• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.61 no.2
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• pp.183-193
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• 2023

Balamuthia mandrillaris amebic encephalitis (BAE) can cause a fatal condition if diagnosis is delayed or effective treatment is lacking. Patients with BAE have been previously reported in 12 provinces of China, with skin lesions being the primary symptom and encephalitis developing after several years. However, a significantly lower number of cases has been reported in Southwest China. Here we report an aggressive BAE case of a 64-year-old woman farmer with a history of skin lesions on her left hand. She was admitted to our hospital due to symptoms of dizziness, headache, cough, vomiting, and gait instability. She was initially diagnosed with syphilitic meningoencephalitis and received a variety of empirical treatment that failed to improve her symptoms. Finally, she was diagnosed with BAE combined with amebic pneumonia using next-generation sequencing (NGS), qRT-PCR, sequence analysis, and imaging studies. She died approximately 3 weeks after the onset. This case highlights that the rapid development of encephalitis can be a prominent clinical manifestation of Balamuthia mandrillaris infection.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.131-139
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• 2022

Background: Shoulder impingement syndrome, a major cause of shoulder pain, involves weakness of the scapular retractor muscles. The major scapular retractor muscles are the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles; however, the latter is excluded in most studies. Objects: We aimed to measure the thickness of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles using an ultrasonic diagnostic imaging system while performing four different shoulder retraction exercises and comparing the thicknesses and ratio of the thicknesses of these muscles. Methods: The thickness of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles was measured in 24 healthy adults using ultrasound. Muscle thickness was measured three times in the Reference posture and four times while performing four different exercises that involved scapular retraction. The averages and standard deviations of the measured muscle thicknesses were obtained and compared. The ratio of muscle thickness and rate of changes in muscle thickness between the reference posture and the four exercises were compared. Results: For both, male (n = 10) and female (n = 14), there was a significant difference in the thickness of the middle trapezius muscle between the reference posture and the four exercises (p < 0.05) and in the thickness of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles between male and female (p < 0.05); however, there was no significant difference in the ratio of the thicknesses of these muscles. Although a significant difference in the rate of change in muscle thickness during the four exercises was noted, there was no significant difference in the ratio of change in muscle thickness. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the ratio of the thicknesses of the middle trapezius and rhomboid major muscles and the rate of change in their thickness during exercises involving scapular retraction in healthy people in their 20s-30s.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.54 no.2
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• pp.91-99
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• 2019

Most patients experience pain relief and functional improvement after arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. In some patients, however, symptoms still remain after surgery. Failed rotator cuff repair is a complex outcome of biological, technical, and traumatic factors. Moreover, re-tears might or might not be the main cause for patients with persistent pain after rotator cuff repair. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the patient's history, physical examination, and appropriate imaging studies will be needed to evaluate and manage these patients. The patient's age, functional requirement, quality of the rotator cuff, preoperative range of motion, quality of the deltoid, and glenohumeral arthritis are factors to consider before performing revisional rotator cuff repair. Preoperative patient education is as important as the surgical technique for successful revisional rotator cuff repair.

• Medical Lasers
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.64-73
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• 2019

Background and Objectives The effectiveness of many physiotherapy modalities in reducing subcutaneous fat has been investigated in numerous previous studies. However, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no attempts to determine the effectiveness of physiotherapy modalities in body contouring. The present report determined the effect of 448-kHz capacitive resistive monopolar radiofrequency (CRMRF) in a porcine model. Materials and Methods This study investigated the effect of selective destruction of the subcutaneous fat layer in abdominal fat tissue using CRMRF. The effects of two types of CRMRF (capacitive electric transfer (CET) and resistive electric transfer (RET)) treatment were evaluated using regular digital photography in addition to thermal imaging evaluation, ultrasound measurement, hematological evaluation, and histologic analyses (H&E (hematoxylin and eosin), Oil red O, and immunohistochemistry staining). Results Preclinical evaluation was performed to obtain the data for comparison of the safety and efficacy of the subcutaneous fat reduction after applying CRMRF using CET and RET. After treatment, the thermal transmission was effective, and a 42-47℃ temperature change was observed in the fat layer while an approximately temperature of 42℃ was confirmed on the skin surface. Moreover, after the application of both types of CRMRF treatment, fibrotic septa were observed in the adipose tissue induced by heat at the treatment sites. TUNEL staining was also performed to confirm the process of apoptosis in the adipocytes. Conclusion These results suggest that both CET and RET for CRMRF treatment are safe and effective for subcutaneous fat reduction in a porcine model.

• Journal of the Korean Orthopaedic Association
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• v.54 no.3
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• pp.276-280
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• 2019

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Extrahepatic metastasis commonly occur in the lung, lymph, nodes, bone, and adrenal glands. On the other hand, a metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma to the skeletal muscle is rare. A 42-year-old woman presented for evaluation of a palpable mass with tenderness in her right thigh area. She has been diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma and pulmonary metastasis seven years ago and has received treatment. We performed incisional biopsy with suspicion of hepatocellular carcinoma metastasis from imaging studies and blood test results. The patient was finally diagnosed with metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma in the semimembranosus muscle and treated by extensive resection. We report this case with a review of the relevant literature.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.65.2-66
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• 2021

Observational studies of supernova (SN) feedback are limited. In our galaxy, most supernova remnants (SNRs) are located in the Galactic plane, so there is contamination from foreground/background sources. SNRs located in other galaxies are too far, so we cannot study them in detail. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a unique place to study the SN feedback due to their proximity, which makes possible to study the structure of individual SNRs in some detail together with their environment. Recently, we carried out a systematic study of 13 LMC SNRs using [P II] (1.189 ㎛) and [Fe II] (1.257 ㎛) narrowband imaging with SIRIUS/IRSF, four SNRs (SN 1987A, N158A, N157B and N206), show [P II]/[Fe II] ratio much higher than the cosmic abundance. While the high ratio of SN 1987A could be due to enhanced abundance in SN ejecta, we do not have a clear explanation for the other cases. We investigate the [P II] knots found in SNRs N206, N157B and N158A, using optical spectra obtained last November with GMOS-S mounted on Gemini-South telescope. We detected several emission lines (e.g., H I, [O I], He I, [O III], [N II] and [S II]) that are present in all three SNRs, among other lines that are only found in some of them (e.g., [Ne III], [Fe III] and [Fe II]). Various line ratios are measured from the three SNRs, which indicate that the ratios of N157B tend to differ from those of other two SNRs. We will use the abundances of He and N (from the detection of [N II] and He I emission lines), together with velocity measurements to tell whether the origin of the [P II] knots are SN ejecta or CSM/ISM. For this purpose we have built a family of radiative shock with self-consistent pre-ionization using MAPPINGS 5.1.18, with shock velocities in the range of 100 to 475 km/s. We will compare the observed and modeled line fluxes for different depletion factors.

• The Bulletin of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.60.2-60.2
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• 2021

In this study, we determinate the differential emission measure(DEM) of solar corona using three SDO/AIA EUV channel images and three AI-generated ones. To generate the AI-generated images, we apply a deep learning model based on multi-layer perceptrons by assuming that all pixels in solar EUV images are independent of one another. For the input data, we use three SDO/AIA EUV channels (171, 193, and 211). For the target data, we use other three SDO/AIA EUV channels (94, 131, and 335). We train the model using 358 pairs of SDO/AIA EUV images at every 00:00 UT in 2011. We use SDO/AIA pixels within 1.2 solar radii to consider not only the solar disk but also above the limb. We apply our model to several brightening patches and loops in SDO/AIA images for the determination of DEMs. Our main results from this study are as follows. First, our model successfully generates three solar EUV channel images using the other three channel images. Second, the noises in the AI-generated EUV channel images are greatly reduced compared to the original target ones. Third, the estimated DEMs using three SDO/AIA images and three AI-generated ones are similar to those using three SDO/AIA images and three stacked (50 frames) ones. These results imply that our deep learning model is able to analyze temperature response functions of SDO/AIA channel images, showing a sufficient possibility that AI-generated data can be used for multi-wavelength studies of various scientific fields. SDO: Solar Dynamics Observatory AIA: Atmospheric Imaging Assembly EUV: Extreme Ultra Violet DEM: Diffrential Emission Measure

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 2021.05a
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• pp.374-376
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• 2021

For the diagnosis of cancer-related diseases in clinical practice, pathological examination using biopsy is essential after basic diagnosis using imaging equipment. In order to proceed with such a biopsy, the assistance of an oncologist, clinical pathologist, etc. with specialized knowledge and the minimum required time are essential for confirmation. In recent years, research related to the establishment of a system capable of automatic classification of cancer cells using artificial intelligence is being actively conducted. However, previous studies show limitations in the type and accuracy of cells based on a limited algorithm. In this study, we propose a method to identify a total of 4 cancer cells through a convolutional neural network, a kind of deep learning. The optical images obtained through cell culture were learned through EfficientNet after performing pre-processing such as identification of the location of cells and image segmentation using OpenCV. The model used various hyper parameters based on EfficientNet, and trained InceptionV3 to compare and analyze the performance. As a result, cells were classified with a high accuracy of 96.8%, and this analysis method is expected to be helpful in confirming cancer.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.35.1-35.11
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• 2021

Objectives: Endosequence Bioceramic Root Repair Material (BC-RRM) is used in endodontic microsurgery. It is available as a paste and a putty. However, no studies to date have examined the sealing ability of these forms alone or in combination as root-end filling materials. Hence, this study aimed to compare the sealing properties of these 2 forms of BC-RRM. Materials and Methods: Forty-two extracted upper anterior teeth were divided into 3 experimental groups, a positive and negative control. After the root canal treatment, the root ends were resected, retroprepared and retrofilled with either putty, paste + putty or mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA). The teeth were mounted in tubes so the apical 3 mm was submerged in Brain Heart Infusion (BHI) broth. The coronal portions of the canals were inoculated with Enterococcus faecalis and BHI broth and incubated for 30 days. The broth in the tubes was analyzed for colony forming units to check for leakage of bacteria from the canal. The teeth from the groups were sectioned and analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The Kruskal-Wallis test and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data with a significance level p < 0.05. Results: The BC-RRM and MTA groups showed similar sealing ability. The positive control showed leakage in all samples. The SEM imaging showed the presence of bacteria in all experimental groups at the material-tooth interface. Conclusions: No significant differences were noted in the experimental groups, providing sufficient evidence that any combination could be effectively used during endodontic microsurgery.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.578-584
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• 2023

Objectives: This is a five-year survival and complete response (CR) report on rectal cancer treated with western medicine and Korean traditional medicine. Method: A 25-year-old woman diagnosed with rectal cancer visited ⃝⃝ Korean traditional medicine hospital after neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation therapy, chemotherapy, and low anterior resection with regional lymph node dissection. She was treated with Korean traditional medicine, including acupuncture, abdominal moxibustion, wild ginseng pharmacopuncture, and herbal medicine, which was based on integrated medicine therapy (IMT), from January 2018 to February 2022. The tumor size was measured by scanning with computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging, and positron-emission tomography/CT. Adverse events were evaluated using laboratory conclusion and National Cancer Institute Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 5.0. Result: During four years of treatment, IMT maintained safety. The patient finally reached five-year survival without any recurrence or complication (CR) on March 11, 2022. Conclusion: We suggest that an integrative approach including Korean traditional medicine can be a meaningful treatment option for rectal cancer. Further studies should be performed to establish the proper treatment protocol of integrative medicine for rectal cancer.