• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.66 no.6
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• pp.437-443
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• 2009

Background: The aim of this study was to consider the significance of pleural fluid adenosine deaminase (ADA) activity combined with lymphocyte/neutrophil (L/N) ratio in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy (TBpl) in a region of intermediate prevalence of tuberculosis (TB). Methods: We collected data from 388 patients with exudative pleural effusions. The final diagnoses were compared to the results from our diagnostic method using pleural fluid ADA and L/N ratio. Results: 108 patients had a final diagnosis of TBpl; 102 cases had high levels of ADA ($\geq$40 IU/L). When we considered ADA $\geq$40 IU/L as a diagnostic criterion, the sensitivity was 94.4%, specificity 87.5%, and posttest posttest probability 74.5%. However, when we considered ADA $\geq$40 IU/L combined with the L/N ratio $\geq$0.75 as a diagnostic criterion, the specificity and post-test probability were rose to 97.5% and 93%, respectively. The other causes of high ADA and L/N ratios were lymphoma and metastatic carcinoma, but mass-like lesions were found on the chest radiographs or CT scans. Conclusion: To evaluate the causes of exudative pleural effusions in a region of intermediate prevalence of tuberculosis, we recommend measuring the pleural fluid ADA and L/N ratio first. If the result is high and malignancies are not suspected, it may be diagnostic of TBpl.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.46 no.11
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• pp.1118-1123
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• 2003

Purpose : Henoch-$Sch{\ddot{o}}nlein$ purpura(HSP) is a systemic vasculitis, characterized by cutaneous purpura, abdominal pain, arthralgia and renal involvement. The clinical features of HSP have been reasonably well documented but there are still many gaps in our understanding of HSP. The aim of this study was to present the clinical features of 125 children with HSP and compare them with previous reports, placing particular emphasis on clinical information. Methods : We collected the clinical data of 125 patients with acute HSP who visited Chungbuk National University Hospital from March 1992 to April 2002. Data were expressed as the mean or $mean{\pm}SD$ and statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square approximation. P<0.05 was considered as significant. Results : The patient population consisted of 87 boys and 38 girls ranging in age from one to 14 years. HSP occurs throughout the year, but this study shows seasonal skewing, with most patients presenting from fall through spring and a paucity of cases in summer. All patients had non-thrombocytopenic purpura concentrated on the buttocks and lower extremities. Purpuric lesions were also scattered on the arms and occaisionally on the face and ears, but the trunk was largely spared. A recurrence of purpura was defined as the reappearance of a rash or other symptoms following resolution of disease for at least two weeks. The mean number of recurrences was 0.51. Eighty eight patients(70.4%), 18 patients(14.4%) and 67 patients(53.6%) complained of abdomianl pain, gastrointestinal bleeding and arthralgia, respectively. Nephritis occurred in 48(38.4%) patients. Fifteen boys (17.2%) developed epididymitis. Neurologic features occurred in 13(10.4%) and two(15%) of these were seizures. Conclusion : HSP all showing purpura as defined is characterized by various clinical features, including abdominal pain, arthralgia, epididymitis and nephritis which could occur before the appearance of purpura. Therefore, we suggest that the possibility of HSP should be considered in children before invasive procedures, even if the above symptoms and signs present without purpura.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to find out what clinicopathologic or immunohistochemical parameter that may affect FDG uptake of primary tumor in PET/CT scan of the gastric carcinoma patient. Materials and Methods: Eighty-nine patients with stomach cancer who underwent pre-operative FDG PET/CT scans were included. In cases with perceptible FDG uptake in primary tumor, the maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was calculated. The clinicopathologic results such as depth of invasion (T stage), tumor size, lymph node metastasis, tumor differentiation and Lauren's classification and immunohistochemical markers such as Ki-67 index, expression of p53, EGFR, Cathepsin D, c-erb-B2 and COX-2 were reviewed. Results: Nineteen out of 89 gastric carcinomas showed imperceptible FDG uptake on PET/CT images. In cases with perceptible FDG uptake in primary tumor, SUVmax was significantly higher in T2, T3 and T4 tumors than T1 tumors ($5.8{\pm}3.1$ vs. $3.7{\pm}2.1$, p=0.002). SUVmax of large tumors (above or equal to 3 cm) was also significantly higher than SUVmax of small ones (less than 3 cm) ($5.7{\pm}3.2$ vs. $3.7{\pm}2.0$, p=0.002). The intestinal types of gastric carcinomas according to Lauren showed higher FDG uptake compared to the non-intestinal types ($5.4{\pm}2.8$ vs. $3.7{\pm}1.3$, p=0.003). SUVmax between p53 positive group and negative group was significantly different ($6.0{\pm}2.8$ vs. $4.4{\pm}3.0$, p=0.035). No significant difference was found in presence of LN metastasis, tumor differentiation, Ki-67 index, and expression of EGFR, Cathepsin D, c-erb-B2 and COX-2. Conclusion: T stage of gastric carcinoma influenced the detectability of gastric cancer on FDG PET PET/CT scan. When gastric carcinoma was perceptible on PET/CT scan, T stage, size of primary tumor, Lauren's classification and p53 expression were related to degree of FDG uptake in primary tumor.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.405-412
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• 1993

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of water depths on seedling stand and early growth of califonia rice varieties, S201, M202, A301, Italico livorno and Korean variety, Hwaseongbyeo, and barnyardgrass (Echinochloa crus-galli) The coleoptile length of rice was longer with deep water depth while for the radicle length shorten. As water depth was increased, the percentage of seedling stand were decreased slightly in rice, while sharply increased in barnyardgrass. Plant height of rice with increasing water depth were longer, whereas that of barnyardgrass reduced significantly with weaker. Tiller number of rice and barnyardgrass were significantly reduced as water depth increased. Dry matter weight and healthy score of rice seedling at 35DAS were highest in 7.5cm water depth followed saturated moisture, 15, and 22.5cm water depth, while for barnyardgrass those were especially negatively affected by deep water depth. These results showed that the seedling stand and early growth of barnyardgrass was highly suppressed by deeper water levels compared with rice. Rice cultivars which are showes growth characteristics in deeper water levels at early growth stage were Italico livorno and S201 in Japonica / Indica.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.290-297
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• 2000

Background : Current non-invasive methods for evaluating the mediastinum by computed tomographic (CT) scan have limited sensitivity and specificity. The recently introduced PET was reported to be a more sensitive and specific method for the mediastinal staging of NSCLC (sensitivity : 76-100 %, specificity : 81-100%) than CT or MRI. We assessed the usefulness of PET in the mediastinal staging of NSCLC. Methods : We reviewed the medical records of NSCLC patients that had undertaken staging work-up by both CT and PET before thoracotomy between January 1997 and December 1998. A total of 23 patients were enrolled in the study (14 males and 7 females) with a mean age of 61$\pm$9 years. By comparing the clinical(CT and PET) and pathologic stagings, we evaluated the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of PET in thoracic nodal staging. Results : Sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value and negative predicted value were 38%, 40%, 25% and 50% respectively for computed tomography, and 50%, 60%, 30% and 69% for PET. The accuracy of FDG-PET in our study was lower than that reported by previous other studies. Conclusion : The addition of FDG-PET to CT scanning has limited benefit for the thoracic nodal staging of NSCLC, but its value in our study was lower than that observed by others.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.31 no.10
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• pp.1332-1344
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• 2004

Upon development of information super-highway and multimedia-related technoiogies in recent years, more efficient technologies to transmit, store and retrieve the multimedia data are required. Among such technologies, firstly, it is common that the semantic-based image retrieval is annotated separately in order to give certain meanings to the image data and the low-level property information that include information about color, texture, and shape Despite the fact that the semantic-based information retrieval has been made by utilizing such vocabulary dictionary as the key words that given, however it brings about a problem that has not yet freed from the limit of the existing keyword-based text information retrieval. The second problem is that it reveals a decreased retrieval performance in the content-based image retrieval system, and is difficult to separate the object from the image that has complex background, and also is difficult to extract an area due to excessive division of those regions. Further, it is difficult to separate the objects from the image that possesses multiple objects in complex scene. To solve the problems, in this paper, I established a content-based retrieval system that can be processed in 5 different steps. The most critical process of those 5 steps is that among RGB images, the one that has the largest and the smallest background are to be extracted. Particularly. I propose the method that extracts the subject as well as the background by using an Image, which has the largest background. Also, to solve the second problem, I propose the method in which multiple objects are separated using RGB channel selection techniques having optimized the excessive division of area by utilizing Watermerge's threshold value with the object separation using the method of RGB channels separation. The tests proved that the methods proposed by me were superior to the existing methods in terms of retrieval performances insomuch as to replace those methods that developed for the purpose of retrieving those complex objects that used to be difficult to retrieve up until now.

• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.153-168
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• 2000

An estuarine marsh is semi -inclosed inlets, located between coastal and terrestrial environment. The sediment transport by river and tide through tidal river and vertical accretion by sediment accumulation are important processes in estuarine marsh. An analysis of the vertical accretion rate at various time scale is important work for understanding and managing coastal environments. The purpose of this study is to determin the spatial characteristics of vertical accretion rate in an estuarine marsh, Sunchon Bay, in the southern coastal region of Korean peninsula. The methods of analysis are sedimentation rate by individual tidal cycle, annual accretion rate, concentration of total suspended load in water column. Spatial characteristics of sedimentation rate by individual tidal cycle was investigated using 30 filter paper traps. Sedimentation rate by individual tidal cycle at levee edge was higher than that at back marsh. The sedimentation rate decreased with distance from estuarine front. Levee effect and proximity to the turbidity maximum zone result in a higher sedimentation rate in the levee edge. There is a weak relation-ships between tidal regime and sedimentation rate by individual tidal cycle. Spatial cahracteristics of annual accretion rate was investigared using 30 artificial marker plots. Annual accretion rate at back marsh($1.5{\sim}3.5cm/yr$) was higher than that at tidal river levee edge($0.8{\sim}3.0cm/yr$). Total suspended load (TSL) concentrations in water column also indicate this spatial characteristics of annual accretion rate. TSL concentration in water column leaving the vegetation part dramatically decreased. There is a very strong relationship between the concentration of suspended load and accretion rate. These results indicate that annual accretion rate is controlled by vegetation cover and proximity to the turbidity maximum zone. This difference of spatial characteristics of vertical accretion rate ar various time-scale was due to the fact that surface sediment of levee edge was eroded by tide and other factors. The major findings are as follows. First, the spatial characteristics of vertical accretion rate are different from various time-scale. Second, the major mechanism for the vertical accretion rate in this region is suspended load trapping by vegetation. Third, this region is primarily a depositional regime over the time-scale of the present data Fourth, this estuarine marsh is accreting at rates beyond other area.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.245-251
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• 2003

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of feeding yeast accumulated transgenic ferritin(FRT, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as a probiotic on the performance, iron contents in the liver, spleen, bone and yolk of laying hens and broiler chicks. Effects of feeding FRT were compared with that of feeding wild-type yeast(W0) and yeast grown on 20 mM ferric citrate-added medium (W20). In Expt 1, to investigate the effect of feeding yeast (control, W0 FRT) on performance and iron content of organs of broiler chicks which were fed basal diet supplemented with 75mg/kg iron(Fe75) or not (Fe0), three hundred sixty one-day-old male broiler chicks were fed a corn-sov based diet for five weeks. Weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion were measured weekly. In Expt 2, fifteen 33-week-old ISA Brown laying hens were placed in individual cages and were fed control, W0 and FRT diets for Four weeks. In Expt 3, twenty four 45-week-old ISA Brown laying hens were placed in individual cages and were fed a basal diet for a week. Then, experimental diets (control, W0, W20, FRT) were fed for three weeks. Iron contents in the liver, heart, spleen and tibia were determined at the end of all experiments. Iron content in yolk was measured weekly (expt 2, 3). The level of yeast added and iron concentration of FRT were $1{\times}10^8$cfu/kg diet and 500 mg/kg cell (DM) respectively in Expt 3, yeast was supplemented at $2{\times}10^{10}$cfu/kg diet and the iron content of FRT was 1000mg/kg cell (DM). In Expt 1. birds fed Fe75 showed significantly higher weight gain compared with Fe0 (P<0.05). However, weight gain and feed intake of birds fed FRT was significantly lower than control (P<0.05). In Expt 2, the iron content of the liver was decreased in the FRT treatment (P<0.05). In Expt 3, iron concentration of the liver and spleen tended to be increased by feeding FRt. However, the iron content of the tibia tended to be decreased in the FRT treatment. These results suggest that feeding FRT as a probiotic cannot improve performance and iron content in organs of broiler chicks and laying hens.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.355-361
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• 1993

Since May 1991, authors have conducted a pilot study to determine the feasibility and evaluate the effect of concurrent radiation therapy and chemotherapy with 5-FU and Cis-platinum for locally advanced cervical cancer (stage IIB-IVA). Radiation therapy consisted of external irradiation to whole pelvis (4140 cGy/23 fx) in 4.5 weeks followed by high dose rate intracavitary radiation therapy (HDR ICRT) to deliver a dose of 30 to 35 Gy to A point in 6 to 7 fractions. After the intracavitary radiation therapy, parametrial boost was delivered for B point dose of 60 Gy in Stage IIB and 65 Gy in stage IIIB. 5-FU (1000 $mg/m^2/24hr$ for 96 hour iv infusion) and Cis-platinum (20 $mg/m^2/day$ IV bolus for 3 days) were given during the second week of external RT and the second course chemotherapy administered at the first HDR ICRT with the same method as the first chemotherapy. Sixteen patients (10 stage IIB,4 stage IIIB,2 stage IVA) were registered to this protocol. Among these 16 patients, two refused treatment after 2 fractions of external irradiation, and one could not continue intracavitary irradiation because of treatment related genitourinary toxicity. So 14 patients were evaluated for toxicity and 13 patients were evaluated for response analysis. Five of 14 patients developed grade 3 gastrointestinal toxicity but 4 of them recovered at the completion of treatment. One stage IIIB patient with inguinal lymph node metastasis who received higher dose of radiation in spite of initial poor performance status did not recover from gastrointestinal toxicity at the completion of treatment. And she died of distant metastasis at one month after the completion of treatment. Two of 14 evaluable patients showed weight loss, more than $10\%$ of initial weight. One patient developed grade 3 leukopenia. In this study, the average total treatment period of completely treated patients was 75 days and three of them took more than 80 days (84, 84, 89 days). Toxicities were generally acceptable and there were no treatment related death. At the last follow-up, complete response was achieved in $62\%(8/13)$ and especially of nine patients with stage IIB, eight patients showed complete response. This study suggests that concurrent radiation therapy and chemotherapy (5-FU and Cis-platinum) is tolerable and effective. Further follow-up is needed to determine whether this protocol will have a favorable impact on survival and to evaluate the late effect on normal tissues. In future, prospective randomized trials are needed to compare the standard radiation therapy alone with concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy for locally advanced cervical carcinoma.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.59 no.5
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• pp.504-509
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• 2005

Background : Endobronchial tumors cause life-threatening dyspnea and can lower the quality of life due to central airway obstruction. In those cases with an intraluminal tumor, various bronchoscopic techniques are available for tumor debulking. The therapeutic effect of bronchoscopic electrocautery for palliation in patients with a symptomatic tumor obstruction was studied. Method : Nineteen patients with bronchogenic carcinomas (n=15) and metastatic tumors affecting the bronchi (n=4), between March 2002 and March 2005, were enrolled in this study. Electrocautery was performed under local anesthesia using an electroprobe and diathermic snare. Using flexible bronchoscopy, a follow-up bronchoscopic examination was performed 3-4 days later. Symptom improvement was evaluated by $FEV_1$, FVC and dyspnea score (Modified Borg Category Scale (0~10)), both before and after the electrocautery. Results : The success rate of electrocautery on the follow up examination was 84%. Patients with endoluminal airway lesions had a mean overall decrease in the size of the obstruction to $47.8{\pm}15.7%$. The mean Improvement in the dyspnea score immediately after the endobronchial tumor debulking was $2.78{\pm}1.42$. The average improvements in the $FEV_1$ and FVC after electrocautery were $0.32{\pm}0.19L$ and $0.5{\pm}0.22L$, respectively. There were 2 cases of complications related with electrocautery (one each of pneumothorax and pneumonia). Conclusion : Electrocautery using an electroprobe and diathermic snare was an effective and safe palliative treatment for a symptomatic endoluminal airway obstruction in lung cancer.