• Asian Spine Journal
• /
• v.12 no.6
• /
• pp.1085-1091
• /
• 2018

Study Design: Case-control. Purpose: To determine optimal cut-off value for body mass index (BMI) in predicting surgical success in patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS). Overview of Literature: BMI is an essential variable in the assessment of patients with LSCS. Methods: We conducted a prospective study with obese and non-obese LSCS surgical patients and analyzed data on age, sex, duration of symptoms, walking distance, morphologic grade of stenosis, BMI, postoperative complications, and functional disability. Obesity was defined as BMI of ${\geq}30kg/m^2$. Patients completed the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) questionnaire before surgery and 2 years after surgery. Surgical success was defined as ${\geq}30%$ improvement from the baseline ODI score. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to estimate the optimal cut-off values of BMI to predict surgical success. In addition, correlation was assessed between BMI and stenosis grade based on morphology as defined by Schizas and colleague in total, 189 patients were eligible to enter the study. Results: Mean age of patients was $61.5{\pm}9.6years$. Mean follow-up was $36{\pm}12months$. Most patients (88.4%) were classified with grades C (severe stenosis) and D (extreme stenosis). Post-surgical success was 85.7% at the 2-year follow-up. A weak correlation was observed between morphologic grade of stenosis and BMI. Rates of postoperative complications were similar between patients who were obese and those who were non-obese. Both cohorts had similar degree of improvement in the ODI at the 2-year followup. However, patients who were non-obese presented significantly higher surgical success than those who were obese. In ROC curve analysis, a cut-off value of ${\leq}29.1kg/m^2$ for BMI in patients with LSCS was suggestive of surgical success, with 81.1% sensitivity and 82.2% specificity (area under the curve, 0.857; 95% confidence interval, 0.788-0.927). Conclusion: This study showed that the BMI can be considered a parameter for predicting surgical success in patients with LSCS and can be useful in clinical practice.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.309-317
• /
• 2022

It is reported that social distancing caused by the corona pandemic has resulted in a decrease in physical activity, and a decrease in muscle mass due to this increases the risk of vascular disease. Therefore, in this study, the risk of carotid intima media thickness was evaluated by measuring the thickness of CIMT, and the differences in variables according to gender were analyzed. From January 2022 to May 2022, a total of 220 people (121 males, 99 females) who performed blood tests, carotid ultrasound, and body composition analysis among those who visited the health check-up center of Busan H Hospital were included in this study. Significant differences in risk factors according to gender were analyzed using the chi-square test. The cut-off values of variables that can predict the risk of carotid intima media thickness were calculated, and the accuracy was evaluated by calculating the area under the curve, sensitivity, and specificity. As a result of the difference analysis, the higher the total cholesterol in men and the appendicular skeletal muscle index in women, the higher the risk of carotid intima media thickness. The cut-off value for predicting the risk of carotid intima media thickness was calculated to be greater than 199 mg/dL of total cholesterol in the male group and less than 5.9 kg/m² of the appendicular skeletal muscle index in the female group. As a result of this study, the higher the total cholesterol in men and the lower the appendicular skeletal muscle index in women, the higher the risk of increased CIMT. Therefore, in women, the appendicular skeletal muscle index is expected to serve as an indicator to predict and prevent vascular changes at an early stage.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
• /
• v.15 no.3
• /
• pp.110-117
• /
• 2015

All infants should be screened for phenylketonuria (PKU) within the three days of life, in order to allow timely dietary intervention to protect children with PKU from neurologic damage in Korea. A commonly used cut-off level for diagnosis of PKU is $240{\mu}mol/L$ (4 mg/dL). Up to 2% of cases of hyperphenylalaninemias (HPA) detected by the screening test will account for a disorder of $BH_4$ metabolism. Therefore, analysis of blood or urinary pterins is essential, backed up with measurement of DHPR activity, as this allows differentiation of $BH_4$ disorders. A $BH_4$ loading test and measurement of neurotransmitters in CSF provide further important information to the severity of $BH_4$ deficiency and $BH_4$ loading test can detect patients with $BH_4$ deficiency and $BH_4$ responsive PKU. Several protocols for $BH_4$ loading test have been described, involving treatment with $BH_4$ for periods ranging from 1 day to 1 month, and using doses of $BH_4$ of 10-20 mg/kg. There is general agreement that a reduction on blood phenylalanine of at least 30% in response to $BH_4$ loading indicates a clinically significant effect, although in some tests a lower cut-off value may be defined for individual patients, or no specific cut-off value is proposed. The frequency of $BH_4$ responsiveness is highest in patients with mild HPA and mild to moderate PKU resulting from PAH mutations with residual activity.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• v.37 no.5
• /
• pp.306-309
• /
• 2022

Probiotics are live microorganisms that confer health benefits onto the host when administered at adequate doses. Most widely used probiotics, such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria, are known to be elements of healthy gut microflora and hence are not considered a threat to the host. However, probiotics may pose a risk in certain populations with compromised immune systems or defects in gut barrier functions. Herein, we evaluated the safety of Bifidobacterium breve BB077, according to the safety evaluation guidelines for probiotics produced by the National Institute of Food and Drug Safety Evaluation (NIFDS). The results show that B. breve BB077 is both non-hemolytic and non-cytolytic. In contrast, B. breve BB077 exhibited higher streptomycin and tetracycline resistance than the suggested NIFDS standard cut-off values. Hence, a genetic analysis of the streptomycin and tetracycline resistance genes was performed to determine the origin of antimicrobial resistance. Streptomycin and tetracycline resistance was shown have arisen from chromosomal mutations and considered intrinsic to the taxonomic group. In conclusion, the B. breve BB077 strain might be safe for human consumption.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
• /
• v.17 no.10
• /
• pp.567-575
• /
• 2017

In this study, when diagnosis pancreatic cancer by dual time point PET/CT, we propose SUVm 2.52 as the threshold value for performing the dual time point PET/CT exam. The hypothesis of normal distribution was adopted through data conversion of 60 pancreatic diseases. The proposed SUVm2.52 boundary value showed a significance level that could be applied to both 120 and 180 minutes of delay time scan for pancreatic cancer determination (p<0.05). C-value variation shows that delay time 2 hour test is more useful than delay time 3 hour test. When the SUVm 2.52 is set to the boundary value and the double-time point PET/CT exam is performed, the probability of distinguishing cancer from inflammation in the delayed image is 95%. When the delayed test is performed with the proposed boundary value SUVm 2.52, Compared with general PET / CT scans, it is thought that it may be helpful to distinguish pancreatic cancer.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.47 no.1
• /
• pp.50-56
• /
• 1999

Background : Pleural effusion is a common clinical problem and many clinical and laboratory evaluations, such as tumor marks, have been studied to discriminate malignant pleural fluid from benign pleural fluid. However their usefulness in the diagnosis of pleural effusion is still not established fully. We studied the diagnostic value of cyfra 21-1 in diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion. Methods: Pleural fluid was obtained from 45 patients with malignant diseases(32 lung cancer patients, 13 metastatic malignant diseases) and 47 patients with benign diseases. The level of cyfra 21-1 in the pleural fluid and serum were determined using a CYFRA 21-1 enzyme immunoassay kit(Cis-Bio International Co.). The t-test was used for comparison between two diseases groups and receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curves were constructed by calculating the sensitivities and specificities of the cyfra 21-1 at several points to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the cyfra 21-1. Results: In patients with primary lung cancer, the level of cyfra 21-1 in the pleural fluid was significantly higher than those of patients with benign diseases and had positive correlations between the level of cyfra 21-1 in the pleural fluid and serum levels. In the ROC curve analysis of the pleural fluid, the curve for primary lung cancer group was located closer to the left upper comer and the cut off value, sensitivity and specificity of the cyfra 21-1 of the primary lung cancer group was determined as 22.25ng/ml, 81.8% and 78.7% respectively. Conclusions: Our data indicates that the measurement of cyfra 21-1 level in pleural effusion has useful diagnostic value to discriminate malignant pleural effusion in primary lung cancer from benign pleural effusion.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
• /
• v.4 no.3
• /
• pp.240-249
• /
• 2004

In the present paper efforts have been made to optimize InAlAs/InGaAs HEMT by enhancing the effective gate voltage ($(V_c-V_off)$) using pulsed doped structure from uniformly doped to delta doped for microwave frequency applications and reliability. The detailed design criteria to select the proper design parameters have also been discussed in detail to exclude parallel conduction without affecting the del ice performance. Then the optimized value of $V_c-V_off$and breakdown voltages corresponding to maximum value of transconductance has been obtained. These values are then used to predict the transconductance and cut-off frequency of the del ice for different channel depths and gate lengths.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
• /
• v.25 no.12
• /
• pp.21-26
• /
• 2011

This is a study to establish regulations against light pollution for lighting on roads. Many kinds of light pollution by luminaire on roads was calculated and analyzed by applying the classification method of luminaires(Cut-off classification of IDA-IESNA, BUG Rating Classification) and the calculation method of Upward Lighting Ratio of CIE among measures to prevent light pollution that international lighting organizations suggest. As a result of the analysis, it was found that the regulation by Cutoff of IESNA and ULR classification of CIE could be one for scattered light of light pollution compared to BUG classification but is not sufficient for the regulation of light tresspass or glare. BUG classification by each lighting zone was suggested as threshold value of the light pollution regulation considering domestic conditions.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
• /
• v.48 no.9
• /
• pp.847-855
• /
• 2010

The grain size of a cross-section of $8{\mu}m$-thick copper film was determined by electron backscatter diffraction analysis. Grain size distribution histogram showed the presence of a large fraction of small-sized grains, and the mean grain size was significantly affected by handling of them. A cut-off grain size, below which all grains are ignored as noise and eliminated for the calculation of the mean value, should be three or four times as large as the step size. Due to the presence of small grains, the linear intercept method derived larger mean grain size, which depends less sensitively on the cut-off grain size than the equivalent circle diameter method.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.10 no.2
• /
• pp.51-59
• /
• 2009

This study is based on field data obtained from rock grouting such as RQD value, Unit cement grout volume, Lugeon value(Lu), and Maximum grout pressure in four different dam sites. The relationship were analyzed and compared as follow. The cut-off effect after rock grouting in dam-foundation which are mostly consist of metamorphic rock is better than that of Sedimentary rock. And the impermeable effect after consolidation grouting is more efficiency than the impermeable effect after curtain grouting. The unit cement grout volume are increased as RQD value is higher in rock mass. But there is no relationship between RQD value and Lugeon value. In the sedimentary rock, which is more permeable than metamorphic rock, Lugeon value (Lu) is a linear function (Lu=0.22Vc) of unit cement grout volume (Vc). Cut-off effect of curtain grouting is less influential at each near holes which are already grouted than that of consolidation grouting. And the behavior characteristics of Lugeon value vs. the unit cement grout volume as the order of installations are almost the same.