• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.102-109
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• 2011

Purpose : To retrospectively evaluate the usefulness of diffusion-weighted images, ADC maps and conventional MR images for determination of brain tumor consistency. Materials and Methods : Twenty-three patients with brain tumor underwent MR examinations with T1, T2 and diffusion-weighted images. Regions of interest (ROIs) were drawn in the tumors, and the measured signal intensities (SI) were normalized with the contralateral side. We evaluated the correlation between SI ratios from various images and tumor consistency assessed at surgery. In three patients with both cystic and solid components, each component was evaluated independently. Qualitatively observed SIs were also correlated with tumor consistency. Results : Statistical analysis revealed significant correlation between tumor consistency and ADC ratio (r = -0.586, p = 0.002), SI ratios on T2-weighted images (r = -0.497, p = 0.010), and observed SIs on T2-weighted images (r = -0.461, p = 0.018). The relative ratio of ADC value correlated with tumor consistency most strongly. Conclusion : The measured ratio of ADC, SI ratio and observed SI grade on T2-weighted images can provide valuable information about the consistency of brain tumor.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.1161-1171
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• 2018

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate diffusion tensor (DT) imaging-derived properties of benign oligemia, true "at risk" penumbra (TP), and the infarct core (IC) during the first 3 hours of stroke onset. Materials and Methods: The study was approved by the local animal care and use committee. DT imaging data were obtained from 14 rats after permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (pMCAO) using a 7T magnetic resonance scanner (Bruker) in room air. Relative cerebral blood flow and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps were generated to define oligemia, TP, IC, and normal tissue (NT) every 30 minutes up to 3 hours. Relative fractional anisotropy (rFA), pure anisotropy (rq), diffusion magnitude (rL), ADC (rADC), axial diffusivity (rAD), and radial diffusivity (rRD) values were derived by comparison with the contralateral normal brain. Results: The mean volume of oligemia was $24.7{\pm}14.1mm^3$, that of TP was $81.3{\pm}62.6mm^3$, and that of IC was $123.0{\pm}85.2mm^3$ at 30 minutes after pMCAO. rFA showed an initial paradoxical 10% increase in IC and TP, and declined afterward. The rq, rL, rADC, rAD, and rRD showed an initial discrepant decrease in IC (from -24% to -36%) as compared with TP (from -7% to -13%). Significant differences (p < 0.05) in metrics, except rFA, were found between tissue subtypes in the first 2.5 hours. The rq demonstrated the best overall performance in discriminating TP from IC (accuracy = 92.6%, area under curve = 0.93) and the optimal cutoff value was -33.90%. The metric values for oligemia and NT remained similar at all time points. Conclusion: Benign oligemia is small and remains microstructurally normal under pMCAO. TP and IC show a distinct evolution of DT-derived properties within the first 3 hours of stroke onset, and are thus potentially useful in predicting the fate of ischemic brain.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.162-170
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• 2017

Purpose: To evaluate the imaging findings of desmoid tumors using various imaging modalities and to evaluate whether diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) can help differentiate between desmoid and malignant tumors. Materials and Methods: The study included 27 patients with pathologically confirmed desmoid tumors. Two radiologists reviewed 23 computed tomography (CT), 12 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and 8 positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scans of desmoid tumors and recorded data regarding the shape, multiplicity, size, location, degree of enhancement, and presence or absence of calcification or hemorrhage. The signal intensity of masses on T1- and T2-weighted imaging and the presence or absence of whirling or band-like low signal intensity on T2-weighted imaging were recorded. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the desmoid tumors in nine patients with DWIs were compared with the ADC values of 32 malignant tumors. The maximum standardized uptake value ($SUV_{max}$) on PET-CT images was measured in 8 patients who underwent a PET-CT. Results: The mean size of the 27 tumors was 6.77 cm (range, 2.5-26 cm) and four tumors exhibited multiplicity. The desmoid tumors were classified by shape as either mass forming (n = 18), infiltrative (n = 4), or combined (n = 5). The location of the tumors was either intra-abdominal (n = 15), within the abdominal wall (n = 8) or extra-abdominal (n = 4). Among the 27 tumors, 21 showed moderate to marked enhancement and 22 showed homogeneous enhancement. Two tumors showed calcifications and one displayed hemorrhage. Eleven of the 12 MR T2-weighted images showed whirling or band-like low signal intensity areas in the mass. The mean ADC value of the desmoid tumors ($1493{\times}10^{-6}mm^2/s$) was significantly higher than the mean of the malignant soft tissue tumors ($873{\times}10^{-6}mm^2/s$, P < 0.001). On the PET-CT images, all tumors exhibited an intermediate $SUV_{max}$ (mean, 3.7; range, 2.3-4.5). Conclusion: Desmoids tumors showed homogenous, moderate to marked enhancement on CT and MRI scans and a characteristic whirling or band-like pattern on T2-weighted images. DWI can be useful for the differentiation of desmoid tumors from malignant soft tissue tumors.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.63 no.7
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• pp.962-967
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• 2014

In this paper, through a digital potentiometer and exponentially weighted moving average filter, pulse and PPG waveform measurable device was fabricated in radial artery. If this device is not proper about signal size in analog part, MCU can judge easily by adjusted amplification through digital potentiometer, using exponentially weighted moving average filter is able to filter out more clear value of ADC. I presumed pulse rate as value of measuring time between point of maximum contraction from sensing signal in radial artery of wrist. Therefore, this means can measure stable pulse rate and PPG waveform, finger as well as radial artery, whether signal size of each person is different finger as well as radial artery.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.87-93
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose an analog-to-digital converter to set the address of a I2C slave chip. The proposed scheme converts a fixed voltage between 0 and VDD to the digital value which can be used as the address of the slave chip. The rising time and the falling time are measured with digital counter in a serially connected RC circuit, while the circuit is being charged and discharged with the voltage to be measured. The ratio of the two measured values is used to get the corresponding digital value. This scheme gives a strong point which is to be implementable all the parts except comparator using digital logic. Although the method utilizes RC circuit, it has no relation with the RC value if the quantization error is disregarded. Experimental result shows that the proposed scheme gives 32-level resolution thus it can be used to configure the address of the I2C slave chip.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.101-109
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• 2013

Objective: To investigate roles of dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance (DCE MR) and diffusion-weighted (DW) imaging in preoperative prediction of underestimation of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) ${\geq}2cm$ on US guided core needle biopsy. Materials and Methods: Twenty two patients with DCIS on US-guided 14 gauge core needle biopsy were included. Patients were divided into a group with and without DCIS underestimation based on histopathology. MR images including DCE and DW imaging were obtained with a 3.0-T MR. The lesion type (mass or non-mass), enhancement pattern, peak enhancement, and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of proven malignant masses were generated using software of CADstream and compared between two groups using Fisher's exact test and Mann Whitney test. Results: Eight patients were in the group with underestimation and 14 patients were in the group without underestimation. The lesion type and enhancement pattern were not different between two groups (P values = 1.000 and 0.613, respectively). The median peak enhancement of lesions with underestimation was 159.5%, higher than 133.5% of those without underestimation, but not significant (P value = 0.413). The median ADC value of lesions with underestimation was $1.26{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$, substantially lower than $1.35{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$ of those without underestimation (P value = 0.094). Conclusion: ADC values had the potential to preoperatively predict DCIS underestimation on US-guided core needle biopsy, although a large prospective series study should be conducted to confirm these results.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.8
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• pp.148-155
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• 2014

In this research a signal processing system is designed for detecting the ultrasonic signal envelope using Xilinx's Zynq SoC(system on chip). As a design tool, Vivado IDE(integrated design environment) is used to hierarchically design the whole signal processing system. The proposed system consists of a Zynq-internal ADC, an FIR(finite impulse response) BPF(band pass filter), an absolute value calculator, an FIR LPF(lpw pass filter), and the Kalman filter. Under this configuration, two design schemes, HW design scheme with LPF as a final stage and HW/SW co-design scheme with a Kalman filter as a final stage, are compared in terms of the performance and efficiency. As a result, envelope detecting performances of the two schemes are proved to be almost same, but the HW/SW co-design is verified to be much more efficient than the HW design considering the much smaller time consumption during system design.

• Journal of Digital Contents Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 2010

This study attempted to examine whether the propeller diffusion weighted image method may remove magnetic susceptibility artifacts caused by metallic materials. A comparison of occurrence rates of magnetic susceptibility artifacts in the four regions, both temporal lobes, pons, and orbit, between b = 0 and b = 1,000 s/mm2 images was made after obtaining echo-planar diffusion weighted image, propeller diffusion weighted image, and ADC map images, respectively, from a total of 20 patients who had MRI shots taken of their brain and were found to be with retained metallic foreign bodies within their teeth using a 3.0T MR scanner. In the case of echo-planar diffusion weighted image technique, the presence of metallic materials may bring in some limits on accurate diagnosis due to magnetic susceptibility artifacts, while the propeller diffusion weighted image technique where magnetic susceptibility artifacts decrease is expected to be more useful in ensuring accurate diagnosis in the clinical context.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.37 no.6C
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• pp.462-468
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• 2012

In this paper, an adaptive digital automatic gain control(AGC) algorithm with two stages is proposed. AGC technique is crucial for mobile communication equipment because path loss in wireless channel and gain fluctuation in receiver front-end continuously change the received signal strength. Furthermore, adaptive criteria should be applied to the design of AGC algorithm in order to support many waveforms with one SDR communication device. With these reasons, a two-stage structure is proposed to satisfy both flexibility and adaptiveness. Compared with conventional method, it also requires shorter convergence time. Numerical results show that the gain value of variable gain amplifier(VGA) is converged within proper time and proposed scheme controls the input level of analog to digital converter(ADC) to be stable during long range of time.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.15
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• pp.6469-6475
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• 2015

Background: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) makes it possible to detect malignant tumors based on the diffusion of water molecules. It is uncertain whether DWI is more useful than positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) for distinguishing benign from malignant mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. Materials and Methods: Sixteen malignant mediastinal tumors (thymomas 7, thymic cancers 3, malignant lymphomas 3, malignant germ cell tumors 2, and thymic carcinoid 1) and 12 benign mediastinal tumors or mass lesions were assessed in this study. DWI and PET-CT were performed before biopsy or surgery. Results: The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value ($1.51{\pm}0.46{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of malignant mediastinal tumors was significantly lower than that ($2.96{\pm}0.86{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$) of benign mediastinal tumors and mass lesions (P<0.0001). Maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) ($11.30{\pm}11.22$) of malignant mediastinal tumors was significantly higher than that ($2.53{\pm}3.92$) of benign mediastinal tumors and mass lesions (P=0.0159). Using the optimal cutoff value (OCV) $2.21{\times}10^{-3}mm^2/sec$ for ADC and 2.93 for SUVmax, the sensitivity (100%) by DWI was not significantly higher than that (93.8%) by PET-CT for malignant mediastinal tumors. The specificity (83.3%) by DWI was not significantly higher than that (66.7%) for benign mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. The accuracy (92.9%) by DWI was not significantly higher than that (82.1%) by PET-CT for mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. Conclusions: There was no significant difference between diagnostic capability of DWI and that of PET-CT for distinguishing mediastinal tumors and mass lesions. DWI is useful in distinguishing benign from malignant mediastinal tumors and mass lesions.