• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.8
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• pp.794-802
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• 2022

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of single-shot whole thoracic time-resolved MR angiography (TR-MRA) to identify the feeding arteries of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) and reperfusion of the lesion after embolization in patients with multiple PAVMs. Materials and Methods: Nine patients (8 females and 1 male; age range, 23-65 years) with a total of 62 PAVMs who underwent percutaneous embolization for multiple PAVMs and were subsequently followed up using TR-MRA and CT obtained within 6 months from each other were retrospectively reviewed. All imaging analyses were performed by two independent readers blinded to clinical information. The visibility of the feeding arteries on maximum intensity projection (MIP) reconstruction and multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) TR-MRA images was evaluated by comparing them to CT as a reference. The accuracy of TR-MRA for diagnosing reperfusion of the PAVM after embolization was assessed in a subgroup with angiographic confirmation. The reliability between the readers in interpreting the TR-MRA results was analyzed using kappa (κ) statistics. Results: Feeding arteries were visible on the original MIP images of TR-MRA in 82.3% (51/62) and 85.5% (53/62) of readers 1 and 2, respectively. Using the MPR, the rates increased to 93.5% (58/62) and 95.2% (59/62), respectively (κ = 0.760 and 0.792, respectively). Factors for invisibility were the course of feeding arteries in the anteroposterior plane, proximity to large enhancing vessels, adjacency to the chest wall, pulsation of the heart, and small feeding arteries. Thirty-seven PAVMs in five patients had angiographic confirmation of reperfusion status after embolization (32 occlusions and 5 reperfusions). TR-MRA showed 100% (5/5) sensitivity and 100% (32/32, including three cases in which the feeding arteries were not visible on TR-MRA) specificity for both readers. Conclusion: Single-shot whole thoracic TR-MRA with MPR showed good visibility of the feeding arteries of PAVMs and high accuracy in diagnosing reperfusion after embolization. Single-shot whole thoracic TR-MRA may be a feasible method for the follow-up of patients with multiple PAVMs.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.641-648
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• 2019

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging could improve diagnostic accuracy for suspected posterior ligamentous complex (PLC) disruption. Materials and Methods: We used 20 freshly harvested goat spine samples with 60 segments and intact surrounding soft tissue. The animals were aged 1-1.5 years and consisted of 8 males and 12 females, which were sexually mature but had not reached adult weights. We created a paraspinal contusion model by percutaneously injecting 10 mL saline into each side of the interspinous ligament (ISL). All segments underwent T2-weighted sagittal and coronal short inversion time inversion recovery (STIR) scans as well as coronal and sagittal 3D proton density-weighted spectrally selective inversion recovery (3D-PDW-SPIR) scans acquired at 1.5T. Following scanning, some ISLs were cut and then the segments were rescanned using the same magnetic resonance (MR) techniques. Two radiologists independently assessed the MR images, and the reliability of ISL tear interpretation was assessed using the kappa coefficient. The chi-square test was used to compare the diagnostic accuracy of images obtained using the different MR techniques. Results: The interobserver reliability for detecting ISL disruption was high for all imaging techniques (0.776-0.949). The sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy of the coronal 3D-PDW-SPIR technique for detecting ISL tears were 100, 96.9, and 97.9%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of the sagittal STIR (p = 0.000), coronal STIR (p = 0.000), and sagittal 3D-PDW-SPIR (p = 0.001) techniques. Conclusion: Compared to other MR methods, coronal 3D-PDW-SPIR provides a more accurate diagnosis of ISL disruption. Adding coronal 3D-PDW-SPIR to a routine MR protocol may help to identify PLC disruptions in cases with nearby contusion.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 2014

High pressure processing (HPP) is a non-thermal method used to prevent bacterial growth in the food industry. Currently, pasteurization is the most common method in use for most milk processing, but this has the disadvantage that it leads to changes in the milk's nutritional and chemical properties. Therefore, the effects of HPP treatment on the microbiological and chemical properties of milk were investigated in this study. With the treatment of HPP at 600 MPa and $15^{\circ}C$ for 3 min, the quantity of microorganisms and lactic acid bacteria were reduced to the level of 2-3 log CFU/ml, and coliforms were not detected during a storage period of 15 d at $4^{\circ}C$. An analysis of milk proteins, such as ${\alpha}$-casein, ${\beta}$-casein, ${\kappa}$-casein, ${\alpha}$-lactalbumin, ${\beta}$-lactoglobulin by on-chip electorophoresis revealed that the electrophoretic pattern of the proteins from HPP-treated milk was different from that of conventionally treated commercial milk. While the quantities of vitamins and minerals in HPP-treated milk were seen to be comparable to amounts found in raw milk, the enzyme activity of lipase, protease and alkaline phosphatase after HPP treatment was reduced. These results suggest that HPP treatment is a viable method for the control of undesirable microorganisms in milk, allowing for minimal nutritional and chemical changes in the milk during the process.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.160-169
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• 2009

Poly-$\gamma$-glutamic acid ($\gamma$-PGA) was mixed natural flora of Bacillus subtilis, contaminated from cooked soybeans. Also, it was performed to find out the antiallergic activity by using NC/Nga mice, in vitro. The $\gamma$-PGA (PGA-HM : PGA-high molecular weight), Molecular weight 300 kDa, was decomposed and made PGA-LM (PGA-low molecular weight) which has molecular weight below 30 kDa by sonication. Therefore, it was same result between PGA-HM and PGA-LM, and reported PGA-LM as basic result. We found that PGA-LM contains antiallergic efficacy that inhibit B cells and Th2 cells activation from isolated CD4+T cells in NC/Nga atopic dermatitis model mice, and not show a cytotoxicity in the hFCs. To investigate the effects of these PGA-LM in vitro, isolation of splenic B cell and CD4+ T cells in atopic dermatitis mice were used. To elucidate the role of PGA-LM in anti-CD40+ interleukin-4 (IL-4)-mediated B-cell activation, showed that the capacity of B cells to expression IL-$1\beta$, IL-6, and TNF-$\alpha$ mRNA down-regulated, and IL-10 mRNA up-regulation by PGA-LM treatment, but it had no effect on TGF-$\beta$ expression. In addition to CD4+IFN-$\gamma$+ and CD4+CD25+foxp3+, the functions of PGA-LM in the development of the CD4+CD25+foxp3+ and CD4+IFN-$\gamma$+cells, the phenotype and functions of PGA-LM induced CD4+CD25+foxp3+, and CD4+IFN-$\gamma$+cells in CD4+T cells. These results suggested that PGA-LM could change cytokine production and generate CD4+CD25+foxp3+ Tregs in NC/Nga mice, and may be effective for immunotherapy in patients with AD.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.31 no.1 s.60
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• pp.49-58
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• 1998

The study was done to determine the reliability and validity of a life style questionnaire for the elderly. The questionnaires were sent to 16,524 elderly people who were beneficiaries of Korean Medical Insurance Corporation in Pusan. Among the completed 9,139 questionnaires, 200 were randomly sampled and retested. finally, 110 duplicates were collected. Weighted kappa-value and Pearson correlation coefficients were estimated to measure the reliability. Validity coefficient was estimated by using reliability coefficient. In self-self responses, reliability coefficients of the most of items were over 0.6 except some physical activity related item. Relatively high reliability was observed in smoking, alcohol related items and anthropometric items. In self-proxy responses, most of the physical activity related items were found to be less reliable than self-self responses. Smoking and alcohol related items were consistently reliable. Male showed higher validity in food related item than female. On the other hand, some of the physical activity related items and smoking and alcohol related items were less valid in male than female. With regard to bias of proxy respondents, offsprings tended to underestimate the frequency of house cleaning' and 'kitchen work' and overestimate the height of them. In conclusion, the life style questionnaire was found to be reliable in the most of items. But, some items related with physical activity were found to be somewhat less reliable. Sexual difference on the validity was identified in some items. With regard to bias of proxy respondents, offsprings tended to have bias in part of items of housework and anthropometry.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.726-731
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• 1999

Background: The distinction between non-invasive and invasive or thymic carcinoma has been severely compromised by lack of objective morphological criteria. A reliable biological marker of tumor aggressiveness is, therefore, mandatory for predicting tumor behavior. Material and Method: Thirty thymic epithelial tumors, including 7 non-invasive thymoma, 10 invasive thymoma, and 13 thymic carcinoma of the Rosai's classification; and 5 stage I, 7 stage II, 2 stage III, and 3 stage IVa of the Masaoka stage of thymoma were investigated for expression of bcl-2 and p53 proteins by immunohistochemistry. Result: The thymic epithelial cells showed positive immunostain for bcl-2 in 0 (0%), 3 (30%), 8 (61.5%) of categories in the Rosai's classification respectively and in 0 (0%), 1 (14.3%), 2 (100%), 0 (0%) of stage I, II, III, IVa of the Masaoka stage respectively. Thymic carcinoma, and high stage thymoma had significantly higher proportion of bcl-2 expression than thymoma (p=0.021) and low stage thymoma (p=0.011). However, p53 showed no correlation with the histological subtypes nor with clinical aggressiveness. Bcl-2 expression appeared to be positively correlated with p53 immunoactivity (p=0.007, kappa=0.525). Conclusion: These date indicate that bcl-2 expression correlates with aggressiveness in thymic epithelial tumors, but further studies on mutation of p53 protein is necessary because bcl-2 expression appeared to be positively correlated with p53 immunoactivity.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.7-16
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• 2009

Appenzeller cheese samples were prepared by addition of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0% green tea (Camellia sinensis, CS) powder and control cheese. We examined various quality characteristics of the novel cheese, such as viable-cell counts, pH, water-soluble nitrogen (WSN), non-casein nitrogen (NCN), non-protein nitrogen (NPN), and catechin level during maturation for 16 weeks at $14^{\circ}C$. To develop a Korean natural cheese containing green tea powder, we also analyzed the changes in the polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis pattern, chemical composition, and sensory qualities. The viable cell counts of the samples were not significantly different. Until the $3^{rd}$ week, the pH of the CS cheese decreased with an increase in the maturation time. However, the pH gradually increased by the $12^{th}$ week, while WSN, NCN, NPN also increased. The WSN, NCN, NPN, and catechin values for the CS cheese samples were significantly higher than the values for the control cheese. The polyacrylamide gel electrophoretic pattern of caseins for the CS cheese indicated that this cheese degraded more rapidly than the control cheese did. In the sensory evaluation, cheese with 1.0% CS powder showed the highest scores in taste and appearance and good scores in flavor and texture. These results indicate that 1.0% CS is the optimal value for addition to cheese, and cheese containing 1.0% CS shows good physiological properties and reasonably high overall sensory acceptability.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.973-979
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• 2002

Purpose : Recently, a number of rapid antigen detection tests have been available to diagnose group A streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis. The purpose of this study was to determine the sensitivity, specificity and consistency of the two rapid antigen detection tests. Methods : Among the patients who visited our clinic from November 2001 to February 2002, 61 patients who had clinical findings of pharyngeal erythema or edema, pharyngeal exudates and soft palatine petechiae were enrolled in our study. A total of 61 patients were tested with rapid antigen detection tests and throat culture. BD $LINK2^{TM}$ Strep A(Becton, Dickinson & Company, U.S.A.) and $QuickVue^{(R)}$ $In-Line^{TM}$(Quidel Corporation, U.S.A.) were selected for rapid antigen detection tests. Results : Of the 61 patients tested, 22 patients were confirmed as group A streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis by throat culture. The BD $LINK2^{TM}$ Strep A had a sensitivity of 81.8% and a specificity 89.7%. The positive and negative predictive values were 81.8% and 89.7%, respectively. The $QuickVue^{(R)}$ $In-Line^{TM}$ had a sensitivity of 77.3% and a specificity of 100%. The positive and negative predictive values were 100% and 88.6%, respectively. The kappa values of BD $LINK2^{TM}$ Strep A and $QuickVue^{(R)}$ $In-Line^{TM}$ were 0.72 and 0.81, respectively. Conclusion : In addition to high sensitivity, specificity and consistency, both kits are easy to use and simple to interpret, and therefore have the potential to be used with backup throat culture for diagnosis of acute pharyngotonsillitis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1114-1119
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• 2012

Bacteria are frequently contaminated during the collection and processing procedures of boar semen. Of the contaminants, Stenotrophomonas (S.) maltophilia is a Gram-negative bacterium that is widely distributed in a variety of habitats. Although PCR assays have been developed for the detection of S. maltophilia, they cross-react with some species of Xanthomonas. In this study, we designed a primer set for the detection of S. maltophilia in order to target the chiA (GenBank accession no. NC_010943) gene. The specific PCR products were amplified from S. maltophilia only, not from other tested strains that are frequently found in semen. The detection limit of the PCR was $1.5{\times}10^3$ CFU/ml with pure-cultured S. maltophilia and $1.5{\times}10^4$ CFU/ml with S. maltophilia spiked in semen. Twenty-six (5.9%) S. maltophilia were isolated from 440 semen samples. The PCR results exhibited 98.9% agreement with a comparison of S. maltophilia isolation. Also, the sensitivity and specificity of the PCR were 100% and 98.7%, respectively. In the antimicrobial susceptibility test, S. maltophilia isolates were highly susceptible to enrofloxacin and florfenicol, while the majority of them were resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, apramycin, ceftiofur, penicillin, and spectinomycin. These results indicated that the PCR using the chiA gene was proven to be reliable and effective for the detection of S. maltophilia with high levels of sensitivity and specificity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.113-121
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• 2020

Macrophages are initiators for regulating a host's defenses to eliminate pathogens and trigger tissue repair. Macrophages are classified into two types: classically (M1) activated macrophages and alternatively (M2) activated macrophages. M1-phenotype macrophages directly or indirectly kill infectious organisms and tumor cells via pro-inflammatory responses, whereas M2-phenotype macrophages remodel wounded tissue through anti-inflammatory responses. In this paper, we investigated how Phellinus linteus hot water extract passed from Diaion HP-20 resin (PLEP) regulates polarization of M1-like or M2-like macrophages in human THP-1 cells. PLEP did not have cytotoxicity at a high concentration of 300 ㎍/ml. We observed morphological alteration of the THP-1 cells, which are stimulated by PLEP, LPS/INF-γ (M1 stimulators) or IL-4/IL13 (M2 stimulators). PLEP exposure induced morphology contiguous with LPS/INF-γ. qPCR was also performed to determine whether PLEP influences M1 or M2 polarization-related genes. M1-phenotype macrophage-specific genes, such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, CXCL10 and CCR7, were enhanced by PLEP in a dose-dependent manner similar to LPS/INF-γ. Conversely, M2-phenotype-specific genes, such as MRC-1, DC-SIGN, CCL17 and CCL22, were suppressed by PLEP. PLEP also significantly up-regulated secretory inflammation cytokines related to M1 polarization of macrophages, including TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6, which was similar to the gene expression. Further, MAPK and NF-κB signaling were increased by treatment with PLEP, resulting in enhancement of cytokine secretion. PLEP might therefore be used as a promising booster of pro-inflammatory responses through M1 polarization of human THP-1 cells.