• Animal Bioscience
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.689-696
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• 2024

Objective: Our study examined the impact of propriety blends of Bacillus strain probiotics on the performance, egg quality, and faecal microflora of laying hens. Methods: A total of 183 Institut de selection Animale (ISA) brown laying hens aged 23 weeks with an average body weight of 1,894±72 g were randomly allocated into 3 groups as control (corn-soybean meal based diet, CON), 0.5 g/kg Enterosure probiotics (ET1, 3×10⁸ colony-forming unit [CFU]/kg feed), and 5 g/kg Enterosure probiotics (ET2, 3×10⁹ CFU/kg feed) administered in mashed form. At the completion of each phase hen day egg production (HDEP), average egg weight (AEW), feed intake, and faecal microbiota were evaluated. Results: HDEP and AEW were higher (p<0.05) in the ET2-supplemented diet in phase 3 (week 9 to 12) compared with CON. Egg mass (EM) was higher (p<0.05) in phase 2 at ET2, and also higher (p<0.05) in phase 3 at the ET1 and ET2-supplemented diets compared with CON. Feed conversion ratio was lower (p<0.05) in phase 3 at the ET1 and ET2-supplemented diets, with ET2 being the lowest compared with ET1 and CON. Yolk colour was higher (p<0.05) in the ET-supplemented diets at phase 3 compared with CON. Bifidobacterium spp. was higher (p<0.05) in the ET2- supplemented diet compared with CON in phase 2, while in In phase 3, Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. were higher (p<0.05) in the ET-supplemented diets compared with CON. Coliforms were lower (p<0.05) in the ET-supplemented diets compared with CON in phase 3. Conclusion: The propriety blends of Bacillus strain probiotics supplements at 0.5 g/kg and 5 g/kg could improve the production and quality of eggs with more significance at 5 g/kg for HDEP, AEW and EM, which was achieved via the increase of beneficial microbiomes such as Lactobacillus spp., Bifidobacterium spp., and the decrease of pathogenic microbiomes like Escherichia coli and Coliforms which was speculated to improve gut barrier function and the reproductive hormone.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.275-280
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• 2006

Effect of the various sources of dietary additives on growth, body composition and shell color of abalone Haliotis discus hannai was investigated for 16 weeks. Forty juvenile abalone averaging 13.5 g were randomly stocked into 21 of 50 L plastic rectangular containers each. Eight kinds of additives were prepared for this study: four commercially available microalgae [Haeatococcus (Hae), Isochrysis galbana (Iso), Shizochytrium (Sch) and Spirulina (Spi)], three crustacean meals [krill meal (KM), shrimp head meal (Shm) and red crab meal (Rcm)], and green tea by-product (Gre). In addition, dry sea tangle (Dst), Laminaria japonica, as a control, was prepared. Casein, dextrin and a mixture corn oil and fish oil was protein, carbohydrate and lipid sources, respectively, in the experimental diets. The 2% each additive was included into the experimental diets. The experimental diets were fed to abalone once a day at the ratio of $1.5{\sim}2.0%$ total biomass of abalone with a little leftover throughout the 16-week feeding trial. Survival of abalone was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the experimental diets. However, weight gain of abalone fed the all experimental diets containing the various sources of additives was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of abalone fed the Dst diet. Weight gain of abalone fed the Spi diet was highest and Shi, KM and Iso diets in order. Shell length and the ratio of soft body weight to body weight of abalone was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the experimental diets. However, shell width of abalone fed the all experimental diets containing the various sources of additives was significantly (P<0.05) higher than that of abalone fed the Dst diet. The shell color of abalone fed the Spi diet was improved the most distinctively and similar to that of natural abalone. Therefore, it can be concluded that the experimental diets with the various sources of additives (microalgae and crustacean meals) was effective to improve growth of abalone and dietary inclusion of Spirulina was most effective to improve shell color of abalone.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.525-534
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• 2001

A total of 120 pigs were used to investigate the effects of yucca extracts on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility, nutrient excretion and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs fed different levels of dietary protein. Pigs were allotted into $2{\times}3$ factorial design by the supplementation of yucca extracts (YE, 0 and 120 mg/kg) and 3 levels of dietary protein (14, 16, 18% for early finisher and 12, 14, 16% for late finisher for low, medium and high protein diet, respectively). During the early finishing period (51~76 kg BW), no significant difference was found in growth performance regardless of the YE supplementation or dietary protein levels. Growth performance of late finishing pigs (76~101 kg BW) was also not significantly different among treatments. However, ADG of pigs fed YE diet was significantly improved (p<0.05) regardless of the dietary protein levels. For the overall period (51~101 kg BW), although adding YE to the diet and elevating the protein level showed better ADG, there were no significant differences on growth performance among treatments. Early finishers showed significantly higher crude protein, crude ash and crude fat digestibilities when they were fed diets supplemented with YE. Digestibilities of amino acids were not affected by YE. Late finishers did not show any significant differences in proximate nutrient digestibilities regardless of YE supplementation or dietary protein levels. YE tended to slightly improve the CP digestibility, however no significant difference was found with increased dietary protein levels. There was no significant difference in amino acid digestibilities with YE supplementation or dietary CP levels during the late finishing period. Dry matter (DM) and nitrogen (N) excretion in feces did not show any significant difference among treatments. Early finishing pigs also did not respond to the inclusion of YE or dietary protein levels (p<0.05). Fecal N excretion of early finishing pigs seemed to be lowered in pigs fed YE. Pigs fed medium dietary protein diet tended to excrete a higher amount of N during the early finishing period, but not statistically different. A slight increase in fecal N excretion was found with the increased level of dietary protein during the late finishing period. For ammonia nitrogen excretion, although there was no significance, the NH3-N content tended to be increased by the increased dietary protein levels and with YE supplementation. The NH3-N content in manure increased by 24.5% with YE supplementation. There were no significant differences in carcass weight, backfat thickness, carcass grade and loin eye area among treatments. However, pigs fed non-YE with low protein diet showed a significantly (p<0.05) low carcass ratio among treatments and there was significant (p<0.05) difference between the YE-added treatment and non YE treatment in carcass ratio. As for the feed cost, the cost of feeding high level protein was higher than that of medium level protein by 5% and low level protein by 9% (p<0.05). Therefore, based on this study, it could be concluded that environmentally friendly agents might play a role to some extent in finishing pigs from the aspect of pollution control, and that more than 14 and 12% of dietary protein for early finishing and late finishing pigs respectively do not necessarily guarantee high growth performance.

• Korean Journal of Remote Sensing
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• v.39 no.6_1
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• pp.1413-1425
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• 2023

The increasing frequency of wildfires due to climate change is causing extreme loss of life and property. They cause loss of vegetation and affect ecosystem changes depending on their intensity and occurrence. Ecosystem changes, in turn, affect wildfire occurrence, causing secondary damage. Thus, accurate estimation of the areas affected by wildfires is fundamental. Satellite remote sensing is used for forest fire detection because it can rapidly acquire topographic and meteorological information about the affected area after forest fires. In addition, deep learning algorithms such as convolutional neural networks (CNN) and transformer models show high performance for more accurate monitoring of fire-burnt regions. To date, the application of deep learning models has been limited, and there is a scarcity of reports providing quantitative performance evaluations for practical field utilization. Hence, this study emphasizes a comparative analysis, exploring performance enhancements achieved through both model selection and data design. This study examined deep learning models for detecting wildfire-damaged areas using Landsat 8 satellite images in California. Also, we conducted a comprehensive comparison and analysis of the detection performance of multiple models, such as U-Net and High-Resolution Network-Object Contextual Representation (HRNet-OCR). Wildfire-related spectral indices such as normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and normalized burn ratio (NBR) were used as input channels for the deep learning models to reflect the degree of vegetation cover and surface moisture content. As a result, the mean intersection over union (mIoU) was 0.831 for U-Net and 0.848 for HRNet-OCR, showing high segmentation performance. The inclusion of spectral indices alongside the base wavelength bands resulted in increased metric values for all combinations, affirming that the augmentation of input data with spectral indices contributes to the refinement of pixels. This study can be applied to other satellite images to build a recovery strategy for fire-burnt areas.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.497-509
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• 2002

Background : The mechanisms through which cellular activation results in intracellular mycobacterial killing is only partially understood. However, in vitro studies of human immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been largely modeled on the work reported by Crowle, which is complicated by several factors. The whole blood culture is simple and allows the simultaneous analysis of the relationship between bacterial killing and the effect of effector cells and humoral factors. In this study, we attempted to determine the extent to which M. tuberculosis is killed in a human whole blood culture and to explore the role of the host and microbial factor in this process. Methods : The PPD positive subject were compared to the umbilical cord blood and patients with tuberculosis, diabetes and lung cancer. The culture is performed using heparinized whole blood diluted with a culture medium and infected with a low number of M. avium or M. tuberculosis $H_{37}Ra$ for 4 days by rotating the culture in a $37^{\circ}C$, 5% $CO_2$ incubator. In some experiments, methlprednisolone- or pentoxifyline were used to inhibit the immune response. To assess the role of the T-cell subsets, CD4+, CD8+ T-cells or both were removed from the blood using magnetic beads. The ${\Delta}$ log killing ratio was defined using a CFU assay as the difference in the log number of viable organisms in the completed culture compared to the inoculum. Results : 1. A trend was noted toward the improved killing of mycobacteria in PPD+ subjects comparing to the umbilical cord blood but there was no specific difference in the patients with tuberculosis, diabetes and lung cancer. 2. Methylprednisolone and pentoxifyline adversely affected the killing in the PPD+ subjects umbilical cord blood and patients with tuberculosis. 3. The deletion of CD4+ or CD8+ T-lymphocytes adversely affected the killing of M. avium and M. tuberculosis $H_{37}Ra$ by PPD+ subjects. Deletion of both cell types had an additive effect, particularly in M. tuberculosis $H_{37}Ra$. 4. A significantly improved mycobacterial killing was noted after chemotherapy in patients with tuberculosis and the ${\Delta}$ logKR continuously decreased in a 3 and 4 days of whole blood culture. Conclusion : The in vitro bactericidal assay by human whole blood culture model was settled using a CFU assay. However, the host immunity to M. tuberculosis was not apparent in the human whole blood culture bactericidal assay, and patients with tuberculosis showed markedly improved bacterial killing after anti-tuberculous chemotherapy compared to before. The simplicity of a whole blood culture facilitates its inclusion in a clinical trial and it may have a potential role as a surrogate marker in a TB vaccine trial.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.124-133
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• 2009

Demand for the high quality barley with fibroid material and functional substances has been increasing in recent although the amount of barley consumption decreased drastically during the last two decades. But the limited information on quality of barley makes consumers hard when they purchase barley for their own consumption. Therefore, 51 brand barley, .i.e., 28 naked barley and 23 waxy barley from supermarkets and 10 polished barley from local markets were collected, and their external quality were analyzed to provide basic information on brand barley. Among 51 brand barley, 56% were 1kg package and 25% were 800 g package and there was no significant difference ($1{\pm}3.62\;g$) between printed and actual weighs. The weight of 1,000 grains of naked barley and waxy barley ranged $18.6{\sim}26.7\;g$ and $14.6{\sim}24.7\;g$, respectively. Thousand grain weight of 38% of naked barley ranged $20{\sim}22\;g$, while that of 43% of waxy barley ranged $18{\sim}20\;g$. The ratio of normal grains was 88% and 94% for naked barley and waxy barley, respectively, when separated with 1.7 mm sieve. Although 82% of brand barley products were free from foreign substances, in 18% of brand barley products, sands, pieces of cloth and wood, other kinds of grain and insect larvae were found, Average test weight of brand barleys was $843g{\cdot}L^{-1}$ with range of $805{\sim}917g{\cdot}L^{-1}$. Water content was less than 14% in 7.8% of barley products, while it was $14{\sim}15%$ in 62.7% of them. Average whiteness of brand barley was 31.06, while waxy barley had higher whiteness with 27.28 than naked barley with 34.16. Heated water uptake rate of milled naked barley and milled waxy barley were 215.4% and 231.7%, respectively, while expansion rate of milled naked barley and milled waxy barley were 379.7% and 401.6%, respectively. Barley from local markets were as good as brand barley products in 1,000 grain weight, ratio of normal grains, inclusion of foreign substances, test weight, water content, whiteness, water uptake rate, and expansion rate, but they showed higher ratio of foreign substances included.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.453-473
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• 1992

Background: National survey was performed to estimate the incidence of sarcoidosis in Korea. The clinical data of confirmed cases were analysed for the practice of primary care physicians and pulmonary specialists. Methods: The period of study was from January 1991 to December 1992. Data were retrospectively collected by correspondence with physicians in departments of internal medicine, dermatology, ophthalmology and neurology of the hospitals having more than 100 beds using returning postcards. In confirmed and suspicious cases of sardoidosis, case record chart for clinical and laboratory findings were obtained in detail. Results: 1) Postcards were sent to 523 departments in 213 hospitals. Internal medicine composed 41%, dermatology 20%, ophthalmology 20% and neurology 19%. 2) Postcards were returned from 241 departments (replying rates was 48%). 3) There were 113 confirmed cases from 50 departments and 10 cases. The cases were composed from internal medicine (81%), dermatology (13%), ophthalmology (3%) and neurology (3%). 78 confirmed cases were analysed, which were composed from department of internal medicine (92%), dermatology (5%), and neurology (3%). 4) The time span for analysed cases was 1980 to 1992. one case was analysed in 1980 and the number gradually increased to 18 cases in 1991. 5) The majority of patients (84.4%) were in the age group of 20 to 49 years. 6) The ratio of male to female was 1 : 1.5. 7) The most common chief complains were respiratory symptoms, dermatologic symptoms, generalized discomforts, visual changes, arthralgia, abdominal pains, and swallowing difficulties in order. 16% of the patients were asymptomatic. 8) Mean duration between symptom onset and diagnosis was 2 months. 9) The most common symptoms were respiratory, general, dermatologic, ophthalmologic, neurologic and cardiac origin in order. 10) Hemoglobin, hematocrits and platelet were in normal range. 58% of the patients had lymphopenia measuring less than 30% of white cell count. The ratio of CD4 to CD8 lymphocytes was $1.73{\pm}1.16$ with range of 0.43 to 4.62. ESR was elevated in 43% of the cases. 11) Blood chemistry was normal in most cases. Serum angiotensin converting enzyme (S-ACE) was $66.8{\pm}58.6\;U/L$ with the range of 8.79 to 265 U /L. Proteinuria of more than 150 mg was found in 42. 9% of the patients. 12) Serum IgG was elevated in 43.5%, IgA in 45.5%, IgM in 59.1% and IgE in 46.7%. The levels of complement C3 and C4 were in the normal range. Anti-nuclear antibody was detected in 11% of the cases. Kweim test was performed in 3 cases, and in all cases the result was positive. 13) FVC was decreased in 17.3%, FEV1 in 11.5%, FEV1/FVC in 10%, TLC in 15.2%, and DLco in 64.7%. 14) PaO2 was decreased below 90 mmHg in 48.6% and PaCO2 was increased above 45 mmHg in 5.7%. 15) The percentage of macrophages in BAL fluid was $51.4{\pm}19.2%$, lymphocytes $44.4{\pm}21.1%$, and the ratio of CD4 to CD8 lymphocytes was $3.41{\pm}2.07$. 16) There was no difference in laboratory findings between male and female. 17) Hilar enlargement on chest PA was present in 87.9% (bilaterally in 78.8% and unilaterally in 9.1%). 18) According to Siltzbach's classification, stage 0 was 5%, stage 158.3%, stage 228.3%, and stage 38.3%. 19) Hilart enlargement on chest CT was present in 92.6% (bilaterally 76.4% and unilaterally in 16.2%). 20) HRCT was done in 16 cases. The most common findings were nodules, interlobular thickening, focal patchy infiltrations in order. Two cases was normal finding. 21) Other radiologic examinations showed bone change in one case and splenomegaly in two cases. 22) Gallium scan was done in 12 cases. Radioactivity was increased in hilar and mediastinal lymph nodes in 8 cases and in parenchyme in 2 cases. 23) The pathologic diagnosis was commonly performed by transbrochial lung biopsy (TBLB, 47.3%), skin and mediastinal lymph nodes biopsy (34.5%), peripheral lymph nodes biopsy (23.6%), open lung biopsy (18.2%) and bronchial biopsy in order. 24) The most common findings in pathology were non·caseating granuloma (100%), multi-nucleated giant cell (47.3%), hyalinized acellular scar (34.5%), reticulin fibrin network (20%), inclusion body (10.9%), necrosis (9.1%), and lymphangitic distribution of granuloma (1.8%) in order. Conclusion: Clinical, laboratory, radiologic and pathologic findings were summarized. This collected data will assist in finding a test for detection and staging of sarcoidosis in Korea in near future.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.170-178
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• 2014

Purpose: Delirium is a common and serious neuropsychiatric complication among terminally ill cancer patients. We investigated risk factors related to the development of delirium among hospice care patients. Methods: Between May 2011 and September 2012, we included patients who were mentally alert and had no psychiatric disease or drug addiction at the hospice ward of two local hospitals. Among them, participants who had been diagnosed with delirium by two doctors according to the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-4th edition) criteria were grouped as Delirium Group. We analyzed results of psychometric and other laboratory tests performed at the time of patient's admission - psychometric tests included cognitive function (mini-mental status examination, MMSE), depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI), anxiety, and insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index, ISI). Logistic regression analysis was used to compare delirium and the related factors. Cox's proportional hazard model was performed using significant factors of logistic regression analysis. Results: Of the 96 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 41 (42.7%) developed delirium. According to the logistic regression analysis, primary cancer site, cognitive impairment (MMSE < 24), depression ($BDI{\geq}16$), and insomnia ($ISI{\geq}15$) were significant factors related to delirium. Among the four factors, depression (OR 5.130; 95% CI, 2.009~13.097) and cognitive impairment (OR 5.130; 95% CI, 2.009~13.097) were found significant using Cox's proportional hazard model. Conclusion: The development of delirium was significantly related to depression and cognitive impairment among patients receiving hospice care. It is necessary to carefully monitor depression and cognitive function in hospice care.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.937-944
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• 2017

To investigate the beneficial effects of fiber derived from agar on the lipid and glucose metabolism of obese model mice, changes in the fat accumulation, lipid content, and insulin concentration were measured in C57BL/6N mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD) and treated with a beverage containing agar (BCA) for 9 weeks. The feed efficiency ratio was significantly decreased in the HFD+BCA treatment group, although the body weight and food intake were maintained a constant level. Also, the fat accumulation in the fatty tissue and liver were lower in the HFD+BCA treatment group than in the HFD+Vehicle treatment group. Furthermore, a significant decrease was detected in the levels of total cholesterol (TC) and LDL after the BCA treatment, while a constant HDL level was maintained in the same group. Moreover, the serum insulin concentration was significantly decreased in the HFD+BCALo (Low concentration) and HFD+BCAMi (Middle concentration) groups compared to the HFD+Vehicle group. Therefore, the results suggest that the long-term administration of dietary fiber from agar can improve fat accumulation in the fatty tissue and liver, the serum lipid profile, and the insulin concentration in the blood. Also, the results provide evidence that the inclusion of agar fiber in beverages results in significant hypolipidemic and hypoinsulinemic effects.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.8-11
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• 2012

Purpose : Among quality control items, the radiochemical impurity must be below 10% of total radioactivity. In this regard, as the recently commercialized automatic synthesis module produces a large amount of 18F-FDG, radiolysis of radiopharmaceuticals is very likely to occur. Thus, this study compared the changes in radiochemical purity regarding radiolysis of $^{18}F$-FDG according to automatic synthesis module. Materials and methods : Cyclotron (PETtrace, GE Healthcare) was used to produce $^{18}F$ and automatic synthesis module (FASTlab, Tracerlab MX, GE Healthcare) was used to achieve synthesis into FDG. For radiochemical purity, Radio-TLC Scanner (AR 2000, Bioscan), GC (Gas Chromatograph, Agilent 7890A) was used to measure the content of ethanol included in $^{18}F$-FDG. Glass board applied with silica gel ($1{\times}10cm$) was used for stationary phase while a mixed liquid formed of acetonitrile and water (ratio 19:1) was used for mobile phase. High-concentration and low-concentration $^{18}F$-FDG were produced in each synthesis module and the radiochemical purity was measured every 2 hours. Results : The purity in low-concentration (below 2.59 GBq/mL) was measured as 99.26%, 98.69%, 98.25%, 98.09% in Tracerlab MX and as 99.09%, 97.83%, 96.89%, 96.62% in FASTlab according to 0, 2, 4, 6 hours changes, respectively. The purity in high-concentration (above 3.7 GBq/mL) was measured as 99.54%, 96.08%, 93.77%, 92.54% in Tracerlab MX and as 99.53%, 95.65%, 92.39%, 89.82% in FASTlab according to 0, 2, 4, 6 hours changes, respectively. Also, ethanol was not detected in GC of $^{18}F$-FDG produced in FASTlab, while 100~300 ppm ethanol was detected in Tracerlab MX. Conclusion : Whereas the change of radiochemical purity was only 3% in low-concentration $^{18}F$-FDG, the change was rapidly increased to 10% in high-concentration. Also, higher radiolysis were observed in $^{18}F$-FDG produced in FASTlab than Tracerlab MX. This is because ethanol is included in the synthesis stage of Tracerlab MX but not in the synthesis stage of FASTlab. Thus, radiolysis is influenced by radioactivity concentration than the inclusion of ethanol, which is the radioprotector. Therefore, after producing high-concentration $^{18}F$-FDG, the content must be diluted through saline to lower concentration.