• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.513-518
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• 2009

Purpose: Integration of the functional information of myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS) and the morphoanatomical information of coronary CT angiography (CTA) may provide useful additional diagnostic information of the spatial relationship between perfusion defects and coronary stenosis. We studied to know the added value of three dimensional cardiac SPECT/CTA fusion imaging (fusion image) by comparing between fusion image and MPS. Materials and Methods: Forty-eight patients (M:F=26:22, Age: $63.3{\pm}10.4$ years) with a reversible perfusion defect on MPS (adenosine stress/rest SPECT with Tc-99m sestamibi or tetrofosmin) and CTA were included. Fusion images were molded and compared with the findings from the MPS. Invasive coronary angiography served as a reference standard for fusion image and MPS. Results: Total 144 coronary arteries in 48 patients were analyzed; Fusion image yielded the sensitivity, specificity, negative and positive predictive value for the detection of hemodynamically significant stenosis per coronary artery 82.5%, 79.3%, 76.7% and 84.6%, respectively. Respective values for the MPS were 68.8%, 70.7%, 62.1% and 76.4%. And fusion image also could detect more multi-vessel disease. Conclusion: Fused three dimensional volume-rendered SPECT/CTA imaging provides intuitive convincing information about hemodynamic relevant lesion and could improved diagnostic accuracy.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.459-467
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• 2009

Purpose: The maximum likelihood-expectation maximization (ML-EM) is the statistical reconstruction algorithm derived from probabilistic model of the emission and detection processes. Although the ML-EM has many advantages in accuracy and utility, the use of the ML-EM is limited due to the computational burden of iterating processing on a CPU (central processing unit). In this study, we developed a parallel computing technique on GPU (graphic processing unit) for ML-EM algorithm. Materials and Methods: Using Geforce 9800 GTX+ graphic card and CUDA (compute unified device architecture) the projection and backprojection in ML-EM algorithm were parallelized by NVIDIA's technology. The time delay on computations for projection, errors between measured and estimated data and backprojection in an iteration were measured. Total time included the latency in data transmission between RAM and GPU memory. Results: The total computation time of the CPU- and GPU-based ML-EM with 32 iterations were 3.83 and 0.26 see, respectively. In this case, the computing speed was improved about 15 times on GPU. When the number of iterations increased into 1024, the CPU- and GPU-based computing took totally 18 min and 8 see, respectively. The improvement was about 135 times and was caused by delay on CPU-based computing after certain iterations. On the other hand, the GPU-based computation provided very small variation on time delay per iteration due to use of shared memory. Conclusion: The GPU-based parallel computation for ML-EM improved significantly the computing speed and stability. The developed GPU-based ML-EM algorithm could be easily modified for some other imaging geometries.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.341-352
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• 2017

Along with Cs-137 (half-life: 30.17 years), Sr-90 (half-life: 28.8 years) is one of the most important environmental monitoring radioactive elements. Rapid and easy monitoring method for Sr-90 using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) has been studied. Strontium belongs to a bivalent alkaline earth metal such as calcium and has similar electron arrangement and size. Due to these similar chemical properties, it can easily enter into the human body through the food chain via water, soil, and crops when leaked into the environment. In addition, it is immersed into the bone at the case of human influx and causes the toxicity for a long time (biological half-life: about 50 years). It is a very reductive and related with the specific reaction that makes wet analysis difficult. In particular, radioactive strontium should be monitored by nuclear power plants but it is very difficult to be analysed from high-cost problems as well as low accuracy of analysis due to complicated analysis procedures, expensive analysis equipment, and a pretreatment process of using massive chemicals. Therefore, we introduce the Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) analysis method that analyzes the elements in the sample using the inherent spectrum by generating plasma on the sample using pulse energy, and it can be analyzed in a few seconds without preprocessing. A variety of analytical plates for samples were developed to improve the analytical sensitivity by optimizing the laser, wavelength, and time resolution. This can be effectively applied to real-time monitoring of radioactive wastewater discharged from a nuclear power plant, and furthermore, it can be applied as an emergency monitoring means such as possible future accidents at a nuclear power plants.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.499-505
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• 2003

Background : The brain is a common site of a metastasis in lung cancer patients. If left untreated, the patients succumb to progressive neurological deterioration with a lower survival rate than with other metastases sites. Contrast-enhanced MR imaging in the absence of symptoms or clinical signs is not recommended for identifying a cerebral metastasis in lung cancer patients because of management effectiveness. This pilot study was performed to estimate whether or not limited brain MR imaging, which has a lower cost, could be used to replace conventional brain MR imaging. Method : Between April 1999 and March 2001, 43 patients with a primary lung cancer and the others (breast cancer, stomach cancer, colon cancer, malignant melanoma etc), who had neurological symptoms and signs, were examined using conventional brain MR imaging to examine brain metastases. The control group involved four patients who had no evidence of brain metastases the sensitivity, specificity and correlation of limited brain MR imaging were compared with conventional brain MR imaging. Results : All the 43 patients who were examined with conventional brain MR imaging showed evidence of brain metastases, whereas limited brain MR imaging indicated that 42 patients had brain metastases(sensitivity=97.67%). One patient in whom limited brain MR imaging showed no brain metastasis had a metastasis in the cerebellum, as shown by the contrast-enhanced T1 weighted axial view using conventional brain MR imaging. The conventional brain MR imaging and the limited brain MI imaging of the 4 control patients both indicated no brain metastases (specificity=100 %). The Pearson Correlation of the two groups was 0.884(Confidence Interval : 99%) observed. Conclusion : Limited brain MR imaging can detect a brain metastasis with the same accuracy. In addition, it is cost-effective (229,000 won, 180$) compared to conventional brain MR imaging(529,000 won, 480$) when patients had neurological symptoms and signs or staging.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.646-652
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to investigate method validation for determination of sesamol, sesamin, and sesamolin in non-fermented sesame and fermented sesame by bioconversion. For validation, the specificity, linearity, precision, accuracy, limits of detection (LOD), and quantification (LOQ) of sesamol, sesamin, and sesamolin were measured by HPLC. Linearity tests showed that the coefficients of calibration correlation ($R^2$) for sesamol, sesamin, and sesamolin were 0.9999. Recovery rates of lignan contents in non-fermented and fermented sesame were high in the ranges of 100.27~115.10% and 98.43~114.90%, respectively. The inter-day and intra-day precisions of sesamin and sesamolin analyses for non-fermented and fermented sesame were 0.27~1.94% and 0.25~0.69%, respectively. The LOD and LOQ were $0.23{\sim}0.34{\mu}g/g$ and $0.70{\sim}1.03{\mu}g/g$, respectively. These results indicate that the validated method is appropriate for the determination of sesamol, sesamin, and sesamolin.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 2013

This study was conducted to investigate the reliability of automatic cracked and bloody egg detector according to the age of the hens and the level of the detector. The results of this study are expected to be helpful in the implementation of the Korean egg grading system, which is expected to improve egg quality for consumers. An official egg grader randomly selected 1,000 eggs for each experiment (total 36,000 eggs), ran them through the automatic detector, and conducted labor inspection using the eggs that were classified by the detector as cracked, bloody, and normal eggs. The results showed that more cracked eggs were laid by hens aged 40-60 weeks than by hens aged 30 weeks (p<0.05). Also, when the detector level increased from four to seven (i.e., when it became less sensitive), its cracked eggs detection rate dropped, and the total rate of cracked eggs was consistent after the labor inspection of the classified eggs. The automatic detector achieved over 97 percent accuracy. The bloody eggs constituted only 0.005 percent of all the samples, and all the detector-detected eggs were bloody eggs after the labor inspection of both the bloody and normal egg lines. Therefore, it can be concluded that the automatic cracked and bloody egg detector was reliable and can be used in the egg grading system. Considering that cracked eggs should be less than 9 percent of first-grade eggs in the present egg grading system, the use of an automatic crack detector may help provide better-quality eggs to consumers by producing less than 5.5 percent cracked eggs.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.307-319
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• 2016

A Land-Atmosphere Modeling Package (LAMP) for supporting agricultural and forest management was developed at the National Center for AgroMeteorology (NCAM). The package is comprised of two components; one is the Weather Research and Forecasting modeling system (WRF) coupled with Noah-Multiparameterization options (Noah-MP) Land Surface Model (LSM) and the other is an offline one-dimensional LSM. The objective of this paper is to briefly describe the two components of the NCAM-LAMP and to evaluate their initial performance. The coupled WRF/Noah-MP system is configured with a parent domain over East Asia and three nested domains with a finest horizontal grid size of 810 m. The innermost domain covers two Gwangneung deciduous and coniferous KoFlux sites (GDK and GCK). The model is integrated for about 8 days with the initial and boundary conditions taken from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Final Analysis (FNL) data. The verification variables are 2-m air temperature, 10-m wind, 2-m humidity, and surface precipitation for the WRF/Noah-MP coupled system. Skill scores are calculated for each domain and two dynamic vegetation options using the difference between the observed data from the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) and the simulated data from the WRF/Noah-MP coupled system. The accuracy of precipitation simulation is examined using a contingency table that is made up of the Probability of Detection (POD) and the Equitable Threat Score (ETS). The standalone LSM simulation is conducted for one year with the original settings and is compared with the KoFlux site observation for net radiation, sensible heat flux, latent heat flux, and soil moisture variables. According to results, the innermost domain (810 m resolution) among all domains showed the minimum root mean square error for 2-m air temperature, 10-m wind, and 2-m humidity. Turning on the dynamic vegetation had a tendency of reducing 10-m wind simulation errors in all domains. The first nested domain (7,290 m resolution) showed the highest precipitation score, but showed little advantage compared with using the dynamic vegetation. On the other hand, the offline one-dimensional Noah-MP LSM simulation captured the site observed pattern and magnitude of radiative fluxes and soil moisture, and it left room for further improvement through supplementing the model input of leaf area index and finding a proper combination of model physics.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.11
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• pp.1610-1616
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• 2016

This study aimed to establish an optimal extraction process and high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) analytical method for determination of 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid (3,5-DCQA) as a part of materials standardization for the development of a xanthine oxidase inhibitor as a health functional food. The quantitative determination method of 3,5-DCQA as a marker compound was optimized by HPLC analysis using a Luna RP-18 column, and the correlation coefficient for the calibration curve showed good linearity of more than 0.9999 using a gradient eluent of water (1% acetic acid) and methanol as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min and a detection wavelength of 320 nm. The HPLC-UV method was applied successfully to quantification of the marker compound (3,5-DCQA) in Aster glehni extracts after validation of the method with linearity, accuracy, and precision. Ethanolic extracts of A. glehni (AGEs) were evaluated by reflux extraction at 70 and $80^{\circ}C$ with 30, 50, 70, and 80% ethanol for 3, 4, 5, and 6 h, respectively. Among AGEs, 70% AGE at $70^{\circ}C$ showed the highest content of 3,5-DCQA of $52.59{\pm}3.45mg/100g$ A. glehni. Furthermore, AGEs were analyzed for their inhibitory activities on uric acid production by the xanthine/xanthine oxidase system. The 70% AGE at $70^{\circ}C$ showed the most potent inhibitory activity with $IC_{50}$ values of $77.01{\pm}3.13{\sim}89.96{\pm}3.08{\mu}g/mL$. The results suggest that standardization of 3,5-DCQA in AGEs using HPLC-UV analysis would be an acceptable method for the development of health functional foods.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.64 no.4
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• pp.452-458
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• 2019

Coix lacryma-jobi var. ma-yuen (Rom. Caill.) Stapf (CL), which contains riboflavin and coixol, has traditionally been used to treat cancer and arthritis. However, no method for the simultaneous determination of riboflavin and coixol in CL sprouts has been established. In this study, we established and validated a high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) method for the identification and quantification of two reference markers, riboflavin and coixol, in CL sprout extracts. CL sprouts (whole sprouts and leaves) were subjected to extraction with 70% ethanol at room temperature and at 80 ℃ under reflux conditions. The two extractions were validated with respect to specificity, accuracy, precision, and linearity. The content of the two reference markers was highest in leaves extracted under reflux conditions (riboflavin, 8.23 ± 0.32 mg/g; coixol, 5.95 ± 0.04 mg/g). We also investigated the antioxidant activity of the extracts via 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS⁺) scavenging assays. The results indicated that extracts obtained from sprouts under reflux conditions had the strongest antioxidative effects (DPPH half maximal inhibitory concentration [IC₅₀], 68.9 ± 4.1 g/mL; and ABTS, IC₅₀, 34.9 ± 0.1 g/mL). These results can serve as baseline data for the simultaneous determination of the two reference marker compounds, riboflavin and coixol, and development of functional food materials using CL sprouts.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.288-294
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• 2011

BACKGROUND: Methylmercury is analyzed by HPLC-ICP/MS because of the simplicity for sample preparation and interference. However, most of the pre-treatment methods for methylmercury need a further pH adjustment of the extracted solution and removal of organic matter for HPLC. The purpose of this study was to establish a rapid and accurate analytical method for determination of methylmercury in fish by using HPLC-ICP/MS. METHOD AND RESULTS: We conducted an experiment for pre-treatment and instrument conditions and analytical method verification. Pre-treatment condition was established with aqueous 1% L-cysteine HCl and heated at $60^{\circ}C$ in microwave for 20 min. Methylmercury in $50{\mu}L$ of filtered extract was separated by a C18 column and aqueous 0.1% L-cysteine HCl + 0.1% L-cysteine mobile phase at $25^{\circ}C$. The presence of cysteine in mobile phase and sample solution was essential to eliminate adsorption, peak tailing and memory effect problems. Correlation coefficient($r^2$) for the linearity was 0.9998. The limits of detection and quantitation for this method were 0.15 and $0.45{\mu}g/kg$ respectively. CONCLUSION: Result for analytical method verification, accuracy and repeatability of the analytes were in good agreement with the certified reference materials values of methylmercury at a 95% confidence level. The advantage of the established method is that the extracted solution can be directly injected into the HPLC column without additional processes and the memory effect of mercury in the ICP-MS can be eliminated.