Disclosed is a porous hollow fiber membrane containing a polysulfone-based polymer as a main component, which has an asymmetric structure in which the inner surface side is dense and the outer surface side is coarse, wherein an average of a minor axis diameter of pores of an inner surface is 20 nm or more and 40 nm or less, an open porosity of the inner surface is 10% or more and 30% or less, and a polymer including a monocarboxylic acid vinyl ester unit is supported on at least one of the outer surface and the inner surface. The present invention provides a hollow fiber membrane which has excellent removing performance of substances to be separated such as viruses, and can be used as a separation membrane having high permeability even in a treatment under low pressure.

A hollow fiber membrane module (100) of the present invention includes: a plurality of hollow fiber membranes (10); a binding portion (20) binding the plurality of hollow fiber membranes (10) at one end portions thereof; and a cap (30) having an internal space (30s) that communicates with each of the plurality of hollow fiber membranes (10), the cap (30) being integrated with the binding portion (20); and a housing (40) that houses the plurality of hollow fiber membranes (10) and the binding portion (20), and that has one end portion to which the cap (30) is attached. A unit (70) including the plurality of hollow fiber membranes (10), the binding portion (20), and the cap (30) is detached from the housing (40) and the unit (70) is attached to the housing (40) while integration of the binding portion (20) and the cap (30) is maintained.

The invention relates to a blood treatment device configured to dephosphorylate extracellular adenosine triphosphate (ATP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP), adenosine monophosphate (AMP) and/or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the blood of a patient in need thereof in an extracorporeal blood circuit, wherein the device comprises a matrix having alkaline phosphatase (AP) immobilized thereon. The invention further relates to an extracorporeal blood circuit comprising a blood treatment device of the invention and to the blood treatment device for use as a medicament or to methods of treating an infection, preferably a blood or systemic infection, such as sepsis, and/or for the treatment of sepsis-associated acute kidney injury (AKI).

A cartridge of a fuel cell humidifier includes an inner case to be inserted into a middle case of the fuel cell humidifier for humidifying dry gas supplied from the outside using wet gas discharged from a fuel cell stack; a plurality of hollow-fiber membranes accommodated inside the inner case; a first potting part which is coupled to the inner case and which fixes one side of each of the hollow-fiber membranes; a second potting part which is coupled to the inner case and which fixes the other sides of the hollow-fiber membranes; and a link member for connecting the inner case to the middle case so that the middle case and the inner case are linked so as to move according to the pressure of the wet gas positioned inside the middle case.

Systems, devices, and methods are provided for removing carbon dioxide from a target fluid, such as, for example, blood, to treat hypercarbic respiratory failure or another condition. A device is provided including first and second membrane components for removing dissolved gaseous carbon dioxide and bicarbonate from the fluid, which can be done simultaneously. The device can be in the form of a cartridge configured for use in a dialysis system. A method of treatment is also provided, involving drawing blood from a patient and bringing the patient's blood in contact with a first membrane component having a sweep gas passing therethrough, and a second membrane component having a dialysate passing therethrough. The dialysate's composition can be selected such that charge neutrality is maintained.

A membrane filter element includes at least two cylindrical-shaped, fiber bundles, one of the fiber bundles containing first fibers fabricated to provide a selected first gas selectivity, a selected first gas permeability, or a selected first gas selectivity and permeability performance and arranged so a first gas permeate exits the membrane element; another of the fiber bundles containing second fibers fabricated to provide a selected second, different gas selectivity, a selected second different gas permeability, or a selected second gas selectivity and permeability performance and arranged so a second different gas permeate exits the membrane element. The different performance characteristics can reduce the number of membrane elements required for gas separation and to improve gas separation performance due to changing gas composition as the gas travels through the membrane element.

A hollow fiber membrane module including at least two types of hollow fiber membranes having different inner diameters, comprising first hollow fiber membranes and second hollow fiber membranes, and the equation |P.sub.AP.sub.0||P.sub.BP.sub.0| where P.sub.0 is an initial pressure applied to upper open ends of the first and second hollow fiber membranes, and P.sub.A and P.sub.B are respective pressures at lower open ends of the first and second hollow fiber membranes.

Described are methods and systems useful in the processing of food samples to detect pathogenic cells in the samples. Embodiments include homogenizing a food sample, digesting solids of the homogenized food sample, and removing lipids from the homogenized food sample. Cells in the sample can then be concentrated using hollow fiber membrane filtration. Regeneration cycles can enable multiple reuses of the hollow fiber membrane filter. Systems and processes herein can be automated, under the control of a computer.

A bioartificial liver system is described that incorporates a cell reservoir and hepatocyte spheroids to both increase the number of and longevity of cells in the system. Additional methods are also described for forming spheroid aggregates from isolated hepatocytes.

The present invention includes an apparatus and method for removing oil from a oil-containing liquid comprising oil and gas comprising: a source of oil-containing liquid; and a membrane contactor system in fluid communication with the source of oil-containing liquid, the membrane contactor system comprising one or more membrane contactors having a first and a second surface, wherein the first surface coalesces oil and removes gas from the oil-containing liquid, and the oil and gas are collected on the second surface from the oil-containing liquid.