• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2009

Purpose : The purpose of this study was to investigate the quantitative evaluation of the corticospinal tract (CST) at the multiple levels by using functional MRI (fMRI) co-registered to diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). Materials and Methods : Ten normal subjects without any history of neurological disorder participated in this study. fMRI was performed at 1.5 T MR scanner using hand grasp-release movement paradigm. DTT was performed by using DtiStudio on the basis of fiber assignment continuous tracking algorithm (FACT). The seed region of interest (ROI) was drawn in the area of maximum fMRI activation during the motor task of hand grasp-release movement on a 2-D fractional anisotropy (FA) color map, and the target ROI was drawn in the cortiocospinal portion of anterior lower pons. We have drawn five ROIs for the measurement of FA and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) along the corona radiata (CR) down to the medulla. Results : The contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex (SM1) was mainly found to be activated in all subjects. DTT showed that tracts originated from SM1 and ran to the medulla along the known pathway of the CST. In all subjects, FA values of the CST were higher at the level of the midbrain and posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC) than the level of others. Conclusion : Our study showed that co-registered fMRI and DTT has elucidated the state of CST on 3-D and analyzed the quantitative values of FA and ADC at the multiple levels. We conclude that co-registered fMRI and DTT may be applied as a useful tool for clarifying and investigating the state of CST in the patients with brain injury.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.99-107
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• 2004

Anisotropic characteristics of deformation are important to understand the particular behavior in the pre-failure state of soils. Recent experiments show that cross-anisotropic moduli of granular soils can be expressed by functions of normal stresses in the corresponding directions, which is closely linked to micromechanical characteristics of particles. Granular soils are composed of a number of particles so that the force-displacement relationship at each contact point governs the macroscopic stress-strain relationship. Therefore, the micromechanical approach in which the deformation of granular soils is regarded as a mutual interaction between particle contacts is one of the best ways to investigate the anisotropic elastic deformation of soils. In this study, a numerical program based on the theory of micromechanics is developed. Generalized contact model for the irregular contact surface of soil particles is adopted to represent the force-displacement relationship in each contact point far the realistic prediction of anisotropic moduli. To evaluate the model parameters, a set of analytical solutions of anisotropic elastic moduli is derived in the isotropic stress condition. A detailed procedure to determine the model parameters is proposed with emphasis on the practical applicability of micromechanical program to analyze the elastic behavior of the granular soils.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2016

The goal of this study is to investigate corpus callosum and both internal capsule changes with the internet addiction disorder compared to control group using MR diffusion tensor imaging. A total of 22 teenager volunteers who had 10 high-risk group with internet addiction and 12 normal control group were conducted for this study. Imaging was conducted on a 3 T using a EPI sequence. Image evaluation was analysed of the FA, ADC($10^{-3}mm^2/s$), length(mm). We did select ROI for image tracking on corpus callosum of 5 and including 2(internal capsule). The data from these ROIs were compared statistically among the groups using independent t-test, correlation coefficient. There were significant inter-group differences(p<0.05) among FA, ADC($10^{-3}mm^2/s$) and length(mm). And also significantly negative correlations were fond between FA values of corpus callosum and IAD scale(p=0.000). DTI was shown significant changes of FA and ADC, LNF values in IAD compared to control group. Therefore, our results may provided clinical information for brain wite matter functions.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.133-133
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• 2002

Purpose： The purpose of paper is to implement software to visualize brain fiber tract using a 24-bit color coding scheme and to test its feasibility. Materials and Methods： MR imaging was performed on GE 1.5 T Signa scanner. For diffusion tensor image, we used a single shot spin-echo EPI sequence with 7 non-colinear pulsed-field gradient directions： (x, y, z)：(1,1,0),(-1,1,0),(1,0,1),(-1,0,1),(0,1,1),(0,1,-1) and without diffusion gradient. B-factor was 500 sec/$\textrm{mm}^2$. Acquisition parameters are as follows： TUTE=10000ms/99ms, FOV=240mm, matrix=128${\times}$128, slice thickness/gap=6mm/0mm, total slice number=30. Subjects consisted of 10 normal young volunteers (age：21∼26 yrs, 5 men, 5 women). All DTI images were smoothed with Gaussian kernel with the FWHM of 2 pixels. Color coding schemes for visualization of directional information was as follows. HSV(Hue, Saturation, Value) color system is appropriate for assigning RGB(Red, Green, and Blue) value for every different directions because of its volumetric directional expression. Each of HSV are assigned due to (r,$\theta$,${\Phi}$) in spherical coordinate. HSV calculated by this way can be transformed into RGB color system by general HSV to RGB conversion formula. Symmetry schemes： It is natural to code the antipodal direction to be same color(antipodal symmetry). So even with no symmetry scheme, the antipodal symmetry must be included. With no symmetry scheme, we can assign every different colors for every different orientation.(H =${\Phi}$, S=2$\theta$/$\pi$, V=λw, where λw is anisotropy). But that may assign very discontinuous color even between adjacent yokels. On the other hand, Full symmetry or absolute value scheme includes symmetry for 180$^{\circ}$ rotation about xy-plane of color coordinate (rotational symmetry) and for both hemisphere (mirror symmetry). In absolute value scheme, each of RGB value can be expressed as follows. R=λw｜Vx｜, G=λw｜Vy｜, B=λw｜Vz｜, where (Vx, Vy, Vz) is eigenvector corresponding to the largest eigenvalue of diffusion tensor. With applying full symmetry or absolute value scheme, we can get more continuous color coding at the expense of coding same color for symmetric direction. For better visualization of fiber tract directions, Gamma and brightness correction had done. All of these implementations were done on the IDL 5.4 platform.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.43-50
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• 2008

Ceramides, a constituent of stratum corneum lipids, play a crucial role in the formation and maintenance of the epidermal permeability barrier. As in many other skin disorders, atopic dermatitis and psoriasis show decrease and transformation of the ceramides. The application of ceramide has been demonstrated to be efficient in the repair of these skin disorders. Nevertheless, natural ceramides are still too expensive and small in quantity to be used as a cosmetic ingredient. Although a lot of pseudo-ceramides have been developed and on the market until now, those pseudo-ceramides did not fully meet the consumer's needs, therefore, there is still a demand for a novel pseudo-ceramides. We synthesized a novel pseudo-ceramide BPC-16 from 2-(2-amino-ethylamino)-ethanol(AEEA), which was characterized by structures having both amide bonds and hydroxyl groups as hydrophilic units, as well as two long alkyl chains. We formulated emulsion with BPC-16, cholesterol, stearic acid, and other components to make an emulsion. These emulsion showed a typical optical anisotropy on cross-polarized microscopy. This 'Maltese cross' appearance is a characteristic figure observed in concentric lamellar emulsion under cross-polarized microscopy. In cytotoxicity assay using MTT in monolayer and three dimension(3D) cell culture, a BPC-16 showed only negligible cytotoxicity up to the effective concentration for barrier repair and moisturization(less than 10 mM). In the measurement of TEWL, this BPC-16 showed significant recovery of water-retaining properties when it was topically applied to either SDS-induced dry skin or normal skin compared to that of base cream. This novel pseudo-ceramide BPC-16 showed as effective in skin barrier repair and moisturization as natural ceramides.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2013.08a
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• pp.220-220
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• 2013

Surface-normal transmission electro-absorption modulator (EAM) are attractive for high-definition (HD) three-dimensional (3D) imaging application due to its features such as small system volume and simple epitaxial structure [1,2]. However, EAM in order to be used for HD 3D imaging system requires uniform modulation performance over large area. To achieve highly uniform modulation performance of EAM at the operating wavelength of 850 nm, it is extremely important to remove the GaAs substrate over large area since GaAs material has high absorption coefficient below 870 nm which corresponds to band-edge energy of GaAs (1.424 eV). In this study, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a transmission EAM in which highly selective backside etching methods which include lapping, dry etching and wet etching is carried out to remove the GaAs substrate for achieving highly uniform modulation performance. First, lapping process on GaAs substrate was carried out for different lapping speeds (5 rpm, 7 rpm, 10 rpm) and the thickness was measured over different areas of surface. For a lapping speed of 5 rpm, a highly uniform surface over a large area ($2{\times}1\;mm^2$) was obtained. Second, optimization of inductive coupled plasma-reactive ion etching (ICP-RIE) was carried out to achieve anisotropy and high etch rate. The dry etching carried out using a gas mixture of SiCl4 and Ar, each having a flow rate of 10 sccm and 40 sccm, respectively with an RF power of 50 W, ICP power of 400 W and chamber pressure of 2 mTorr was the optimum etching condition. Last, the rest of GaAs substrate was successfully removed by highly selective backside wet etching with pH adjusted solution of citric acid and hydrogen peroxide. Citric acid/hydrogen peroxide etching solution having a volume ratio of 5:1 was the best etching condition which provides not only high selectivity of 235:1 between GaAs and AlAs but also good etching profile [3]. The fabricated transmission EAM array have an amplitude modulation of more than 50% at the bias voltage of -9 V and maintains high uniformity of >90% over large area ($2{\times}1\;mm^2$). These results show that the fabricated transmission EAM with substrate removed is an excellent candidate to be used as an optical shutter for HD 3D imaging application.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.218-225
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• 2022

Objective: This study aimed to explore the feasibility of functional evaluation of the lateral pterygoid muscle (LPM) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in patients with temporomandibular joint disorders (TMDs). Materials and Methods: A total of 119 patients with TMD (23 male and 96 female; mean age ± standard deviation, 41 ± 15 years; 58 bilateral and 61 unilateral involvements for a total of 177 joints) and 20 healthy volunteers (9 male and 11 female; 40 ± 13 years; 40 joints) were included in this prospective study. Based on DTI of the jaw in the resting state, the diffusion parameters, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), λ1, λ2, and λ3 of the superior and inferior heads of the LPM (SHLPM and IHLPM) were measured. Patients with TMD with normal disc position (ND), anterior disc displacement with reduction (ADWR), and anterior disc displacement without reduction (ADWOR) were compared. Results: Patients with TMD overall, and ADWR and ADWOR subgroups had significantly higher ADC, λ1, λ2, and λ3 in both the SHLPM and IHLPM than those in volunteers (p < 0.05 for all), whereas the ND subgroup only had significantly higher ADC and λ1 (p < 0.001). Meanwhile, significant differences in FA in the SHLPM and IHLPM were found between volunteers and ADWOR (p = 0.014 and p = 0.037, respectively). Among the three TMD subgroups, except for λ3 and FA in the ADWR subgroup, ADWR and ADWOR subgroups had significantly higher ADC, λ1, λ2, and λ3 and lower FA than those in the ND group (p < 0.050). There was no significant difference in diffusion variables between ADWR and ADWOR. In ADWOR, the osteoarthritis group had significantly higher λ3 and lower FA values in the IHLPM than those in the non-osteoarthritis group. Conclusion: DTI successfully detected functional changes in the LPM in patients with TMD. The unsynchronized diffusivity changes in the LPM in different subgroups of TMD signified the possibility of using diffusion parameters as indicators to identify the severity of LPM hyperfunction at various stages of TMD.