Background and objective IPF is a chronic progressive lung disease in which PR provides benefit for patients. PD, a TCM PR programme, has known effectiveness in COPD, but its utility in IPF is unknown. We investigated its effectiveness and safety in patients with IPF. Methods A 6‐month randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in three Chinese clinics. Ninety‐six participants diagnosed with IPF were randomly assigned to one of the three groups: the PD group received a PD programme two times a day, 5 days/week for 2 months, and the exercise group exercised via a stationary cycle ergometer, 30 min/day, 5 days/week for 2 months. Volunteers in the control group were advised to maintain their usual activities. Primary outcomes were changes from baseline in the 6MWD and HRQoL score on the SGRQ‐I at 1 and 2 months (at the end of the intervention) and at 6 months (4 months after the intervention). Secondary outcomes measures included FVC, DLCO (% predicted) and the changes in mMRC. Results The 6MWD was increased in the PD group compared to exercise and control groups. 6MWD increased by 60.44 m in the PD group, 32.16 m in the exercise group and 12.42 m in controls after the 2 months of rehabilitation programme. The between‐group differences in the change from baseline were 28.78 m (95% CI: 0.54 to 56.01; P = 0.044) and 48.02 m (95% CI: 23.04 to 73.00; P < 0.001) at 2 months, and 25.61 m (95% CI: −0.67 to 51.89; P = 0.058) and 50.93 m (95% CI: 25.47 to 76.40; P < 0.001) at 6 months, respectively, including a difference exceeding the MCID. There was no significant change in the SGRQ‐I score, the mMRC dyspnoea score, FVC and DLCO (% predicted) in either the PD or exercise groups. Conclusion Two months after the intervention, a clinically meaningful difference in 6MWD was observed favouring the PD programme. The PD programme is safe and effective as a rehabilitation intervention designed to increase exercise tolerance and is an appropriate substitute for PR.

No abstract

This paper presents the configuration and manufacturing process of a pneumatic artificial muscle (PAM) with a filament-wound sleeve and co-cured silicone outer layer. The two-parameter Mooney—Rivlin model for the bladder and outer layer is introduced into the force balance model to analyze the nonlinear behavior of this PAM. The effect of the bladder and the outer layer on the force balance model are investigated, separately. The model accuracy may be decreased by the initial contraction due to the loosing of the threads and the change of winding angle during the fabrication. A method to calibrate the initial contraction and actual winding angle is also introduced in this paper. The material properties are calculated with respect to the experimental behavior of the soft material. Five PAMs with different braiding angles (15°, 20°, and 25°) and sleeve thicknesses (0.72 and 1.28 mm) are fabricated and tested under air pressures ranging from 138 to 483 kPa. The load lines of five PAMs simulated based on the proposed method are found to be in good agreement with the experimental results. As the winding angle is a design variable of the presented PAMs, specific application Requirements can be easily achieved by assigning an appropriate value to it during the design. The force balance model is governed by several parameters, and it models the nonlinear behaviors of the PAMs with two silicone layers, over large ranges of pressures and contractions, well. The PAM can be utilized and controlled accurately using a feedback control strategy.

Composite laminates are susceptible to impact damage. Nowadays, damage detection mainly depends on visual inspection and C scan. But these two methods are limited to the technical skill of the inspectors, causing missed detection or even fault detection. The current full field digital image correlation (DIC) technique has been gradually applied to the measurement of the structural surface. This paper devotes to exploring the DIC monitoring technique and the actual surface strain data processing methods. Composite laminates with different BVID damage degrees are studied under both tensile and compressive loading conditions. It is shown that DIC method is able to capture an obvious strain singularity on damage area of the composite laminate. Strain singularity is caused by fiber crack under tensile loading condition and buckling under compressive loading condition. Influencing factors of the composite surface monitoring are then discussed.