A potential approach for monitoring drinking water quality from groundwater systems using organic matter fluorescence as an early warning for contamination events.

The fluorescence characteristics of natural organic matter in a groundwater based drinking water supply plant were studied with the aim of applying it as a technique to identify contamination of the water supply. Excitation-emission matrices were measured and modeled using parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and used to identify which wavelengths provide the optimal signal for monitoring contamination events. The fluorescence was characterized by four components: three humic-like and one amino acid-like.

Creation of standardized tools for therapeutic education specifically dedicated to chronic heart failure patients: the French I-CARE project.

Aim: To develop educational programs in chronic heart failure (CHF), creation of standardized tools for therapeutic education specifically dedicated to CHF patients was performed as a part of the French I-CARE project.

Methods And Results: A working group was constituted of cardiologists, nurses and dieticians, specialized in both therapeutic education and CHF. The personal patient's document consisted of a ring binder with dividers containing index cards for 5 units.

[Therapeutic education for cardiac failure patients: the I-care programme].

Therapeutic education is becoming increasingly important in the management of chronic diseases including cardiac failure. The I-CARE programme consists of an evaluation of the role of therapeutic education in France, creating standardised tools and setting up training sessions for therapeutic education in the context of cardiac failure. Approximately two thirds of the French centres contacted perform therapeutic education with their available means.