Nitrogen is an essential element in the environment. If excess nitrogen includingNH4 +is present in water, however, it can result in algae blooming and eventually the destruction of the aquatic ecosystem. Therefore, the determination ofNH4 +in streams, lakes, and effluents of the treatment facilities has long been carried out. The Nessler method is the most common spectrophotometric method to measureNH4 +in water. However, the result of the method becomes inaccurate if there are interfering substances such as Cl2, Cl−, hardness-causing compounds (e.g., Mg2+), and Fe2+in target water samples. In this study, therefore, the traditional Nessler method has been modified to eliminate the effects of interfering substances; the so-called MS was added to water samples. In addition, the polyvinyl alcohol reagent as a dispersing agent was added to water samples to increase the sensitivity and reproducibility of the method. The modified method could successfully analyzeNH4 +of water samples even with the interfering substance at high concentration.

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We examined whether pretreatment with a small dose of thiopental was effective in reducing pain induced by the intravenous injection of rocuronium. Withdrawal movement was used to assess pain reduction. Ninety patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups: patients in the control group were pretreated with 2 mL saline, and those in the thiopental group were pretreated with 2 mL (50 mg) thiopental. Thiopental 5 mg/kg was injected intravenously. After a loss of consciousness, the upper arm was compressed with a rubber tourniquet, and the pretreatment drugs were administered. Thirty seconds later the tourniquet was removed and 0.6 mg/kg rocuronium was administered. Withdrawal movement was assessed using a four-grade scale: no movement, movement limited to the wrist, to the elbow or to the shoulder. The frequency of withdrawal movement in the group pretreated with thiopental was lower than in the control group (34 vs. 13, p < 0.05). We concluded that pretreatment with 2 mL (50 mg) thiopental is effective in reducing pain caused by the intravenous injection of rocuronium.

Background:The endotracheal suction was one of the critical requirements for severe neurosurgical patients in the prevention of the airway-obstruction, pneumonia, atelectasis, and so on. There were two types of suction methods, closed and open. In the literature, many reported the comparison of the two methods with variable factors, yet, it was still controversial. In this study, we compared the two types of endotracheal suction methods based on the pattern of the sputum cultivation, which was not discussed in the previous studies.Methods: In 2010, 85 patients who had intubation tube for more than 10 days were evaluated in this study. A total of 55 patients were managed with an open suction method, while the other 30 patients were managed with a closed suction method. All patients' sputum culture was reported semi-quantitatively, and had been classified into 3 different groups, according to the culture pattern. The control group was defined in which the bacterial count was not increased, whereas the non-control group was those with bacterial count increased. We investigated patients' age, gender, disease-type, suction techniques and the pattern of sputum cultivation.Results: The non-control group was 45.45% in the open suction group, while it was 16.67% in the closed suction group. On the other hand, more control group was observed in the closed suction group (36.67%), than in the open suction group (25.45%) (p < 0.05). There was no statistically significant difference in the analysis based on the pattern of sputum cultivation, age, gender, and disease-type.Conclusions: We suggest that the closed suction methods were more effective in the matiagement of endotracheal tube, according to the pattern of sputum culture.

In this paper, the fire risk using a bimetal type thermometer for construction installation is presented. Because construction equipment is used widely in the field and the site is exposed to explosions and fire by combustible gas or fume, strong restrictions on the structure and usage are applied. Moreover, the risk of fire increases as precise temperature measurements are poorly conducted via an inner temperature sensor inside construction furnace. Therefore, this paper presents the results of structural analysis of a bimetal temperature sensor which is used widely in construction installation and temperature measurement experiments relative to the material property of the target object. The results revealed the relatively precise temperature of the liquid object, whereas those of the gas and solid object showed a lower temperature compared to the real temperature. This shows that bimetal-type temperature sensor is more suitable for measuring a liquid state object than measuring a gas or solid state object.