• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.73 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2012

Background: The release of interferon-gamma (IFN-${\gamma}$) by T lymphocytes increases after rechallenge with Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigen, especially, at a localized site of tuberculosis (TB) infection. We aimed to compare the clincial efficacy of two commercial IFN-${\gamma}$ release assays from pleural fluid for the diagnosis in tuberculous pleurisy. Methods: We performed T-SPOT.TB and QuantiFERON-TB Gold tests simultaneously on pleural fluid and peripheral blood samples from patients with pleural effusion, in South Korea, an area with intermediate TB burden. Results: Thirty-six patients were enrolled prospectively, and tuberculous pleurisy was found in 21 patients. Both the numbers of IFN-${\gamma}$ secreting T cells and the concentration of IFN-${\gamma}$ were greater in the pleural tuberculous group, comparing with the non-tuberculous group. Moreover, in the tuberculous group, there was a significant difference in IFN-${\gamma}$ producing spot-forming cells using the T-SPOT.TB method between pleural fluid and peripheral blood. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, was the greatest for pleural fluid T-SPOT.TB test, followed by peripheral blood T-SPOT.TB test, peripheral blood QuantiFERON-TB Gold test, and pleural fluid QuantiFERON-TB Gold test (area under the ROC curve of 0.956, 0.890, 0.743, and 0.721, respectively). The T-SPOT.TB assay produced less indeterminate results than did QuantiFERON-TB Gold assay in both pleural fluid and peripheral blood. Conclusion: These findings suggest that the pleural fluid T-SPOT.TB test could be the most useful test among the IFN-${\gamma}$ release assays for diagnosing tuberculous pleurisy in an area with an intermediate prevalence of TB infection.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.226-233
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• 2023

Background: Inactive or old, healed tuberculosis (TB) on chest radiograph (CR) is often found in high TB incidence countries, and to avoid unnecessary evaluation and medication, differentiation from active TB is important. This study develops a deep learning (DL) model to estimate activity in a single chest radiographic analysis. Methods: A total of 3,824 active TB CRs from 511 individuals and 2,277 inactive TB CRs from 558 individuals were retrospectively collected. A pretrained convolutional neural network was fine-tuned to classify active and inactive TB. The model was pretrained with 8,964 pneumonia and 8,525 normal cases from the National Institute of Health (NIH) dataset. During the pretraining phase, the DL model learns the following tasks: pneumonia vs. normal, pneumonia vs. active TB, and active TB vs. normal. The performance of the DL model was validated using three external datasets. Receiver operating characteristic analyses were performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance to determine active TB by DL model and radiologists. Sensitivities and specificities for determining active TB were evaluated for both the DL model and radiologists. Results: The performance of the DL model showed area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.980 in internal validation, and 0.815 and 0.887 in external validation. The AUC values for the DL model, thoracic radiologist, and general radiologist, evaluated using one of the external validation datasets, were 0.815, 0.871, and 0.811, respectively. Conclusion: This DL-based algorithm showed potential as an effective diagnostic tool to identify TB activity, and could be useful for the follow-up of patients with inactive TB in high TB burden countries.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1996

To simulate the characteristics of magnetic exchange coupling at the interface of MR/TbCo thin films, the directions of magnetizations were calculated by minimizing energy in the films. Newton method and Gauss-Seidel method were used. The width of M-H curve increased with TbCo anisotropy constant, and with the thickness of the transition region of TbCo layer. Hysteresis loop width became extremely narrow (less than 10 Oe of coercivity), when the TbCo transition region length was $400\;\AA$. Also the hysteresis loop of films with low interfacial exchange coupling constant was similiar to that of short transition region length. When interfacial exchange coupling constant was 1/100 of perfect coupling, hysteresis loop showed a coercivity of less than 10 Oe. Comparing the measured hysteresis loop of a fabricated sample with that of simulated one, exchange coupling con¬stant could be estimated.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.79-83
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• 1996

The thermoluminescence(TL) response in changing annealing condition, triboluminescence, and darkroom temperature for $Mg_2SiO_4$:Tb phosphor are examined. The experimental results are summerized as follows : 1. The uniformity of TL intensity is better In the disinfected $Mg_2SiO_4$ : Tb than in contaminated one. 2. The triboluminescence of $Mg_2SiO_4$ : Tb is almost not detected even if numbers of $Mg_2SiO_4$ : Tb falling are increased. 3. The fading effect of $Mg_2SiO_4$ : Tb is scarcely affected by freezing room. The followings are resulted from the study. The disinfected $Mg_2SiO_4$ : Tb phosphor should be used in the dose measurement and the immediate reading for $Mg_2SiO_4$ : Tb after exposure is better. And if the reading is not immediately taken, a law darkroom temperature for $Mg_2SiO_4$ : Tb storage is recommended.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.1273-1276
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• 2011

Laponite samples intercalated with $Tb^{3+}$ or $Tb^{3+},Ce^{3+}$ ions were prepared by exchange of Na+ ions in interlayers with $Tb^{3+}$ or $Ce^{3+}$ ions. Strong green and weak blue emissions under vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) excitation (${\lambda}$ = 158 nm) were observed due to the $^5D_4{\rightarrow}^7F_J$ and $^5D_3{\rightarrow}^7F_J$ emission lines, respectively. $Tb^{3+}$ ions in an interlayer of laponite mainly existed in ion pairs or clusters, as evidenced by the concentration-dependent luminescence of the $Tb^{3+}$ ions on the relative intensities of the $^5D_3{\rightarrow}^7F_J$ and the $^5D_4{\rightarrow}^7F_J$ emission lines, due to the action of a cross-relaxation process. The addition of $Ce^{3+}$ ions increased the thermal stability of $Tb^{3+}$ intercalated laponite up to $650^{\circ}C$ and quenched the $^5D_3{\rightarrow}^7F_J$ emission lines, probably by promoting the formation of $Tb^{3+}$ ion pairs at relatively low $Tb^{3+}$ concentrations.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.74 no.3
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• pp.104-110
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• 2013

Background: Notified tuberculosis (TB) cases in Korea have not decreased over the last decade (2001-2010). Methods: To clarify the reasons, we analyzed an annual report on notified tuberculosis patients and age-specific population drift in Korea. Results: Compared to the age-specific notified TB cases between 2001 and 2010, distinctive features in notified TB cases and new cases increased markedly in people aged 45-54 years and in patients over 65 years old, whereas those between 15-34 years in 2010 decreased drastically. In particular, notified TB individuals over 65 years old occupied 29.6% of the cases in 2010, which was 1.5 times higher than that in 2001. The main reason not to decrease in notified TB patients for the last decade (2001-2010) was due to the increasing elderly population as well as the aging of baby boomers, which have a higher risk of TB development. Conclusion: Korea needs to pay attention to the older population in order to successfully decrease the burden of TB in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.947-952
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• 2004

Tb-doped lead zirconate titanate(Pb(Zr$\_$0.6/,Ti$\_$0.4/)O$_3$; PZT) thin films on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO$_2$/Si(100) substrates were fabricated by the sol-gel method. The effect on the structural and electrical properties of films measured according to Tb content. The dielectric and ferroelectric properties of Tb-doped PZT thin films were altered significantly by Tb-doping. The PZT thin film with higher dielectric constant and improved leakage current characteristic was obtained by adding 0.3 mol% Tb. The relative dielectric constant and the dielectric loss of the 0.3 mol% Tb-doped PZT thin film were 1611 and 0.024, respectively. Typical value of the swichable remanent poaraization(2Pr) and the coercive filed of the PZT film capacitor for 0.3 mol% Tb-doped were 61.4 ${\mu}$C/cm$^2$ and 61.9 kV/cm, respectively. Tb-doped PZT thin films showed improved fatigue characteristics comparing to the undoped PZT thin film.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.64 no.6
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• pp.414-421
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• 2008

Background: Recently, in addition to multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) has become rapidly growing public health threat. This study examined the clinical differences between pulmonary TB patients with extensively drug resistance (XDR) and multi-drug resistance (MDR) at the National Medical Center in Korea in order to determine the clinical characteristics associated more with XDR-TB than MDR-TB. Methods: Patients who received a diagnosis of culture-confirmed pulmonary TB and a drug sensitivity test (DST) for anti-TB drugs at the National Medical Center between January 2000 and August 2007 were enrolled in this study. The patients were identified into the XDR-TB or MDR-TB group according to the DST results. The clinical characteristics were reviewed retrospectively from the medical records. Statistical analysis for the comparisons was performed using a ${\chi}^2$-test, independent samples t-test or binary logistic regression where appropriate. Results: A total 314 patients with culture-confirmed pulmonary TB were included. Among them, 18 patients (5.7%) had XDR-TB and 69 patients (22%) had MDR-TB excluding XDR-TB. A comparison of the clinical characteristics, revealed the XDR-TB group to have a higher frequency of a prior pulmonary resection for the treatment of TB (odds ratio [OR], 3.974; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.052~15.011; P value 0.032) and longer average previous treatment duration with anti-TB drugs, including a treatment interruption period prior to the diagnosis of XDR, than the MDR-TB group (XDR-TB group, 72.67 months; MDR-TB group, 13.09 months; average treatment duration difference between two groups, 59.582 months; 95% CI, 31.743~87.420; P value, 0.000). In addition, a longer previous treatment duration with anti-TB drugs was significantly associated with XDR-TB (OR, 1.076; 95% CI, 1.038~1.117; P value, 0.000). A comparison of the other clinical characteristics revealed the XDR-TB group to have a higher frequency of male gender, diabetes mellitus (DM), age under 45, treatment interruption history, cavitations on simple chest radiograph and positive result of sputum AFB staining at the time of diagnosis of XDR. However, the association was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Pulmonary TB patients with XDR have a higher frequency of a prior pulmonary resection and longer previous treatment duration with anti-TB drugs than those with MDR. In addition, a longer previous treatment duration with anti-TB drugs is significantly associated with XDR-TB.

• The Journal of the Korean life insurance medical association
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• v.28 no.1_2
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• pp.15-18
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• 2009

Background: Recent emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis such as multidrug-resistant tuberculosis(MDR-TB) or extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis(XDR-TB) has become important health care problems. It has also became grave issues for insurance industries in determining medical risks. We have therefore strived to analyze the comparative mortality rates for drug-resistant tuberculosis through utilization of results from previous articles. Methods: Comparative mortality was calculated from source articles using mortality analysis methods. Results: Mortality ratio of MDR-TB was estimate to 1200%, and excess death rate was 110 per 1,000. Comparative mortality between MDR-TB and XDR-TB by Korean $study^{(1)}$ were 1750, 382, 405, 443, 1025, and 357%, for each 10 months study intervals, respectively. Total mortality ratio was 594% and total excess death rate was 60 per 1,000person. It was determined that the risk of XDR-TB was much greater than MDR-TB. Discussion; Pending the development of a novel anti-tuberculosis drug, it would be prudent to steer clear insuring XDR-TB during underwriting phase due to high medical cost that it creates.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.11-18
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• 2008

This study examines a new macroscopic ferrimagnet, Co-TbN. This ferrimagnet, consisting of two metallic phases, Co and TbN, demonstrated the typical macroscopic ferrimagnet properties of a magnetic compensation point and a negative giant magnetoresistance (GMR). The Co-TbN system with 32% TbN composition showed 0.72% GMR in magnetic fields up to 8 kOe at room temperature and 9% GMR in 40 kOe at 250 K. In the Co-TbN system, GMR exhibited a different dependence on temperature from that of ordinary GMR materials whose negative magnetoresistance decreases with increasing temperature. In contrast to ordinary GMR materials whose negative magnetoresistance decreases with increasing temperature, the GMR effect in the Co-TbN system increased with increasing temperature, due to the increase of ferromagnetic alignment of the Co and TbN in the magnetic field caused by the decreased exchange coupling with increasing temperature.