• Journal of Cardiovascular Imaging
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.18-23
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• 2023

BACKGROUND: Three-dimensional (3D) transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) is the gold standard for the diagnosis of degenerative mitral regurgitation (dMR) and preoperative planning for transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr). TEE is an invasive modality requiring anesthesia and esophageal intubation. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic has limited the number of elective invasive procedures. Multi-detector computed tomographic angiography (MDCT) provides high-resolution images and 3D reconstructions to assess complex mitral anatomy. We hypothesized that MDCT would reveal similar information to TEE relevant to TMVr, thus deferring the need for a preoperative TEE in certain situations like during a pandemic. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data on patients who underwent or were evaluated for TMVr for dMR with preoperative MDCT and TEE between 2017 and 2019. Two TEE and 2 MDCT readers, blinded to patient outcome, analyzed: leaflet pathology (flail, degenerative, mixed), leaflet location, mitral valve area (MVA), flail width/gap, anterior-posterior (AP) and commissural diameters, posterior leaflet length, leaflet thickness, presence of mitral valve cleft and degree of mitral annular calcification (MAC). RESULTS: A total of 22 (out of 87) patients had preoperative MDCT. MDCT correctly identified the leaflet pathology in 77% (17/22), flail leaflet in 91% (10/11), MAC degree in 91% (10/11) and the dysfunctional leaflet location in 95% (21/22) of patients. There were no differences in the measurements for MVA, flail width, commissural or AP diameter, posterior leaflet length, and leaflet thickness. MDCT overestimated the measurements of flail gap. CONCLUSIONS: For preoperative TMVr planning, MDCT provided similar measurements to TEE in our study.

• Journal of Trauma and Injury
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2024

Purpose: This study aimed at developing a novel tube thoracostomy technique using the sternum, a fixed anatomical structure, as an indicator to reduce the possibility of incorrect chest tube positioning and complications in patients with chest trauma. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed the data of 184 patients with chest trauma who were aged ≥18 years, visited a single regional trauma center in Korea between April and June 2022, and underwent chest computed tomography (CT) with their arms down. The conventional gold standard, 5th intercostal space (ICS) method, was compared to the lower 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 of the sternum method by analyzing CT images. Results: When virtual tube thoracostomy routes were drawn at the mid-axillary line at the 5th ICS level, 150 patients (81.5%) on the right side and 179 patients (97.3%) on the left did not pass the diaphragm. However, at the lower 1/2 of the sternum level, 171 patients (92.9%, P<0.001) on the right and 182 patients (98.9%, P= 0.250) on the left did not pass the diaphragm. At the 5th ICS level, 129 patients (70.1%) on the right and 156 patients (84.8%) on the left were located in the safety zone and did not pass the diaphragm. Alternatively, at the lower 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 of the sternum level, 139 (75.5%, P=0.185), 49 (26.6%, P<0.001), and 10 (5.4%, P<0.001), respectively, on the right, and 146 (79.3%, P=0.041), 69 (37.5%, P<0.001), and 16 (8.7%, P<0.001) on the left were located in the safety zone and did not pass the diaphragm. Compared to the conventional 5th ICS method, the sternum 1/2 method had a safety zone prediction sensitivity of 90.0% to 90.7%, and 97.3% to 100% sensitivity for not passing the diaphragm. Conclusions: Using the sternum length as a tube thoracostomy indicator might be feasible.

• Conservation Science in Museum
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• v.31
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• pp.1-20
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• 2024

The "Buseoksa Temple Gwaebul" (1684, K969) in the possession of the National Museum of Korea is a large Buddhist hanging scroll produced for outdoor rituals (gwaebul) at the eponymous temple. The painting demonstrates the most complex composition among the existing Buddhist hanging scrolls as it depicts the Shakyamuni Buddha in the lower middle, surrounded by the Vairocana Buddha, Medicine Buddha, and Amitabha Buddha. This study examines the characteristics of the background fabric and the production methods of the scroll from Buseoksa Temple and explores the characteristics of the coloring techniques by integrating the results of a non-destructive analysis to determine the materials used for coloring. The gwaebul comprises a total of 13 panels, with 11 panels arranged side by side and one panel each added to the top and bottom. The background fabric of the painting consist of semi-transparent silk tabby for the nine panels in the center, and silk tabby for the four panels surrounding the four sides. The coloring materials used to paint the scroll were analyzed using X-ray fluorescence, and were confirmed to be inorganic pigments of red, yellow, green, blue, and white. For some parts painted in yellow and blue, the colors were expressed by first applying light white pigment before adding organic pigments. In addition, ink was used for the black lines and gold leaf was used for the patterns of the Buddhist robes. X-ray irradiation enabled the determination of the location and technique of coloring according to each pigment color by highlighting the difference in brightness depending on the main component and the thickness of each pigment.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2024

In this study, the contamination of gold(Au) wire according to the types of rinse applied for surface treatment in the wire bonding process is investigated and confirmed. For the surface treatment, rinses containing silicon(Si) or those based on organic materials are mainly employed. To identify their effects, surface treatment is conducted on Au wire using two types of rinse at a 1.0 wt% concentration, referred to as Si-including and Oil-based rinse-coated Au wire. Subsequently, a simulation experiment is performed to verify the reactivity of dust containing Si components that could occur in the semiconductor process. Through optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy(SEM) analysis, it is observed that a larger amount of dust is adsorbed on the surface of Si-including rinse-coated Au wire compared with the Oil-based rinse-coated Au wire. This is attributed that the rinse containing Si components is relatively polar, causing polar interactions with dust, which also has polarity. Therefore, it is expected that using a rinse without Si components can reduce contamination caused by dust, thereby decreasing the defect rate in the practical wire bonding process.

• Clinical Endoscopy
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.217-225
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• 2024

Background/Aims: This study aims to compare polyp detection performance of "Deep-GI," a newly developed artificial intelligence (AI) model, to a previously validated AI model computer-aided polyp detection (CADe) using various false positive (FP) thresholds and determining the best threshold for each model. Methods: Colonoscopy videos were collected prospectively and reviewed by three expert endoscopists (gold standard), trainees, CADe (CAD EYE; Fujifilm Corp.), and Deep-GI. Polyp detection sensitivity (PDS), polyp miss rates (PMR), and false-positive alarm rates (FPR) were compared among the three groups using different FP thresholds for the duration of bounding boxes appearing on the screen. Results: In total, 170 colonoscopy videos were used in this study. Deep-GI showed the highest PDS (99.4% vs. 85.4% vs. 66.7%, p<0.01) and the lowest PMR (0.6% vs. 14.6% vs. 33.3%, p<0.01) when compared to CADe and trainees, respectively. Compared to CADe, Deep-GI demonstrated lower FPR at FP thresholds of ≥0.5 (12.1 vs. 22.4) and ≥1 second (4.4 vs. 6.8) (both p<0.05). However, when the threshold was raised to ≥1.5 seconds, the FPR became comparable (2 vs. 2.4, p=0.3), while the PMR increased from 2% to 10%. Conclusions: Compared to CADe, Deep-GI demonstrated a higher PDS with significantly lower FPR at ≥0.5- and ≥1-second thresholds. At the ≥1.5-second threshold, both systems showed comparable FPR with increased PMR.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.335-340
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• 2024

In this paper, we synthesized organic and inorganic hybrid materials to introduce antibody functionality to UIO-66 and incorporated them into a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assay to enhance the sensitivity of detecting small molecules such as oxytocin. A biological marker peptide called oxytocin may help in the diagnosis of heart failure, Alzheimer's disease, and cancer. To detect oxytocin at concentrations as low as a few femtomole (fM), we developed a surface sandwich assay utilizing a pair of oxytocin-specific antibodies for enhancing selectivity and one of metal organic frameworks [e.g., UiO-66-(COOH)₂] possessing high porosity and surface-area as a signal amplifier. Initially, real-time SPR assays were used to confirm that each selected oxytocin-specific antibody binds strongly to oxytocin and to different binding sites on oxytocin. One of these antibodies (e.g., anti-OXT[OTI5G4]) was immobilized on the surface of a thin gold chip. Upon sequential injecting of oxytocin and the other antibody (e.g., anti-OXT[4G11]) conjugated to UiO-66-(COOH)₂ onto the surface to form the surface sandwich complex of anti-OXT[OTI5G4]/oxytocin/UiO-66-(COOH)₂-anti-OXT[4G11]), SPR changes, which varied with oxytocin concentration, were then measured in real time. The results demonstrated that sensitivity was amplified by over a million-fold compared to assays without UiO-66-(COOH)₂, enabling oxytocin detection down to approximately 10 fM.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.250-262
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• 2008

In order to assess the feasibility of the dipole-dipole electric method to the investigation of metallic ore deposit, both field data simulation and inversion are carried out for several simplified ore deposit models. Our interest is in a vein-type model, because most of the ore deposits (more than 70%) exist in a vein type in Korea. Based on the fact that the width of the vein-type ore deposits ranges from tens of centimeters to 2m, we change the width and the material property of the vein, and we use 40m-electrode spacing for our test. For the vein-type model with too small width, the low resistivity zone is not detected, even though the resistivity of the vein amounts to 1/300 of that of the surrounding rock. Considering a wide electrode interval and cell size used in the inversion, it is natural that the size of the low resistivity zone is overestimated. We also perform field data simulation and inversion for a vein-type model with surrounding hydrothermal alteration zones, which is a typical structure in an epithermal ore deposits. In the model, the material properties are assumed on the basis of resistivity values directly observed in a mine originated from an epithermal ore deposits. From this simulation, we can also note that the high resistivity value of the vein does not affect the results when the width of the vein is narrow. This indicates that our main target should be surrounding hydrothermal alteration zones rather than veins in field survey. From these results, we can summarize that when the vein is placed at the deep part and the difference of resistivity values between the vein and the surrounding rock is not large enough, we cannot detect low resistivity zone and interpret the subsurface structures incorrectly using the electric method performed at the surface. Although this work is a little simple, it can be used as references for field survey design and field data Interpretation. If we perform field data simulation and inversion for a number of models and provide some references, they will be helpful in real field survey and interpretation.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.169-176
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• 1996

A scanning electron microscopic study was performed to observe the surface ultrastructures of the third-stage larvae of Gnathostoma hispidun. The early third-stage larvae (EL3) were collected from the viscera of Chinese loaches by the artificial digestion method . The advanced third-stage larvae (AdL3) were recovered from mice experimentally infected with EL3. Both larval worms were fixed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde, dehydrated in graded alcohol. dryad in critical point dryer, and coated with gold. The specimens were observed with a SEM (DS- l30C). On the head bulb of both larval stage, the mouth had a pair of lateral lips of equal size and of half moon shape. Each lip had a couple of labial papillae and a small amphid located between the two papillae. The hooklets on the head bulb had single-pointed tips and curved posteriorly. The cuticular spines of EL3 were larger and more densely distributed in the anterior area (about 1.8 Mm in length) and gradually decreased in size and number posteriorly. The cuticular spines in the anterior area of AdL3 were sharp-pointed and about 4.5 Mm in length, and those in the middle area were about 1.75 Mm. The velvety cuticular folds and dot-like cuticular spines were distributed in the posterior area. A cervical papilla was located between the 7th and 8th transverse striations. A dome-like body papilla was located at the posterior 1/4 of body. An ellipsoidal excretory pore was located between the 17th and 18th striations. From the above results, it is suggested that the characteristic SEM findings obtained from this study may be helpful on the species identification of larval Gncthostomn.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.299-304
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• 2012

In this work, we experimented with the two-fluid fogging system that eco-friendly prevents whiteflies in greenhouses in order to find the optimal concentration of oleic acid supplied through the system and to evaluate the control value of three consecutive treatments. The first experiment, which was to find the optimal concentration of oleic acid, used "Dotaerang Gold" tomatoes grown in stand-alone plastic greenhouse at Buyeo Tomato Experiment Station. We tested three levels of concentration of oleic acid, which were 0, 2000, and 4000 ppm. The second experiment, which was to evaluate the control value of three consecutive treatments of oleic acid, used "Rokusanmaru" tomatoes grown in Venlo type glasshouse at Gyeonggi-Do Agricultural Research & Extension Services. In this experiment, oleic acid of 2000 ppm was applied three times with two days intervals. The number of whiteflies was counted 2 two days after the last application of oleic acid. Even when oleic acid was not being applied, the two-fluid fogging system was run from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm whenever the temperature is higher than $25^{\circ}C$ or the humidity is lower than 75%. In the first experiment, the control value was 81.6% with 2000 ppm of oleic acid and 93.6% with 4000 ppm. It means that the higher the concentration is, the greater the control value. In the second experiment, 2000 ppm treatment resulted in 85.8% of the control value, which is higher than the required standard for insecticides. Hence, spraying oleic acid with the concentration of 2000 ppm three times with two days intervals turned out to be a very effective in the eco-friendly prevention of whitefly.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.19 no.spc
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• pp.139-149
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• 1986

Compositional variation of sphalerites from various hydrothermal metallic ore deposits in Korea were investigated in mine and local, and regional scale. The sphalerites were partially analyzed for iron, manganese, and cadmium by using an electron probe microanalyzer(EPMA). The contents of iron and cadmium in sphalerites collected from the Weolam deposit of the No.1 Yeonhwa mine are not variable with increase of depth, but manganese content is highly variable. Sphalerites from lead-zinc deposits which are geologically associated with hypabyssal and effusive activity are characterized by high manganese (more than 1.0 MnS mole %) and low cadmium contents (less than 0.5 CdS mole %). Relatively manganese rich sphalerites are found in the deposits where sphalerites are enriched in iron content. Variation of cadmium content is very limited compared with that of manganese content. Sphalerites from most tungsten and some gold-silver deposits are remarkably high in cadmium content, but most of base metal and iron deposits are low in cadmium content. Cadmium content in sphalerites which occur in the metallic ore deposits genetically associated with plutonic activity shows a tendency to high variation. Available amounts of cadmium in sphalerites could be originated from the initial enrichment during the magmatic and postmagmatic processes.