Abstract: A needle assembly for passing a needle through an aperture formed in a plate placed between the needle assembly and a body to be pierced by the needle, the needle assembly including a needle having a needle point, and a sleeve associated with the needle, wherein at least a portion of the sleeve has elastic properties in a generally longitudinal direction and is adapted to take up a generally extended state when the assembly is in a non-operative orientation so as to surround a portion of the needle including the needle point, and is further adapted to take up a compressed state when the assembly is in an operative orientation so as to expose a portion of the needle including the needle point, the needle point passing through the aperture in the operative orientation, and wherein the sleeve comprises an aligning device for aligning the needle point with respect to the aperture.

Abstract: Apparatus for piercing skin including a skin contact surface arranged to contact a portion of skin to be pierced, a skin piercing needle arranged to pierced the skin within the region and a cooling assembly providing cooling of the skin contact surface thereby cooling the portion of skin prior to and during piercing thereof by the skin piercing needle.