• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.29 no.4 s.55
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• pp.801-814
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• 1996

Background: Korean people could abuse healthy foods as well as medications, which might cause serious side effects. The aim of this study was elucidating liver dysfunction due to the self-medications of hepatotonics, healthy foods and herb medications by nested case-control study. Methods: Study subjects were drawn from male members of Seoul Cohort Study who were recruited by self-administered structured questionnaire survey through mailing to the healthy men between the age of 40 and 59 years through the program of biennial health check-up offered by Korea Medical Insurance Corporation(KMIC). The liver dysfunction was defined as the level of serum AST and ALT above 40 IU/L and increased in more than one hunderd per-cent during the 2 year follow-up period. To estimate the odds ratio between self-medication and liver dysfunction after controlling for potential confounders, logistic regression was performed. Results: During the follow-up period, 30 members were identified to fit into case criteria and 2,625 members were selected as control. In logistic regression analyses, history of healthy foods intake, age under 45 years, obesity, and habit of regular exercise were significantly associated with liver dysfunction. The following factors exhibited no statistical significance: intake of hepatotonics, of herb medicine; history of disease in family, of operation, and of radiologic examination; smoking habits and drinking amounts. Conclusion: The significant association between the intake of healthy foods and the liver dysfunction illustrates that chronically optional overuse of healthy foods might bring to hazards to health. As the increasing trend of the size of purchasing healthy foods in Korea, pharmacoepidemiologic studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of the widely used healthy foods should be performed in the near future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.67-75
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• 2022

The aim of this study is to establish a new QC method that can simultaneously evaluate the resolution of the x/y plane and the z-axis by producing a phantom that can reflect exposure and reconstruction parameter of MDCT system. It was used with Aquilion ONE(Cannon Medical System, Otawara, Japan), and the examination was scanned using of 120 kV, 260 mA, and the D-FOV of 300 mm². It produced new SSP phantom modules in which two aluminum plates inclined at 45° to a vertical axis and a transverse axis to evaluate high contrast resolution of x/y plane and z axis. And it changed factors such as the algorithm, distance from gantry iso-center. All images were reconstructed in five steps from 0.6 mm to 10.0 mm slice thickness to measure resolution of x/y plane and z-axis. The image data measured FWHM and FWTM using Profile tool of Aquarius iNtusion Edition ver. 4.4.13 P6 software(Terarecon, California, USA), and analysed SPQI and signal intensity by ImageJ program(v1.53n, National Institutes of Health, USA). It decreased by 4.09~11.99%, 4.12~35.52%, and 4.70~37.64% in slice thickness of 2.5 mm, 5.0 mm, and 10.0 mm for evaluating the high contrast resolution of x/y plane according to distance from gantry iso-center. Therefore, the high contrast resolution of the x/y plane decreased when the distance from the iso-center increased or the slice thickness increased. Additionally, the slice thicknesses of 2.5 mm, 5.0 mm, and 10.0 mm with a high algorithm increased 74.83, 15.18 and 81.25%. The FWHM was almost constant on the measured SSP graph for evaluating the accuracy of slice thickness which represents the resolution of x/y plane and z-axis, but it was measured to be higher than the nominal slice thickness set by user. The FWHM and FWTM of z-axis with axial scan mode tended to increase significantly as the distance increased from gantry iso-center than the helical mode. Particularly, the thinner slice thickness that increased error range compare with the nominal slice thickness. The SPQI increased with thick slice thickness, and that was closer to 90% in the helical scan than the axial scan. In conclusion, by producing a phantom suitable for MDCT detectors and capable of quantitative resolution evaluation, it can be used as a specific method in the management of research quality and management of outdated equipment. Thus, it is expected to contribute greatly to the discrimination of lesions in the field of CT imaging.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2001

Purpose : To evaluate the role of LINAC-based stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) in the management of meningiomas, we reviewed clinical response, image response, neurological deficits for patients treated at our institution. Methods and materials : Between February 1995 and December 1999, twenty-six patients were treated with SRS. Seven patients had undergone prior resection. Nineteen patients received SRS as the initial treatment. There were 7 male and 19 female patients. The median age was 51 years (range, $14\~67\;years$). At least one clinical symptom presented at the time of SRS in 17 patients and cranial neuropathy was seen in 7 patients. The median tumor volume was $4.7\;cm^3\;(range,\;0.7\~16.5\;m^3)$. The mean marginal dose was 15 Gy (range, $10\~20\;Gy$), delivered to the $80\%$ isodose surface (range, $46\~90\%$). The median clinical and imaging follow-up periods were 27 months (range, 1-71 months) and 25 months (range, $1\~52\;months$), respectively. Results : Of 14 patients who had clinical follow-up of one year or longer, thirteen patients $(93\%)$ were improved clinically at follow-up examination. Clinical symptom worsened in one patient at 4 months after SRS as a result of intratumoral edema, who underwent surgical resection at 7 months. OF 14 patients who had radiologic follow-up of one year or longer, tumor volume decreased in 7 patients $(50\%)$ at a median of 11 months (range, $6\~25\;months$), remained stable in 6 patients $(43\%)$, and increased in one patient $(7\%)$, who underwent surgical resection at 44 months. New radiation-induced neurological deficits developed in six patients $(23\%)$. Five patients $(19\%)$ had transient neurological deficits, completely resolved by conservative treatment including steroid therapy. Radiation-induced brain necrosis developed in one patient $(3.8\%)$ at 9 months after SRS who followed by surgical resection of tumor and necrotic tissue. Conclusions : LINAC-based SRS proves to be an effective and safe management strategy for small to moderate sized meningiomas, inoperable, residual, and recurrent, but long-term follow-up will be necessary to fully evaluate its efficacy. To reduce the radiation-induced neurological deficit for large size meningioma and/or in the proximity of critical and neural structure, more delicate treatment planning and optimal decision of radiation dose will be necessary.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.63 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2007

Background: Many diagnostic approaches for defining the definitive cause of pleurisy should be included due to the large variety of diseases resulting in pleural effusion. Although ADA is a useful diagnostic tool for making a differential diagnosis of pleural effusion, particularly for tuberculous pleural effusion, a definitive diagnostic cut-off value remains problematic in Korea. It was hypothesized that ADA multiplied by the Lymphocyte/Neutrophil ratio(L/N ratio) might be more powerful for making a differential diagnosis of pleural effusion. Methods: One hundred and ninety patients, who underwent thoracentesis and treatment in Chung-Ang University Hospital from January, 2005 through to February 2006, were evaluated. The clinical characteristics, radiologic data and the examination of the pleural effusion were analyzed retrospectively. Results: 1. Among the 190 patients, 59 patients (31.1%) were diagnosed with tuberculous pleurisy, 45 patients(23.7%) with parapneumonic effusion, 42 patients(22.1%) with malignant effusions, 36 patients(18.9%) with transudate, and 8 patients(4.2%) with empyema. One hundred and twenty one patients were found to have an ADA activity of 1 to 39 IU/L(63.7%). Twenty-nine were found to have an ADA activity of 40 to 75 IU/L(15.3%) and 40 were found to have an ADA activity of 75 IU/L or greater(21.0%). 2. Among the patients with tuberculous pleurisy, 5(8%), 18(30%) and 36 patients(60%) had an ADA activity ranging from 1 to 39 IU/L, 40 to 75 IU/L, and 75 IU/L or greater, respectively. In those with an ADA activitiy 40 to 75 IU/L, 18 patients(62%) had tuberculous pleurisy, 9(31%) had parapneumonic effusion and empyema, and 1(3.4%) had a malignant effusion. 3. In those with an ADA activity of 40 to 75 IU/L, there was no significant difference between tuberculous pleurisy and non-tuberculous pleural effusion(tuberculous pleurisy : 61.3 ${\pm}$ 9.2 IU/L, non-tuberculous pleural effusion : 53.3${\pm}$10.5 IU/L). 4. The mean L/N ratio of those with tuberculous pleurisy was 39.1 ${\pm}$ 44.6, which was significantly higher than nontuberculous pleural effusion patients (p<0.05). The mean ADA x L/N ratio of the tuberculous pleurisy patients was 2,445.7 ${\pm}$ 2,818.5, which was significantly higher than the non-tuberculous pleural effusion patients (level p<0.05). 5. ROC analysis showed that the ADA x L/N ratio had a higher diagnostic value than the ADA alone in the group with an ADA between 40-75 IU/L. Conclusion: The ADA multiplied by the lymphocyte-to-neutrophil ratio might provide a more definitive diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy.