• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.233-241
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• 2020

Several hard tick species in Ixodidae are medically important pests that transmit infectious disease including severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (SFTS). In Korea, the number of SFTS patients continues to steadily increase since its first report in 2013, and Gyeongsangbuk-do (province) is the second most frequent area of SFTS patient occurrence. In order to investigate the distribution of ticks in Sangju city, we collected ticks using the flagging method from 26 sites comprising urban green area, vulnerable area of management, and rural area, and examined SFTS virus from the collected ticks in 2019. Based on Collection Index (CI = tick number / 1 h / 2 people), CI 143 ticks, including Haemaphysalis longicornis, Haemaphysalis flava, and Ixodes nipponensis, were collected; the most abundant species among the three tick species was H. longicornis (CI 138, 96.5%). Ninety two percent (CI 131) of ticks were collected in vulnerable area of management, where people cannot easily enter and are not managed by city hall, whereas only 8.4% (CI 12) were collected in the urban green area and rural area. Regarding SFTS virus detection, virus was not investigated from 26 pools containing CI 143 ticks. The results of this study are expected to be used as a recommendation for ensuring the safety of local residents from tick-borne diseases.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.91-98
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• 2007

Objectives : Considering the impact of depressive illness on physical and mental health of both mother and fetus, specification of a treatment algorithm for depressive disorder during pregnancy is legitimated. This article provides a systemic review of treatments for depressive disorder during pregnancy and lactation. Methods : According to the search strategy of the Clinical Research Center for Depression of Korean Health 21 R & D Project, PubMed and EMBASE were searched using terms with regard to the treatment of depressive disorders during pregnancy and lactation. Reference lists of related reviews and studies were searched. In addition, relevant practice guidelines were searched using the PubMed. All identified clinical literatures were reviewed and summarized in a narrative manner. Results : Pharmacotherapy during pregnancy and lactation requires a comprehensive assessment of the risks and benefits of treatment for both mother and fetus or neonate. Recently, there is growing evidence that the use of tricyclic and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors during pregnancy and lactation does not result in increased risks of teratogenicity. Treatment strategies are described according to the point of time of pregnancy or lactation. FDA categories for antidepressants during pregnancy and lactation are described. In addition, issues regarding to the electroconvulsive therapy and psychosocial treatment are discussed. Conclusion : The treatment option for depressive disorders during pregnancy and lactation depends on the severity of depressive illnesses of the individual patient. For mild to moderate depression, the non-pharmacological treatment should be considered first. For moderate to severe depression, pharmacotherapy should be administered in addition to the psychosocial treatment. ECT is recommended for depressive disorder of severe intensity. As the research knowledge is limited, the recommendations should based on the best judgement of psychiatrists.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.215-225
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• 2001

Background: There are many evidences that inflammation is an important determinant of the development of atherosclerosis and one of the systemic markers of inflammation, C-reactive protein(CRP), is associated with extent of coronary artery disease and risk of coronary events. We assessed the time response of CRP response after coronary angioplasty and it's influence on the clinical restenosis in angina patients. Materials and Methods: Patients included 36 angina patients undergoing single vessel angioplasty. Levels of CRP were measured before and 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours after angioplasty. Clinical restenosis was assessed at 6 months after procedure. Results: Baseline CRP level was $0.30{\pm}0.01$ mg/dL in stable and $0.46{\pm}0.28$ mg/dL in unstable angina patients(p<0.05). After angioplasty, CRP level was increased with peak at 24 hour and persisted to 72 hours after angioplasty. At 24 hour after angioplasty, the magnitude of CRP change was $0.32{\pm}0.31$ mg/dL in stable and $0.79{\pm}0.73$ mg/dL in unstable angina patient(p<0.05). The change of CRP level was not associated with troponin-T after angioplasty. In unstable angina patients, clinical restenosis was developed in 8% of patients with low baseline CRP levels and in 50% of those with high baseline CRP levels more than 0.6 mg/dL(p<0.05). Conclusion: In unstable angina patients, inflammatory response is more increased than stable angina patients, and increased inflammatory response effects on the restenosis after coronary angioplasty.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.95-102
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• 1985

This report offers descriptive data about the drugs utilized in out patient department (OPD) of Yeungnam University Hospital (YUH) in the period of march to august in 1985. The data in this report were produced by the computerized totalization of the number of mentions of individual drugs included in the prescriptions. The 100 drug entries that were most frequently recorded are listed in rank order. The listing is arbiturarily restricted to the drugs that were prescribed as single preparations, the drugs of basis of compound preparations and the drugs of adjuvent or corrective of compound preparations that have significant therapeutic effects either by generic names. And in addition, the listing also involves the compound preparations used in relatively large frequency, and the individual components of which have the unique pharmacological actions each other by proprietary names. And all routes of administrations were allowed. The 10 drugs most frequently named are diazepam, aluminum compounds, acetaminophen, isoniazid, metoclopramide, $polaramine^{(R)}$, carboxymethylcystem, ephedrine, codeine and caroverine in order. The 521,855 drug mentions listed as above are described by the chief therapeutic usage that each is intended to apply generally. The drugs which account the largest proportion of total mentions were those acting on the central nervous system (20.57%), including tranquilhzers and sedative hypnotics (11.71%), analgesic antipyretics (5.55%), antidepressants (2.15%) etc. Gastrointestinal drugs and smooth muscle preparations (18.64%) included antacids and anti-ulcer drugs (9.24%), antiemetics (3.57%), spasmolytics (3.14%) and others. Respiratory drugs (16.11%) included expectorants and cough preparations (10.99%) and bronchodilators (5.12%). Chemotherapeutic agents (15.12%) included the antiTbc drugs (7.09%) most frequently, and the penicillins (3.33%) accounted the largest proportion among the antibiotics. Cardiovascular drugs (5.64%) included cardiac drugs and coronary vasodilator (4.12%) and antihypertensives and vasodilators (1.06%). And anti-inflammatory drugs (4.33%), vitamins of single preparations (3.76%), hormones and their antagonists (3.29%), common cold preparations (3.12%), diuretics (2.81%), drugs supporting liver function (2.02%), drugs affecting autonomic nervous system(1.89%) including anti-glaucomas, atropine and cerebral vasodilators, antihistamine drugs (1.02%) and disinfectants (0.74%) were following in order. The data in this report were compared to those reported by H. Koch, et al. in United States (US), 1981 as "Drugs Most Frequently Used in Office Practice:National Ambulatory Medical Case Survey, 1981." Cardiovascular drugs prescribed in YUH were much less in proportion than in US (10.56%), but gastrointestinal drugs accounted the larger proportion than in US (3.72%). Expectorants and cough preparations in YUH also accounted the larger proportion than in US (2.74%). In conclusion, in the period of march to august, 1985, OPD of YUH prescribed the CNS drugs including diazepam most frequently, and gastrointestinal, repiratory and chemotherapeutic drugs in next orders. It is supposed that the eating habits of Koreans and a unique atmospheric condition in Taegu as a basin were some important factors that affected the proportions of drugs acting on gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.24-31
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• 2006

Automated analysis software was developed to measure the magnitude of the intrafractional and interfractional errors during breast radiation treatments. Error analysis results are important for determining suitable planning target volumes (PTV) prior to Implementing breast-conserving 3-D conformal radiation treatment (CRT). The electrical portal imaging device (EPID) used for this study was a Portal Vision LC250 liquid-filled ionization detector (fast frame-averaging mode, 1.4 frames per second, 256X256 pixels). Twelve patients were imaged for a minimum of 7 treatment days. During each treatment day, an average of 8 to 9 images per field were acquired (dose rate of 400 MU/minute). We developed automated image analysis software to quantitatively analyze 2,931 images (encompassing 720 measurements). Standard deviations ($\sigma$) of intrafractional (breathing motion) and intefractional (setup uncertainty) errors were calculated. The PTV margin to include the clinical target volume (CTV) with 95% confidence level was calculated as $2\;(1.96\;{\sigma})$. To compensate for intra-fractional error (mainly due to breathing motion) the required PTV margin ranged from 2 mm to 4 mm. However, PTV margins compensating for intefractional error ranged from 7 mm to 31 mm. The total average error observed for 12 patients was 17 mm. The intefractional setup error ranged from 2 to 15 times larger than intrafractional errors associated with breathing motion. Prior to 3-D conformal radiation treatment or IMRT breast treatment, the magnitude of setup errors must be measured and properly incorporated into the PTV. To reduce large PTVs for breast IMRT or 3-D CRT, an image-guided system would be extremely valuable, if not required. EPID systems should incorporate automated analysis software as described in this report to process and take advantage of the large numbers of EPID images available for error analysis which will help Individual clinics arrive at an appropriate PTV for their practice. Such systems can also provide valuable patient monitoring information with minimal effort.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.252-260
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• 2012

The reduction of radiation dose from x-ray is a main concern in computed tomography (CT) imaging due to the side-effect of the dose on human body. Recently, the various methods for dose reduction have been studied in CT and one of the method is a iterative reconstruction based on total variation (TV) minimization at few-views data. In this paper, we evaluated the image quality between total variation (TV) minimization algorithm and Feldkam-Davis-kress (FDK) algorithm in micro computed tomography (CT). To evaluate the effect of TV minimization algorithm, we produced a cylindrical phantom including contrast media, water, air inserts. We can acquire maximum 400 projection views per rotation of the x-ray tube and detector. 20, 50, 90, 180 projection data were chosen for evaluating the level of image restoration by TV minimization. The phantom and mouse image reconstructed with FDK algorithm at 400 projection data used as a reference image for comparing with TV minimization and FDK algorithm at few-views. Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), Universal quality index (UQI) were used as a image evaluation metric. When projection data are not insufficient, our results show that the image quality of reconstructed with TV minimization is similar to reconstructed image with FDK at 400 view. In the cylindrical phantom study, the CNR of TV image was 5.86, FDK image was 5.65 and FDK-reference was 5.98 at 90-views. The CNR of TV image 0.21 higher than FDK image CNR at 90-views. UQI of TV image was 0.99 and FDK image was 0.81 at 90-views. where, the number of projection is 90, the UQI of TV image 0.18 higher than FDK image at 90-views. In the mouse study UQI of TV image was 0.91, FDK was 0.83 at 90-views. the UQI of TV image 0.08 higher than FDK image at 90-views. In cylindrical phantom image and mouse image study, TV minimization algorithm shows the best performance in artifact reduction and preserving edges at few view data. Therefore, TV minimization can potentially be expected to reduce patient dose in clinics.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.279-284
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• 2012

The X ray has been widely used in both diagnosis and treatment. Recently, a miniature X ray tube has been developed for radiotherapy. The miniature X ray tube is directly inserted into the body irradiated, so that X rays can be guided to a target at various incident angles according to collimator geometry and, thus, minimize patient dose. If such features of the miniature X ray tube can be applied to development of X ray imaging as well as radiation treatment, it is expected to open a new chapter in the field of diagnostic X ray. However, the miniature X ray tube requires an added filter and a collimator for diagnostic purpose because it was designed for radiotherapy. Therefore, a collimator and an added filter were manufactured for the miniature X ray tube, and mounted on. In this study, we evaluated beam characteristics of the miniature X ray tube for diagnostic X ray system and accuracy of measuring the HVL. We used the Si PIN Photodiode type Piranha detector (Piranha, RTI, Sweden) and estimated the HVL of the miniature X ray tube with added filter and without added filter. Through an another measurement using Al filter, we evaluated the accuracy of the HVL obtained from a direct measurement using the automatic HVL calculation function provided by the Piranha detector. As a result, the HVL of the miniature X ray tube was increased around 1.9 times with the added filter mounted on. So we demonstrated that the HVL was suitable for diagnostic X ray system. In the case that the added filter was not mounted on, the HVL obtained from use of the automatic HVL calculation function provided by Piranha detector was 50% higher than the HVL estimated using Al filter. Therefore, the HVL automatic measurement from the Piranha detector cannot be used for the HVL calculation. However, when the added filter was mounted on, the HVL automatic measurement value using the Piranha detector was approximately 15% lower than the estimated value using Al filter. It implies that the HVL automatic measurement can be used to estimate the HVL of the miniature X ray tube with the added filter mounted on without a more complicated measurement method using Al filter. It is expected that the automatic HVL measurement provided by the Piranha detector enables to make kV-X ray characterization easier.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.199-204
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• 2014

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the dosimetric outcome of the field-in-field (FIF) plans compared with tangential wedged beams (TWB) plans for whole breast irradiation of breast cancer patients. Twenty patients with right-sided breast cancer and 10 patients with left-sided breast cancer were retrospectively enrolled in this study. We generated a FIF plan and a TWB plan for each patient to compare dosimetric outcomes. The dose the homogeneity index (HI), the conformity index (CI) and the uniformity index (UI) were defined and used for comparison of the dosimetric outcome of the planning target volume (PTV). To compare the dosimetric outcome of the organs at risk, the mean dose ($D_{mean}$) and the percentage of volumes receiving more than 10, 20 and 30 Gy of the ipsilateral lung and heart were used. The FIF plans had significantly lower HI (p=0.002), higher UI (p=0.000) and CI (p=0.000) than those of the TWB plans, which means that the FIF plans were better than the TWB plans in the dosimetric comparisons of the PTV. The $V10_{lung}$ ($17.1{\pm}7.1$ vs. $18.6{\pm}6.6%$, p=0.020) and $V30_{lung}$ ($10.3{\pm}5.1%$ vs. $10.7{\pm}5.2%$, p=0.000) were lower with the FIF plans compared with those of the TWB plans, with statistical significance. For the left-sided breast cancer patients, $D_{mean}$ of the heart ($2.6{\pm}1.3$ vs. $3.2{\pm}1.4$ Gy, p=0.000), $V20_{heart}$ ($3.4{\pm}2.6$ vs. $3.6{\pm}2.8%$, p=0.005) and $V30_{heart}$ ($2.6{\pm}2.3%$ vs. $2.9{\pm}2.4%$, p=0.004) were significantly lower for the FIF plans in comparison with those of the TWB plans. The FIF plans increased the dose homogeneity, conformity and uniformity of the target volume for the whole-breast irradiation compared with the TWB plans. Moreover, FIF plans reduced the doses to the ipsilateral lung and heart.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.271-280
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• 2014

Recently, digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) has been investigated to overcome the limitation of conventional mammography for overlapping anatomical structures and high patient dose with cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). However incomplete sampling due to limited angle leads to interference on the neighboring slices. Many studies have investigated to reduce artifacts such as interference. Moreover, appropriate filters for tomosynthesis have been researched to solve artifacts resulted from incomplete sampling. The primary purpose of this study is finding appropriate filter scheme with FBP reconstruction for DBT system to reduce artifacts. In this study, we investigated characteristics of various filter schemes with simulation and prototype digital breast tomosynthesis under same acquisition parameters and conditions. We evaluated artifacts and noise with profiles and COV (coefficinet of variation) to study characteristic of filter. As a result, the noise with parameter 0.25 of Spectral filter reduced by 10% in comparison to that with only Ramp-lak filter. Because unbalance of information reduced with decreasing B of Slice thickness filter, artifacts caused by incomplete sampling reduced. In conclusion, we confirmed basic characteristics of filter operations and improvement of image quality by appropriate filter scheme. The results of this study can be utilized as base in research and development of DBT system by providing information that is about noise and artifacts depend on various filter schemes.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.253-258
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• 2013

The purpose of this study is to evaluate and analyze the relationship between the external radiation dose reconstruction which is transmitted from the patient who receives radiation treatment through electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and the internal dose derived from the Monte Carlo simulation. As a comparative analysis of the two cases, it is performed to provide a basic indicator for similar studies. The geometric information of the experiment and that of the radiation source were entered into Monte Carlo n-particle (MCNPX) which is the computer simulation tool and to derive the EPID images, a tally card in MCNPX was used for visualizing and the imaging of the dose information. We set to source to surface distance (SSD) 100 cm for internal measurement and EPID. And the water phantom was set to be 100 cm of the source to surface distance (SSD) for the internal measurement and EPID was set to 90 cm of SSD which is 10 cm below. The internal dose was collected from the water phantom by using mesh tally function in MCNPX, accumulated dose data was acquired by four-portal beam exposures. At the same time, after getting the dose which had been passed through water phantom, dose reconstruction was performed using back-projection method. In order to analyze about two cases, we compared the penetrated dose by calibration of itself with the absorbed one. We also evaluated the reconstructed dose using EPID and partially accumulated (overlapped) dose in water phantom by four-portal beam exposures. The sum dose data of two cases were calculated as each 3.4580 MeV/g (absorbed dose in water) and 3.4354 MeV/g (EPID reconstruction). The result of sum dose match from two cases shows good agreement with 0.6536% dose error.