• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2022

Purpose: Hydrogen-methane breath tests are used to diagnose carbohydrate malabsorption and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. The COVID-19 pandemic has driven the modification of procedures as breath tests are potentially aerosol-generating procedures. We assessed the effect of delayed analysis of breath samples, facilitating the at-home performance of breath testing. Methods: Children provided two breath samples at every step of the lactose breath test. The samples were brought back to the clinic, and one set of samples was analyzed immediately. The second set was stored at room temperature and analyzed 1-4 days later. Results: Out of the 73 "double" lactose breath tests performed at home, 33 (45.8%) were positive. The second samples were analyzed 20 to 117 hours after the first samples (41.7±24.3 hours). There was no significant difference in the hydrogen concentration between the first and second sets (Z=0.49, p=0.62). This was not the case for methane, which had a significantly higher concentration in the second breath samples (Z=7.6). Conclusion: Expired hydrogen levels remain stable in plastic syringes if preserved at room temperature for several days. On the other hand, the delayed analysis of methane appeared to be less reliable. Further research is needed to examine the impact of delayed analysis on methane and hydrogen concentrations.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.5265-5272
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• 2016

Objective: The present study was conducted to evaluate invasive and noninvasive diagnostic methods for detection of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in patients admitted with dyspeptic complaints and to compare sensitivities and specificities. Method: Sets of four gastric biopsy specimens were obtained from a total of 126 patients included in the study. The presence of H. pylori was determined by invasive tests including culture, rapid urease test, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and histopathology. Among noninvasive tests, urea breath test, serological tests and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) were performed. Results: H. pylori was isolated in 79 (62.7%) gastric biopsy cultures, whereas positivity was concluded for 105 (83.3%) patients by rapid urease test, for 106 (84.1%) by PCR, for 110 (87.3%) by histopathology, for 119 (94.4%) by urea breath test, and for 107 (84.9%) by ELISA. In the present study, the culture findings and histopathological examination findings were accepted as gold standard. According to the gold standard, urea breath test had the highest sensitivity (96.5%) and the lowest specificity (30%), whereas culture and histopathology had the highest specificities (100%). Conclusion: The use of PCR invasively with gastric biopsy samples yielded parallel results with the gold standard. PCR can be recommended for routine use in the diagnosis of H. pylori.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.96-103
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• 2016

Helicobacter pylori infection is acquired mainly during childhood and causes various diseases such as gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, and iron deficiency anemia. Although H. pylori infection in children differs from adults in many ways, this is often overlooked in clinical practice. Unlike adults, nodular gastritis may be a pathognomonic endoscopic finding of childhood H. pylori infection. Histopathological findings of gastric tissues are also different in children due to predominance of lymphocytes and plasma cells and the formation of gastric MALT. Although endoscopy is recommended for the initial diagnosis of H. pylori infection, several non-invasive diagnostic tests such as the urea breath test (UBT) and the H. pylori stool antigen test (HpSA) are available and well validated even in children. According to recent data, both the $^{13}C$-UBT and HpSA using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay are reliable non-invasive tests to determine H. pylori status after eradication therapy, although children younger than 6 years are known to have high false positives. When invasive or noninvasive tests are applied to children to detect H. pylori infection, it should be noted that there are differences between children and adults in diagnosing H. pylori infection.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.9 s.89
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• pp.1255-1259
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to elucidate incidence of $VO_2$ plateau by comparing data derived from different time averaging intervals during incremental cycling exercise to $VO_2max$. Seventeen subjects (age: $23.5{\pm}3.3$ years and $VO_2max$: $3.65{\pm}0.73$ L/min, respectively) completed $VO_2max$ tests on cycle ergometer which breath by breath gas ex-change data were obtained. These data were time-averaged into 11-breath, 15, 30 and 60 s sampling intervals. The incidence of plateau were 100, 35, 24 and 6% for the 11 breath, 15 s, 30 s and 60 s averaging, respectively. No correlation was between ${\Delta}$ $VO-2$ at $VO_2max$ and $VO_2max$ (r=0.008). 53% (maximal HR within 10 b/min) and 100% $(RER{\geq}1.15)$ of subjects met the criteria for attainment of $VO_2max$. This data indicate that shorter sampling intervals (11 breath) is the most suitable for de-tection of the $VO_2$ plateau and RER can be used for the criteria for attainment of $VO_2max$ but not maximal HR. Also, the incidence of a plateau is not related to training status or physical fitness of subjects.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.221-224
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• 2019

Based on the results of studies on acetone excretion in diabetic patients, a one - chip sensors array was fabricated by combining acetone-selective sensor materials and volatile-organic-compound sensitive sensor materials. An electonic-nose was implemented using a sensor array and confirmed selectivity for five gases. In this system, the excretion of diabetic patients and controls was sampled with solid phase microextraction fiber and transferred to the sensor array. Although the control and diabetic patients were distinct, several samples failed. In the control group, the results of blood tests were normal, but patients were highly obese. In addition, the gas chromatography mass spectrometry results for the subjects revealed chemicals that are external factors.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.149-156
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• 2016

Measurement of cardiac blood flow using the magnetic resonance imaging has been limited due to breathing and involuntary movements of the heart. The present study attempted to improve the accuracy of cardiac blood flow testing through phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging by presenting the adequate breathing method and imaging variables by comparing the measurement values of cardiac blood flow. Each was evaluated by comparing the breath hold retrospective 1NEX and non breath hold retrospective 1-3NEX in the ascending aorta and descending aorta. As a result, the average blood flow amount/velocity of the breath hold retrosepctive 1NEX method in the ascending aorta were $96.17{\pm}19.12ml/sec$, $17.04{\pm}4.12cm/sec$ respectively, which demonstrates a statistically significant difference(p<0.05) with the non-breath hold retrospective method 1NEX of $72.31{\pm}13.27ml$ and $12.32{\pm}3.85$. On the other hand, the average 2NEX blood flow and mean flow velocity is $101.90{\pm}24.09$, $16.84{\pm}4.32$, 3NEX $103.06{\pm}25.49$, $16.88{\pm}4.19$ did not show statistically significant differences(p>0.05).The average blood flow amount/ velocity of the breath hold retrospective 1NEX method in the descending aorta were $76.68{\pm}19.72ml/s$, and $22.23{\pm}4.8$, which did not demonstrate a significant difference in comparison to non-breath hold retrospective method 1-3 NEX. Therefore, the non breath hold retrospective method does not significantly differ in terms of cardiac blood flow in comparison with the breath hold retrospective method in accordance with the increase of NEX, so pediatric patients or patients who are not able to breathe well must have the diagnostic value of their cardiac blood flow tests improved.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.271-276
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• 2007

Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is common in korea and high incidence at gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer. $^{14}C-urea$ breath test ($^{14}C-UBT$) is regarded as a highly reliable and non-invasive method for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnositc performance of a new and rapid $^{14}C-UBT$, which was equipped with Geiger-Muller counter and compared the results with those obtained by gastroduodenoscopic biopsies (GBx). One hundred sixty-eight patients (M : F = 118 : 50) underwent $^{14}C-UBT$, rapid urease test (CLO test), and GBx. The results of $^{14}C-UBT$ were classified as positive (>50 cpm), borderline (25$^{14}C-UBT$ or CLO test results with GBx as a glod standard. In the assessment of the presence of H. pylori infection, the $^{14}C-UBT$ global performance yielded positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of 93.3% and 83.3%, respectively. However, the CLO test had performance yielded positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of 76.9%, 50.0%, respectively. In this study $^{14}C-UBT$ is a highly accurate, simple and non-invasive method or the diagnosis of follow up H. pylori infection.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.157-167
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• 1998

Background and Purpose : Cerebrovascular reactivity(CVR) can be estimated by measuring the change of cerebral blood flow that occurs during vasostimulation. To estimate the cerebrovascular reactivity, we investigated the change of flow velocity of the middle cerebral artery(MCA) during hyperventilation and hypoventilation with the transcranial doppler. So we studied whether the CVR measured by this method could show a significant difference between the normal and the cerebral infarction subjects and whether the CVR may decrease with age in normal subjects. Methods : Using transcranial doppler, we measured the mean velocity(Vm), the pulsatility index(P.I.) at the resting state, the end of breath-holding and the end of hyperventilation in 36 normal and 10 cerebral infarction subjects, so we calculated the percentile change of mean velocity(%${\Delta}$Vm) and P.I.(%${\Delta}$P.I.) after the vasostimulation. We estimated the change of Vm, P.I., %${\Delta}$Vm and %${\Delta}$P.I. by the age group and compared those parameters between the age-matched normal control and cerebral infarction subjects. Results : The Vm in MCA significantly decreased with age(p<0.05), but there was no significant difference in Vm and P.I. between normal and cerebral infarction subjects. The %${\Delta}$Vm and %${\Delta}$P.I. in response to hyperventilation significantly decreased with age in MCA and there was significant difference in $%{\Delta}Vm$ of MCA after breath-holding between the normal and cerebral infarction subjects. Conclusion : The breath-holding and hyperventilation tests could be non-invasive and useful methods in estimation of the cerebrovascular reactivity and could be applied in the basal and follow-up evaluation of the cerebrovascular reserve of the ischemic stroke patients.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.264-265
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• 2000

Helicobacter pylori(H. pylori) is the causative agent of chronic gastritis and the single most important factor in peptic ulcer disease, however, the pathogenetic mechanisms underlying H, pylori infection are not well understood. Futhermore, there is a strong association between H. pylori infection and gastric cancer. Various diagnostic methods for detecting H. pylori infection are available. These can be divided into invasive methods, requiring endoscopy, and non-invasive tests, mainly 13C-urea breath tests and serologic detection of antibodies. Rapid urease test is the most recommendable endoscopic test for the diagnosis of H. pylori infection, presently. CLO test kit is the represent of rapid urease test kits. The principles of CLO test kit is that hydrolysis of urea by urease Is detected by a dye indicators showing a color change. Our device is used same principle but we improved the reaction time is more faster and positive color change is more distinctive from the color of the negative specimen. So, this kit is more reliable because it response faster and accuracy.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.268-272
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• 2006

Purpose : The reinfection rate of H. pylori reported before $^{13}C$-urea breath test($^{13}C$-UBT) era was higher than that of the post $^{13}C$-UBT era. Children are usually reluctant to receive invasive endoscopic evaluation for the reinfection of H. pylori, particularly when they are asymptomatic. The aim of the study is to discover the reinfection rate by different diagnostic tests, and to find out what causes the difference. Methods : Children confirmed to be eradicated from H. pylori were included in the study. Reinfection was evaluated by endoscopic biopsy based tests(n=34, mean age $11.5{\pm}3.7$ years) and/or a $^{13}C$-UBT(n=38, mean age $10.0{\pm}3.6$ years) at the time of 18 months after eradication. At first visit, H. pylori infection had been diagnosed by positive results from a rapid urease test, Giemsa stain and Warthin-Starry stain and/or a positive culture. Eradication was defined as negative results from all above tests 1-3 months after eradication therapy. Results : Reinfection rate by endoscopic biopsy based tests was 35.3 percent(12/34). All patients had abdominal symptoms(P=0.000). Reinfection rate was 13.2 percent(5/38) by a $^{13}C$-UBT. Reinfection rate was higher in children with abdominal symptoms(P=0.008). There was no evidence that reinfection rate depended on the sex(P=0.694), age(P=0.827), diseases(peptic ulcers vs gastritis, P=0.730) and eradication regimen(P=0.087). Conclusion : Helocibacter pylori reinfection rate in Korean children was 13.2 percent per 18 months by a non-invasive test or $^{13}C$-UBT. Accurate determinations of the reinfection rate in children is affected by the compliance of the diagnostic tests. Non-invasive tests should be considered to investigate the reinfection rate in children.