs a plurality of filtration modules including a plurality of hollow fiber membranes arranged adjacent to one another and oriented in one direction and a pair of holding members fixing both ends of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes, and a plurality of cleaning modules supplying air bubbles from beneath the filtration modules. An amount of treated water sucked by the filtration modules and an amount of air bubbles supplied by the cleaning modules are varied in response to variations in an inflow rate of the waste water in the biological treatment step.

An extracorporeal blood treatment system including a gas exchange module operatively associated with a gas supply unit and optional pump for removing CO.sub.2 from blood. The gas exchange module includes a plurality of short conduits that are uniquely configured and arranged in a gas exchange mat to for efficient CO.sub.2 diffusion under conditions of low blood flow.

The present disclosure provides systems, devices, and methods for reducing membrane fouling, scaling, and concentration polarization in order to reduce system energy consumption, reduce operational system maintenance and plant downtime, reduce environmental impact and waste, and/or increase membrane flux and/or recovery.

A module for use in a membrane biofilm reactor is described, and systems comprising such modules are described. The module comprises a fabric formed from a sheet of hollow-fiber membranes and a spacer material situated between adjacent membrane sheets, which are wound around a central core tube in the module.

A humidifier block and a method for producing a humidifier block are disclosed. The humidifier block may include a plurality of membranes each having a cavity for passing a through-flow and a jacket surrounding the cavity in a circumferential direction. The jacket may be moisture-permeable. At least one strip-shaped carrier may be fitted with the plurality of membranes, and the plurality of membranes may arranged in a longitudinal direction parallel to one another and adjacent to one another on the at least one carrier. The at least one carrier fitted with the plurality of membranes may be shaped into the humidifier block such that the plurality of membranes are arranged adjacent to one another in a transverse direction running transversely to the longitudinal direction and adjacent in a height direction running transversely to the longitudinal direction and transversely to the transverse direction.

A hollow fiber membrane sheet-like object in which a plurality of hollow fiber membranes is aligned in parallel with each other and fixed to each other while both end faces of each of the hollow fiber membranes in a longitudinal direction are open, wherein at least one belt-like binding portion made of an elastic body having an elongation percentage (E) stipulated by JIS K6251 of 100% or more and extending in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is formed at each of both end portions of the hollow fiber membrane sheet-like object, and the plurality of hollow fiber membranes is fixed to each other.

Disclosed is a filtering apparatus which comprises a plurality of hollow fiber membrane modules installed in a frame structure with high packing density so that the recovery rate of the filtering apparatus can be increased, and performs the aeration cleaning of the hollow fiber membrane modules in efficient way. The filtering apparatus of the invention comprises a frame structure including first and second internal spaces, a first hollow fiber membrane module installed in the first internal space, and a second hollow fiber membrane module installed in the second internal space.