• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.405-407
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• 2019

Due to the variety in the shape of dysmorphic cartilage, tragus reconstruction is one of the most challenging goals in otoplasty. The authors describe a method to reconstruct a prominent tragus in a simple way suitable for accounting for the size, shape, and location of the remaining ear. We present a case of tragus deformity in an 11-year-old female patient after a previous excision of pretragal skin tags. There was a small remnant of the deeply located dystopic cartilage in a horizontal orientation. The dystopic cartilage was used to reconstruct the tragus using a chondrocutaneous transposition flap. Only a small portion of the pre-existing cartilage was used to create a chondrocutaneous transposition flap that supplemented the portion of cartilage during tragus reconstruction. The result was a new tragus that showed acceptable improvement in shape, location, and projection. Patients with a small portion of pre-existing cartilage near the tragal wall may benefit from the use of this method for tragus reconstruction.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.22-27
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• 2020

Auditory stimuli are commonly used in various electroencephalogram experiments, also in EEG-based brain-computer interface systems. However, using conventional earphones that blocks the ear canal attenuates or even blocks external environmental sound which might cause loss of crucial information from surroundings. Instead, bone-conductive earphones are able to deliver sound through vibration without blocking the ear canal. To investigate the feasibility of the bone-conductive earphones for auditory-stimuli based experiments, we compared N100 event-related potential features as well the event-related spectral perturbation and inter-trial coherence of auditory steady-state response between conventional and bone-conductive earphones. The results showed no significant differences between bone conduction and conventional earphones regardless of distinct sound pressures. This result shows that bone conductive earphones can be used for auditory experiments when the environmental sound is crucial to the user.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.525-534
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• 2019

Background In microtia patients with bilateral hearing impairment, hearing improvement is crucial for language development and performance. External auditory canal reconstruction (EACR) has been performed to improve hearing, but often results in complications. We performed transcutaneous bone conduction implant (TBCI) surgery in these patients. This study aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of TBCI surgery. Methods A retrospective review was performed of five patients who underwent auricular reconstruction and TBCI surgery and 12 patients who underwent EACR between March 2007 and August 2018. Hearing improvement was measured based on the air-bone gap values using pure-tone audiometry over a 6-week postoperative period. We reviewed other studies on hearing improvement using EACR and compared the findings with our results. The surgical techniques for TBCI were reviewed through case analyses. Results Postoperative hearing outcomes showed a significant improvement, with a mean gain of 34.1 dB in the TBCI cohort and 14.1 dB in the EACR cohort. Both gains were statistically significant; however, the TBCI cohort showed much larger gains. Only three of the 12 patients who underwent EACR achieved hearing gains of more than 20 dB, which is consistent with previous studies. All patients who underwent TBCI surgery demonstrated hearing gains of more than 20 dB and experienced no device-related complications. Conclusions TBCI is a safe and effective method of promoting hearing gains in microtia patients with bilateral hearing impairment. TBCI surgery provided better hearing outcomes than EACR and could be performed along with various auricular reconstruction techniques using virgin mastoid skin.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.192-197
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• 2013

Background To construct a sophisticated three-dimensional framework, numerous modifications have been reported in the literature. However, most surgeons have paid little attention to the anatomical configuration of the concha and more to its deepness and hollowness, leading to unsatisfactory outcomes. Methods For a configuration of the concha that is definitely anatomical, the author further developed and employed the conchal bowl element, which has been used by several surgeons although the results have not been published elsewhere. The author constructed the conchal bowl element in one of three patterns according to the amount of available cartilages: one block, two-pieces, or a cymba bowl element only. A total of 20 patients underwent auricular reconstruction using a costal cartilage framework between 2009 and 2012. The 8 earliest reconstructions were performed without a conchal bowl element and the latter 12 with a conchal bowl element. The patients were followed up for more than 1 year. The aesthetic results were scored by evaluating characteristics involving the stability of the crus helicis, the conchal definition, and the smoothness of the helical curve. Results The ears reconstructed early without a conchal bowl element showed a shallow and one or two incompletely separated concha with an obliterated cymba conchal space. They also did not have a realistic or smooth curve of the helix because of an unstable crus helicis. However, ears reconstructed later with the concha bowl element showed a definite crus helicis, deep cymba conchal space, and smooth helical curve. Conclusions The construction of the conchal bowl element is simple, not time-consuming procedure. It is suggested that the conchal bowl element must be constructed and attached to the main framework for natural configuration of the reconstructed ear.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.6
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• pp.466-475
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• 1997

In this paper, an implantable middle ear hearing aids using an electromagnetic transducer which consists of a tiny coil and a magnet is designed, and objective design method to implement a vibrator of the electromagnetic type transducer is proposed. Sound characteristic of the electromagnetic type vibrator is excellent but power transfer rate is lower than that of a ceramic type. To improve power transfer efficiency of system, external and inner part of a middle ear system is designed using FM transmission method. We implemented an experimental set of the designed transducer, inner part, and outer part. Then, we measured vibration characteristics of a metal strip and a temporal bone of a dead body. As the results, we confirmed the advantage of FM method and showed that designed transducer could effectively transmit vibration of amplified input sound pressure to ossicle.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.375-385
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• 2016

Recently, several implantable hearing aids such as cochlear implant, middle ear implant, etc., which have a module receiving power and signal from outside the body, are frequently used to treat the hearing impaired patients. Most of implantable hearing aids are adopted permanent magnet pairs to couple between internal and external devices for the enhancement of power transmission. Generally, the internal device which containing the magnet in the center of receiving coil is implanted under the skin of human temporal bone. In case of MRI scanning of a patient with the implantable hearing aid, however, homogeneous magnetic fields of the MRI might be interfered by the implanted magnet. For the above reasons, the MR image is degraded by large area of artifact, so that diagnostics are almost impossible in deteriorated region. In this paper, we proposed an external coil system that can reduce the artifact of MR image due to the internal coupling magnet. By finite element analysis estimating area of MR artifact according to varying current and shape of the external coil, optimal coil parameters were extracted. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed external coil system was verified by confirming the artifact at real MRI scan.

• Journal of Korean Classical Literature and Education
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• no.15
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• pp.329-353
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• 2008

Tasan Jeong Yak-yong is great scholar, who makes a synthesis of Sil-hak[實學, Practical Science of Korea], reformer of society, and a poet in the Joseon Dynasty. He expressed contradiction and conflict of those days by intellectual language, and reperceived basic ideology of the Joseon society. Also he theorized dissatisfaction of the people about those days and its system as form of religion. We can divide Tasan's life into two times. The first part is his ages 16~39 in the period of Jeong-jo(1777~1800). The second part is in the period of Sun-jo(1801~1834). In this period, he was exiled into Gang-jin for 17 years. After banishment, he lived a quiet life for the rest of his life in his hometown. His allegoric poetry were written in this second period. The special feature of allegoric poetry is strong satire. An allegory would be that is 'king's ear', which the barber has sight, or the barber's voice, which has divulged king's secret among the bamboos. Otherwise it would be that is the sound 'king's ear is donkey's ear' in the bamboos. This sound is divulging of the true donkey's ear. It doesn't travel to audiences, but travels trough wind in the bamboos. The narration exists just as story that barber can't stand to keep silence about king's secret. There are exposure of true and critical motive as allegoric expression. Tasan's allegoric poetry stand on the basis of his love for the people. Also there reveals his thought deeply with an enormous amount of reading and self-communion. Moreover there are his warm mind with his sharp insight in which captures alive lives as allegoric materials. Most of allegoric poetry satirize actuality of those days to make an excuse for external distinguishing marks of animals and plants. However Tasan's poetry are different from them. After he grasped serious problems from his contemporary actuality, and then choosed allegoric media to express correctly. Because he grasped the special features of lives after minute observation, he could exposure controversial point of the actual. His sharp insight was not limited to allegoric media. He noticed his period and the current of his society sensitively. It made his allegoric poetry as important materials to make us to know the condition of the people in the Joseon Dynasty. Tasan's allegoric poetry is inherited by Baek Seok[白石, 1912~1995] as regular juvenile literature. Baek Seok's juvenile stories are the results of expansion and transition for Tasan's allegoric poetry. Allegoric poetry was the shout of barber to prosecute about social irregularities and contradiction, and the sound of the bamboos to travel moaning of the people in the past. Now allegoric poetry create new emotion to make us to speculate ourselves with our surrounding. This changes are caused by special feature of allegoric poetry as a form to reflect our general lives.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2005.06a
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• pp.513-517
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• 2005

This study examined the possibility of using striped field mice as a biological dosimeter or indicator for the environmental radio-surveillance. For this study, the external morphological characteristics and isoenzymic types of dark-striped field mice were studied after they were captured. Among the morphological external characteristics, the dark-brown coat, dark back stripe, head-to-tail length, tail length, and ear length matched the taxonomical characteristics of dark-striped field mice. The analyses on L-lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase, and malate dehydrogenese revealed that one species of dark-striped field mice, called Apodemus agrarius, was inhabitated throughout a wide range of Korea. On the other hand, A. agrarius and ICR mice to analyze their survival rate and frequency of micronuclei in peripheral polychromatic erythrocytes after irradiation (0, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 Gy). The $LD_{50/30}$ of A. agrarius and ICR mice were approximately 5 Gy and 7Gy, respectively. The results of the study reveal that wild A. agrarius have a high potential as a biological monitoring system to determine the impact of radiation effect in areas such as those within the vicinity of nuclear power plants.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.303-315
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• 2004

1. The acupuncture & moxibustion of hysterorrhea is focussed on bloody uterine discharge, leukorrhea and we must carefully diagnose the etiology & the machanism of disease. 2. The causes of hysterorrhea are dampness, impairment of seven emotion, irregular food intake, excessive intercourse and they are impotantly related to liver, spleen, kidney, the ren channel the chong channel 3. Using external medical treatment for Leucorrhea is washing and fumigation on vagina, to wash vagina, to insert vagina, cleansing theraphy and use with Suppository such as YONGYEOMGO(龍鹽膏), KAMISASANGJASAN(加味蛇床子散), SASANGSACHUNGSEJE(蛇床子洗劑). 4. The efficacy of medicines to use external medical treatment is as follow to helpcirculation of blood, to warm spleen and stomach, to warm blood, to warm uterus and remove cold, to remove heat and dry moisture, to down heat-product, to contract bloodvessel, to counteract poison and destory virus, to make enerey and blood.. 5. The diagnosis is grossly divided into the flowing downward of damp-heat, the weaknessof the qi of the spleen, dificiency of yuan of the kidney and according to the each diagnosis we should select adquate points representing the treatment of cooling(zhongji, yinlingquan, xingjian, etc), desiccation, heiping qi(qihai, zusanli, sanyinjiao, etc), tonificating yang (guanyuan, mingmen, shinshu, etc). 6. The moxibustion is the warming the lower jiao and eliminating the cold, the points are the mingmen point, the zhongji point, the guanyuan point, etc 7. Besides the acupuncture & moxibustion of hysterorrhea, we can make use of acusetor, ear acupuncture, endermosis, dong shi shen fa.

• Archives of Craniofacial Surgery
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.89-93
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• 2014

Background: To refine facial transplantation techniques and achieve sound results, it is essential to develop a suitable animal model. Rat is a small animal and has many advantages over other animals that have been used as transplantation models. The purpose of this study was to describe a rat hemifacial transplantation model and to verify its convenience and reproducibility. Methods: Animals used in this study were Lewis rats (recipients) and Lewis-Brown Norway rats (donors). Nine transplantations were performed, requiring 18 animals. The hemifacial flap that included the ipsilateral ear was harvested based on the unilateral common carotid artery and external jugular vein and was transferred as a single unit. Cyclosporine A therapy was initiated 24 hours after transplantation and lasted for 2 weeks. Signs of rejection responses were evaluated daily. Results: The mean transplantation time was 1 hour 20 minutes. The anatomy of common carotid artery and external jugular vein was consistent, and the vessel size was appropriate for anastomosis. Six of nine allografts remained good viable without vascular problems at the conclusion of study (postoperative 2 weeks). Conclusion: The rat hemifacial transplantation model is suitable as a standard transplantation training model.