• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.329-337
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• 2018

This study was investigated quantitative ultrasound (QUS) usage in Korea for the QUS quality control guidelines. A total of 344 questionnaires collected from July 24th to August 25th 2017 were analyzed. Questionnaires were created through user interviews, expert group advice, literature review and field observation. As a result of the general characteristics of quantitative ultrasound holding amounted to 81.98% of clinic and 6.69% of hospitals. The main user was radio-logical technologists as 31.39%. The contact methods of the gel pad (balloon) were the most used at 56.68% and the scan region was 91.9% of calcaneus. The quantitative ultrasound quality control cycle was 67.37% when the abnormality was found in the equipment, and 63.66% when the accuracy control was implemented according to the manual. The phantoms of QUS were 34.30% of the manufacturer's own phantoms. User of QUS had never received education for quality control of quantitative ultrasound as 62.20%. This study was expected to be useful when creating detailed quality control guidelines in the future, as well as guidelines for the quality control of Korea's standard quantitative ultrasound.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.390-398
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• 2022

Ultrasound examination using ultrasound equipment is an ultrasound device that images human organs using sound waves and is used in various areas such as diagnosis, follow-up, and treatment of diseases. However, if the quality of ultrasound equipment is not guaranteed, the possibility of misdiagnosis increases, and the diagnosis rate decreases. Accordingly, The Korean Society of Radiology and Korea society of Ultrasound in Medicine presented guidelines for quality management of ultrasound equipment using ATS-539 phantom. The DenseNet201 classification algorithm shows 99.25% accuracy and 5.17% loss in the Dead Zone, 97.52% loss in Axial/Lateral Resolution, 96.98% accuracy and 20.64% loss in Sensitivity, 93.44% accuracy and 22.07% loss in the Gray scale and Dynamic Range. As a result, it is the best and is judged to be an algorithm that can be used for quantitative evaluation. Through this study, it can be seen that if quantitative evaluation using artificial intelligence is conducted in the qualitative evaluation item of ultrasonic equipment, the reliability of ultrasonic equipment can be increased with high accuracy.

• Physical Therapy Korea
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2006

Since ultrasound has different reflections depending on components of organization, analysis of ultrasound images of skeletal muscle can offer both quantitative and qualitative reports as concerns skeletal muscle structure. This study is focused on the ultrasound method for evaluating the structural characteristics of skeletal muscle and also conducted to examine its practicality. After obtaining images of the elbow flexors from an ultrasound image device with 88 normal subjects whose ages were between twenty and seventy years old (44 men and 44 women), muscular density and white area index (WAI) which indicated structural characteristics of skeletal muscle were analyzed with gray scale analysis. The study examined correlations between subject's age and items which obtained from measuring ultrasound images and the differences in relations to sex and age. Muscular density and WAI had a high correlation with age and were significantly increased in men and women with greater age. The quantitative evaluation method of skeletal muscle structure which analyzed the ultrasound images has high practicality because it is a non-invasive method which complements physical therapy diagnosis and research methods and promotes functionality evaluation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.134-140
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• 2015

Traditional moxibustion therapy can cause severe pain and leave scarring burns at the moxibustion site as it relies on the practitioner's subjective and qualitative treatment. Recently, ultrasound therapy has received attention as an alternative to moxibustion therapy owing to its objectiveness and quantitative nature. However, in order to convert ultrasound energy into heat energy, there is a need to precisely understand the ultrasound-focusing characteristics of the acoustic lens. Therefore, in this study, an FEM simulation was performed for acoustic lenses with different geometries a concave lens and zone lens as the geometry critically influences ultrasound focusing. The acoustic pressure field, amplitude, and focal point were also calculated. Furthermore, the performance of the fabricated acoustic lens was verified by a sound pressure measurement experiment.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.21-30
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• 2005

Purpose : Metabolic bone diseases have been mai or problems in children with renal diseases and steroid treatment is the main precipitating factor reducing bone mineral density(BMD). This study was performed to assess the prevalence of osteoporosis and to evaluate the clinical factors associated with decreased BMD in children with renal diseases. Methods : Forty-four children with renal diseases who were diagnosed at the Pediatric no phrology division of Ajou University hospital since Oct. 1994 were included. Using a new quantitative ultrasound device, BMD and the prevalence of osteoporosis were evaluated. The clinical and serological data were analyzed in association with decreased BMD. Results : A total of 44 patients were evaluated. The age at initial diagnosis was 6.7$\pm$4.2 years. At the time of evaluation, the chronological and bone age was 9.3$\pm$4.2 years and 8.2 $\pm$ 4.6 years, respectively. The renal diseases included nephrotic syndrome 24(54.5%), Henoch Schonlein purpura nephritis 7(15.9%), IgA nephropathy 6(13.9%), reflux nephropathy(RN) 2 (4.5%), and other renal disease 5(%). The prevalence of osteoporosis was 11%. There was no difference in the clinical factors between the long-term and the short-term treated steroid groups. Conclusion : The prevalence of osteoporosis was 12% in 44 children with renal diseases No significant factor was found in association with decreased BMD and there was no relationship between osteoporosis and steroid usage duration or cumulative dose. A new quantitative ultrasound, which is relatively easy to perform, especially in children, is expected to be in common use and will enable clinicians to evaluate metabolic bone disorders with ease.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.436-442
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• 2018

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to identify the effect of dairy products, milk and yogurt on osteoporosis incidence among Korean postmenopausal women using prospective cohort data. MATERIALS/METHODS: Between 2001 and 2003, 10,038 participants were recruited in rural and urban areas for a baseline examination of a community-based cohort study. Of those, 1,573 postmenopausal women (aged 40-69 years at baseline) were eligible for the present study. Intakes of dairy products, milk, and yogurt were assessed using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The speed of sound at the radius and tibia were measured using a quantitative ultrasound device and osteoporosis was defined based on the WHO criteria (T-score ${\leq}-2.5$). RESULTS: During the 4-years follow-up study, the cumulative incidence of osteoporosis was 18.4% (273 cases) in the radius and 33.6% (407 cases) in the tibia. The subjects with higher frequency of dairy product consumption showed a decreased risk of radius osteoporosis after adjusting for potential confounders [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.51, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.33-0.80 for >1 time/day vs. non consumer; P for trend = 0.0027]. Similarly, high frequency of milk and yogurt consumption had a protective effect on radius osteoporosis risk [milk: HR = 0.60, 95% CI: 0.42-0.87 for > 5-6 times/week vs. non consumer (P for trend = 0.0130), yogurt: HR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.30-0.85 for > 5-6 times/week vs. non consumer (P for trend = 0.0167)]. However, high dairy products consumption was not related with tibia osteoporosis. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that daily intake of dairy products could potentially reduce radius osteoporosis incidence among Korean postmenopausal women.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.284-291
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• 2013

The importance of ultrasound examination in the field of medical imaging has been emphasized and the interest in sonographic image evaluation is growing. However image evaluations by the non-standardized criteria and methods, so establishment of legal provisions and objective evaluation criteria are needed. In this study, we used SNR to find out more quantitative way and supplement the limitations of the existing phantom image evaluation. The results of acquired 8 images using ATS-539 multipurpose phantom were compared in SNR of sensitivity and gray-scale dynamic range. In the result of the experiment, excellent equipment of existing phantom images are G1, S1 and G2 in regular sequence. In SNR of sensitivity, G1, S1 and G2 and in SNR of gray-scale dynamic range, S1 G1 and G2 in order. In the conclusion, all the experiment results did not show big difference and regular pattern neither. Therefore, the new evaluation measures should be used with the existing phantom image evaluation method for more objective and quantitative evaluation of the ultrasound imaging device.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.325-330
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• 2004

Several kinds of low voltage cables have been used in nuclear power plants for the supply of electric power, supervision, and the propagation of control signals. These low voltage tables must be inspected for safe and stable operation of nuclear power plants. In particular, the degradation diagnosis to estimate the integrity of low voltage rabies has recently been emphasized according to the long use of nuclear power plants. In order to evaluate their degradation, the surrounding temperature, hardness of insulation material, elongation at breaking point (EAB), etc. have been used. However, the measurement of temperature or hardness is not useful because of the absence of quantitative criteria; the inspection of a sample requires turning off of the power plant power; and, the electrical inspection method is not sufficiently sensitive from the initial through the middle stage of degradation. In this research, based on the theory that the ultrasonic velocity changes with relation to the degradation of the material, we measured the ultrasonic velocity as low voltage cables were degraded. To this end, an ultrasonic degradation diagnosis device was developed and used to measure the ultrasonic velocity with the clothing on the cable, and it was confirmed that the ultrasonic velocity changes according to the degradation of low voltage cables. The low voltage cables used in nuclear power plants were degraded at an accelerated rate, and EAB was measured in a tensile test conducted after the measurement of ultrasonic velocity. With the increasing degradation degree, the ultrasonic velocity decreased, whose potential as a useful parameter for the quantitative degradation evaluation was thus confirmed.