• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.94-99
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• 2000

Purpose : With the use of localized, water-suppressed in vivo $^1H$ magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), we evaluated the proton metabolic alterations in patients with chronic alcoholism and healthy normal controls. Material and Methods : Patients with chronic alcoholism (N = 10) and normal control subjects (N = 10) underwent MRS examinations using a stimulated echo acquisition mode (STEAM) pulse sequence with $2{\times}2{\times}2{\;}\textrm{cm}^3$ volume of interest (VOI) in the left cerebellum and basal ganglia. Proton metabolite ratios relative to creative (Cr) were obtained using a Marquart algorithm. Results : The specific feature in patients with chronic alcoholism was a significant decrease of N-acetylaspartate (NAA)/Cr ratio in the left cerebellum, compared with normal controls. No clear correlation of other metabolite ratios such as choline (Cho)/Cr and inositols (Ins)/Cr was established. Conclusion : Our preliminary study suggests that the reduction of NAA/Cr ratio may indicate neuronal loss in patients with chronic alcoholism. Thus, in vivo 1H MRS may be a useful modality in the clinical evaluation of patients with chronic alcoholism based on the proton metabolite ratios.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.224-228
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• 2002

Myocardial tagging technique such as spatial modulation of magnetization (SPAMM) allows the study of myocardial motion with high accuracy. However, the accuracy of the estimation of tag intersection can be affected by tagline spacing. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between tagline spacing of SPAMM image and tagging contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) in in-vivo study. Two healthy volunteers were undergone electrocardiographically triggered MR imaging with SPAMM-based tagging pulse sequence at a 1.5T MR scanner. Horizontally modulated stripe patterns were imposed with a range from 3.6 to 9.6 mm of tagline spacing. Images of the left ventricle(LV) wall were acquired at the mid-ventricle level during cardiac cycle with FE-EPI (TR/TE = 5.8/2.2 msec, FA= 10$^{\circ}$. Tagging CNR for each image was calculated with a software which developed in our group. During contraction, tagging CNR was more rapidly decreased in case of narrow tagline spacing than in case of wide tagline spacing. In the same heart phase, CNR was increased corresponding with tagline spacing. Especially, at the fully contracted heart phase, CNR was more rapidly increased than the other heart phases as a function of tagline spacing. The results indicated that the optimization of tagline spacing provides better tagging CNR in order to analyze the myocardial motion more accurately.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.40 no.6
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• pp.451-458
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• 2008

After more than 10 years construction, KSTAR (Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research) had finally completed its assembly in June 2007, and then achieved the goal of first-plasma in July 2008 through the four month's commissioning. KSTAR was constructed with fully superconducting magnets with material of $Nb_3Sn$ and NbTi, and their operation temperatures are maintained below 4.5K by the help of Helium Refrigerator System. During the first-plasma operation, plasmas of maximum current of 133kA and maximum pulse width of 865ms were obtained. The KSTAR Integrated Control System (KICS) has successfully fulfilled its missions of surveillance, device operation, machine protection interlock, and data acquisition and management. These and more were all KSTAR commissioning requirements. For reliable and safe operation of KSTAR, 17 local control systems were developed. Those systems must be integrated into the logically single control system, and operate regardless of their platforms and location installed. In order to meet these requirements, KICS was developed as a network-based distributed system and adopted a new framework, named as EPICS (Experimental Physics and Industrial Control System). Also, KICS has some features in KSTAR operation. It performs not only 24 hour continuous plant operation, but the shot-based real-time feedback control by exchanging the initiatives of operation between a central controller and a plasma control system in accordance with the operation sequence. For the diagnosis and analysis of plasma, 11 types of diagnostic system were implemented in KSTAR, and the acquired data from them were archived using MDSpius (Model Driven System), which is widely used in data management of fusion control systems. This paper will cover the design and implementation of the KSTAR integrated control system and the data management and visualization systems. Commissioning results will be introduced in brief.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.245-250
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• 2011

Parallel imaging technique can provide several advantages for a multitude of MRI applications. Especially, in SENSE technique, sensitivity maps were always required in order to determine the reconstruction matrix, therefore, a number of difference approaches using sensitivity information from coils have been demonstrated to improve of image quality. Moreover, many filtering methods were proposed such as adaptive matched filter and nonlinear diffusion technique to optimize the suppression of background noise and to improve of image quality. In this study, we performed SENSE reconstruction using computer simulations to confirm the most suitable method for the feasibility of filtering effect and according to changing order of polynomial fit that were applied on variation of spatial resolution of sensitivity map. The image was obtained at 0.32T(Magfinder II, Genpia, Korea) MRI system using spin-echo pulse sequence(TR/TE = 500/20 ms, FOV = 300 mm, matrix = $128{\times}128$, thickness = 8 mm). For the simulation, obtained image was multiplied with four linear-array coil sensitivities which were formed of 2D-gaussian distribution and the image was complex white gaussian noise was added. Image processing was separated to apply two methods which were polynomial fitting and filtering according to spatial resolution of sensitivity map and each coil image was subsampled corresponding to reduction factor(r-factor) of 2 and 4. The results were compared to mean value of geomety factor(g-factor) and artifact power(AP) according to r-factor 2 and 4. Our results were represented while changing of spatial resolution of sensitivity map and r-factor, polynomial fit methods were represented the better results compared with general filtering methods. Although our result had limitation of computer simulation study instead of applying to experiment and coil geometric array such as linear, our method may be useful for determination of optimal sensitivity map in a linear coil array.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.73-82
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• 1998

Purpose : A precise NMR technique for measuring the rate of water exchange and cell membrane permeability across the hepatocyte membrane using liver-specific MR contrast agent is described. Materials and Methods : The rat hepatocytes isolated by perfusion of the livers were used for the NMR measurements. All experiments were performed on an IBM field cycling relaxometer operating from 0.02MHz to 60 MHz proton Larmor frequency. spin-echo pulse sequence was empolyed to measure spin-lattice relaxation time, T1. The continuous distribution analysis of water proton T1 data from rat hepatocytes containing low concentrations of the liver specific contrast agent, Gd-EOB-DTPA, modeled by a general two compartment exchange model. Results : The mean residence time of water molecule inside the hepatocyte was approximately 250 msec. The lower limit for the permeability of the hepatocyte membrane was $(1.3{\pm}0.1){\;}{\times}{\;}10^{-3}cm/sec$. The CONTIN analysis, which seeks the natural distribution of relaxation times, reveals direct evidence of the effect of diffusive exchange. the diffusive water exchange is not small in the intracellular space in the case of hepatocytes. Conclusions : Gd-EOB-DTPA, when combined with continuous distribution analysis, provides a robust method to study water exchange and membrane permeability in hepatocytes. Water exchange in hepatocyte is much slower thatn that in red blood cells. Therefore, tissue-specific contrast agent may be used as a functional agent to give physiological information such as cell membrane permeability.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.89-95
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• 1998

Purpose : To investigate the phosphorus metabolic abnormalities in skeletal muscle of patients with mitochondrial myopathy using in vivo $^{31}P$ magnetic resonance spectroscopy(MRS). Materials and Methods : Patients with mitochondrial myopathy(N=10) and normal control subjects (N=10) participated. All in vivo $^{31}P$ MRS examinations were performed on 1.5T whole-body MRI/MRS system by using an image selected in vivo spectroscopy (ISIS) pulse sequence that provided a $4{\times}4{\times}4{\;}cm^{3}$ volume of interest (VOI) in the right thigh muscle tissue. Peak areas for each phophorus methabolite were measured using a Marquart algorithm. Results : The specific features in patients with mitochondrial myopathy were a significant increase of Pi/PCr ratio (p=0.003) and a significant decrease of ATP/PCr ratio (p=0.004) as compared with normal controls. In particular, the ${\beta}-ATP/PCr$ ratio between controls and patients with mitochondrial myopathy was predominantly altered. Conclusions : In vivo $^{31}P$ MRS may be a useful modality in the clinical evaluation of patients with mitochondrial myopathy based on ATP/PCr and Pi/PCr ratios in skeletal muscle tissue and provides a valuable information in further understanding disorders of muscle metabolism.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.283-290
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• 1988

A spontaneous revertant of mutation rbsB103 that is ribose taxis-positive was characterized. This revertant was found to be export-competent in the export of ribose-binding protein shown by the disappearance of accumulated mutant precursor protein and the export of mature ribose-binding protein to the periplasm. The reversional change was shown to be in the region of risB gene that codes for the amino terminal portion of ribose-binding protein. Analysis by high-performance liquid chromatography of peptide patterns of ribose-binding proteins confirmed the relationship between the wild-type and the revertant proteins as shown for the mutant previously (Iida et al., 1985). When the processing rate of presursor proteins from the wild type and the revertant strain in vivo was compared by pulse-chase experiment, it was found that processing is less efficient than normal in the revertant. Purified mature proteins from both wild-type and revertant were subjected to amino acid sequencing. The results confirmed the amino acid changes deduced from the DNA sequencing and showed that processing of the revertant precursor occured in the correct position even though there are two different amino acids present in the signal sequence.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.241-246
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• 2003

To evaluate the usefulness if functional MR imaging(MRI) for the determination of language dominance system and to assess differences in the visual and auditory instrument language generation task according to activation task or activated area. Functional maps of the language area were obtained during visual and auditory instructions in word generation tasks in 6 healthy volunteer with right-handness were examined on a 1.5T scanner and the EPI BOLD technique, and three pulse sequence technique get of the true axial planes. Both task consisted of 96 phases including 6 activations and rests contents. Postprocessing were done on MRDx program by using cross correlation method. Two task compare the blain activation area surveyed of 1anguage lateralization index. To evaluated of the detection rates of Broca. Wernicke, pre-frontal lobe, Supplementary Motor Area (SMA) and pre-motor cortex areas and the differences of language lateraliaztion among two word generation task To lateralization index survey in 1anguage area on right and left in brain get to activation area pixel in brain. Compared to visual and auditory instrument task in the language areas get to the lateralization index. Two language generation task high detection rates of Broca and Wernicke areas. The visual instruction no detected in the auditory area, and auditory instruction no detected in the visual area. There was statistics significant different of them among language generation task. 1'his indicated that language area obtained image of the brain functional MR imaging usefulness in the visual and auditory task instrument.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.829-839
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• 2021

Objective: To compare the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3-tesla (3T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) for the detection of visceral pleural surface invasion (VPSI). Visceral pleural invasion by non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) can be classified into two types: PL1 (without VPSI), invasion of the elastic layer of the visceral pleura without reaching the visceral pleural surface, and PL2 (with VPSI), full invasion of the visceral pleura. Materials and Methods: Thirty-three patients with pathologically confirmed VPSI by NSCLC were retrospectively reviewed. Multidetector CT and contrast-enhanced 3T MRI with a free-breathing radial three-dimensional fat-suppressed volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (VIBE) pulse sequence were compared in terms of the length of contact, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. Supplemental evaluation of the tumor-pleura interface (smooth versus irregular) could only be performed with MRI (not discernible on CT). Results: At the tumor-pleura interface, radial VIBE MRI revealed a smooth margin in 20 of 21 patients without VPSI and an irregular margin in 10 of 12 patients with VPSI, yielding an accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and F-score for VPSI detection of 91%, 83%, 95%, 91%, 91%, and 87%, respectively. The McNemar test and receiver operating characteristics curve analysis revealed no significant differences between the diagnostic accuracies of CT and MRI for evaluating the contact length, angle of mass margin, or arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio as predictors of VPSI. Conclusion: The diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced radial T1-weighted gradient-echo 3T MRI and CT were equal in terms of the contact length, angle of mass margin, and arch distance-to-maximum tumor diameter ratio. The advantage of MRI is its clear depiction of the tumor-pleura interface margin, facilitating VPSI detection.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.64-72
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• 2002

Purpose : To introduce and demonstrate the advantages of the new hybrid two-dimensional (2D) proton spectroscopic imaging (SI) over the single voxel spectroscopy (SVS) and conventional 2D SI in the clinical application of spectroscopy for pediatric cerebral disease. Materials and Methods : Eighty-one hybrid 2D proton spectroscopic imaging was performed in 79 children (36 normal infants and children, 10 with hypoxic-ischemic injury, 20 with toxic-metabolic encephalopathy, seven with brain tumor, three with meningoencephalitis, one with neurofibromatosis, one with Sturge-Weber syndrome and one with lissencephaly) ranging in age from the third day of life to 15 years. In adult volunteers (n=5), all three techniques including hybrid 2D proton SI, SVS using PRESS sequence, and conventional 2D proton SI were performed. Both hybrid 2D proton SI and SVS using PRESS sequence were performed in clinical cases (n=). All measurements were performed with a 1.5-T scanner using standard head quadrature coil. The 16$\times$16 phase encoding steps were set on variable field of view (FOV) depending on the size of the brain. The hybrid volume of interest inside FOV was set as $75{\times}75{\times}15{\;}\textrm{mm}^3$ or smaller to get rid of unwanted fat signal. Point-resolved spectroscopy (TR/TE=1,500 msec/135 or 270msec) was employed with standard chemical shift selective saturation (CHESSI pulses for water suppression. The acquisition time and spectral quality of hybrid 2D proton SI were compared with those of SVS and conventional 2D proton SI. Results : The hybrid 2D proton SI was successfully conducted upon all patients.