• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.53-90
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• 1989

Feeding proper level of ration matchable with the appetite of fish will enhance production and also prevent waste of food and its consequence, side effects such as pollution of culture medium. To pursue this goal, elaborate studies on dissolved oxygen concentrations- as the major force in inducing appetite and the growth outcome are necessary. The growth of common carp of 67, 200, 400, 600, and 800 gram size groups was studied at oxygen concentrations ranging from 2.0 to 6 mg/$\iota$ in relation to rations from 1 to as many percent of the initial body weight as could be consumed under constant temperature of $25^{\circ}C$. The results from the experiments are summarized as followings; 1. Appetite: The smaller fish exhibited higher degree of appetite than the bigger ones at the same oxygen concentrations. The bigger the fish the less tolerant it was to the lower oxygen thersholds, and the degree of tolerence decreased as ration level increased. 2. Growth : Growth rate (percent per day) increased - unless consumption was suppressed by low oxygen levels- as the ration was increased to maximum. In case of 67 g fish, it reached the highest point of $5.05\%$ / day at $7\%$ ration under 5.0 mg/$\iota$ of oxygen. In case of 200 g fish, the maximum growth rate of $3.75\%$/day appeared at the maximum ration of $6\%$ under 5.5 mg/$\iota$ of oxygen. In 400 g fish, the highest growth of $3.37\%$/day occurred at the maximum ration of $5\%$ and 6.0 mg/$\iota$ of oxygen. In 600 g fish, the highest growth rate of $2.82\%$ /day was at the maximum ration of $4\%$ under 5.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In case of 800g fish, the highest growth rate of $1.95\%$/day was at maximum tested ration of $3\%$ under 5.0 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. 3. Food Conversion Efficiency: Food conversion efficiency ($\%$ dry feed converted into the fish tissue) first increased as the ration was increased, reached maximum at certain food level, then started decreasing with further increase in the ration. The maximum conversion efficiency stood at higher feeding rate for the smaller fish than the larger ones. In case of 67 g fish, the maximum food conversion efficiency was at $4\%$ ration within 3.0-4.0 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In 200g fish, the maximum efficiency was at $3\%$ ration within 4.0-4.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In 400g fish, the maximum efficiency was at $2\%$ ration within 4.0 - 4.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen. In 600 and 800g fish, the maximum conversion efficiency shifted to the lowest ration ($1\%$) and lower oxygen ranges. 4. Behaviour: The fish within uncomfortably low oxygen levels exhibited suppressed appetite and movements and were observed to pass feces quicker and in larger quantity than the ones in normal condition; in untolerably low oxygen the fish were lethargic, vomited, and had their normal skin color changed into pale yellow or grey patches. All these processes contributed to reducing food conversion efficiency. On the other hand, the fish within relatively higher oxygen concentrations exhibited higher degree of movement and their food conversion tended to be depressed when compared with sister groups under corresponding size and ration within relatively low oxyen level. 5. Suitability of Oxygen Ranges to Rations: The oxygen level of 2.0- 2.5 mg/$\iota$ was adequate to sustain appetite at $1\%$ ration in all size groups. As the ration was increased higher oxygen was required to sustain the fish appetite and metabolic activity, particularly in larger fish. In 67g fish, the $2\%$ ration was well supported by 2.0-2.5 mg/$\iota$ range; as the ration increased to $5\%$, higher range of 3.0-4.0 mg/$\iota$ brought better appetite and growth; from 5 till $7\%$ (the last tested ration for 67 g fish) oxygen levels over 4.0 mg/$\iota$ could sustain appetite. In 200 g fish, the 2 and $3\%$ rations brought the best growth and conversion rates at 3.5-4.5 mg/$\iota$ oxygen level; from 3 till $6\%$ (the last tested ration at 200 g fish) oxyge groups over 4.5 mg/$\iota$ were matchable with animal's appetite. In 400, 600, and 800 g fish, all the rations above $2\%$ had to be generally supported with oxygen levels above 4.5 mg/$\iota$.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.29-67
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• 1992

Life cycle and seed production of the freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium nipponense, were studied and the results are as follows : 1. Larval development : Embryos hatched out as zoea larvae of 2.06 mm in mean body length. The larvae passed through 9 zoea stages in $15{\~}20$ days and then metamorphosed into postlarvae measuring 5.68 mm in mean body length. Each zoea stage can be identified based on the shapes of the first and second antennae, exo- and endopodites of the first and second pereiopods, telson and maxillae. 2. Environmental requirements of zoea larvae : Zoea larvae grew healthy when fed with Artemia nauplii. Metamorphosing rate was $65{\~}72{\%}$ at $26{\~}28\%$ and $7.85{\~}8.28\%_{\circ}Cl.$. The relationship between the zoeal period (Y in days) and water temperature (X in $^{\circ}C$) is expressed as Y=46.0900-0.9673X. Zoeas showed best survival in a water temperature range of $26{\~}32^{\circ}C$ (optimum temperature $28^{\circ}C$), at which the metamorphosing rate into postlarvae was $54{\~}72\%$ The zoeas survived more successfully in chlorinity range of $4.12{\~}14.08{\%_{\circ}}Cl.$, (optimum chlorinity $7.6{\~}11.6\;{\%_{\circ}}Cl.$.), at which the metamorphosing rate was $42{\~}76{\%}$. The whole zoeal stages tended to be longer in proportion as the chlorinity deviated from the optimum range and particularly toward high chlorinity. Zoeas at all stages could not tolerate in the freshwater. 3. Environmental requirements of postlarvae and juveniles : Postlarvae showed normal growth at water temperatures between $24{\~}32^{\circ}C$ (optimun temperature $26{\~}28^{\circ}$. The survival rate up to the juvenile stage was $41{\~}63{\%}$. Water temperatures below $24^{\circ}C$ and above $32^{\circ}$ resulted in lower growth, and postlarvae scarcely grew at below $17^{\circ}C$. Cannibalism tended to occur more frequently under optimum range of temperatures. The range of chlorinity for normal growth of postlarvae and juveniles was from 0.00 (freshwater) to $11.24{\%_{\circ}}Cl.$, at which the survival rate was $32{\~}35\%$. The postlarvae grew more successfully in low chlorinities, and the best growth was found at $0.00\~2.21{\%_{\circ}}Cl.$. The postlarvae and juveniles showed better growth in freshwater but did not survive in normal sea water. 4. Feeding effect of diet on zoea Ilarvae : Zoea larvae were successfully survived and metamorposed into postlarvae when fed commercial artificial plankton, rotifers, and Artemia nauplii in the aquaria. However, the zoea larvae that were fed Artemia nauplii and reared in Chlorella mixed green water showed better results. The rate of metamorphosis was $68\~{\%}75$. The larvae fed cow live powder, egg powder, and Chlorella alone did not survive. 5. Diets of postlarvae, juveniles and adults : Artemia nauplii and/or copepods were good food for postlarvae. Juveniles and adults were successfully fed fish or shellfish flesh, annelids, corn grain, pelleted feed along with viscera of domestic animals or fruits. 6. Growth of postlarvae, juveniles and adults : Under favorable conditions, postlarvae molted every five or six days and attained to the juvenile stage within two months and they reached 1.78 cm in body length and 0.17 g in body weight. The juveniles grew to 3.52 cm in body length and 1.07 g in body weight in about four months. Their sexes became determinable based on the appearance of male's rudimental processes (a secondary sex character) on the endopodites of second pereiopods of males. The males commonly reached sexual maturity in seven months after attaining the postlarvae stage and they grew to 5.65 cm in body length and 3.41 g in body weight. Whereas the females attained sexual maturity within six to seven months, when they measured 4.93 cm in body length and 2.43 g in body weight. Nine or ten months after hatching, the males grew $6.62{\~}7.14$ cm in body length and $6.68{\~}8.36$ g in body weight, while females became $5.58{\~}6.08$ cm and $4.04{\~}5.54$ g. 7. Stocking density : The maximum stocking density in aquaria for successful survival and growth was $60{\~}100$ individuals/$\ell$ for zoeas in 30-days rearing (survival rate to postlarvae, $73{\~}80{\%}$) ; $100{\~}300$ individuals/$m^2$ for postlarvae of 0.57 cm in body length (survival rate for 120 days, $78{\~}85{\%}$) ; $40{\~}60$ individuals/$m^2$ for juveniles of 2.72 cm in body length (survival rate for 120 days, $63{\~}90{\%}$) : $20{\~}40$ individuals/$m^2$ for young prawns of 5.2 cm in body length (survival rate for 120 days, $62\~90{\%}$) ; and $10\~30$ individuals/$m^2$ for adults of 6.1 cm in body length (survival rate for 60 days, $73\~100{\%}$). The stocking density of juveniles, youngs and adults could be increased up to twice by providing shelters.

• Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.247-269
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• 2007

In recent years, one of the major reasons for the fierce competition amongst firms is that they strive to increase their own market shares and customer acquisition rate in the same market with similar and apparently undifferentiated products in terms of quality and perceived benefit. Because of this change in recent marketing environment, the differentiated after-sales service and diversified promotion strategies have become more important to gain competitive advantage. Price promotion is the favorite strategy that most retailers use to achieve short-term sales increase, induce consumer's brand switch, in troduce new product into market, and so forth. However, if marketers apply or copy an identical price promotion strategy without considering the characteristic differences in product and consumer preference, it will cause serious problems because discounted price itself could make people skeptical about product quality, and the changes of perceived value might appear differently depending on other factors such as consumer involvement or brand attitude. Previous studies showed that price promotion would certainly increase sales, and the discounted price compared to regular price would enhance the consumer's perceived values. On the other hand, discounted price itself could make people depreciate or skeptical about product quality, and reduce the consumers' positivity bias because consumers might be unsure whether the current price promotion is the retailer's best price offer. Moreover, we cannot say that discounted price absolutely enhances the consumer's perceived values regardless of product category and purchase situations. That is, the factors that affect consumers' value perceptions and buying behavior are so diverse in reality that the results of studies on the same dependent variable come out differently depending on what variable was used or how experiment conditions were designed. Majority of previous researches on the effect of price-comparison advertising have used consumers' buying behavior as dependent variable. In order to figure out consumers' buying behavior theoretically, analysis of value perceptions which influence buying intentions is needed. In addition, they did not combined the independent variables such as brand loyalty and price discount rate together. For this reason, this paper tried to examine the moderating effect of brand loyalty on relationship between the different levels of discounting rate and buyers' value perception. And we provided with theoretical and managerial implications that marketers need to consider such variables as product attributes, brand loyalty, and consumer involvement at the same time, and then establish a differentiated pricing strategy case by case in order to enhance consumer's perceived values properl. Three research concepts were used in our study and each concept based on past researches was defined. The perceived acquisition value in this study was defined as the perceived net gains associated with the products or services acquired. That is, the perceived acquisition value of the product will be positively influenced by the benefits buyers believe they are getting by acquiring and using the product, and negatively influenced by the money given up to acquire the product. And the perceived transaction value was defined as the perception of psychological satisfaction or pleasure obtained from taking advantage of the financial terms of the price deal. Lastly, the brand loyalty was defined as favorable attitude towards a purchased product. Thus, a consumer loyal to a brand has an emotional attachment to the brand or firm. Repeat purchasers continue to buy the same brand even though they do not have an emotional attachment to it. We assumed that if the degree of brand loyalty is high, the perceived acquisition value and the perceived transaction value will increase when higher discount rate is provided. But we found that there are no significant differences in values between two different discount rates as a result of empirical analysis. It means that price reduction did not affect consumer's brand choice significantly because the perceived sacrifice decreased only a little, and customers are satisfied with product's benefits when brand loyalty is high. From the result, we confirmed that consumers with high degree of brand loyalty to a specific product are less sensitive to price change. Thus, using price promotion strategy to merely expect sale increase is not recommendable. Instead of discounting price, marketers need to strengthen consumers' brand loyalty and maintain the skimming strategy. On the contrary, when the degree of brand loyalty is low, the perceived acquisition value and the perceived transaction value decreased significantly when higher discount rate is provided. Generally brands that are considered inferior might be able to draw attention away from the quality of the product by making consumers focus more on the sacrifice component of price. But considering the fact that consumers with low degree of brand loyalty are known to be unsatisfied with product's benefits and have relatively negative brand attitude, bigger price reduction offered in experiment condition of this paper made consumers depreciate product's quality and benefit more and more, and consumer's psychological perceived sacrifice increased while perceived values decreased accordingly. We infer that, in the case of inferior brand, a drastic price-cut or frequent price promotion may increase consumers' uncertainty about overall components of product. Therefore, it appears that reinforcing the augmented product such as after-sale service, delivery and giving credit which is one of the levels consisting of product would be more effective in reality. This will be better rather than competing with product that holds high brand loyalty by reducing sale price. Although this study tried to examine the moderating effect of brand loyalty on relationship between the different levels of discounting rate and buyers' value perception, there are several limitations. This study was conducted in controlled conditions where the high involvement product and two different levels of discount rate were applied. Given the presence of low involvement product, when both pieces of information are available, it is likely that the results we have reported here may have been different. Thus, this research results explain only the specific situation. Second, the sample selected in this study was university students in their twenties, so we cannot say that the results are firmly effective to all generations. Future research that manipulates the level of discount along with the consumer involvement might lead to a more robust understanding of the effects various discount rate. And, we used a cellular phone as a product stimulus, so it would be very interesting to analyze the result when the product stimulus is an intangible product such as service. It could be also valuable to analyze whether the change of perceived value affects consumers' final buying behavior positively or negatively.

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.71-88
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• 2017

Language models were originally developed for speech recognition and language processing. Using a set of example sentences, a language model predicts the next word or character based on sequential input data. N-gram models have been widely used but this model cannot model the correlation between the input units efficiently since it is a probabilistic model which are based on the frequency of each unit in the training set. Recently, as the deep learning algorithm has been developed, a recurrent neural network (RNN) model and a long short-term memory (LSTM) model have been widely used for the neural language model (Ahn, 2016; Kim et al., 2016; Lee et al., 2016). These models can reflect dependency between the objects that are entered sequentially into the model (Gers and Schmidhuber, 2001; Mikolov et al., 2010; Sundermeyer et al., 2012). In order to learning the neural language model, texts need to be decomposed into words or morphemes. Since, however, a training set of sentences includes a huge number of words or morphemes in general, the size of dictionary is very large and so it increases model complexity. In addition, word-level or morpheme-level models are able to generate vocabularies only which are contained in the training set. Furthermore, with highly morphological languages such as Turkish, Hungarian, Russian, Finnish or Korean, morpheme analyzers have more chance to cause errors in decomposition process (Lankinen et al., 2016). Therefore, this paper proposes a phoneme-level language model for Korean language based on LSTM models. A phoneme such as a vowel or a consonant is the smallest unit that comprises Korean texts. We construct the language model using three or four LSTM layers. Each model was trained using Stochastic Gradient Algorithm and more advanced optimization algorithms such as Adagrad, RMSprop, Adadelta, Adam, Adamax, and Nadam. Simulation study was done with Old Testament texts using a deep learning package Keras based the Theano. After pre-processing the texts, the dataset included 74 of unique characters including vowels, consonants, and punctuation marks. Then we constructed an input vector with 20 consecutive characters and an output with a following 21st character. Finally, total 1,023,411 sets of input-output vectors were included in the dataset and we divided them into training, validation, testsets with proportion 70:15:15. All the simulation were conducted on a system equipped with an Intel Xeon CPU (16 cores) and a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. We compared the loss function evaluated for the validation set, the perplexity evaluated for the test set, and the time to be taken for training each model. As a result, all the optimization algorithms but the stochastic gradient algorithm showed similar validation loss and perplexity, which are clearly superior to those of the stochastic gradient algorithm. The stochastic gradient algorithm took the longest time to be trained for both 3- and 4-LSTM models. On average, the 4-LSTM layer model took 69% longer training time than the 3-LSTM layer model. However, the validation loss and perplexity were not improved significantly or became even worse for specific conditions. On the other hand, when comparing the automatically generated sentences, the 4-LSTM layer model tended to generate the sentences which are closer to the natural language than the 3-LSTM model. Although there were slight differences in the completeness of the generated sentences between the models, the sentence generation performance was quite satisfactory in any simulation conditions: they generated only legitimate Korean letters and the use of postposition and the conjugation of verbs were almost perfect in the sense of grammar. The results of this study are expected to be widely used for the processing of Korean language in the field of language processing and speech recognition, which are the basis of artificial intelligence systems.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.1-8
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• 2010

Purpose: This retrospective study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of radiation therapy (RT) and to investigate the prognostic factors for thymoma when treated with RT. Materials and Methods: We analyzed 21 patients with thymoma and also received RT from March 2002 to January 2008. The median follow-up time was 37 months (range, 3 to 89 months). The median patient age was 57 years (range, 24 to 77 years) and the gender ratio of males to females was 4：3. Of the 21 patients, complete resections (trans-sternal thymectomy) and R2 resections were performed in 14 and 1 patient, respectively. A biopsy was performed in 6 patients (28.7%). The WHO cell types in the 21 patients were as follows: 1 patient (4.8%) had type A, 10 patients (47.6%) had type B1-3, and 10 patients (47.6%) had type C. Based on Masaoka staging, 10 patients (47.6%) were stage II, 7 patients (33.3%) were stage III, and 4 patients (19.1%) were stage IVa. Three-dimensional RT was adminstered to the tumor volume (planned target volume), including the anterior mediastinum and the residual disease. The total RT dose ranged from 52.0 to 70.2 Gy (median dose, 54 Gy). Consistent with the WHO criteria, the response rate was only analyzed for the 6 patients who received a biopsy only. The prognostic factors analyzed for an estimate of survival included age, gender, tumor size, tumor pathology, Masaoka stage, the possibility of treatment by performing surgery, the presence of myasthenia gravis, and RT dose. Results: The 3-year overall survival rate (OS) and the progression free survival rate (PFS) were 80.7% and 78.2%, respectively. Among the 10 patients with WHO cell type C, 3 of 4 patients (75%) who underwent a complete resection and 3 of 6 patients (50%) who underwent a biopsy survived. Distant metastasis developed in 4 patients (19.1%). The overall response rate in the 6 patients who received biopsy only were as follows: partial remission in 4 patients (66.7%), stable disease in 1 patient (16.6%), and progressive disease in 1 patient (16.6%). Acute RTOG radiation pneumonitis occurred in 1 patient (4.8%), grade 2 occurred in 2 patients (9.5%), grade 3 occurred in 1 patient (4.8%), and grade 4 occurred in 1 patient (4.8%). A univariate analysis revealed that the significant prognostic factors for OS were age (${\geq}60$, 58.3%; <60, 100%; p=0.0194), pathology (WHO cell type A-B3, 100%; C, 58.3%; p=0.0194) and, whether the patient underwent surgery (yes, 93.3%; no, 50%; p=0.0096). Conclusion: For the 15 patients who received surgery, there was no local failure within the radiation field. In patients with WHO cell type C, surgical procedures could have resulted in a more favorable outcome than biopsy alone. We report here our clinical experience in 21 patients with thymoma who were treated by radiation therapy.

• Journal of the Mineralogical Society of Korea
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.227-237
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• 2008

Arsenic has recently become of the most serious environmental concerns, and the worldwide regulation of arsenic fur drinking water has been reinforced. Arsenic contaminated groundwater and soil have been frequently revealed as well, and arsenic contamination and its treatment and measures have been domestically raised as one of the most important environmental issues. Arsenic behavior in geo-environment is principally affected by oxides and clay minerals, and particularly iron (oxy)hydroxides have been well known to be most effective in controlling arsenic. Among a number of iron (oxy)hydroxides, for this reason, 2-line ferrihydrite was selected in this study to investigate its effect on arsenic behavior. Adsorption of 2-line ferrihydrite was characterized and compared between As(III) and As(V) which are known to be the most ubiquitous species among arsenic forms in natural environment. Two-line ferrihydrite synthesized in the lab as the adsorbent of arsenic had $10\sim200$ nm for diameter, $247m^{2}/g$ for specific surface area, and 8.2 for pH of zero charge, and those representative properties of 2-line ferrihydrite appeared to be greatly suitable to be used as adsorbent of arsenic. The experimental results on equilibrium adsorption indicate that As(III) showed much stronger adsorption affinity onto 2-line ferrihydrite than As(V). In addition, the maximum adsorptions of As(III) and As(V) were observed at pH 7.0 and 2.0, respectively. In particular, the adsorption of As(III) did not show any difference between pH conditions, except for pH 12.2. On the contrary, the As(V) adsorption was remarkably decreased with increase in pH. The results obtained from the detailed experiments investigating pH effect on arsenic adsorption show that As(III) adsorption increased up to pH 8.0 and dramatically decreased above pH 9.2. In case of As(V), its adsorption steadily decreased with increase in pH. The reason the adsorption characteristics became totally different depending on arsenic species is attributed to the fact that chemical speciation of arsenic and surface charge of 2-line ferrihydrite are significantly affected by pH, and it is speculated that those composite phenomena cause the difference in adsorption between As(III) and As(V). From the view point of adsorption kinetics, adsorption of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite was investigated to be mostly completed within the duration of 2 hours. Among the kinetic models proposed so for, power function and elovich model were evaluated to be the most suitable ones which can simulate adsorption kinetics of two kinds of arsenic species onto 2-line ferrihydrite.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2007

Purpose: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has recently been clinically applied in the treatment of drug resistant depressed patients. There are mixed findings about the efficacy of rTMS on depression. Furthermore, the influence of rTMS on the physiology of the brain is not clear. We prospectively evaluated changes of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) between pre- and post-rTMS treatment in patients with drug resistant depression. Materials and Methods: Twelve patients with drug-resistant depression (7 male, 5 female; age range: $19{\sim}52$ years; mean age: $29.3{\pm}9.3$ years) were given rTMS on right prefrontal lobe with low frequency (1 Hz) and on left prefrontal lobe with high frequency (20 Hz), with 20-minute-duration each day for 3 weeks. Tc-99m ECD brain perfusion SPECT was obtained before and after rTMS treatment. The changes of cerebral perfusion were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping (SPM; t=3.14, uncorrected p<0.01, voxel=100). Results: Following areas showed significant increase in rCBF after 3 weeks rTMS treatment: the cingulate gyrus, fusiform gyrus of right temporal lobe, precuneus, and left lateral globus pallidus. Significant decrement was noted in: the precental and middle frontal gyrus of right frontal lobe, and fusiform gyrus of left occipital lobe. Conclusion: Low-frequency rTMS on the right prefrontal cortex and high-frequency rTMS on the left prefrontal cortex for 3 weeks as an add-on regimen have increased and decreased rCBF in the specific brain regions in drug-resistant depressed patients. Further analyses correlating clinical characteristics and treatment paradigm with functional imaging data may be helpful in clarifying the pathophysiology of drug-resistant depressed patients.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.111-119
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• 2009

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of clomiphene citrate (CC) and letrozole combined with gonadotropins for controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) in patients with CC-induced thin endometrium Methods: Fifty-one intrauterine insemination cycles performed in patients who previously had a thin endometrium (<8 mm) to ovulation induction using CC were included in this study. A CC 100 mg/day (CC+gonadotropin group, n=26) or letrozole 2.5 or 5 mg/day (letrozole+gonadotropin group, n=25) was administered on day 3~7 of the menstrual cycle, combined with gonadotropins at dose 75~150 IU every other day starting on day 5~7. We compared total dose of gonadotropin used, endometrial thickness, endometrial pattern, number of follicles ${\geq}14\;mm$ on hCG day, pregnancy rate and multiple pregnancy rate between the two groups, which were statistically analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test or Fisher's exact test, where appropriate. Results: There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics such as age, duration of infertility, number of previous IUI cycles, basal serum hormone levels and cause of infertility between the two groups. In both groups, the endometrium was significantly thicker than that of previous ovulation induction cycles using CC. No significant differences were found in the total dose of gonadotropin used, day of hCG administration, the rate of triple endometrium and pregnancy rate. The number of follicles ${\geq}14\;mm$ was significantly lower ($3.7{\pm}1.7$ vs. $2.8{\pm}1.7$, p=0.03) and the endometrium on hCG day was significantly thicker ($7.7{\pm}1.5$ vs. $9.1{\pm}1.7$, p=0.001) in letrozole+gonadotropin group compared to CC+gonadotropin group. Conclusion: The clomiphene citrate and letrozole combined with gonadotropins appear to avoid the undesirable effects on the endometrium frequently seen with CC for ovulation induction. However, in terms of adequate endometrial development or optimal follicular growth, letrozole may be more beneficial than CC for gonadotropin-combined COS in patients with CC-induced thin endometrium. Further prospective randomized controlled studies in a larger scale will be necessary to confirm our findings.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.83-89
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• 2010

Purpose: The Wide Beam Reconstruction (WBR) algorithms that UltraSPECT, Ltd. (U.S) has provides solutions which improved image resolution by eliminating the effect of the line spread function by collimator and suppression of the noise. It controls the resolution and noise level automatically and yields unsurpassed image quality. The aim of this study is WBR of whole body bone scan in usefulness of clinical application. Materials and Methods: The standard line source and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) reconstructed spatial resolution measurements were performed on an INFINA (GE, Milwaukee, WI) gamma camera, equipped with low energy high resolution (LEHR) collimators. The total counts of line source measurements with 200 kcps and 300 kcps. The SPECT phantoms analyzed spatial resolution by the changing matrix size. Also a clinical evaluation study was performed with forty three patients, referred for bone scans. First group altered scan speed with 20 and 30 cm/min and dosage of 740 MBq (20 mCi) of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP administered but second group altered dosage of $^{99m}Tc$-HDP with 740 and 1,110 MBq (20 mCi and 30 mCi) in same scan speed. The acquired data was reconstructed using the typical clinical protocol in use and the WBR protocol. The patient's information was removed and a blind reading was done on each reconstruction method. For each reading, a questionnaire was completed in which the reader was asked to evaluate, on a scale of 1-5 point. Results: The result of planar WBR data improved resolution more than 10%. The Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) of WBR data improved about 16% (Standard: 8.45, WBR: 7.09). SPECT WBR data improved resolution more than about 50% and evaluate FWHM of WBR data (Standard: 3.52, WBR: 1.65). A clinical evaluation study, there was no statistically significant difference between the two method, which includes improvement of the bone to soft tissue ratio and the image resolution (first group p=0.07, second group p=0.458). Conclusion: The WBR method allows to shorten the acquisition time of bone scans while simultaneously providing improved image quality and to reduce the dosage of radiopharmaceuticals reducing radiation dose. Therefore, the WBR method can be applied to a wide range of clinical applications to provide clinical values as well as image quality.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.531-540
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• 2000

Baclgrpimd; Recent studies have suggested that the cardioprotective effect of ischemic preconditioning(IP) is closely related to glycogen depletion and attenuation of intracellular acidosis. In the present study, the authors tested this hypothesis by perfusion isolated rabbit hearts with glucose(G) is closely related to glycogen depletion and attenuation of intracellular acidosis. In the present study, the authors tested this hypothesis by perfusion isolated rabbit hearts with glucose(G)-free perfusate. Material and Method; Hearts isolated from New Zealand white rabbits(1.5~2.0 kg body weight) were perfused with Tyrode solution by Langendorff technique. After stabilization of baseline hemodynamics, the hearts were subjected to 45 min global ischemia followed by 120 min reperfusion with IP(IP group, n=13) or without IP(ischemic control group, n=10). IP was induced by single episode of 5 min global ischemia and 10 min reperfusion. In the G-free preconditioned group(n=12), G depletion was induced by perfusionwith G-free Tyrode solution for 5 min and then perfused with G-containing Tyrode solution for 10 min; and 45 min ischemia and 120 min reperfusion. Left ventricular functionincluding developed pressure(LVDP), dP/dt, heart rate, left ventricular end-distolic pressure(LVEDP) and coronary flow (CF) were measured. Myocardial cytosolic and membrane PKC activities were measured by 32P-${\gamma}$-ATP incorporation into PKC-specific peptide and PKC isozymes were analyzed by Western blot with monoclonal antibodies. Infarct size was determined by staining with TTC(tetrazolium salt) and planimetry. Data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Turkey's post-hoc test. Result ; In comparison with the ischemic control group, IP significantly enhanced functional recovery of the left ventricle; in contrast, functional significantly enhanced functional recovery of the left ventricle; in contrast, functional recovery were not significantly different between the G-free preconditioned and the ischemic control groups. However, the infarct size was significantly reduced by IP or G-free preconditioning(39$\pm$2.7% in the ischemic control, 19$\pm$1.2% in the IP, and 15$\pm$3.9% in the G-free preconditioned, p<0.05). Membrane PKC activities were increased significantly after IP (119%), IP and 45 min ischemia(145%), G-free [recpmdotopmomg (150%), and G-free preconditioning and 45 min ischemia(127%); expression of membrane PKC isozymes, $\alpha$ and $\varepsilon$, tended to be increased after IP or G-free preconditioning. Conclusion; These results suggest that in isolated Langendorff-perfused rabbit heart model, G-free preconditioning (induced by single episode of 5 min G depletion and 10 min repletion) colud not improve post-ischemic contractile dysfunction(after 45-minute global ischemia); however, it has an infarct size-limiting effect.