• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.43-49
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• 2006

Purpose: Changes of degenerative disc have been analyzed or with the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to assign appropriate meaning, and the relationship between the degenerative changes of the discs and its living function has been evaluated through the living function evaluation scores collected by functional rating index. Methods: in April, 2006, a physical examination was conducted for physical laborers to be employed as on-site laborer in a steel industrial complex located at a region. A month later, these 20 laborers who participated in lumbar vertebra MRI tests have been investigated for one-to-one mobile phone functional rating index test. Excluding 3 of 14 respondents whom scored 0 in functional rating index, the rest of respondents' degenerative disc grade changes shown in MRI and its relationship to living functional rating index have been performed. Results: The Dabbs method of measuring disc height resulted to show significant increase as the disc height changes from L1-2 level to L5-S1 level (p<0.01). However, there was no statistical significance with a relationship between disc height and functional rating index, and disc height average. The Magnetic Resonance Imaging analysis regard on the degree of disc degeneration and its relationship to living functional rating proved to have significant relationship (p<0.05). Conclusion: The degenerative changes monitored by Magnetic Resonance Imaging show significant relationship (p<0.05) to living function. However, this relationship could vary depend upon the characteristics of study population. So, it suggested that the future studies should be performed by considering population's age and job career.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 2008

NIRS (Near-infrared Spectroscopy) and DOI (Diffuse Optical Imaging) are relatively new, non-invasive, and non-ionizing methods that measure or image optical properties (Scattering and Absorption Coefficient) and physiological properties (Water Fraction, concentration of Oxy-, Deoxy-Hemoglobin, Cytochrome Oxidase, etc) of biological tissues. In this paper, three different types of NIRS systems, mathematical modeling, and reconstruction algorithms are described. Also, recent applications such as functional brain imaging, optical mammography, NIRS based BMI (Brain-Machine Interface), and small animal study are reviewed.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.78-84
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• 2007

Quantitative analysis of dynamic brain PET data using a tracer kinetic modeling has played important roles in the investigation of functional and molecular basis of various brain diseases. Parametric imaging of the kinetic parameters (voxel-wise representation of the estimated parameters) has several advantages over the conventional approaches using region of interest (ROI). Therefore, several strategies have been suggested to generate the parametric images with a minimal bias and variability in the parameter estimation. In this paper, we will review the several approaches for parametric imaging with linearized methods which include graphical analysis and mulilinear regression analysis.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.183-195
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• 2024

Additional functional upgrades to the large-area compton camera (LACC) measurement device that can provide characteristics evaluation information (nuclear species and radioactivity) and two-dimensional or three-dimensional distribution imaging information of radioactive materials existing in surface or internal of concrete structures are required in terms of work stability and efficiency in order to apply to actual decommissioning sites such as nuclear power plants or medical cyclotron facilities by using this measurement device. To this purpose, the technology that allows radiation workers to intuitively and visually check the distribution of radioactive materials in advance by matching the two-dimensional distribution imaging information of radioactive materials obtained through the LACC measurement device and visual imaging of the measurement zone (10 m × 5 m) was developed. In addition, the separate system that can automatically adjust the position (height) in units of the measurement area size (0.7 m × 0.3 m × 0.8 m) of the LACC measurement device was developed and the integrated management system for characteristics evaluation information and two-dimensional or three-dimensional distribution imaging information obtained per unit of measurement for radioactive materials was developed. These functional upgrades related to LACC measurement device can improve work efficiency and safety when measuring radioactivity of concrete structures and enable the establishment of appropriate decommissioning strategies using radioactivity measurement information for decommissioning nuclear power plants or medical cyclotron facilities.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.124-131
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• 2003

Purpose : To reveal clinical usefulness of functional MRI (fMRI) using sensorymotor and language stimuli for demonstrating anatomic relationship between sensorimotor or language cortices and lesions in the planning of brain tumor surgery. Materials and Methods : This study included 12 right-handed patients with brain tumors in or around sensorimotor or language cortices. Eleven patients were evaluated with primary motor and sensory stimuli. Of these patients, six patients were also evaluated with language stimuli. One patient was evaluated with language stimuli only. For fMR imaging, a 1.5T scanner was used and the EPI BOLD technique was employed. For postprocessing image, the SPM99 program and a program made by our department was utilized. We evaluated whether sensorimotor and language stimuli activate sensorimotor and language cortices. And also, clinical efficacy of revealing anatomic relationship between cerebral cortices and lesions for planning neurosurgical operation were evaluated. Finally, we compared post-operative neurologic function with pre-operative neurologic function in same patients. Results : The fMRI examination was successful in identifying the functional cortices and depicting anatomic relationship between functional cortices and lesions in all patients. In nine patients of 11 patients with identified sensorimotor cortices, postoperative grade of manual motor test was not changed, compared with preoperative grade. Whereas postoperative improved than preoperative grade in one patient of remaining two patients, postoperative aggravated than preoperative grade in the other. This result was due to atherosclerotic lacunar infarction, regardless of tumor resection. Postoperative deficit of language function was not found in seven patients with identified language cortices. Conclusion : fMRI could be a helpful method for determining the best approach to neurosurgical treatment in patients with brain tumors in or around sensorimotor or language cortices.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.121-131
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• 2001

Echocardiography and catheterization angiography suffer certain limitations in the evaluation of congenital heart diseases in adults, though these are overcome by MRI, in which a wide field-of view, unlimited multiplanar imaging capability and three-dimensional contrast-enhanced MR angiography techniques are used. In adults, recently introduced fast imaging techniques provide cardiac MR images of sufficient quality and with less artifacts. Ventricular volume, ejection fraction, and vascular flow measurements, including pressure gradients and pulmonary-to-systemic flow ratio, can be calculated or obtained using fast cine MRI, phase-contrast MR flow-velocity mapping, and semiautomatic analysis software. MRI is superior to echocardiography in diagnosing partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection, unroofed coronary sinus, anomalies of the pulmonary arteries, aorta and systemic veins, complex heart diseases, and postsurgical sequelae. Biventricular function is reliably evaluated with cine MRI after repair of tetralogy of Fallot, and Senning's and Mustard's operations. MRI has an important and growing role in the morphologic and functional assessment of congenital heart diseases in adolescents and adults.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.37-52
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• 2022

Over the past decades, radiation therapy combined with imaging modalities that ensure optimal image guidance has revolutionized cancer treatment. The two major purposes of using imaging modalities in radiotherapy are to clearly delineate the target prior to treatment and set up the patient during radiation delivery. Image guidance secures target position prior to and during the treatment. High quality images provide an accurate definition of the treatment target and the possibility to reduce the treatment margin of the target volume, further lowering radiation toxicity and improving the quality of life of cancer patients. In this review, the various types of image guidance modalities used in radiation therapy are distinguished into ionized (kilovoltage and megavoltage image) and nonionized imaging (magnetic resonance image, ultrasound, surface imaging, and radiofrequency). The functional aspects, advantages, and limitation of imaging using these modalities are described as a subsection of each category. This review only focuses on the technological viewpoint of these modalities and any clinical aspects are omitted. Image guidance is essential, and its importance is rapidly increasing in modern radiotherapy. The most important aspect of using image guidance in clinical settings is to monitor the performance of image quality, which must be checked during the periodic quality assurance process.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1993 no.05
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• pp.21-24
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• 1993

The experimental results of visual stimulation with the tailored RF pulse are reported. Tailored RF pulse is used for the susceptibility effect imaging. Around 25% signal change of visual cortex area is detected during photic stimulation. Interestingly, with the tailored RF pulse, the signal intensity of visual cortex is deceased during photic stimulation. It is, however, increased with normal $T_2$ weighted imaging. The comparison between normal $T_2$ weighted imaging and the tailored RF pulse imaging are performed with 4T NMR system and the results with human volunteer are also presented.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.8-16
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• 2007

Finite element analysis (FEA) is an effective means for the analysis of bioelectromagnetism. It has been successfully applied to various problems over conventional methods such as boundary element analysis and finite difference analysis. However, its utilization has been limited due to the overwhelming computational load despite of its analytical power. We have previously developed a novel mesh generation scheme that produces FE meshes that are content-adaptive to given MR images. MRI content-adaptive FE meshes (cMeshes) represent the electrically conducting domain more effectively with far less number of nodes and elements, thus lessen the computational load. In general, the cMesh generation is affected by the quality of feature maps derived from MRI. In this study, we have tested various feature maps created based on the improved differential geometry measures for more effective cMesh head models. As performance indices, correlation coefficient (CC), root mean squared error (RMSE), relative error (RE), and the quality of cMesh triangle elements are used. The results show that there is a significant variation according to the characteristics of specific feature maps on cMesh generation, and offer additional choices of feature maps to yield more effective and efficient generation of cMeshes. We believe that cMeshes with specific and improved feature map generation schemes should be useful in the FEA of bioelectromagnetic problems.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.118-131
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• 2007

Neurotransmitter imaging with radiopharmaceuticals plays major role for understanding of neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Parkinson's disease and depression. Radiopharmaceuticals for neurotransmitter imaging can be divided to dopamine transporter imaging radiopharmaceuticals and serotonin trnasporter imaging radiopharmaceuticals. Many kinds of new dopamine transporter imaging radiopharmcaeuticals has a tropane ring and they showed different biological properties according to the substituted functional group on tropane ring. After the first clinical trials with $[^{123}I]{\beta}-CIT$, alkyl chain substituent introduced to tropane ring amine to decrease time for imaging acquisition and to increase selectivity. From these results, $[^{123}I]PE2I$, [18F]FE-CNT, $[^{123}I]FP-CIT$ and $[^{18}F]FP-CIT$ were developed and they showed high uptake on the dopamine transporter rich regions and fast peak uptake equilibrium time within 4 hours after injection. $[^{11}C]McN$ 5652 was developed for serotonin trnasporter imaging but this compound showed slow kinetics and high background radioactivity. To overcome these problems, new diarylsulfide backbone derivatives such as ADAM, ODAM, AFM, and DASB were developed. In these candidates, $[^{11}C]AFM$ and $[^{11}C]DASB$ showed high binding affinity to serotonin transporter and fast in vivo kinetics. This paper gives an overview of current status on dopamine and serotonin transporter imaging radiopharmaceuitcals and the development of new lead compounds as potential radiopharmaceuticals by medicinal chemistry.