• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.87-100
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• 2003

It is important to understand the potential human health implications of exposure to environmental chemicals that may act as hormonally active agents. It is necessary to have an understanding of how pharmaceutical and personal care products and other chemicals affect the ecosystem of our planet as well as human health. Endocrine disruption is defined as the ability of a chemical contaminating the workplace or the environment to interfere with homeostasis, development, reproduction, and/or behavior in a living organism or it's offspring. Certain classes of environmentally persistent chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins, furans, and some pesticides can adversely effect the endocrine systems of aquatic life and terrestrial wildlife. Research continues to support the theory of endocrine disruption. However, endocrine disruption researches have been applied to proteomics poorly. Proteomics can be defined as the systematic analysis of proteins for their identity, quantity and function. It could increase the predictability of early drug development and identify non-invasive biomarkers of tonicity or efficacy. Proteome analysis is most commonly accomplished by the combination of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D/E) and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry (MS) sr protein chip array and SELDI-TOF MS. Proteomics have an opportunity to play an important role in resolving the question of what role endocrine disruptors play in initiating human disease. Proteomics can also play an imfortant role in the evaluation of the risk assessment and use of risk management and risk communication tools required to address public health concerns related to notions of endocrine disruptors. Understanding the need for the proteomics and possessing knowledge of the developing biomakers used to abbess endocrine activity potential will he essential components relevant to the topic of endocrine disruptors.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2008

Purpose: The Gated cardiac blood pool scan is non-invasive method that a quantitative evaluation of left ventricular function. Also this scan have shown the value of radionuclide ejection fraction measurements during the course of chemotherapy as a predictor of cardiac toxicity. Therefore a reliable method of monitoring its cardiotoxic effects is necessary. the purpose of this study is to minimize the overestimate of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by modified body position to reduce the influence of scattered rays from surrounding organs of the heart in the background region of interest. Materials and Methods: Gated cardiac blood pool scan using in vivo $^{99m}Tc$-red blood cell (RBC) was carried out in 20 patients (mean $44.8{\pm}8.6$ yr) with chemotherapy for a breast carcinoma. Data acquisition requires about 600 seconds and 24 frames of one heart cycle by the multigated acquisition mode, Synchronization deteriorates toward the end of the cycle and with the distance from the trigger signal (R-wave) by ECG gating. Gated cardiac blood pool scan was studied with conventional method (supine position and the detector head in $30-45^{\circ}$ left anterior oblique position and caudal $10-20^{\circ}$ tilt) and compared with modified method (left lateral flexion position with 360 mL of drinking water). LVEF analysis was performed by using the automatically computer mode. Results: The ROI counts of modified scan method were lower than LV conventional method ($1429{\pm}251$ versus $1853{\pm}243$, <0.01). And LVEF of modified method was also decrease compared with conventional method ($58.3{\pm}5.6%$ versus $65.3{\pm}6.1%$, <0.01). Imaging analysis indicated that stomach was expanded because of water and spleen position was changed to lateral inferior compared with conventional method. Conclusion: This study shows that the modified method in MUGA reduce the influence of scattered rays from surrounding organs. Because after change the body position to left lateral flexion and drinking water, the location of spleen, left lobe of liver and stomach had changed and they could escaped from background ROI. Therefore, modified method could help to minimize the overestimate LVEF (%).

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.16-25
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• 2003

Background and Objectives : Electroglottography(EGG) is a non-invasive method of monitoring the vocal cord vibration by measuring the variation of physiological impedance across the vocal folds through the neck skin. It reveals especially the vocal fold contact area and is widely used for basic laryngeal researches, voice analysis and synthesis. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of EGG parameters in differential diagnosis of laryngeal cancer. Materials and Methods : The author investigated 10 laryngeal cancer and 25 benign laryngeal disease patients who visited at the Department of Otolaryngology, Pusan National University Hospital. The EGG equipment was devised in the author's Department. Among various parameters of EGG, closed quotient(CQ), speed quotient(SQ), speed index(SI), Jitter, Shimmer, Fo were determined by an analysis program made with MATLAB 6.5$^{\circledR}$(Mathwork, Inc.). In order to differentiate various laryngeal diseases from pathologic voice signals, the author has used the electroglottographic parameters using the neural network of multilayer perceptron structure. Results : SQ, SI, Jitter and Shimmer values except those of CQ and Fo showed remarkable differences between benign and malignant laryngeal disease groups. From the artificial neural network, the percentage of differentiating the laryngeal cancer was over 80% in SQ, SI, Jitter, Shimmer except for CQ and Fo. These results indicated that it is possible to discriminate the benign and malignant laryngeal diseases by EGG parameters using the artificial neural network. Conclusion : If parameters of EGG which can reveal for the pathology of laryngeal diseases are additionally developed and the current classification algorithm is improved, the discrimination of laryngeal cancer will become much more accurate.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.45 no.5
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• pp.644-652
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• 2007

Statement of problem: Resonance frequency analysis is evaluated as the non-invasive and objective method for the evaluation of implant stability and has been increasingly used. It is necessary to evaluate the factors affect the ISQ measurement stability. Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the effect of the autoclave sterilization and reuse of $Smartpeg^{TM}$ on ISQ measurement. Material and methods: $SmartPeg^{TM}$ (Integration Diagnostics Ltd., $G\ddot{o}teborg$, Sweden) of autoclave group (A) was autoclave sterilized 9 times and $Smartpeg^{TM}$ of reuse group (R) was reused 9 times. Ten $SmartPeg^{TM}s$ were allocated to each group and after each autoclave sterilization and reuse, implant stability quotient (ISQ) values were measured 3 times from the two directions a and b at a right angle. $Osstell^{TM}$ mentor (Integration Diagnostics Ltd. $G\ddot{o}teborg$, Sweden) was used and type 1 (article no. 100353) $Smartpeg^{TM}$ was selected according to $Smartpeg^{TM}$ reference list. Osstem Implant US II future (Osstem Co., Seoul, Korea) in $4.0mm{\times}11.5mm$ was embedded in the self-curing acrylic resin ($Orthojet^{(R)}$, Lang Dental, U.S.A.). Data was statistically analyzed by one-way ANOVA $({\alpha}=.05)$ and scheffe test was done where a significant difference exist. Correlation test was also done between ISQ value and the number of autoclave sterilization or reuse. Results: 1. In autoclave group, the means and sd. of ISQ value before autoclave sterilization were $84.97{\pm}0.41,\;84.93{\pm}0.74$ at direction a and b. There was significant differences between autoclave groups at direction a and b (P=.000). 2. In reuse group, the means and sd. of ISQ value before reuse were $85.40{\pm}0.62,\;85.50{\pm}0.57$ at direction a and b. There was no significant difference between reuse groups at direction a and b (P>.05). 3. There was a weak positive correlation between the number of reuse and ISQ value at direction a and b (${\gamma}=.207$ and .246, P<.01). Conclusion: Within the limitations of this study, the following conclusions were drawn. Till ninth reuse of $Smartpeg^{TM}$, the ISQ measurement stability did not be affected. After twice autoclave sterilization of $Smartpeg^{TM}$ the ISQ measurement stability was affected.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.155-161
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• 2017

Teeth and bones are highly mineralized tissues containing inorganic minerals such as calcium phosphate, and a growing number of evidences show that their mineral content is associated with many diseases. Although the quantification of mineral contents by micro-computed tomography(micro- CT) has been used in diagnosis and evaluation for treating bone diseases, its application for teeth diseases has not been well established. In this study, we attempted to estimate a usefulness of a high-resolution micro-CT in analysis of human teeth. The teeth were scanned by using the Skyscan 1172 micro-CT. In order to measure tooth mineral content, beam hardening effect of the machine was corrected with a radiopaque iodine-containing substance, iodoacetamide. Under the maximum resolution of $6.6{\mu}m$, X-ray densities in teeth and hydroxyapatite standards were obtained with Hounsfield unit (HU), and they were then converted to an absolute mineral concentration by a CT Analyzer software. In enamel layer of cusp area, the mean mineral concentration was about $2.14mg/mm^3$ and there was a constant mineral concentration gradient from the enamel surface to the dentinoenamel junction. In the dentin of middle 1/3 of tooth, the mean mineral concentration was approximately $1.27mg/mm^3$ and there was a constant mineral concentration gradient from the outer of root to the pulp side, ranging from 1.3 to $1.06mg/mm^3$. In decay region of dentin, the mineral content was gradually decreased from the intact inner side to the decayed surface. These results suggest that high-resolution micro-CT can be as a useful tool for non-invasive measurement of mineral concentration in teeth.

• Phonetics and Speech Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 2022

This study aimed to compare acoustic measurements by the high, middle, and low laryngeal heights of male musical theater students. Furthermore, the correlation between the relative height of the larynx and the acoustic measurements was examined, along with the predictability of the relative height (vertical position) of the larynx from acoustic measurements. The participants included five male students majoring in musical theater singing, and acoustic analysis was performed by having them produce the /a/ vowel 10 times each at the laryngeal positions of high, middle, and low. The relative vertical positions of the laryngeal prominence in each position were measured based on the resting position. Results indicated that the relative position of the larynx varied significantly according to laryngeal height, such that as the larynx descended, the first three formant frequencies decreased while the spectral energy at the same frequencies increased. Formant frequencies showed a weak to moderate positive correlation with the relative height of the larynx, while the spectral energy showed a moderate negative correlation. The relative height of the larynx was predicted by eight acoustic measures (adjusted R² = .829). In conclusion, the predictability of the relative height of the larynx was partially confirmed in a non-invasive manner.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.269-275
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• 2023

Echocardiography is a non-invasive method that is useful for diagnosing pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is known that echocardiography depends on the experience, education, and knowledge level of the cardiac sonographer. This study aimed to compare the agreement values between cardiac sonographer with different practical experiences in the diagnosis of pulmonary arterial hypertension using echocardiography. Three readers re-evaluated the echocardiography images of 148 patients who were diagnosed with pulmonary arterial hypertension at the S Medical Center from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2020. The echocardiography values measured by each reader were compared and analyzed. The results of the analysis of discrete variables revealed that the agreement values of the cardiac sonographers showed excellent consistency for both reader 3 and the cardiologist group, indicating that more experience leads to better predictive accuracy for diagnosis of the condition. Furthermore, in terms of continuous variables, all the cardiac sonographer demonstrated good agreement in the measured values of the right atrium, which was easier to assess and clearer than the structurally complex measurements of the right ventricle. This study represents the first analysis in Korea of the agreement values measured by medical technologists who are cardiac sonographers.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.249-255
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• 2006

Purpose: The diagnostic utility of fluorine-18 2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomograhpy ($^{18}F-FDG $PET) for the non-invasive differentiation of focal lung lesions originated from cancer or inflammation disease by combined visual image interpretation and semi-quantitative uptake value analysis has been documented. In general, Standardized Uptake Value(SUV) is used to diagnose lung disease. But SUV does not contain dynamic information of lung tissue for the glucose. Therefore, this study was undertaken to hypothesis that analysis of dynamic kinetics of focal lung lesions base on $^{18}F-FDG$ PET may more accurately determine the lung disease. So we compared Time Activity Curve(TAC), Standardized Uptake Value-Dynamic Curve(SUV-DC) graph pattern with Glucose Metabolic Rate(MRGlu) from Patlak analysis. Methods: With lung disease, 17 patients were examined. They were injected with $^{18}F-FDG$ over 30-s into peripheral vein while acquisition of the serial transaxial tomographic images were started. For acquisition protocol, we used twelve 10-s, four 30-s, sixteen 60-s, five 300-s and one 900-s frame for 60 mins. Its images were analyzed by visual interpretation TAC, SUV-DC and a kinetic analysis(Patlak analysis). The latter was based on region of interest(ROIs) which were drawn with the lung disease shape. Each optimized patterns were compared with itself. Results: In TAC patterns, it hard to observe cancer type with inflammation disease in early pool blood area but over the time cancer type slope more remarkably increased than inflammation disease. SUV-DC was similar to TAC pattern. In the result of Patlak analysis, In time activity curve of aorta, even though inflammation disease showed higher blood activity than cancer, at first as time went by, blood activity of inflammation disease became the lowest. However, in time activity curve of tissue, cancer had the highest uptake and inflammation disease was in the middle. Conclusion: Through the examination, TAC and SUV-DC could approached the results that lung cancer type and inflammation disease type has it's own difference shape patterns. Also, it has outstanding differentiation between cancer type and inflammation in Patlak and MRGlu analysis. Through these analysis methods, it will helpful to separation lung disease.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.195-208
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• 1999

Background: Pulmonary infiltrate in immunocompromised hosts has many infectious and non-infectios etiologies. To evaluate the diagnostic yield and therapeutic implication of two invasive diagnostic methods, such as bronchoscopy and surgical lung biopsy, we performed retrospective analysis of these patients. Methods: All immunocompromised patients admitted to Samsung Medical Center from October 1995 to August 1998 who underwent bronchoscopy and/or surgical lung biopsy for the diagnosis of pulmonary infiltrates were included in this study. Confirmative diagnostic yield, the rate of changed therapeutic plan and patients' survival were investigated. Results: Seventy-five episodes of pulmonary infiltrates developed in 70 patients(M : F=46 : 24, median age 51). Underlying diseases of patients were hematologic malignancy(n=30), organ transplantation(n=11), solid tumor(n= 12), connective tissue disease(n=6) and others. Confirmative diagnosis was made in total 53 cases (70.7%), of which 70.2% had infectious etiology. Diagnostic yields of bronchoscopy, bronchoalveolar lavage(BAL), transbronchiallung biopsy(TBLB) and surgical lung biopsy were 35.0%(21/60), 31.4%(16/51), 25.0%(9/36) and 80.0%(20/25). Therapeutic plan was changed in 40%(24/60) of patients after bronchoscopy and in 36%(9/25) of patients after surgical lung biopsy. More patients survived (84.4% vs 60.5%, p=0.024) when therapeutic plan was changed after invasive diagnostic study. Conclusion: Bronchoscopy and surgical lung biopsy are helpful for the therapeutic implication of pulmonary infiltrates in immunocompromised hosts. Large-scale prospective case-control study may further clarify their limitation and usefulness.

• Journal of Gastric Cancer
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2006

Purpose: Various minimally invasive surgical techniques, such as an endoscopic mucosal resection and a laparoscopic gastrectomy, are becoming common practice for some cases of early gastric cancer (EGC) defined in terms of the depth of invasion being limited to the mucosa or submucosa. However, there are rare cases of early gastric cancer with massive lymph-node metastasis. Materials and Methods: From 6 university hospitals of Korea, 2,772 EGC cases were resected during the various period of analysis (1,432 cases of mucosal cancer and 1,340 of submucosal cancer). Results: As control data, we used the data from a single institute, CHA University Hospital. There were nine cases of early gastric cancer (9/2,772, 0.32%) with N3 lymph node metastasis defined by more than 15 lymph nodes being metastasized according to the UICC-TNM classification (pT1N3, stage IV). Two cases were mucosal cancer (2/1,432, 0.1 4%), and seven cases were submucosal cancer (7/1,340, 0.52%). Metastasized lymph nodes varied in number from 18 to 52. There were three male and six female patients with a mean age of 57. This is a totally reversed sex ratio compared to the usual gastric cancer or EGC. Among the total of 9 EGC patients, there were 5 who had superficial spreading carcinomas with surface areas larger than $25\;cm^2$. This is a significantly higher proportion compared to the general EGC population. When we compared the tumor size according to the LN status, the N3 group was definitely larger than the other groups. 78% of the pT1N3 cases showed lymphatic invasion, which is very high compared to the 4.7% in general EGC cases. Among the 9 cases, 6 patients had too short a follow-up period to evaluate the correct prognosis, but there was one patient with a non-curative resection and two patients with early recurrence. Although the sample size is small and the follow-up period is short, we can expect a very poor prognosis when we consider the common prognosis of EGC that is widely known and accepted. Conclusion: From these results, we can a conclude that the risk factors for pT1N3 gastric cancer are female patients, submucosal invasion, larger tumor size, and lymphatic invasion. However rare, the existence of pT1N3 gastric cancer needs to be taken into consideration, especially during the diagnosis. Furthermore, minimally invasive treatment for EGC needs to be chosen with great precaution. Since the prognosis of pT1N3 gastric cancer is expected to be poor, aggressive adjuvant chemotherapy may be necessary. (J Korean Gastric Cancer Assoc 2006;6:109-113)