A pilot study of nurse-led, home monitoring for patients with chronic respiratory failure and with mechanical ventilation assistance.

We assessed the feasibility of telemedicine for home monitoring of 45 patients with chronic respiratory failure (CRF) discharged from hospital. The patients transmitted pulsed arterial saturation (pSat) data via a telephone modem to a receiving station where a nurse was available for a teleconsultation. A respiratory physician was also available. Scheduled and ad hoc appointments were conducted. Thirty-five patients were on home mechanical ventilation, 13 with invasive and 22 with non-invasive devices. The main diagnosis was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The follow-up period was 176 days (SD 69). In all, 376 calls for scheduled consultations were received and 83 ad hoc consultations were requested by the patients. The actions taken were: 55 therapy modifications, 19 hospitalizations in a respiratory department for decompensated CRF, three hospitalizations in an intensive care unit (ICU), 22 requests for further investigations, 25 contacts with the general practitioner (GP), 66 demands for respiratory consultations and 10 calls for the emergency department. The mean time recorded for the 459 calls was 16 min/patient/week. In 82% of calls, a pSat recording was received successfully. The nurse time required to train the users in the operation of the pSat instrument was high (mean time 30 min). However, the results showed that home monitoring was feasible, and useful for titration of oxygen, mechanical ventilation setting and stabilization of relapse

Novel correlations between spectroscopic and morphological properties of activated carbons from waste coffee grounds

Massive quantities of spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are generated by users around the world. Different processes have been proposed for SCG valorization, including pyrolytic processes to achieve carbonaceous materials. Here, we report the preparation of activated carbons through pyrolytic processes carried out under different experimental conditions and in the presence of various porosity activators. Textural and chemical characterization of the obtained carbons have been achieved through Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), ESEM,13C solid state NMR, XPS, XRD, thermogravimetric and spectroscopic determinations. The aim of the paper is to relate these data to the preparation method, evaluating the correlation between the spectroscopic data and the physical and textural properties, also in comparison with the corresponding data obtained for three commercial activated carbons used in industrial adsorption processes. Some correlations have been observed between the Raman and XPS data

Molybdenum oxide on Fe2O3 Core-Shell catalysts: Probing the nature of the structural motifs responsible for methanol oxidation catalysis

A series of MoOx-modified Fe2O3 catalysts have been prepared in an attempt to make core–shell oxidic materials of the type MoOx/Fe2O3. It is conclusively shown that for three monolayers of Mo dosed, the Mo stays in the surface region, even after annealing to high temperature. It is only when the material is annealed above 400 °C that it reacts with the iron oxide. We show by a combination of methods, and especially by XAFS, that at temperatures above 400 °C, most of the Mo converts to Fe2(MoO4)3, with Mo in a tetrahedral structure, whereas below that temperature, nanocrystalline MoO3 is present in the sample; however, the active catalysts have an octahedral MoOx layer at the surface even after calcination to 600 °C. This surface layer appears to be present at all temperatures between 300 and 600 °C, and it is the nanoparticles of MoO3 that are present at the lower temperature that react to form ferric molybdate, which underlies this surface layer. It is the MoOx layer on the Fe2(MoO4)3 underlayer that makes the surface active and selective for formaldehyde synthesis, whereas the iron oxide surface itself is a combustor. The material is both activated and improved in selectivity due to the dominance of the methoxy species on the Mo-doped material, as opposed to the much more stable formate, which is the main intermediate on Fe2O3

Inorganic thin coating deposition to consolidate and protect historical glass surfaces. Part 1: cleaning of the glass substrates. Part 2: synthesis, deposition and characterization of the protective siliceous film.

The study of the interaction between silica glass and saturated Ca(OH)2 solutions can be a useful approach to resolve the problem of the adhesion between lime-sand mortar and clay bricks. Since it is reasonable that the silica\u2013calcium hydroxide system well simulates a brick\u2013mortar system, experimental observations concerning the interaction of silica glass and this strong basic solution should be of value for the comprehension of the chemical reactions that could take place at the mortar\u2013brick interface, maybe affecting the adhesion between the two building materials. We demonstrated the effects of saturated Ca(OH)2 solutions on commercial pure silica glass (fused silica) and on silica films obtained via a sol\u2013gel process by means of dip-coating. Silica samples were dipped in the solutions at different temperatures (room temperature, 60 and 80 \ub0C) and at different time intervals (1 and 21 h) and then they were analysed by means of surface techniques: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). It has been shown that Ca(OH)2 reacts with the silica glass network. The experimental results clearly show a very different behaviour of sol\u2013gel silica with respect to fused silica, probably because of their different nanostructure. Many problems concerning the interaction of silica and Ca(OH)2 are still to be solved, but the results of this research strengthen the idea that adhesion between lime-sand mortar and clay bricks is caused not only by carbonation of calcium hydroxide contained in the mortar, but even by some chemical reactions involving the brick constituents and calcium hydroxide itself. The final products, calcium silicates, may induce a chemical continuity between lime-sand mortar and clay bricks

Silica-zirconia mixed oxide samples from silica-based hybrid materials: influence of preparation procedure and composition on the active sites

In this work, the interaction of amorphous silica\u2013zirconia mixed oxide samples obtained from inorganic\u2013 organic silica-based hybrid materials with pyridine and CO2 was studied to investigate their acid/base character. Several silica\u2013zirconia mixed oxide powders characterized by different [Zr/Si] atomic ratios were prepared and treated at increasing temperatures both in a conventional muffle and with microwave technology. The powder samples were characterized with Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform (DRIFT) and X-ray Photoelectron (XP) spectroscopies. The surface acidic and basic active sites were investigated (with DRIFT spectroscopy) by chemisorbing probe molecules (pyridine, carbon dioxide). The obtained results revealed the presence of both Lewis and Br\uf8nsted acidic sites on the amorphous silica\u2013 zirconia mixed oxide powder surfaces. Several acidic sites characterized by different strength were observed; the acidic sites distribution is markedly influenced by the sample composition and by the heat treatment: more numerous acidic sites form on the surface of the samples treated with microwaves with respect to the muffle treated ones; the increment of the temperature and the decrease of the zirconium content cause a significant decrement of the acidic sites. No basic sites were revealed

Adsorption and reactivity of CO at a stepped SrTiO3(1 0 0) surface in the presence of Cu impurities

We have performed density functional calculations on a facetted SrTiO3(1 1 0) surface, a model for stepped (1 0 0) surfaces considering both a pure and a Cu-doped system. The formation of oxygen vacancies and the adsorption of small have been studied in detail. Results show that Cu dopants strongly influence the reactivity of the step, both at the edge and at the facet sites, favoring the formation of oxygen vacancies. The adsorption of small molecules has been studied to obtain information about the role played by the system in catalytic processes. It is found that adsorption energies of NO, CO, CO2 and O2 at the vacancies of present in doped steps is always unfavored. The extraction of oxygen atom by direct CO adsorption on the oxidation mechanism has also been investigated for both pure unreduced and for reduced doped steps. In both cases, the desorption of CO2 is an endothermic process, but the presence of the dopant significantly reduces the desorption energies

Silica thin coating deposited on soda-lime glass and silicon wafer: Accelerated aging effects

Inthis work we investigate the effects of accelerated aging tests on silica thin films deposited by sol-gel technology on soda-lime glasses and on (100) p-type silicon wafers. The adopted procedure avoided any type of termal treatment