• Annals of Laboratory Medicine
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.50-57
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• 2019

Background: The Automated Fluorescent Immunoassay System (AFIAS) rotavirus assay (Boditech Med Inc., Chuncheon, Korea) is a new rapid antigen test for rotavirus detection. We evaluated the performance of this assay for detecting rotaviruses and their specific genotypes in clinical stool samples. Methods: AFIAS rotavirus assay was performed in 103 rotavirus-positive and 103 rotavirus-negative stool samples (confirmed by both PCR and ELISA), and its results were compared with those of PCR, ELISA, and immunochromatographic assay (ICA). We evaluated diagnostic sensitivity/specificity, the detectability of rotavirus subtypes, lower limit of detection (LLOD), reproducibility, cross-reactivity, and interference of AFIAS rotavirus assay. Results: Based on PCR and ELISA results, diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the AFIAS rotavirus assay were both 99.0%. LLOD results showed that the AFIAS assay had sensitivity similar to or greater than ICA and ELISA. High reproducibility was confirmed, and no cross-reactivity or interference was detected. This assay could detect genotypes G1P[8], G2P[4], G3P[8], G4P[6], G4P[8], G8P[4], G8P[8], G9P[4], and G9P[8]. Conclusions: The AFIAS rotavirus assay showed high reproducibility, sensitivity, and specificity as well as excellent agreement with ELISA, PCR, and ICA. It detected the most common as well as unusual genotypes of rotavirus prevalent in Korea. It could be a useful onsite assay for rapid, convenient, and cost-effective detection of rotavirus infection.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.229-233
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• 2021

Background: Iliotibial band friction syndrome (ITBFS) is a common disorder of the lateral knee. Previous research has reported that the iliotibial band (ITB) thickness (ITBT) is correlated with ITBFS, and ITBT has been considered to be a key morphologic parameter of ITBFS. However, the thickness is different from inflammatory hypertrophy. Thus, we made the ITB cross-sectional area (ITBCSA) a new morphological parameter to assess ITBFS. Methods: Forty-three patients with ITBFS group and from 43 normal group who underwent T1W magnetic resonance imaging were enrolled. The ITBCSA was measured as the cross-sectional area of the ITB that was most hypertrophied in the magnetic resonance axial images. The ITBT was measured as the thickest site of ITB. Results: The mean ITBCSA was 25.24 ± 6.59 ㎟ in the normal group and 38.75 ± 9.11 ㎟ in the ITBFS group. The mean ITBT was 1.94 ± 0.41 mm in the normal group and 2.62 ± 0.46 mm in the ITBFS group. Patients in ITBFS group had significantly higher ITBCSA (P < 0.001) and ITBT (P < 0.001) than the normal group. A receiver operator characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that the best cut-off value of the ITBT was 2.29 mm, with 76.7% sensitivity, 79.1% specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) 0.88. The optimal cut-off score of the ITBCSA was 30.66 ㎟, with 79.1% sensitivity, 79.1% specificity, and AUC 0.87. Conclusions: ITBCSA is a new and sensitive morphological parameter for diagnosing ITBFS, and may even be more accurate than ITBT.

• 한국영어학회지:영어학
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• 제1권1호
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• pp.101-117
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• 2001

In English, whether or not wh-movement creates weak crossover effects depends upon the type of wh-phrases that cross over. A bare interrogative like who shows a typical weak crossover effect whereas which N type (e.g. which girl) and partitive type (e.g. which of these girls) wh-phrases would show mere weaker and weakest crossover effects, respectively. Previous approaches to English crossover phenomena that resort to a binary notion of specificity or D-linking cannot account for the three-way contrast the three different types of wh-phrases show. To overcome this problem, I argue in this paper that specificity should be a non-binary set-theoretic notion and propose the following subset principle and optimal binding relation: Between two lexical nominal expressions A and B, A is regarded as more specific than B iff the denotation of A comes from a more narrowly defined non-singleton set than B. Between two lexical nominal expressions A and B, if A locally binds B, then the non-singleton set from which the denotation of A comes should be a subset of the set from which the denotation of B comes (i.e. B cannot be more specific than A). The smaller the subset (i.e. the wider the specificity gap between binder and binder), the more optimal the local binding relation is. A locally binds B iff A is coindexed with B, and A c-commands B, and there is no such C that does not bind A but binds B. Finally, I show that partitivity functions to carve out a smaller subset and thus make partitive wh-phrases more specific than simple which N type wh-phrases.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.11-21
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• 2007

Heat shock protein (HSP) is one of cellular protein commonly present in major periodontopathogenic bacteria as well as mammalian cells. The protein may play a role in the immunopathogenesis by modulating autoimmune reaction due to its high level of sequence homology between bacteria and human counterpart. Hence, identifying immunodomiant epitope of bacteria HSP that is cross-reactive to periodontopathogenic bacteria with a specificity to human HSP may comprise a critical strategy for development of a periodontal vaccine. The present study was performed to establish clones producing monoclonal antibody reactive to Porphyromonas gingivalis (p. gingivalis) HSP with a specificity to human HSP. 4 different hybridomas were cloned producing monoclonal IgG antibodies to P, gingivalis HSP and evaluated for their reactivity and specificity to other periodontopathogenic bacteria as well as to human HSP. These four monoclonal antibodies reacted with p. gingivalis HSP only with specificities to other bacteria tested and human HSP as well. The antigenic epitopes producing the 4 monoclonal antibody may be potentially developed as vaccine candidates. Further investigations are under way to identify more clones producing monoclonal antibodies reactive to P, gingivalis HSP and to other periodontopathogenic bacteria as well, while maintaining specificities to human counterpart.

• Applied Microscopy
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.144-149
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• 2015

Nothobranchius guentheri and Nothobranchius patrizii have special life cycle to sustain the dry season. So, we investigated the fertilized eggs morphology, and compared ultrastructures of surface structures and the cross section of fertilized egg envelopes using light and electron microscopes to determine whether these fertilized eggs and egg envelopes show the species specificity or have special structure to sustain the dry season. These fertilized eggs were spherical, yellowish, demersal and adhesive, and had a one-sided large oil droplet. The whip-like structures, adhesive filament were distributed throughout egg envelope in both species. But, that of N. guentheri was covered with fibrous structures, and that of N. patrizii was smooth. The egg envelope consisted of two distinct layers: an outer, electron-dense layer containing adhesive filaments and an inner layer of 16 to 17 horizontal electron-dense lamellae alternating with 15 to 16 interlamellae of lower electron density in both species. The external shapes of fertilized egg and section of fertilized egg envelope were same, but ultrastructure of adhesive filaments on the outer surface was concluded to show species specificity. Our data indicate that the ultrastructural differences of adhesive filament and outer surface of fertilized egg envelope show species specificity although these species belong to same genus.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• 제52권2호
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• pp.187-195
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• 2022

Purpose: This study developed a convolutional neural network (CNN) model to diagnose maxillary sinusitis on panoramic radiographs(PRs) and cone-beam computed tomographic (CBCT) images and evaluated its performance. Materials and Methods: A CNN model, which is an artificial intelligence method, was utilized. The model was trained and tested by applying 5-fold cross-validation to a dataset of 148 healthy and 148 inflamed sinus images. The CNN model was implemented using the PyTorch library of the Python programming language. A receiver operating characteristic curve was plotted, and the area under the curve, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive values for both imaging techniques were calculated to evaluate the model. Results: The average accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the model in diagnosing sinusitis from PRs were 75.7%, 75.7%, and 75.7%, respectively. The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the deep-learning system in diagnosing sinusitis from CBCT images were 99.7%, 100%, and 99.3%, respectively. Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of the CNN for maxillary sinusitis from PRs was moderately high, whereas it was clearly higher with CBCT images. Three-dimensional images are accepted as the "gold standard" for diagnosis; therefore, this was not an unexpected result. Based on these results, deep-learning systems could be used as an effective guide in assisting with diagnoses, especially for less experienced practitioners.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• 제20권1호
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• pp.46-52
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• 1997

To obtain more sensitive immunoassay for methamphetamine (MA) determination, the optimum condition of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was investigated in regard to immunogens, antibody purification methods and coating tracers. Activated MA, N-(4-aminobutyl)methamphetamine (4-ABMA), was conjugated with bovine serum albumin (BSA) or keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and used as immunogen. The antibodies were purified by protein G chromatography or various immunoaffinity chromatography-linked MA-protein ligands, such as MA-BSA, MA-KLH or MA-ovalbumin (OVA). Each purified antibody was characterized by means of sensitivity and cross-reactivity using the three MA-protein coating tracers, MA-BSA, MA-KLH and MA-OVA. The best sensitivity of each antibody was acquired with the MA-OVA tracer although the tracer concentration and the antibody titer level at optimum condition were varied. The antibody with high titer level did not always yield good sensitivity. At optimum condition, immunoaffinity chromatography-purified antibodies were better for sensitivity and for specificity than protein G-purified antibodies. The cross-reactivity of the purified antibodies seemed to be affected by immunogen structure and showed somewhat different patterns according to the immunoaffinity ligand utilized. These data show that the antibody purification method as well as choice of coating tracer and immunogen is essential for the sensitivity and specificity of EIA; the optimum condition for assay should be discovered using various methods and combinations.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.610-620
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• 2021

There has been increasing interest in the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) that is caused by high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) and has posed a significant challenge to Otolaryngologists. A rapid, sensitive, and reliable method is required for the detection of HR-HPV in clinical specimens to prevent and treat HPV-induced diseases. In this study, a multiple cross-linking spiral amplification (MCLSA) assay was developed for the visual detection of HPV-16. In the MCLSA assay, samples were incubated under optimized conditions at 62℃ for 45 min, and after mixing with the SYBR Green I (SGI) dye, the positive amplicons showed bright green fluorescence while the negative amplicons exhibited no obvious change. The specificity test revealed that the developed MCLSA technique had high specificity and could effectively distinguish all five HPV-16 strains from other pathogenic microorganisms. In terms of analytical sensitivity, the limit of detection (LoD) of MCLSA assay was approximately 5.4 × 101 copies/tube, which was 10-fold more sensitive than loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) and RT-PCR. The detection results of laryngeal cancer specimens collected from 46 patients with suspected HPV infection in the Liaoning region demonstrated that the positive detection rates of MCLSA and hybridized capture 2 kit were 32.61% (15/46). The true positive rate of the MCLSA assay was higher than that of RT-PCR (100% vs. 93.33%) and LAMP (100% vs. 86.67%). Therefore, the MCLSA assay developed in the present study could be a potentially useful tool for the point-of-care (PoC) diagnosis of HR-HPV, especially in resource-limited countries.

• Imaging Science in Dentistry
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• 제53권4호
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• pp.375-381
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• 2023

Purpose: This study assessed the diagnostic performance of stitched and non-stitched cross-sectional cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) images of non-displaced ovine mandibular fractures. Materials and Methods: In this ex vivo study, non-displaced fractures were artificially created in 10 ovine mandibles (20 hemi-mandibles) using a hammer. The control group comprised 8 hemi-mandibles. The non-displaced fracture lines were oblique or vertical, <0.5 mm wide, 10-20 mm long, and only in the buccal or lingual cortex. Fracture lines in the ramus and posterior mandible were created to be at the interface or borders of the 2 stitched images. CBCT images were obtained from the specimens with an 80 mm×80 mm field of view before and after fracture induction. OnDemand software (Cybermed, Seoul, Korea) was used for stitching the CBCT images. Four observers evaluated 56 (28 stitched and 28 non-stitched) images to detect fracture lines. The diagnostic performance of stitched and non-stitched images was assessed by calculating the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Sensitivity and specificity values were also calculated (alpha=0.05). Results: The AUC was calculated to be 0.862 and 0.825 for the stitched and non-stitched images, respectively (P=0.747). The sensitivity and specificity were 90% and 75% for the non-stitched images and 85% and 87% for the stitched images, respectively. The inter-observer reliability was shown by a Fleiss kappa coefficient of 0.79, indicating good agreement. Conclusion: No significant difference was found in the diagnostic performance of stitched and non-stitched cross-sectional CBCT images of non-displaced fractures of the ovine mandible.

• 한국정보처리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국정보처리학회 2016년도 추계학술발표대회
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• pp.583-586
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• 2016

단백질과 RNA의 상호작용 데이터가 대량으로 늘어남에 따라, 단백질과 RNA의 결합부위를 예측하는 계산학적인 방법들이 많이 개발되고 있다. 하지만, 많은 계산학적인 방법들은 단백질에서 단백질과 RNA 결합부위를 예측한다는 한계점이 있었다. 본 논문에서는 RNA와 단백질의 서열정보를 모두 사용하여, 단백질과 결합하는 RNA 결합부위를 예측하는 기법과 그 결과를 논한다. WEKA random forest(http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/ml/weka/)를 이용하여 예측 모델을 개발하였고, RNA 서열의 서열 프로파일, 서열 composition, 결합 상대방의 단백질의 특성 등을 특정으로 표현하였다. Random forest 기법을 사용한 cross validation의 결과로서 1:1 모델에서 제일 높은 성능인 92.4% sensitivity, 92.0% specificity, 92.2% accuracy를 보였고, independent test에서는 72.5% sensitivity, 90.0% specificity, 2.1% accuracy를 보였다.