• Membrane and Water Treatment
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.257-274
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• 2020

There are many previous review articles are available to summarize either the characterization methods of effluent organic matter (EfOM) or the individual control treatment options. However, there has been no attempt made to compare in parallel the physicochemical treatment options that target the removal of EfOM from biological treatments. This review deals with the recent progress on the characterization of EfOM and the novel technologies developed for EfOM treatment. Based on the publications after 2010, the advantages and the limitations of several popularly used analytical tools are discussed for EfOM characterization, which include UV-visible and fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), size exclusion chromatography (SEC), and Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS). It is a recent trend to combine an SEC system with various types of detectors, because it can successfully track the chemical/functional composition of EfOM, which varies across a continuum of different molecular sizes. FT-ICR-MS is the most powerful tool to detect EfOM at molecular levels. However, it is noted that this method has rarely been utilized to understand the changes of EfOM in pre-treatment or post-treatment systems. Although membrane filtration is still the preferred method to treat EfOM before its discharge due to its high separation selectivity, the minimum requirements for additional chemicals, the ease of scaling up, and the continuous operation, recent advances in ion exchange and advanced oxidation processes are greatly noteworthy. Recent progress in the non-membrane technologies, which are based on novel materials, are expected to enhance the removal efficiency of EfOM and even make it feasible to selectively remove undesirable fractions/compounds from bulk EfOM.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.773-778
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• 2019

Images using X-rays are essential to diagnosis, but noise is inevitable in the image. To compensate for this, a total variation (TV) algorithm was presented to reduce the patient's exposure dose while increasing the quality of the images. The purpose of this study is to verify the effect on the image quality in radiographic imaging according to the thickness of the additional filtration plate through simulation, and to evaluate the usefulness of the TV algorithm. By using the Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emissions (GATE) simulation image, the actual size, shape and material of the Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) phantom were identical, the contrast to noise ratio (CNR) and coefficient of variation (COV) were compared. The results showed that the CNR value was the highest and the COV the lowest when applying the TV algorithm. In addition, we can acquire superior CNR and COV results with 0 mm Al in all algorithm cases.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2019

Purpose: This study compared and analyzed the risk factors that affect a wound healing group and healing failure group. Materials and Methods: From 2010 to 2018, 39 patients who had suffered a single toe amputation were evaluated retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups (wound healing group and healing failure group - within at least 3 months following the amputation). Regarding the possible risk factors, age, gender, Wagner and Brodsky classifications, duration of diabetes mellitus, whether the patient had peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD) or cardiovascular disease, body mass index, HbA1c, total cholesterol, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), smoking, and alcohol were investigated. Results: The mean duration of diabetes mellitus was 140 months in the healing group and 227 months in the healing failure group, and the duration of diabetes was significantly longer in the failure group (p=0.009). A significant difference in eGFR was observed between the two groups ($59.17mL/min/1.73m^2$ in the healing group and $31.1mL/min/1.73m^2$ in the failure group) (p=0.022). Sixteen patients with PAOD were found, all 10 patients in the healing failure group were PAOD patients. Conclusion: To reduce the additional complications in single toe amputation patients, the underlying disease and appropriate treatment are the most important factors. In addition, a more proximal level of amputation also should be considered in cases of patients with PAOD, high BUN and low eGFR, and patients with long-term diabetes.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.295-300
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• 2012

Background: With growing attention to the aortopathy associated with aortic valve diseases, the number of candidates for accompanying ascending aorta and/or root replacement is increasing among the patients who require aortic valve replacement (AVR). However, such procedures have been considered more risky than AVR alone. This study aimed to compare the surgical outcome of isolated AVR and AVR combined with aortic procedures. Materials and Methods: A total of 86 patients who underwent elective AVR between 2004 and June 2010 were divided into two groups: complex AVR (n=50, AVR with ascending aorta replacement in 24 and the Bentall procedure in 26) and simple AVR (n=36). Preoperative characteristics, surgical data, intra- and postoperative allogenic blood transfusion requirement, the postoperative clinical course, and major complications were retrospectively reviewed and compared. Results: The preoperative mean logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (%) did not differ between the groups: $11.0{\pm}7.8%$ in the complex AVR group and $12.3{\pm}8.0%$ in the simple AVR group. Although complex AVR required longer cardiopulmonary bypass ($152.4{\pm}52.6$ minutes vs. $109.7{\pm}22.7$ minutes, p=0.001), the quantity of allogenic blood products did not differ ($13.4{\pm}14.7$ units vs. $13.9{\pm}11.2$ units). There was no mortality, mechanical circulatory support, stroke, or renal failure requiring hemodialysis/filtration. No difference was found in the incidence of bleeding (40% vs. 33.3%) which was defined as red blood cell transfusion ${\geq}5$ units, reoperation, or intentional delayed closure. The incidence of mediastinitis (2.0% vs. 0%), ventilator ${\geq}24$ hours (4.0% vs. 2.8%), atrial fibrillation (18.0% vs. 25.0%), mean intensive care unit stay (34.5 hours vs. 38.8 hours), and median hospital stay (8 days vs. 7 days) did not differ, either. Conclusion: AVR combined with additional aortic or root replacement showed an excellent outcome and recovery course equivalent to that after isolated AVR.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1547-1554
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• 2021

Objective: We aimed to investigate whether repeated intravascular administration of iodinated contrast media (ICM) or gadolinium-based contrast agents (GBCAs) within a short interval was associated with an increased risk of post-contrast acute kidney injury (PC-AKI). Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 300 patients (mean age ± standard deviation, 68.5 ± 8.1 years; 131 male and 169 female) who had undergone at least one ICM-enhanced perfusion brain CT scan, had their baseline and follow-up serum creatinine levels available, and had not undergone additional contrast-enhanced examinations 72 hours before and after a time window of interest were included. The study population was divided into three groups: single-dose group and groups of patients who had received multiple contrast administrations in the time window of interest with the minimum contrast repeat interval either within 4 hours (0-4-hour group) or between 4 to 48 hours (4-48-hour group). Multivariable logistic regression analysis was conducted to evaluate the association between AKI and repeated ICM administrations. A similar supplementary analysis was performed including both ICM and GBCA. Results: When ICM was only considered ignoring GBCA, among 300 patients, 207 patients received a single dose of ICM, 58 had repeated doses within 4 hours (0-4-hour group), and 35 patients had repeated doses between 4 to 48 hours (4-48-hour group). Most patients (> 95%) had a baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of ≥ 30 mL/min/1.73 m². AKI occurred in 7.2%, 13.8%, and 8.6% of patients in the single-dose, 0-4-hour, and 4-48-hour groups, respectively. In the 0-4-hour and 4-48-hour groups, additional exposure to ICM was not associated with AKI after adjusting for comorbidities and nephrotoxic drugs (all p values > 0.05). Conclusion: Repeated intravascular administrations of ICM within a short interval did not increase the risk of AKI in our study patients suspected of acute stroke with a baseline eGFR of ≥ 30 mL/min/1.73 m².

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.239-246
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• 2014

Filter absorbs low-energy X-ray to increase the average energy and reduces patient exposure dose. This study investigates if the materials of Mo and W could be used for the digital imaging device CR by conducting image assessment and dose measurement of SNR, FOM and histogram. In addition, measurement of beam quality was conducted depending on the material of the filter, and at the same time, a proper combination of filters was examined depending on the change in tube voltage (kVp). In regard to entrance skin dose, Mo filter showed the dose reduction by 42~56%, compared to Cu filter. Moreover, Mo filter showed higher transmission dose by around 1.5 times than that of Cu filter. In image assessment, it was found that W was unsuitable to be used as a filter, whereas Mo could be used as a filter to reduce dose without decline in image quality at the tube voltage of 80 kVp or higher. As tube voltage increased, 2.0 mm Al+0.1 mm Mo almost had a similar histogram width to that of 2.0 mm Al+0.2 mm Cu. Therefore, Mo filter can be used at relatively high tube voltage of 80 kVp, 100 kVp and 120 kVp. The SNR of 2.0 mm Al+0.1 mm Mo did not show any significant difference from those of 2.0 mm Al+0.2 mm Cu and 2.0 mm Al+0.1 mm Cu. As a result, if Mo filter is used to replace Cu filter in general radiography, where 80 kVp or higher is used for digital radiation image, patient exposure dose can be reduced significantly without decline in image quality, compared to Cu filter. Therefore, it is believed that Mo filter can be applied to chest X-ray and high tube voltage X-ray in actual clinical practice.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.78-90
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• 2013

Recently, the interest on exposure to radiation is rising. The radiation exposure of mammography is higher in absorbed dose than of X-ray, therefore unnecessary exposure needs to be reduced, and higher image quality is needed. Generally, ray quality of the radiation imaging is an important factor that determines image quality and the amount of ray exposure, and they are affected by tube voltage and added filter. The X-ray energy that is exposed from mammography device is generally a continuous spectrum, which includes low energy that has minute influence on the image quality, and high energy that hinders contrast on image. Currently, molybdenum (Mo) and rhodium (Rh) are the most used added filters for mammography device, and they are used differently according to the energy region of X-ray. This study aims to find out the degree of reduction in exposure dose according to the thickness of aluminum (Al), and to study the changes in image quality and dose when the added filter plates that are made with niobium (Nb) or zirconium (Zr) are used, other than molybdenum (Mo) and rhodium (Rh), the two most used added filters that have similar atomic number and K-absorption regions as Nb and Zr. In this study, single-added filters of molybdenum (Mo), niobium (Nb), and zirconium (Zr) are used, and in some cases, Aluminum (Al) is combined with the single filters. In this case, image quality is considered to be improved depending on the type of added filters, and by using Aluminum (Al) filter together with the others, unnecessary X-ray of low energy would be absorbed, therefore the dose is expected to decrease without any influence when the concentration level becomes identical.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.223-228
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• 2008

The most critical point in the medical use of radiation is to minimize the patient's entrance dose while maintaining the diagnostic function. Low-energy photons (long wave X-ray) among diagnostic X-rays are unnecessary because they are mostly absorbed and contribute the increase of patient's entrance dose. The most effective method to eliminate the low-energy photons is to use the filtering plate. The experiments were performed by observing the image quality. The skin entrance dose was 0.3 mmCu (copper) filter. A total of 80 images were prepared as two sets of 40 cuts. In the first set (of 40 cuts), 20 cuts were prepared for the non-filter set and another 20 cuts for the Cu filter of signal + noise image set. In the second set of 40 cuts, 20 cuts were prepared for the non-filter set and another 20 cuts for the Cu filter of non-signal image (noisy image) with random location of diameter 4 mm and 3 mm thickness of acryl disc for ROC signal at the chest phantom. P(S/s) and P(S/n) were calculated and the ROC curve was described in terms of sensitivity and specificity. Accuracy were evaluated after reading by five radiologists. The number of optically observable lesions was counted through ANSI chest phantom and contrast-detail phantom by recommendation of AAPM when non-filter or Cu filter was used, and the skin entrance dose was also measured for both conditions. As the result of the study, when the Cu filter was applied, favorable outcomes were observed on, the ROC Curve was located on the upper left area, sensitivity, accuracy and the number of CD phantom lesions were reasonable. Furthermore, if skin entrance dose was reduced, the use of additional filtration may be required to be considered in many other cases.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.13-22
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• 2015

The combined impact of Dissolved Organic Matter (DOM) fouling and inorganic ($CaSO_4,Ca_3(PO_4)_2$) scaling on the retention of TNT (2, 4, 6-Trinitrotoluene), RDX (Hexahydro-1, 3, 5-trinitro-1, 3, 5-triazine) and HMX (1, 3, 5, 7-Tetranitro-1, 3, 5, 7-tetrazocane) explosive contaminants by nano-filtration membrane were studied, since organic fouling and salt scaling are the major limitations for membrane filtration. Results reported here indicate that DOM fouling layer with a humic acid does not necessarily lead to an immediate loss of permeate flux but can result in a severe impact on the flux loss when both humic acid and inorganic scaltants were presented simultaneously. The $Ca_3(PO_4)_2$ mixed with humic acid showd most sever flux loss (42%) compared to that of only humic acid presence (8%). It could be a result that the scaling formation of the NF membrane was dominated by cake layer formation of DOM and it was along with pore blocking by the formation of crystals inside the porous active matrix of the NF membrane. In addition, these results indicated that the membrane selectivity of the explosives retention trended correlated with respect to increasing explosives size (listed by MW) based on greater steric interactions and followed the order (MW, g $mol^{-1}$; removal, %): HMX (296.15; 83%) ${\gg}$ RDX (222.12; 49%) ≋ TNT (227.13; 32%). Because the scaling and fouling layer could lead to a additional cake-enhanced concentration polarisation effect, the retention of explosives with the presence of humic acid in the feed solution and inorganic scaling formation on top of an organic fouling layer do not differ substantially retention from that of pure DI feed and NaCl solution.

• Korean Journal of Mineralogy and Petrology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.185-193
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• 2020

There have been many studies on the calcination of oyster shells in the perspective of recycling of resources. The quicklime made by the calcination of oyster shells is used either as it is or after reacting with water to transform to liquid lime before being used. However, the liquid lime made from calcined oyster shells show slightly different properties from that of limestone. In this study, to compare these properties of oyster shell with those of limestone, the samples were calcined and reacted with water at various temperatures to transform to a liquid lime and filtered using 150 ㎛ sieves to calculate the transform rate to liquid lime. The calcined limestone was transformed to liquid lime at all temperatures, but calcined oyster shell did not show any transformation at 30℃ and 50℃ under the experimental conditions of this study, and rather increased the weight for the remaining after filtration due to the presence of Ca(OH)₂ produced by the reaction with water, Even at 90℃, the transformation rate of calcined oyster shell to liquid lime was lower than that of limestone. This difference in oyster shell can be explained partly by the preventing calcined one from reacting with water by conchiolin which is protein found in the prismatic and pearl layers of oyster shell. Conchiolin is also known to be stable and does not decompose even at high temperature. However, even the calcined chalk layer without conchiolin shows lower transformation rate than that of calcined limestone, probably due to the small amount of Na in oyster shell, which may cause additional reaction including eutectic melt during calcination process.