• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.45-56
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• 2003

Background : Mycobacterium abscessus is the most common respiratory pathogen in rapidly growing mycobacteria and is resistant to all of the first-line antituberculosis drugs. This report describes the clinical and radiographic characteristics in patients with pulmonary disease caused by M. abscessus. Materials and Methods : Twelve patients with pulmonary disease caused by M. abscessus who fulfilled the 1997 American Thoracic Society diagnostic criteria for a nontuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary infection were observed over a five-and-a-half year period. The clinical characteristics and chest radiographic findings were analyzed, retrospectively. Results : The patients were predominantly female(11/12, 92%) and nonsmokers(12/12, 100%). Coughing (10/12, 83%), sputum(10/12, 83%) and hemoptysis(10/12, 83%) were the common symptoms and they had prolonged periods from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis of their disease(median 6.5 years). Eleven (92%) patients had a previous history of being treated for pulmonary tuberculosis. The sputum specimens were acid-fast bacilli smear-positive in all patients. All patients were administered antituberculosis drugs. Six (50%) patients were treated with second-line antituberculosis drugs on account of persistent smear-positive sputum specimens. The chest radiographs showed that reticulonodular opacities(11/12, 92%) were the most common pattern of abnormality, followed by cavitary lesions(5/12, 42%). The computed tomography findings suggested bronchiolitis from the centrilobular nodules with a tree-in-bud appearances(9/10, 90%) and bronchiectasis (9/10, 90%) were the most common, followed by well-defined nodules smaller than 10-mm in diameter(7/10, 70%). Conclusions : M. abscessus pulmonary disease should be recognized as a cause of chronic mycobacterial lung disease, and respiratory isolates should be assessed carefully.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Food Science of Animal Resources Conference
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• 2004.05a
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• pp.89-119
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• 2004

This study was conducted to isolate lactobacilli having probiotic characteristics to be used as health adjuncts with fermented milk products. Acid tolerant strains were selected in Lactobacilli MRS broth adjusted to pH 4.0 from 80 healthy persons (infants, children and adults). And bile tolerant strains were examined in Lactobacilli MRS broth in which 1.0% bile salt was added. By estimation above characteristics, the strains No. 27, which was isolated from adult feces, was selected and identified as Lactobacillus salivarius subsp. salivarius based on carbohydrate fermentation and 16S rDNA sequencing. It was used as a probiotic strain in fermented milk products. The pH of fermented milk decreased from pH 6.7 to 5.0 and titratable acidity increased from 0.3% to 1.0% by L. salivarius subsp. salivarius (isolation strain 20, 35, and 37), when incubated for 36 h at $37^{\circ}C$. The number of viable cell counts of fermented milk was maximized at this incubation condition. The SDS-PAGE evidenced no significant change of casein but distinct changes of whey protein were observed by isolated L. salivarius subsp. salivarius for titratable acidity being incubated by $0.9{\sim}1.0%$ at $37^{\circ}C$. All of the strains produced 83.43 to 131.96 mM of lactic acid and 5.39 to 26.85 mM of isobutyric acid in fermented products. The in vitro culture experiment was performed to evaluate ability to reduce cholesterol levels and antimicrobial activity in the growth medium. The selected L. salivarius subsp. salivarius reduced $23{\sim}38%$ of cholesterol content in lactobacilli MRS broth during bacterial growth for 24 hours at $37^{\circ}C$. All of the isolated L. salivarius subsp. salivarius had an excellent antibacterial activity with $15{\sim}25$ mm of inhibition zone to E. coli KCTC1039, S. enteritidis KCCM3313, S. typhimurium M-15, and S. typhimurium KCCM40253 when its pH had not been adjusted. Also, all of the isolated L. salivarius subsp. salivarius had partial inhibition zone to E. coli KCTC1039, E. coli KCTC0115 and S. enteritidis KCCM3313 when it had been adjusted to pH 5.7. The selected strains were determined to have resistances of twelve antibiotic. Strains 27 and 35 among the L. salivarius subsp. salivarius showed the highest resistance to the antibiotics. Purified ${\alpha}$-galactosidase was obtained by DEAE-Sephadex A-50 ion exchange chromatography, Mono-Q ion exchange chromatography and HPLC column chromatography from L. salivarius subsp. salivarius 27. The specific activity of the purified enzyme was 8,994 units/mg protein, representing an 17.09 folds purification of the original cell crude extract. The molecular weight of enzyme was identified about 53,000 dalton by 12% SDS-PAGE. Optimal temperature and pH for activity of this enzyme were $40^{\circ}C$ and 7.0 respectively. The enzyme was found to be stable between 25 and $50^{\circ}C$. ${\alpha}$-galactosidase activity was lost rapidly below pH 5.0 and above pH 9.0. This enzyme was liberated galactose from melibiose, raffinose, and stachyose, and also the hydrolysis rate of substrate was compound by HPLC. These results indicated that some of the L. salivarius subsp. salivarius (strain 27 and 35) are considered as effective probiotic strains with a potential for industrial applications, but the further study is needed to establish their use as probiotics in vivo.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.1019-1037
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• 2005

The major goals of periodontal therapy are the functional regeneration of periodontal supporting structures already destructed by periodontal disease as well as the reduction of signs and symptoms of progressive periodontal disease. There have been many efforts to develop materials and therapeutic methods to promote periodontal wound healing. There have been increasing interest on the chitosan made by chtin. Chitosan is a derivative of chitin made by deacetylation of side chains. Chitosan has been widely studied as bone substitution and membrane material in periodontology. Many experiments using chitosan in various animal models have proven its beneficial effects. Tetracycline has been considered for use in the treatment of chronic periodontal disease and gingivitis. The aim of this study is to evlauate the osteogenesis of tetracycline blended chitosan membranes on the calvarial critical size defect in Sprague Dawley rats. An 8mm surgical defect was produced with a trephine bur in the area of the midsagittal suture. The rats were divided into five groups: Untreated control group versus four experimental group. Four types of membranes were made and comparative study was been done. Two types of non-woven membranes were made by immersing non-woven chitosan into either the tetracycline solution or chitosan-tetracycline solution. Other two types of sponge membranes were fabricated by immersing chitosan sponge into the tetracycline solution, and subsequent freeze-drying. The animals were sacrificed at 2 and 8 weeks after surgical procedure. The specimens were examined by histologic analyses. The results are as follows: 1. Clinically the use of tetracycline blended chitosan membrane showed great healing capacity. 2. The new bone formations of all the experimental group, non-woven and sponge type membranes were greater than those of control group. But, there was no significant difference between the experimental groups. 3. Resorption of chitosan membranes were not shown in any groups at 2 weeks and 8 weeks. These results suggest that the use of tetracycline blended chitosan membrane on the calvarial defects in rats has significant effect on the regeneration of bone tissue in itself. And it implicate that tetracycline blended chitosan membrane might be useful for guided tissue regeneration.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.278-283
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• 2013

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women worldwide and the number of women breast cancer patient was increased continuously. Most of breast cancer patient has suffered from unnecessary radiation exposure to heart, lung. Low radiation dose to the heart could lead to the worsening of preexisting cardiovascular lesions caused by radiation induced pneumonitis. Also, several statistical reports demonstrated that left-sided breast cancer patient showed higher mortality than right-sided breast cancer patient because of heart disease. In radiation therapy, Deep Inspiration Breath Hold (DIBH) technique which the patient takes a deep inspiration and holds during treatment and could move the heart away from the chest wall and lung, has showed to lead to reduction in cardiac volume and to minimize the unnecessary radiation exposure to heart during treatment. In this study, we investigated the displacement of heart using DIBH CT data compared to free-breathing (FB) CT data and radiation exposure to heart. Treatment planning was performed on the computed tomography (CT) datasets of 10 patients who had received lumpectomy treatments. Heart, lung and both breasts were outlined. The prescribed dose was 50 Gy divided into 28 fractions. The dose distributions in all the plans were required to fulfill the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurement specifications that include 100% coverage of the CTV with ${\geq}95%$ of the prescribed dose and that the volume inside the CTV receiving >107% of the prescribed dose should be minimized. Scar boost irradiation was not performed in this study. Displacement of heart was measured by calculating the distance between center of heart and left breast. For the evaluation of radiation dose to heart, minimum, maximum and mean dose to heart were calculated. The present study demonstrates that cardiac dose during left-sided breast radiotherapy can be reduced by applying DIBH breathing control technique.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.103-114
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• 2010

Purpose : To generate a Korean specific brain template, especially in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) by optimizing the voxel-based analysis. Materials and Methods : Three-dimensional T1-weighted images were obtained from 123 subjects who were 43 cognitively normal subjects and patients with 44 mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 36 AD. The template and the corresponding aprior maps were created by using the matched pairs approach with considering differences of age, gender and differential diagnosis (DDX). We measured several characteristics in both our and the MNI templates, including in the ventricle size. Also, the fractions of gray matter and white matter voxels normalized by the total intracranial were evaluated. Results : The high resolution template and the corresponding aprior maps of gray matter, white matter (WM) and CSF were created with the voxel-size of $1{\times}1{\times}1\;mm$. Mean distance measures and the ventricle sizes differed between two templates. Our brain template had less gray matter and white matter areas than the MNI template. There were volume differences more in gray matter than in white matter. Conclusion : Gray matter and/or white matter integrity studies in populations of Korean elderly and patients with AD are needed to investigate with this template.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.206-214
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• 2009

Statement of problem: There are common clinical cases in which the mandibular first and second molars are missing unilaterally. Purpose: This study was designed to compare and evaluate the magnitude and distribution of stress produced by four kinds of mandibular unilateral free-end removable partial dentures that could be applied clinically in Kennedy class II cases. Material and methods: Four unilateral free-end removable partial dentures using clasp, Konus crown, resilient attachment, and flexible resin were fabricated on the photoelastic models of the Kennedy class II cases. The vertical load of 6㎏ was applied on the central fossa of the first molar of every removable partial denture in the stress freezing furnace and the photoelastic models were frozen according to the stress freezing cycle. After these models were sliced mesio-distally to a thickness of 6mm, the photoelastic isochromatic white and black lines of the sliced specimens were examined with the transparent photoelastic experiment device and photographs were taken with a digital camera. The fringe order numbers at eight measuring points in the photograph were measured with the naked eye. Results: The maximum fringe order number of each sliced specimen and the fringe order number at the residual ridge just below the loading point were in the decreasing order of the unilateral removable partial dentures using flexible resin followed by clasp, resilient attachment, and Konus crown. The fringe order number at the root apex of the second premolar was in the decreasing order of the unilateral removable partial dentures using clasp followed by flexible resin, Konus crown, and resilient attachment. Conclusion: The removable partial denture using Konus crown showed the most equalized stress distribution to the supporting alveolar bone of abutment teeth and residual ridge under the vertical loads. The removable partial denture using flexible resin can be applied to the case that has a better state of residual ridge than abutment teeth.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.4
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• pp.247-253
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• 2012

Ultrasound measures of back fat thickness (UBF), eye muscle area (UEMA) and marbling score (UMS) and carcass measures of carcass weight (CW), backfat thickness (BF), eye muscle area (EMA) and marbling score (MS) were available on 26,129 Hanwoo steers. Statistically significant differences by regions of the farms location and birth years-seasons for the steers taken ultrasound measures and their carcass measures (p<0.01) were found. Steers in Gyeonggi province showed the highest values in ultrasound measures and carcass traits except in BF compared to steers in the other provinces. Comparing between ultrasound and carcass measures, UBF was thicker in general than BF in all regions except in Daejeon city. UEMA was higher than EMA in all regions except in Gyeonggior in Jeju provinces. Especially, the difference in Jeonnam province between UEMA and EMA was $7cm^2$ while the differences between UMS and MS ranged from 0.9 to 2.26 depending on the regions of steers located. Steers born in spring showed greater ultrasound or carcass values than those born in autumn. However, carcass measures of steers born in autumn were greater than those born in spring, 2009 except MS. The pearson and residual correlations were 0.63 and 0.65 between UBF and BF, 0.31 and 0.32 between UEMA and EMA and 0.56 and 0.56 between UMS and MS, respectively.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.1-26
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• 1997

Chunggeumtang has been used in Korea for many centuries as a treatment for respiratory disease. The effect of Chunggeumtang on tracheal smooth muscle is not konwn. The purpose of the present study is to determine the effect of Chunggeumtang on histamine and acetylcholine induced tracheal smooth muscle contraction in rats and guinea pigs. Guinea pig(500g, male) and Sprague Dawley rats (250g, male) were killed by $CO_2$ exposure and a segment (8-10mm) of the thoracic trachea from each rat and guinea pig was cut into equal swegments and mounted 'in pairs' in a tissue bath. Contractile force was measured with force diplacement transducers under 0.5g loading tension. The dose of histamine (His) and acetylcholine (Ach) which evoked 50% of maximal response ($ED_{50}$) was obtained from cumulative dose response curves for histamine and acetylcholine($10^{-7}{\sim}10^{-4}M$). Contractions evoked by His ($ED_{50}$) and Ach ($ED_{50}$) were inhibited significantly by Chunggeumtang. In guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of acetylcholine induced contraction was $6.1%after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and 49.4% (p<0.01) after $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. In rat tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of acetylcholine induced contraction was $6.7%\;after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and $54.2%\;(p<0.01)\;after\;100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. Also, in guinea pig tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of histamine induced contraction was $30.6%\;(p<0.05)\;after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and $53.0%\;(p<0.01)\;after\;100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. In rat tracheal smooth muscle, the mean percent inhibition of histamine induced contraction was $24.1%\;(p<0.05)\;after\;30{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang, and $55.3%\;(p<0.01)\;after\;100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang. Propranolol and indomethacin($10^{-7}M$) slightly but significantly attenuated the inhibitory effects of Chunggeumtang. Following treatment with propranolol, the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 27.6% in guinea pig induced by acetylcholine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 28.7% (p<0.05) in rat induced by acetylcholine contraction and the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 16.2% in guinea pig induced by histamine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 28.7% (p<0.05) in rat induced by histamine contraction. Indomethacin, the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 20.0% in guinea pig induced by acetylcholine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 16.9% (p<0.05) in rat induced by acetylcholine contraction and the mean percent inhibition caused by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 16.4% in guinea pig induced by histamine contraction and by $100{\mu}l/ml$ Chunggeumtang fell to 23.1% (p<0.05) in rat induced by histamine contraction. Methylene blue($10^{-7}M$) did not significantly alter the inhibitory effect of Chunggeumtang. Also, I could find the effects of Chunggeumtang and Chunggeumtanggamorphine on the tracheal smooth muscle in guinea pig and rat did not change significantly. These results indicate that Chunggeumtang can relax histamine and acetylcholine-induced contraction of guinea pig and rat tracheal smooth muscle, and that this inhibition involves sympathetic effects and the release of cyclooxygenase products.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.5A
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• pp.565-575
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• 2009

In recent years, there have been numerous explosion-related accidents due to military and terrorist activities. Such incidents caused not only damages to structures but also human casualties, especially in urban areas. To protect structures and save human lives against explosion accidents, better understanding of the explosion effect on structures is needed. In an explosion, the blast load is applied to concrete structures as an impulsive load of extremely short duration with very high pressure and heat. Generally, concrete is known to have a relatively high blast resistance compared to other construction materials. However, normal strength concrete structures require higher strength to improve their resistance against impact and blast loads. Therefore, a new material with high-energy absorption capacity and high resistance to damage is needed for blast resistance design. Recently, Ultra High Strength Concrete(UHSC) and Reactive Powder Concrete(RPC) have been actively developed to significantly improve concrete strength. UHSC and RPC, can improve concrete strength, reduce member size and weight, and improve workability. High strength concrete are used to improve earthquake resistance and increase height and bridge span. Also, UHSC and RPC, can be implemented for blast resistance design of infrastructure susceptible to terror or impact such as 9.11 terror attack. Therefore, in this study, the blast tests are performed to investigate the behavior of UHSC and RPC slabs under blast loading. Blast wave characteristics including incident and reflected pressures as well as maximum and residual displacements and strains in steel and concrete surface are measured. Also, blast damages and failure modes were recorded for each specimen. From these tests, UHSC and RPC have shown to better blast explosions resistance compare to normal strength concrete.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.11-23
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• 2024

Objective: To investigate whether reader training improves the performance and agreement of radiologists in interpreting unenhanced breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans using diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). Materials and Methods: A study of 96 breasts (35 cancers, 24 benign, and 37 negative) in 48 asymptomatic women was performed between June 2019 and October 2020. High-resolution DWI with b-values of 0, 800, and 1200 sec/mm² was performed using a 3.0-T system. Sixteen breast radiologists independently reviewed the DWI, apparent diffusion coefficient maps, and T1-weighted MRI scans and recorded the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category for each breast. After a 2-h training session and a 5-month washout period, they re-evaluated the BI-RADS categories. A BI-RADS category of 4 (lesions with at least two suspicious criteria) or 5 (more than two suspicious criteria) was considered positive. The per-breast diagnostic performance of each reader was compared between the first and second reviews. Inter-reader agreement was evaluated using a multi-rater κ analysis and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). Results: Before training, the mean sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of the 16 readers were 70.7% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 59.4-79.9), 90.8% (95% CI: 85.6-94.2), and 83.5% (95% CI: 78.6-87.4), respectively. After training, significant improvements in specificity (95.2%; 95% CI: 90.8-97.5; P = 0.001) and accuracy (85.9%; 95% CI: 80.9-89.8; P = 0.01) were observed, but no difference in sensitivity (69.8%; 95% CI: 58.1-79.4; P = 0.58) was observed. Regarding inter-reader agreement, the κ values were 0.57 (95% CI: 0.52-0.63) before training and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.62-0.74) after training, with a difference of 0.11 (95% CI: 0.02-0.18; P = 0.01). The ICC was 0.73 (95% CI: 0.69-0.74) before training and 0.79 (95% CI: 0.76-0.80) after training (P = 0.002). Conclusion: Brief reader training improved the performance and agreement of interpretations by breast radiologists using unenhanced MRI with DWI.