• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.4
• /
• pp.303-311
• /
• 2000

Purpose: Thallium behaves similarly to potassium in vivo. Potassium channel opener (K-opener) opens ATP-sensitive $K^+$-channel located at cell membrane, resulting in potassium efflux from cytosol. We have previously reported that K-opener can alter biokinetics of Tl-201 in cultured cells and in vivo. Malignant tumor cells have high Na-K ATPase activity due to increased metabolic activities and dedifferentiation, and differential delineation of malignant tumor can be possible with Tl-201 imaging. K-opener may affect tumoral uptake of Tl-201 in vivo. To investigate the effects of pinacidil (one of the potent K-openers) on the localization of the tumor with Tl-201 chloride, we evaluated the changes in biodistribution of Tl-201 with pinacidil treatment in tumor-bearing mice. Materials and Methods: Baltic mice received subcutaneous implantation of murine breast cancer cells in the thigh and were used for biodistribution study 3 weeks later. $100{\mu}g$ of pinacidil dissolved in $200{\mu}l$ DMSO/PBS solution was injected intravenously via tail vein at 10 min after 185 KBq ($5{\mu}Ci$) Tl-201 injection. Percentage organ uptake and whole body retention ratio of Tl-201 were measured at various periods after injection, and values were compared between control and pinacidil-treated mice. Results: Pinacidil treatment resulted in mild decrease in blood levels of Tl-201, but renal uptakes were markedly decreased at 30-min, 1- and 2-hour, compared to control group. Hepatic, intestinal and muscular uptake were not different. Absolute percentage uptake and tumor to blood ratios of Tl-201 were lower in pinacidil treated mice than in the control group at all time points measured. Whole body retention ratio of Tl-201 was lower in pinacidil treated mice ($58{\pm}4%$ ), than in the control group ($67{\pm}3%$) at 24 hours after with injection of $100{\mu}g$ pinacidil. Conclusion: K-opener did not enhance, but rather decreased absolute tumoral uptake and tumor-to-blood ratios of Tl-201. Decreased whole body retention ratio and renal uptake were observed with pinacidil treatment in tumor-bearing mice.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.3-11
• /
• 2015

Purpose It is hard to obtain high quality images of knee and T.M joint because of a lot of soft tissues in the knee and T.M joint area. Most conventional system for high resolution scintigraphy was used by 4 mm aperture pinhole collimator. Performance comparison of high-resolution pinhole SPECT for Micro deluxe phantom using conventional system. the aim of this study is to evaluate performance of each aperture according to the diameter size and the usefulness of 24-hour delayed bone scintigraphy. Materials and Methods In this study 6 mm, 8 mm diameter pinhole collimators were mounted on Siemens E.CAM systems. In order to evaluate performance evaluation of each aperture and Micro Deluxe phantom was used for performance comparison of conventional SPECT system, Projection data were obtained with 9 degree increment per 30 second. Transverse images were reconstructed using dedicated OSEM algorithm with recovery of detector blurring. $^{99m}Tc-HDP$ source was used for 24-hour delayed bone scintigraphy. Results The knee joint images obtained with 24-hour delay were improved more than those obtained with 3-hour delay in our study. The 6 mm and 8 mm pinhole collimators FWHM have improved by 28% SNR and Uniformity have improved by 35%, Contrast has improved by 7% in 24-hour delayed knee joint image. While in 24-hour delayed T.M joint image of the 6 mm and 8 mm pinhole collimators FWHM have decreased by 60% SNR has decreased by 20% and Uniformity has decreased by 25%, Contrast has decreased significantly. Conclusion Pinhole collimators with 6 mm and 8 mm diameter could offer a superior performance for 24-hour delayed bone scintigraphy. The use of 24-hour delayed image provides additional benefits for pinhole scintigraphy of knee joint. Therefore, we expect that it is useful for precise diagnosis of knee joint and it is applicable to others joint imaging.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.70-75
• /
• 2017

Purpose Radioactive iodine thyroid uptake (RAIU) rate is an examination which determines and seeks about general functions of thyroid gland. The size of thyroid gland is normally different between each person, also patients having thyroid diseases have had a variety of size of thyroid gland compared with others. The purpose of this study will investigate about the counting rate which is effected by the geometric factors through the length and volume changes of the source in RAIU rate. Materials and Methods I-131 185 kBq ($5{\mu}Ci$) were placed in a cylindrical phantom of 0.5 cm, 1 cm, 1.5 cm, and 3 cm in diameter, respectively, and saline was added to gradually increase the length by 1 cm in the horizontal and vertical directions to give a change in volume. The source was measured 20 times for 20 seconds from a distance of 25 cm to $364.4keV{\pm}20%$ energy ROI with Captus 3000 thyroid uptake system (Capintec, NJ, USA). Results When the source was located in the transverse direction of the detector, the consequence of one-way ANOVA is that even though the length of source is increased each diameter, there is mostly no significant difference. When the source was located in the longitudinal direction and the counting rate of length 1 cm at all diameter is set to 100%, the average is 92.57% for length 2 cm, 86.1% for 3 cm, 80.69% for 4 cm, 74.82% for 5 cm, and 69.68% at 6 cm. Conclusion According to this study, it is expected that the gap of RAIU rate has been depended on the thickness of thyroid gland as well as the diameter of the beaker. We know that the change of the volume with the increase of the length of the source had less effect on the change of the counting rate. Thus, in order to reduce the error in the measurement of the counting rate with the thyroid uptake rate equipment, an accurate counting rate can be relatively measured if the counting rate which is measured is corrected by thickness or the distance between the thyroid and the thyroid uptake rate equipment is changed.

• 한국해양학회지
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.237-246
• /
• 1992

In order to examine controlling factors on primary productivity and assimilation Number of phytoplankton, chlorophyll-a concentrations, light intensity, temperature, salinity and transparency were measured in the Kyonggi Bay and in the mid0eastern coast of Yellow Sea from March 1989 to October 1990. Chlorophyll-a concentration of phytoplankton ranged from 0.91 to 4.30 ug/; in the Kyonggi Bay, and from 0.78 to 4.97 ug/l in the mideastern coast of Yellow Sea. Daily averaged primary productivities and annual primary productivities of phytoplankton ranged from 37.23 to 1104.44 (averaged 361.54) mgC/m$^2$/day, 131.96hC/m$^2$/yr in the mid0eastern coast of Yellow Sea, respectively. Assimilation Number of phytoplankton ranged from 1.47 to 28.28 mgC/mg chl-a/hr in the Kyonggi Bay, and of phytoplankton in the Kyonggi Bay was higher than that of the mid0eastern coast of Yellow Sea. Light utilization efficiencies (a) in the P-I curve ranged from 0.03 to 0.93 [mgC/mg chl-a/hr]/[ue/m$^2$/sec]in the Kyonggi Bay, and from 0.01 to 0.62 [mgC/mg chl-a/hr]/[ue/m$^2$/sec] in the mid-eastern coast of Yellow Sea. Their results indicated that phytoplankton in the Kyonggi Bay utilized light more efficiently than those of the mid0eastern coast of Yellow Sea. The average values of I/SUB k/ were 48.15 ue/m$^2$/sec in the Kyonggi Bay, and 120.37 uE/m$^2$/sec in the mid-eastern coast of yellow Sea. It means the phytoplankton populations in the Kyonggi Bay seem to be adapted to lower light intensity than those of the mid-eastern coast of Yellow sea.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.11 no.3
• /
• pp.190-197
• /
• 2001

Noise-induced hearing loss(NIHL) was the highest rate (43.5%~58.5% from 1996 to 1998) of positive findings through specific medical program in Korea. There were much more NIHL at workers of automobile manufacturing factories than other manufacturing factories. The specific aim of the present study was to determine the noise exposure of automobile press lines, according to their job titles, press line types(auto, semiauto), dosimeter parameters setting. There were a total 11 press lines sampled at a automobile manufacturing company. Among those press lines, 10 press lines were autolines with acoustic enclosure, one semiauto press line was no aucostic enclosure Noise exposure data were sampled for an work shift using noise dosimeter, which recorded both time-weighted average(TWA) and 1-min average. The mean OSHA TWA(Korea TWA with threshold 90) was $80.7dB(A){\pm}4.7dB(A)$ for leader, $82.8dB(A{\pm}4.5dB(A)$ for pallette man, $76.7dB(A){\pm}4.3dB(A)$ for press operators, $76.6dB(A){\pm}5.6dB(A)$ for crane operators, $77.1dB(A){\pm}2.8dB(A)$ for forklift drivers, whereas the mean NIOSH TWA was $88.9dB(A){\pm}1.7dB(A)$ for leader, $89.6dB(A){\pm}2.1dB(A)$ for pallette man, $86.7dB(A){\pm}1.8dB(A)$ for press operators, $88.5dB(A){\pm}2.0dB(A)$ for crane operators, $87.7dB(A){\pm}1.0dB(A)$ for forklift drivers. While L10 for NIOSH TWA samples was 84.8 dB(A) ~ 87.3 dB(A), L10 for OSHA TWA samples was 69.5 dB(A) ~ 77.4 dB(A). L10 means that the TWA for 90% of the samples exceeded L10. Among OSHA TWA(Korea TWA with threshold 90) samples for pallette man, 7.7 % exceeded 90 dB(A), the OSHA permissible exposure level, but OSHA TWA samples for the other job titles didn't. Among NIOSH TWA samples, the samples over 85 dB(A), the NIOSH recommended exposure limit, was 100% (leaders), 83.3 %(operators), 97.4%(palletteman), 100%(forklift drivers), 91.7 %(crane operator). The results of One-way random effects analysis of variance models shows that the difference between job titles was significant by OSHA TWA(p<0.05), but not significant by NIOSH TWA(p>0.05). NIOSH TWA samples were significantly higher than OSHA TWA samples(P<0.05). Regression analysis was used to obtain relationships between OSHA TWA samples and NIOSH TWA samples. In this case the coefficient of determination = 0.90, which shows the high degree association between two methods. Regression equation, NIOSH TWA = 0.552 * OSHA TWA + 42.13 dB(A), shows that if OSHA TWA is known, NIOSH TWA can be predicted by the equation. The mean TWA difference between threshold 80 dBA and 90 dBA was significant(p<0.01). While the TWA noise exposures were 7.7% above the Korea(OSHA) PEL, they were more than 83.3% over NIOSH REL. Automobile workers were exposed to noise level that could be potentially damaging to their hearing. It found that there is approximately 25% excess risk of hearing loss even if a worker is protected to the PEL in according to NIOSH study.

• Journal of Korean Society of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• /
• v.5 no.1
• /
• pp.59-67
• /
• 1995

Blood lead assay by $D_2$ lamp background correction method of atomic absorption spectrophotometer(AAS) with wavelength of 283.3 nm is most popular in occupational health practice in Korea. On the other hand, $D_2$ lamp background correction method with wavelength of 217.0 nm is also often used in general chemical analysis for lead assay in general purpose. But both methods have some weakness of background correction which brought direct effect on the results of analysis. Recently blood lead assay with polarized Zeeman effect of AAS was introduced and is now preferred in many laboratory than $D_2$ correction method in blood lead analysis. But still AAS with $D_2$ lamp are widely used in the field of occupational health in Korea. This study compared blood lead assay data with $D_2$ correction methods(283.3 and 217.0 nm) and with that of polarized Zeeman effect correction method to evaluate the validity of 02 correction methods. The results obtained were as follows; 1. Taking the value of polarized Zeeman effect method as reference value of 1.00, the mean relative value of $D_2$ correction method with wavelength of 217.0 nm was 0.92 and that with wavelength of 283.3 nm was 0.90 respectively in the analysis of blood lead whose value were below $20.0{\mu}g/dl$(p<0.001). Both mean values were statistically smaller than polarized Zeeman effect correction method. But in the analysis of blood whose value were between 20.0 to $20.0{\mu}g/dl$, the mean relative value of $D_2$ correction method was 0.96 in both wavelength and did not differ from polarized Zeeman effect method(p<0.001). There was no difference of blood lead between $D_2$ correction method and polarized Zeeman effect method in the analysis of blood lead whose value were over $40.0{\mu}g/dl$. 2. The variations of background correction value in polarized Zeeman effect method were not changed by increase of blood lead, but those in $D_2$ correction methods were increased by the increase of blood lead. While then relative standard deviation(RSD) of data measured by Zeeman effect method were decreased by the increase of blood lead, those by $D_2$ methods were nol differed by the increase of blood lead.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Inherited Metabolic disease
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.111-119
• /
• 2013

Purpose: Mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by deficiency of the enzyme ${\alpha}$-L-iduronidase, which leads to a broad spectrum of multisystemic manifestations. Short stature and decreased growth velocity are prominent features of MPS I. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) on growth of Korean MPS I patients from a single center. Methods: Height data were obtained by retrospective chart review of 10 Korean patients with MPS I who had received ERT for a minimum of 3 years. Height was expressed as standard deviation scores (SDS) based on normative data. Annual growth rates were calculated before and during ERT. A piecewise regression model was used to analyze height z-scores before and after treatment. Individual analysis was performed for impact of phenotype [(severe (Hurler) versus attenuated (Hurler-Scheie, Scheie)] on growth. Results: Annual growth was 3.3 cm (z-score= -0.21) in the year before ERT and 6.2 cm (z-score= 0.17), 5.8 cm (z-score= 0.07), and 3.8 cm (z-score= -0.4) in the first, second, and third years of ERT, respectively. Regression analysis showed improvement in the slope after ERT (difference= 0.04; P=0.022). Estimated slope differences between severe and attenuated phenotypes were statistically significant before (P=0.001) and after treatment (P<0.0001), although no significant difference was noted when stratified by phenotype. Conclusion: ERT with aldurazyme appears to have a positive impact on linear growth in patients with MPS I.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.35 no.3 s.99
• /
• pp.160-171
• /
• 2002

The impact of summer monsoon on water quality of the lower Nakdong River was evaluated during the summer (June-August) in 1997. Several limnological variables were measured in the interval of $1{\sim}3$ day using an automatic monitoring system (Hydrolab $Recorder^{TM}$) to detect water quality changes caused by rainfall on onehour basis. During the monsoon period (from late June to mid July), 5 times of major rainfall events of >50 mm were recorded in the river basin. Dynamic changes of water quality were observed during the monsoon, and the first rainfall event (June$25{\sim}27$) had a significant influence on the water quality at the lower part of the river. All Parameters were largely changed due to the first rain event, and the changed level was maintained until the end of monsoon period. Nutrient concentrations and turbidity increased and values of the other parameters were declined as a result of water dilution. This rainfall event, Changma, is a meteorological phenomenon caused by the East-Asian monsoon climate. The magnitude and frequency of the rainfall during the early monsoon play an important role in change of water quality and ecosystem characteristics of large river systems.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.260-269
• /
• 2009

Hwabuk Dam has been under construction to reduce flood damage in Nakdong River watershed and to supply stable water for middle area of Gyeongbuk Province. Therefore, fish investigation in up and downstream of the dam was conducted from 2004 to 2008 in order to determine any negative effect on fish community due to dam construction and to use as fundamental data for conserving species diversity and maintaining stream health. According to data analysis on water quality, temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, suspended solids, and total E-coli had seasonal variation, but they did not significantly differ in sites. However, biological and chemical oxygen demand, chlorophyll-a, nitrogen, and phosphorus representing organic matter and nutrient concentration were higher in upper site and decreased to lower site so that they differed by site. Concentration of arsenic among the heavy metals was less than 0.05 mg $L^{-1}$, which is regulated for protection of human health in water quality standard, except for 0.092 mg $L^{-1}$ in June 2005. During the study period, the total number of fish caught from the 6 sites was 10,263 representing 7 families 19 species. Among them, dominant and subdominant species were Korean chub (Zacco koreanus, 62.5%) and Chinese minnow (Rhynchocypris oxycephalus, 10.6%) which inhabit mostly in mid and upper streams, Korea. Among the 19 species, Korean endemic species were 9 species (47.4%) including Korean slender gudgeon (Squalidus gracilis majimae), Korean dark sleeper (Odontobutis platycephala), and Korean shiner (Coreoleuciscus splendidus). There was several individuals of the $1^{st}$-class endangered species, Naktong nose loach (Koreocobitis nahtongensis), caught in 2005${\sim}$2007, and no introduced species of fish was found in entire sampling period. According to result of community analysis, dominance index decreased toward lower site, but diversity and richness indices increased toward lower site. The equation of length-weight relationship on the dominant species was TW=0.000003$(TL)^{3.2603}$. The parameter b in the equation was greater than 3.0 indicating good nutritional condition in the populations. Compared to populations of Korean chub in other streams, the population in Hwabuk Dam watershed had higher mean of condition factor by size indicating better growth rate. With fish fauna and multi-metric health assessment model in each sampling attempt, index of biotic integrity (IBI) was evaluated and it resulted mostly in good (26${\sim}$35) and excellent (36${\sim}$40) condition in all sites, and the mean of IBI was the highest in site 5. The results indicate that it is very important to study not only environmental impact assessment with fish composition but also stream health assessment in order to conserve healthy aquatic ecosystem.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.200-211
• /
• 2009

A mathematical modeling program called Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) developed by USDA was applied to Kyongan stream watershed. It was run under BASINS (Better Assessment Science for Integrating point and Non-point Sources) program, and the model was calibrated and validated using KTMDL monitoring data of 2004${\sim}$2008. The model efficiency of flow ranged from very good to fair in comparison between simulated and observed data and it was good in the water quality parameters like flow range. The model reliability and performance were within the expectation considering complexity of the watershed and pollutant sources. The results of pollutant loads estimation as yearly (2004${\sim}$2008), pollutant loadings from 2006 were higher than rest of year caused by high precipitation and flow. Average non-point source (NPS) pollution rates were 30.4%, 45.3%, 28.1% for SS, TN and TP respectably. The NPS pollutant loading for SS, TN and TP during the monsoon rainy season (June to September) was about 61.8${\sim}$88.7% of total NPS pollutant loading, and flow volume was also in a similar range. SS concentration depended on precipitation and pollution loading patterns, but TN and TP concentration was not necessarily high during the rainy season, and showed a decreasing trend with increasing water flow. SWAT based on BASINS was applied to the Kyongan stream watershed successfully without difficulty, and it was found that the model could be used conveniently to assess watershed characteristics and to estimate pollutant loading including point and non-point sources in watershed scale.