• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.403-407
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• 2018

Currently, the highest cancer death rate in Korea is lung cancer, which is a typical cancer that is difficult to detect early. Low-dose chest CT is being used for early detection, which has a greater lung cancer diagnosis rate of about three times than regular chest x-ray images. However, low-dose chest CT not only significantly reduces image resolution but also has a weak signal and is sensitive to noise. Also, air filled lungs are low-density organs and the presence of noise can significantly affect early diagnosis of cancer. This study used Visual C++ to set a circle inside a large circle with a density of 2.0, with a density of 1.0, which is the density of water, in which five small circle of mathematics have different densities. Gaussian noise was generated by 1%, 2%, 3%, and 4% respectively to determine the effect of noise on the mean value, the standard deviation value, and the relative noise ratio(SNR). In areas where the density difference between the large and small circles was greatest in the event of 1 % noise, the SNR in the area with the greatest variation in noise was 4.669, and in areas with the lowest density difference, the SNR was 1.183. In addition, the SNR values can be seen to be high if the same results are obtained for both positive and negative densities. Quality was also clearly visible when the density difference was large, and if the noise level was increased, the SNR was reduced to significantly affect the noise. Low-density organs or organs in areas of similar density to cancers, will have significant noise effects, and the effects of density differences on the probability of noise will affect diagnosis.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.32 no.6
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• pp.639-648
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• 2010

The optimal conditions for the analysis of BPA by HPLC-MS/MS was investigated and the ultrasound degradation capacity of the BPA, with the goal to establish the proper directions for analyzing infinitesimal quantities of BPA by HPLC-MS/MS was examined. The MDL and LOQ of BPA analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS were measured 0.13 nM and 1.3 nM respectively, its sensitivity about 620 and 32 times greater than HPLC-UV (MDL: 81.1 nM, LOQ: 811 nM) and FLD (MDL: 4.6 nM, LOQ: 46 nM). In other words, the new method enables the analysis of BPA with the accuracy up to one 1,180th of the amount specified in U.S. EPA guideline for drinking water. Degradation rate of BPA by ultrasound measured over 95% under 580 kHz and 1000 kHz frequency within 30 minutes of treatment, whereas the rate showed some decrease at 28 kHz frequency. At 580 kHz of ultrasound has proven to be the most effective among others at degradation rate and $k_1$ value, so we concluded that this frequency of ultrasound creates hospitable condition for the combined process of degradation by pyrolysis and oxidization. With the addition of 0.01 mM of $CCl_4$, BPA with the initial concentration of 1 ${\mu}M$ was degraded by more than 98% within 30 minutes, the $k_1$ value measured 5 minutes and 30 minutes into the experiment both showed increases by 1.4 and 1.1 times, respectively, compared with BPA without $CCl_4$. It is also found that the main degradation mechanism of BPA by ultrasound is oxidization process by OH radical, based on the fact that the addition of 10 mM of t-BuOH decreased the rate of BPA degradation by around 60%. However, 33% of BPA degradation rate obtained with the addition of t-BuOH implies further degradation done by pyrolysis or other sorts of radical beside OH radical.

• The Journal of Korean Society for Radiation Therapy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.141-145
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• 2005

Purpose : It is known that the neutron is generally generated from the photon, its energy is larger than 10 MV. The neutron is leaked in the container inspection system installed at the customs though its energy is below 9 MV. It is needed that the spacial effect of the neutrons released from radiation treatment machine, linac, installed in the medical canter. Materials and Methods : The medical linear accelerator(Clinac 1800, varian, USA) was used in the experiment. Measuring neutron was used bubble detector(Bubble detector, BDPND type, BTI, Canada) which was created bubble by neutron. The bubble detector is located on the medical linear accelerator outskirt in three different distance, 30, 50, 120 cm and upper, lower four point from the iso-center. In addition, for effect on protect material we have measured eight points which are 50 cm distance from iso-center. The SAD(source-axis-distance), distance from photon source to iso-center, is adjusted to 100 cm and the field size is adjusted to $15{\times}15cm^2$. Irradiate 20 MU and calculate the dose rate in mrem/MU by measuring the number of bubble. Results : The neutron is more detected at 5 position in 30, 50 cm, 7 position in 120 cm and with wedge, and 2 position without mount. Conclusion : Though detection position is laid in the same distance in neutron measurement, the different value is shown in measuring results. Also, neutron dose is affected by the additional structure, the different value is obtained in each measurement positions. So, it is needed to measure and evaluate the neutron dose in the whole space considering the effect of the distance, angular distribution and additional structure.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.389-400
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• 2002

Background : The rapid diagnostic tests for tuberculosis are needed to facilitate early treatment of tuberculosis and prevention of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission. The Xeniss Rapid TB kit is a rapid, card-based immunochromatographic test for the detection of antibodies directed against M. tuberculosis antigens including antigen 5(38-kDa antigen). The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the Xeniss Rapid TB kit for the diagnosis of active tuberculosis with serums from patients, asymptomatic healthy and close contact controls. Methods : 188 patients with active tuberculosis were tested; 177 with pulmonary tuberculosis(18 with combined pleurisy), and 11 with extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The control groups were composed of 82 close contacts and 57 healthy adults. Study subject were drawn from one national tuberculosis hospital for patients and close contacts, and another private hospital for healthy adults in Masan city, Korea. The Xeniss Rapid TB kit(Xeniss Life Science Co., Ltd., Seoul, Korea) was evaluated by using serum samples according to the instructions of the manufacturer by an investigator masked to the clinical and microbiological status of the study subjects. Results : The diagnostic sensitivity of the Xeniss Rapid TB kit was 73.9% in patients and specificities were 73.2% and 93.0% in close contact and healthy adults respectively. The positive predictive value in patients was 84.2% and the negative predictive value in controls was 85.8%. Conclusion : This study shows that the Xeniss Rapid TB test is a simple and fast method to diagnose active TB. The results of the sensitivity and specificites suggest that serodiagnosis using this point of care testing(POCT) device would be valuable and advantageous for screening tuberculosis in the clinical field.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.81-95
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• 2014

Purpose: Hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) recipients are vulnerable to invasive infection by Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp). This study was performed to evaluate immune responses after Hib and Sp vaccination in Korean pediatric HCT recipients. Methods: Patients were prospectively enrolled at Samsung Medical Center during 2009-2011. ELISA tests to detect anti-PRP IgG antibody and antibodies to Sp serotypes 4, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F were performed at the Center for Vaccine Evaluation and Study, Ewha Medical Research Institute. Results: Ten patients (two allogeneic, eight autologous recipients) with median age 5.4 years (range 2.7-12.2 years) were enrolled. Before Hib vaccination, 60% of patients' anti-PRP IgG titers were below $0.15{\mu}g/mL$. After vaccination, 100% of patients' anti-PRP IgG titers increased above $0.15{\mu}g/mL$ (cut-off value for detection) and $1.0{\mu}g/mL$ (cut-off value for seroprotection). For pneumococcus, in 2-5 year-old patients, pre-vaccination geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) of IgG for six serotypes (4, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, and 23F) were below $0.35{\mu}g/mL$ and at 5 months post-vaccination GMCs of IgG for all seven serotypes increased to above $0.35{\mu}g/mL$. In patients older than 5 years, pre-vaccination GMCs of IgG for four serotypes (4, 9V, 14, and 23F) were below $0.35{\mu}g/mL$ and at 3 months post-vaccination GMCs of IgG for all seven serotypes increased to above $0.35{\mu}g/mL$. Conclusion: Most HCT recipients had low or no protective antibodies to Hib and Sp before vaccination, but showed good immune responses to protective levels after vaccination.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 2007

Purpose: Clinically, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) occurs within 72 hours after acute exposure of risk factors. Because of its high fatality rate once ARDS progresses, early detection and management are essential to reduce the mortality rate. Accordingly, studies on early changes of ARDS were started, and serum ferritin, as well the as injury severity score (ISS), which has been addressed in previous studies, thought to be an early predictive indicator for ARDSMethods: From March 2003 to March 2005, we investigated 50 trauma patients who were admitted to the intensive care unit in Dongguk University Medical Center, Gyeongju. The patients were characterized according to age, sex, ISS, onset of ARDS, time onset of ARDS, serum ferritin level (posttraumatic $1^{st}\;&\;2^{nd}$ day), amount of transfused blood, and death. Abdominal computed topography was performed as an early diagnostic tool to evaluate the onset of ARDS according to its diagnostic criteria. The serum ferritin was measured by using a $VIDAS^{(R)}$ Ferritin (bioMeriux, Marcy-1' Etoile, France) kit with an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay method. For statistical analysis, Windows SPSS 13.0 and MedCalc were used to confirm the probability of obtaining a predictive measure from the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve. Results: The ISS varied from 14 to 66 (mean: 33.8) whereas the onset of ARDS could be predicted with the score above 30 (sensitivity: 90.0%, specificity: 60.0%, p<0.05). On the posttraumatic $1^{st}$ day, the serum ferritin levels were measured to be from 31 mg/dL to 1,200 mg/dL (mean: 456 mg/dL), and the onset of ARDS could be predicted when the value was over 340 mg/dL (sensitivity: 80.0%, specificity: 65.0%, p<0.05). On the posttraumatic $2^{nd}$ day, the serum ferritin levels were measured to be from 73 mg/dL to 1,200 mg/dL (mean: 404 mg/dL), and the onset of ARDS could be predicted when the value was over 627 mg/dL (sensitivity: 60.0%, specificity: 92.5%, p<0.05). The serum ferritin levels and the ISS were significantly higher on the posttraumatic $1^{st}$ and $2^{nd}$ day in the ARDS group, suggesting that they are suitable indices predicting the onset of ARDS, however relationship between the serum ferritin levels and the ISS was not statistically significant. Conclusion: In this study, we discovered increasing serum ferritin levels in multiple- trauma patients on the posttraumatic $1^{st}$ & $2^{nd}$ day and concluded that both the serum ferritin level and the ISS were good predictors of ARDS. Although they do not show statistically significant relationship to each other, they can be used as independent predictive measures for ARDS. Since ARDS causes high mortality, further studies, including the types of surgery and the methods of anesthesia on a large number of patients are essential to predict the chance of ARDS earlier and to reduce the incidence of death.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.52-58
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• 2011

Our goal is to assess the suitability of a glass dosimeter on detection of high-energy electron beams for clinical use, especially for radiation therapy. We examined the dosimetric characteristics of glass dosimeters including dose linearity, reproducibility, angular dependence, dose rate dependence, and energy dependence of 5 different electron energy qualities. The GD was irradiated with high-energy electron beams from the medical linear accelerator andgamma rays from a cobalt-60 teletherapy unit. All irradiations were performed in a water phantom. The result of the dose linearity for high-energy electron beams showed well fitted regression line with the coefficient of determination; $R^2$ of 0.999 between 6 and 20 MeV. The reproducibility of GDs exposed to the nominal electron energies 6, 9, 12, 16, and 20 MeV was ${\pm}1.2%$. In terms of the angular dependence to electron beams,GD response differences to the electron beam were within 1.5% for angles ranging from $0^{\circ}$ to $90^{\circ}$ and GD's maximum response differencewas 14% lower at 180o. In the dose rate dependence, measured dose values were normalized to the value obtained from 500 MU/min. The uncertainties of dose rate were measured within ${\pm}1.5%$ except for the value from 100 MU/min. In the evaluation of the energy dependence of the GD at nominal electron energies between 6 and 20 MeV, we obtained lower responses between 1.1% and 4.5% based on cobalt-60 beam. Our results show that GDs have a considerable potentiality for measuring doses delivered by high-energy electron beams.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.613-623
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• 2013

This study is purposed to evaluate the airborne asbestos concentrations in life environment surroundings in Seoul. In study, we investigated airborne asbestos concentrations in thirteen subway stations, four monitoring networks and each vicinity roadside, six stream surroundings, four tunnels quarterly and we also investigated relationship between the airborne asbestos concentrations and ambient temperature in monitoring networks and time-based airborne asbestos concentration variability for two typical monitoring networks, two subway stations transferred and used by lots of people through Phase Contrast Microscopy (PCM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). The airborne asbestos concentrations by PCM for 4 objects of study were less than the detection limit (7 fiber/$mm^2$) in 111 (50%) out of 223 samples. The highest concentration was 0.0130 f/cc. But additional TEM analysis result for samples exceeding the guideline value for indoor air quality (0.01 f/cc) proposed by the Ministry of Environment (Korea), no asbestos was detected. Similarly TEM analysis result for 124 samples, no asbestos was detected. The average airborne asbestos concentrations by PCM in subway stations, monitoring networks, streams and tunnels were $0.0041{\pm}0.0027$ f/cc, $0.0015{\pm}0.0011$ f/cc, $0.0024{\pm}0.0012$ f/cc and $0.0016{\pm}0.0020$ f/cc. All objects of study were satisfied with the guideline value for indoor air quality. The relationship between the airborne asbestos concentrations and ambient temperature in monitoring networks was generally positive correlation (r = 0.660). The higher ambient temperature was and the more transient population was, the airborne asbestos concentrations by time for two subway stations were increased. While the airborne asbestos concentrations for two monitoring networks showed no variation pattern according to time.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.121-130
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• 2012

In analyzing pesticide residue, LLE (liquid liquid extraction) is generally applied as one of the existing methods, but needed quite a lot of organic solvents and analytical apparatuses for the sample pre-treatment. In addition to its long analysis time and complex analytical processes, it is required to develop a more rapid and efficient method at present. In order to establish an economic and simple pesticide residue analytical method, this study carried out a comparative experiment on the existing analytical method with a new sample pre-treatment method named QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe), which extracts and refines pesticide components by directly adding solid powder into the sample. Both the two analytical methods showed favorable values of correlation coefficient ($R^2$ > 0.99) of calibration curves. In terms of the detection limit (identification limit), imidacloprid showed 0.02 mg/kg, while the rest of pesticides showed a level around 0.05 mg/kg. The results of this experiment revealed that the recovery of LLE was 92.8-100.9% and the RSD was below 2.5%. On the other hand, the recovery of QuEChERS was 92.2-101.6% and RSD was below 1.9%. As a result of comparing the amount of pesticide residue by the time between the two analytical methods by using Paired t-Test, there was no significant difference between the two analytical methods as the p-value ranged from 0.3148-0.9890. Considering the results of the two methods, the QuEChERS method had similar recovery, compared to the analytical method using the existing LLE, and the analytical time was shortened by about one fourth of that of the existing method. Moreover, since it excludes the use of harmful organic solvents like dichloromethane during the process of extraction, thus leading to protecting experimenters health and remarkably reducing the amount of disused solvents, it is judged as an echo-friendly and economic analytical method.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.142-149
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• 2009

Purpose : The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic value of serum procalcitonin (PCT) compared with that of C-reactive protein (CRP) and the total white blood cell count (WBC) in predicting bacterial infections in febrile infants<6 months of age. Methods : A prospective study was performed with infants <6 months of age who were admitted to the Department of Pediatrics with a fever of uncertain source between July and September 2008. Spinal taps were performed according to clinical symptoms and physical examination. Serum PCT levels were measured using an enzyme-linked fluorescent assay. Results : Seventy-one infants (mean age, 2.62 months) were studied. Twenty-six infants (36.6%) had urinary tract infections (UTIs), and 22 infants (31.0%) had viral meningitis. The remaining infants had acute pharyngitis (n=1), herpangina (n=1), upper respiratory tract infections (n=7), acute bronchiolitis (n=8), acute gastroenteritis (n=4), and bacteremia (n=2). The median WBC and CRP levels were significantly higher in infants with UTIs than in infants with viral meningitis. However, there were no differences in the median PCT levels between the groups (0.14 ng/mL vs. 0.11 ng/mL, P=0.419). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.792 (95% CI, 0.65-0.896) for WBC, 0.77 (95% CI, 0.626-0.879) for CRP, and 0.568 (95% CI, 0.417-0.710) for PCT. An elevated WBC count (>11,920/${\mu}L$) and an increased CRP level (>1.06mg/dL) were significant predictors of UTIs based on multiple logistic regression analysis. Conclusion : Serum PCT concentrations should be interpreted with caution in infants <6 months of age with a fever of uncertain source.