• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.263-267
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• 2014

Objective: To three-dimensionally elucidate the effects of occlusal hypofunction on the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone proper of rat molars by micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). Methods: Occlusal function in the molar area was restricted by attaching an anterior bite plate on the maxillary incisors and a metal cap on the mandibular incisors of 5-week-old male Wistar rats for 1 week. The periodontal ligament space and alveolar bone proper around roots of the mandibular first molar were assessed by histology and micro-CT. Results: The periodontal ligament space was narrower and the alveolar bone proper was sparser and less continuous in the hypofunction group than in the control group. Further, both the volume of the periodontal ligament and the volumetric ratio of the alveolar bone proper to the total tissue in the region of interest were significantly lower in the hypofunction group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Occlusal hypofunction induces atrophic changes in the periodontal ligament and alveolar bone proper of rat molars.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.18.1-18.9
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• 2019

Objective: This study evaluated the presence of residual root canal filling material after retreatment using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). Materials and Methods: Extracted human teeth (single- and double-rooted, n = 21/each; C-shaped, n = 15) were prepared with ProFile and randomly assigned to three subgroups for obturation with gutta-percha and three different sealers (EndoSeal MTA, EndoSequence BC sealer, and AH Plus). After 10 days, the filling material was removed and the root canals were instrumented one size up from the previous master apical file size. The teeth were scanned using micro-CT before and after retreatment. The percentage of remaining filling material after retreatment was calculated at the coronal, middle, and apical thirds. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test with Bonferroni post hoc correction. Results: The tested sealers showed no significant differences in the percentage of remaining filling material in single- and double-rooted teeth, although EndoSeal MTA showed the highest value in C-shaped roots (p < 0.05). The percentage of remaining filling material of AH Plus and EndoSeal MTA was significantly higher in C-shaped roots than in single- or double-roots (p < 0.05), while that of BC sealer was similar across all root types. EndoSeal MTA showed the highest values at the apical thirds of single- and double-roots (p < 0.05); otherwise, no significant differences were observed among the coronal, middle, and apical thirds. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, a large amount of EndoSeal MTA remained after retreatment, especially in C-shaped root canals.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.19.1-19.15
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• 2022

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the apical constriction (AC) and apical canal morphology of maxillary first and second molars, using micro-computed tomography (micro-CT). Materials and Methods: The anatomical features of 313 root canals from 41 maxillary first molars and 57 maxillary second molars of patients with known age and sex were evaluated using micro-CT, with a resolution of 26.7 ㎛. The factors evaluated were the presence or absence of AC, the morphotypes, bucco-lingual dimension, mesio-distal dimension, and the profile (shape) of AC and the apical root canal. The apical root canal dimensions, location of the apical foramen (AF), AC to AF distance, and presence of accessory canals in the apical 5 mm were also assessed. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used for data evaluation. Results: AC was present in all 313 root canals. Patients' age and sex did not significantly impact either AC or the apical canal dimensions. The most common AC morphotype detected was the traditional (single) constriction (52%), followed by the parallel (29%) morphotype. The mean AC dimensions in maxillary first molars were not significantly different from those in maxillary second molars. Sixty percent of AF were located within 0.5 mm from the anatomic apex. Conclusions: The most common morphotype of AC detected was the traditional constriction. Neither patients' age nor sex had a significant impact on the dimensions of the AC or the apical root canal. The majority of AF (60%) were located within 0.5 mm from the anatomic apex.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.394-403
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• 2009

As the minimally invasive approach against white spot like early caries lesions in proximal surfaces of the teeth, therapeutic sealing has been introduced and studied for effective materials and methods to arrest the early caries lesion effectively, which is still going on. This study was performed for the purpose of evaluating its validity for the non-cavitated lesions according to the depth from surface using therapeutic sealing followed by artificial caries induction and evaluation with micro-CT, and we obtained the results as follows. 1. It was revealed that the deeper the caries lesions are, the lower radiation intensity at lesion body areas in pre-treatment specimen. 2. In the sealed groups, there were no differences in radiation intensity between pre- and post-treatment, whereas there were significant decreases in unsealed groups(p<0.05). 3. Even in the specimens with the lesions reaching deeply into DEJ, the effect of sealing was significant(p<0.05). Conclusively, it was thought therapeutic sealing can be an effective tool against the early caries lesions, regardless of their depth into tooth, unless cavitated.

• Design & Manufacturing
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.29-34
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• 2017

Increased demand for parts with micro-pattern structure made of metals, ceramics, and composites in various fields such as medical ultrasonic sensors, CT collimators, and ultra-small actuator parts. Micro powder injection molding (PIM) is a technology for manufacturing micro size, high volume, complex, precision, net-shape components from either metal or ceramic powder. In the present study, a standard mold with a variable insert core capable of producing various micro patterns was investigated. An injection molding test was performed on a standard mold using a line type micro-pattern core having an aspect ratio of 2, a slenderness ratio of 70, a pattern size of $200{\mu}m$, and a pattern spacing of $150{\mu}m$. During the filling process, the deformation of the mold with large aspect ratio and slenderness ratio was analyzed by the experiment and the numerical simulation according to the position of the gate. We proposed a mold structure that minimizes mold deformation by gate modification and enables uniform pattern filling behavior.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Life Science Conference
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• 2006.09a
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• pp.87.2-87.2
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• 2006

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.455-463
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• 2018

This study developed a method to quantitatively measure the size of cracks in concrete using X-ray CT images. We prepared samples with a diameter of 50 mm and a length of 100 mm by coring cracked concrete block that was obtained by chipping. We used a micro-focus X-ray CT, then applied the 3DMA method (3 Dimensional Medial axis Analysis) to the 3D CT images to find effective parameters for damage assessment. Finally, we quantitatively assessed the damage based on sample locations, using the damage assessment parameter. Results clearly show that the area near the chipping surface was damaged to a depth of 3 cm. Furthermore, X-ray methods can be used to evaluate the porosity index, burn number, and medial axis, which are used to estimate the damage to the area near the chipping surface.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.151-159
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• 2014

Computed tomography (CT) is one of the most widely used medical imaging modality. However, substantial x-ray dose exposed to the human subject during the CT scan is a great concern. Region-of-interest (ROI) CT is considered to be a possible solution for its potential to reduce the x-ray dose to the human subject. In most of ROI-CT scans, the ROI is set to a circular shape whose diameter is often considerably smaller than the full field-of-view (FOV). However, an arbitrarily shaped ROI is very desirable to reduce the x-ray dose more than the circularly shaped ROI can do. We propose a new method to make a non-circular convex-shaped ROI along with the image reconstruction method. To make a ROI with an arbitrary convex shape, dynamic collimations are necessary to minimize the x-ray dose at each angle of view. In addition to the dynamic collimation, we get the ROI projection data with slightly lower sampling rate in the view direction to further reduce the x-ray dose. We reconstruct images from the ROI projection data in the compressed sensing (CS) framework assisted by the exterior projection data acquired from the pilot scan to set the ROI. To validate the proposed method, we used the experimental micro-CT projection data after truncating them to simulate the dynamic collimation. The reconstructed ROI images showed little errors as compared to the images reconstructed from the full-FOV scan data as well as little artifacts inside the ROI. We expect the proposed method can significantly reduce the x-ray dose in CT scans if the dynamic collimation is realized in real CT machines.

• Composites Research
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.395-401
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• 2023

In this study, finite element modeling of unidirectional composite materials of the computed tomography (CT) was conducted using a supervised learning-based segmentation technique. Firstly, Micro-CT scan was performed to obtain the raw volume of unidirectional composite materials, providing microstructure information. From the CT volume images, actual microstructure of the cross-section of unidirectional composite materials was extracted by the labeling process. Then, a U-net deep learning model was trained with a small number of raw images as inputs and their labeled images as outputs to generate a segmentation model. Subsequently, most of remaining images were input to the trained U-net deep learning model to segment all raw volume for identifying complex microstructure, which was used for the generation of finite element model. Finally, the fiber volume fraction of the finite element model was compared with that of experimentally measured volume to validate the appropriateness of the proposed method.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.34-38
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• 2017

Purpose During PET/CT examinations, the movements of internal organs caused by respiration are captured in images during multiple breathing cycles, resulting in the increases in tumor size and effects on SUV. Respiratory synchronized systems were used to evaluate tumor sizes and SUV changes. Materials and Methods Biograph mCT 64 was used for the equipment, and RPM and Anzai systems were used for the respiratory synchronized systems. We used point source and micro-phantom for an experimentation. We were performed on 12 patients who had solid tumors discovered at the base of the lung or at the top of the liver from August through September 2016. The PET images of the exhalation-to-breathing state and the CT images of the post-exhalation suspension state were gained to evaluate changes in radioactivity concentration (KBq/mL), SUVmax, cylinder diameter (mm), and tumor diameter (cm) under the conventional Static, RPM, and Anzai methods. Results The result of measuring the radioactivity concentration of the point source was RPM 94% and Anzai 91% against Static, respectively. In the two cylinders of different radioactivity in the micro-phantom, the SUVmax increased to RPM 61% and 78%, and Anzai 58% and 77% against Static, whereas the cylinder diameters decreased by RPM -26% and -28%, and Anzai -28% and -26%, each respectively. Among the patients, the SUVmax increased from a minimum of RPM 8.2% to a maximum of 94.4% against Static, and from a minimum of Anzai 7.6% to a maximum of 68.3%, respectively. As for the tumor diameters, a minimum of RPM -7.6% to a maximum of -28.9% were achieved, while the Anzai fell by a minimum of -9.6% to a maximum of -27.7%, respectively. There was no significant difference discovered in the phantom study between the RPM and Anzai, yet there was a meaningful difference in the patients' tumors (P<0.05). Conclusion The respiratory synchronized systems of RPM and Anzai yielded no significant difference in the phantom study in which the respiration was executed at regular intervals. However, it was discovered that the patients had a meaningful difference for the irregular respiratory cycle and inter-system differences. Still, the respiratory synchronized systems would be useful for the accurate diagnosis and SUV measurement as the tumor decreased in size against the existing Static and the SUV increased.