• International Journal of Precision Engineering and Manufacturing
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.69-75
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• 2002

Measuring dynamic fracture toughness of brittle and small ceramic specimen is very difficult in a SHPB (Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar). As a countermeasure to this difficulty, a dynamic fracture toughness measuring method by the Chevron-notch ceramic specimen was proposed. Tested chevron specimens were of Chevron notch angles of 90$^{\circ}$, 100$^{\circ}$ and 110$^{\circ}$. Through finite element analysis, shape parameters of the Chevron-notch specimens according to notch angles were calculated. And the static fracture tough1ess of the Chevron-notch alumina specimen was measured as 3.8MPa√m similar to that of CT specimen with a precrack. Dynamic fracture toughness was 4.5MPa√m slightly higher than the static one. It was shown in this study that the proposed Chevron-notch specimens are valid to measure dynamic fracture toughness of extremely brittle materials such as ceramic.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.1 no.3
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• pp.165-168
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• 2000

We present two cases of solitary necrotic nodules of the liver which on radiologic images mimicked hepatic metastasis. Solitary necrotic nodule of the liver is a rare but benign entity which histopathologically consists of an outer fibrotic capsule with inflammatory cells and a central core of amorphous necrotic material. The lesion was seen on contrast-enhanced CT as an ovoid-shaped hypoattenuating nodule; on CT during hepatic arteriography as enhancing nodule; on intraoperative US as a target-appearing hypoechoic nodule; on T2WI as a hyperintensity nodule, and on dynamic MR as a subtle peripheral enhancing nodule. Although the radiologic features are not specific, solitary necrotic nodule of the liver should be included in the differential diagnosis of hepatic metastasis.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 1992

We have designed a magnetic field gradient useful for cylindrical imaging in NMR-CT. The direc¬tion of the designed field is parallel to the axis and the gradient in the radial direction of cylindrical coordinate is monotonically increasing. The ratio of the gradient in the radial and axial direction is greater than 10 near the center of coordinate. This ratio depends on solenoid length, the number of reverse current turns at center, and the amount of the reverse current. We built a gradient coil based on the numerical simulation and tested the field generated by NMR-CT. The resulting image matches with the theoretical expectation within 10% error. Since the data acquisition time of 1-D imaging is significantly shorter than 2-D imaging, it becomes possible to image much more dynamic objects by the use of this gradient field.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.781-790
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• 2019

Objective: To assess the relationship between contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) parameters and perfusion CT (PCT) parameters of gastric cancers and their correlation with histologic features. Materials and Methods: This prospective study was approved by our Institutional Review Board. We included 43 patients with pathologically-proven gastric cancers undergoing CEUS using SonoVue^® (Bracco) and PCT on the same day. Correlation between the CEUS parameters (peak intensity [PI], area under the curve [AUC], rise time [RT] from 10% to 90% of PI, time to peak [TTP_US], and mean transit time [MTT_US]) and PCT parameters (blood flow, blood volume, TTP_CT, MTT_CT, and permeability surface product) of gastric cancers were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation test. In cases of surgical resection, the CEUS and PCT parameters were compared according to histologic features using Mann-Whitney test. Results: CEUS studies were of diagnostic quality in 88.4% (38/43) of patients. Among the CEUS parameters of gastric cancers, RT and TTP_US showed significant positive correlations with TTP_CT (rho = 0.327 and 0.374, p = 0.045 and 0.021, respectively); PI and AUC were significantly higher in well-differentiated or moderately-differentiated tumors (n = 4) than poorly-differentiated tumors (n = 18) (p = 0.026 and 0.033, respectively), whereas MTT_CT showed significant differences according to histologic types (poorly cohesive carcinoma [PCC] vs. non-PCC), T-staging (≤ T2 vs. ≥ T3), N-staging (N0 vs. N-positive), and epidermal growth factor receptor expression (≤ faint vs. ≥ moderate staining) (p values < 0.05). Conclusion: In patients with gastric cancers, CEUS is technically feasible for the quantification of tumor perfusion and may provide correlative and complementary information to that of PCT, which may allow prediction of histologic features.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.240-243
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• 2005

Osteoporosis, one of the age-related disease causes vertebra body fracture due to weakening trabecular bone and makes a substantial effect on load sharing among vertebras. Recently, vertebroplasty is one of the most popular treatment, as augmenting PMMA into vertebra. Biomechanical studies about vertebroplasty have been evaluated by several experiments or analysis under static loading but there has been no study on response under dynamic loading. This study included the FE analysis of patients who treated vertebroplasty under dynamic loading. For this study, 3-D FE model of lumbar spine(L1-L2) was modeled from CT scanning data and compared with experimental results in vitro in order to validate this model. Biomechanical behavior about each of normal person, osteoporotic patient and patient treated vertebroplasty for quantitative evaluations of vertebroplasty was compared and investigated.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Rock Mechanics Conference
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• 2008.10a
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• pp.263-269
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• 2008

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.86-90
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• 2012

Purpose: Quantification of myocardial blood flow (MBF) using dynamic PET imaging has the potential to assess coronary artery disease. Rb-82 plays a key role in the clinical assessment of myocardial perfusion using PET. However, MBF could be overestimated due to the underestimation of left ventricular input function in the beginning of the acquisition when the scanner has non-linearity between count rate and activity concentration due to the scanner dead-time. Therefore, in this study, we evaluated the count rate linearity as a function of the activity concentration in PET data acquired in list mode. Materials & methods: A cylindrical phantom (diameter, 12 cm length, 10.5 cm) filled with 296 MBq F-18 solution and 800 mL of water was used to estimate the linearity of the Biograph 40 True Point PET/CT scanner. PET data was acquired with 10 min per frame of 1 bed duration in list mode for different activity concentration levels in 7 half-lives. The images were reconstructed by OSEM and FBP algorithms. Prompt, net true and random counts of PET data according to the activity concentration were measured. Total and background counts were measured by drawing ROI on the phantom images and linearity was measured using background correction. Results: The prompt count rates in list mode were linearly increased proportionally to the activity concentration. At a low activity concentration (<30 kBq/mL), the prompt net true and random count rates were increased with the activity concentration. At a high activity concentration (>30 kBq/mL), the increasing rate of the prompt net true rates was slightly decreased while the increasing rate of random counts was increased. There was no difference in the image intensity linearity between OSEM and FBP algorithms. Conclusion: The Biograph 40 True Point PET/CT scanner showed good linearity of count rate even at a high activity concentration (~370 kBq/mL).The result indicates that the scanner is useful for the quantitative analysis of data in heart dynamic studies using Rb-82, N-13, O-15 and F-18.

• Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2003

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are alterations in DNA base that occur most frequently throughout the human genome. The SNPs of DNA repair genes, hMLH1, hMSH2 and ATM, among 100 Korean people were analyzed using Dynamic Allele specific Hybridization (DASH) techniques. Mutation at the position of exon 38 (GA) and exon 10 (CG) of ATM gene, mutation at the position of exon 8 (AG), and exon 1 (AG) of hMLH1 gene and exon 14 (AG) of hMSH2 gene were investigated. No mutation at the selected position of ATM gene and hMSH1 gene was found. However, while there was no mutation at the position of exon of hMSH2 gene, mutation was found at the promotion region (CT) with the frequency of 24% CC, 36% CT and 62% TT genotyes. This results might be used as baseline data for research on SNP of Korean population.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.154-161
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• 2020

Purpose: A CT angiography spot sign (CTA-spot) is a significant predictor of the early expansion of an intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH-Ex). Dynamic-susceptibility-contrast magnetic resonance imaging (DSC-MRI) can track the real-time leaking of contrast agents. It may be able to indicate active bleeding, like a CTA-spot. Materials and Methods: From September 2014 to February 2017, we did non-contrast CT, CTA, and DSC-MRI examinations of seven patients with acute ICH. We investigated the time from symptom onset to the first contrast-enhanced imaging. We evaluated the time course of the contrast leak within the ICH at the source image of the DSC-MRI and the volume change of ICH between non-contrast CT and DSC-MRI. We compared the number of slices showing CTA-spots and DSC-MRI leaks. Results: The CTA-spot and DSC-MRI leak-sign were present in four patients, and two patients among those showed ICH-Ex. The time from the symptom onset to CTA or DSC-MRI was shorter for those with a DSC-MRI leak or CTA-spot than for three patients without either (70-130 minutes vs. 135-270 minutes). The leak-sign began earlier, lasted longer, and spread to more slices in the patients with ICH-Ex than in those without ICH-Ex. The number of slices of the DSC-MRI leak and the number of the CTA-spot were well correlated. Conclusion: DSC-MRI can demonstrate the leakage of GBCA within hyperacute ICH, showing the good contrast between hematoma and contrast. The DSC-MRI leakage sign could be related to the hematoma expansion in patients with ICH.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.173-182
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• 1999

Contrast-enhanced CT has an important role in assessing liver lesions, the optimal protocol to get most effective result is not clear. The mein goal when deciding injention protocol is to optimize lesion detectability with rapid scanning when lesion to liver contrast is maximum. For this purpose, we developed a physiological model of the contrast medium enhancement based on the compartment modeling and pharmacokinetics. Blood supply to liver is achieved in two paths. This dual supply characteristic distinguishes the CT enhancement of liver from that of the other organs. The first path is by hepatic artery and to second, by portal vein. However, it is assumed that only gepatic artery can supply blood to hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC) compartment, thus, the difference of contrast enhancement is resulted between normal liver tissue and hepatic tumor. By solving differential equations for each compartment simultaneously using the computer program Matlab, CT contrast-enhancement curves were simulated. The simulated enhancement curves for aortic, hepatic, portal vein, and HCC compartments were compared with the mean enhancement curves from 24 patients exposed to the same protocols as the simulation. These enhancement curves showed a good agreement. Furthermore, we simulated lesion-to-liver curves for various injection protocols, and the effects were analyzed. The variables to be considered in the injection protocol were injection rate, dose, and concentration of contrast material. These data may help to optimize scanning protocols for better diagnosis.