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Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is now the fourth leading cause of death in the world, and it continues to increase in developing countries. The World Health Organization expects COPD to be the third most common cause of death in the world by 2020. Effective and continuous postdischarge care can help patients to maintain good health. The use of electronic health records (EHRs) as an element of community health care is new technology in China.Objective: The aim of this study was to develop and evaluate a Web-based coaching program using EHRs for physical function and health-related quality of life for patients with COPD in China.Methods: A randomized controlled trial was conducted from 2008 to 2015 at two hospitals. The control group received routine care and the intervention group received routine care with the addition of the Web-based coaching program using EHRs. These were used to manage patients' demographic and clinical variables, publish relevant information, and have communication between patients and health care providers. Participants were not blinded to group assignment. The effects of the intervention were evaluated by lung function, including percent of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1%), percent of forced vital capacity (FVC%), peak expiratory flow (PEF), maximum midexpiratory flow; St George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ); Modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea Scale (MMRC); and 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT). Data were collected before the program, and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after the program.Results: Of the 130 participants, 120 (92.3%) completed the 12-month follow-up program. There were statistically significant differences in lung function (FEV1%: F1,4=5.47, P=.002; FVC%: F1,4=3.06, P=.02; PEF: F1,4=12.49, P<.001), the total score of SGRQ (F1,4=23.30, P<.001), symptoms of SGRQ (F1,4=12.38, P<.001), the activity of SGRQ (F1,4=8.35, P<.001), the impact of SGRQ (F1,4=12.26, P<.001), MMRC (F1,4=47.94, P<.001), and 6MWT (F1,4=35.54, P<.001) between the two groups with the variation of time tendency.Conclusions: The Web-based coaching program using EHRs in China appears to be useful for patients with COPD when they are discharged from hospital into the community. It promotes the sharing of patients' medical information by hospital and community nurses, and achieves dynamic management and follow-up analysis for patients' disease. In addition, this program can postpone the decreasing rate of lung function, improve quality of life, decrease dyspnea, and increase physical capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dewatering of large amount of industry sludge is one of the significant environmental problems in the pulp and paper industry. Calcium carbonate fillers are an important component in primary sludge from paper mills. In this paper, the role of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) on the dewaterability of simulated mixed paper mill sludge (the mixture of PCC and secondary sludge) without and with FeCl 3 conditioning was studied. The results showed that when the PCC content increased from 0 to 600 mg/g dry sludge (DS) without FeCl 3 conditioning, the moisture content (MC) and the specific resistance to filtration (SRF) decreased from 89.4% and 3.1 × 1013 m/kg to 66.7% and 2.4 × 1012 m/kg, respectively. However, when the PCC content was high enough (> 444 mg/g DS), the effective moisture content (MC*) changed little and the net sludge solid yield (Y N) decreased, indicating that the non-conditioning effect of PCC dominated at high PCC content. Furthermore, increasing PCC content reduced the compressibility coefficient, although the change was insignificant from 1.06 to 0.91. When FeCl 3 was used as the chemical conditioner, FeCl 3 and PCC had additive effects on improving the sludge dewaterability (such as MC, SRF and compressibility). The improving mechanism of PCC on the sludge dewaterability can be explained by the release of Ca2+ from PCC caused by lower pH, the bridging effect of multivalent cation and the formation of more rigid sludge flocs. [Display omitted] ● PCC existed in sludge improve its filterability and compressibility. ● PCC component hardly affected the effective moisture content at high PCC content. ● PCC can improve the sludge dewaterability with the synergistic assistance of FeCl 3. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black liquor lignin and Fenton sludge were used to prepare magnetic activated carbons (MACs) by one-step pyrolysis using KOH as an effective activator. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis showed that the addition of Fenton sludge increased the mesopore volume of MACs compared with the control AC, and the addition of KOH not only improved the porosity but also enhanced the formation of high ferromagnetic particles (α-Fe). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis revealed that the iron-based materials in the MACs were Fe 3 O 4 and α-Fe nanoparticles, indicating good magnetic properties. The textural properties and the magnetic properties of the MACs can be modified by controlling the Fenton sludge/lignin ratio. The adsorption process of MAC 0.5–2 (m Fenton sludge : m lignin : m KOH =0.5:1:2) and MAC 1–2 (m Fenton sludge : m lignin : m KOH =1:1:2) were investigated. The two MACs exhibited good adsorption capacity (q MAC 0.5 − 2 = 307.2 mg g−1 and q MAC 1 − 2 = 184.1 mg g−1) for methylene blue (MB) dye. The adsorption kinetics of MB dye onto two MACs followed the pseudo-second order model and the equilibrium data was fitted best with the Sips isotherm model. The thermodynamic study revealed that the adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous in nature. The recovery efficiency of MAC 0.5–2 and MAC 1–2 remained 84.0% and 92.1% respectively after five-cycle adsorption-desorption. The synthesized MACs with high magnetic separation efficiency, good recovery ability, and high adsorption efficiency can be promising and effective adsorbents for MB dye or other dyes. [Display omitted] • MACs were synthesized by one-step pyrolysis of two industrial wastes. • Fe 3 O 4 and α-Fe nanoparticles formed in MACs, providing excellent separability. • Two optimized MACs showed high adsorption capacity and good reusability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]