• Title/Summary/Keyword: asymmetry

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Added Value of Chemical Exchange-Dependent Saturation Transfer MRI for the Diagnosis of Dementia

  • Jang-Hoon Oh;Bo Guem Choi;Hak Young Rhee;Jin San Lee;Kyung Mi Lee;Soonchan Park;Ah Rang Cho;Chang-Woo Ryu;Key Chung Park;Eui Jong Kim;Geon-Ho Jahng
    • Korean Journal of Radiology
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    • v.22 no.5
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    • pp.770-781
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    • 2021
  • Objective: Chemical exchange-dependent saturation transfer (CEST) MRI is sensitive for detecting solid-like proteins and may detect changes in the levels of mobile proteins and peptides in tissues. The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of chemical exchange proton pools using the CEST MRI technique in patients with dementia. Materials and Methods: Our institutional review board approved this cross-sectional prospective study and informed consent was obtained from all participants. This study included 41 subjects (19 with dementia and 22 without dementia). Complete CEST data of the brain were obtained using a three-dimensional gradient and spin-echo sequence to map CEST indices, such as amide, amine, hydroxyl, and magnetization transfer ratio asymmetry (MTRasym) values, using six-pool Lorentzian fitting. Statistical analyses of CEST indices were performed to evaluate group comparisons, their correlations with gray matter volume (GMV) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: Amine signals (0.029 for non-dementia, 0.046 for dementia, p = 0.011 at hippocampus) and MTRasym values at 3 ppm (0.748 for non-dementia, 1.138 for dementia, p = 0.022 at hippocampus), and 3.5 ppm (0.463 for non-dementia, 0.875 for dementia, p = 0.029 at hippocampus) were significantly higher in the dementia group than in the non-dementia group. Most CEST indices were not significantly correlated with GMV; however, except amide, most indices were significantly correlated with the MMSE scores. The classification power of most CEST indices was lower than that of GMV but adding one of the CEST indices in GMV improved the classification between the subject groups. The largest improvement was seen in the MTRasym values at 2 ppm in the anterior cingulate (area under the ROC curve = 0.981), with a sensitivity of 100 and a specificity of 90.91. Conclusion: CEST MRI potentially allows noninvasive image alterations in the Alzheimer's disease brain without injecting isotopes for monitoring different disease states and may provide a new imaging biomarker in the future.

Changes of lateral cephalometric values according to the rotation of head (두부회전에 따른 측모두부방사선 계측치의 변화)

  • Kim, Kwang-Soo;Hwang, Mee-Sun;Choi, Eui-Hwan;Kim, Kwang-Won;Yoon, Young-Jooh
    • The korean journal of orthodontics
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    • v.30 no.1 s.78
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    • pp.53-66
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    • 2000
  • This study was performed to find out the effect of projection errors on cephalometric linear and angular measurements according to head rotation during taking lateral cephalometric radiographs. Seventeen skulls with permanent dentition and no gross asymmetry were obtained from the Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Chosun University. Total 527 x-ray films were taken with $1^{\circ}$ interval from the reference position($0^{\circ}$) to ${\pm}15^{\circ}$ around the vertical axis (Z axis) which is perpendicular to the midpoint of the line connecting the center of two ear rods in submento-vertex direction. Statistical analysis was performed by paired t-test if there were statistically significant differences between the mean of the reference position($0^{\circ}$) and that of each rotation angle. The following results were obtained. 1. The projection errors of angular measurements were smaller than those of linear measurements. 2. The projection errors of angular measurements including midline landmarks were smaller than those including bilateral landmarks. 3. The horizontal linear measurements were gradually decreased when the stroll was rotated toward the film, but slightly increased and then decreased when the skull was rotated toward the focal spot. However, the changes were smaller in focal direction. 4. The projection errors of horizontal linear measurements were larger than those of vertical linear measurements. 5. The projection errors of vertical linear measurements were increased with increased distance from the rotation axis to vertical measurements. It is concluded that the use of angular measurements rather than linear measurements is recommended to minimize the projection errors.

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Strategic Antitrust Policy Promoting Mergers to Enhance Domestic Competitiveness (기업결합규제(企業結合規制)와 국제경쟁력(國際競爭力))

  • Seong, So-mi
    • KDI Journal of Economic Policy
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    • v.12 no.3
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    • pp.153-172
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    • 1990
  • The present paper investigates the potential value of strategic antitrust policy in an oligopolistic international market. The market is characterized by a non-cooperative Cournot-Nash equilibrium and by asymmetry in costs among firms in the world market. The model is useful for two reasons. First, it is important in the context of policy-making to examine the conditions under which it may be beneficial to relax antitrust law to enhance competitiveness. Second, the explicit derivation of the level of cost-saving required for a gain in total domestic surplus provides an empirical rule for excluding industries that do not satisfy the requirements for a socially beneficial antitrust exemption. Results of the analysis include a criterion that tells how the cost-saving and concentration effects of a merger offset each other. The criterion is derived from fairly general assumptions on demand functions and is simple enough to be applied as a part of the merger guidelines. Another interesting policy implication of our analysis is that promoting mergers would not be a beneficial strategy in a net importing industry where cost-saving opportunities are thin. Cost-saving domestic mergers are more likely to increase national welfare in exporting industries. The best candidate industries for application of strategic antitrust policy are those with the following characteristics: (i) a large potential for efficiency enhancement; (ii) high market concentration at the world but not the domestic level; (iii) a high ratio of exports to imports. Recently, many policymakers and economists in Korea have also come to believe that the appropriate antitrust policy in an era of increased foreign competition may actually be to encourage rather than to prohibit domestic mergers. The Industry Development Act of 1986 and the proposed bill for Mergers and Conversions in the Financial Industry of 1990 reflect this changing perspective on antitrust policy. Antitrust laws may burden domestic firms in the sense that they have a more constrained strategy set. Expenditures to avoid antitrust attacks could also increase costs for domestic firms. But there is no clear evidence that the impact of antitrust policy is significant enough to harm the competitiveness of domestic firms. As a matter of fact, it is necessary for domestic financial institutions to become large in scale in this era of globalization. However, the absence of empirical evidence for efficiency enhancement from mergers suggests caution in the relaxation of antitrust standards.

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A Comparative Study on the Design Element in Traditional Palaces Korea, China and Japan (한 중 일 의장 문화 비교 연구 - 궁궐전출을 중심으로 -)

  • Lee, Hyun-Jung;Park, Young-Soon;Choi, Ji-Young;Hwang, Jung-Ah
    • Archives of design research
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    • v.18 no.4 s.62
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    • pp.277-286
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    • 2005
  • The purpose of this study is to ascertain the design element in traditional palaces of Korea, China and Japan. It takes threesteps to proceed this study. Firstly, it needs to be established the analysis framework from the documents. In second step, the design elements - the form, the material, the pattern and the color - should be collected and investigated through the observation of the actual traditional palaces the Changduckung, the Forbidden City, the Nijo castle. The third step is the analysis of the results of the investigation of the design elements from step two. To sum up similarities and dissimilarities among the design element in traditional palaces of Korea, China and Japan is as the following It is to be noticed that the mainly common characteristics of the artistic design are 'naturalism', 'harmonious ideas' and 'confucianism'. But the representation style of the design element is differed from the country. : The typical features of China are symmetry, glassy surface by artificial process, the meandered curve, the magnificent pattern and the constrable color. In Japan, the mathematical asymmetry, made-up rough surface by artificial skill, decorativepattern with abbreviation and achromatic color are important feature of the design element. While the major features of Korean design element are asymmetrical balance with nature, rough surface by natural process, moderate pattern and harmonious color.

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A STUDY ON THE SIZE OF THE PERMANENT TEETH (영구치의 치아크기에 관한 연구)

  • Baik, Byeong-Ju;Park, Jeong-Yeol;Kim, Jae-Gon;Lee, Doo-Cheol
    • Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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    • v.30 no.3
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    • pp.502-509
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    • 2003
  • After 800 students of Chonbuk National University was examined, 86 people (male : 43, female : 43, mean age : 22.2 years old) was selected as a group of normal occlusion. From their gypsum cast, this conclusion was obtained. 1. Intra-observer measurement errors in buccolingual diameter, maxillary lateral incisors have somewhat bigger errors. In mesiodistal diameter, maxillary first molars and maxillary second molar have bigger numerical value. Mean errors of measurement are 0.051mm at buccolingual diameter of crown and 0.083mm at mesiodistal diameter. 2. Fluctuating asymmetry is 0.030 average in buccolingual diameter, and 0.037 average in mesiodistal diameter. Statistically there are no big differences. 3. Male has longer buccolingual diameter than female in every permanent teeth. Teeth which have statistical difference in buccolingual diameter are maxillary lateral incisor, maxillary canine, maxillary second molar, mandibular central incisor, mandibular canine, mandibular second premolar, and mandibular first molar. In mesiodistal diameter maxillary central incisor, maxillary canine, and mandibular first molar have statistically difference. 4. Tooth which has the biggest difference depending on gender is maxillary lateral incisor in buccolingual diameter and mandibular canine in mesiodistal diameter. 5. Both sexes have similar crown index. Male has bigger value of crown module measurement and crown area measurement in every tooth. Crown area considered as size of tooth from occlusal surface was bigger in male than in female statistically except some teeth, maxillary first premolar, mandibular lateral incisor, first premolar and second premolar.

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Functional Mapping of the Neural Basis for the Encoding and Retrieval of Human Episodic Memory Using ${H_2}^{15}O$ PET ({H_2}^{15}O$ PET을 이용한 정상인의 삽화기억 부호화 및 인출 중추 뇌기능지도화)

  • Lee, Jae-Sung;Nam, Hyun-Woo;Lee, Dong-Soo;Lee, Sang-Kun;Jang, Myoung-Jin;Ahn, Ji-Young;Park, Kwang-Suk;Chung, June-Key;Lee, Myung-Chul
    • The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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    • v.34 no.1
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    • pp.10-21
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    • 2000
  • Purpose: Episodic memory is described as an 'autobiographical' memory responsible for storing a record of the events in our lives. We performed functional brain activation study using ${H_2}^{15}O$ PET to reveal the neural basis of the encoding and the retrieval of episodic memory in human normal volunteers. Materials and Methods: Four repeated ${H_2}^{15}O$ PET scans with two reference and two activation tasks were performed on 6 normal volunteers to activate brain areas engaged in encoding and retrieval with verbal materials. Images from the same subject were spatially registered and normalized using linear and nonlinear transformation. Using the means and variances for every condition which were adjusted with analysis of covariance, t-statistic analysis were performed voxel-wise. Results: Encoding of episodic memory activated the opercular and triangular parts of left inferior frontal gyrus, right prefrontal cortex, medial frontal area, cingulate gyrus, posterior middle and inferior temporal gyri, and cerebellum, and both primary visual and visual association areas. Retrieval of episodic memory activated the triangular part of left inferior frontal gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus, right prefrontal cortex and medial temporal area, and both cerebellum and primary visual and visual association areas. The activations in the opercular part of left inferior frontal gyrus and the right prefrontal cortex meant the essential role of these areas in the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory. Conclusion: We could localize the neural basis of the encoding and retrieval of episodic memory using ${H_2}^{15}O$ PET, which was partly consistent with the hypothesis of hemispheric encoding/retrieval asymmetry.

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Estimation of the Lowest and Highest Astronomical Tides along the west and south coast of Korea from 1999 to 2017 (서해안과 남해안에서 1999년부터 2017년까지 최저와 최고 천문조위 계산)

  • BYUN, DO-SEONG;CHOI, BYOUNG-JU;KIM, HYOWON
    • The Sea:JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN SOCIETY OF OCEANOGRAPHY
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.495-508
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    • 2019
  • Tidal datums are key and basic information used in fields of navigation, coastal structures' design, maritime boundary delimitation and inundation warning. In Korea, the Approximate Lowest Low Water (ALLW) and the Approximate Highest High Water (AHHW) have been used as levels of tidal datums for depth, coastline and vertical clearances in hydrography and coastal engineering fields. However, recently the major maritime countries including USA, Australia and UK have adopted the Lowest Astronomical Tide (LAT) and the Highest Astronomical Tide (HAT) as the tidal datums. In this study, 1-hr interval 19-year sea level records (1999-2017) observed at 9 tidal observation stations along the west and south coasts of Korea were used to calculate LAT and HAT for each station using 1-minute interval 19-year tidal prediction data yielded through three tidal harmonic methods: 19 year vector average of tidal harmonic constants (Vector Average Method, VA), tidal harmonic analysis on 19 years of continuous data (19-year Method, 19Y) and tidal harmonic analysis on one year of data (1-year Method, 1Y). The calculated LAT and HAT values were quantitatively compared with the ALLW and AHHW values, respectively. The main causes of the difference between them were explored. In this study, we used the UTide, which is capable of conducting 19-year record tidal harmonic analysis and 19 year tidal prediction. Application of the three harmonic methods showed that there were relatively small differences (mostly less than ±1 cm) of the values of LAT and HAT calculated from the VA and 19Y methods, revealing that each method can be mutually and effectively used. In contrast, the standard deviations between LATs and HATs calculated from the 1Y and 19Y methods were 3~7 cm. The LAT (HAT) differences between the 1Y and 19Y methods range from -16.4 to 10.7 cm (-8.2 to 14.3 cm), which are relatively large compared to the LAT and HAT differences between the VA and 19Y methods. The LAT (HAT) values are, on average, 33.6 (46.2) cm lower (higher) than those of ALLW (AHHW) along the west and south coast of Korea. It was found that the Sa and N2 tides significantly contribute to these differences. In the shallow water constituents dominated area, the M4 and MS4 tides also remarkably contribute to them. Differences between the LAT and the ALLW are larger than those between the HAT and the AHHW. The asymmetry occurs because the LAT and HAT are calculated from the amplitudes and phase-lags of 67 harmonic constituents whereas the ALLW and AHHW are based only on the amplitudes of the 4 major harmonic constituents.

Problems of Water Use and Estimation of Water Right in North Han River Shared by North and South Korea (II) - Estimation of Water Right in Downstream Area (남북공유하천 북한강의 물이용 문제점 및 수리권 추정 (II) -하류유역 수리권 추정)

  • Ahn, Jong-Seo;Lee, Gwang-Man;Jung, Kwan-Sue
    • Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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    • v.44 no.4
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    • pp.315-325
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    • 2011
  • There are not many practical measures to solve a water conflict, when a hydromorphologically asymmetric situation in international rivers exists whereby downstream users may not affect upstream users but upstream users do cause downstream impacts. In taking advantage of this merit, North Korea has built Imnam Dam in upstream of North Han River and uses water for trans-basin hydropower generation. As an impact of this dam South Korean' area as a downstream user has been suffered from water deficit and dry river. It is very critical for South Korea to solve a key problem such as water allocation for water supply and river maintenance. Therefore, this study is aim to suggest alternatives for equitable water allocation in consideration of special circumstances between the South and the North. For this, reviewing the allocation methods of water rights is carried using lessons obtained from international river cases. The results show that the minimum desired streamflow is calculated at 7.3 $m^3/sec$; water budget analysis by the equitable distribution of streamflows at the border line of the North Han River, the difference in water supply deficiency is at 3.7 $m^3/sec$ before and after Imnam Dam; in the determined distribution method, the difference in water deficiency is at 11.38 $m^3/sec$. These results show that South Korea should be secured 11.38 $m^3/sec$ from North Korean's Imnam Dam in respective of water use right and sound river maintenance.

The Financing Behavior and Financial Structure Determinants of Korean Manufacturing Firms (한국제조기업의 자금조달행태와 재무구조 결정요인에 관한 연구)

  • Shin, Dong-Ryung
    • The Korean Journal of Financial Management
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    • v.23 no.2
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    • pp.109-141
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    • 2006
  • The central factor in the pecking order theory of financial structure is the asymmetric distribution of information between managers and less-informed outside investors. Myers and Majluf (1984) show that this asymmetry leads managers to prefer internal funds to external funds. Funds are raised through equity issues only after the capacity to issue debt has been exhausted. In contrast, according to static tradeoff theory, an optimum financial structure exists by the tradeoff between tax saving by debt and bankruptcy costs. This study examines the recent changes of Korean firms' financial structure and financing behavior and the determinants of financial structure. The sample of firms comes from the period of $1996{\sim}2004$, and the number of firms is 32,003. The major findings are as follows. First, in contrast with previous studies using US firms as sample, Korean firms have been using debt financing as their major financing instrument. Especially, the firms in the fund deficit situation relies much more on $long{\sim}term$ and $short{\sim}term$ debts rather than on equity issues. Second, as is the case with previous studies using US firms sample indicates, the financing deficit variable can not explain perfectly the net debt issue. However, compared with net equity issue variable, net debt issue variable is more closely related to the financing deficit variable. Third, when financing deficit variable is added to the current list of explanatory variables of financial structure determinants model, it has a significant and positive explanatory power. In addition, the coefficients of determinants are much improved. Thus, it is concluded that although pecking order theory is not perfect, it appears to be more useful compared to static tradeoff theory, at least in explaining the recent financing behavior of Korean manufacturing firms.

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Bilateral retinoblastoma: Long-term follow-up results from a single institution (단일기관의 장기추적 결과)

  • Choi, Sang Yul;Kim, Dong Hwan;Lee, Kang Min;Lee, Hyun Jae;Kim, Mi-Sook;Lee, Tai-Won;Choi, Sang Wook;Kim, Dong Ho;Park, Kyung Duk;Lee, Jun Ah
    • Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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    • v.52 no.6
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    • pp.674-679
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    • 2009
  • Purpose : The authors aimed to analyze the long-term effects of treatments, especially external beam radiotherapy (EBRT), in bilateral retinoblastoma patients. Methods : This retrospective study analyzed the medical records of 22 bilateral retinoblastoma patients who were registered between October, 1987 and October, 1998 and followed-up for more than 10 years. They were treated by enucleation, EBRT, and systemic chemotherapy. Age at diagnosis, sex, delay prior to treatment, Reese-Ellsworth (RE) classification, and the local treatment modalities were analyzed in relation to recurrence-free survival (RFS) and complications. Results : Median age at diagnosis was 7.0 months (range 1.7-31.6 months). Leukocoria was the most common presenting feature. Two patients had a familial history. The RE classifications of the 44 eyes were group II in 4, III in 14, IV in 4, and V in 22. At the end of a median follow-up period of 141 months (range 55-218 months), 20 patients were alive. The 10-year ocular survival rate of the 44 eyes was $56.8{\pm}7.5%$. The 10-year RFS and ocular survival rate of the 29 eyes treated by combined EBRT and chemotherapy were 75.9% and 86.2%, respectively. Treatment delay (>3 months) was found to be related to higher risk of recurrence. Complications after EBRT were cataract, retinal detachment, phthisis bulbi, and facial asymmetry. No patient developed a second malignancy during the follow-up period. Conclusion : Early detection and prompt treatment can increase ocular survival rates. In addition, careful attention should be paid to possible long-term sequelae in these patients.