• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.295-302
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• 2022

Sparse-view computed tomography (CT) imaging technique is able to reduce radiation dose, ensure the uniformity of image characteristics among projections and suppress noise. However, the reconstructed images obtained by the sparse-view CT imaging technique suffer from severe artifacts, resulting in the distortion of image quality and internal structures. In this study, we proposed a convolutional neural network (CNN) with wavelet transformation and residual learning for reducing artifacts in sparse-view CT image, and the performance of the trained model was quantitatively analyzed. The CNN consisted of wavelet transformation, convolutional and inverse wavelet transformation layers, and input and output images were configured as sparse-view CT images and residual images, respectively. For training the CNN, the loss function was calculated by using mean squared error (MSE), and the Adam function was used as an optimizer. Result images were obtained by subtracting the residual images, which were predicted by the trained model, from sparse-view CT images. The quantitative accuracy of the result images were measured in terms of peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and structural similarity (SSIM). The results showed that the trained model is able to improve the spatial resolution of the result images as well as reduce artifacts in sparse-view CT images effectively. Also, the trained model increased the PSNR and SSIM by 8.18% and 19.71% in comparison to the imaging model trained without wavelet transformation and residual learning, respectively. Therefore, the imaging model proposed in this study can restore the image quality of sparse-view CT image by reducing artifacts, improving spatial resolution and quantitative accuracy.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.7-13
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• 2022

This study compared the aortic root image by using the ECG gating and non-ECG gating methods. We observed the presence or absence of progression of the aortic root image in the images examined by the high pitch (flash) chest pain protocol method and in the patients tested without ECG gating by the conventional method. The AAPM phantom was scanned by using high pitch (flash) chest pain protocol and general chest pain protocol. CTDI values were compared. By ECG gating, the blurring of ascending aorta was significantly reduced compared to the existing non-ECG gating test method, and the image quality of the aortic root was improved. Within the parametar range that did not show differences in noise, uniformity, and high contrast resolution, CTDI values were lower when tested with the high-pitch chest pain protocol. It was found that there is an advantage in dose reduction, and if it is applied and applied to diagnostic fields such as dissection using the dose reduction mode in the cardiac field, it is a very important test for patients who need rapid diagnosis and prompt treatment as well as a dramatic reduction in exposure dose. It is presumed to be a method.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.17-24
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• 2023

To apply UV-C as a non-heating sterilization method to increase the microbiological safety of fresh seedless watermelon products, reductions in E. coli and quality changes by treatment dose (0, 2, 4, 8, 14, 20 kJ/m²) were investigated. The pH, sugar content, and hardness of watermelon inoculated with E. coli were not significantly different according to the UV-C treatment dose, but the polyphenol content was significantly decreased compared to the controls (425.4 GAE ㎍/g F.W.). When treated with 2 and 4 kJ/m², the lycopene content was 31.6 and 30.9 ㎍/g F.W., respectively, which was increased compared to the controls (28.5 ㎍/g F.W.). The arginine and citrulline content was also significantly increased compared to the controls. The number of E. coli was significantly decreased compared to the controls following UV-C treatment. Considering the degree of E. coli reduction, lycopene content, arginine content, citrulline content, and UV-C irradiation time, subsequent experiments were conducted by selecting a UV-C treatment dose of 2 kJ/m². The results of confirming the degree of reduction in the number of E. coli colonies by a single treatment and combined treatment with UV-C 2 kJ/m² and 70% ethanol showed that the combined treatment was most effective as colonies were decreased by 2.3 log CFU/g compared to the controls. Therefore, it is judged that UV-C 2 kJ/m² radiation and combined treatment with 70% ethanol could be applied as a non-heating sterilization method for fresh watermelon slices.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.8
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• pp.2935-2940
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• 2023

A polystyrene phantom was developed following the guidance of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) for gamma knife (GK) quality assurance. Its performance was assessed by measuring the absorbed dose rate to water and dose distributions. The phantom was made of polystyrene, which has an electron density (1.0156) similar to that of water. The phantom included one outer phantom and four inner phantoms. Two inner phantoms held PTW T31010 and Exradin A16 ion chambers. One inner phantom held a film in the XY plane of the Leksell coordinate system, and another inner phantom held a film in the YZ or ZX planes. The absorbed dose rate to water and beam profiles of the machine-specific reference (msr) field, namely, the 16 mm collimator field of a GK Perfexion^TM or Icon^TM, were measured at seven GK sites. The measured results were compared to those of an IAEA-recommended solid water (SW) phantom. The radius of the polystyrene phantom was determined to be 7.88 cm by converting the electron density of the plastic, considering a water depth of 8 g/cm². The absorbed dose rates to water measured in both phantoms differed from the treatment planning program by less than 1.1%. Before msr correction, the PTW T31010 dose rates (PTW Freiberg GmbH, New York, NY, USA) in the polystyrene phantom were 0.70 (0.29)% higher on average than those in the SW phantom. The Exradin A16 (Standard Imaging, Middleton, WI, USA) dose rates were 0.76 (0.32)% higher in the polystyrene phantom. After msr correction factors were applied, there were no statistically significant differences in the A16 dose rates measured in the two phantoms; however, the T31010 dose rates were 0.72 (0.29)% higher in the polystyrene phantom. When the full widths at half maximum and penumbras of the msr field were compared, no significant differences between the two phantoms were observed, except for the penumbra in the Y-axis. However, the difference in the penumbra was smaller than variations among different sites. A polystyrene phantom developed for gamma knife dosimetry showed dosimetric performance comparable to that of a commercial SW phantom. In addition to its cost effectiveness, the polystyrene phantom removes air space around the detector. Additional simulations of the msr correction factors of the polystyrene phantom should be performed.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1240-1252
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• 2021

Objective: To compare the accuracy for detecting breast cancer in the diagnostic setting between the use of digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT), defined as DBT alone or combined DBT and digital mammography (DM), and the use of DM alone through a systematic review and meta-analysis. Materials and Methods: Ovid-MEDLINE, Ovid-Embase, Cochrane Library and five Korean local databases were searched for articles published until March 25, 2020. We selected studies that reported diagnostic accuracy in women who were recalled after screening or symptomatic. Study quality was assessed using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2 tool. A bivariate random effects model was used to estimate pooled sensitivity and specificity. We compared the diagnostic accuracy between DBT and DM alone using meta-regression and subgroup analyses by modality of intervention, country, existence of calcifications, breast density, Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System category threshold, study design, protocol for participant sampling, sample size, reason for diagnostic examination, and number of readers who interpreted the studies. Results: Twenty studies (n = 44513) that compared DBT and DM alone were included. The pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.90 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.86-0.93) and 0.90 (95% CI 0.84-0.94), respectively, for DBT, which were higher than 0.76 (95% CI 0.68-0.83) and 0.83 (95% CI 0.73-0.89), respectively, for DM alone (p < 0.001). The area under the summary receiver operating characteristics curve was 0.95 (95% CI 0.93-0.97) for DBT and 0.86 (95% CI 0.82-0.88) for DM alone. The higher sensitivity and specificity of DBT than DM alone were consistently noted in most subgroup and meta-regression analyses. Conclusion: Use of DBT was more accurate than DM alone for the diagnosis of breast cancer. Women with clinical symptoms or abnormal screening findings could be more effectively evaluated for breast cancer using DBT, which has a superior diagnostic performance compared to DM alone.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.234-240
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• 2007

Purpose: In this study we propose a block-iterative method for reconstructing Compton scattered data. This study shows that the well-known expectation maximization (EM) approach along with its accelerated version based on the ordered subsets principle can be applied to the problem of image reconstruction for Compton camera. This study also compares several methods of constructing subsets for optimal performance of our algorithms. Materials and Methods: Three reconstruction algorithms were implemented; simple backprojection (SBP), EM, and ordered subset EM (OSEM). For OSEM, the projection data were grouped into subsets in a predefined order. Three different schemes for choosing nonoverlapping subsets were considered; scatter angle-based subsets, detector position-based subsets, and both scatter angle- and detector position-based subsets. EM and OSEM with 16 subsets were performed with 64 and 4 iterations, respectively. The performance of each algorithm was evaluated in terms of computation time and normalized mean-squared error. Results: Both EM and OSEM clearly outperformed SBP in all aspects of accuracy. The OSEM with 16 subsets and 4 iterations, which is equivalent to the standard EM with 64 iterations, was approximately 14 times faster in computation time than the standard EM. In OSEM, all of the three schemes for choosing subsets yielded similar results in computation time as well as normalized mean-squared error. Conclusion: Our results show that the OSEM algorithm, which have proven useful in emission tomography, can also be applied to the problem of image reconstruction for Compton camera. With properly chosen subset construction methods and moderate numbers of subsets, our OSEM algorithm significantly improves the computational efficiency while keeping the original quality of the standard EM reconstruction. The OSEM algorithm with scatter angle- and detector position-based subsets is most available.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.37-44
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• 2013

In study suggested clinical availability to shoulder forced traction method in term of quality of image, the patient's convenience and stability, according to whether to use of shoulder forced traction bend using computed tomography(CT) that X-ray calibration and various mathematic calibration algorithm application can be applied by AEC. To achieve this, 79 patients is complaining of cervical pain oriented that shoulder forced traction bend use the before and after acquires lateral projection scout image and transverse image. transverse image of a fixed size in concern field of pixel and figure the average HU value compare that quantitative analysis. Artifact and pixel and resolution to qualitative clinical estimation image analysis. the patient feel inconvenience degree that self-diagnosis survey that estimate. As a result, lateral projection scout image if you used shoulder forced traction bend for the depicted has been an increase in the number of a cervical vertebrae. transverse image concern field shoulder forced traction bend use the before and after for pixel and the average HU-value changes was judged to be almost irrelevant. Artifact and resolution and contrast, in qualitative analysis of the results relating the observer to the unusual result. So, the patients of 82.27% complained discomfort that use of shoulder forced traction bend in self-diagnosis survey. No merit of medical image by using of bend from result was analyzed quality of image to quantitative and qualitative method judged. Nowadays, CT is supplied possible revision of quality of radiation by reduction of slice and automatic exposure controller, etc and application of preconditioning filter process due to various mathematic revision algorithm. So, image noise by beam hardening artifact should not be a problem. shoulder forced traction bend of use no longer judged clinically availability because have not influence of image quality and give discomfort, have extra dangerousness.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.560-563
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• 2020

Cold plasma has been applied to improve quality of food product; however, studies on its effects on microbial and physicochemical qualities of rice noodles are rarely conducted. In this study, changes in the quality characteristics of rice noodles treated by cold plasma were determined. Cold plasma was generated in a square-shaped plastic container (250 W, 15 kHz, ambient air), and dielectric barrier discharge plasma treatments were applied to rice noodle samples for 0, 10, or 20 min. Rice noodles inoculated with either Bacillus cereus or Escherichia coli O157:H7 were subjected to plasma treatment for 20 min, and the approximate bacterial count reduction were 4.10 and 2.75 log CFU/g, respectively. The Hunter color values of the sample were increased after cold plasma treatment. Peroxide values and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) were increased with an increase in cold plasma treatment time. Futhermore, lipid oxidation was enhanced. Although further studies are warranted to evaluate changes in chemical qualities, such as lipid oxidation of rice noodles, induced by cold plasma, the results suggest that cold plasma can improve the microbial and physical qualities of rice noodles.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.291-297
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• 2013

This study is aimed to evaluate the effect of $T_{1/2}$ upon count rates in the analysis of dynamic scan using NaI (Tl) scintillation camera, and suggest a new quality control method with this effects. We producted a point source with $^{99m}TcO_4^-$ of 18.5 to 185 MBq in the 2 mL syringes, and acquired 30 frames of dynamic images with 10 to 60 seconds each using Infinia gamma camera (GE, USA). In the second experiment, 90 frames of dynamic images were acquired from 74 MBq point source by 5 gamma cameras (Infinia 2, Forte 2, Argus 1). There were not significant differences in average count rates of the sources with 18.5 to 92.5 MBq in the analysis of 10 to 60 seconds/frame with 10 seconds interval in the first experiment (p>0.05). But there were significantly low average count rates with the sources over 111 MBq activity at 60 seconds/frame (p<0.01). According to the second analysis results of linear regression by count rates of 5 gamma cameras those were acquired during 90 minutes, counting efficiency of fourth gamma camera was most low as 0.0064%, and gradient and coefficient of variation was high as 0.0042 and 0.229 each. We could not find abnormal fluctuation in $x^2$ test with count rates (p>0.02), and we could find the homogeneity of variance in Levene's F-test among the gamma cameras (p>0.05). At the correlation analysis, there was only correlation between counting efficiency and gradient as significant negative correlation (r=-0.90, p<0.05). Lastly, according to the results of calculation of $T_{1/2}$ error from change of gradient with -0.25% to +0.25%, if $T_{1/2}$ is relatively long, or gradient is high, the error increase relationally. When estimate the value of 4th camera which has highest gradient from the above mentioned result, we could not see $T_{1/2}$ error within 60 minutes at that value. In conclusion, it is necessary for the scintillation gamma camera in medical field to manage hard for the quality of radiation measurement. Especially, we found a tendency that count rate changes over time at this study, and we proved that it can effect $T_{1/2}$. And also, there is need of appropriate phantoms and the method of quality management like this study, because there are not any advice or limitation degrees for domestic medical purpose scintillation camera.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.170-179
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• 2016

Purpose: This study examined self-efficacy, self-care behavior, posttraumatic growth, and quality of life in cancer patients and their levels by disease characteristics groups to identify patient groups that require psychosocial intervention. Methods: We surveyed 107 patients using a structured questionnaire about the four factors and analyzed the factors by stratifying the patients by the period after the cancer diagnosis, by stage and by current treatment status. Results: The mean score for self-efficacy was 37.78, and that for self-care behavior 49.96. Patients who were diagnosed less than one year ago scored higher on medication, a sub-category of self-care behavior, than the post-diagnosis period of 1~2 year group. The score was higher in the currently-treated group than the follow-up and distant metastasis groups. For posttraumatic growth, the mean was 56.17, and the factor was higher in the 1~2 year post-diagnosis group after than the less than one year group. The score was higher in the follow-up group than the currently-treated group. With regard to quality of life, the mean score was 25.79, and no significant correlation was found with disease characteristics. Conclusion: A shorter post-diagnosis period increased self-care behavior, and the greatest posttraumatic growth was reported by the 1~2 year post-diagnosis group. It may be necessary to provide cancer patients with an education program and other strategies less than one year after the diagnosis to improve self-efficacy and self-care behavior. To promote post-traumatic growth, it may be helpful to provide patients with psychosocial intervention within two years after the diagnosis.