An apparatus includes a blood-flow-management assembly shaped to define a cylindrical aperture. The blood-flow-management assembly includes a blood collector having drainage holes configured to direct blood to a guide surface positioned below the blood collector. The guide surface may further include ribs that manage blood flow along the guide surface.

A dry powder inhaler for delivering medicament from at least one medicament carrier having a plurality of spaced-apart medicament doses. The inhaler includes a housing having regions for accommodating unused and used portions of the medicament carrier, a mouthpiece component extending from the housing and through which a user is able to inhale, a dispensing mechanism arranged in the housing for moving a medicament dose of the medicament carrier to the dispensing position, and a mouthpiece cover being rotatably connected to the housing for sequential movement about a rotation axis from a first position in which the mouthpiece component is completely covered to a second position in which the mouthpiece component is completely covered, and from the second position to a third position in which the mouthpiece component is completely uncovered, the second position being between the first and third positions.

An aerosol generating device defines a flow path from an air inlet to an inhalable medium outlet. The device includes a container for containing a liquid; a wick for drawing liquid from the container into the flow path, and a heating element, upstream of the wick, for heating inlet air from the air inlet to generate a flow of heated air in the flow path in use. The device is arranged such that, in use, the flow of heated air generated in use passes over the wick to volatilize the liquid to generate, in use, a flow of aerosol in the flow path. The device includes a receiving portion in the flow path, downstream of the wick, for receiving an element for modifying a property of the flow of aerosol. A device including a shield element to shield the wick from a heating element is also disclosed.

Described herein are an interactive apparatus and methods for sensing and measuring real-time characteristic patterns of a subject's use of a dry powder inhalation system. The inhaler device can be used in a wireless communication mode to communicate with a display to assess the subject's usage of the inhalation system concurrently as the inhalation is performed and thus the subject's inhalation can be evaluated as well as the performance of the inhalation system. The system can also detect the identity of the medicament, its dosage, lot, expiration, etc. and the characteristics profile of a dry powder formulation emitted from the inhalation system in use.

A foam inhalation device (874) for dispensing a foam to be inhaled by a user. The inhalation device (874) comprises a foam-generating component for generating the foam, an outlet (882) for dispensing the foam to the user, and a fluid flow path which fluidly communicates the foam-generating component with the outlet (882). The foam is generatable by the foam-generating component and flows to the outlet (882) via the fluid flow path to be inhaled by the user.

The present disclosure describes a novel therapeutic apheresis system and, more specifically, methods and an apparatus for performing therapeutic apheresis. The present disclosure provides highly efficient methods for therapeutic apheresis that modulate the immune system, thereby resulting in treatment of one or more underlying immunological disease processes. In some embodiments, the disclosed methods return at least a portion of blood from an extracorporeal circuit to a patient in pulsatile flow, where the portion of blood that is returned is augmented. In other embodiments, the disclosed methods and apparatus use the central arterial system to exchange volumes of plasma to immunomodulate disease processes. The disclosed methods combine concepts of intermittent flow and continuous flow therapeutic apheresis with established cardiovascular concepts. In addition, the disclosed methods reduce the amount of time spent by patients in therapeutic apheresis sessions and decrease patients' dependence on immunological drugs that may have detrimental adverse effects.

This disclosure relates to a method and system for fast freezing of a biological product (such as blood plasma) contained in an individual bag or a plurality of bags. This disclosure relates to a method and system for freezing plasma in an individual bag or a plurality of bags, favoring bottom-up ice-growth, by implementing a differential air flow on top and bottom surfaces of a horizontally placed bag or bags filled with plasma. This disclosure relates to a method and a differential air flow system for freezing plasma, wherein the heat transfer coefficient on a bottom of a bag is at least 10 times larger than at a top. This disclosure relates to a differential air flow system and method for freezing plasma, wherein the differential air flow on top and bottom surfaces of a plasma bag is imposed by at least one fan or blower.

A patient interface, including a mask assembly and a headgear assembly, provides improved facial sealing and improved ease of use. The mask assembly includes an inflating or ballooning seal. The seal can be secured between two portions of a snap-fit exoskeleton. The headgear assembly connects to the mask assembly with flexible straps during course fitting and with more rigid straps following course fitting. The straps include holes that fit over a tapering post on the mask assembly.

An aerosol medicament delivery adapter comprises a first conduit, second conduit and a diverter element. The first conduit encloses a flow path chamber and extends between an upstream first end and a downstream second end. The second conduit comprises an aerosol medicament delivery conduit that includes an upstream first end adapted to be fluidly coupled to a particle generator, and a downstream second end luidly coupled to the first conduit at a Y-junction proximate the upstream first end of the first conduit. The diverter element comprises a flow diverter chamber disposed within the first conduit or the second conduit. The cylindrical flow diverter chamber includes a transitional flow cross-section and a principal axis, extending between a first end and a second end thereof. The diverter element creates flow eddies for enhancing an entrainment of aerosol particles, delivered via the second conduit, within a pressurized gas flow along the flow path within the first conduit.

Methods and systems are disclosed for creating and using a neural network model to estimate a cardiac parameter of a patient, and using the estimated parameter in providing blood pump support to improve patient cardiac performance and heart health. Particular adaptations include adjusting blood pump parameters and determining whether and how to increase or decrease support, or wean the patient from the blood pump altogether. The model is created based on neural network processing of data from a first patient set and includes measured hemodynamic and pump parameters compared to a cardiac parameter measured in situ, for example the left ventricular volume measured by millar (in animals) or inca (in human) catheter. After development of a model based on the first set of patients, the model is applied to a patient in a second set to estimate the cardiac parameter without use of an additional catheter or direct measurement.