• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.756-767
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• 2007

For the combination of phosphor screens having various thicknesses and a photodiode array manufactured by complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process, we report the observation of image-quality degradation under the irradiation of 45-kVp spectrum x rays. The image quality was assessed in terms of dark pixel signal, dynamic range, modulation-transfer function (MTF), noise-power spectrum (NPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE). For the accumulation of the absorbed dose, the radiation-induced increase both in dark signal and noise resulted in the gradual reduction in dynamic range. While the MTF was only slightly affected by the total ionizing dose, the noise power in the case of $Min-R^{TM}$ screen, which is the thinnest one among the considered screens in this study, became larger as the total dose was increased. This is caused by incomplete correction of the dark current fixed-pattern noise. In addition, the increase tendency in NPS was independent of the spatial frequency. For the cascaded model analysis, the additional noise source is from direct absorption of x-ray photons. The change in NPS with respect to the total dose degrades the DQE. However, with carefully updated and applied correction, we can overcome the detrimental effects of increased dark current on NPS and DQE. This study gives an initial motivation that the periodic monitoring of the image-quality degradation is an important issue for the long-term and healthy use of digital x-ray imaging detectors.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.69-89
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• 2006

Biological mechanisms for ionizing radiation effects are different at low doses than at high doses. Radiation hormesis involves low-dose-induced protection and high-dose-induced harm. The protective component is associated with a reduction in the incidence of cancer below the spontaneous frequency, brought about by activation of defensive and repair processes. The Linear No-Threshold (LNT) hypothesis advocated by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) and the Biological Effects of ionizing Radiation (BEIR) Report VII for cancer risk estimations Ignores hormesis and the presence of a threshold. Cancer incidences significantly less than expected have been found in a large number of epidemiological studies including, airline flight personnel, inhabitants of high radiation backgrounds, shipyard workers, nuclear site workers in scores of locations throughout the world, nuclear power utility workers, plutonium workers, military nuclear test site Participants, Japanese A-bomb survivors, residents contaminated by major nuclear accidents, residents of Taiwan living in $^{60}Co$ contaminated buildings, fluoroscopy and mammography patients, radium dial painters, and those exposed to indoor radon. Significantly increased cancer was not found at doses <200 $mSv^*$. Evidence for radiation hormesis was seen in both sexes for acute or chronic exposures, low or high LET radiations, external whole- or partial body exposures, and for internal radionuclides. The ubiquitous nature of the Healthy Worker Effect (HWE)-like responses in cellular, animal and epidemiological studies negates the HWE as an explanation for radiation hormesis. The LNT hypothesis is wrong and does not represent the true nature of the dose-response relationship, since low doses or dose-rates commonly result in thresholds and reduce cancer incidences below the spontaneous rate. Radiation protection organizations should seriously consider the cost and health implications of radiation hormesis.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.55-63
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• 2018

As a part of general toxicity studies of Enterococcus Faecalis 2001 (EF 2001) prepared using heat-treatment bacillus mort body EF 2001 in mice, this study examined the toxicity of EF 2001 in single and repeated administrations following the previous report in order to apply this product to preventive medicine. The safety of oral ingestion of EF 2001 was examined in 6-week-old male and female ICR mice with 1,000 mg/kg, 3,000 mg/kg and 5,000 mg/kg body weight/day administrated by gavage of the maximum acceptable dose of EF 2001. The study was conducted using distilled water as a control following the methods for general toxicity studies described in the "Guidelines for Non-clinical Studies of Pharmaceutical Products 2002". As a control, 1) observation of general conditions, 2) measurement of body weight, 3) determination of food consumption, 4) determination of water consumption, 5) blood test and urinalysis and 6) pathological examination were performed for the administration of EF 2001. Mice received EF 2001 for 13 weeks and results were compared with those of the control group that received distilled water. The results of the above examinations revealed no significant differences between control and EF 2001 groups for both males and females. Thus, no notable toxicity was confirmed with single and repeated oral administrations of EF 2001. Oral administration in the above doses did not result in abnormal symptoms or death during the observation period. No abnormalities in blood cell count or organ weights were seen. Without any evidence of toxicity to cells and organs, EF 2001 is speculated to not adversely affect living organisms. The 50% lethal dose of EF 2001 with oral administration in mice is estimated to be greater than 5,000 mg/kg body weight/day for both male and female mice. Therefore, $LD_{50}$ value for animals was 5,000 mg/kg or more.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.111-114
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• 2017

Central serous chorioretinopathy may induce poor eyesight and serous retinal detachment. However, its exact cause has not been well established thus far. It can be associated with systemic high-dose corticosteroid treatment mainly for young and middle-aged men and may spontaneously regress or recur after withdrawal from corticosteroid. After corticosteroid administration for Behcet's disease, it is necessary to identify any ocular symptoms. Behcet's disease can lead to the development of ocular complications, such as uveitis, hypopyon, retinal vasculitis, optic neuritis, angiogenesis, secondary cataract, and glaucoma. It is possible to diagnose any of these complications via optical coherence tomography and digital indocyanine green angiography. It is easy to neglect an ocular symptom that may appear after a low-dose corticosteroid treatment as an ocular complication in patients with Behcet's disease. Thus, we report on a case concerning high-dose corticosteroid treatment with a literature review.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.255-259
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• 2002

To reduce the uncertainty in the calibration of radiation beams, absorbed dose to water for high energy electrons is recommended as the standards and reference absorbed dose by AAPM Report no.51 and IAEA Technical Reports no.398. In these recommendations, water is, defined as the reference medium, however, the water substitute solid phantoms are discouraged. Nevertheless, when accurate chamber positioning in water is not possible, or when no waterproof chamber is available, their use is permitted at beam qualities R$\_$50/ < 4 g/cm$^2$ (E$\_$0/ < 10 MeV). For the electron dosimetry using solid phantom, a depth-scaling factor is used for the conversion of depth in solid phantoms to depth in water, and a fluence-scaling factor is used for the conversion of ionization chamber reading in plastic phantom to reading in water. In this work, the properties, especially depth-scaling factors c$\_$p1/ and fluence-scaling factors h$\_$pl/ of several commercially available water substitute solid phantoms were determined, and the electron dosimetry using these scaling method was evaluated. As a result, it is obviously that dose-distribution in solid phantom can be converted to appropriate dose-distribution in water by means of IAEA depth-scaling.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.111-115
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• 2007

A deuterium oxide leakage accident occurred on October 4, 1999, at nuclear power plant in Korea. The concentration of tritium in air increased and 22 workers were exposed by tritium at that time. It is well known that tritium causes internal exposure. Therefore, we examined complete blood cell count, physical and biological dosimetry fur 13 workers among whole 22 workers to check the health effect and to evaluate the dose estimation of tritium exposure. The leukocyte count test, one of general blood test, was normal. The estimated doses were 0 - 4.44 mSv by physical dosimetry and 0-37 mGy by biological dosimetry. This dose does not exceed radiation dose limit, and the clinical symptoms of the exposed workers were not shown. The consistency between clinical sign and estimated dose means that physical and biological dosimetry were very useful especially in accident evaluation.

• Archives of Plastic Surgery
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.588-595
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• 2015

Background Radiotherapy treatment after keloidectomy is known to be an effective method for reducing the rate of recurrence. However, to date, the appropriate total radiation dose and fractionation have not yet been confirmed. The authors performed a retrospective analysis to identify the appropriate radiation dose and fractionation in post-keloidectomy radiotherapy. Methods From May 2000 to February 2011, postoperative radiotherapy was performed on 39 lesions in 28 patients after total keloidectomy. The keloid lesions were confined to the ear lobes. Between May 2000 and May 2004, 14 keloids were treated with surgical excision, followed by a total radiation dose of 1,200 cGy in three fractions over four to five days (group 1). Between June 2004 to February 2011, 25 keloids were treated with surgical excision, followed by a total radiation dose of 1,500 cGy in three fractions over four to five days (group 2). Patients were given a survey asking them to report their experiences regarding reoperation, recurrence of symptoms, recurrence of the lesion, and satisfaction with the operation. Results Of the 28 patients who were treated, 20 underwent follow-up. Group 2 had more cases showing elevation with erythematous changes, whereas group 1 had more cases showing progressive stages of elevation than group 2. These differences were statistically significant. Moreover, a correlation was observed between the level of keloid elevation and the extent of symptoms. Conclusions We suggest 1,500 cGy of radiation in three fractions following keloidectomy for ear lobe keloids. A further randomized study is needed to assess the recurrence of keloids after radiotherapy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.87-100
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• 1990

For the quantitative evaluation and assessment of radiation exposure from terrestrial component of natural environmental radiation, successive thermoluminescence dosimetry and periodical in-situ gamma ray spectrometry were carried out for a period of 24 months. LiF PTFE dise TLDs and $3&{\phi}{\times}3'$cylindrical NaI(Tl)scintill ation detector in association of portable multichannel analyzer (4096 ch) were used in this study. The doses measured were evaluated and assessed in terms of effective dose equivalent. As a concomitant output, the dose equivalent due to ionizing component of cosmic ray was able to be evaluated. According to the results obtained in terms of variance weighted mean, the annual effective dose equivalents of terrestrial gamma ray and cosmic ray ionizing component in Taejeon area came out to be $564{\pm}4\;{\mu}Sv(64.8{\pm}0.5nSv{\cdot}h^{-1}$ and $300{\pm}2\;{\mu}Sv(34.3{\pm}0.2nSv{\cdot}h^{-1}$, respectively, which are reasonable comparably with that appeared in UNSCEAR Report[28]as per caput annual effective dose equivalent in 'areas of normal background radiation'.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.37-50
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• 1987

The exposure of the population in the United States to ionizing radiation has recently been evaluated by the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). This was done by constituting six organizational groups to address various phases of the work and the results of this work are summarized in this article. The article is based on the report, by the same title, which is scheduled for publication by the NCRP in September, 1987. The six organizational groups are titled Radiation Exposure from Consumer Products, Natural Background Radiation, Radiation Associated with Medical Examinations, Radiation Received by Radiation Employees, Public Exposure from Nuclear Power, and Exposure from Miscellaneous Environmental Sources. These titles are descriptive of the subject areas covered by each of these separate groups. The data evaluated are for the years 1977-1984 with the majority of the data being for the period 1980-1982. Summary information is presented and discussed for the number of people exposed to given sources, the effective dose equivalent, the average effective dose equivalent to the U.S. population, and the genetically significant dose equivalent. The average annual effective dose equivalent from all sources to the U.S. population is approximately 3.6 mSv (360 mrem). Exposures to natural sources make the largest contribution to this total. Radon and radon decay products contribute 2.0 mSv (200 mrem) whereas the other naturally occurring radionuclides contribute 1.0 mSv (100 mrem). Among man-made or enhanced sources, medical exposures make the largest additional contributions, namely 0.39 mSv (39 mrem) for diagnosis and 0.14 mSv (14 mrem) for nuclear medicine. It was not possible to evaluate exposures for therapy. Most of the other sources of population exposure, including nuclear power and consumer products, are minor. A possible exception would be the use of tobacco products. These exposures are discussed in relation to a negligible individual risk level of $10{\mu}Sv/y$ (1 mrem/y). The NCRP considers exposures below the negligible individual risk level as trivial and as such should be dismissed.

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.195-207
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• 2024

International organizations such as IAEA and EC recommend graded approach by identifying NORM industries requiring radiation protection. In Korea, single regulation rather than graded regulation for NORM industry is applied. Therefore, it consumes more manpower and costs than necessary for both regulators and workers, and is not optimized. The purpose of this study is to analyze domestic and foreign NORM industry regulatory standards and radiological characteristics for graded approach of NORM industry in Korea. Safety reports and publications such as SRS 49 and ICRP 142 published by international organizations were investigated, and domestic and foreign NORM regulatory guidelines and legislation such as Health Canada and the Act on Protective Action Guidelines Against Radiation in the Natural Environment were investigated to indicate NORM industries and regulatory standards. The radioactivity concentration of raw materials or by-products, radiation dose by industrial process of the NORM industry identified in IAEA and Korea were investigated. Nine NORM industries in Korea were identified based on the NORM industry from IAEA and KINS survey report. Foreign countries such as Canada, UK and Denmark were executing graded approach such as classification of dose level or licensing, registration, notification based on safety assessment. Radioactivity concentration of domestic and foreign NORM industries were widespread up to 200 Bq g^-1 or higher based on industrial process and work type, and numerous NORM industries that exceeded radiation dose of 1 mSv y^-1 were indicated. Therefore, it is necessary to consider handling materials and work types of identified NORM industry when establishing graded approach for NORM industry in Korea considering domestic situation. The results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for developing methodology of graded approach for NORM industry in Korea.