• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.60.1-60.9
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• 2021

Background: Echocardiography is a primary tool used by veterinarians to evaluate heart diseases. In recent years, various studies have targeted standard echocardiographic values for different breeds. Reference data are currently lacking in Maltese dogs and it is important to fill this gap as this breed is predisposed to myxomatous mitral valve disease, which is a volume overload disease. Objectives: To establish the normal echocardiographic parameters for Maltese dogs. Methods: In total, 23 healthy Maltese dogs were involved in this study. Blood pressure measurements, thoracic radiography, and complete transthoracic echocardiography were performed. The effects of body weight, age and sex were evaluated, and the correlations between weight and linear and volumetric dimensions were calculated by regression analysis. Results: The mean vertebral heart size was 9.1 ± 0.4. Aside from the ejection fraction, fractional shortening, and the left atrial to aorta root ratio, all the other echocardiographic parameters were significantly correlated with weight. Conclusion: This study describes normal echocardiographic parameters that may be useful in the echocardiographic evaluation of Maltese dogs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.160-164
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• 2006

Currently, boars selected for commercial use as AI sires are evaluated on grow-finish performance and carcass characteristics. If AI sires were also evaluated and selected on semen production, it may be possible to reduce the number of boars required to service sows, thereby improving the productivity and profitability of the boar stud. The objective of this study was to estimate genetic correlations between production and semen traits in the boar: average daily gain (ADG), backfat thickness (BF) and muscle depth (MD) as production traits, and total sperm cells (TSC), total concentration (TC), volume collected (SV), number of extended doses (ND), and acceptance rate of ejaculates (AR) as semen traits. Semen collection records and performance data for 843 boars and two generations of pedigree data were provided by Smithfield Premium Genetics. Backfat thickness and MD were measured by real-time ultrasound. Genetic parameters were estimated from five four-trait and one five-trait animal models using MTDFREML. Average heritability estimates were 0.39 for ADG, 0.32 for BF, 0.15 for MD, and repeatability estimates were 0.38 for SV, 0.37 for TSC, 0.09 for TC, 0.39 for ND, and 0.16 for AR. Semen traits showed a strong negative genetic correlation with MD and positive genetic correlation with BF. Genetic correlations between semen traits and ADG were low. Therefore, current AI boar selection practices may be having a detrimental effect on semen production.

• Journal of Engineering Education Research
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.22-35
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• 2023

As information and communication technology has developed remarkably, it has become possible to analyze various types of large-volume data generated at a speed close to real time, and based on this, reliable value creation has become possible. Such big data analysis is becoming an important means of supporting decision-making based on scientific figures. The purpose of this study is to develop a big data analysis tool that can analyze large amounts of data generated through engineering education. The tasks of this study are as follows. First, a database is designed to store the information of entries in the National Creative Capstone Design Contest. Second, the pre-processing process is checked for analysis with big data analysis tools. Finally, analyze the data using the developed big data analysis tool. In this study, 1,784 works submitted to the National Creative Comprehensive Design Contest from 2014 to 2019 were analyzed. As a result of selecting the top 10 words through topic analysis, 'robot' ranked first from 2014 to 2019, and energy, drones, ultrasound, solar energy, and IoT appeared with high frequency. This result seems to reflect the current core topics and technology trends of the 4th Industrial Revolution. In addition, it seems that due to the nature of the Capstone Design Contest, students majoring in electrical/electronic, computer/information and communication engineering, mechanical engineering, and chemical/new materials engineering who can submit complete products for problem solving were selected. The significance of this study is that the results of this study can be used in the field of engineering education as basic data for the development of educational contents and teaching methods that reflect industry and technology trends. Furthermore, it is expected that the results of big data analysis related to engineering education can be used as a means of preparing preemptive countermeasures in establishing education policies that reflect social changes.

• Annual Conference of KIPS
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• 2005.05a
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• pp.1623-1626
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• 2005

초음파 영상 기법은 장기, 연조직, 혈류를 검사하는데 쓰이는 영상 진단법이다. 초음파 장비를 통해 얻어진 초음파 볼륨 데이터는 장비 특성상 많은 잡음(speckle noise)을 포함하기 때문에, 깨끗한 영상을 얻기 위해서는 잡음 필터링(noise filtering)이 필요하다. 그런데, 볼륨 데이터 모든 영역에 대해 잡음 필터링을 적용할 경우 전처리 시간이 길어져 실시간으로 초음파 볼륨 데이터를 렌더링하기 어렵다. 본 논문에서는 실시간으로 입력되는 초음파 볼륨 데이터를 가시화 하기위하여 전처리 시간 없이 잡음을 제거하는 방법을 제안한다. 전처리 시간에 전체 볼륨 데이터에 대해 잡음 필터링을 적용하지 않고, 영상을 생성하는 동안 참조되는 복셀(voxel)에 대해서만 잡음 필터를 적용하여 얻은 값을 사용한다. 이때 필터링에 소요되는 시간을 최소화하기 위해 가장 단순한 평균화 필터를 사용한다. 그리고 복셀에 적용되는 3차원 필터를 3단계의 1차원 필터 연산 단계로 분할 한 후, 각 단계별 연산을 거친 복셀들에 대해서는 다시 연산을 하지 않도록 하여 중복을 피한다. 이를 통해 전처리 시간 없이 기존 방법과 동일한 화질을 유지하는 최종 영상을 만들어 낸다.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.253-260
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• 1989

The time domain methods of estimating the attenuation coefficient are generally based on the analysis of statisical properties of the reflected echoes form an attenuating medium. Hence, it is often required to have a large number of data samples in order to obtain a statistically stable estimation result. In the attenuation estimation problem, this means that many different speckle patterns are required in the spatial resolution volume of an attenLlation image. In this paper, by using the fact that the speckle pattern Is sensitive to the point spread function of the ultrasound beam, we suggest a method to generate the statiscally uncorrelated or slightly correlated data samples in a given region by rotating a linear transducer and carrying out lateral scans for all rotating angles. This technique is applied to the entropy method for attenuation estimation proposed recently by the authors where the performance is verified by experiments using a tissue equivalent phantom.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.55 no.6
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• pp.801-809
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• 2022

Background/Aims: Current society guidelines recommend antibiotic prophylaxis for 3 to 5 days after endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine-needle aspiration (EUS-FNA) of pancreatic cystic lesions (PCLs). The overall quality of the evidence supporting this recommendation is low. In this study, we aimed to assess cyst infection and adverse event rates after EUS-FNA of PCLs among patients treated with or without postprocedural prophylactic antibiotics. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients who underwent EUS-FNA of PCLs between 2015 and 2019 at two large-volume academic medical centers with different practice patterns of postprocedural antibiotic prophylaxis. Data on patient demographics, cyst characteristics, fine-needle aspiration technique, periprocedural and postprocedural antibiotic prophylaxis, and adverse events were retrospectively extracted. Results: A total of 470 EUS-FNA procedures were performed by experienced endosonographers for the evaluation of PCLs in 448 patients, 58.7% of whom were women. The mean age was 66.3±12.8 years. The mean cyst size was 25.7±16.9 mm. Postprocedural antibiotics were administered in 274 cases (POSTAB+ group, 58.3%) but not in 196 cases (POSTAB- group, 41.7%). None of the patients in either group developed systemic or localized infection within the 30-day follow-up period. Procedure-related adverse events included mild abdominal pain (8 patients), intra-abdominal hematoma (1 patient), mild pancreatitis (1 patient), and perforation (1 patient). One additional case of pancreatitis was recorded; however, the patient also underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Conclusions: The incidence of infection after EUS-FNA of PCLs is negligible. Routine use of postprocedural antibiotics does not add a significant benefit.

• Ultrasonography
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.132-142
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlations of various kinetic parameters derived from the time intensity curve in a xenograft mouse model injected with a prostate cancer model (PC-3 and LNCaP) using an ultrasound contrast agent with histopathologic parameters. Materials and Methods: Twenty nude mice were injected with human prostate cancer cells (15 PC-3 and five LNCaP) on their hind limbs. A bolus of $500{\mu}L$ ($1{\times}10^8$ microbubbles) of second-generation US contrast agent (SonoVue) was injected into the retroorbital vein. The region of interest was drawn over the entire tumor. The time intensity curve was acquired and then fitted to a gamma variate function. The maximal intensity (A), time to peak (Tp), maximal wash-in rate (washin), washout rate (washout), area under the curve up to 50 sec ($AUC_{50}$), area under the ascending slope ($AUC_{in}$), and area under the descending slope ($AUC_{out}$) were derived from the parameters of the gamma variate fit. Immunohistochemical staining for VEGF and CD31 was performed. Tumor volume, the area percentage of VEGF stained in a field, and the count of CD31 (microvessel density, MVD) positive vessels showed correlation with the parameters from the time intensity curve. Results: No significant differences were observed between the kinetic and histopathological parameters from each group. MVD showed positive correlation with A (r=0.625, p=0.003), washin (r=0.462, p=0.040), $AUC_{50}$ (r=0.604, p=0.005), and $AUC_{out}$ (r=0.587, p=0.007). Positive correlations were also observed between tumor volume and $AUC_{50}$ (r=0.481, p=0.032), washin (r=0.662, p=0.001), and $AUC_{out}$ (r=0.547, p=0.012). Washout showed negative correlations with MVD (r=-0.454, p=0.044) and tumor volume (r=-0.464, p=0.039). The area percentage of VEGF did not show any correlation with calculated data from the curve. Conclusion: MVD showed correlations with several of the kinetic parameters. CEUS has the potential for prediction of tumor vascularity in a prostate cancer animal model.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.72-81
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• 1999

The purpose of this study was to identify the differences in pulmonary functioning after respiratory exercise with IPPB (Intermittent Positive Pressure Breather) in patients with progressive muscular dystrophy (PMD). The subjects were 46 patients with PMD who were admitted to the Rehabilitation Medicine Department of Youngdong Severance Hospital. The subjects were assigned into one of 2 groups. The control group received comprehensive treatments such as ROM exercise, deep breathing exercise, moist hot packs, and ultrasound twice a day while admitted at the Rehabilitation Medicine Department. Unlike the control group, the subjects at the experimental group received respiratory exercise treatment with IPPB. The subjects were admitted for 10~19 days, and the average length of hospital stay was 12.2 days. Pulmonary functioning was evaluated at admission and discharge by SENSOR MEDICS. The data were analyzed by a paired t-test and a independent t-test. The results were as follows: 1) The change of each parameter of pulmonary function tests were significantly improved in all groups after respiratory exercise treatment during admission (p<0.05). 2) By comparing the change of each parameter of pulmonary function tests between the experimental group and control group, the parameters of vital capacity (VC), forced vital capacity, forced vital capacity predicted (FVCP) and forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) were significantly improved in the experimental group which had received the pulmonary exercise treatment with IPPB (p<0.05). In conclusion, this study suggests that the pulmonary exercise treatments with IPPB facilitated improvement in the pulmonary functioning for the PMD patients during their hospital stay.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.13
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• pp.5159-5162
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• 2015

Background: Chronic myeloproliferative diseases are clonal stem cell diseases which occur as a result of uncontrollable growth and reproduction of hematopoietic stem cells, which are the myeloid series source in bone marrow. Recent studies have suggested that chronic inflammation can be a triggering factor in the clonal change in chronic myeloproliferative neoplasia (CMPN). In our study, we evaluated the existence of a chronic inflammation process in our Philadelphia negative (Ph-)CMPN patients using inflammation parameters in combination with demographic, laboratory and clinical characteristics of the patients. Materials and Methods: Demographic characteristics, clinical and laboratorial data, and thrombosis histories of 99 Ph-CMPN patients, who were diagnosed at our outpatient clinic of hematology in accordance with WHO 2008 criteria, were analyzed retrospectively,with 80 healthy individuals of matching gender and age included as controls. Complete blood counts, sedimentation, C reactive protein (CRP), JAK V617F gene mutations, abdomen ultrasound images and previous thrombosis histories of these patients were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Ph-CMPN and healthy control groups included 99 and 80 cases, respectively. PV, ET and MF diagnoses of patients were 43 (%43.4), 44 (44.4%) and 12 (12.1%), respectively. JAK V617F gene mutation was found to be positive in 64 (71.1%) of all cases and in 27(65.8%), 32 (82%), 5 (50%) of the cases in PV, ET and PMF groups, respectively. Thrombosis was determined as 12 (12%) in the entire group, 12.5% in the JAK V617F negative and 15.3% in the positive patients, with no statistical significance (p=0.758). No significant difference was observed between patients with and without previous thrombosis history in respect to hemogram parameters, sedimentation and CRP (p>0.05), neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), erythrocyte distribution width (RDW), mean platelet volume (MPV) and sedimentation levels of the patient.

• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.127-142
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• 2024

The amount of wave propagation through a rubber concrete construction is the subject of the current investigation. Rubber tire waste was used to make two different types of cement mixtures. One type contains sand substitute in amounts ranging from 15% to 60% of the total volume, while the other has gravel with diameters of 3/8 and 8/15 and 15% sand in the same mixture. A wide variety of concrete forms and compositions were created, and their viscous and solid state characteristics were assessed, along with their short-, medium-, and long-term strengths. Diffusion, density, mechanical strength resistance to compressive force, and ultrasound wave propagation were also assessed. The water-to-cement ratio and plasticizer were used in this investigation. In the second part of the study, an analytical model is presented that simulates the experimental model in predicting the speed of waves and the frequencies accompanying them for this type of mixture. Higher order shear deformation beam theory for wave propagation in the rubberized concrete beam is developed, considering the bidirectional distribution, which is primarily expressed by the density, the Poisson coefficient, and Young's modulus. Hamilton's concept is used to determine the governing equations of the wave propagation in the rubberized concrete beam structure. When the analytical and experimental results for rubber concrete beams were compared, the outcomes were very comparable. The addition of rubber gravel and sandy rubber to the mixture both resulted in a discernible drop in velocities and frequencies, according to the data.