The use of a neuromuscular blocker (NMB) is often re- Background: The goal of this nationwide survey was to investigate the current concepts and practices of the use of neuromuscular blockers and their antagonists, and the availability and clinical practice of neuromuscular monitoring in Korea.Methods: After obtaining approval from the board of directors of the Korean Society of Anesthesiologists, we distributed a questionnaire via email to anesthesiology specialists with registered email addresses. The survey included questions on the availability and daily use of neuromuscular blockers, their antagonists and neuromuscular monitoring. Results:The overall response rate was 23.7%. Rocuronium and pyridostigmine were preferred as neuromuscular blocker (92.9%) and antagonist (86.1%), respectively. Although most anesthesiologists recognized the detrimental effect of postoperative residual neuromuscular blockade (87.7%) and the importance of neuromuscular monitoring (76.3%), quantitative monitoring was available in only 51.2% of the hospitals. More than 75% of respondents still prefer to use clinical signs to evaluate the recovery from paralysis.Conclusions: Changes in attitude and behaviors that mimic neuromuscular monitoring in Korea will be possible by regular and repeated publicity and education. Furthermore, greater distribution of neuromuscular monitoring devices and routine clinical use of these devices are also required.

This paper reports long-term performance of a two-stage AMX® system with a capacity of 70 m3/d treating actual reject water. An air-lift granulation reactor performed partial nitritation (PN–AGR) at an average nitrogen loading rate (NLR) of 3.1 kgN/m3-d, producing an average effluent –N/NH4+–N ratio of 1.04. The average nitrogen removal rate of the system was 3.91 kgN/m3-d following an anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) stage moving bed biofilm reactor (A–MBBR). Although the total nitrogen concentrations in the reject water fluctuated seasonally, overall nitrogen removal efficiency (NRE) of the two-stage AMX® system was very stable at over 87%. The two-stage AMX® system, consisting of a PN–AGR followed by an A–MBBR, operated at a stable NLR of 1.86 kgN/m3-d (1.64 kgN/m3-d including the intermediate tank), which is 1.8 times higher (1.6 times including the intermediate tank) than other commercialized single-stage partial nitritation/Anammox (PN/A) processes (which operate at a NLR of about 1 kgN/m3-d). The PN–AGR was affected by high influent total suspended solids (TSS) loads, but was able to recover within a short period of 4 days, which confirmed that the two-stage PN/A process is resilient to TSS load fluctuations.

The analytical in vivo chromium ion was searched for using a voltammetric hollow-fiber dialysis sensor via square wave stripping voltammetry (SW) , cyclic voltammetry (CV) , and chronoamperometry. Under optimum parameters, the analytical results indicated linear working ranges of 50~400 mg/l CV and 10~80 μg/l SW within a 30-sec accumulation time. The analytical detection limit (S/N) was 6.0 μg/l. The developed method can be applied to in vivo tissues and in ex vivo toxicity assay, as well as to other materials that require chromium analysis.