• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.30-40
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• 2004

Purpose: The aims of this study were to find brain regions in which gray matter volume was reduced and to show the capability of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis for lateralizing epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). The findings were compared with fluorodeoxyglucose positron omission tomography (FDG PET). Materials and Methods: MR T1-weighted images of 12 left mTLE and 11 right mTLE patients were compared with those of 37 normal controls. Images were transformed to standard MNI space and averaged in order to create study-specific brain template. Each image was normalized to this local template and brain tissues were segmented. Modulation VBM analysis was performed in order to observe gray matter volume change. Gray matter was smoothed with a Gaussian kernel. After these preprocessing, statistical analysis was peformed using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM99). FDG PET images were compared with those of 22 normal controls using SPM. Results: Gray matter volume was significantly reduced in the left amygdala and hippocampus in left mTLE. In addition, volume of cerebellum, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus in both sides and left insula was reduced. In right mTLE, volume was reduced significantly in right hippocampus. In contrast, FDG uptake was decreased in broad areas of left or right temporal lobes in left TLE and right TLE, respectively. Conclusions: Gray matter loss was found in the ipsilateral hippocampus by modulation VBM analysis in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. This VBM analysis might be useful in lateralizing the epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy, while SPM analysis of FDG PET disclosed hypometabolic epileptogenic zones.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.317-324
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• 2002

Purpose: The use of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) program has increased for the analysis of brain PET and SPECT images. Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) coordinate is used in SPM program as a standard anatomical framework. While the most researchers look up Talairach atlas to report the localization of the activations detected in SPM program, there is significant disparity between MNI templates and Talairach atlas. That disparity between Talairach and MNI coordinates makes the interpretation of SPM result time consuming, subjective and inaccurate. The purpose of this study was to develop a program to provide objective anatomical information of each x-y-z position in ICBM coordinate. Materials and Methods: Program was designed to provide the anatomical information for the given x-y-z position in MNI coordinate based on the Statistical Probabilistic Anatomical Map (SPAM) images of ICBM. When x-y-z position was given to the program, names of the anatomical structures with non-zero probability and the probabilities that the given position belongs to the structures were tabulated. The program was coded using IDL and JAVA language for 4he easy transplantation to any operating system or platform. Utility of this program was shown by comparing the results of this program to those of SPM program. Preliminary validation study was peformed by applying this program to the analysis of PET brain activation study of human memory in which the anatomical information on the activated areas are previously known. Results: Real time retrieval of probabilistic information with 1 mm spatial resolution was archived using the programs. Validation study showed the relevance of this program: probability that the activated area for memory belonged to hippocampal formation was more than 80%. Conclusion: These programs will be useful for the result interpretation of the image analysis peformed on MNI coordinate, as done in SPM program.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.267-274
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• 2008

Purpose: Transient neurological deterioration (TND) is one of the complications after extracranial-intracranial bypass surgery, and it has been assumed to be caused by postoperative transient hyperperfusion. This study was performed to evaluate the relationship between TND and preoperative and postoperative cerebral perfusion status on brain perfusion SPECT following superficial temporal artery - middle cerebral artery (STA-MCA) anastomosis surgery. Materials and Methods: A total of 60 STA-MCA anastomosis surgeries of 56 patients (mean age: $50{\pm}16$ yrs; M:F=29:27; atherosclerotic disease: 33, moyamoya disease: 27) which were done between September 2003 and July 2006 were enrolled. The resting cerebral perfusion and cerebral vascular reserve (CVR) after acetazolamide challenge were measured before and 10 days after surgery using 99mTc-ethylcysteinate dimer (ECD) SPECT. Moreover, the cerebral perfusion was measured on the third postoperative day. With the use of the statistical parametric mapping and probabilistic brain atlas, the counts for the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory were calculated for each image, and statistical analyses were performed. Results: In 6 of 60 cases (10%), TND occurred after surgery. In all patients, the preoperative cerebral perfusion of affected MCA territory was significantly lower than that of contralateral side (p=0.002). The cerebral perfusion on the third and tenth day after surgery was significantly higher than preoperative cerebral perfusion (p=0.001, p=0.02). In TND patients, basal cerebral perfusion and CVR on preoperative SPECT were significantly lower than those of non-TND patients (p=0.01, p=0.05). Further, the increases in cerebral perfusion on the third day after surgery were significant higher than those in other patients (p=0.008). In patients with TND, the cerebral perfusion ratio of affected side to contralateral side on third postoperative day was significantly higher than that of other patients (p=0.002). However, there was no significant difference of the cerebral perfusion ratio on preoperative and tenth postoperative day between patients with TND and other patients. Conclusion: In patients with TND, relative and moderate hyperperfusion was observed in affected side after bypass surgery. These finding may help to understand the pathophysiology of TND.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.142-151
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• 2001

Purpose: This study was performed to search the relatively specific brain regions related to the semantic processing of Korean and English words on the one hand and the regions common to both on the other. Materials and Methods: Regional cerebral blood flow associated with different semantic tasks was examined using $[^{15}O]H_2O$ positron omission tomography in 13 healthy volunteers. The tasks consisted of semantic tasks for Korean words, semantic tasks for English words and control tasks using simple pictures. The regions specific and common to each language were identified by the relevant subtraction analysis using statistical parametric mapping. Results: Common to the semantic processing of both words, the activation site was observed in the fusiform gyrus, particularly the left side. In addition, activation of the left inferior temporal gyrus was found only in the semantic processing of English words. The regions specific to Korean words were observed in multiple areas, including the right primary auditory cortex; whereas the regions specific to English words were limited to the right posterior visual area. Conclusion: Internal phonological process is engaged in performing the visual semantic task for Korean words of the high proficiency, whereas visual scanning plays an important role in performing the task for English words of the low proficiency.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.6
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• pp.2144-2151
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• 2010

Yoga meditation and music therapy are considered to be appropriate for the spiritual and mental treatment for the patients and employed in many clinics and rehabilitation centers as an alternative medicine. This study aims at the analysis of the effects of yoga and music on the treatment of alcoholism. For this, yoga and music treatments were executed for the patients hospitalized in an alcohol clinic hospital in Gimhae district. Only the patients who were judged as alcohol dependents by a psychiatrist with a diagnostic criteria of DSM-IV participated in the study. During five weeks, from November 10, 2009 to December 29, yoga program was practiced two times per week, totaling 10 times, and music therapy was practiced one time per week, totaling 5 times. Among the patients participated in the programs, 44patients were selected finally. They are 16 patients who performed all the yoga programs, and 28 patients who fulfilled all the music therapies. A survey was conducted on them to estimate the effects of yoga and music treatments for the three cases of 'angry behavior', 'anger expression', and 'psychological state at interview'. The results show that yoga and music treatments have positive effects on the patients, although the statistical significance is not so great. However, the more reliable and significant results could be obtained in further studies by prolongation of the practice period, and by introducing the clinical information such as brain mapping to compensate the emotional bias of the patients.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.286-294
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• 2010

This study was performed to identify the cerebral network associated with sensation through the tickling stimulation, which is distinctive from the rest of other networks processing normal stimulation and to investigate the difference of laughing mechanism which is closely related to tickling using functional MRI(fMRI). A 16 healthy volunteers (mean age: 28.9) on a 3.0T MR scanner during two sensation conditions. Counterbalanced stimulus were presented across the participants, and the stimulation was used block design. Acquired data was analyzed by the statistical parametric mapping (SPM 99). Subject and group analysis was performed. Individual analysis showed the activation of somatic sensation area in both tasks and the tickling sensation test showed more activated area in the Wernicke's area(BA40) compared to the normal sensation. The group analysis result shows that under normal stimulations, both sides of somatosensory cortices(BA 1,2 and 3) were activated and under tickling stimulation, not only the cortices but also those huge activation on thalamus, cingulate gyrus and insular lobe were detected. When the tickling was stopped, significant activations were shown in right cingulate gyrus, left MFG area and left insular lobe. A cerebral area responsible for recognizing tickling sensation was examined and the primitive stimulation such as tickling is much closely related to laugh, which is an important factor for various social activities.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.15
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• pp.6397-6403
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• 2014

Background: Aberrant promoter hypermethylation has been recognized in human breast carcinogenesis as a frequent molecular alteration associated with the loss of expression of a number of key regulatory genes and may serve as a biomarker. The E-cadherin gene (CDH1), mapping at chromosome 16q22, is an intercellular adhesion molecule in epithelial cells, which plays an important role in establishing and maintaining intercellular connections. The aim of our study was to assess the methylation pattern of CDH1 and to correlate it with the expression of E-cadherin, clinicopathological parameters and hormone receptor status in breast cancer patients of Kashmir. Materials and Methods: Methylation specific PCR (MSP) was used to determine the methylation status of CDH1 in 128 invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs) paired with the corresponding normal tissue samples. Immunohistochemistry was used to study the expression of E-cadherin, ER and PR. Results: CDH1 hypermethylation was detected in 57.8% of cases and 14.8% of normal adjacent controls. Reduced levels of E-cadherin protein were observed in 71.9% of our samples. Loss of E-cadherin expression was significantly associated with the CDH1 promoter region methylation (p<0.05, OR=3.48, CI: 1.55-7.79). Hypermethylation of CDH1 was significantly associated with age at diagnosis (p=0.030), tumor size (p=0.008), tumor grade (p=0.024) and rate of node positivity or metastasis (p=0.043). Conclusions: Our preliminary findings suggest that abnormal CDH1 methylation occurs in high frequencies in infiltrating breast cancers associated with a decrease in E-cadherin expression. We found significant differences in tumor-related CDH1 gene methylation patterns relevant to tumor grade, tumor size, nodal involvement and age at diagnosis of breast tumors, which could be extended in future to provide diagnostic and prognostic information.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.11
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• pp.1544-1550
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• 2008

The retinoids (vitamin A and its derivatives) play a critical role in vision, growth, reproduction, cell differentiation and embryonic development. Using the IMpRH panel, porcine cellular retinol binding protein genes 5 and 7 (RBP5 and RBP7) were assigned to porcine chromosomes 5 and 6, respectively. The complete coding sequences (CDS) of the RBP5 and RBP7 genes were amplified using the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method, and the deduced amino acid sequences of both genes were compared to human corresponding proteins. The mRNA distributions of the two genes in adult Wuzhishan pig tissues (lung, skeletal muscle, spleen, heart, stomach, large intestine, lymph node, small intestine, liver, brain, kidney and fat) were examined. A total of nine single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were identified in two genes. Three of these SNPs were analyzed using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction-fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method in Laiwu, Wuzhishan, Guizhou, Bama, Tongcheng, Yorkshire and Landrace pig breeds. Association analysis of genotypes of these SNP loci with economic traits was done in our experimental populations. Significant associations of different genotypes of $RBP5-A/G^{63}$, $RBP5-A/G^{517}$ and $RPB5-T/C^{intron1-90}$ loci with traits including maximum carcass length (LM), minimum carcass length (LN), marbling score (MS), back fat thickness at shoulder (SBF), meat color score (MCS) and hematocrit (HCT) were detected. These SNPs may be useful as genetic markers in genetic improvement for porcine production.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.63-73
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• 2016

It is widely acknowledged that the human auditory system is organized tonotopically and people generally listen to sounds as a function of frequency distribution through the auditory system. However, it is still unclear how acoustic features of speech sounds are indicated to the human brain in terms of speech perception. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate whether two sounds with similar high-frequency characteristics in the acoustic analysis show similar results at the level of auditory brainstem. Thirty three young adults with normal hearing participated in the study. As stimuli, two Korean monosyllables (i.e., /ja/ and /cha/) and four frequencies of toneburst (i.e., 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz) were used to elicit the auditory brainstem response (ABR). Measures of monosyllable and toneburst were highly replicable and the wave V of waveform was detectable in all subjects. In the results of Pearson correlation analysis, the /ja/ syllable had a high correlation with 4000 Hz of toneburst which means that its acoustic characteristics (i.e., 3671~5384 Hz) showed the same results in the brainstem. However, the /cha/ syllable had a high correlation with 1000 and 2000 Hz of toneburst although it has acoustical distribution of 3362~5412 Hz. We concluded that there was disagreement between acoustic features and physiology outcomes at the auditory brainstem level. This finding suggests that an acoustical-perceptual mapping study is needed to scrutinize human speech perception.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2005

Impaired processing of facial information is one of the broad ranges of cognitive deficits seen in patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the differences in brain activities involved in the process of facial working memory between schizophrenic patients and healthy comparison subjects. Ten patients with schizophrenia were recruited along with matched healthy volunteers as a comparison group. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess cortical activities during the performance of a 1-back working memory paradigm using images of neutral faces as mnemonic content. The patient group performed the tasks with reduced accuracy. Group analysis revealed that left fusiform gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, bilateral middle frontal gyri/insula, left middle temporal gyrus, precuneus and vermis of cerebellum and showed decreased cortical activities in the patient group. On the other hand, an increased level of activation in lateral prefrontal cortex and parietal lobule was observed from the patient group, all in the right hemisphere. A decreased level of activity in the left fusiform gyrus among the patient group implicates inefficient processing of facial information. An increased level of activation in prefrontal and parietal neural networks from the patient group confirms earlier findings on the impaired working memory of patients with schizophrenia.