• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.221-227
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• 1985

Thirty-four patients with suspected ectopic pregnancy whose serum hCG levels had been measured by beta-hCG EIA before surgery were evaluated retrospectively. The results were as follows: 1. Final diagnosis of thirty-four patients with suspected ectopic pregnancy comprised twenty- eight tubal pregnancy, five ruptures of hemorrhagic corpus luteum and, one tubo-ovarian abscess. One of the five patients with rupture of hemorrhagic corpus luteum was accompanied by missed abortion. 2. Range of serum hCG levels in twenty-eight patients with tubal pregnancy was 59-21,980 mIU/ml and that of four patients with rupture of hemorrhagic corpus luteum and one patient with tubo-ovarian abscess was 0.6-6.6mIU/ml. Serum hCG level of a patient with rupture of hemorrhagic corpus luteum who was accompanied by missed abostion was 200 mIU/ml. 3. Serum hCG levels in twenty-two of twenty-eight patients with tubal pregnancy were lower than 3,000 mIU/ml. Low serum hCG level below 100mIU/ml and high serum hCG level above 6,500 mIU/ml were noticed in four and six patients with tubal pregnancy, respectively. 4. Mean serum hCG levels (${\pm}SD$) of twelve patients with tubal pregnancy who had intra-abdominal free blood of less than 500ml and sixteen patients with tubal pregnancy who had intra-abdominal free blood of more than 500ml were 4,131 (${\pm}7,801$) mIU/ml and 3,208 (${\pm}5,081$) mIU/ml, respectively. There was no statistical difference in the mean level of serum hCG between both group (P>0.05). 5. Mean serum hCG levels (${\pm}SD$) of thirteen patients with unruptured tubal pregnancy and fifteen patients with ruptured tubal pregnancy were 2,628 (${\pm}5,448$) mIU/ml and 4,449 (${\pm}6,938$) mIU/ml, respectively. Mean level of serum hCG was statistically higher in ruptured tubal pregnancy (P<0.01). 6. Positive rate of urine pregnancy test in the diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy was 64% (16/25) and mean range of serum hCG level of nine patients with false negative result were 353 mIU/ml and 59-933 mIU/ml.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.65-77
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• 1996

Using the 2-D and 3-D Hoffman brain phantom, 3-D Jaszczak phantom and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography, the effects of data acquisition parameter, attenuation, noise, scatter and reconstruction algorithm on image quantitation as well as image quality were studied. For the data acquisition parameters, the images were acquired by changing the increment angle of rotation and the radius. The less increment angle of rotation resulted in superior image quality. Smaller radius from the center of rotation gave better image quality, since the resolution degraded as increasing the distance from detector to object increased. Using the flood data in Jaszczak phantom, the optimal attenuation coefficients were derived as 0.12cm$\^$-1/ for all collimators. Consequently, the all images were corrected for attenuation using the derived attenuation coefficients. It showed concave line profile without attenuation correction and flat line profile with attenuation correction in flood data obtained with jaszczak phantom. And the attenuation correction improved both image qulity and image quantitation. To study the effects of noise, the images were acquired for 1min, 2min, 5min, 10min, and 20min. The 20min image showed much better noise characteristics than 1min image indicating that increasing the counting time reduces the noise characteristics which follow the Poisson distribution. The images were also acquired using dual-energy windows, one for main photopeak and another one for scatter peak. The images were then compared with and without scatter correction. Scatter correction improved image quality so that the cold sphere and bar pattern in Jaszczak phantom were clearly visualized. Scatter correction was also applied to 3-D Hoffman brain phantom and resulted in better image quality. In conclusion, the SPECT images were significantly affected by the factors of data acquisition parameter, attenuation, noise, scatter, and reconstruction algorithm and these factors must be optimized or corrected to obtain the useful SPECT data in clinical applications.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2012

In order to verify exact dose distributions in the state-of-the-art radiation techniques, a newly designed three-dimensional dosimeter and technique has been took strongly into consideration. The main purpose of our study is to verify the optimized parameters of polymer gel as a real volumetric dosimeter in terms of the various study of MRI. We prepared a gel dosimeter by combing 8% of gelatin, 8% of MAA, and 10 mM of THPC. We used a Co-60 gamma-ray teletherapy unit and delivered doses of 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 Gy to each polymer gel with a solid phantom. We used a fast spin-echo pulse to acquire the characterized T2 time of MRI. The signal noise ratio (SNR) of the head & neck coil was a relatively lower sensitivity than the body coil; therefore the dose uncertainty of head & neck coil would be lower than body coil's. But the dose uncertainty and resolution of the head & neck coil were superior to the body coil in this study. The TR time between 1,500 ms and 2,000 ms showed no significant difference in the dose resolution, but TR of 1,500 ms showed less dose uncertainty. For the slice thickness of 2.5 mm, less dose uncertainty of TE times was at 4 Gy, as well, it was the lowest result over 4 Gy at TE of 12 ms. The dose uncertainty was not critical up to 6 Gy, but the best dose resolution was obtained at 20 ms up to 8 Gy. The dose resolution shows the lowest value was over 20 ms and was an excellent result in the number of excitation (NEX) of three. The NEX of two was the highest dose resolution. We concluded that the better result of slice thickness versus NEX was related to the NEX increment and thin slice thickness.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.215-223
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• 2013

Purpose : To evaluate the effect of gadoxetic acid on the measurement of the stiffness value of MR elastography (MRE) used to evaluate hepatic fibrosis (HF). Materials and Methods: MRE was obtained in 32 patients with clinically suspected chronic liver disease, both before and after injection of gadoxetic acid. Two independent reviewers measured the stiffness values of the liver parenchyma on elastograms. The mean liver stiffness values were compared in the pre- and post-contrast MREs using the paired t-test. Intra-rater and inter-rater correlation was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of both pre- and post-contrast MREs was evaluated for the diagnosis of significant HF (${\geq}F2$) using cut off value of 3.1 kPa. Results: There were no significant differences in the stiffness values of the liver parenchyma on pre- and post-contrast MREs (p = 0.15 and 0.38 for each reader, respectively). Regarding intra-rater correlation, excellent agreement was noted on rater 1(ICC = 0.998) and rater 2 (ICC = 0.996). Excellent correlation regarding the measured stiffness values was noted on both pre- and post-contrast MREs (ICC = 0.988 for pre-contrast, ICC = 0.993 for post-contrast). The accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of the pre- and post-contrast MREs for differentiating significant HF (${\geq}F2$) from ${\geq}F1$ were same as 71%, 60%, and 100%, respectively. Conclusion: As there was no significant difference in the stiffness measurements seen on MREs before and after administration of gadoxetic acids, it is therefore acceptable to perform MRE after contrast injection in order to evaluate HF.

• Journal of the Korea Society of Computer and Information
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.167-175
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• 2013

This study set out from the perception that one should develop and activate differentiated programs from those 5 programs of the Health Family Support Center (family counseling program, family education support project, family affinity culture support project, care support project, diversity family support project) on the subjects (n=299) of residents in G metropolitan city by reflecting the levels of family values, communication between family members and family relationship. To achieve the study purposes above, this study devised research questions as follows: Research question 1. What are the levels of local residents for their family values, communication between family members and family relationship? Research question 2. Is there any difference in demanding family support project programs according to the local residents' family values, communication between family members and family relationship? Following are the results of this study: First, the levels were analyzed to be more than the average (on a maximum scale of 5 points) with local residents' family values (M=3.55, S.D.=.664), communication between family members (M=3.65, S.D.=.669), family relationship (M=3.69 S.D=.584) Second, the necessity levels for family values, communication between family members and family relationship of the group below the average as compared with the group over the average was found to be significantly high in family education support project, family affinity culture support project, care support project and diversity family support project except family counseling program. Accordingly, strategic plans for increasing the participation rate for the programs by the Health Family Support Center and activating those programs could be by investigating in advance the levels of family values, communication between family members and family relationship by each program respectively and differentiating the target level for the program by the group, or by giving preference to the group below the average who have high needs of program necessity when making decisions for the participation preference of the programs.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2010

Objectives: Likewise fresh cycle, it is also important to select right blastocysts for transfer in purpose of improving the pregnancy and implantation rates in frozen-thawed embryo transfer (ET) cycles. To investigate the relationship between the developmental velocity at the time of cryopreservation and pregnancy rates, we compared pregnancy rates between the day 5 cryopreservation group and the day 6 cryopreservation group. Methods: Transfers of frozen-thawed blastocysts which had been cryopreserved by vitrification on day 5 or day 6 were performed between January 2006 and June 2007. Ethylene glycol, DMSO, and pull and cut straws were used for vitrification and artificial shrinkage was done in expanded blastocysts. Thawing was performed on the day before transfer and thawed blastocysts were cultured in for 15~18 hrs in Quinn's blastocyct media. Blastocyst survival was assessed before transfer and post-thaw survival was defined as >50% of cells remaining intact and blastocoele re-expansion by the time of transfer. Results: Transfers of thawed blastocyst had been cryopreserved on day 5 were 52 cycles and 41 transfer cycles were cryopreserved on day 6. Patient characteristics, the number of transferred embryos and the survival rate of thawed blastocysts were not different in each cryopreservation day. But the biochemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy, ongoing pregnancy, and implantation rate were significantly high in transfer of frozen-thawed blastocyst which were cryopreserved on day 5. Conclusions: The clinical pregnancy and implantation rate of day-5 blastocyst showed significantly higher than those of day-6 blastocyst in frozen-ET cycles. This result indicated that developmental rate of blastocyst at cryopreservation time in frozen-thawed cycle is discriminative marker of pregnancy outcome as like in fresh cycle.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.241-249
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• 2013

This study was aimed to provide the fundamental data about oxidized hair color products. For this reason, we collected 125 oxidized hair color products, which were distributed in domestic market from January to October, 2012, and measured the heavy metal concentrations of lead, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, manganese, nickel, copper in the samples. Results were compared by domestic, foreign, henna, type and color. The average metal concentrations were as follows; 0.211 ${\mu}g/g$ for lead, 0.008 ${\mu}g/g$ for cadmium, 0.051 ${\mu}g/g$ for arsenic, 0.954 ${\mu}g/g$ for chromium, 6.250 ${\mu}g/g$ for manganese, 0.591 ${\mu}g/g$ for nickel and 0.544 ${\mu}g/g$ for copper. In case of lead and arsenic, the concentrations were much less than the regulated amount (20 ${\mu}g/g$ and 10 ${\mu}g/g$, respectively) suggested by MFDS (Ministry of Food and Drug Safety). In henna (p < 0.05), the concentrations were significantly higher than those of other domestic and foreign oxidized hair color products as follows; 1.264 ${\mu}g/g$ for lead, 0.267 ${\mu}g/g$ for arsenic, 0.025 ${\mu}g/g$ for cadmium, 4.055 ${\mu}g/g$ for chromium, 72.044 ${\mu}g/g$ for manganese, 3.076 ${\mu}g/g$ for nickel and 4.640 ${\mu}g/g$ for copper. Statistically, it showed that the heavy metal concentrations were quite different for the different types of hair color products. The cream and liquid type products had the highest average concentration in chromium (0.708 ${\mu}g/g$, 0.478 ${\mu}g/g$, respectively). On the other hand, powder type products showed the highest concentration in manganese (60.041 ${\mu}g/g$). In addition, the concentrations of heavy metals and the color of products are not quite correlated. It was shown that average concentrations of lead and chromium were higher for yellow, chromium for red and pink, manganese for brown and black, and nickel for green.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.195-203
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• 2013

In this study, antioxidative effects of the extracts of different species and flowering periods of Inula britannica were investigated. According to the free radical (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl, DPPH) scavenging activity of the extracts, The I. britannica var. chinensis flower extract (500 ${\mu}g/mL$) was measured in a 79.89% free radical scavenging activity, but the flower extracts of similar species (I. britannica var. linariaefolia Regel, I. britannica var. ramosa, I. salicina var. asiatica) did not show any effect on the free radical scavenging activity. The effects of the free radical scavenging activity of I. britannica var. chinensis flower extracts were exhibited in the order of full bloom (93.68%), bud (43.28%), and fallen blossom (14.11%). Next, we established optimum condition of extract solvent, temperature, extraction time. The extract from ethanol at $60^{\circ}C$ showed the most free radical scavenging activity among other conditions and extraction time not relevant in free radical scavenging activity. The protective effects of the extract of I. britannica var. chinensis flower on the photohemolysis of human erythrocytes by using rose bengal were increased in a concentration-dependent manner (5 ~ 50 ${\mu}g/mL$). In particular, the extract in 50 ${\mu}g/mL$ concentration exhibited better protective activity (${\tau}_{50}$ = 116.1 min) than (+)-${\alpha}$-tocopherol (${\tau}_{50}$ = 73.44 min), which is a known lipophilic antioxidant. Principle component of I. britannica var. chinensis flower was identified as quercetin of flavonoids by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). These results indicate that the extract of I. britannica var. chinensis flower can function as antioxidants in biological systems, particularly skin exposed to UV radiation by scavenging free radical and $^1O_2$, and protect cellular membranes against ROS. It is concluded that the antioxidative effects of the extract of I. britannica var. chinensis flower could be applicable to functional cosmetics.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.171-181
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• 2018

Genistein is one of the representative isoflavone compounds isolated from soybeans and has been studied very well for its anti-aging and anti-inflammatory activity through previous studies. However, although genistein exhibits high solubility in organic solvents, it shows low bioavaility due to the low water solubility. In this study, we compared directly the functional difference between genistein and genistein cyclodextrin complex which has the improved water solubility and stability by cell based assay. Cell cytotoxicity experiment were carried out on RAW264.7 with CCK-8 assay and cytotoxicity was appeared from $10{\mu}g/mL$, thereby maximum concentration was set to $10{\mu}g/mL$ in all condition. We discovered that genistein CD complex suppressed NO production and iNOS expression as concentration dependent manner in the condition of LPS rather than genistein. Also, we could understand that genistein CD complex was able to down-regulate mRNA expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines such as $IL1-{\alpha}$, $IL1-{\beta}$, IL-6, and $TNF-{\alpha}$ as concentration dependent manner in the presence of LPS. In addition, we verified that genistein CD complex increased TEER of HaCaT human keratinocyte cells as concentration dependent pattern and stimulated cell division and migration rather than genistein in cell migration assay. Thus, it is expected that it can be used as an effective cosmetic raw material for improving atopic dermatitis or skin barrier if clinical studies on skin regeneration and skin barrier of the genistein CD complex are carried out.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.352-363
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• 2017

To investigate skin-whitening effect of Adenophora triphylla var. japonica sprout extract, antioxidant activity, inhibitory effect on tyrosinase and melanin synthesis in B16/F10 melanoma cell were examined. Total phenolic content (246.25 mg GAE/g) and total flavonoid content (303.94 mg RE/g) of ethyl acetate fraction from Adenophora triphylla sprout (EFAT) showed the highest contents than other fractions (n-hexane, chloroform and distilled water). Antioxidant activities of EFAT has been evaluated using ABTS, DPPH radical scavenging activities, FRAP and inhibitory effect of lipid peroxidation. EFAT showed excellent radical scavenging activity and inhibitory effect on MDA production. Inhibitory effect of tyrosinase as a major enzyme of melanin synthesis was also measured. In these results, EFAT showed higher inhibitory effect against L-DOPA (51.27%) than L-tyrosine. $IC_{50}$ value on ${\alpha}-glucosidase$ was $41.93{\mu}g/ml$. In B16/F10 melanoma cells, EFAT inhibited melanin synthesis at $200{\mu}g/ml$ concentration (about 42% decrease). Finally, main physiological compounds of EFAT were identified as a rutin and a chlorogenic acid using high performance liquid chromatography.