• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.533-538
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• 2019

The mechanical-collimation imaging is the most mature technology in prompt gamma (PG) imaging which is considered the most promising technology for beam range verification in proton therapy. The purpose of the present study is to compare the performances of two mechanical-collimation PG cameras, knife-edge (KE) camera and multi-slit (MS) camera. For this, the PG cameras were modeled by Geant4 Monte Carlo code, and the performances of the cameras were compared for imaginary point and line sources and for proton beams incident on a cylindrical PMMA phantom. From the simulation results, the KE camera was found to show higher counting efficiency than the MS camera, being able to estimate the beam range even for $10^7$ protons. Our results, however, confirmed that in order to estimate the beam range correctly, the KE camera should be aligned, at least approximately, to the location of the proton beam range. The MS camera was found to show lower efficiency, being able to estimate the beam range correctly only when the number of the protons is at least $10^8$. For enough number of protons, however, the MS camera estimated the beam range correctly, errors being less than 1.2 mm, regardless of the location of the camera.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4167-4172
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• 2023

Miniaturized tissue equivalent proportional counters (mini-TEPCs) are proper for radiation dosimetry in medical application because the small size of the dosimeter could prevent pile-up effect under the high intensity of therapeutic beam. However, traditional methods of calibrating mini-TEPCs using internal alpha sources are not feasible due to their small size. In this study, we investigated the use of electron and proton edges on Monte Carlo-generated lineal energy spectra as markers for calibrating a 0.9 mm diameter and length mini-TEPC. Three possible markers for each spectrum were calculated and compared using different simulation tools. Our simulations showed that the electron edge markers were more consistent across different simulation tools than the proton edge markers, which showed greater variation due to differences in the microdosimetric spectra. In most cases, the second marker, y_δδ, had the smallest uncertainty. Our findings suggest that the lineal energy spectra from mini-TEPCs can be calibrated using Monte Carlo simulations that closely resemble real-world detector and source geometries.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.99-110
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• 2020

With hope and concern, the first Korean proton therapy facility was introduced to the National Cancer Center (NCC) in 2007. It added a new chapter to the history of Korean radiation therapy. There have been challenging clinical trials using proton beam therapy, which has seen many impressive results in cancer treatment. Compared to the rapidly increasing number of proton therapy facilities in the world, only one more proton therapy center has been added since 2007 in Korea. The Samsung Medical Center installed a proton therapy facility in 2015. Most radiation oncology practitioners would agree that the physical properties of the proton beam provide a clear advantage in radiation treatment. But the expensive cost of proton therapy facilities is still one of the main reasons that hospitals are reluctant to introduce them in Korea. I herein introduce the history of proton therapy and the cutting edge technology used in proton therapy. In addition, I will cover the role of a medical physicist in proton therapy and the future prospects of proton therapy, based on personal experience in participating in proton therapy programs from the beginning at the NCC.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.208-210
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• 2002

In a treatment planning for actual patients with a complex internal structure, we often expect that proton beams, which pass through both a bolus and the heterogeneity in body, will form complex dose distributions. Therefore, the accuracy of the calculated dose distributions has to be verified for such a complex object. Then dose distributions formed by proton beams passing through both the bolus and phantoms simulating a clinical heterogeneity in patients were measured using a silicon semiconductor detector. The calculated results by the range-modulated pencil beam algorithm (RMPBA) produced large errors compared with the measured dose distributions since dose calculation using the RMPBA could not predict accurately the edge-scattering effect both in the bolus and in clinical heterogeneous phantoms. On the other hand, in spite of this troublesome heterogeneity, calculated results by the simplified Monte Carlo (SMC) method reproduced the experimental ones well. It is obvious that the dose-calculations by the SMC method will be more useful for application to the treatment planning for proton therapy.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.333-339
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• 2011

The purpose of this study is to compare DNA repair characteristics of normal fibroblast cell (MRC-5) and neuroblastoma cell (SK-N-SH) induced by proton beam. Cells were irradiated with 2Gy, 5Gy and 8Gy proton beam. The rate of DNA rejoining was measured by alkaline version of the comet assay. After a repair time, tail moment was measured again. The tail moment of MRC-5 was lower than SK-N-SH. However, after 8Gy of exposure, the tail moment of MRC-5 was measured as 50.320223.17155 which represents dangerous level of DNA damage. The cells were repaired practically within 25 hours after 2 and 5Gy of exposure while they were not fully recovered after 8Gy of exposure. Especially, tail moment of MRC-5 after 25 hours was 18.15364.42849. In the distal declining edge of SOBP, the RBE value is increased by high LET. The RBE differences of SOBP in high-dose were greater than low-dose. After the high-dose exposure, MRC-5 of normal fibroblast cell could lead to lasting DNA damage as shown in this study. In conclusion, we has to pay special attention when the region of the treatment volume is close to sensitive tissues.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.40-48
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• 1994

The weathering of the Namsan granite was studied in terms of sorption process. The Namsan granite consists mainly of quartz, alkali feldspar, plagioclase (${Ab_{85}An_{15}}-Ab_{100}$ and biotite with small amounts of sericite, magnetite and ilmenite. The kinetic factors for altering the granite body are the proton and hydroxyl ions derived from the reaction of water and mineral. There are two different types of pH variation curves for rocks of different mineral assemblages. when powdered granite was dispersed in distilled water under ambient condition. The sorption-process proceeds by three steps for fresh granite; (1) the initial rapid pH-rise to 10 by the uptake of proton by negatively charged mineral surfaces, (2) the gradual pH-down, and (3) the stable pH tail between 7.1-7.5. For somewhat weathered granites, the sorption proceeds; (1) the initial rapid pH-down to 4.8, (2) the slight pH-rise and slow ph-down, and (3) the stable pH tail between 5.0-5.3. The reaction rate is controlled by the density of adsorbable sites, the solubility of the mineral, pH of the system and formation of amorphous gel and gibbsite. Amorphous gel floates on the surface of the solution while stirring the powdered granite and then is transformed into gibbsite in an hour or so. The pH saturation values for -325 mesh fresh granite from 5 m depth is about pH 10 when rock/water ratio is over 10g/200 ml.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.984-988
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• 2001

Since anti-angiogenesis could lead to the suppression of tumor growth, angiogenesis inhibitors have received particular attention for their therapeutic potential. In this study, two angiogenic inhibitors using the bioactive sequence from the kring le 5, AK1(KLYDY), AK2(KLWDF) were designed and synthesized. We have investigated their solution structures using NMR spectroscopy and their activities as angiogenesis inhibitors. AK2 has an intramolecular hydrogen bon d between the side chain amino proton of Lys1 and the carboxyl oxygen of Asp4 with a N ${\cdot}{\cdot}{\cdot}$O distance of $3.27\AA$, while AK1 shows more flexible structures than AK2. Indole ring in Trp is much bigger than the phenyl ring in Tyr and may have good face-to-edge interaction enforcing more rigid and constrained conformational features of AK2. Because of this relatively stable structure, Trp3 in AK2 may have better hydrophobic interaction with Phe5 than Tyr3 in AK1 if two adjacent aromatic groups are located in hydrophobic pocket of receptor. Since AK2 shows the similar anti-angiogenic activities to AK1, we are also able to confirm that the activity of AK1 is irrelevant to the Tyr phosphorylation. More rigid drug with higher activities can be provided by the mimetic approaches. For the further development of the angiogenesis inhibitors, these conformational studies on our lead peptides will be helpful in design of peptidomimetics.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.33-40
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• 1999

Purpose: To simulate and measure the signal intensity of various tissues near bone interface in 2D and 3D neurological MR images. Materials and Methods: In neurological proton density (PD) weighted images, every component in the head including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), muscle and scalp, with the exception of bone, are visualised. It is possible to acquire images in 2D or 3D. A 2D fast spin-echo (FSE) sequence is chosen for the 2D acquisition and a 3D gradient-echo (GE) sequence is chosen for the 3D acquisition. To find out the signal intensities of CSF, muscle and fat (or scalp) for the 2D spin-echo(SE) and 3D gradient-echo (GE) imaging sequences, the theoretical signal intensities for 2D SE and 3D GE were calculated. For the 2D fast spin-echo (FSE) sequence, to produce the PD weighted image, long TR (4000 ms) and short TE$_{eff}$ (22 ms) were employed. For the 3D GE sequence, low flip angle (8$^{\circ}$) with short TR (35 ms) and short TE (3 ms) was used to produce the PD weighted contrast. Results: The 2D FSE sequence has CSF, muscle and scalp with superior image contrast and SNR of 39 - 57 while the 3D GE sequence has CSF, muscle and scalp with broadly similar image contrast and SNR of 26 - 33. SNR in the FSE image were better than those in the GE image and the skull edges appeared very clearly in the FSE image due to the edge enhancement effect in the FSE sequence. Furthermore, the contrast between CSF, muscle and scalp in the 2D FSE image was significantly better than in the 3D GE image, due to the strong signal intensities (or SNR) from CSF, muscle and scalp and enhanced edges of CSF. Conclusion: The signal intensity of various tissues near bone interface in neurological MR images has been simulated and measured. Both the simulation and imaging of the 2D SE and 3D GE sequences have CSF, fat and muscle with broadly similar image intensity and SNR's and have succeeded in getting all tissues about the same signal. However, in the 2D FSE sequence, image contrast between CSF, muscle and scalp was good and SNR was relatively high, imaging time was relatively short.