• Molecules and Cells
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• v.44 no.5
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• pp.342-355
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• 2021

The microphthalmia-associated transcription factor family (MiT family) proteins are evolutionarily conserved transcription factors that perform many essential biological functions. In mammals, the MiT family consists of MITF (microphthalmia-associated transcription factor or melanocyte-inducing transcription factor), TFEB (transcription factor EB), TFE3 (transcription factor E3), and TFEC (transcription factor EC). These transcriptional factors belong to the basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper (bHLH-LZ) transcription factor family and bind the E-box DNA motifs in the promoter regions of target genes to enhance transcription. The best studied functions of MiT proteins include lysosome biogenesis and autophagy induction. In addition, they modulate cellular metabolism, mitochondria dynamics, and various stress responses. The control of nuclear localization via phosphorylation and dephosphorylation serves as the primary regulatory mechanism for MiT family proteins, and several kinases and phosphatases have been identified to directly determine the transcriptional activities of MiT proteins. In different immune cell types, each MiT family member is shown to play distinct or redundant roles and we expect that there is far more to learn about their functions and regulatory mechanisms in host defense and inflammatory responses.

• Smart Media Journal
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.22-29
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• 2021

In the past decade, deep learning has been applied to various medical image analysis tasks. Skeletal bone age estimation is clinically important as it can help prevent age-related illness and pave the way for new anti-aging therapies. Recent research has applied deep learning techniques to the task of bone age assessment and achieved positive results. In this paper, we propose a bone age prediction method using a deep convolutional neural network. Specifically, we first train a classification model that automatically localizes the most discriminative region of an image and crops it from the original image. The regions of interest are then used as input for a regression model to estimate the age of the patient. The experiments are conducted on a whole-body scintigraphy dataset that was collected by Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital. The experimental results illustrate the potential of our proposed method, which has a mean absolute error of 3.35 years. Our proposed framework can be used as a robust supporting tool for clinicians to prevent age-related diseases.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.285-295
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• 2019

Junction-mediating and regulatory protein (JMY) is a regulator of both transcription and actin filament assembly. The actin-regulatory activity of JMY is based on a cluster of three actin-binding Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein homology 2 (WH2) domains that nucleate actin filaments directly and promote nucleation of the Arp2/3 complex. In addition to these activities, we examined the activity of JMY generation in early embryo of mice carrying mutations in the JMY gene by CRISPR/Cas9 mediated genome engineering. We demonstrated that JMY protein shuttled expression between the cytoplasm and the nucleus. Knockout of exon 2, CA (central domain and Arp2/3-binding acidic domain) and NLS-2 (nuclear localization signal domain) on the JMY gene by CRISPR/Cas9 system was effective and markedly impeded embryonic development. Additionally, it impaired transcription and zygotic genome activation (ZGA)-related genes. These results suggest that JMY acts as a transcription factor, which is essential for the early embryonic development in mice.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.51-55
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• 2000

Objective: To determine the accuracy of CT and positron emission tomography (PET) in the diagnosis of recurrent uterine cervical cancer. Materials and Methods: Imaging findings of CT and PET in 36 patients (mean age, 53 years) in whom recurrent uterine cervical cancer was suspected were analyzed retrospectively. Between October 1997 and May 1998, they had undergone surgery and/or radiation therapy. Tumor recurrence was confirmed by pathologic examination or follow-up studies. Results: In detecting recurrent uterine cervical cancer, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of CT were 77.8%, 83.3%, and 80.5%, respectively, while for PET, the corresponding figures were 100%, 94.4%, and 97.2%. The Chi-square test revealed no significant difference in specificity (p = .2888), but significant differences in sensitivity (p = .0339) and accuracy (p = .0244). Conclusion: PET proved to be a reliable screening method for detecting recurrent uterine cervical cancer, but to determine the anatomical localization of recurrent tumors, and thus decide an adequate treatment plan, CT was eventually needed.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.289-297
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• 1999

Purpose: Misonidazole is a radiosensitizer that binds in hypoxic cells. The purpose of this study was to find out the feasibility of I-131-Iodomisonidazole (IMISO) for imaging of tumor hypoxia. Materials and Methods: Tosyl precursor was dissolved in acetonitrile and I-131-NaI was added to synthesize IMISO. Balb/c mice inoculated with CT-26 adenocarcinoma were injected with IMISO. Mice were sacrificed at 1, 2, 4, 24 hr and % of injected dose per gram of tissue (%ID/g) was determined. For scintigraphy and MRI, mouse bearing CT-26 adenocarcinoma was administered with IMISO and imaging was performed 4 hr after. Then, mouse body was fixed and microtomized slice was placed on radiographic film for autoradiography Results: %ID/g of tumor was 1.64 (1h), 0.98 (2h), 0.85 (4h) and 0.20 (24h), respectively. At 24h, %ID/g of tumor was higher than that of all other tissues except thyroid. Tumor to muscle ratio increased with time and tumor to blood ratio also increased with time and reached 1.53 at 24 hr. On autoradiogram, tumor was well visualized as an increased activity in central hypoxic area of the tumor which corresponds to the area of high signal intensity on T2-weighted MR image. On scintigraphy, tumor uptake was visualized. Conclusion: This results suggest that IMISO may have a potential for tumor hypoxia imaging in mouse model. However, further study is needed to improve it's localization in tumor tissue and to achieve acceptable images of tumor hypoxia.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.49-56
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• 2008

Purpose: Whole body imaging with radioiodine can detect functioning metastases. Non-physiologic I-131 uptake detected on images usually is interpreted as suggesting functioning thyroid metastases. However, extra-thyroidal I-131 accumulation does not always imply thyroid cancer metastases and has been reported in many circumstances. In order to avoid unnecessary therapeutic interventions it is important to distinguish false-positive sites of I-131 localization. We study here to remove false-positive sites around esophagus region on I-131 whole body imaging in patients who were administrated thyroidectomy. Materials and Methods: From April to August in 2007, we had the patients who had visited our department after they received thyroidectomy due to thyroid cancer. They were given I-131, and performed radioiodine body scan after 41 to 50 hours. Patients were whole-body-scanned for the speed of 8 cm per minute. After that, we took anterior and posterior static images around the patients' neck measured by 300 thousand counts per image. We selected 44 patients who had hot spots around neck region, we divided the patients into two groups. One group was given 0.5 L of water and the other group was given 0.5 L of water with 1 g of Vitamin C dissolved. The patients were asked to drink the fluid for one minute in sitting position and after that, we measured 300 kilo counts per image again. We compared prior anterior, posterior static images with anterior, posterior images after the patients had water or water that Vitamin C resolved. Results: In using water, both observer 1 and 2 interpreted 6 patients were washed out. In the water with Vitamin C resolved, observer 1 and 2 interpreted 9 and 8 patients were washed out. Observer 1 and 2 interpreted 6 and 5 patients had 'indeterminate' when they used water. Both observer 1 and 2 interpreted 6 patients had 'indeterminate' when they used water with Vitamin C resolved. When they used water, observer 1 interpreted 10 patients had 'unchanged' and observer 2 interpreted 11 patients had 'unchanged'. Differently, when they used water with vitamin C resolved, observer1 had 8 patients having 'unchanged'and observer 2 had 9. Conclusion: As a result, by making patients drink 0.5 liter of water which has vitamin C resolved helped getting rid of false-positive sites in esophagus. Therefore, based on this study, we believe that drinking water with vitamin C dissolved is very in terms of reducing false-positive hot spot around the esophagus for the iodine-131 whole body scan.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.76-80
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• 2009

Purpose: The uptake of $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI increases in the parathyroid adenoma, hyperplasia, and carcinoma. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare the results of the biopsy with quantitative analysis results in the localized parathyroid lesions (adenoma, hyperplasia, and carcinoma). Materials and Methods: From April 2002 to January 2009, double-phase $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI parathyroid scan (early 15 min, delayed 2 hrs) was performed after injection of 750 MBq of $^{99m}Tc$-MIBI in 27 diagnosed parathyroid patients (adenoma:15, hyperplasia:4, carcinoma:8). For quantitative analysis, early, delayed lesion to non-lesion ratios (L/NLs), washout rate (%, WR) and vertical axis were calculated. Results: In early images, lesion to non-lesion ratios were $1.53{\pm}0.41$ (adenoma), $1.38{\pm}0.27$ (hyperplasia) and $1.45{\pm}0.64$ (carcinoma). In delayed images, lesion to non-lesion ratios were $1.56{\pm}0.43$ (adenoma), $1.33{\pm}0.10$ (hyperplasia), $1.83{\pm}0.79$ (carcinoma). In vertical axis, the sizes were $2.11{\pm}0.67$ (adenoma), $2.23{\pm}0.75$ (hyperplasia) and $2.20{\pm}0.97$ (carcinoma). There was no statistical difference between lesion to non-lesion ratios and the size of vertical axis (p>0.05). However, washout rates were $31.59{\pm}13.97$ (adenoma), $37.8{\pm}5.69$ (hyperplasia), $17.73{\pm}11.02$ (carcinoma). As a result, there was a significant difference statistically between and that of carcinoma (p<0.05, p=0.028 by Kruskal-willis statistic, Dunn's Multiple comparison test SPSS Ver 12.0). Conclusions: There was no statistical difference between the lesion to non-lesion ratios and the size of vertical axis. However, there was a significant difference statistically between WR of hyperplasia and that of carcinoma.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.233-240
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• 2004

Purpose: We developed a computer-aided classifier using artificial neural network (ANN) to discriminate the cerebral metabolic pattern of medial and lateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Materials and Methods: We studied brain F-18-FDG PET images of 113 epilepsy patients sugically and pathologically proven as medial TLE (left 41, right 42) or lateral TLE (left 14, right 16). PET images were spatially transformed onto a standard template and normalized to the mean counts of cortical regions. Asymmetry indices for predefined 17 mirrored regions to hemispheric midline and those for medial and lateral temporal lobes were used as input features for ANN. ANN classifier was composed of 3 independent multi-layered perceptrons (1 for left/right lateralization and 2 for medial/lateral discrimination) and trained to interpret metabolic patterns and produce one of 4 diagnoses (L/R medial TLE or L/R lateral TLE). Randomly selected 8 images from each group were used to train the ANN classifier and remaining 51 images were used as test sets. The accuracy of the diagnosis with ANN was estimated by averaging the agreement rates of independent 50 trials and compared to that of nuclear medicine experts. Results: The accuracy in lateralization was 89% by the human experts and 90% by the ANN classifier Overall accuracy in localization of epileptogenic zones by the ANN classifier was 69%, which was comparable to that by the human experts (72%). Conclusion: We conclude that ANN classifier performed as well as human experts and could be potentially useful supporting tool for the differential diagnosis of TLE.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.560-569
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• 1996

Background and Purpose : Standardized uptake value(SUV) has been used as a quantitative index for differentiating benign and malignant tumors with F-18-FDG PET In this study, we produced whole body parametric images of SUV(WBPIS) by body weight normalization, and validated the values by comparison with SUV's calculated with regional scans. Subjects and Methods : Whole body scans were followed by regional scans sequentially on 23 patients. In whole body study, transmission and emission scans were acquired for 2 minutes and 6 minutes for each bed position, respectively. In regional study, transmission and emission scans were acquired for 20 minutes. Measured and segmented/ smoothed attenuation correction were applied using these 2 min transmission scans in whole body studies. The effects of attenuation correction on SUVs were evaluated quantitatively using F-18 filled cylindrical phantom. The mean and peak SUVs obtained from WBPIS were compared with SUVs of the regional scans. Results : In phantom studies, with any method of attenuation correction using regional or whole body studies of phantom, SUVs were nearly consistent. In whole body scan, SUV obtained using measured attenuation correction method was a little higher than SUV of regional scan. SUV obtained using segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method was a little lower. In patient studies, WBPIS using segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method was much smoother and more readable. SUVs of WBPIS obtained with both methods of attenuation correction were well correlated with SUVs of regional scans(r=0.9). SUVs of WBPIS with measured attenuation correction method were 5% lower than SUVs of regional scans. SUVs of WBPIS with segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method were 10% lower than SUVs of regional scans. The differences of SUVs of WBPIS by the two attenuation correction methods were relatively small compared with the possible differences derived from biological characteristics of tumors. Conclusion : We concluded that WBPIS could be useful in the quantification of tumor as well as in localization of whole body lesions, which were often outside the field of view in regional scan. WBPIS made using segmented/smoothed attenuation correction method could be used in clinical routines and SUVs from attenuation corrected F-18-FDG PET could be used interchangeably with SUVs of regional studies.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.36 no.6
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• pp.317-324
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• 2002

Purpose: The use of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) program has increased for the analysis of brain PET and SPECT images. Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) coordinate is used in SPM program as a standard anatomical framework. While the most researchers look up Talairach atlas to report the localization of the activations detected in SPM program, there is significant disparity between MNI templates and Talairach atlas. That disparity between Talairach and MNI coordinates makes the interpretation of SPM result time consuming, subjective and inaccurate. The purpose of this study was to develop a program to provide objective anatomical information of each x-y-z position in ICBM coordinate. Materials and Methods: Program was designed to provide the anatomical information for the given x-y-z position in MNI coordinate based on the Statistical Probabilistic Anatomical Map (SPAM) images of ICBM. When x-y-z position was given to the program, names of the anatomical structures with non-zero probability and the probabilities that the given position belongs to the structures were tabulated. The program was coded using IDL and JAVA language for 4he easy transplantation to any operating system or platform. Utility of this program was shown by comparing the results of this program to those of SPM program. Preliminary validation study was peformed by applying this program to the analysis of PET brain activation study of human memory in which the anatomical information on the activated areas are previously known. Results: Real time retrieval of probabilistic information with 1 mm spatial resolution was archived using the programs. Validation study showed the relevance of this program: probability that the activated area for memory belonged to hippocampal formation was more than 80%. Conclusion: These programs will be useful for the result interpretation of the image analysis peformed on MNI coordinate, as done in SPM program.