• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.135-142
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• 2021

The aim of this study was to evaluate the contrast effect if a saline flush following low-volume contrast medium bolus improves vascular and parenchymal enhancement using a saphenous vein in abdominal CT for small animals. Six clinically healthy beagle dogs underwent abdominal contrast-enhanced CT. They were divided into nine groups (each group, n = 6), according to the volume of contrast medium 1, 2, and 3 mL/kg, and volume of the saline solution 0, 5, and 10 mL. Dynamic CT scanning was performed at the hepatic hilum level. The maximum contrast enhancement, time to maximum enhancement, and time to equilibrium phase were calculated from the time attenuation curves. Mean attenuation values for all groups were measured in the aorta, portal vein, and liver. After contrast enhancement, grading of image quality regarding surrounding artifacts and evaluation of the hepatic hilum structures was performed. For comparison of the effect of the contrast material and saline solution doses, differences in mean attenuation values between the contrast medium 2 mL/kg without saline flush group and the remaining groups, and between contrast medium 3 mL/kg without saline flush group and the remaining groups, were analyzed for statistical significance. There were no significant differences between with and without saline flushing at the same contrast medium dose groups. There were no significant differences in peak values between the 3 mL/kg dose of contrast medium alone and the 2 mL/kg dose of contrast medium with saline solution flush. However, there was a significant difference in peak values between the 3 mL/kg dose of the contrast medium without the saline flush group and the 2 mL/kg dose of the contrast medium alone group. Grades of the artifacts were not significantly different in the saline flush regardless of the dose of the contrast medium. Using 2 mL/kg of contrast medium with saline solution flush resulted in similar liver parenchyma attenuation, compared with using 3 mL/kg of contrast medium without saline solution flush. In CT evaluation of hepatic parenchymal diseases, using 2 mL/kg of contrast medium with saline solution flush may yield decreased risk of contrast nephropathy and cost-saving.

• ETRI Journal
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.797-810
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• 2019

Image saliency detection is the basis of perceptual image processing, which is significant to subsequent image processing methods. Most saliency detection methods can detect only a single object with a high-contrast background, but they have no effect on the extraction of a salient object from images with complex low-contrast backgrounds. With the prior knowledge, this paper proposes a method for detecting salient objects by combining the boundary contrast map and the geodesics-like maps. This method can highlight the foreground uniformly and extract the salient objects efficiently in images with low-contrast backgrounds. The classical receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve, which compares the salient map with the ground truth map, does not reflect the human perception. An ROC curve with distance (distance receiver operating characteristic, DROC) is proposed in this paper, which takes the ROC curve closer to the human subjective perception. Experiments on three benchmark datasets and three low-contrast image datasets, with four evaluation methods including DROC, show that on comparing the eight state-of-the-art approaches, the proposed approach performs well.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.123-128
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• 2018

Recently, the use of contrast agents has been increasing as a broader range of tests and dynamic tests have become common due to the development of equipment and imaging techniques such as Multi-Detector CT. However, the side effects of using contrast agents have been reduced by the development of non-ionic contrast agents, but they are still occurring often. The purpose of this study was to propose a method to minimize the side effect of contrast agent by using the amount of contrast agent injected to the brain angiography test to suppress excessive use of contrast agent and analyze the amount of contrast agent. Patients who were prescribed Brain Angiography due to cerebrovascular disease, According to the results of the comparison of the results obtained by dividing into 4 groups of 10ml each according to the amount of contrast medium injected with contrast agent according to the BMI of the patient, BA and SNR were not different between groups, and even if the amount of contrast injection was reduced, there was no problem in the evaluation of CT angiography through 3D reconstruction. This result shows that even if the contrast medium is injected into the blood vessels of the patient first and then the contrast medium is used as the physiological saline solution, the contrast medium is reduced by 40% it can be expected to minimize.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.427-431
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to monitor the current adverse reactions in administering CT contrast agents at general hospitals and also to suggest the practical guidelines to minimize the risk and to show the successful patient management. At four Dajeon city general hospitals, the contrast agents were administered in 646,828 cases and the overall prevalence of adverse reactions was 4,110 cases from January 2010 to December 2013. However, we excluded the two hospitals' 3,658 cases because the patients' data was inadequate. Consequently, the case surveys on the rest of 452 cases have been studied and submitted. After comparing the patients with a control group, we evaluated that the key factors of the adverse reactions were the gender and age difference of the patients, the examination period, the examination method, the quantity and administrating speed of the contrast agents. Even though the four general hospitals have their own management systems on adverse reactions, but their systems were not satisfying. To improve the quality of the management systems and to investigate further cases, some hospital administration procedures on the subject should be systemized and general hospitals should follow the recommended procedures. Moreover, the existing three-year-term evaluation should not only judge the adverse reaction management but also conclude some details on the sub criteria of the evaluation. The details on the sub criteria include the contrast agent characters, the quantity and administrating speed of the drug, the incidents' occurred time, an anamnesis; a case history, the medical history of the patients and the reaction occurring body parts, and the examination title. The details of the medical examiners are also added to the sub criteria.

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.147-154
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• 2011

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clothing image according to coloration, tone, and interval of checked pattern in color contrast. The experimental materials developed for this study were a set of stimulus and response scales. The stimuli were 24 color pictures, in which coloration(RB: Red+Blue, YP: Yellow+Purple), tone(light, dull, dark), and interval(0.5 cm, 1.5 cm, 3.5 cm, 5.5 cm) were manipulated. The 7-point scale was used for evaluation of clothing image. Data were obtained from 240 female college students living in Seoul, Gwangju, Jinju, and Masan on May 2010. For data analysis, ANOVA and Duncan-test were used by using SPSS program. Results of this study were as follows.; Clothing image according to coloration, tone, and interval of checked pattern consisted of five dimensions of attractiveness, freshness, appeal, modesty, and activity. Coloration showed an independent effect on attractiveness and appeal. Tone showed an independent effect on freshness, appeal, and modesty. Interval showed an independent effect on freshness. Also, interaction effects of coloration and tone on appeal were found. Interaction effects of coloration and interval on modesty were found.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2001

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the creation techniques of eco-pond, one of biotopes to promote biodiversity in urban residence area. Investigation were classified out plant, mammals, amphibia, reptiles, birds, fishes and insects. The results were summarized as follows: Around the eco-pond shows simple vegetation structurs, consisted of Pinus densoflora S et Z. and Robinia pseudoacacia under competition. In case of shrub, consisted of 4 species but plant growing appearence diversely by seasons. The evaluation of vegetation of eco-pond, there are found 4 species of aquatic plants. Inside the revetment of pond, Echinochloa crus-galli, Persicaria hydropiper, Digiaria sanguinalis, Cyperus microiria and Bidens frondosa L. are mainly distributed. Near the revetment, Trifolium repens L. and Digiaria sanguinalis are prevailed. And in its background, Erigeron canadensis, Erigeron annuus and vines are begins to make their appearances. When evaluation animals in eco-pond and contrast plot, it show simple species and numbers of mammals. It seemed to be resulted from its isolation and outside intervention by users In eco-pond, Pica pica and Streptopelia orientalis are mainly found and in contrast plot of Columba livia, which are so strong adaptation to city life environment. In case of amphibia and reptiles, none is observed in contrast plot, but in ecological pond, Rana nigromaculata and Hyla japonica are constantly observed. In case of insects, more species are found in eco-pond than contrast plot. And in eco-pond, more dragonflies are visibly increased one year after its construction. In floral zone inside of pond revetment, grasshopper and Locusta migratoria are frequently observed. In case of butterflies, they are mainly found in log fence and willow(salix) around eco-pond. In case of fishes inside of eco-pond, the species and its density are remarkable increased one year after the construction. With above evaluation results, we have identify the increase effect of biodiversity after construction of the eco-pond.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.246-251
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• 2006

The purpose of this study was to evaluate SUV (standard uptake value) using different reconstruction methods in whole body PET/CT Imaging. PET/CT studies were peformed with and without correction for effect of contrast media. The patients data were acquired using GE DSTe commercial PET/CT system. The liver disease (hepatocellular carcinoma, HCC) and renal disease (renal ceil carcinoma, RCC) patients were selected for this study, The PET/CT data were reconstructed using post CT scan with and without correction for effect of contrast media. We selected ROIs (region of Interest) at the same location and same area for the same patient to compare SUVs in these two methods. For HCC and RCC, the average differences of SUVs were measured as $1.5{\pm}1.2%\;and\;1.0{\pm}0.9%$, respectively. For HCC and RCC, the maximum differences of SUVs were measured as 4.3% and 1.9%, respectively. We observed that SUVs without correction for effect of contrast media were higher than SUVs with correction for effect of contrast media. However the differences of SUVs were very minimal. These results may be limited to HCC and RCC and further studies will be Heeded for other organs or diseases to see any changes in SUV with and without correction for effect of contrast media.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2024

Purpose: 99mTc-mebrofenin hepatobiliary scintigraphy (HBS) is an important and clinically useful diagnostic imaging study for detecting complications after liver transplantation. CT contrast agents due to their high atomic numbers, lead to a decrease in gamma ray count rates. This study investigated the impact of CT contrast agents on the uptake of 99mTc-mebrofenin in the liver. Materials and Methods: The quantitative HBS was performed on sixty-two liver transplantation patients (male:female=36:26), with a mean age of 59.4±6.4 years. Statistical comparison of hepatic uptake reduction ratio (HURR%) before and after the injection of CT contrast agents was performed using a paired t-test. Results: Hepatic uptake of the reduction ratio was 94.47±3.65% for the pre-CT contrast agents and 92.17±4.00% for the post-CT contrast agents. HURR% after CT contrast agent injection showed a statistically significant difference compared to before the injection (t=11.09, P<0.001). Conclusion: It will be necessary to pay attention when examining the HBS of patients with liver transplantation after the injection of CT contrast medium. It is advisable to schedule the examination on a different day to prevent residual contrast medium in the body from interfering with the quantitative evaluation of the nuclear medicine examination.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.304-312
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• 2022

Digital images of cultural relics captured using line scan cameras present limitations due to uneven intensity and low contrast. To address this issue, this report proposes a colour linear array image enhancement method that can maintain a constant colour. First, the colour linear array image is converted from the red-green-blue (RGB) colour space into the hue-saturation-intensity colour space, and the three components of hue, saturation, and intensity are separated. Subsequently, the hue and saturation components are held constant while the intensity component is processed using the established intensity compensation model to eliminate the uneven intensity of the image. On this basis, the contrast of the intensity component is enhanced using an improved local contrast enhancement method. Finally, the processed image is converted into the RGB colour space. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can significantly improve the visual effect of colour linear array images. Moreover, the objective quality evaluation parameters are improved compared to those determined using existing methods.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.431-437
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• 2015

This convergence study analyzed the effectiveness of contrast agent reduction by normal saline solution dilution in the computed tomography of arteries of lower limb. 48 patients of 125 cc contrast agent and 30 patients of the same amount divided at a ratio of 7:3 for the contrast agent and normal saline solution were studied. The average attenuation coefficient(HU) and signal to noise ratio(SNR) of abdominal aorta, femoral artery, popliteal artery and posterior tibial artery at each image were evaluated quantitatively and the four criteria in the five point scale was conducted qualitatively by two radiologists and four radiological technologists. In the quantitative evaluation, both HU and SNR had high average score before dilation but there were no statistical significance by independent t-test(p>0.05). In the qualitative evaluation, there were a little differences in the average scores between 4.86~4.77 of original contrast agent and 4.83~4.67 of dilated contrast agent but there were no statistical significance(p>0.05). In the computed tomography of arteries of lower limb, the dilated contrast agent doesn't influence image quality and reduces overall contrast agent and lowers iodine content per unit of molecular therefore will contribute to decrease side effect of contrast agent.