• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.347-353
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• 2010

Objective : Iliac screw fixation has been used to prevent premature loosening of sacral fixation and to provide more rigid fixation of the sacropelvic unit. We describe our technique for iliac screw placement and review our experience with this technique. Methods : Thirteen consecutive patients who underwent spinopelvic fixation using iliac screws were enrolled. The indications for spinopelvic fixation included long segment fusions for spinal deformity and post-operative flat-back syndrome, symptomatic pseudoarthrosis of previous lumbosacral fusions, high-grade lumbosacral spondylolisthesis, lumbosacral tumors, and sacral fractures. Radiographic outcomes were assessed using plain radiographs, and computed tomographic scans. Clinical outcomes were assessed using the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and questionnaire about buttock pain. Results : The median follow-up period was 33 months (range, 13-54 months). Radiographic fusion across the lumbosacral junction was obtained in all 13 patients. The average pre- and post-operative ODI scores were 40.0 and 17.5, respectively. The questionnaire for buttock pain revealed the following : 9 patients (69%) perceived improvement; 3 patients (23%) reported no change; and 1 patient (7.6%) had aggravation of pain. Two patients complained of prominence of the iliac hardware. The complications included one violation of the greater sciatic notch and one deep wound infection. Conclusion : Iliac screw fixation is a safe and valuable technique that provides added structural support to S1 screws in long-segment spinal fusions. Iliac screw fixation is an extensive surgical procedure with potential complications, but high success rates can be achieved when it is performed systematically and in appropriately selected patients.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.49 no.12
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• pp.265-274
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• 2012

In this paper, we propose a method for preceding vehicle detection and tracking with motion estimation by radar-vision sensor fusion. The motion estimation proposed results in not only correction of inaccurate lateral position error observed on a radar target, but also adaptive detection and tracking of a preceding vehicle by compensating the changes in the geometric relation between the ego-vehicle and the ground due to the driving. Furthermore, the feature-based motion estimation employed to lessen computational burden reduces the number of deployment of the vehicle validation procedure. Experimental results prove that the correction by the proposed motion estimation improves the performance of the vehicle detection and makes the tracking accurate with high temporal consistency under various road conditions.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.40.1-40.12
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• 2021

Background: The microsporidian parasite Nosema ceranae is a global problem in honeybee populations and is known to cause winter mortality. A sensitive and rapid tool for stable quantitative detection is necessary to establish further research related to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of this pathogen. Objectives: The present study aimed to develop a quantitative method that incorporates ultra-rapid real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (UR-qPCR) for the rapid enumeration of N. ceranae in infected bees. Methods: A procedure for UR-qPCR detection of N. ceranae was developed, and the advantages of molecular detection were evaluated in comparison with microscopic enumeration. Results: UR-qPCR was more sensitive than microscopic enumeration for detecting two copies of N. ceranae DNA and 24 spores per bee. Meanwhile, the limit of detection by microscopy was 2.40 × 10⁴ spores/bee, and the stable detection level was ≥ 2.40 × 10⁵ spores/bee. The results of N. ceranae calculations from the infected honeybees and purified spores by UR-qPCR showed that the DNA copy number was approximately 8-fold higher than the spore count. Additionally, honeybees infected with N. ceranae with 2.74 × 10⁴ copies of N. ceranae DNA were incapable of detection by microscopy. The results of quantitative analysis using UR-qPCR were accomplished within 20 min. Conclusions: UR-qPCR is expected to be the most rapid molecular method for Nosema detection and has been developed for diagnosing nosemosis at low levels of infection.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.51-57
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• 2000

Objective : For relief of back pain related to spondylolisthesis, fusion with or without internal fixation may be necessary. Currently, bilateral wide posterior decompression and fusion with or without internal fixation are used for treatment of spondylolisthesis. In case of severe osteoporosis, discectomy may be done without fusion to decompress the nerve roots. However, the procedure may aggravate radicular symptom because slippage may increase and thus foramen may become narrower. In these settings, inferomedial partial pediculectomy has been done in our institution, The object of this study was to evaltuate such cases with regard to per- and postoperative clinical courses. Patients and Methods : Fifteen patients complaining radicular pain with mild or no back pain underwent inferomedial partial pediculectomy. It was done in lytic spondylolisthesis after extension of isthmic defect. In degenerative spondylolisthesis of L4-5 interspace, intertransverse pediculectomy was done via paraspinal approach not to injure the posterior segment with intact isthmus. But, in degenerative spondylolisthesis of L5-S1 interspace however, partial pediculectomy was done after making artificial isthmic defect via midline approach. Then, reconstructive laminoplasty of L5 was performed to avoid iatrogenic instability resulted from artificial isthmic defect. They were followed up for average 14.4 months(3-31 months). Results : Radiating pain was relieved in all cases(100%). Postoperative result was excellent in 7 cases(46.7%), good in 7(46.7%) and fair in 1(6.6%). Only 1 case(6.7%) showed increase in slippage during follow-up period. Conclusion : Inferomedial partial pediculectomy is considered as a useful procedure for severely osteoporotic patients with spondylolisthesis with regards to keeping stability and decompressing the nerve roots.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.101-106
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• 2004

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of the SDBBA (Subtalar distraction bone block arthrodesis) procedure on patients with late complication of intra-articular calcaneal fractures including subtalar joint arthritis and anterior ankle impingement syndrome. Materials and Methods: Five cases in which the SDBBA procedure was implemented were followed for more than one year. All five patients were male with an average age of 56. Clinically, the American Orthopedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) ankle-hindfoot score and the pain score were assessed. Radiographically, the talocalcaneal height and the talar inclination angle were determined. Results: All five patients achieved subtalar joint fusion. The average pre-operative AOFAS score was 22.8 scores (range, 8-32 scores). At last follow-up, these scores improved to an average of 72.4 scores (range, 64-82 scores). The average pre-operative pain score was 8.2 scores (range, 7-10 scores). At last follow-up, these scores improved to an average of 13.2 (range, 12-15 scores). The average pre-operative talocalcaneal height was 72.8 mm (range, 70-77 mm), average post-operative talocalcaneal height improved to 79.8 mm (range, 78-84 mm). At final follow-up, these measurement was slightly decreased to average 78.6 mm (range, 74-83 mm). The average pre-operative talar inclination angle was 13.2 degrees (range, 12-15 degrees), average post-operative talar inclination angle improvedto 19.2 degrees (range, 15-24 degrees). At final follow-up, these measurement was slightly decreased to average 18.6 degrees (range, 12-24 degrees). Four patients achieved successful outcomes. One patient developed a wound infection with subsequent sural neuropathy as well as collapse of the bone graft. Conclusion: This study shows that the SDBBA procedure successfully restores the talocalcaneal height and tibio-talar relationship. This procedure is useful in surgically managed patients with talo-calcaneal height loss and anterior ankle impingement syndrome due to the late complications of calcaneal intra-articular fractures.

• 제어로봇시스템학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.292-292
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• 2000

Since high-power CO$_2$ Laser can be make a high densed energy to Local processing area, manufacturing processes using the laser can be processed for very Localized areas at a very fast rate with minimal or no distortion. Accordingly, the laser has been widely used in the fields of thermal manufacturing processes such as welding, fusion cutting, grooving, and heat treatment of metals. In particular, interest in the laser heat treatment process has grown tremendously in the past few years. In this process, maintaining the uniform hardening depth is important problem to obtain good quality products and to reduce heat induced distortion and residual stress. For achieving this objective, we introduced a new design technique of a fuzzy logic controller that greatly simplified the design procedure by defining several simplified design parameters. In the design procedure, the major design parameters of the controller are characterized by identifying several common aspects. From a series of simulation results, we found that the proposed design technique can be effectively used to design of a fuzzy logic controller for the LASER surface hardening process.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.453-469
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• 2016

Many image fusion quality assessment techniques, which include Wald's, QNR and Khan's protocols, have been proposed. A total procedure for the quality assessment has been defined as the quality assessment protocol. In this paper, we compared the performance of the three protocols using KOMPSAT-2/3/3A satellite images, and tested the applicability to the fusion quality assessment of the KOMPSAT satellite images. In addition, we compared and analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the three protocols. We carried out the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the protocols by applying five fusion methods to the KOMPSAT test images. Then we compared the quantitative and qualitative results of the protocols from the aspects of the spectral and spatial preservations. In the Wald's protocol, the results from the qualitative and quantitative analysis were almost matched. However, the Wald's protocol had the limitations 1) that it is timeconsuming due to downsampling process and 2) that the fusion quality assessment are performed by using downsampled fusion image. The QNR protocol had an advantage that it utilizes an original image without downsampling. However, it could not find the aliasing effect of the wavelet-fused images in the spectral preservation. It means that the spectral preservation assessment of the QNR protocol might not be perfect. In the Khan's protocol, the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the spectral preservation was not matched in the wavelet fusion. This is because the fusion results were changed in the downsampling process of the fused images. Nevertheless, the Khan's protocol were superior to Wald's and QNR protocols in the spatial preservation.

• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2006

We describe a phage display strategy, based on the differential resistance of proteins to denaturant-induced unfolding, that can be used to select protein variants with improved conformational stability. To test the efficiency of this strategy, wild-type and two stable variants of ${\alpha}_1$-antitrypsin (${\alpha}_1AT$) were fused to the gene III protein of M13 phage. These phages were incubated in unfolding solution containing denaturant (urea or guanidinium chloride), and then subjected to an unfavorable refolding procedure (dialysis at $37^{\circ}C$). Once the ${\alpha}_1AT$ moiety of the fusion protein had unfolded in the unfolding solution, in which the denaturant concentration was higher than the unfolding transition midpoint ($C_m$) of the ${\alpha}_1AT$ variant, around 20% of the phage retained binding affinity to anti-${\alpha}_1AT$ antibody due to a low refolding efficiency. Moreover, this affinity reduced to less than 5% when 10 mg/mL skimmed milk (a misfolding-promoting additive) was included during the unfolding/refolding procedure. In contrast, most binding affinity (>95%) remained if the ${\alpha}_1AT$ variant was stable enough to resist unfolding. Because this selection procedure does not affect the infectivity of M13, the method is expected to be generally applicable to the high-throughput screening of stable protein variants, when activity-based screening is not possible.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.367-370
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• 2015

Bone cement augmentation procedures have been getting more position as a minimally invasive surgical option for osteoporotic spinal fractures. However, complications related to these procedures have been increasingly reported. We describe a case of bone cement dislodgement following cement augmentation procedure for osteoporotic spinal fracture by reviewing the patient's medical records, imaging results and related literatures. A 73-year-old woman suffering back and buttock pain following a fall from level ground was diagnosed as an osteoporotic fracture of the 11th thoracic spine. Percutaneous kyphoplasty was performed for this lesion. Six weeks later, the patient complained of a recurrence of back and buttock pain. Radiologic images revealed superior dislodgement of bone cement through the 11th thoracic superior endplate with destruction of the lower part of the 10th thoracic spine. Staged anterior and posterior fusion was performed. Two years postoperatively, the patient carries on with her daily living without any significant disability. Delayed bone cement dislodgement can occur as one of complications following bone cement augmentation procedure for osteoporotic spinal fracture. It might be related to the presence of intravertebral cleft, lack of interdigitation of bone cement with the surrounding trabeculae, and possible damage of endplate during ballooning procedure.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.330-333
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• 2014

Objective : To identify the accuracy and efficiency of the computed tomographic (CT)-based navigation system on upper cervical instrumentation, particularly C1 lateral mass and C2 pedicle screw fixation compared to previous reports. Methods : Between May 2005 and March 2014, 25 patients underwent upper cervical instrumentation via a CT-based navigation system. Seven patients were excluded, while 18 patients were involved. There were 13 males and five females; resulting in four degenerative cervical diseases and 14 trauma cases. A CT-based navigation system and lateral fluoroscopy were used during the screw instrumentation procedure. Among the 58 screws inserted as C1-2 screws fixation, their precise positions were evaluated by postoperative CT scans and classified into three categories : in-pedicle, non-critical breach, and critical breach. Results : Postoperatively, the precise positions of the C1-2 screws fixation were 81.1% (47/58), and 8.6% (5/58) were of non-critical breach, while 10.3% (6/58) were of critical breach. Most (5/6, 83.3%) of the critical breaches and all of non-critical breaches were observed in the C2 pedicle screws and there was only one case of a critical breach among the C1 lateral mass screws. There were three complications (two vertebral artery occlusions and a deep wound infection), but no postoperative instrument-related neurological deteriorations were seen, even in the critical breach cases. Conclusion : Although CT-based navigation systems can result in a more precise procedure, there are still some problems at the upper cervical spine levels, where the anatomy is highly variable. Even though there were no catastrophic complications, more experience are needed for safer procedure.