• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.358-366
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• 2012

Cirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules leading to loss of liver function. Liver Cirrhosis is most commonly caused by alcoholism, hepatitis B and C, and fatty liver disease, but has many other possible causes. Some cases are idiopathic disease from unknown cause. Abdomen of liver Computed tomography(CT) is one of the primary imaging procedures for evaluating liver disease such as liver cirrhosis, Alcoholic liver disease(ALD), cancer, and interval changes because it is economical and easy to use. The purpose of this study is to detect technique for computer-aided diagnosis(CAD) to identify liver cirrhosis in abdomen CT. We experimented on the principal components analysis(PCA) algorithm in the other method and suggested texture information analysis(TIA). Forty clinical cases involving a total of 634 CT sectional images were used in this study. Liver cirrhosis was detected by PCA method(detection rate of 35%), and by TIA methods(detection rate of 100%-AGI, TM, MU, EN). Our present results show that our method can be regarded as a technique for CAD systems to detect liver cirrhosis in CT liver images.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.38
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• pp.2.1-2.9
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• 2016

Background: We reviewed the biological and mechanical properties of porous hydroxyapatite (HA) compared to other synthetic materials. Computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) was also evaluated to estimate its efficacy with clinical and radiological assessments. Method: A systematic search of the electronic literature database of the National Library of Medicine (PubMed-MEDLINE) was performed for articles published in English between January 1985 and September 2013. The inclusion criteria were (1) histological evaluation of the biocompatibility and osteoconductivity of porous HA in vivo and in vitro, (2) evaluation of the mechanical properties of HA in relation to its porosity, (3) comparison of the biological and mechanical properties between several biomaterials, and (4) clinical and radiological evaluation of the precision of CAD/CAM techniques. Results: HA had excellent osteoconductivity and biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo compared to other biomaterials. HA grafts are suitable for milling and finishing, depending on the design. In computed tomography, porous HA is a more resorbable and more osteoconductive material than dense HA; however, its strength decreases exponentially with an increase in porosity. Conclusions: Mechanical tests showed that HA scaffolds with pore diameters ranging from 400 to $1200{\mu}m$ had compressive moduli and strength within the range of the human craniofacial trabecular bone. In conclusion, using CAD/CAM techniques for preparing HA scaffolds may increase graft stability and reduce surgical operating time.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.548-559
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• 1996

A series of performance measurements of positron emission tomography (PET) were performed following the recommendations of the Computer and Instrumentation Council of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. We investigated the performance of the General Electric $Advance^{TM}$ PET. The measurements include the basic intrinsic tests of spatial resolution, scatter fraction, sensitivity, and count rate losses and randoms. They also include the tests of the accuracy of corrections: count rate linearity correction, uniformity correction, scatter correction and attenuation correction. GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET has bismuth germanate oxide crystals (4.0mm transaxial ${\times}$ 8.1mm axial ${\times}$ 30.0mm radial) in 18 rings, which form 35 imaging planes spaced by 4.25mm. The system has retractable tungsten septa 1mm thick and 12cm long. Transaxial resolution was 4.92mm FWHM in 2D and 5.14mm FWHM in 3D at the center. Average axial resolution in 2D decreased from 3.91mm FWHM at the center to 6.49mm FWHM at R=20cm. Average scatter fraction of direct and cross slices was 9.57%. Dead-time losses of 50% corresponded to a radioactivity concentration of $4.86{\mu}Ci/cc$ and a true count rate of 519 kcps in 2D. The accuracy of count rate linearity correction was 1.84% at the activity of $4.50{\mu}Ci/cc$. Non-uniformity was 2.06% in 2D and 2.93% in 3D. Remnant errors after scatter correction were 0.55% in 2D and 4.12% in 3D. The errors of attenuation correction were 6.21% (air), 0.20% (water), -6.32% (teflon) in 2D and 5.00% (air), 6.94% (water), 3.01% (teflon) in 3D. The results indicate the performance of GE $Advance^{TM}$ PET scanner to be well suited for clinical and research applications.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.532-539
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• 2014

Peripheral neuropathy induced by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and antiretroviral therapy is not only difficult to distinguish in clinical practice, but also difficult to relieve the pain symptoms by analgesics because of the severity of the disease at the later stage. Hence, to explore the mechanisms of HIV-related neuropathy and find new therapeutic options are particularly important for relieving neuropathic pain symptoms of the patients. In the present study, primary cultured embryonic rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons were used to determine the neurotoxic effects of HIV-gp120 protein and/or antiretroviral drug dideoxycytidine (ddC) and the therapeutic actions of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) on gp120- or ddC-induced neurotoxicity. DRG neurons were exposed to gp120 (500 pmol/L), ddC ($50{\mu}mol/L$), gp120 (500 pmol/L) plus ddC ($50{\mu}mol/L$), gp120 (500 pmol/L) plus IGF-1 (20 nmol/L), ddC ($50{\mu}mol/L$) plus IGF-1 (20 nmol/L), gp120 (500 pmol/L) plus ddC ($50{\mu}mol/L$) plus IGF-1 (20 nmol/L), respectively, for 72 hours. The results showed that gp120 and/or ddC caused neurotoxicity of primary cultured DRG neurons. Interestingly, the severity of neurotoxicity induced by gp120 and ddC was different in different subpopulation of DRG neurons. gp120 mainly affected large diameter DRG neurons (> $25{\mu}m$), whereas ddC mainly affected small diameter DRG neurons (${\leq}25{\mu}m$). IGF-1 could reverse the neurotoxicity induced by gp120 and/or ddC on small, but not large, DRG neurons. These data provide new insights in elucidating the pathogenesis of HIV infection- or antiretroviral therapy-related peripheral neuropathy and facilitating the development of novel treatment strategies.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.165-170
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• 2015

Ceramics biomaterials are useful as implant materials in orthopedic surgery. In this study, porous HA(hydroxyapatite)/${\beta}$-TCP(tricalcium phosphate) composite biomaterials were successfully fabricated using HA/${\beta}$-TCP powders with 10-30 wt% $NH_4HCO_3$ as a space holder(SH) and $TiH_2$ as a foaming agent, and MgO powder as a binder. The HA/${\beta}$-TCP powders were consolidated by spark plasma sintering(SPS) process at $1000^{\circ}C$ under 20 MPa conditions. The effect of SH content on the pore size and distribution of the HA/${\beta}$-TCP composite was observed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and a microfocus X-ray computer tomography system(SMX-225CT). These microstructure observations revealed that the volume fraction of the pores increased with increasing SH content. The pore size of the HA/${\beta}$-TCP composites is about $400-500{\mu}m$. The relative density of the porous HA/${\beta}$-TCP composite increased with decreasing SH content. The porous HA/${\beta}$-TCP composite fabricated with 30%SH exhibited an elastic modulus similar to that of cortical bone; however, the compression strength of this composite is higher than that of cortical bone.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.214-221
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• 2011

Purpose: To date most of finite element analysis assumed the presence of 100% contact between bone and implant, which is inconsistent with clinical reality. In human retrieval study bone-implant contact (BIC) ratio ranged from 20 to 80%. The objective of this study was to explore the influence of bone-implant contact pattern on bone of the interface using nonlinear 3-dimensional finite element analysis. Materials and methods: A computer tomography-based finite element models with two types of implant (Mark III Br${\aa}$nemark$^{(R)}$, Inplant$^{(R)}$) which placed in the maxillary 2nd premolar area were constructed. Two different degrees of bone-implant contact ratio (40, 70%) each implant design were simulated. 5 finite element models were constructed each bone-implant contact ratio and implant design, and sum of models was 40. The position of bone-implant contact was determined according to random shuffle method. Elements of bone-implant contact in group W (wholly randomized osseointegration) was randomly selected in terms of total implant length including cortical and cancellous bone, while ones in group S (segmentally randomized osseointegration) was randomly selected each 0.75 mm vertically and horizontally. Results: Maximum von Mises strain between group W and group S was not significantly different regardless of bone-implant contact ratio and implant design (P=.939). Peak von Mises strain of 40% BIC was significantly lower than one of 70% BIC (P=.007). There was no significant difference between Mark III Br${\aa}$nemark$^{(R)}$ and Inplant$^{(R)}$ in 40% BIC, while average of peak von Mises strain for Inplant$^{(R)}$ was significantly lower ($4886{\pm}1034\;{\mu}m/m$) compared with MK III Br${\aa}$nemark$^{(R)}$ ($7134{\pm}1232\;{\mu}m/m$) in BIC 70% (P<.0001). Conclusion: Assuming bone-implant contact in finite element method, whether the contact elements in bone were wholly randomly or segmentally randomly selected using random shuffle method, both methods could be effective to be no significant difference regardless of sample size.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.415-423
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• 2010

Pore network models are useful tools to investigate soil pore geometry. These models provide quantitative information of pore geometry from 3D images. This study presents a pore network model to quantify pore structure and hydraulic characteristics. The objectives of this work were to apply the pore network model to characterize pore structure from large images to quantify pore structure, calculate water retention and hydraulic conductivity properties from a three dimensional soil image, and to combine measured hydraulic properties from experiments with calculated hydraulic properties from image. Soil samples were taken from a site located at the Baltimore science center, which is located inside of the city. Undisturbed columns were taken from the site and scanned with a computer tomographer at resolutions of 22 ${\mu}m$. Pore networks were extracted by medial-axis transformation and were used to measure pore geometry from one of the scanned samples. Water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity values were calculated from the soil image. Properties of soil bulk density, water retention and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity were measured from three replicates of scanned soil samples. 3D image analysis provided accurate detailed pore properties such as individual pore volumes, pore length, and tortuosity of all pores. These data made possible to calculate accurate estimations of water retention and hydraulic conductivity. Combination of the calculated and measured hydraulic properties gave more accurate information on pore sizes over wider range than measured or calculated data alone. We could conclude that the hydraulic property computed from soil images and laboratory measurements can describe a full structure of intra- and inter-aggregate pores in soil.