• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.84 no.2
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• pp.140-147
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• 2021

Background: For generations, cigarette smoking has presented an important public health concern. This study aimed to compare the health-promoting behavior, exercise capacity, physical activity level, health literacy, and knowledge level of smoking-related diseases between smokers and non-smokers. Methods: The study included 71 smokers (mean age, 32.69±8.55 years) and 72 non-smokers (mean age, 31.88±9.94 years) between the ages of 20 and 60 years. Assessments included a 6-minute walking test (6MWT), Godin Leisure-Time Physical Activity Questionnaire, Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II), Cardiovascular Risk Factors Knowledge Level Scale (CARRF-KL), Asthma/COPD Awareness Questionnaire, the World Health Organization Quality of Life-Bref questionnaire (WHOQoL-Bref [TR]), and Health Literacy Questionnaire (HLQ). Results: The results from the study show that the number of coronary artery disease risk factors measured significantly higher among the smoker group members when compared to that of the non-smoker group members (p=0.001). Smokers had significantly lower %6MWT distance than non-smokers (84.83±4.72 and 93.45±7.16, respectively; p<0.05). However, there were no significant differences between the smokers and non-smokers in terms of physical activity, CARRF-KL, HLQ, WHOQoL-Bref, and HPLP-II subscales or total scores (p>0.05). Additionally, while only forty-one smokers (57.7%) were active, 48 of the non-smoker group was active (66.7%). Conclusion: Smokers suffer greater negative effects to their exercise capacity in comparison to non-smokers. Although smokers and non-smokers have similar levels of health literacy and similar levels of knowledge about cardiovascular disease risk factors and obstructive lung diseases, health professionals could continue to further increase individuals' awareness of smoking-related risk factors and continue to emphasize the importance of physical activity and exercise for protecting cardiopulmonary health.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.149-163
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• 2021

Objectives This study is to review the effectiveness of exercise after lung cancer surgery. Methods Relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were searched in PubMed database. The systematic review was conducted through flow diagram. The risk of biases were assessed through the Cochrane guideline. Characteristics and outcomes were extracted from each study. Meta-analyses of forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), 6-minute walk test (6MWT), quality of life (QoL), pulmonary complications were conducted. Results 14 RCTs were selected. In meta-analysis, exercise improved FEV1 (mean difference [MD] 0.14; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.04 to 0.25; p=0.009; I2=55%) and mean change of FEV1 (MD 0.11; 95% CI 0.02 to 0.20; p=0.02; I2=0%). Exercise increased the distance of 6MWT, but there was considerable heterogeneity (MD 45; 95% CI 21.16 to 68.83; p=0.0002, I2=89%). There was no differences in QoL scores by 2 questionnaires (European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire, short form-36). Exercise reduced the duration of hospital stay (MD -3.32; 95% CI -5.27 to -1.36; I2=0%; 2 studies) but not duration of chest tube intubation (MD -1.37; 95% CI -2.81 to 0.06; I2=0%) and incidence of pulmonary complications (pooled risk ratio 0.54; 95% CI 0.23 to 1.30; I2=0%). Conclusions Exercise might reduce the duration of hospital stay after lung surgery. There was not enough evidence to prove improvement of lung function, aerobic capacity, muscle strength, QoL, and decline of pulmonary complications. Low-quality risk of bias, different units or estimation of outcome, different exercise type and duration, heterogeneity among studies make the evidence of effectiveness weak. Future researches are required to redeem these defects.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Physical Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.41-48
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• 2023

PURPOSE: Falls are caused by a decline in physical and cognitive function. A quantitative evaluation tool that can comprehensively evaluate motor and cognitive functions for elderly people with an impaired physical function. This study assessed the clinical application potential by confirming the correlation between the physical function tests, cognitive and the stepping trail-making test (S-TMT). METHODS: Fourteen community-dwelling older patients (65-75 years) were recruited. The study conducted cognitive function tests with the trail-making test (TMT-A, B), and physical function tests (6-minute walking test (6MWT), short physical performance battery (SPPB), and timed up and go (TUG)). The results of were analyzed using SPSS version 21.0. Descriptive statistics were used for the general characteristics of the study subjects, and the correlations between S-TMT, other functional tests were examined through Pearson's correlation analysis. The statistical significance was set to .05. RESULTS: S-TMT had a significant positive correlation with the TUG (r = .588^*) and trail-making test-B (TMT-B) (r = .689^*, p < .05). Furthermore, S-TMT showed a negative correlation between SPPB (r = -.397) and 6MWT (r = -.422), but it was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: S-TMT is a cognitive-gait dual-task performance evaluation tool that can be performed safely. A significant correlation was confirmed between the TUG test and the TMT-B. S-TMT is a dual-task screening tool that can evaluate both physical and cognitive functions simultaneously.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.245-253
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• 2018

The aim of this study is to investigate the membrane fouling in a thermophilic membrane bioreactor (TMBR) operated different sludge retention times (SRTs). For this purpose, TMBR was operated at four different SRTs (10, 30, 60 and 100 days). Specific cake resistance (${\alpha}$), cake resistance, gel resistance, total resistance, MFI (modified fouling index) and FDR (flux decrease ratio) were calculated for all SRTs. It was observed that flux in the membrane increases with rising SRT although the sludge concentrations in the TMBR increased. The steady state flux was found to be 31.78; 34.70; 39.60 and 43.70 LMH ($Liter/m^2/h$) for the SRTs of 10, 30, 60 and 100 days respectively. The concentrations of extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) and soluble microbial product (SMP) decreased with increasing SRT. The membrane fouling rate was higher at shorter SRT and the highest fouling rate appeared at an SRT of 10 d. Both the sludge cake layer and gel layer had contribution to the fouling resistance, but the gel layer resistance value was dominant in all SRTs.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.69-81
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• 2013

The pH-dependent inter-conversion of the three free chlorine species ($Cl_2$, HOCl, OCl-) present in the aqueous hypochlorite solution was theoretically investigated. Each species was found overwhelmingly present in a characteristic pH range. Hypochlorite treatment of the polyamide membrane was carried out over these pH ranges and various membrane responses were observed. As pH is less than 8, membrane tends to be N-chlorinated by $Cl_2$ and HOCl, and N-chlorinated membrane showed reduced water permeance and salt rejection. As pH rises to 10-12, $OCl^-$ appears to be the dominating chlorine species. Membrane hydrolysis was found to well interpret the improved water permeance and salt rejection. When the pH is between 8-10, both N-chlorination and hydrolysis contribute to the response of the membrane, and the treated membrane showed improved salt rejection but reduced water permeation. Excessive hydrolysis occurred while the membrane was treated at pH 13 for the much stronger alkalinity.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.201-210
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• 2017

We investigated the effect of applied voltage and electrolyte concentration on the nitrate removal and its energy/current efficiency during the electrodialysis. The current increased as the applied voltage increased up to 30 V showing the limiting current density around 20 V. The nitrate removal efficiency (31 to 71% in 240 min) and energy consumption (11 to $77W{\cdot}h/L$) gradually increased as the applied voltage increased from 10 to 30 V. The highest current efficiency was obtained at 20 V. The increase in electrolyte concentration from 100 to 500 mM led to the dramatic increase of nitrate removal efficiency with much faster removal kinetics (100 % in 10 min).

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.381-385
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• 2019

Surface modification is very efficient and scalable approach to achieve improved membrane performance. We treated Reverse Osmosis Thin Film Composite (TFC RO) membrane with various concentrations of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG), a hydrophilic polymer after activation with sodium hypochlorite. This treatment resulted in an increment of the water flux by 43% and the salt rejection by 2.36% for the 3000 mg/l PEG-treated membrane. Further, these PEG-treated membranes were exposed to a mixture of 3000 mg/l PEG and 1000 mg/l sodium hypochlorite for 1 hour. Further modification of this membrane by PEG and sodium hypochlorite mixture increased the water permeance up to 133% when compared with the virgin TFC RO membrane. We characterized the treated membranes to understand the changes in wettability by contact angle analysis, changes in surface morphology and roughness by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and atomic force microscope (AFM) analysis.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.387-394
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• 2019

Membrane distillation (MD) is one of the water treatment processes which involves the momentum, heat and mass transfer through channels and membrane. In this study, CFD modeling has been used to simulate the heat and mass transfer in the direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD). Also, the effect of operating parameters on the water flux is investigated. The result shows a good agreement with the experimental result. Results indicated that, while feed temperature is increasing in the feed side, water flux improves in the permeate side. Since higher velocity leads to the higher mixing and turbulence in the feed channel, water flux rises due to this increase in the feed velocity. Moreover, results revealed that temperature polarization coefficient is rising as flow rate (velocity) increases and it is decreasing while the feed temperature increases. Lastly, the thermal efficiency of direct contact membrane distillation is defined, and results confirm that thermal efficiency improves while feed temperature increases. Also, flow rate increment results in enhancement of thermal efficiency.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.321-330
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• 2019

The objective of this study was to examine the recovery of the power plant cooling tower blowdown water (CTBD) by membrane distillation. The experiments were carried out using a flat plate poly vinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membrane with a pore diameter of $0.22{\mu}m$ by a direct contact membrane distillation unit (DCMD). The effects of operating parameters such as transmembrane temperature difference (${\Delta}T$), circulation rate and operating time on permeate flux and membrane fouling have been investigated. The results indicated that permeate flux increased with increasing ${\Delta}T$ and circulation rate. Whereas maximum permeate flux was determined as $47.4L/m^2{\cdot}h$ at ${\Delta}T$ of $50^{\circ}C$ for all short term experiments, minimum permeate flux was determined as $7.7L/m^2{\cdot}h$ at ${\Delta}T$ of $20^{\circ}C$. While $40^{\circ}C$ was determined as the optimum ${\Delta}T$ in long term experiments. Inorganic and non-volatile substances caused fouling in the membranes.

• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.299-305
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• 2019

Managed aquifer recharge (MAR) systems are gaining interest as an alternative to conventional water resources. However, when the water recovered in MAR systems, dissolved iron and manganese species may easily oxidize and they cause well screen clogging or require abandonment of extraction wells. In this study, both oxic and anoxic conditions were analyzed to verify the feasibility of the membrane filtration performance under various solution chemistries. The fouling mechanisms of the metal ions under anoxic conditions were also investigated by employing synthetic wastewater. The fouled membranes were then further analyzed to verify the major causes of inorganic fouling through SEM and XPS. The newly suggested anoxic process refining existing membrane process is expected to provide more precious information about nanofiltration (NF) membrane fouling, especially for demonstrating the potential advantages to chemical-free drinking water production for indirect potable reuse.