• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.67-71
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• 2011

Purpose : To compare T2 relaxation times (T2) in the cingulate cortex, amygdaloid body, hippocampal body, and insular cortex between 1.5T and 3.0T MR imagers. Materials and Methods : Twelve healthy volunteers underwent FLAIR and CPMG imaging perpendicular to the hippocampal body at both 3.0T and 1.5T. T2 was measured in the cingulate cortex, amygdaloid body, hippocampal body, and insular cortex. The T2 relaxation time ratios of the cingulate cortex, insular cortex, and amygdaloid body to the hippocampal body were compared between 1.5T and 3.0T. Results : The mean T2 of the cingulate cortex, amygdaloid body, hippocampal body, and insular cortex at 1.5T were $109.5{\pm}3.1$, $117.0{\pm}7.1$, $114.7{\pm}2.4$, and $111.3{\pm}2.4$, respectively; $99.7{\pm}3.8$, $100.7{\pm}4.3$, $97.9{\pm}3.4$, and $96.2{\pm}2.0$, respectively, at 3.0T. Percentage changes of T2 in the cingulate cortex, insular cortex, amygdaloid body, and hippocampal body at 3.0T with respect to those at 1.5T were -8.9%, -13.5%, -14.6%, and -13.5%, respectively. The mean T2 ratios of the cingulate gyrus, insular cortex, and amygdaloid body to the hippocampal body at 1.5T and 3.0T were 0.96 and 1.02 (p = 0.003); 1.02 and 1.03 (p>0.05); 0.97 and 0.98 (p>0.05), respectively. Conclusion : T2 decrease in the cingulate cortex was less than the amygdaloid body, insular cortex, and hippocampal body at 3.0T. The mean T2 ratio of the cingulate gyrus to the hippocampal body was significantly different between 1.5T and 3.0T.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.441-447
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• 2007

Internal derangement of the temporomandibular joint(TMJ) is defined as an abnormal relationship of the articular disc to the condyle. Mandibular manipulation is one of the conservative treatments to be considered first to manage the patients with anterior disc displacement without reduction. Mandibular manipulation is used to increase articular mobility and to restore the displaced disc into an anatomically normal position. While Farrar's technique has been popularly used, Minagi et al., Mongini and Suarez introduced the manipulation technique conducted by the patients themselves. But there is no study on the efficacy of self-manipulation technique, comparing with conventional one. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of the conventional and self-manipulation technique, which was modified to complement the previously described technique by Minagi et al., in the treatment of patients with anterior disc displacement without reduction. TMD patients, who visited Department of Oral Medicine of Seoul National University Dental Hospital from December, 2002 to November, 2004 and were diagnosed as anterior disc displacement without reduction by TMJ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were enrolled. Conservative treatments including physical therapy, exercise, behavioral therapy, stabilization splint therapy, and manipulation therapy were done to every single patient until the symptomsimproved enough to discharge the patient. The charts were reviewed retrospectively according to the type of manipulation. In the results, patients whose maximum mouth opening was more than 40 mm was higher in the self-manipulation group(69.9%) than in the conventional manipulation group(42.9%). But difference between two groups was not significant. According to the fact that we decided to discharge the patients whentheir mouth opening increased to more than 40 mm and subjective symptoms such as pain and discomfort were improved as well, treatment period of discharged patients was significantly shorter in the self-manipulation group($29.2{\pm}12.3$ weeks) than in the conventional manipulation group ($61.0{\pm}38.0$ weeks) (p<0.01). In conclusion, in the treatment of TMD patients with anterior disc displacement without reduction, the self-manipulation technique which is performed by patients themselves is an effective treatment modality for increasing the range of mouth opening and shortening the total treatment period.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.57-71
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• 2004

Objective : Physiological evidence regarding acupuncture's effect in human patients is not yet well established, despite considerable evidence for its therapeutic efficacy. Besides target or disease specificity of acupuncture, acupuncture analgesia (AA) appears to be another large subclass that poses many questions, such as whether there is point specificity with respect to which acupoint is most effective for a particular condition. Methods : We observed brain activation with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a set of stimuli that consist of pain, pain following Meridian acupuncture, and pain following Sham acupuncture. Results : Among the new observations, the most interesting fact is that data sets of both Meridian acupuncture and Sham acupuncture show decreased activation of the same brain areas related to the pain processing signals. Present functional MRI study demonstrate two important biological observations that could elucidate AA mechanism in human participants: the effects of acupuncture occur through mediation of the higher brain areas. Sham acupuncture stimulation appears to be almost as effective as traditional Meridian acupoint stimulation, suggesting that acupuncture is not entirely point specific. Decreased activation in the limbic paleo cortical areas appears to be the probable neurological manifestation of AA and strongly implies that acupuncture stimulation inhibits the transmission of ascending pain signals to the higher cortical areas by the previously known descending pain inhibitory circuit. Conclusion : We, therefore, a hypothesized that this pain inhibitory circuit is initiated and mediated via the broad sense Hypothalamus Pituitary Adrenal (BS HPA) axis in conjunction to the "sensory stimulation."

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.161-170
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• 2013

Objectives : Our study aimed to investigate the sustained effects of sham (SHAM) and verum acupuncture (ACUP) into the post-stimulus resting state. Methods : In contrast to previous studies, in order to define the changes in resting state induced by acupuncture, changes were evaluated with a multi-method approach by using regional homogeneity (ReHo) and amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF). Twelve healthy participants received SHAM and ACUP stimulation right GB34 (Yanglingquan) and the neural changes between post- and pre-stimulation were detected. Results : The following results were found; in both ReHo and ALFF, the significant foci of; left and right middle frontal gyrus, left medial frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, and right posterior cingulate cortex, areas that are known as a default mode network, showed increased connectivity. In addition, in ReHo, but not in ALFF, brain activation changes in the insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and the thalamus, which are associated with acupuncture pain modulation, were found. Conclusions : In this study, results obtained by using ReHo and ALFF, showed that acupuncture can modulate the post-stimulus resting state and that ReHo, but not ALFF, can also detect the neural changes that were induced by the acupuncture stimulations. Although more future studies with ReHo and ALFF will be needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn, our study shows that particularly ReHo could be an interesting method for future clinical neuroimaging studies on acupuncture.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.143-147
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• 2007

Background: The safety of cervical transforaminal epidural block has been the subject of debate, therefore, this study was conducted to measure the angle of the cervical transforaminal axis and to investigate its relationship to the internal jugular vein, internal carotid artery and vertebral artery. Methods: One hundred cases of cervical MRI were reviewed. The angle between a line passing through the center of the vertebral body and spinous process and a line passing through the center of the lamina in C3-4, C4-5 and C5-6 was measured and designated as A-degree. Additionally, we drew a line at the back of the vertebral artery that ran parallel to a line passing through the center of the lamina, which was presented as A-line. We then examined the distribution of the area in which the internal jugular vein and the internal carotid artery were located. Results: The mean values of the A-degree in C3-4, C4-5 and C5-6 were $53.5{\pm}4.3$, $54.2{\pm}4.6$ and $54.3{\pm}4.8$, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences among age groups or vertebral levels (ANOVA test, P > 0.05). The A-line was distributed primarily throughout zone 3, 4, and 5 in C3-4 and zone 5 in C4-5 and C5-6. Conclusions: The results of this study indicate that the mean values of A-degree were not statistically different among each age group and each vertebral level. However, the A-line may be located in the zone in which the internal jugular vein and the internal carotid artery lie and individual differences in the A-degree remain.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.203-209
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• 2006

The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of ex vivo MR diffusion tensor imaging technique in order to observe the diffusion-contrast characteristics of human gastric tissues. On normal and pathologic gastric tissues, which have been fixed in a polycarbonate plastic tube filled with 10% formalin solution, laboratory made 3D diffusion tensor Turbo FLASH pulse sequence was used to obtain high resolution MR images with voxel size of $0.5{\times}0.5{\times}0.5mm^3\;using\;64{\times}32{\times}32mm^3$ field of view in conjunction with an acquisition matrix of $128{\times}64{\times}64$. Diffusion weighted- gradient pulses were employed with b values of 0 and $600s/mm^2$ in 6 orientations. The sequence was implemented on a clinical 3.0-T MRI scanner(Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) with a home-made quadrature-typed birdcage Tx/Rx rf coil for small specimen. Diffusion tensor values in each pixel were calculated using linear algebra and singular value decomposition(SVD) algorithm. Apparent diffusion coefficient(ADC) and fractional anisotropy(FA) map were also obtained from diffusion tensor data to compare pixel intensities between normal and abnormal gastric tissues. The processing software was developed by authors using Visual C++(Microsoft, WA, U.S.A.) and mathematical/statistical library of GNUwin32(Free Software Foundation). This study shows that 3D diffusion tensor Turbo FLASH sequence is useful to resolve fine micro-structures of gastric tissue and both ADC and FA values in normal gastric tissue are higher than those in abnormal tissue. Authors expect that this study also represents another possibility of gastric carcinoma detection by visualizing diffusion characteristics of proton spins in the gastric tissues.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.965-973
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively correlate the change of flow velocity and signal voiding in TOF-MRA. We made our phantom to control the flow velocity, and changed the flow velocity in 16 steps from 8.0 to 127.3 mc/s. The TOF-MRA test was performed using a 3.0T MRI system and the signal intensity was measured by classifying the signal voiding length and image into the In flow, Mid flow, and Out flow. The length of signal voiding was the longest when the flow velocity was 127.3 cm/s and the signal intensity decreased with increasing flow velocity(p<0.05). In flow(-.547) and Mid flow(-.643) were negatively correlated with flow velocitys(p<0.05). In conclusion, it was confirmed that the increase in flow velocity was a major factor causing signal voiding in TOF-MRA. In the future, this study will provide basic data when studying sequences and parameters to reduce signal voiding in models with a high flow velocity.

• 한국체육학회지인문사회과학편
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.535-544
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• 2015

This study was performed to determine the effect of low-intensity resistance training with blood flow restriction (BFR) on muscle volume and strength in elderly women. Sixteen elderly women (70.9±4.6 years) were divided into low (30% 1RM) and high (75% 1RM) intense resistance training groups. Tourniquet cuff (Zimmer, Germany) for BFR was applied only to the right leg during the training period. All subjects performed unilateral leg press, leg extension and leg curl (3 sets×12 repetitions) for 10 weeks (2d/wk). Blood pressure was increased from 110 to 240 mmHg during the training period at the most proximal region of exercised leg. Muscle volume and cross-sectional area (CSA) were measured by MRI and body composition was monitored by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) and isokinetic muscular strength were analyzed in both legs. The quadriceps CSA (15.2%, p<.001) and muscle volume (13.8%, p<.001) were increased in high-intense trained leg with BFR and the increased rate was highest among groups. The quadriceps CSA (9.8%, p<.001) and muscle volume (6.9%, p<.001) were increased in low-intensity training group with BFR and their increased rates were higher than control groups. The strength by exercise training was significantly improved in all groups and tended to be higher in BFR groups. These results demonstrate low-intensity resistance training with blood flow restriction could be an effective way to improve muscle volume and strength in elderly women.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.5937-5942
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• 2012

This study used silicon that is similar to the density of the tissue of the human body to compensate for the uneven areas that are in contact with air in order to reduce susceptible artifacts. The subjects of the study were 16 normal people and the areas of the human body in which there are a lot of uneven areas with complicated structure and a lot of susceptible artifacts were formed since the surface area that comes into contact with the air is large were the areas that were chosen to be examined. A 3.0T superconducting magnetic resonance device was used as the test equipment and SPIR images that are sensitive to magnetic differences were obtained as sagittal planes on a line that extended the metatarsal and the phalanges, including the middle of the longitudinal arc and the 5 distal phalanxes. The method of analysis was to reduce the susceptibility between the tissue and the air to discover the reduction of susceptible artifacts by comparing the SNR and CNR before and after applying silicon. A statistical analysis was utilized for the sample matching T examination. The results of the study revealed that the susceptible artifacts were reduced in the images of the uneven areas that were compensated and applied with silicon. The SNR increased in significant amount in correlation from $3.91{\pm}1.33$ before application to $21.69{\pm}4.52$ after application and the CNR decreased in significant amount in correlation from $28.97{\pm}8.20$ before application to $4.88{\pm}2.14$. In conclusion, this study did not affect the voxel but it was an innovative method of improvement that compensated for the fundamental issue of the difference in susceptibility between the air and the body. The application is simple and the study has great significance in that it proposed a method to reduce susceptible artifacts in a low cost and highly efficient manner.