• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• v.30 no.sup1
• /
• pp.120-123
• /
• 2001

Objectives : The present study was performed to analyze results of hydroxyurea treatment for unresectable and recurrent meningiomas as adjuvant chemotherapeutic agent. Material and Methods : Among 87 cases of meningioma patients who treated surgically between Jauary 1988 and December 1997 in our department, unresectable and recurrent cases were 4 cases. Histologically, 3 cases were meningothelial type, 1 case was angiomatous type. Tumor orgin was cerebellopontine angle(CPA) in 3 cases, cavernous sinus in 1 case. Three of 4 cases received radiation treatment. All patients received a daily dosage of 20mg/kg/day of hydroxyurea. Hematological monitorning was performed monthly and tumor measurement was assessed by MR imaging before treatment and every 6 months. Mean follow-up period was 34 months. Rerults : All cases showed no enlargement of tumor mass without any shrinkage. Trigeminal neuralgia in 1 case was improved and external herniation of brain on craniectomy site in 1 case was shrunken. None of the patients had any serious side effects. White blood cell count fell below $3000/{\mu}l$ in 1 case, but recovered 2 weeks later with cessation of medication. Conclusion : Hydroxyurea stopped cell growth by triggering the apoptotic cascade. Our preliminary data indicate that hydroxyurea provides adjuvant medical treatment in patients of unresectable and recurrent meningiomas

• Journal of Digital Convergence
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.285-290
• /
• 2020

This study focus on improving the text language proficiency regarding users' written text. In order to tone up accuracy improvement in writing, Computer Assisted Language Learning(CALL) can be primarily used as one of the most efficient tools. This study proposes a English Grammar Checking Application that can improve the accuracy over the current applications. The proposed system is capable of defining the difference between a Noun and a Noun Phrase which is critical in improving grammar accuracy for those who use Englilsh as a foreign language in English writing.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.188-194
• /
• 2008

We propose the new method for the traffic signs recognition that is one of the DAS(Driving assistance system) in the intelligent vehicle. Our approach estimates a varied degree by using a geometric method from the varied traffic signs in noise, rotation and size, and extracts the recognition symbol from the compensated traffic sign for a recognition by using the sequential color-based clustering. This proposed clustering method classify the traffic sign into the attention, regulation, indication, and auxiliary class. Also, The circular tracing method is used for the final traffic sign recognition. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, varied traffic signs were built. As a result, The proposed method show that the 95 % recognition rate for a single variation, and 93 % recognition rate for a mixed variation.

• Journal of the Institute of Convergence Signal Processing
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.85-90
• /
• 2021

A ADAS(Advanced Driver Assistance System) for the safe driving is an important area in autonumous car. Specially, a ADAS software using an image sensors attached in previous car is low in building cost, and utilizes for various purpose. A algorithm for detecting the break-lamp from the tail-lamp of preceding vehicle is proposed in this paper. This method can perceive the driving condition of preceding vehicle. Proposed method uses the YOLO techinicque that has a excellent performance in object tracing from real scene, and extracts the intensity variable region of break-lamp from HSV image of detected vehicle ROI(Region Of Interest). After detecting the candidate region of break-lamp, each isolated region is labeled. The break-lamp region is detected finally by using the proposed selective-attention model that percieves the shape-similarity of labeled candidate region. In order to evaluate the performance of the preceding vehicle break-lamp detection system implemented in this paper, we applied our system to the various driving images. As a results, implemented system showed successful results.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
• /
• v.24 no.2
• /
• pp.159-170
• /
• 1986

A total of 69 patients of confirmed neurocysticercosis was followed serologically by ELISA up to 22 months after praziquantel treatment. The intervals and numbers of follow-up were variable by patient. Serially collected samples of serum and CSF were examined simultaneously for their specific IgG antibody levels by ELISA, using cystic fluid, saline extracts of bladder wall and scolex as antigen. Within 4 months after praziquantel treatment, the antibody levels were elevated temporarily in both serum and CSF in most patients. In some cases antibody levels exhibited steady declining tendency after the treatment. Concomitant administration of dexamethasone appeared to suppress the elevation of antibody levels. The rate of mean absorbance of antibody changed more in serum than in CSF. The rate of elevation was greater in antibodies to parenchymal antigens than that to cystic fluid, but absolute difference of antibody levels was greater in antibody to cystic fluid. Previously negative samples for IgG antibody may become positive after the praziquantel treatment, which could be used as a complementary tool (provocation test) in serodiagnosis. One month was considered to be sufficient interval for the follow-up test for that purpose. In the follow-up of up to 22 months, only few cases of chronic neurocysticercosis showed declining tendency of IgG antibody levels below negative range. During acute encephalitic attacks in chronic patients, IgG antibody to parenchymal antigen were elevated in CSF temporarily. These results indicated that serologic follow-up of every year was recommendable to differentiate the cured patients from chronic patients with slowly calcifying lesions.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.30 no.12
• /
• pp.1167-1174
• /
• 1997

We retrospectively reviewed a series of 20 patients treated with delayed sternal closure during a 5-year period from 1991 to 1996. Of the 2675 patients with cardiovascular su gery 20 underwent this procedure. Male and female ratio was 11:9, mean age was 6.4 months(range 7 days to 5 years). The indications included unstable hemodynamic profiles after open heart surgery due to myocardial edema and poor lung compliance(15), necessity of mechanical ventricular assist device due to weaning failure(3), and hypoxia after PAB(2). Sternum was closed at a mean interval of 102(range 4 to 213) hours after operation. During delayed sternal closure, central venous pressure was elevated(p<0.05). Mediastinitis and other wound problems did not occur. Sepsis developed in 2 patients and microorganism was confirmed in one of the two patients. Five patients died(mortality 25%). And two of 15 discharged patients died during follow-up period. Cumulative survival rate was 65.0% at 12 months and also 65.0% at 24 months.(Standard error was 10.7%) Delayed sternal closure Is considered to be a good method to decompress the hemodynamically compromised heart. Without that, it is not f asible to come off bypass or to decompress the heart. Of course. careful selection of the indication is imperative.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.7
• /
• pp.962-970
• /
• 2021

The cause of the majority of vehicle accidents is a safety issue due to the driver's inattention, such as drowsy driving. A forward collision warning system (FCWS) can significantly reduce the number and severity of accidents by detecting the risk of collision with vehicles in front and providing an advanced warning signal to the driver. This paper describes a low power embedded system based FCWS for safety. The algorithm computes time to collision (TTC) through detection, tracking, distance calculation for the vehicle ahead and current vehicle speed information with a single camera. Additionally, in order to operate in real time even in a low-performance embedded system, an optimization technique in the program with high and low levels will be introduced. The system has been tested through the driving video of the vehicle in the embedded system. As a result of using the optimization technique, the execution time was about 170 times faster than that when using the previous non-optimized process.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.36 no.6
• /
• pp.411-417
• /
• 2003

Esophageal cancer is an aggressive disease with a poor prognosis. Recently, neoadjuvant therapy been used in an attempt to increase the long term survival but has not been shown as a clear advantage. We reviewed the recurrence and survival after complete resection of esophageal cancer without neoadjuvant therapy. Material and Method: From December 1994 to December 2001, 182 consecutive patients who underwent intrathoracic esophagectomy, transthoracic esophagogastrostomy and two-field lymph node dissection for esophageal canter without neoadjuvant therapy were studied retrospectively. Result: There were 167 men and 15 women. The median age was 65 years (range, 40 to 90 years). The tumor was located in the upper third part of the esophagus in 7 patients (3.8%), middle third in 86 (47.3%), and lower third in 89 (48.9%). The postsurgical stage were as follows: stage 0 in 2 patients (1.1%), stage I in 32 (17.6%), stageIIA in 47 (25.8%), stage IIB in 25 (13.7%), stage III in 54 (29.7%), stage IVA in 10 (5.5%), and stage IVB in 12 (6.6%). The in-hospital mortality rate was 3.8% (7 patients) and complications occurred in 65 patients (35%), Follow-up was complete in 95.6%. The recurrence occurred in 56 patients (30.8%) and the overall 5-year disease free rate was 55%. The overall 5-year survival rate was 57%; it was 80% for patients in stage I, 65% in stage IIA, 58% in stage IIB, 48% in stage III, and 40% in stage IVB. The overall 5-year survival rate of patients with postoperative adjuvant therapy was 59% compared to 34% in patients without postoperative adjuvant therapy (p<0.05). Conclusion: The most effective therapy for esophageal cancer may be complete resection. More aggressive surgical therapy and adjuvant therapy may improve the long-term survival, even for advanced stage esophageal cancer.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.157-163
• /
• 2006

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: To evaluate the role of postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer, we retrospectively analyzed the treatment outcome of patients with rectal cancer taken curative surgical resection and postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: A total 46 patients with AJCC stage II and III carcinoma of rectum were treated with curative surgical resection and postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. T3 and T4 stage were 38 and 8 patients, respectively. N0, N1, and N2 stage were 12, 16, 18 patients, respectively. Forty patients received bolus infusions of 5-fluorouracil ($500\;mg/m^2/day$) with leucovorin ($20\;mg/m^2/day$), every 4 weeks interval for 6 cycles. Oral Uracil/Tegafur on a daily basis for $6{\sim}12$ months was given in 6 patients. Radiotherapy with 45 Gy was delivered to the surgical bed and regional pelvic lymph node area, followed by $5.4{\sim}9\;Gy$ boost to the surgical bed. The follow up period ranged from 8 to 75 months with a median 35 months. $\underline{Results}$: Treatment failure occurred in 17 patients (37%). Locoregional failure occurred in 4 patients (8.7%) and distant failure in 16 patients (34.8%). There was no local failure only. Five year actuarial overall survival (OS) was 51.5% and relapse free survival (RFS) was 58.7%. The OS and RFS were 100%, 100% in stage N0 patients, 53.7%, 47.6% in N1 patients, and 0%, 41.2% in N2 patients (p=0.012, p=0.009). The RFS was 55%, 78.5%, and 31.2% in upper, middle, and lower rectal cancer patients, respectively (p=0.006). Multivariate analysis showed that N stage (p=0.012) was significant prognostic factor for OS and that N stage (p=0.001) and location of tumor (p=0.006) were for RFS. Bowel complications requiring surgery occurred in 3 patients. $\underline{Conclusion}$: Postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was an effective modality for locoregional control of rectal cancer. But further investigations for reducing the distant failure rate are necessary because distant failure rate is still high.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
• /
• v.29 no.4 s.55
• /
• pp.801-814
• /
• 1996

Background: Korean people could abuse healthy foods as well as medications, which might cause serious side effects. The aim of this study was elucidating liver dysfunction due to the self-medications of hepatotonics, healthy foods and herb medications by nested case-control study. Methods: Study subjects were drawn from male members of Seoul Cohort Study who were recruited by self-administered structured questionnaire survey through mailing to the healthy men between the age of 40 and 59 years through the program of biennial health check-up offered by Korea Medical Insurance Corporation(KMIC). The liver dysfunction was defined as the level of serum AST and ALT above 40 IU/L and increased in more than one hunderd per-cent during the 2 year follow-up period. To estimate the odds ratio between self-medication and liver dysfunction after controlling for potential confounders, logistic regression was performed. Results: During the follow-up period, 30 members were identified to fit into case criteria and 2,625 members were selected as control. In logistic regression analyses, history of healthy foods intake, age under 45 years, obesity, and habit of regular exercise were significantly associated with liver dysfunction. The following factors exhibited no statistical significance: intake of hepatotonics, of herb medicine; history of disease in family, of operation, and of radiologic examination; smoking habits and drinking amounts. Conclusion: The significant association between the intake of healthy foods and the liver dysfunction illustrates that chronically optional overuse of healthy foods might bring to hazards to health. As the increasing trend of the size of purchasing healthy foods in Korea, pharmacoepidemiologic studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of the widely used healthy foods should be performed in the near future.