• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.242-251
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• 2023

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of 8-week β-hydroxybutyrate (β-HB) administration with and without endurance exercise training on endurance exercise performance and skeletal muscle protein synthesis and degradation using a mouse model. Forty-eight male wild-type ICR mice (8 weeks old) were randomly divided into four groups: sedentary control (Sed+Con), (Sed+Con), sedentary β-HB (Sed+β-HB), exercise control (Exe+Con), and exercise β-HB (Exe+β-HB). β-HB was dissolved in PBS (150 mg/ml) and injected subcutaneously daily (250 mg/kg) for 8 weeks. Mice performed 5 days/week of a 20 min treadmill running exercise for 8 weeks. The running exercise was carried out at a speed of 10 m/min at a 10° incline for 5 min, and then the speed was increased by 1 m/min for every 1 min of the remaining 15 min. Following 8 weeks of treatments, visceral fat mass and skeletal muscle mass, blood parameters, and the markers for autophagy and protein synthesis were analyzed. The data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA (p<0.05) using the SPSS 21 program. Eight weeks of Exe+β-HB treatment significantly lowered blood lactate levels compared with the other three groups (Sed+Con, Sed+β-HB, and Exe+β-HB) Exe+β-HB) (p<0.05). Eight weeks of Exe+β-HB significantly increased maximal running time (time to exhaustion) compared with the Sed+Con and Exe+Con groups (p<0.05). Eight weeks of β-HB administration significantly decreased autophagy flux and autophagy-related proteins in the skeletal muscle of mice (p<0.05). Conversely, the combined treatment of β-HB and endurance exercise training increased protein synthesis (mTOR signaling and translation) (p<0.05). The 8-week β-HB treatment and endurance exercise training had synergistic effects on the increase in endurance performance, increase in protein synthesis, and decrease in protein degradation in the skeletal muscle of mice.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.667-685
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• 2022

This paper aims to investigate 4D printing materials for soft robots. 4D printing is a targeted evolution of the 3D printed structure in shape, property, and functionality. It is capable of self-assembly, multi-functionality, and self-repair. In addition, it is time-dependent, printer-independent, and predictable. The shape-shifting behaviors considered in 4D printing include folding, bending, twisting, linear or nonlinear expansion/contraction, surface curling, and generating surface topographical features. The shapes can shift from 1D to 1D, 1D to 2D, 2D to 2D, 1D to 3D, 2D to 3D, and 3D to 3D. In the 4D printing auxetic structure, the kinetiX is a cellular-based material design composed of rigid plates and elastic hinges. In pneumatic auxetics based on the kirigami structure, an inverse optimization method for designing and fabricating morphs three-dimensional shapes out of patterns laid out flat. When 4D printing material is molded into a deformable 3D structure, it can be applied to the exoskeleton material of soft robots such as upper and lower limbs, fingers, hands, toes, and feet. Research on 4D printing materials for soft robots is essential in developing smart clothing for healthcare in the textile and fashion industry.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.305-314
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• 2023

With the development of medical technology and radiation treatment equipment, the frequency of high-precision radiation therapy such as intensity modulation radiation therapy has increased. Image-guided radiation therapy has become essential for radiation therapy in precise and complex treatment plans. In particular, with the introduction of imaging equipment for diagnosis in a linear accelerator, CBCT scanning became possible, which made it possible to calibrate and correct the patient's posture through 3D images. Although more precise reproduction of the patient's posture has become possible, the exposure dose delivered to the patient during the image acquisition process cannot be ignored. Radiation optimization is necessary in the field of radiation therapy, and efforts to reduce exposure are necessary. However, when acquiring 3D CBCT images by changing the imaging conditions to reduce exposure, there should be no image quality or artefacts that would make it impossible to align the patient's position. In this study, Rando phantom was used to scan and evaluate images for each shooting condition. The highest SNR was obtained at 100 kV 80 mA 25 ms F1 filter 180°. As the tube voltage and tube current increased, the noise decreased, and the bowtie filter showed the optimal effect at high tube current. Based on the actual scanned images, it was confirmed that patient alignment was possible under all imaging conditions, and that image-guided radiation therapy for patient alignment was possible under the condition of 70 kV 10 mA 20 ms F0 filter 180°, which showed the lowest SNR. In this study, image evaluation was conducted according to the imaging conditions, and low tube voltage, tube current, and small rotation angle scan are expected to be effective in reducing radiation exposure. Based on this, the patient's exposure dose should be kept as low as possible during CBCT imaging.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.35-50
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• 2022

After the introduction of the central bus lane system, bus traffic was prioritized. This resulted in improved trust from bus users. However, the low capacity at the central bus stop reduces traffic speed and punctuality. In addition, physical constraints are inevitable because the construction of central bus lanes and bus stops considers the city's road geometry. Therefore, this study attempted to optimize the effective green time of the traffic signal system at the entrance and exit of the central bus stop to remedy its insufficient operational capacity. The Transit Capacity and Quality of Service Manual and Korea Highway Capacity Manual were used as the analysis methodologies. The number of stop areas for central bus stops to be built was determined by excluding variable physical factors, and field survey data collected from nine randomly selected central bus stops currently installed in Seoul were used. A scenario analysis was conducted on the central bus stops with insufficient capacity by adjusting the effective green time, and the capacity of the central bus stop was set as the dependent variable. According to the results, 26.7 percent of the central bus stops with insufficient capacity can solve the problem of insufficient capacity. Therefore, the results of this study can be verified by improving the operation level, and it can be effective even if the number of central bus stops calculated by engineering is not guaranteed during the planning stage of the central bus stop. As the number of central bus stops is expected to increase further as the number of central bus stops increases, it is necessary to improve the number of central bus stops. Therefore, it is hoped that the results presented in this study will be used as basic data for the improvement plan at the operational level before introducing the physical improvement plan.

• The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.42-55
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• 2008

To evaluate the accuracy of currents measured by HF radar in the coastal sea off Keum River estuary, we compared the facing radial vectors of two HF radars, and HF radar-derived currents with in-situ measurement currents. Principal component analysis was used to extract regression line and RMS deviation in the comparison. When two facing radar's radial vectors at the mid-point of baseline are compared, RMS deviation is 4.4 cm/s in winter and 5.4 cm/s in summer. When GDOP(Geometric Dilution of Precision) effect is corrected from the RMS deviations that is analyzed from the comparison between HF radar-derived and current-metermeasured currents, the error of velocity combined by HF radar-derived current is less than 5.1 cm/s in the stations having moderate GDOP values. These two results obtained from different method suggest that the lower limit of HF radar-derived current's accuracy is 5.4 cm/s in our study area. As mentioned in previous researches, RMS deviations become large in the stations located near the islands and increase as a function of mean distance from the radar site due to decrease of signal-to-noise level and the intersect angle of radial vectors. We found that an uncertain error bound of HF radar-derived current can be produced from the separation process of RMS deviations using GDOP value if GDOP value for each component is very close and RMS deviations obtained from current component comparison are also close. When the current measured in the stations having moderate GDOP values is separated into tidal and subtidal current, characteristics of tidal current ellipses analyzed from HF radar-derived current show a good agreement with those from current-meter-measured current, and time variation of subtidal current showed a response reflecting physical process driven by wind and density field.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2010

Purpose: The Xpress3.$cardiac^{TM}$ which is a kind of wide beam reconstruction (WBR) method developed by UltraSPECT (Haifa, Israel) enables the acquisition of at quarter time while maintaining image quality. The purpose of this study is to investigate the usefulness of WBR method for decreasing scan times and to compare to it with filtered back projection (FBP), which is the method routinely used. Materials and Methods: Phantom and clinical studies were performed. The anthropomorphic torso phantom was made on an equality with counts from patient's body. The Tl-201 concentrations in the compartments were 74 kBq (2 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in myocardium, 11.1 kBq (0.3 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in soft tissue, and 2.59 kBq (0.07 ${\mu}Ci$)/cc in lung. The non-gated Tl-201 myocardial perfusion SPECT data were acquired with the phantom. The former study was scanned for 50 seconds per frame with FBP method, and the latter study was acquired for 13 seconds per frame with WBR method. Using the Xeleris ver. 2.0551, full width at half maximum (FWHM) and average image contrast were compared. In clinical studies, we analyzed the 30 patients who were examined by Tl-201 gated myocardial perfusion SPECT in department of nuclear medicine at Asan Medical Center from January to April 2010. The patients were imaged at full time (50 second per frame) with FBP algorithm and again quarter-time (13 second per frame) with the WBR algorithm. Using the 4D MSPECT (4DM), Quantitative Perfusion SPECT (QPS), and Quantitative Gated SPECT (QGS) software, the summed stress score (SSS), summed rest score (SRS), summed difference score, end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV) and ejection fraction (EF) were analyzed for their correlations and statistical comparison by paired t-test. Results: As a result of the phantom study, the WBR method improved FWHM more than about 30% compared with FBP method (WBR data 5.47 mm, FBP data 7.07 mm). And the WBR method's average image contrast was also higher than FBP method's. However, in result of quantitative indices, SSS, SDS, SRS, EDV, ESV, EF, there were statistically significant differences from WBR and FBP(p<0.01). In the correlation of SSS, SDS, SRS, there were significant differences for WBR and FBP (0.18, 0.34, 0.08). But EDV, ESV, EF showed good correlation with WBR and FBP (0.88, 0.89, 0.71). Conclusion: From phantom study results, we confirmed that the WBR method reduces an acquisition time while improving an image quality compared with FBP method. However, we should consider significant differences in quantitative indices. And it needs to take an evaluation test to apply clinical study to find a cause of differences out between phantom and clinical results.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.490-496
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• 1998

Purpose: We evaluated brain perfusion SPECT findings of MELAS syndrome and mitochondrial myopathy in correlation with MR imaging in search of specific imaging features. Materials and Methods: Subjects were five patients (four females and one male; age range, 1 to 25 year) who presented with repeated stroke-like episodes, seizures or developmental delay or asymptomatic but had elevated lactic acid in CSF and serum. Conventional non-contrast MR imaging and Tc-99m-ethyl cysteinate dimer (ECD) brain perfusion SPECT were Performed and imaging features were analyzed. Results: MRI demonstrated increased T2 signal intensities in the affected areas of gray and white matters mainly in the parietal (4/5) and occipital lobes (4/5) and in the basal ganglia (1/5), which were not restricted to a specific vascular territory. SPECT demonstrated decreased perfusion in the corresponding regions of MRI lesions. In addition, there were perfusion defects in parietal (1 patient), temporal (2), and frontal (1) lobes and basal ganglia (1) and thalami (2). In a patient with mitochondrial myopathy who had normal MRI, decreased perfusion was noted in left parietal area and bilateral thalami. Conclusion: Tc-99m ECD SPECT imaging in patients with MELAS syndrome and mitochondrial myopathy showed hypoperfusion of parieto-occipital cortex, basal ganglia, thalamus and temporal cortex, which were not restricted to a specific vascular territory. There were no specific imaging features on SPECT. The significance of abnormal perfusion on SPECT without corresponding MR abnormalities needs to be evaluated further in larger number of patients.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.451-463
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• 2006

Background : Reactive oxygen species (ROS) take center stage as executers in ventilator-induced lung injury (VILI). The protein with DNA-damage scanning activity, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP1), signals DNA rupture and participates in base-excision repair. Paradoxically,overactivation of PARP1 in response to massive genotoxic injury such as ROS can induce cell death through ${\beta}$ -nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide ($NAD^+$) depletion, resulting in inflammation. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of PARP1 and the effect of its inhibitor in VILI. Methods : Forty-eight male C57BL/6 mice were divided into sham, lung protective ventilation(LPV), VILI, and PARP1 inhibitor (PJ34)+VILI (PJ34+VILI) groups. Mechanical ventilator setting for the LPV group was $PIP\;15cmH_2O$ + $PEEP\;3cmH_2O$ + RR 90/min + 2 hours. The VILI and PJ34+VILI groups were ventilated on a setting of $PIP\;40cmH_2O$ + $PEEP\;0cmH_2O$ + RR 90/min + 2 hours. As a PARP1 inhibitor for the PJ34+VILI group, 20 mg/Kg of PJ34 was treated intraperitoneally 2 hours before mechanical ventilation. Wet-to-dry weight ratio and acute lung injury (ALI) score were measured to determine the degree of VILI. PARP1 activity was evaluated by using an immunohistochemical method utilizing biotinylated NAD. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity and the concentration of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor $(TNF)-{\alpha}$, interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}$, and IL-6 were measured in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Results : In the PJ34+VILI group, PJ34 pretreatment significantly reduced the degree of lung injury, compared with the VILI group (p<0.05). The number of cells expressing PARP1 activity was significantly increased in the VILI group, but significantly decreased in the PJ34+VILI group (p=0.001). In BALF, MPO activity, $TNF-{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$, and IL-6 were also significantly lower in the PJ34+VILI group (all, p<0.05). Conclusion : PARP1 overactivation plays a major role in the mechanism of VILI. PARP1 inhibitor prevents VILI, and decreases MPO activity and inflammatory cytokines.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2010

Purpose: The Wide Beam Reconstruction (WBR) algorithms that UltraSPECT, Ltd. (U.S) has provides solutions which improved image resolution by eliminating the effect of the line spread function by collimator and suppression of the noise. It controls the resolution and noise level automatically and yields unsurpassed image quality. The aim of this study is WBR of whole body bone scan in usefulness of clinical application. Materials and Methods: The standard line source and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) reconstructed spatial resolution measurements were performed on an INFINA (GE, Milwaukee, WI) gamma camera, equipped with low energy high resolution (LEHR) collimators. The total counts of line source measurements with 200 kcps and 300 kcps. The SPECT phantoms analyzed spatial resolution by the changing matrix size. Also a clinical evaluation study was performed with forty three patients, referred for bone scans. First group altered scan speed with 20 and 30 cm/min and dosage of 740 MBq (20 mCi) of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP administered but second group altered dosage of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP with 740 and 1,110 MBq (20 mCi and 30 mCi) in same scan speed. The acquired data was reconstructed using the typical clinical protocol in use and the WBR protocol. The patient's information was removed and a blind reading was done on each reconstruction method. For each reading, a questionnaire was completed in which the reader was asked to evaluate, on a scale of 1-5 point. Results: The result of planar WBR data improved resolution more than 10%. The Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) of WBR data improved about 16% (Standard: 8.45, WBR: 7.09). SPECT WBR data improved resolution more than about 50% and evaluate FWHM of WBR data (Standard: 3.52, WBR: 1.65). A clinical evaluation study, there was no statistically significant difference between the two method, which includes improvement of the bone to soft tissue ratio and the image resolution (first group p=0.07, second group p=0.458). Conclusion: The WBR method allows to shorten the acquisition time of bone scans while simultaneously providing improved image quality and to reduce the dosage of radiopharmaceuticals reducing radiation dose. Therefore, the WBR method can be applied to a wide range of clinical applications to provide clinical values as well as image quality.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.531-540
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• 2000

Baclgrpimd; Recent studies have suggested that the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning(IP) is closely related to glycogen depletion and attenuation of intracellular acidosis. In the present study, the authors tested this hypothesis by perfusion isolated rabbit hearts with glucose(G) is closely related to glycogen depletion and attenuation of intracellular acidosis. In the present study, the authors tested this hypothesis by perfusion isolated rabbit hearts with glucose(G)-free perfusate. Material and Method; Hearts isolated from New Zealand white rabbits(1.5~2.0 kg body weight) were perfused with Tyrode solution by Langendorff technique. After stabilization of baseline hemodynamics, the hearts were subjected to 45 min global ischemia followed by 120 min reperfusion with IP(IP group, n=13) or without IP(ischemic control group, n=10). IP was induced by single episode of 5 min global ischemia and 10 min reperfusion. In the G-free preconditioned group(n=12), G depletion was induced by perfusionwith G-free Tyrode solution for 5 min and then perfused with G-containing Tyrode solution for 10 min; and 45 min ischemia and 120 min reperfusion. Left ventricular functionincluding developed pressure(LVDP), dP/dt, heart rate, left ventricular end-distolic pressure(LVEDP) and coronary flow (CF) were measured. Myocardial cytosolic and membrane PKC activities were measured by 32P-${\gamma}$-ATP incorporation into PKC-specific peptide and PKC isozymes were analyzed by Western blot with monoclonal antibodies. Infarct size was determined by staining with TTC(tetrazolium salt) and planimetry. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Turkey's post-hoc test. Result ; In comparison with the ischemic control group, IP significantly enhanced functional recovery of the left ventricle; in contrast, functional significantly enhanced functional recovery of the left ventricle; in contrast, functional recovery were not significantly different between the G-free preconditioned and the ischemic control groups. However, the infarct size was significantly reduced by IP or G-free preconditioning(39$\pm$2.7% in the ischemic control, 19$\pm$1.2% in the IP, and 15$\pm$3.9% in the G-free preconditioned, p<0.05). Membrane PKC activities were increased significantly after IP (119%), IP and 45 min ischemia(145%), G-free [recpmdotopmomg (150%), and G-free preconditioning and 45 min ischemia(127%); expression of membrane PKC isozymes, $\alpha$ and $\varepsilon$, tended to be increased after IP or G-free preconditioning. Conclusion; These results suggest that in isolated Langendorff-perfused rabbit heart model, G-free preconditioning (induced by single episode of 5 min G depletion and 10 min repletion) colud not improve post-ischemic contractile dysfunction(after 45-minute global ischemia); however, it has an infarct size-limiting effect.