• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.26-34
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• 2018

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of spinal-Z, derived from Peganum harmala seeds and Dracocephalum Kotschyi Boiss leaves, in patients with esophageal and stomach adenocarcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus. Methods: Sixty-one patients with malignancies of the upper gastrointestinal tract were randomly assigned to one of two groups (treatment or control) in a double-blind fashion. Six capsules of Spinal-Z were prescribed to the patients with the regimen of 600 mg/m2/day, and placebo to the control group, for six months. Results: There were no significant differences between the two groups with regard to age, sex, duration of cancer, type of cancer and family history of cancer. There were significant differences in abdominal pain, heartburn, constipation and vomiting between the two groups, following spinal-Z therapy. Evaluation of drug side effects showed no difference in cough or other respiratory symptoms, itching, headache or dizziness between the two groups, both before and after treatment. Conclusion: This study indicates that Spinal-Z is safe and efficacious in the management of patients with upper gastrointestinal tract cancers.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.763-771
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• 2000

Objectives : Thoracolumbar burst fractures(TBLF) result in not only compressive deformity of vertebral body but also spinal cord compression by bony fragments. Many thoracolumbar burst fractures demand both anterior decompression and intervertebral fusion. Most of spinal surgeons use anterior instrumentation for anteior intervertebral bony fusion. The use of Z-plate has been increased recently, however there has been only a few reports regarding its clinical long-term strength. We studied nineteen patients with TBLF to find out the long-term stability of Z-plate. Methods : We have operated 19 patients from March 1996 to August 1998. They were treated with anterior decompression through either a transthoracic, retroperitoneal extrapleural or retroperitoneal approach. Retropulsed bony fragments were removed completely by corpectomy. Iliac bone graft was used for interbody fusion in all of the cases. They were evaluated by plain X-ray films including flexion and extention lateral films. Cobbs angle was used to evaluate kyphotic and lateral wedging deformity. Results : Burst fractured sites were T11 in two, three T12, nine L1, and five L2. Mean follow-up duration was fifteen months. Preoperative average kyphotic angle was 23.7 degree. Immediate postoperative kyphotic angle was 10.2 degree. Follow-up resluts of average kyphotic angles revealed 14 degrees. Four patients(21%), including two spinal 3-column injury, showed increasement of kyphotic angle more than 5 degree or breakage of intrumentation. Two patients showed the difference of kyphotic angle more than 3 degree. Five patients(26%) revealed lateral wedging deformity more than 3 degrees. Postoperative complications were two meralgia parestheticas, one pulmonary atelectasis and two donor site infections. Four of the eight patients, who initially showed incomplete spinal cord deficits, were nerologically improved by Frankel's grade. Conclusion : Z-plate fixation and iliac bone graft after anterior decompression in thoracolumbar burst fractures is a safe and easy method. Immediate postoperative results revealed excellent correction of posttraumatic kyphosis, but long-term follow-up evalution showed insufficient strength. Therefore we believe that use of Z-plate should be carefully decided, especially in the case of large lumbar fracture or 3-column injury.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.77-81
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• 2007

Objective : In a variety of thoracolumbar diseases, corpectomy followed by interbody bone graft and anterior instrumentation has allowed direct neural decompression and reconstruction of the weight-bearing column by short segments fusion. In this study, we compared spinal stability of the two different anterior thoracolumbar instruments : Z-plate and Kaneda device representing plate and two-rods type, respectively. Methods : A retrospective review was performed for all the patients with thoracolumbar diseases or traumas treated with anterior corpectomy, autologous iliac bone graft, and fixation with instruments from 1996 to 2000. For the anterior instrumentation, Z-plate or Kaneda device was used for 24 [M:F=5:9, average age=37] and 12 [M:F=9:3, average age=41] patients, respectively. The plain AP and lateral flexion-extension films were taken immediately after surgery and at each follow-up. The sagittal and coronal Cobb's angles at the operation segments were used to observe the change of initial fixation status. The surgical time length and bleeding amount of the two groups were compared. Intra-operative and post-operative instrument associated complications were evaluated. Student t-test was used for statistical analysis and p-value less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. Results : Mean follow-up durations for Z-plate and Kaneda device were 24 and 21 months, respectively. The fusion rate was 91% for Z-plate and 100% for Kaneda device. Two cases of Z-plate group showed instrumentation failure during the follow up period, in which additional surgery was necessary. The mean differences of sagittal Cobb's angles among the AP images immediate after surgery and at follow-up were 7 and 2 degrees for Z-plate and Kaneda device, respectively [p<0.05]. The mean differences of coronal Cobb's angles were 5 and 2 degrees for Z-plate and Kaneda device, respectively [p<0.05]. No Intra-operative complication has occurred in both groups. There was no difference in surgery time and bleeding amount between two groups. Conclusion : We think that Kaneda device [rod type] is stronger than Z-plate [plate type] to keep the spinal stability after anterior thoracolumbar surgery.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.84.5-84
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• 2001

The objective of this paper is to develop a powered wheelchair controller based on EMG for users with high-level spinal cord injury. EMG is very naturally measured when the user Indicating a certain direction, and the force information which will be used for the speed of wheelchair is easily extracted from EMG. Furthermore, the emergency situation based on EMG will be checked relatively ease. We classified the pre-defined motions such as rest case, forward movement, left movement, and right movement by Fuzzy Min-Max Neural Networks (FMMNN). This classification results shows the feasibility of EMG as an input interface for powered wheelchair. To make the system low cost and small size, we developed EMG AMP and its controller ...

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.290-294
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• 2013

Stereotactic Radiosurgery require high accuracy and precision of patient positioning and target localization. We evaluate the real time positioning accuracy of isocenter using optic guided patient positioning system, ExacTrac (BrainLab, Germany), during spinal radiosurgery procedure. The system is based on real time detect multiple body markers attached on the selected patient skin landmarks. And a custom designed patient positioning verification tool (PPVT) was used to check the patient alignment and correct the patient repositioning before radiosurgery. In this study, We investigate the selected 8 metastatic spinal tumor cases. All type of tumors commonly closed to thoracic spinal code. To evaluate the isocenter positioning, real time patient alignment and positioning monitoring was carried out for comparing the current 3-dimensional position of markers with those of an initial reference positions. For a selected patient case, we have check the isocenter positioning per every 20 millisecond for 45 seconds during spinal radiosurgery. In this study, real time average isocenter positioning translation were $0.07{\pm}0.17$ mm, $0.11{\pm}0.18$ mm, $0.13{\pm}0.26$ mm, and $0.20{\pm}0.37$ mm in the x (lateral), y (longitudinal), z (vertical) directions and mean spatial error, respectively. And body rotations were $0.14{\pm}0.07^{\circ}$, $0.11{\pm}0.07^{\circ}$, $0.03{\pm}0.04^{\circ}$ in longitudinal, lateral, table directions and mean body rotation $0.20{\pm}0.11^{\circ}$, respectively. In this study, the maximum mean deviation of real time isocenter positioning translation during spinal radiosurgery was acceptable accuracy clinically.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.203-213
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• 2006

Purpose : This study was carried out to evaluate correlation between Bone Mineral Density(BMD) and degenerative lumbar disease in postmenopausal low back pain patients. Methods : 69 postmenopausal patients with low back pain were examined. Magnetic resonance imaging was performed to evaluate degenerative lumbar disease and bone mineral density of lumbar spine was measured by Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry. Data were analyzed by Pearson's Linear Correlation Coefficient. Results : In postmenopausal patients with low back pain, BMD(T-score, Z-score) had negative correlation with the grade of intervertebral disc herniation and positive correlation with weight. Other lumbar diseases including Spinal stenosis, Spondylolisthesis and Facet joint arthrosis didn't have significant correlation with BMD. Conclusion : In postmenopausal patients with low back pain, BMD(T-score, Z-score) had inverse relationship with the grade of intervertebral disc herniation.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.369-376
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• 2016

The purpose of this study was to identify the effect the disability prevention program by spinal cord injury lecturer for elementary school students. 1,167 students participated and data were analyzed using Wilcoxon signed-rank test by SPSS 22.0 program and qualitative analysis. The disability prevention program was a 40minutes, program composed of cause of disability, watching cases of accidents, story of disabled lecturer. The result showed that there were significant improvements in self-efficacy(Z=-26.109, p<.01) and awareness for the disabled. This study suggests that the disability prevention program by disabled lecturer had a positive effect on elementary school students. So the program should be expanded for children.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.359-364
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• 2010

The purpose of the brain-computer (machine) interface (BCI or BMI) is to provide a method for people with damaged sensory and motor functions to use their brain to control artificial devices and restore lost ability via the devices. Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a method of applying low level electrical currents to the body to restore or to improve motor function. The purpose of this study was to develop a SSVEP-based BCI rehabilitation training system with FES for spinal cord injured individuals. Six electrodes were attached on the subjects' scalp ($PO_Z$, $PO_3$, $PO_4$, $O_z$, $O_1$ and $O_2$) according to the extended international 10-20 system, and reference electrodes placed at A1 and A2. EEG signals were recorded at the sampling rate of 256Hz with 10-bit resolution using a BIOPAC system. Fast Fourier transform(FFT) based spectrum estimation method was applied to control the rehabilitation system. FES control signals were digitized and transferred from PC to the microcontroller using Bluetooth communication. This study showed that a rehabilitation training system based on BCI technique could make successfully muscle movements, inducing electrical stimulation of forearm muscles in healthy volunteers.