• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제41권1호
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• pp.48-54
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• 2020

In this paper, we deal with a liver fibrosis classification problem using ultrasound B-mode images. Commonly representative methods for classifying the stages of liver fibrosis include liver biopsy and diagnosis based on ultrasound images. The overall liver shape and the smoothness and roughness of speckle pattern represented in ultrasound images are used for determining the fibrosis stages. Although the ultrasound image based classification is used frequently as an alternative or complementary method of the invasive biopsy, it also has the limitations that liver fibrosis stage decision depends on the image quality and the doctor's experience. With the rapid development of deep learning algorithms, several studies using deep learning methods have been carried out for automated liver fibrosis classification and showed superior performance of high accuracy. The performance of those deep learning methods depends closely on the amount of datasets. We propose an enhanced U-net architecture to maximize the classification accuracy with limited small amount of image datasets. U-net is well known as a neural network for fast and precise segmentation of medical images. We design it newly for the purpose of classifying liver fibrosis stages. In order to assess the performance of the proposed architecture, numerical experiments are conducted on a total of 118 ultrasound B-mode images acquired from 78 patients with liver fibrosis symptoms of F0~F4 stages. The experimental results support that the performance of the proposed architecture is much better compared to the transfer learning using the pre-trained model of VGGNet.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제32권4호
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• pp.259-265
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• 2002

Piroxicam is one of the NSAID, which is used in the systemic and topical treatment of a variety of inflammatory conditions. Conventionally, for topical use, the drug is formulated in gel. We designed an phonophoretic drug delivery system to investigate the piroxicam permeability and the influence of ultrasound application (continuous mode, pulsed mode), frequency (1.0 MHz, 3.0 MHz) and intensity $(1.0\;w/cm^2,\;1.5\;w/cm^2,\;2.0\;w/cm^2)$ with 0.5% piroxicam gel. Per cutaneous absorption studies were performed in vitro models to determine the rate of drug absorption via the skin. Permeation study using hairless mouse skin was performed at $37^{\circ}C$ using buffered saline (pH 7.4, 10% propylene glycol solution) as the receptor solution. Anti-inflammatory activity was determined using carrageenan-induced foot edema model in rat. A pronounced effect of ultrasound on the skin absorption of the piroxicam was observed at all ultrasound energy level studied. Ultrasound was carried out for 10 hr. The highest permeation was observed at intensity of $2.0\;w/cm^2$, frequency of 1.0 MHz and continuous output. The inclusion of phonophoresis was found to improve significantly the skin permeation in vitro and the anti-inflammatory activity in vivo.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제29권5호
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• pp.412-417
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• 2006

Triamcinolone acetonide (TA) is a corticosteroid that is used in the systemic and topical treatment of many inflammatory diseases. In this study, a phonophoretic drug delivery system was designed to enhance the TA permeability and the influence of ultrasound was examined. In order to establish the transdermal delivery system for TA, a hydrophilic carbopol gel containing TA was prepared after adopting phonophoresis. A permeation study through mouse skin was performed at $37^{\circ}C$ using a Franz diffusion cell, and the ultrasound treatment was carried out for 10 h. The level of TA permeation through the skin was evaluated under various ultrasound conditions including the frequency (1.0, 3.0 MHz), intensity (1.0, $2.5W/cm^2 $), and duty cycle (continuous, pulse mode) using a 0.5% TA gel. The highest permeation was observed under the ultrasound treatment conditions of low frequency, high intensity, and in continuous mode.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제15권24호
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• pp.10739-10743
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• 2015

The present study aimed at evaluating and comparing the diagnostic performance of B-mode ultrasound (US), elastography score (ES), and strain ratio (SR) for the differentiation of breast lesions. This retrospective study enrolled 431 lesions from 417 in-hospital patients. All patients were examined with both conventional ultrasound and elastography. Two experienced radiologists reviewed ultrasound and elasticity images. The histopathologic result obtained from ultrasound-guided core biopsy or operation excisions were used as the reference standard. Pathologic examination revealed 276 malignant lesions (64%) and 155 benign lesions (36%). A cut-off point of 4.15 (area under the curve, 0.891) allowed significant differentiation of malignant and benign lesions. ROC (receiver-operating characteristic) curves showed a higher value for combination of B-mode ultrasound and elastography for the diagnosis of breast lesions. Conventional ultrasound combined elastography showed high sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for group II lesions (10mm${\leq}20mm$). Elastography combined with conventional ultrasound show high specificity and accuracy for differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions. Elastography is particularly important for the diagnosis of BI-RADS 4 and small breast lesions.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• 제21권3호
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• pp.21.1-21.14
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• 2020

Background: Physical exercise is known to cause significant joint changes. Thus, monitoring joint behavior of athletic horses is essential in early disorders recognition, allowing the proper management. Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine the morphological patterns, physical examination characteristics and ultrasound findings of show jumping horses in training and to establish a score-based examination model for physical and ultrasound follow-ups of metacarpophalangeal joint changes in these animals. Methods: A total of 52 metacarpophalangeal joints from 26 horses who were initially in the taming stage were evaluated, and the horses' athletic progression was monitored. The horses were evaluated by a physical examination and by B-mode and Doppler-mode ultrasound examinations, starting at time zero (T0), which occurred concomitantly with the beginning of training, and every 3 months thereafter for a follow-up period of 18 months. Results: The standardized examination model revealed an increase in the maximum joint flexion angles and higher scores on the physical and ultrasound examinations after scoring was performed by predefined assessment tools, especially between 3 and 6 months of evaluation, which was immediately after the horses started more intense training. The lameness score and the ultrasound examination score were slightly higher at the end of the study. Conclusions: The observed results were probably caused by the implementation of a training regimen and joint adaptation to physical conditioning. The joints most likely undergo a pre-osteoarthritic period due to work overload, which can manifest in a consistent or adaptive manner, as observed during this study. Thus, continuous monitoring of young athlete horses by physical and ultrasound examinations that can be scored is essential.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제19권10호
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• pp.1379-1383
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• 2006

A total of 6,804 records for Duroc breed were collected from three farms registered at the Korean Animal Improvement Association (KAIA) from 1998 to 2004 of which both records from two ultrasound modes (A and B) were analyzed to estimate the variance components of carcass traits. Three carcass traits backfat thickness (bf), loin eye muscle area (lma) and lean meat percentage (lmp) were measured. These traits were analyzed separately as bf1, lma1 and lmp1 for ultrasound mode A and bf2, lma2 and lmp2 for ultrasound mode B with multiple trait animal model by using MTDFREML (Boldman et al., 1993). All the traits revealed medium heritability values. Estimated heritabilities for bf1, bf2, lma1, lma2, lmp1 and lmp2 were 0.45, 0.39, 0.32, 0.25, 0.28 and 0.39, respectively. Estimated genetic correlations for traits bf1 and bf2, lma1 and lma2, lmp1 and lmp2 were positive but low. Specifically, genetic correlations between bf1 and bf2 was 0.30 while the estimates for lean traits between lma1 and lma2 and between lmp1 and lmp2 were 0.15 and 0.18, respectively. Conversely, high negative genetic correlations existed between bf1 and the lean traits lma2, lmp2. Likewise, the estimated genetic correlations between lma1 and lma2 and lmp1 and lmp2 were low.

• 대한물리치료과학회지
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.7-14
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• 2002

The drug therapy for rheumatoid arthritis must be maintained constantly or for the whole life but is apt to induce the adverse effects in gastrointestinal or renal system. Therefor, newer methods are paid attention to reduce adverse effects. The thirty-two rat female separated into seven groups depending on the therapy or Freund's adjuvant applied: Normal group(n=8) not received anything, Positive control group(n=8) only received adjuvant, USC group(n=8) received continuous US, USP group(n=8) received pulsed US. The physical and radiological findings by thermal and non-thermal effects of ultrasound were evaluated in groups with continuous mode at 1 MHz, $0.5\;W/cm^2$ for 6 minutes and with pulsed mode (duty cycle 1:9) at 1 MHz, $0.5\;W/cm^2$ for 6 minutes. The result summarized followings. 1. Swelling of forepaw and hindpaw was significantly reduced in USP. 2. Arthritis indices in USP group were significantly reduced than those in PCG. 3. In naked eye and radiologic findings, swelling was significantly prevented in USP group but not in PCG. The change of swelling, arthritis index, gross feature in naked eye, radiologic finding were significantly improved in all groups except for USC group, taking care for using its continuous mode.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• 제37권3호
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• pp.149-158
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• 2007

To investigate the permeability of lidocaine, percutaneous absorption studies were performed using excised hairless mouse skin and the penetration of lidocaine via the skin was determined. To increase the skin permeation of lidocine, the effects of $Labrasol^{(R)}$, $Labrafil^{(R)}$, $Labrafac^{(R)}$ and $Transcutol^{(R)}$ were investigated. The skin permeation of lidocaine was increased when $Labrasol^{(R)}$ and $Transcutol^{(R)}$ were used as permeation enhancer. To evaluate the influence of ultrasound, various factors such as application modes (continuous mode and pulsed mode), frequency (1.0 and 3.0 MHz) and intensity (1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 w/$cm^2$) were investigated with lidocaine hydrogel. The pronounced effect of ultrasound on the skin permeation of lidocaine was observed at all ultrasound energy levels. The influence of frequency having an effect on skin permeation rate was higher in the case of using 1 MHz, 2.0 w/$cm^2$ and continuous treatment. As the intensity of ultrasound increased, the permeation of lidocaine was accelerated. The in vivo anesthetic effects were evaluated by two aspects as mechanical threshold and electrical threshold. Six healthy volunteers consented to the randomized, double-blind, and cross-over designed study in each group. In each subject, 3 groups were adapted such as K group (ultrasound with gel base only), L group (lidocaine gel) and B group (ultrasound with lidocaine gel). In conclusion, lidocaine was potent anesthetic which could be block pain threshold effectively. And ultrasound could accelerate the skin penetration of lidocaine. The phonophoretic delivery system could be a good candidate for lidocaine as a local anaesthetic to improve the skin permeation and in vivo anaesthetic effect.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.264-269
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• 2011

To increase therapeutic efficiency and biological safety, it is important to precision control of acoustic output for therapeutic ultrasound equipment. In this paper, the electro-acoustic radiation conductance, one of electroacoustic characteristics of therapeutic ultrasound equipment, was measured by the radiation force balance method according to IEC 61161 standards and the acoustic output was estimated using the electro-acoustic radiation conductance. The estimation of acoustic output was conducted to continuous wave mode and pulse wave mode of duty cycle between 20% and 80%. The differences between prediction values and measurement results are within 5% of measurement uncertainty, which is a reasonably good agreement. The results show that acoustic output controlled by electro-acoustic radiation conductance was found to be an effective method.

• 한국전문물리치료학회지
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.45-59
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of ultrasound on adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats. Adjuvant arthritis was induced in 26 female Sprauge-Dawley rats by the subcutaneous injection of a single dose of .1 mL of Complete Freund's Adjuvant (CFA) (1 mg of Mycobacterium Butyricum suspended in .1 $m{\ell}$ paraffin oil) into the right hind paw. After confirming inflammatory edema and arthritis in the paw 2 weeks later, the arthritic rats were divided into 3 groups, i.e., a control group, a pulsed ultrasound group (Group A), and a continuous ultrasound group (Group B) with 8 rats placed in each group. The rats in Group A were treated with pulsed ultrasound at 1 MHz frequency with .5 $W/cm^2$ intensity in 1 : 4 mode for 3 minutes. The rats in Group B were treated with continuous ultrasound at 1 MHz frequency with 2 $W/cm^2$ intensity in the continuous mode for 3 minutes. The ultrasound treatment was done in the left and right ankles for 2 weeks. Clinical, radiographic and histopathologic findings were then evaluated before and after treatment and yielded the following results. 1. No significant difference was present in body weight between the control group and the treated groups. 2. A statistically significant decrease in the edema of the paw was seen in the rats in Group A that was treated with pulsed ultrasound by 26~29 days after the treatment started (p<.05). 3. According to radiological examination, Group A showed the lowest score in arthritis scale which means it showed a tendency to suppress arthritic inflammation of the left and right hind paws. However, no statistically significant difference was present in the score between the control group, Group A and Group B. 4. According to histopathologic findings, the degree of infiltration by inflammatory cells and hypertrophy of the synovium were less in Group A compared with the control group and Group B. The results of the study show that rats that were treated with the pulsed ultrasound effectively suppressed adjuvant arthritis. However, more effort is needed to objectively prove the effectiveness of ultrasound by developing more sensitive testing methods that could quantitatively evaluate the treatment effects of acute rheumatoid arthritis and by trying out different ultrasound treatment methods.