• Korean Journal of Applied Biomechanics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.681-688
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• 2009

To better delineate the changes in corticospinal excitability when older adults are asked to observe and/or imagine actions, 22 right-handed older adults without neurological abnormalities were included in this study. The amplitude and latency of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) by transcranial magnetic stimulation were recorded in the abductor pollicis brevis of the dominant hand during passive observation/imagery/active observation of slow/fast action of abduction of right thumb and also at resting state. Thus, active observation showed better changes than passive, but slow and fast action revealed no difference at all.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.805-814
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• 2007

Statement of problem. Composite resin-veneered metal restorations can be used as an alternative to porcelain-fused-metal restorations. But, because of the relatively low bond strength of veneering composite to metal framework, various surface treatment methods have been introduced to improve the bond strength. Purpose. The object of this study was to compare the shear bond strength of different combinations of each of the two bonding systems and each of the two composite veneering resins to cp-Ti/Co-Cr alloy. Material and methods. Two resin bonding systems (metal conditioner containing MEPS monomer, tribochemical silicoating system) and two composite resins (Gradia, Sinfony) were tested on cp-Ti and Co-Cr alloy. Then, according to manufacturers' instructions, resin bonding systems and composite resins were applied. All test specimens were divided into four groups for each alloy; I) sandblast + Metal Primer II + Gradia (MG), II) sandblast + Metal Primer II + Sinfony (MS), III) Rocatec + Gradia (RG), IV) Rocatec + Sinfony (RS). The shear bond strength was determined using a universal testing machine and all data were statistically analyzed with Mann-Whitney test and Kruskal-Wallis test at the significance level of 0.05. Results. The mean (standard deviations) of shear bond strength according to the combinations of two bonding systems and two composite resins to cp-Ti arranged from 16.44 MPa to 17.07 MPa and the shear bond strength to Co-Cr alloy ranged from 16.26 MPa to 17.70 MPa. The result shows that the difference were not statistically significant. Conclusion. The shear bond strengths of composite resins to both cast cp-Ti and Co-Cr alloy were not significantly different between the metal conditioner and the tribochemical silicoating system. And no differences in bond strength were found between cp-Ti and Co-Cr alloy.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.60 no.4
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• pp.475-480
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• 2017

Objective : The main aim of the present study is to examine the electrode configurations used to record the muscle motor evoked potential (mMEP) in the upper extremities during surgery with the goal of producing a high and stable mMEP signal, in particular among the abductor pollicis brevis (APB), abductor digiti minimi (ADM), and across the APB-ADM muscles, which have been widely used for the mMEP in the upper extremities. Methods : Thirty right-handed patients were recruited in this prospective study. No patients showed any adverse events in their mMEP signals of the upper extremities during surgery. The mMEPs were recorded independently from the signals for the APB and ADM and for those across the APB-ADM. Results : The mMEP amplitude from across the APB-ADM was statistically higher than those recorded from the APB and ADM muscles. Moreover, the coefficient of variation of the mMEP amplitude from across the APB-ADM was smaller than those of mMEP amplitude recorded from the APB and ADM muscles. Conclusion : The mMEP from across the APB-ADM muscles showed a high yield with high stability compared to those in each case from the APB and ADM muscles. The configuration across the APB-ADM muscles would be best for mMEP recordings from the upper extremities for intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring purposes.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.64 no.1
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• pp.78-87
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• 2021

Objective : Intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring (IONM) has been widely used during spine surgery to reduce or prevent neurologic deficits, however, its application to the surgical management for cervical myelopathy remains controversial. This study aimed to assess the success rate of IONM in patients with cervical myelopathy and to investigate the factors associated with successful baseline monitoring and the effect of increasing the stimulation intensity by focusing on motor evoked potentials (MEPs). Methods : The data of 88 patients who underwent surgery for cervical myelopathy with IONM between January 2016 and June 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The success rate of baseline MEP monitoring at the initial stimulation of 400 V was investigated. In unmonitorable cases, the stimulation intensity was increased to 999 V, and the success rate final MEP monitoring was reinvestigated. In addition, factors related to the success rate of baseline MEP monitoring were investigated using independent t-test, Wilcoxon rank-sum test, chi-squared test, and Fisher's exact probability test for statistical analysis. The factors included age, sex, body mass index, diabetes mellitus, smoking history, symptom duration, Torg-Pavlov ratio, space available for the cord (SAC), cord compression ratio (CCR), intramedullary increased signal intensity (SI) on magnetic resonance imaging, SI length, SI ratio, the Medical Research Council (MRC) grade, the preoperative modified Nurick grade and Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) score. Results : The overall success rate for reliable MEP response was 52.3% after increasing the stimulation intensity. No complications were observed to be associated with increased intensity. The factors related to the success rate of final MEP monitoring were found to be SAC (p<0.001), CCR (p<0.001), MRC grade (p<0.001), preoperative modified Nurick grade (p<0.001), and JOA score (p<0.001). The cut-off score for successful MEP monitoring was 5.67 mm for SAC, 47.33% for the CCR, 3 points for MRC grade, 2 points for the modified Nurick grade, and 12 points for the JOA score. Conclusion : Increasing the stimulation intensity could significantly improve the success rate of baseline MEP monitoring for unmonitorable cases at the initial stimulation in cervical myelopathy. In particular, the SAC, CCR, MRC grade, preoperative Nurick grade and JOA score may be considered as the more important related factors associated with the success rate of MEP monitoring. Therefore, the degree of preoperative neurological functional deficits and the presence of spinal cord compression on imaging could be used as new detailed criteria for the application of IONM in patients with cervical myelopathy.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.96-103
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• 2005

The motor recovery mechanism of a 21-year-old male monoparetic patient with cerebral palsy, who had complained of a mild weakness on his right hand since infancy, was examined using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). The patient showed mild motor impairment on the right hand. MRI located the main lesion on the left precentral knob of the brain. fMRI was performed on this patient as well as 8 control subjects using the Blood Oxygen Level Dependent technique at 1.5 T with a standard head coil. The motor activation task consisted of finger flexionextension exercises at 1 Hz cycles. TMS was carried out using a round coil. The anterior portion of the coil was applied tangentially to the scalp at a 1.0 cm separation. Magnetic stimulation was carried out with the maximal output. The Motor Evoked Potentials (MEPs) from both Abductor Pollicis Brevis muscles (APB) were obtained simultaneously. fMRI revealed that the unaffected (right) primary sensori-motor cortex (SM1), which was centered on precentral knob, was activated by the hand movements of the control subjects as well as by the unaffected (left) hand movements of the patient. However, the affected(right) hand movements of the patient activated the medial portion of the injured precentral knob of the left SM1. The optimal scalp site for the affected (right) APB was located at 1 cm medial to that of the unaffected (left) APB. When the optimal scalp site was stimulated, the MEP characteristics from the affected (right) APB showed a delayed latency, lower amplitude, and a distorted figure compared with that of the unaffected (left) APB. Therefore, the motor function of the affected (right) hand was shown to be reorganized in the medial portion of the injured precentral knob.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.114-120
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• 2007

Two feeding experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of the experimental extruded pellet (EP), commercial EP and raw fish-based moist pellet (MP) on growth of growing flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus). In experiment 1, two replicate groups of the fish (average body weight of $115{\pm}3.2\;g$) were fed one of five experimental diets (EP1-EP5) and MP in circular concrete tanks (4.6 m $\phi$, 0.6 m depth) for 78 days. In experiment 2, in order to evaluate EP in the commercial scale ($8\;m\;{\times}\;8\;m$), flounder (average body weight of $137{\pm}11.4\;g$) were fed one of five EPs (EP1-EP5) used in experiment 1, commercial EP (EP6) and two MEPs (MEP4 and MEP6) as moist pellet types which were made from EP4 and EP6, respectively, by being sprayed with a mixture of water and additives for 80 days. In experiment 1, weight gain of fish fed the all EPs was not significantly different from that of MP. Feed efficiency of fish fed the EP4 was highest, and protein efficiency ratio of fish fed the EP4 and EP5 was significantly higher than that of fish fed the MP (P<0.05). Significant differences were observed in the contents of moisture and crude lipid in the muscle, and moisture in the liver of fish (P<0.05). In experiment 2, weight gain of fish fed the EP4 and MEP4 were highest and feed efficiency showed high tendency in EP4, MEP4 and MEP6. Fish fed the MEP6 showed higher weight gain and feed efficiency compared to those of fish fed the EP6, but there was no difference in those of fish fed EP4 and MEP4. Based on the results of this study, dietary formulations used in EPs could be most recommendable applied in the practical extruded pellet feeds for flounder grown from 114 g to 350 g.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.295-300
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• 2015

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the shear bond strength between Ni-Cr alloy and composite resin using universal adhesive systems coMPared to conventional method using metal primers. Materials and methods: For this study, a total of 120 cast commercial Ni-Cr alloy (Vera Bond 2V) disks were embedded in acrylic resin, and their surfaces were smoothed with silicon carbide papers and airborne-particle abrasion. Specimens of each metal were divided into 6 groups based on the combination of metal primers (Metal primer II, Alloy primer, Metal & Zirconia primer, MKZ primer) and universal adhesive systems (Single Bond Universal, All Bond Universal). All specimens were stored in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours. Shear bond strength testing was performed with a universal testing machine at a cross head speed of 1 m/min. Data (MPa) were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and the post hoc Tukey's multiple comparison test (${\alpha}$=.05). Results: There were significant differences between Single Bond Universal, All Bond Universal, Metal Primer II and Alloy Primer, MKZ Primer, Metal & Zirconia Primer (P<.001). Conclusion: Universal Adhesive system groups indicated high shear bond strength value bonded to Ni-Cr alloy than that of conventional system groups using primers except Metal Primer II. Within the limitations of this study, improvement of universal adhesive systems which can be applied to all types of restorations is recommended especially non-precious metal alloy. More research is needed to evaluate the effect of silane inclusion or exclusion in universal adhesive systems.