• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.380-386
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• 2005

Optimal conditions of ultrafiltration (UF) and nanofiltration (NF) were investigated for separation and concentration of isoflavones and oligosaccharides from Sunmul. Levels of COD, BOD, and suspended solids (SS) in UF and NF permeates were also determined to evaluate effectiveness of these processes for reducing water pollution. Optimal UF operation conditions to achieve minimal fouling and maximal flux were $33-34^{\circ}C$ operating temperature and 2.3-2.4 bar trans-membrane pressure. Recovery yields of isoflavones and oligosaccharides in UF retentate were 11.49-28.16% and 12.77-27.57%, respectively. Increase in volumetric concentration factor (VCF) resulted in more functional compounds of isoflavones and oligosaccharides passing through UF membrane. Total isoflavone and oligosaccharide yields decreased by 3% as VCF increased from 6.0 to 8.0 and from 8.0 to 10.0, while decreased significantly by 10% as VCF decreased from 4.0 to 6.0. Optimal NF operating conditions were 192-195 psig operating pressure at $30-33^{\circ}C$. Total yields of isoflavones and oligosaccharides significantly decreased at VCF 8.0, whereas did not decrease up to VCF 6.0 during NF operation. Therefore, VCF 6.0 was recommended for economical process. COD and BOD decreased by more than 98% after NF process, and SS were not detected after UF process. These results indicated sequential filtration process was useful for separation of isoflavones and oligosaccharides from Sunmul and for reducing water contaminants.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.221-230
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• 2014

Purpose: To evaluate the risk of vertebral compression fracture (VCF) after conventional radiotherapy (RT) for colorectal cancer (CRC) with spine metastasis and to identify risk factors for VCF in metastatic and non-metastatic irradiated spines. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 68 spinal segments in 16 patients who received conventional RT between 2009 and 2012. Fracture was defined as a newly developed VCF or progression of an existing fracture. The target volume included all metastatic spinal segments and one additional non-metastatic vertebra adjacent to the tumor-involved spines. Results: The median follow-up was 7.8 months. Among all 68 spinal segments, there were six fracture events (8.8%) including three new VCFs and three fracture progressions. Observed VCF rates in vertebral segments with prior irradiation or pre-existing compression fracture were 30.0% and 75.0% respectively, compared with 5.2% and 4.7% for segments without prior irradiation or pre-existing compression fracture, respectively (both p < 0.05). The 1-year fracture-free probability was 87.8% (95% CI, 78.2-97.4). On multivariate analysis, prior irradiation (HR, 7.30; 95% CI, 1.31-40.86) and pre-existing compression fracture (HR, 18.45; 95% CI, 3.42-99.52) were independent risk factors for VCF. Conclusion: The incidence of VCF following conventional RT to the spine is not particularly high, regardless of metastatic tumor involvement. Spines that received irradiation and/or have pre-existing compression fracture before RT have an increased risk of VCF and require close observation.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.192-200
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• 2004

It is an anaerobic germ that Lactobacillus cell concentrated using ceramic membrane has high stability and long lifetime as compared with polymeric membrane. The effects of operating pressure, temperature, crossflow velocity on cell harvesting have been studied. Also the variation of flux and transmembrane pressure (TMP) with increasing concentration ratio and the change of TMP at constant concentration ratio (volumetric concentration factor: VCF) regarding the optimization have been examined. It showed that the permeate flux increased gradually with the increasing of transmembrane pressure, crossflow velocity, and volumetric concentration factor. The higher initial flux was due to the reduction of viscosity at elevated temperature. However, as operating time progressed, the effect of temperature was negligible since the effect of viscosity became minor. As a result, that operate in a constant concentration ratio, decreased degree could know that become slowly although the flux decreases according as operating time progressed. The flux is a very stable in the condition of constant VCF range. The yield of Latobaciilus (PS 406) which was cultivated at $37^{\circ}C$ was concentrated about 4.9{\times}10^9$ after operation.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.378-380
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• 2009

Osteoporotic patients who undergo percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) have the risk of a repeated collapse of their adjacent vertebral body due to alteration of load transfer into the adjacent vertebral body. The authors have experienced a rare case of repeated osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (VCF) resulting in extreme multi-level PVP. A 74-year-old female developed severe back pain after slipping down one month ago. Her X-ray and MR images indicated a T11 VCF. She underwent successful PVP with polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA). Two weeks later, she returned to our hospital due to a similar back pain. Repeated X-ray and MR images showed an adjacent VCF on T12. A retrial of PVP was performed on T12, which provided immediate pain relief. Since then, repeated collapses of the vertebral body occurred 12 times in 13 levels within a 24-month period. Each time the woman was admitted to our hospital, she was diagnosed of newly developed VCFs and underwent repeated PVPs with PMMA, which finally eased back pain. Based on our experience with this patient, repeated multiple PVP is not dangerous because its few and minor complications. Therefore, repeated PVP can serve as an effective treatment modality for extreme-multi level VCFs.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-18
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture treatment for recovery of patients with vertebral compression fracture(VCF). Methods : We searched ten English and Chinese and seven Korean database up to April 2018. Randomised controlled trials(RCTs), quasi-RCTs, non-radomised Controlled Trials(CCTs) were eligible. Quasi-RCTs and CCTs were assessed only for safety assessment. Pain and adverse events were primary outcome of this review. Quality of life, dysfunction, patient satisfaction, incidence of new vertebral compression fracture were regarded as secondary outcomes. The risk of bias was assessed by two independent authors using the Cochrane risk of bias tool. Level of evidence was tabulated using the GRADE methods. Results : Of 1656 screened, 15 RCTs, 1 quasi-RCT and 3 CCTs were included. Number of participants per study ranged from 45 to 135. Most of the studies had unclear or high risk of bias and considerable heterogeneity in terms of type of intervention, comparison and time-points for outcome measurement. Compared to usual care alone, acupuncture combined with usual care showed short-term favorable results for pain relief in patients with VCF(5 studies, n=252, MD -1.05 point on a 0 to 10 point scale, 95% CI -1.45 to -0.65, $I^2=74%$). Four studies reported mild and temporary adverse events, and no serious adverse events were reported. One study descriptively reported that acupuncture was effective for improving quality of life without providing numerical outcomes. There were no reports of patient satisfaction and incidence of new VCF. Conclusions : Level of evidence is very low for the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for pain, harms and other clinical outcomes in patients with VCF. Included studies suffered from incomplete reporting, high or unclear risk of bias and substantial heterogeneity between studies. Future high-quality RCTs are needed to assess whether acupuncture is beneficial for recovery of patients with VCF.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.311-319
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• 2017

Scale formation is inevitable problem when seawater is treated by vacuum membrane distillation. The reason is the high concentration of calcium ion($Ca^{2+}$), sulfate ion(${SO_4}^{2-}$) and bicarbonate ion(${HCO_3}^-$). These ions form calcium sulfate($CaSO_4$) and calcium carbonate($CaCO_3$) on the membrane. The scale formed on membrane has to be removed, because the flux can be severely reduced and membrane wetting can be incurred. This study was carried out to investigate scale formation and effectiveness of acid cleaning in vacuum membrane distillation for SWRO brine treatment. It was found that permeate flux gradually declined until volume concentration factor(VCF) reached around 1.55 and membrane wetting started over VCF over 1.6 in the formation of precipitates containing $CaSO_4$ during VMD operation. In contrast, when calcium carbonate formed on membrane, permeate flux was gradually reduced until VCF 3.0. The precipitates containing both $CaSO_4$ and $CaCO_3$ were formed on the membrane surface and in the membrane pore.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.137-144
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• 2004

ECG signals are often contaminated with high-frequency noise such as muscle artifact, power line interference, and others. In the ECG signal processing, especially during a pre-processing stage, numerous noise removal techniques have been used to reduce these high-frequency noise without much distorting the original signal. This paper proposes a new type of digital filter with a continuously variable cutoff frequency to improve the signal quality This filter consists of a cutoff frequency controller (CFC) and variable cutoff frequency lowpass filter (VCF-LPF). From the noisy input ECG signal, CFC produces a cutoff frequency control signal using the signal slew rate. We implemented VCF-LPF based on two new filter design methods called convex combination filter (CCF) and weight interpolation fille. (WIF). These two methods allow us to change the cutoff frequency of a lowpass filter In an arbitrary fine step. VCF-LPF shows an excellent noise reduction capability for the entire time segment of ECG excluding the rising and falling edge of a very sharp QRS complex. We found VCF-LPF very useful and practical for better signal visualization and probably for better ECG interpretation. We expect this new digital filter will find its applications especially in a home health management system where the measured ECG signals are easily contaminated with high-frequency noises .

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.107-127
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• 2022

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has been related to damage identification with either operational loads or other environmental loading playing a significant complimentary role in terms of structural safety. In this study, a non-parametric method of time frequency analysis on the measurement is used to address the time-frequency representation for modal parameter estimation and system damage identification of structure. The method employs the wavelet decomposition of dynamic data by using the modified complex Morlet wavelet with variable central frequency (MCMW+VCF). Through detail discussion on the selection of model parameter in wavelet analysis, the method is applied to study the dynamic response of both steel structure and reinforced concrete frame under white noise excitation as well as earthquake excitation from shaking table test. Application of the method to building earthquake response measurement is also examined. It is shown that by using the spectrogram generated from MCMW+VCF method, with suitable selected model parameter, one can clearly identify the time-varying modal frequency of the reinforced concrete structure under earthquake excitation. Discussions on the advantages and disadvantages of the method through field experiments are also presented.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.1-17
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• 1983

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of thyroid hormone on the left ventricular(LV) volume arid function in man with untreated hyperthyroidism and to determine the effects of successful therapy for thyrotoxicosis on the ventricular pathophysiology. In the present study, equilibrium radionuclide cardiac angiography was performed and LV volume index, ejection phase indexes of LV performance, serum thyroid hormone levels and other hemodynamic parameters were measured in 28 normal subjects and 39 patients with hyperthyroidism before treatment and again every 4 weeks for the first 2 months after the initiation of effective therapy. The results obtained were as follows; 1) In the untreated hyperthyroid state heart rate, blood volume, cardiac index and stroke volume index($97{\pm}14$ beats/min, $73.5{\pm}11.8ml/kg,\;6.9{\pm}1.4\;l/min/m^2$ and $77.6{\pm}13.8ml/m^2$, respectively) were increased significantly compared to those in normal control($74{\pm}12beats/min$, $66.6{\pm}14.8ml/kg,\;3.8{\pm}1.2\;l/min/m^2$ and $56.6{\pm}13.2ml/m^2$ respectively). $(Mean{\pm}SD)$ 2) There was a significant increase in LV end-diastolic volume index in patients with hyperthyroidism ($30.5{\pm}7.5$ for hyperthyroid group compared to a normal control of $22.2{\pm}6.5$; p<0.001), whereas end-systolic volume index remained unchanged $9.6{\pm}3.6\;and\;8.8{\pm}3.3$ respectively).3) In patients with hyperthyroidism, LV ejection fraction was $70.0{\pm}5.6%$, fractional shortening $32.9{\pm}5.1%$, mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening(mean Vcf) $1.34{\pm}0.31$ circ/sec and maximum ejection rate $3.47{\pm}0.80$. All the ejection phase indexes were significantly greater than those in normal control($65.2{\pm}5.7%,\;28.8{\pm}3.2%,\;0.88{\pm}0.37$ circ/see and $2.27{\pm}0.50$, respectively; p<0.001). 4) Effective therapy produced significant decrease in all the values of serum thyroid hormone concentrations(p<0.00l), hemodynamic parameters(p<0.001), end-diastolic volume index(p<0.01) and ejection phase indexes of LV contractility in patients with hyperthyroidism and after one to two months, when the patients were euthyroid, these measurements were in the range of normal. 5) A significant linear correlation between mean Vcf and serum thyroxine level(r=0.63, p<0.001) as well as between mean Vcf and serum triiodothyronine level(r=0.62, p<0.001) was found. The lesser degree of correlation was also noted between other ejection phase indexes and serum thyroid hormone concentrations. The results indicate that the major effects of excess thyroid hormone on the LV in human beings with hyperthyroidism are an enhancement of LV function and an increase in LV enddiastolic volume and that these effects cause predictable reversible cardiac alteration which are changed dramatically and immediately after effective therapy.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.79-85
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• 2015

Objectives: A vertebral compression fracture (VCF) is characterized by back pain and fracture of a vertebral body on spinal radiography. VCFs of the thoraco lumbar spine are common in the elderly. In general, appropriate analgesics should be prescribed to reduce pain and, thus, promote early mobilization. The ideal treatment approach for VCFs has not been determined. In Korea, acupuncture and herbal medication have been used to treat VCFs for many years. There is empirical evidence that acupuncture might benefit patients with a VCF. However, no randomized, controlled, clinical trials evaluating the efficacy and the safety of acupuncture for treating a VCF have been published. Therefore, we designed a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial to obtain information for the design of a further full scale trial. Methods: A five week protocol for a randomized, controlled, pilot, clinical trial is presented. Fourteen patients will be recruited and randomly allocated to two groups: a control group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections once a week for three weeks, and an experimental group receiving interlaminar epidural steroid injections plus acupuncture treatment (three acupuncture sessions per week for three weeks, nine sessions in total). The primary outcomes will be the pain intensity (visual analogue scale and PainVision$^{TM}$ system). The secondary outcome measurements will be the answers on the short form McGill pain questionnaire and the oswestry disability index. Assessments will be made at baseline and at one, three, and five weeks. The last assessment (week five) will take place two weeks after treatment cessation. This study will provide both an indication of feasibility and a clinical foundation for a future large scale trial. The outcomes will provide additional resources for incorporating acupuncture into existing treatments, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications, narcotics and vertebral augmentation. This article describes the protocol.