• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.269-279
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• 2002

When we inject a current into an electrically conducting subject such as a human body, voltage and current density distributions are formed inside the subject. The current density within the subject and injection current in the lead wires generate a magnetic field. This magnetic flux density within the subject distorts phase of spin-echo magnetic resonance images. In Magnetic Resonance Current Density Imaging (MRCDI) technique, we obtain internal magnetic flux density images and produce current density images from $\bigtriangledown{\times}B/\mu_\theta$. This internal information is used in Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT) where we try to reconstruct a cross-sectional resistivity image of a subject. This paper describes numerical techniques of computing voltage. current density, and magnetic flux density within a subject due to an injection current. We use the Finite Element Method (FEM) and Biot-Savart law to calculate these variables from three-dimensional models with different internal resistivity distributions. The numerical analysis techniques described in this paper are used in the design of MRCDI experiments and also image reconstruction a1gorithms for MREIT.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Agricultural Machinery Conference
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• 1996.06c
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• pp.314-324
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• 1996

A high speed NMR quality evaluation sensor was designed , constructed and tested . The device consists of an NMR spectrometer coupled to a conveyor system. The conveyor was run at speeds ranging from 0 to 250 mm/s. Spectral of avocado fruits and one-dimensional magnetic resonance images of pickled olives were acquired while the samples were moving on a conveyor belt mounted through a 20Tesla NMR magnet with a 20 mm diameter surface coil and a 150 mm diameter imaging coil respectively. Fro a magnetic resonance spectrum analysis, motion through variations in the magnetic field tends to narrow spectral line width just like using sample rotation in high resolution NMR to narrow spectral line width. Spectrum analysis was used to detect the dry weight of avocado fruits using the ratio oil and water resonance peaks. Good correlations maximum r=0.970@ 50 mm/s and minimum r=0.894@250mm/s ) between oil and water resonance peak ratio and dry weight of avocados were observed at speeds ra ging from0 to 250mm/s. For the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method, the projections were used to distinguish between pitted and non-pitted olives . Effect of fruit position in the coil was tested and coil degree effects were noticed when projects were generated under dynamic conditions. Various belt speeds (up to 250mm/s) were tested and detection results were compared to static measurements. Higher classification errors were occurred at dynamic conditions compared to errors while olives were at rest.

• Journal of the Korean Physical Society
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• v.73 no.9
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• pp.1334-1339
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• 2018

Spherical nickel ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized using the thermal decomposition method and coated with cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) after the synthesis. Transmission electron microscopy images showed that the average diameter of the particles was 9.40 nm. The status of the CTAB-coating on the surface of the particles was checked using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Their hysteresis curve showed that the particles exhibited a superparamagnetic behavior. The $T_1$ and the $T_2$ relaxations of the nuclear spins were observed in aqueous solutions of the particles with different particles concentrations by using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, which showed that the $T_1$ and the $T_2$ relaxivities of the particles in water were $0.57mM^{-1}{\cdot}s^{-1}$ and $10.42mM^{-1}{\cdot}s^{-1}$, respectively. In addition, using an induction heating system, we evaluated their potentials for magnetic hyperthermia applications. The aqueous solution of the particles with a moderate concentration (smaller than 6.5 mg/mL) showed a saturation temperature larger than the hyperthermia target temperature of $42^{\circ}C$. These findings show that the CTAB-coated nickel ferrite particles are suitable for applications as $T_2$ contrast agents in MRI and heat generators in magnetic hyperthermia.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.157-165
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• 2005

Purpose : To find out the proper compression ratios without degrading image quality and affecting lesion detectability on diagnostic images used in dentistry compressed with JPEG 2000 algorithm. Materials and Methods : Sixty Digora periapical images, sixty panoramic computed radiographic (CR) images, sixty computed tomographic (CT) images, and sixty magnetic resonance (MR) images were compressed into JPEG 2000 with ratios of 10 levels from 5:1 to 50:1. To evaluate the lesion detectability, the images were graded with 5 levels (1 : definitely absent; 2: probably absent; 3: equivocal; 4: probably present; 5: definitely present), and then receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed using the original image as a gold standard. Also to evaluate subjectively the image quality, the images were graded with 5 levels (1 definitely unacceptable; 2: probably unacceptable; 3: equivocal, 4: probably acceptable; 5· definitely acceptable), and then paired t-test was performed. Results : In Digora, CR panoramic and CT images, compressed images up to ratios of 15 : 1 showed nearly the same lesion detectability as original images, and in MR images, compressed images did up to ratios of 25 : 1. In Digora and CR panoramic Images, compressed images up to ratios of 5 : 1 showed little difference between the original and reconstructed images in subjective assessment of image quality In CT images, compressed images did up to ratios of 10: 1 and in MR images up to ratios of 15 : 1 Conclusion : We considered compression ratios up to 5 : 1 in Digora and CR panoramic images, up to 10 : 1 in CT images, up to 15 : 1 in MR images as clinically applicable compression ratios.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.464-471
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• 2010

Compressed sensing can be used to reduce scan time or to enhance spatial resolution in MRI. It is now recognized that compressed sensing works well in reconstructing magnitude images if the sampling mask and the sparsifying transform are well chosen. Phase images also play important roles in MRI particularly in chemical shift imaging and magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT). We reconstruct MRI phase images using the compressed sensing technique. Through computer simulation and real MRI experiments, we reconstructed phase images using the compressed sensing technique and we compared them with the ones reconstructed by conventional Fourier reconstruction technique. As compared to conventional Fourier reconstruction with the same number of phase encoding steps, compressed sensing shows better performance in terms of mean squared phase error and edge preservation. We expect compressed sensing can be used to reduce the scan time or to enhance spatial resolution of MREIT.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2015

Purpose: A new compressed sensing technique by iterative truncation of small transformed coefficients (ITSC) is proposed for fast cardiac CINE MRI. Materials and Methods: The proposed reconstruction is composed of two processes: truncation of the small transformed coefficients in the r-f domain, and restoration of the measured data in the k-t domain. The two processes are sequentially applied iteratively until the reconstructed images converge, with the assumption that the cardiac CINE images are inherently sparse in the r-f domain. A novel sampling strategy to reduce the normalized mean square error of the reconstructed images is proposed. Results: The technique shows the least normalized mean square error among the four methods under comparison (zero filling, view sharing, k-t FOCUSS, and ITSC). Application of ITSC for multi-slice cardiac CINE imaging was tested with the number of slices of 2 to 8 in a single breath-hold, to demonstrate the clinical usefulness of the technique. Conclusion: Reconstructed images with the compression factors of 3-4 appear very close to the images without compression. Furthermore the proposed algorithm is computationally efficient and is stable without using matrix inversion during the reconstruction.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.7-20
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• 1997

The mapping of the spin-spin relaxation time T2 in pixed-by-pixel was suggested as a quantitative diagnostic tool in medicine. Although the CPMG pulse sequence has been known to be the best pulse sequence for T2 measurement in physics NMR, the supplied pulse sequence by the manufacture of MRI system was able to obtain the maximum of 4 CPMG images. Eight or more images with different echo time TEs are required to construct a reliable T2 map, so that two or more acquisitions were required, which easily took more than 10 minutes. 4-echo CPMG imaging pulse sequence was modified to generate the maximum of 8 MR images with evenly spaced echo time TEs. In human MR imaging, since patients tend to move at least several pixels between the different acquisitions, 8-echo CPMG imaging sequence reduces the acquisition time and may remove any misregistration of each pixel's signal for the fitting T2. The resultant T2 maps using the theoretically simulated images and using the MR images of the human brain suggested that 8 echo CPMG sequence with short echo spacing such as 17∼20 msec can give the reliable T2 map.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.462-470
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• 2020

Objective: To demonstrate that human visual illusion can contribute to sub-endocardial dark rim artifact in contrast-enhanced myocardial perfusion magnetic resonance images. Materials and Methods: Numerical phantoms were generated to simulate the first-passage of contrast agent in the heart, and rendered in conventional gray scale as well as in color scale with reduced luminance variation. Cardiac perfusion images were acquired from two healthy volunteers, and were displayed by the same gray and color scales used in the numerical study. Before and after k-space windowing, the left ventricle (LV)-myocardium boarders were analyzed visually and quantitatively through intensity profiles perpendicular the boarders. Results: k-space windowing yielded monotonically decreasing signal intensity near the LV-myocardium boarder in the phantom images, as confirmed by negative finite difference values near the board ranging -1.07 to -0.14. However, the dark band still appears, which is perceived by visual illusion. Dark rim is perceived in the in-vivo images after k-space windowing that removed the quantitative signal dip, suggesting that the perceived dark rim is a visual illusion. The perceived dark rim is stronger at peak LV enhancement than the peak myocardial enhancement, due to the larger intensity difference between LV and myocardium. In both numerical phantom and in-vivo images, the illusory dark band is not visible in the color map due to reduced luminance variation. Conclusion: Visual illusion is another potential cause of dark rim artifact in contrast-enhanced myocardial perfusion MRI as demonstrated by illusory rim perceived in the absence of quantitative intensity undershoot.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.245-251
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• 2013

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the relationship between anterior disc displacement and effusion in temporomandibular disorder (TMD) patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods: The study subjects included 253 TMD patients. MRI examinations were performed using a 1.5 T MRI scanner. T1- and T2-weighted images with para-sagittal and para-coronal images were obtained. According to the MRI findings, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disc positions were divided into 3 subgroups: normal, anterior disc displacement with reduction (DWR), and anterior disc displacement without reduction (DWOR). The cases of effusion were divided into 4 groups: normal, mild (E1), moderate (E2), and marked effusion (E3). Statistical analysis was made by the Fisher's exact test using SPSS (version 12.0, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Results: The subjects consisted of 62 males and 191 females with a mean age of 28.5 years. Of the 253 patients, T1- and T2-weighted images revealed 34 (13.4%) normal, DWR in 103 (40.7%), and DWOR in 116 (45.9%) on the right side and 37 (14.6%) normal, DWR in 94 (37.2%), and DWOR in 122 (48.2%) joints on the left side. Also, T2-images revealed 82 (32.4%) normal, 78 (30.8%) E1, 51 (20.2%) E2, and 42 (16.6%) E3 joints on the right side and 79 (31.2%) normal, 85 (33.6%) E1, 57 (22.5%) E2, and 32 (12.7%) E3 on the left side. There was no difference between the right and left side. Conclusion: Anterior disc displacement was not related to the MRI findings of effusion in TMD patients (P>0.05).

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.341-350
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• 2019

Purpose: To determine the MR parameters affecting India ink artifacts on opposed-phase chemical shift magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Materials and Methods: The use of a female Sprague-Dawley rat was approved by our Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee. Using an iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least-squares estimation (IDEAL) images, which is a modified Dixon method, axial opposed-phase images of the abdominal cavity were obtained with different MR parameters: series 1, different repetition times (TRs; 400, 2000, and 4000 ms); series 2, different echo times (TEs; 10, 50, and 100 ms); series 3, different field of views (FOVs; 6, 8, 16, and 24 cm); series 4, different echo train lengths (ETLs; 2, 4, and 8); series 5, different bandwidths (25, 50, and 85); and series 6, different slice thicknesses (1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 mm). Artifacts on opposed images obtained with different parameters were compared subjectively by two radiologists. For objective analysis, the thickness of the artifact was measured. Spearman's correlation between altered MR parameters and thicknesses of India ink artifact was obtained via objective analysis. Results: India ink artifact was increasingly apparent using shorter TE, larger FOV and ETL, and thicker slices upon subjective analysis. The objective analysis revealed a strong negative correlation between the thickness of the artifact and TE (r = -0.870, P < 0.01); however, strong positive correlations were found between FOV (r = 0.854, P < 0.01) and slice thickness (r = 0.971, P < 0.01). Conclusion: India ink artifact was thicker with shorter TE, larger FOV, and larger slice thickness.