• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.33-37
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• 2001

Purpose : The water exchange rate between bulk water and bound water is an important parameter in deciding the efficiency of paramagnetic contrast agents. In this study, we evaluated the water exchange rates of various Gd-chelates using oxygen-17 NMR technique. Material and Methods : The samples (Gd-DTPA, Gd-DTPA-BMA, Gd-DOTA, Gd-EOB-DTPA) were prepared by mixing 5% $^{17}O-enriched$ water (Isotech, USA). The pH of the samples was adjusted to physiological value [pH=7.0] by buffer solution. The variable temperature $^{17}O-NMR$ measurements were performed using Bruker-600 (14.1 T, 81.3 MHz) spectrometer. Bruker VT-1000 temperature control units were used to stabilize the temperature. The $^{17}O$ spin-spin relaxation times (T2) were measured using Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG)I pulse sequence with 24 echo trains. The variable temperature T2 relaxation data were then fitted into Solomon-Bloembergen equations using least square fit algorithm to estimate the water exchange times. Results : From the measured $^{17}O-NMR$ relaxation rates, the determined water exchange rates at 300K are $0.42{\;}{\mu}s$ for Gd-DTPA, $1.99{\;}{\mu}s$ for Gd-DTPA-BMA, $0.27{\;}{\mu}s$ for Gd-DOTA, and $0.11{\;}{\mu}s$ for Gd-EOB-DTPA. The Gd-DTPA-BMA showed slowest exchange whereas Gd-EOB-DTPA had fastest water exchange rate. In addition, it was found that the water exchange rates (${\tau}_m$) of all samples had exponential temperature dependence with different decay constant. Conclusion : $^{17}O-NMR$ relaxation rate measurements, when combined with variable temperature technique, provide a solid tool for studying water exchange rate, which is very important in investigating the detailed mechanism of relaxation enhancement effect of the paramagnetic contrast agents.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.83 no.2
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• pp.344-359
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• 2022

Purpose To develop a denoising convolutional neural network-based image processing technique and investigate its efficacy in diagnosing breast cancer using low-dose mammography imaging. Materials and Methods A total of 6 breast radiologists were included in this prospective study. All radiologists independently evaluated low-dose images for lesion detection and rated them for diagnostic quality using a qualitative scale. After application of the denoising network, the same radiologists evaluated lesion detectability and image quality. For clinical application, a consensus on lesion type and localization on preoperative mammographic examinations of breast cancer patients was reached after discussion. Thereafter, coded low-dose, reconstructed full-dose, and full-dose images were presented and assessed in a random order. Results Lesions on 40% reconstructed full-dose images were better perceived when compared with low-dose images of mastectomy specimens as a reference. In clinical application, as compared to 40% reconstructed images, higher values were given on full-dose images for resolution (p < 0.001); diagnostic quality for calcifications (p < 0.001); and for masses, asymmetry, or architectural distortion (p = 0.037). The 40% reconstructed images showed comparable values to 100% full-dose images for overall quality (p = 0.547), lesion visibility (p = 0.120), and contrast (p = 0.083), without significant differences. Conclusion Effective denoising and image reconstruction processing techniques can enable breast cancer diagnosis with substantial radiation dose reduction.

• Annals of Clinical Neurophysiology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.21-26
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• 2010

Background: Although quantitative sensory test (QST) is being used with increasing frequency for measuring sensory thresholds in clinical practice and epidemiologic studies, there has been no age-matched normative data in Korean adults. The objective of this study is to evaluate the value of QST in diabetic polyneuropathy with normal range in Korean adults. Methods: The Computer Aided Sensory Examination IV 4,2 (WR Medical Electronics Co., Stillwater, Minnesota, U.S.A.), with 4,2,1 stepping algorithm was used to determine vibration and cold perception threshold in 70 normal controls and 19 patients with diabetic polyneuropathy aged from 21 to 79 years. The data were used to define age-matched upper and lower normal limits and normal range of side to side difference. We also evaluated the duration of diabetes, serum HbA1C level, and findings of nerve conduction study (NCS) and QST in patients with diabetic polyneuropathy. Results: In normal adults, sensory thresholds slightly increased with age, and a slight side-to-side difference was observed. The diagnostic sensitivity of QST was not higher than NCS in patients with diabetic polyneuropathy (36.8% vs. 42.1%, p=0.716), especially among elderly patients. Conclusions: QST might be used as a complementary test for NCS in the diagnosis of diabetic polyneuropathy. Although the QST is a simple method for the evaluation of peripheral nerve function, there are some limitations. Most of all, because the QST measuring is dependent on the subjective response of patients, the degree of concentration and cooperation of the patients can significantly affect the result. And thus, attention should be paid during the interpretation of QST results in patients with peripheral neuropathy.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.70-78
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• 2016

21-hydroxylase deficiency (21-OHD), most common form of congenial adrenal hyperplasia, is categorized into classical forms, including the salt-wasting (SW) and the simple virilizing (SV) types, and nonclassical (NC) forms based on the severity of the disease. Newborn screening for 21-OHD has been performed in Korea since 2006. $17{\alpha}$-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) is a marker for 21-OHD and is measured using a radioimmunoassay or a fluoroimmunoassay. Premature and low birth weight infants are likely to give false positive 17-OHP findings, therefore, cutoff values for these infants should be determined based on gestational weeks or birth weight. ACTH simulation test is helpful when the 17-OHP shows equivocal increase, and it is gold standard for diagnosis of NC type. Recently, liquid chromatography linked with tandem mass spectrometry was developed for rapid, highly specific, and sensitive analysis of multiple analytes. Molecular analysis of CYP21A2 is useful for confirming diagnosis of mild SV or NC type, predicting prognoses, and genetic counseling. In order to make newborn screening for 21-OHD more efficient, early detection of boy with SW type, early determination of girl with ambiguous genitalia, detection of NC type, and overcoming of false positive in premature and low birth weight infants should be considered. Above all, early treatment should be started when the patient is suspected as having 21- OHD clinically before confirming the diagnosis to prevent adrenal crisis. Here, author reviewed recent articles of guideline and proposed guideline for 21-OHD.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.181-188
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• 2012

An effective extraction method for extracting a coated tongue is proposed in this paper, which is used as the diagnostic criteria in the tongue diagnosis. Proposed method uses the fluorescence response characteristics of the coated tongue that is occurred by using the ultraviolet light. Specially, this method can solved the previous problems including the issue in the limits of the diagnosis environment and in the objectivity of the diagnosis results. In our method, original tongue image is acquired by using the ultraviolet light, and binarization is performed by thresholding a valley-points in the histogram that corresponds to the color difference of tongue body and tongue coating. Final view image is presented to the oriental doctor, after applying the canny-edge algorithm to the binary image, and edge image is added to the original image. In order to evaluate the performance of the our proposed method, after building a various tongue image, we compared the true region of coated tongue by the oriental doctor's hand with the extracted region by the our method. As a result, the proposed method showed the average 87.87% extraction ratio. The shape of the extracted coated tongue region showed also significantly higher similarity.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2016

Newborn screening (NBS) is important if early intervention is effective in a disorder and if there are sensitive and specific biochemical markers to detect disorder. Methionine is a useful marker to detect abnormal methionine-homocysteine metabolism, especially homocystinuria which needs urgent medical intervention. However, hypermethioninemia could occur in other metabolic disorder including liver disease, tyrosinemia type I, methionine adenosyltransferase (MAT) I/III deficiency, glycine N-methyltransferase (GNMT) deficiency, or adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase deficiency. However, experience with NBS for homocystinurias and methylation disorders is limited. Especially, MAT I/III deficiency which is the most common cause of persistent hypermethioninemia have two inheritance, autosomal recessive (AR) and autosomal dominant (AD), and their clinical manifestation is different between AR and AD. Here, author reviewed recent articles of guideline and proposed guideline for homocystinuria and methylation disorder.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.99-109
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• 2001

Authors investigated neuronal changes of local cellular metabolism in the cerebral lesions of Parkinsonian symptomatic side between before and after stereotactic neurosurgery by follow-up 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) (n = 15) and age-matched normal controls (n = 15) underwen MRS examinations using a stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) pulse sequence that provided 2${\times}$2${\times}$2 ㎤ (8ml) volume of interest in the regions of substantia nigra, thalamus, and lentiform nucleus. Spectral parameters were 20 ms TE, 2000 ms TR, 128 averages,2500 Hz spectral width, and 2048 data points. Raw data were processed by the SAGE data analysis package (GE Medical Systems). Peak areas of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr), choline-containing compounds (Cho), inositols (Ins), and the sum (Glx) of glutamate and GABA were calculated by means of fitting the spectrum to a summation of Lorentzian curves using Marquardt algorithm. After blindly processed, we evaluated neuronal alterations of observable metabolite ratios between before and after stereotactic neurosurgery using Pearson product-moment analysis (SPSS, Ver. 6.0). A significant reduction of NAA/Cho ratio was observed in the cerebral lesion in substantia nigra of PD patient related to the symptomatic side after neurosurgery (P : 0.03). In thalamus, NAA/Cho ratio was also significantly decreased in the cerebral lesion including the electrode-surgical region (P : 0.03). A significant reduction of NAA/Cho ratio in lentiform nucleus was not oberved, but tended toward significant reduction after neurosurgery (P = 0.08). In particular, remarkable lactate signal was noted from the surgical thalamic lesions of 6 among 8 patients and internal segments of globus pallidus of 6 among 7 patients, respectively. Significant metabolic alterations of NAA/Cho ratio might reflect functional changes of neuropathological processes in the lesion of substantia nigra, thalamus, and lentiform nucleus, and could be a valuable finding fur evaluation of Parkinson's disease after neurosurgery. Increase of lactate signals, being remarkable in surgical lesions, could be consistent with a common consequence of neurosurgical necrosis. Thus, IH MRS could be a useful modality to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic implications fur Parkinsons disease after functional neurosurgery.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.375-381
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• 2015

Digital Radiography is a big part of diagnostic radiology. Because uncorrected digital radiography image supported false effect of Patient's health care. We must be manage the correct digital radiography image. Thus, the artifact images can have effect to make a wrong diagnosis. We report types of occurrence by analyzing the artifacts that occurs in digital radiography system. We had collected the artifacts occurred in digital radiography system of general hospital from 2007 to 2014. The collected data had analyzed and then had categorize as the occurred causes. The artifacts could be categorized by hardware artifacts, software artifacts, operating errors, system artifacts, and others. Hardware artifact from a Ghost artifact that is caused by lag effect occurred most frequently. The others cases are the artifacts caused by RF noise and foreign body in equipments. Software artifacts are many different types of reasons. The uncorrected processing artifacts and the image processing error artifacts occurred most frequently. Exposure data recognize (EDR) error artifacts, the processing error of commissural line, and etc., the software artifacts were caused by various reasons. Operating artifacts were caused when the user didn't have the full understanding of the digital medical image system. System artifacts had appeared the error due to DICOM header information and the compression algorithm. The obvious artifacts should be re-examined, and it could result in increasing the exposure dose of the patient. The unclear artifact leads to a wrong diagnosis and added examination. The ability to correctly determine artifact are required. We have to reduce the artifact occurrences by understanding its characteristic and providing sustainable education as well as the maintenance of the equipments.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2015

Purpose : Skip the repetitive HRCT axial scan in order to reduce the exposure of patients during chest HRCT scan, Helical Scan Data into a reconstructed image, and exposure of the patient change and visually evaluate the usefulness of the HRCT images. Materials and method : Patients were enrolled in the survey are 50 people who underwent chest CT scans of patients who presented to the hospital from January 2015 to March 2015. 50 people surveyed 22 people men and 28 people women people showed an average distribution of 30 to 80 years age was 48 years. 50 patients to Somatom Sensation 64 ch (Siemens) model with 120 kVp tube voltage to a reference mAs tube current to mAs (Care dose, Siemens) as a whole, including the lungs and the chest CT scan was performed. Scan upon each patient CARE dose 4D (Automatic exposure control, Siemens Medical Solution Erlangen, Germany) was to maintain the proper radiation dose scan every cross-section through a device that automatically adjusts the tube current of. CT scan is the rotation time of the Tube slice collimation, slice width 0.6 mm, pitch factor was made under the terms of 1.4. CT scan obtained after the raw data (raw data) to the upper surface of the axial images and coronal images for each slice thickness 1 mm, 5 mm intervals in the high spatial frequency calculation method (hight spatial resolution algorithm, B60 sharp) was the use of the lung window center -500 HU, windows were reconstructed into images in the interval -1000 HU to see. Result : 1. Measure the total value of DLP 50 patients who proceed to chest CT group A (Helical Scan after scan performed with HRCT) and group B (Helical Scan after the HR image reconstruction to the original data) compared with the group divided, analysis As a result of the age, but show little difference for each age group it had a decreased average dose of about 9%. 2. A Radiation read the results of the two Radiologist and a doctor upper lobe and middle lobe of the lung takes effect the visual evaluation is not a big difference between the two images both, depending on the age of the patient, especially if the blood vessels of the lower lobe (A: 3.4, B: 4.6) and bronchi(A: 3.8, B4.7) image shake caused by breathing in anxiety (blurring lead) to the original data (raw data) showed that the reconstructed image is been more useful in diagnostic terms. Conclusion : Scan was confirmed a continuous, rapid motion video to get Helical scan is much lower lobe lung reduction in visual blurring, Helical scan data to not repeat the examination by obtaining HRCT images reorganization reduced the exposure of the patient.

• The Korean Journal of Applied Statistics
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.47-59
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• 2020

In this paper, we present the longitudinal Markov binary regression model with t-link function when its transition order is known or unknown. It is assumed that logit or probit models are considered in binary regression models. Here, t-link function can be used for more flexibility instead of the probit model since the t distribution approaches to normal distribution as the degree of freedom goes to infinity. A Markov regression model is considered because of the longitudinal data of each individual data set. We propose Bayesian method to determine the transition order of Markov regression model. In particular, we use the deviance information criterion (DIC) (Spiegelhalter et al., 2002) of possible models in order to determine the transition order of the Markov binary regression model if the transition order is known; however, we compute and compare their posterior probabilities if unknown. In order to overcome the complicated Bayesian computation, our proposed model is reconstructed by the ideas of Albert and Chib (1993), Kuo and Mallick (1998), and Erkanli et al. (2001). Our proposed method is applied to the simulated data and real data examined by Sommer et al. (1984). Markov chain Monte Carlo methods to determine the optimal model are used assuming that the transition order of the Markov regression model are known or unknown. Gelman and Rubin's method (1992) is also employed to check the convergence of the Metropolis Hastings algorithm.