Self-healing concrete with bacteria encapsulated in expanded clay

Preparation process and the life service solicitations can cause damage on concrete’s internal structure, creating cracks that tend to propagate and increase with time. This poses a potential risk of failure as water penetrates, corroding the rebar what considerably reduces concrete’s life span. It is know that cement can exhibit up to a certain extent a natural ability to self-heal, a consequence of the long-term hydration phenomenon. Hence, some initial cracks can be spontaneously closed if the right conditions are met (humidity). This, however, will not be enough to repair most of the major cracks that are formed internally over a long period of use, so strategies need to be developed to achieve an efficient level of self-healing. Search for a more sustainable and durable concrete, less prone to cracking, lead to a new concept – self-healing. This concept, inspired by the natural ability of plants and human skin to spontaneously heal, inspired researchers to search for a method of conferring concrete with the ability to repair internal damage. The biological approach presents itself as a suitable alternative to achieve healing in concrete. In this work, bacteria were immobilized in expanded clay before being added to concrete. In order to incorporate the expanded clay, some of the aggregate was replaced within the concrete. This works presents the results obtained for the final mechanical strength and self-healing efficiency of concrete containing encapsulated bacteria

Cough frequency monitors : can they discriminate patient from environmental coughs?

BACKGROUND: Objective cough frequency measurements are increasingly applied in clinical research. Technological advances enable automated detection and counting of cough events from sound recordings of many hours’ duration. A possible limitation of sound-based cough frequency measurement is the contamination of recordings by environmental coughs (coughs from persons other than the patient). This study aimed to investigate the accuracy of a sound-based cough monitor for detecting and discriminating patient cough from environmental cough. METHODS: As part of a stroke trial (ISRCTN40298220), patients on a hospital ward underwent 15-minute recordings using the Leicester Cough Monitor (LCM), a sound-based cough monitor (‘semi-automated counts’). Participants and other persons in the environment were prompted to cough. An observer present in the room recorded the number of patient and environmental coughs (‘live counts’). LCM counts were also compared against a manual cough count, the most commonly used gold standard to determine accuracy (‘manual sound counts’ from listening to recordings), by a blinded assessor who cross-referenced timed cough events from the respective methods. Data for automated, manual and live cough counts were analyzed using agreement statistics. RESULTS: On sound recordings from five patients, there were 65 patient coughs and 78 environmental coughs (manual counts). Absolute agreement for patient cough count between all three measurement methods (LCM automated, live, and manual sound counts) was high, with intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.94 [95% confidence intervals (CI): 0.74, 0.99]. The proportion of exact agreements for patient cough between LCM and manual count was 0.92, and kappa was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.75, 0.93). The LCM showed sensitivity of 0.94 (95% CI: 0.84, 0.98), specificity of 0.91 (95% CI: 0.82, 0.96), positive predictive value of 0.90 (95% CI: 0.79, 0.95) and negative predictive value of 0.95 (95% CI: 0.86, 0.98) for detecting patient coughs. CONCLUSIONS: This preliminary study supports the validity of the cough monitor for detecting and discriminating patient from environmental cough. Further validation is recommended, to describe the level of accuracy with greater precision

Home based versus centre based cardiac rehabilitation: Cochrane systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To compare the effect of home based and supervised centre based cardiac rehabilitation on mortality and morbidity, health related quality of life, and modifiable cardiac risk factors in patients with coronary heart disease

Bachelor of Nursing Honours Programs in Australia: current trends and key challenges

Background: To prepare nurses for a role in knowledge generation they need to engage in research training. Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) programs are a first step in this training. Developing a better understanding of current programs, their challenges and outcomes will provide an evidence base to inform curriculum development and policy making. Aim: The aim of this study was to explore current Australian Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) programs in terms of their composition, delivery and number of enrolments/graduates. Methods: Bachelor of Nursing Honours Coordinators or Heads of Schools of Nursing and Midwifery at Australian Universities were emailed an invitation to participate in an online survey. Findings: Of the 19 academics who responded to the survey, 15 (78.9%) reported currently offering a Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) program in their institution. A steady decline in mean enrolments was evident over recent years. There were clear differences in course delivery and assessment tasks between courses. Conclusion: This paper highlights the need to further explore Bachelor of Nursing (Honours) programs across Australia to ensure consistency in outcomes and to explore innovations in course delivery and project development. Such changes should incorporate feedback from students, supervisors, curriculum developers and professional stakeholders to ensure that programs address their various needs

Validating the psychiatric nurses methods of coping questionnaire: Arabic version

Background: The aim of the study was to undertake a psychometric analysis of the Psychiatric Nurses Methods of Coping Questionnaire (PNMCQ) - Arabic version when used to measure coping skills in psychiatric nurses in Jordan. Method: A descriptive, cross-sectional design was adopted in this study. A demographic questionnaire and the 35-item PNMCQ -Arabic were the measures used to collect data. Result: The PNMCQ demonstrated valid and reliable values when administered to psychiatric nurses in Jordan after it had been submitted to factor analysis. Conclusion: The development of PNMCQ: Arabic Version adequately measures coping skills in psychiatric nurses from a culturally appropriate context. Use of the tool can determine coping skills in psychiatric nurses with the view to positive staff development. Strategies identified based on results of the PNMCQ could ultimately result in better nurse retention and patient outcomes

Infrared imagery and radiometry Summary report

Thermal properties of infrared transmissio

Mechanisms of improvement of respiratory failure in patients with COPD treated with NIV

Annabel H Nickol1,2, Nicholas Hart1,3, Nicholas S Hopkinson1, Carl-Hugo Hamnegård4, John Moxham5, Anita Simonds1, Michael I Polkey11Respiratory Muscle Laboratory, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK; 2Oxford Centre for Respiratory Medicine, Churchill Hospital, Oxford, UK; 3The Lane Fox Unit, St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UK; 4Department of Pulmonary Medicine and Clinical Physiology, Sahlgrenska University, Gotenborg, Sweden; 5Respiratory Muscle Laboratory, King’s College London School of Medicine, King’s College Hospital, London, UKBackground: Noninvasive ventilation (NIV) improves gas-exchange and symptoms in selected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with hypercapnic respiratory failure. We hypothesized NIV reverses respiratory failure by one or all of increased ventilatory response to carbon-dioxide, reduced respiratory muscle fatigue, or improved pulmonary mechanics.Methods: Nineteen stable COPD patients (forced expiratory volume in one second 35% predicted) were studied at baseline (D0), 5–8 days (D5) and 3 months (3M) after starting NIV.Results: Ventilator use was 6.2 (3.7) hours per night at D5 and 3.4 (1.6) at 3M (p = 0.12). Mean (SD) daytime arterial carbon-dioxide tension (PaCO2) was reduced from 7.4 (1.2) kPa to 7.0 (1.1) kPa at D5 and 6.5 (1.1) kPa at 3M (p = 0.001). Total lung capacity decreased from 107 (28) % predicted to 103 (28) at D5 and 103 (27) % predicted at 3M (p = 0.035). At D5 there was an increase in the hypercapnic ventilatory response and some volitional measures of inspiratory and expiratory muscle strength, but not isolated diaphragmatic strength whether assessed by volitional or nonvolitional methods.Conclusion: These findings suggest decreased gas trapping and increased ventilatory sensitivity to CO2 are the principal mechanism underlying improvements in gas-exchange in patients with COPD following NIV. Changes in some volitional but not nonvolitional muscle strength measures may reflect improved patient effort.Keywords: COPD; hypercapnic respiratory failure; NIV; pulmonary mechanics; ventilatory driv

Comparative study of linear and curvilinear ultrasound probes to assess quadriceps rectus femoris muscle mass in healthy subjects and in patients with chronic respiratory disease.

INTRODUCTION: Ultrasound measurements of rectus femoris cross-sectional area (RFCSA) are clinically useful measurements in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and critically ill patients. Technical considerations as to the type of probe used, which affects image resolution, have limited widespread clinical application. We hypothesised that measurement of RFCSA would be similar with linear and curvilinear probes. METHODS: Four studies were performed to compare the use of the curvilinear probe in measuring RFCSA. Study 1 investigated agreement of RFCSA measurements using linear and curvilinear probes in healthy subjects, and in patients with chronic respiratory disease. Study 2 investigated the intra-rater and inter-rater agreement using the curvilinear probe. Study 3 investigated the agreement of RFCSA measured from whole and spliced images using the linear probe. Study 4 investigated the applicability of ultrasound in measuring RFCSA during the acute and recovery phases of an exacerbation of COPD. RESULTS: Study 1 showed demonstrated no difference in the measurement of RFCSA using the curvilinear and linear probes (308±104 mm(2) vs 320±117 mm(2), p=0.80; intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC)>0.97). Study 2 demonstrated high intra-rater and inter-rater reliability of RFCSA measurement with ICC>0.95 for both. Study 3 showed that the spliced image from the linear probe was similar to the whole image RFCSA (308±103.5 vs 263±147 mm(2), p=0.34; ICC>0.98). Study 4 confirmed the clinical acceptability of using the curvilinear probe during an exacerbation of COPD. There were relationships observed between admission RFCSA and body mass index (r=+0.65, p=0.018), and between RFCSA at admission and physical activity levels at 4 weeks post-hospital discharge (r=+0.75, p=0.006). CONCLUSIONS: These studies have demonstrated that clinicians can employ whole and spliced images from the linear probe or use images from the curvilinear probe, to measure RFCSA. This will extend the clinical applicability of ultrasound in the measurement of muscle mass in all patient groups