• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.41-44
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• 2010

Purpose: Along with recent advances in PET/CT instrumentation and imaging technology, the number of patients has also been steadily increasing. This resulted in the increased radiation exposure to radiation workers in PET/CT rooms. In this study, we installed a radiation shield and investigated whether it could reduce radiation exposure to the workers and thus enhance job satisfaction. Materials and Methods: A radiation shield is composed of 5 cm thick lead and has a structure in which a radiation worker sits and watches a patient through lead glass while injecting radiopharmaceutical to the patient. Quarterly absorbed dose of radiation workers was measured using thermoluminescence dosimeters (TLD) and the results were compared for six months each before and after installation of the radiation shield. Exposure dose was also measured using a pocket dosimeter placed at the same location in the front and the back of the radiation shield. In addition, frequency of use of the shield and job satisfaction of radiation workers were investigated using a survey. Results: Quarterly absorbed dose of radiation workers was 2.70 mSv on average before installation of new radiation shield, whereas that dropped to 2.13 mSv after installation of radiation shield, reducing radiation exposure dose by 21%. Exposure dose on the front side of the shield was 61.2 R, whereas that on the back side of shield was 2.8 R. According to the survey, 85% of workers used the shield and were satisfied with the outcome: each radiation worker made injections to patients average of 6.5 times/day and preferred sitting to standing while injecting radiopharmaceutical to patients. Conclusion: Use of radiation shield reduced the exposure dose of radiation workers, which is the ultimate goal of radiation protection to minimize radiation exposure and is an appropriate method for the improvement of hospital working environment. Furthermore, we found that use of radiation shield not only relieves physical and psychological burden of radiation workers but also enhances job satisfaction. This result indicates that use of radiation shield is important for improvement of the radiation workers' job environment in terms of radiation protection.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.46-52
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• 2009

Background: Vascular injuries to the extremities are potentially devastating and they can lead to limb loss and mortality if they are not appropriately managed. The vascular trauma caused by traffic and industrial accidents has recently increased according to the developing industry and transport system in Korea. Early recognition and treatment of these injuries are mandatory to achieve satisfactory outcomes. Material and Method: We retrospective reviewed 43 patients with vascular injuries that were due to blunt and penetrating trauma and they underwent emergency operations from January of 1998 to December of 2006. Result: There were 38 men and 5 women patients with a mean age of $42.0{\pm}16.8$ years (range: 17~77). The cause of vascular injuries were 28 traffic accidents (65%), 6 industrial accidents (14%), 6 glass injuries (14%) and 3 knife injuries (7%). The average time from admission to the operating room was $319.0{\pm}482.2$ minutes (range: 27~2,400 minutes). The average time from admission to discharge was $53.1{\pm}56.0$ days (range: 2~265 days). The anatomic injuries included the femoral artery in 16 cases (37%), the popliteal artery in 8 cases (19%), the brachial artery in 8 cases (19%), and the subclavian and axillary arteries in 7 cases (16%). The associated injuries were 23 bone fractures (53%), 18 muscle injuries (42%) 5 nerve injuries (12%) and 11 vein injuries (26%). The operation methods were 20 end to end anastomoses (46%), 16 interposition grafts (36%), 2 repairs with using patches (5%) and 5 others (12%). The number of amputations and cases of mortality were 3 cases (7%) and 4 cases (9%), respectively. Conclusion: Minimizing ischemia is an important factor for maximizing salvage of extremities. Prompt diagnosis and treatment can reduce the amputation and mortality rates.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2012.02a
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• pp.100-101
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• 2012

The plasma damage free and room temperature processedthin film deposition technology is essential for realization of various next generation organic microelectronic devices such as flexible AMOLED display, flexible OLED lighting, and organic photovoltaic cells because characteristics of fragile organic materials in the plasma process and low glass transition temperatures (Tg) of polymer substrate. In case of directly deposition of metal oxide thin films (including transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and amorphous oxide semiconductor (AOS)) on the organic layers, plasma damages against to the organic materials is fatal. This damage is believed to be originated mainly from high energy energetic particles during the sputtering process such as negative oxygen ions, reflected neutrals by reflection of plasma background gas at the target surface, sputtered atoms, bulk plasma ions, and secondary electrons. To solve this problem, we developed the NBAS (Neutral Beam Assisted Sputtering) process as a plasma damage free and room temperature processed sputtering technology. As a result, electro-optical properties of NBAS processed ITO thin film showed resistivity of $4.0{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}m$ and high transmittance (>90% at 550 nm) with nano- crystalline structure at room temperature process. Furthermore, in the experiment result of directly deposition of TCO top anode on the inverted structure OLED cell, it is verified that NBAS TCO deposition process does not damages to the underlying organic layers. In case of deposition of transparent conductive oxide (TCO) thin film on the plastic polymer substrate, the room temperature processed sputtering coating of high quality TCO thin film is required. During the sputtering process with higher density plasma, the energetic particles contribute self supplying of activation & crystallization energy without any additional heating and post-annealing and forminga high quality TCO thin film. However, negative oxygen ions which generated from sputteringtarget surface by electron attachment are accelerated to high energy by induced cathode self-bias. Thus the high energy negative oxygen ions can lead to critical physical bombardment damages to forming oxide thin film and this effect does not recover in room temperature process without post thermal annealing. To salve the inherent limitation of plasma sputtering, we have been developed the Magnetic Field Shielded Sputtering (MFSS) process as the high quality oxide thin film deposition process at room temperature. The MFSS process is effectively eliminate or suppress the negative oxygen ions bombardment damage by the plasma limiter which composed permanent magnet array. As a result, electro-optical properties of MFSS processed ITO thin film (resistivity $3.9{\times}10^{-4}{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$, transmittance 95% at 550 nm) have approachedthose of a high temperature DC magnetron sputtering (DMS) ITO thin film were. Also, AOS (a-IGZO) TFTs fabricated by MFSS process without higher temperature post annealing showed very comparable electrical performance with those by DMS process with $400^{\circ}C$ post annealing. They are important to note that the bombardment of a negative oxygen ion which is accelerated by dc self-bias during rf sputtering could degrade the electrical performance of ITO electrodes and a-IGZO TFTs. Finally, we found that reduction of damage from the high energy negative oxygen ions bombardment drives improvement of crystalline structure in the ITO thin film and suppression of the sub-gab states in a-IGZO semiconductor thin film. For realization of organic flexible electronic devices based on plastic substrates, gas barrier coatings are required to prevent the permeation of water and oxygen because organic materials are highly susceptible to water and oxygen. In particular, high efficiency flexible AMOLEDs needs an extremely low water vapor transition rate (WVTR) of $1{\times}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$. The key factor in high quality inorganic gas barrier formation for achieving the very low WVTR required (under ${\sim}10^{-6}gm^{-2}day^{-1}$) is the suppression of nano-sized defect sites and gas diffusion pathways among the grain boundaries. For formation of high quality single inorganic gas barrier layer, we developed high density nano-structured Al2O3 single gas barrier layer usinga NBAS process. The NBAS process can continuously change crystalline structures from an amorphous phase to a nano- crystalline phase with various grain sizes in a single inorganic thin film. As a result, the water vapor transmission rates (WVTR) of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film have improved order of magnitude compared with that of conventional $Al_2O_3$ layers made by the RF magnetron sputteringprocess under the same sputtering conditions; the WVTR of the NBAS processed $Al_2O_3$ gas barrier film was about $5{\times}10^{-6}g/m^2/day$ by just single layer.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.299-309
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• 1999

The composite resin, due to its esthetic qualities, is considered the material of choice for restoration of anterior teeth. With respect to shade control, the direct-placement resin composites offer some distinct advantages over indirect restorative procedures. Visible-light-cured (VLC) composites allow dentists to match existing tooth shades or to create new shades and to evaluate them immediately at the time of restoration placement. Optimal intraoral color control can be achieved if optical changes occurring during application are minimized. An ideal VLC composite, then, would be one which is optically stable throughout the polymerization process. The shade guides of the resin composites are generally made of plastic, rather than the actual composite material, and do not accurately depict the true shade, translucency, or opacity of the resin composite after polymerization. So the numerous problems associated with these shade guides lead to varied and sometimes unpredictable results. The aim of this study was to assess the color changes of current resin composite restorative materials which occur as a result of the polymerization process and to compare the color differences between the shade guides provided with the products and the actual resin composites before- and after-polymerization. The results obtained from this investigation should provide the clinician with information which may aid in improved color match of esthetic restoration. Five light activated, resin-based materials (${\AE}$litefil, Amelogen Universal, Spectrum TPH VeridonFil-Photo, and Z100) and shade guides were used in this study. Three specimens of each material and shade combination were made. Each material was condensed inside a 1.5mm thick metal mold with 10mm diameter and pressed between glass plates. Each material was measured immediately before polymerization, and polymerized with Curing Light XL 3000 (3M Dental products, USA) visible light-activation unit for 60 seconds at each side. The specimens were then polished sequentially on wet sandpaper. Shade guides were ground with polishing stones and rubber points (Shofu) to a thickness of approximately 1.5mm. Color characteristics were performed with a spectrophotometer (CM-3500d, Minolta Co., LTD). A computer-controlled spectrophotometer was used to determine CIELAB coordinates ($L^*$, $a^*$ and $b^*$) of each specimen and shade guide. The CIELAB measurements made it possible to evaluate the amount of the color difference values (${\Delta}E{^*}ab$) of resin composites before the polymerization process and shade guides using the post-polishing color of the composite as a control, CIE standard D65 was used as the light source. The results were as follows. 1. Each of the resin composites evaluated showed significant color changes during light-curing process. All the resin composites evaluated except all the tested shades of 2100 showed unacceptable level of color changes (${\Delta}E{^*}ab$ greater than 3.3) between pre-polymerization and post-polishing state. 2. Color differences between most of the resin composites tested and their corresponding shade guides were acceptable but those between C2 shade of ${\AE}$litefil and IE shade of Amelogen Universal and their respective shade guides exceeded what is acceptable. 3. Comparison of the mean ${\Delta}E{^*}ab$ values of materials revealed that Z100 showed the least overall color change between pre-polymerization and post-polishing state followed by ${\AE}$litefil, VeridonFil-Photo, Spectrum TPH, and Amelogen Universal in the order of increasing change and Amelogen Universal. Spectrum TPH, 2100, VeridonFil-Photo and ${\AE}$litefil for the color differences between actual resin and shade guide. 4. In the clinical environment, the shade guide is the better choice than the shade of the actual resin before polymerization when matching colors. But, it is recommended that custom shade guides be made from resin material itself for better color matching.