• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.65 no.2
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• pp.131-136
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• 2008

Cholethorax (bilious pleural effusion) is an extravasation of bile into the thoracic cavity via a pleurobiliary fistula (and also a bronchobiliary fistula). It is an extremely rare complication of thoraco-abdominal injuries. It can be caused by congenital anomaly and also by hepatobiliary trauma, severe infection or iatrogenic procedures. The definitive diagnosis is made with aspiration of bilious fluid from the pleural space during thoracentesis, by finding a fistulous tract during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) or cholagioscopy, or with finding an abnormal pleural accumulation of radioisotope during hepatobiliary nuclear imaging. Its symptoms include coughing, fever, dyspnea and pleuritc chest pain. Herein we report on a case of cholethorax following performance of percutaneous transhepatic cholangioscopy (PTCS) to remove incidentally discovered common bile duct (CBD) stones.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.196-203
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• 2014

Purpose: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is one of the most important growth factors for metastatic tumors. To clarify the role of VEGF-A and C in patients with peptic ulcer disease (PUD) or gastric cancer (GC), we evaluated the expression levels of these two molecules. We also analyzed the effect of Helicobacter pylori infection on VEGF-A and C expression levels. Materials and Methods: Patients with dyspepsia who needed diagnostic endoscopy were selected and divided into three groups: nonulcer dyspepsia (NUD), PUD, and GC, according to their endoscopic and histopathological results. Fifty-two patients with NUD, 50 with PUD, and 38 with GC were enrolled in this study. H. pylori infection was diagnosed by the rapid urease test. After RNA extraction and synthesis of cDNA, the expression levels of VEGF-A and C were determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Results: The VEGF-C expression level in the PUD and GC groups was significantly higher than that in the NUD group. Moreover, the VEGF-A expression level in the PUD and GC groups was higher than in the NUD group, although the differences were not statistically significant. Significant positive correlations were also observed between the expression levels of these two molecules in the PUD and GC groups. In addition, the expression levels of these two molecules were higher in H. pylori positive patients with PUD or GC than in H. pylori negative patients of the same groups; however, these differences did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: Up-regulation of VEGF-C expression during gastric mucosal inflammation may play a role in the development of peptic ulcers or GC.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.633-642
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• 2003

A pain is the symptom which defends against noxious stimulus about a human body, it is known that if the periphery of perceptive nerve were stimulated by a physical or chemical factors, the stimulation is induced by transmission to pain center in the cerebral cortex according to pain conduction tract. The treatment of pain is to decrease a stimulus that causes a pain or block off a nerve transmitting a stimulus or puts on a way to calm down pain center, but It is for adjustment of a pain to be the most representative in acupuncture among various ways to cure a pain in Oriental medicine. However, the analgesic effect of an individual response to acupuncture stimulation shows marked individual variations, so these days genetic a few approach is attempted. On this the author determined that the responding group was appointed those whose tail flick latency (TFL) responding time delayed the minimum of 30 % comparing with basal reaction time. For those whose TFL time had shorter than 30 % was grouped as a non-responding group. And then the hypothalamus of each group was dissected and RNA was further purified. After synthesizing cDNA using oligo dT primer, products were finally applied to the PCR. The results were as follows; The ratio of responding group to non-responding group was 6:4. Ach T (acetylcholinesterase T subunit), BF-I (Brain factor-I), DBH (Dopamine β-hydroxylase) and PNM (Phosphotidylethanolamine N-Methyltransferase) were revealed significantly in the responding group. Cathepsin B and Tau were revealed significantly in the non-responding group. The PCR results show that Ach T, BF-I, DBH and PNM are expressed abundantly in the responding group, where as cathepsin B and tau are abundant in the non-responding group. These results suggest that the analgesic effect on acupuncture stimulation is related to regulation of neurotransmitter as well as neurodegeration of cerebrum.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.330-337
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• 2003

The effect of sixteen excipients on the transport of recombinant human epidermal growth factor (rhEGF) across Caco-2 cell monolayers was examined at $37^{\circ}C$. The apparent apical to basolateral (A-B) permeability ($P_{app}$) of 30 $\mu$ M rhEGF was $8.15\times 10^{-7}$ cm/sec, indicative of a poor level of absorption in the GI tract. The Papp was 1.7- and 6.3-fold greater than the $P_{app}$ in the basolateral to apical (B-A) direction and the A-B permeability of mannitol, respectively, and decreased dramatically to a negligible level at $4^{\circ}C$, consistent with a receptor mediated transcytosis of rhEGF. The stability of rhEGF was very poor, undergoing more than 85% degradation in 2 h in the transport medium at $37^{\circ}C$. A significant increase in the $P_{app}$ could be achieved by the addition of certain excipients, as exemplified by 23, 21, 20 and 16-fold increases, in the presence of sodium taurochenodeoxycholate (NaTCDC), sodium taurodeoxycholate (NaTDC), sodium glycodeoxycholate (NaGDC) and sodium laurylsulfate (SLS) (all at a concentration of 1 % w/v), respectively. A significant increase in stability could also be achieved by the addition of some of the excipients, as represented by 1 % SLS, which nearly completely stabilized the rhEGF. Unfortunately, however, an increase in the $P_{app}$ of rhEGF could not be achieved without a simultaneous and extensive decrease in the integrity of the cell membranes. Thus, more efficient excipients, that specifically enhance the permeation of rhEGF and do not alter the membrane integrity, should be pursued in order to safely enhance the permeation of rhEGF.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.248-250
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• 2002

A 56 year-old man complaining of dry cough, dyspnea, chest pain, fever, and chills was admitted to the emergency room. The patient had a history of esophagectomy and esophagogastrostomy and subsequent radiotherapy because of an esophageal cancer. After the emergency echocardiography revealed a small amount of pericardial effusion and pneumopericardium. Upper GI contrast study showed a fistulous tract between the stomach and the pericardium, and an emergency operation was done under the diagnosis of gastropericardial fistula. The patient expired postoperative seven days later. Gastropericardial fistula caused by a peptic ulcer perforation after the esophagectomy and esophagogastrostomy operation is a very rare complication and brings forth a disastrous result. Early detection using the chest radiography, electrocardiogram, upper Gl study, echocardiography and a review of physical examination, and an immediate treatment are therefore mandatory.

• Journal of the Korean Geophysical Society
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.179-190
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• 1999

The overall structural framework was studied using the regional 2D seismic data, followed by the sequence stratigraphic study on the 3D seismic and well- log data in the margin of the South Con Son basin of the South China Sea. This research contributes to delineate depositional stratigraphy, depositional environment and geologic history in the 3D seismic area of highly complicated faulting. Eight Miocene sequences were indicated on the 3D seismic and well-log data, in which the structural maps of each sequence boundary and the isochron maps for the corresponding sequence were made. The seismic facies were analyzed for each sequence volume and sequence boundary surface. The 3D seismic area is characterized by coal beds deposited in the transgression environment (transgression systems tract) and channel distributions just above the sequence boundaries. During the Early Miocene, the coals and thick shales deposited in the mangrove swamp representing the lower coastal plain environment. During the Mid to Late Miocene, thick clastic sediments deposited in the coastal to shallow shelf by regional subsidence and marine transgression. The isochron maps and structural patterns indicate that the sediments were transported from west to east or from northwest to southeast.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.447-453
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• 2004

In the case of a capsule that can acquire and transmit images from the intestines, the size of the module and the battery capacity in the capsule are subject to restriction. The capsule must be swallowable and the battery must maintain the stable power during the capsule travels in the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, it is important to control the endoscope using bi-directional wireless communication. In this study, encoder and decoder CPLD modules for bi-directional capsule endoscopes were designed and implemented. The designed controller for capsule endoscope can transmit the images of GI-track from inside to outside of the body and the capsules can be controlled by external controller simultaneously. The designed and implemented controller was verified by an in-vivo animal experiments. From these experiments, it was verified that the CPLD module for bi-directional capsule endoscope satisfied the design specifications.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.30 no.sup1
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• pp.85-90
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• 2001

Objective : DREZotomy is effective for the treatment of deafferentation pain as a consequence of root avulsion, postparaplegic pain, posttraumatic syrinx, postherpetic neuralgia, spinal cord injury, and peripheral nerve injury. We performed microsurgical DREZotomy to the patients with deafferentation pain and relieved pain without any serious complication. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of the microsurgical DREZotomy for deafferentation pain. Methods : We evaluated 4 patients with deafferntation pain who were intractable to medical therapy. Two of them were brachial plexus injury with root avulsion owing to trauma, one was axillary metastasis of the squamous cell carcinoma of the left forearm, and the last was anesthesia dolorosa after surgical treatment(MVD and rhizotomy) of trigeminal neuralgia. Preoperative evaluation was based on the neurologic examination, radiologic imaging, and electrophysiological study. In the case of anesthesia dolorosa, we produced two parallel lesions in cephalocaudal direction, 2mm in distance, from the C2 dorsal rootlet to the 5mm superior to the obex including nucleus caudalis, after suboccipital craniectomy and C1-2 laminectomy, with use of microelectrode. In the others, we confirmed lesion site with identification of the nerve root after hemilaminectomy. We performed arachnoid dissection along the posterolateral sulcus and made lesion with microsurgical knife and microelectrocoagulation, 2mm in depth, 2mm in distance, to the direction of 30-45 degrees in the medial portion of the Lissauer's tract and the most dorsal layers of the posterior horn at the one root level above and below the lesion. Results : Compared with preoperative state, microsurgical DREZotomy significantly diminished dosage of the drugs and relieved pain meaningfully. One patient showed tansient ipsilateral ataxia, but recovered soon. There was not any serious complication. Conclusion : It may be concluded that microsurgical DREZotomy is very useful and safe therapeutic modality for deafferentation pain, especially segmentally distributed intermittent or evoke pain. Complete preoperative evaluation and proper selection of the patients and lesion making device are needed to improve the result.

• Journal of Electrodiagnosis and Neuromuscular Diseases
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.106-111
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• 2018

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been a gold standard for investigating central motor pathways in humans. Diffusion tensor imaging with fiber tractography (DTI FT) is known for its usefulness in detecting white matter lesion in vivo. We investigated the clinical usefulness of elucidating the integrity and continuity of corticospinal tract (CST) by combined use of TMS and DTI FT in this study. We report two cases who have presented with left hemiparesis and evaluated by both TMS and DTI FT; 10-year-old boy with Mitochondrial Encephalomyopathy with Lactic Acidosis and Stroke-like episode syndrome and 20-year-old woman with traumatic brain injury. Combined use of TMS and DTI FT successfully led to localize the brain lesion that might cause motor impairment in patients with abnormal signal intensities in MRI. The results of this study suggest that TMS and DTI FT might provide the detailed information between function and anatomy of the CST, complementarily.

• The Journal of the Institute of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.41-46
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• 2023

Human urine is a process of excreting waste products in the blood, and it is easy to collect and contains various substances. Urinalysis is used to check for diseases, health conditions, and urinary tract infections. There are three methods of urinalysis: physical property test, chemical test, and microscopic test, and chemical test results can be easily confirmed using urine test strips. A variety of items can be tested on the urine test strip, through which various diseases can be identified. Recently, with the spread of smart phones, research on reading urine test strips using smart phones is being conducted. There is a method of detecting and reading the color change of a urine test strip using a smartphone. This method uses the RGB values and the color difference formula to discriminate. However, there is a problem in that accuracy is lowered due to various environmental factors. This paper applies a deep learning model to solve this problem. In particular, color discrimination of a urine test strip is improved in a smartphone using a lightweight CNN (Convolutional Neural Networks) model. CNN is a useful model for image recognition and pattern finding, and a lightweight version is also available. Through this, it is possible to operate a deep learning model on a smartphone and extract accurate urine test results. Urine test strips were taken in various environments to prepare deep learning model training images, and a urine test service application was designed using MobileNet V3.