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Quality Reporting of Radiomics Analysis in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease: A Roadmap for Moving Forward

  • So Yeon Won;Yae Won Park;Mina Park;Sung Soo Ahn;Jinna Kim;Seung-Koo Lee
    • Korean Journal of Radiology
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    • v.21 no.12
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    • pp.1345-1354
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    • 2020
  • Objective: To evaluate radiomics analysis in studies on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) using a radiomics quality score (RQS) system to establish a roadmap for further improvement in clinical use. Materials and Methods: PubMed MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched using the terms 'cognitive impairment' or 'Alzheimer' or 'dementia' and 'radiomic' or 'texture' or 'radiogenomic' for articles published until March 2020. From 258 articles, 26 relevant original research articles were selected. Two neuroradiologists assessed the quality of the methodology according to the RQS. Adherence rates for the following six key domains were evaluated: image protocol and reproducibility, feature reduction and validation, biologic/clinical utility, performance index, high level of evidence, and open science. Results: The hippocampus was the most frequently analyzed (46.2%) anatomical structure. Of the 26 studies, 16 (61.5%) used an open source database (14 from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative and 2 from Open Access Series of Imaging Studies). The mean RQS was 3.6 out of 36 (9.9%), and the basic adherence rate was 27.6%. Only one study (3.8%) performed external validation. The adherence rate was relatively high for reporting the imaging protocol (96.2%), multiple segmentation (76.9%), discrimination statistics (69.2%), and open science and data (65.4%) but low for conducting test-retest analysis (7.7%) and biologic correlation (3.8%). None of the studies stated potential clinical utility, conducted a phantom study, performed cut-off analysis or calibration statistics, was a prospective study, or conducted cost-effectiveness analysis, resulting in a low level of evidence. Conclusion: The quality of radiomics reporting in MCI and AD studies is suboptimal. Validation is necessary using external dataset, and improvements need to be made to feature reproducibility, feature selection, clinical utility, model performance index, and pursuits of a higher level of evidence.

Field Applicability Evaluation Experiment for Ultra-high Strength (130MPa) Concrete (초고강도(130MPa) 콘크리트의 현장적용성 평가에 관한 실험)

  • Choonhwan Cho
    • Journal of the Society of Disaster Information
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    • v.20 no.1
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    • pp.20-31
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    • 2024
  • Purpose: Research and development of high-strength concrete enables high-rise buildings and reduces the self-weight of the structure by reducing the cross-section, thereby reducing the thickness of beams and slabs to build more floors. A large effective space can be secured and the amount of reinforcement and concrete used to designate the base surface can be reduced. Method: In terms of field construction and quality, the effect of reducing the occurrence of drying shrinkage can be confirmed by studying the combination of low water bonding ratio and minimizing bleeding on the concrete surface. Result: The ease of site construction was confirmed due to the high self-charging property due to the increased fluidity by using high-performance water reducing agents, and the advantage of shortening the time to remove the formwork by expressing the early strength of concrete was confirmed. These experimental results show that the field application of ultra-high-strength concrete with a design standard strength of 100 MPa or higher can be expanded in high-rise buildings. Through this study, we experimented and evaluated whether ultra-high-strength concrete with a strength of 130 MPa or higher, considering the applicability of high-rise buildings with more than 120 floors in Korea, could be applied in the field. Conclusion: This study found the optimal mixing ratio studied by various methods of indoor basic experiments to confirm the applicability of ultra-high strength, produced 130MPa ultra-high strength concrete at a ready-mixed concrete factory similar to the real size, and tested the applicability of concrete to the fluidity and strength expression and hydration heat.

A Study on the Quality of Healthcare Services for Four Critical Illnesses and the Maintenance of Right to Protection and Dignity in a Senior General Hospital (상급종합병원의 4대 중증질환 의료 서비스 품질과 보호받을 권리 및 존엄성 유지에 관한 연구)

  • Woojin Lee;Minsuk Shin
    • Journal of Korean Society for Quality Management
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    • v.51 no.4
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    • pp.531-550
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    • 2023
  • Purpose: The unique nature of life-and-death healthcare services sets them apart from other service industries. While many studies exist on the relationship between healthcare services and customer satisfaction, most of them focus on mildly ill patients, ignoring the differences between critically ill and non-seriously ill patients. This study discusses the actual quality of healthcare services for patients who are facing life-threatening illnesses and are on life support, as well as their right to protection and dignity. Methods: The survey conducted to 149 patients with the four major illnesses: cancer, heart disease, brain disease and rare and incurable disease, those who have experiences with senior general hospitals. Results: The basic statistics of this study are adequate to represent the four major critical illnesses, and the reliability and validity of this study's hypotheses, which were measured by multiple items, were analyzed, and the internal consistency was judged to be high. In addition, it was found that the convergent validity was good and the discriminant validity was also secured. When examining the goodness of fit of the hypotheses, the SRMR, which is the standardized root mean square of residuals that measures the difference between the covariance matrix of the data variables and the theoretical covariance matrix structure of the model, met the optimal criteria. Conclusion: The academic implications of this study are differentiated from other studies by moving away from evaluating the quality of healthcare services for mildly ill patients and focusing on the rights and dignity of patients with life-threatening illnesses in four senior general hospitals. In terms of academic implications, this study enriches the depth of related studies by demonstrating the right to protection and dignity as a factor of patient-centeredness based on physical environment quality, interaction quality, and outcome quality, which are presented as sub-factors of healthcare quality. We found that the three quality factors classified by Brady and Cronin (2001) are optimized for healthcare quality assessment and management, and that the results of patients' interaction quality assessment can be used to provide a comprehensive quality rating for hospitals. Health and human rights are inextricably linked, so assessing the degree to which rights and dignity are protected can be a superior and more comprehensive measurement tool than traditional health level measures for healthcare organizations. Practical implications: Improving the quality of the physical environment and the quality of outcomes is an important challenge for hospital managers who attract patients with life and death conditions, but given the scale and economics of time, money, and human inputs, improving the quality of interactions and defining them as performance indicators in hospital quality management is an efficient way to create maximum value in the short term.

Fish fauna and growth characteristics of Zacco platypus populations in Seomgang River (섬강의 어류상 및 피라미 개체군의 생육특성 분석)

  • Ji Hye Bae;Ju Hyoun Wang;Hwang Goo Lee
    • Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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    • v.42 no.1
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    • pp.15-27
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    • 2024
  • The goal of this study was to provide basic data necessary for managing fish in the Seomgang River by confirming diversity of fish species in the Seomgang River and determining the degree of change in fish species through a comparison with earlier related work. Growth rate, obesity level, and temporal and spatial reproductive capacities were analyzed to determine growth characteristics of dominant species. Fish fauna and structure of the fish community were surveyed at three different time points from October of 2020 to August of 2021 at eight sites. In addition, growth characteristics of Zacco platypus from June of 2021 to July of 2022 at four sites were determined. A total of 3,999 individuals, 43 species, and ten families of fish were identified. Among these species, 19 (44.19%) were Korean endemic species and four (9.30%) were endangered species. The dominant species was Z. platypus. Pungtungia herzi was identified as a subdominant species. An analysis of length-weight relationships and condition factor (k) of Z. platypus confirmed a good state of growth. As a result of a frequency analysis of the total length, the life cycle of the Z. platypus population living in the Seomgang River was found to be stable. According to gonadosomatic index (GSI) analysis, the spawning season of Z. platypus was estimated to occur after May, consistent with the literature.

Scheme on Environmental Risk Assessment and Management for Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Sub-seabed Geological Structures in Korea (이산화탄소 해양 지중저장사업의 환경위해성평가관리 방안)

  • Choi, Tae-Seob;Lee, Jung-Suk;Lee, Kyu-Tae;Park, Young-Gyu;Hwang, Jin-Hwan;Kang, Seong-Gil
    • Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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    • v.12 no.4
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    • pp.307-319
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    • 2009
  • Carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) technology has been regarded as one of the most possible and practical option to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) and consequently to mitigate the climate change. Korean government also have started a 10-year R&D project on $CO_2$ storage in sea-bed geological structure including gas field and deep saline aquifer since 2005. Various relevant researches are carried out to cover the initial survey of suitable geological structure storage site, monitoring of the stored $CO_2$ behavior, basic design of $CO_2$ transport and storage process and the risk assessment and management related to $CO_2$ leakage from engineered and geological processes. Leakage of $CO_2$ to the marine environment can change the chemistry of seawater including the pH and carbonate composition and also influence adversely on the diverse living organisms in ecosystems. Recently, IMO (International Maritime Organization) have developed the risk assessment and management framework for the $CO_2$ sequestration in sub-seabed geological structures (CS-SSGS) and considered the sequestration as a waste management option to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This framework for CS-SSGS aims to provide generic guidance to the Contracting Parties to the London Convention and Protocol, in order to characterize the risks to the marine environment from CS-SSGS on a site-specific basis and also to collect the necessary information to develop a management strategy to address uncertainties and any residual risks. The environmental risk assessment (ERA) plan for $CO_2$ storage work should include site selection and characterization, exposure assessment with probable leak scenario, risk assessment from direct and in-direct impact to the living organisms and risk management strategy. Domestic trial of the $CO_2$ capture and sequestration in to the marine geologic formation also should be accomplished through risk management with specified ERA approaches based on the IMO framework. The risk assessment procedure for $CO_2$ marine storage should contain the following components; 1) prediction of leakage probabilities with the reliable leakage scenarios from both engineered and geological part, 2) understanding on physio-chemical fate of $CO_2$ in marine environment especially for the candidate sites, 3) exposure assessment methods for various receptors in marine environments, 4) database production on the toxic effect of $CO_2$ to the ecologically and economically important species, and finally 5) development of surveillance procedures on the environmental changes with adequate monitoring techniques.

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Actual Vegetation and Structure of Plant Community of Forest Ecosystem in Taejongdae, Busan City, Korea (부산광역시 태종대 산림생태계의 현존식생 및 식물군집구조)

  • Kim, Jong-Yup
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.26 no.3
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    • pp.426-436
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    • 2012
  • This study was carried out to investigate actual vegetation, the structure of plant community, and ecological succession sere of coastal forest ecosystem in warm temperate climate zone, Taejongdae, Busan City, Korea to provide the basic data for planning of the forest management. As a result of analysis of actual vegetation, vegetation types divided into 35 types, and the area of survey site was $1,750,461m^2$. The ratio of vegetation type dominated by Pinus thunbergii was 80.7%, dominated by Quercus spp. was just 5.0%, and dominated by Carpinus tschonoskii was just 0.4%. Eighteen plots(size is $20m{\times}20m$) were set up and the results analyzed by DCA which is one of the ordination technique showed that the plant communities were divided into four groups which are community I(P. thunbergii community), community II(P. thunbergii-Quercus serrata community), community III(Q. serrata-P. thunbergii community), and community IV(Carpinus tschonoskii-P. thunbergii community). The age of community I was from 38 to 59 years old, that of community II was from 35 to 71 years old, that of community III was from 37 to 53 years old, that of community IV was from 50 to 72 years old, thus we supposed that the age of the study site is about from 38 to 72 years old. We supposed that the successional sere of the study site is in the early stage of ecological succession in the warm temperate climate zone. The dominant species will be changed from P. thunbergii to Q. serrata or Carpinus tschonoskii in the canopy layer, on the other hand, Eurya japonica will be dominant species in the understory layer, and E. japonica and Trachelospermum asiaticum var. intermediumwill be dominant species in the shrub layer for a while. According to the index of Shnnon's diversity(unit: $400m^2$), community I ranged from 0.8640 to 1.3986, community II was from 0.1731 to 1.1885, community III was from 0.8250 to 1.0042, and community IV was from 0.3436 to 0.6986.

Development of a Ranging Inspection Technique in a Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor Using a Plate-type Ultrasonic Waveguide Sensor (판형 웨이브가이드 초음파 센서를 이용한 소듐냉각고속로 원격주사 검사기법 개발)

  • Kim, Hoe Woong;Kim, Sang Hwal;Han, Jae Won;Joo, Young Sang;Park, Chang Gyu;Kim, Jong Bum
    • Transactions of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering
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    • v.25 no.1
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    • pp.48-57
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    • 2015
  • In a sodium-cooled fast reactor, which is a Generation-IV reactor, refueling is conducted by rotating, but not opening, the reactor head to prevent a reaction between the sodium, water and air. Therefore, an inspection technique that checks for the presence of any obstacles between the reactor core and the upper internal structure, which could disturb the rotation of the reactor head, is essential prior to the refueling of a sodium-cooled fast reactor. To this end, an ultrasound-based inspection technique should be employed because the opacity of the sodium prevents conventional optical inspection techniques from being applied to the monitoring of obstacles. In this study, a ranging inspection technique using a plate-type ultrasonic waveguide sensor was developed to monitor the presence of any obstacles between the reactor core and the upper internal structure in the opaque sodium. Because the waveguide sensor installs an ultrasonic transducer in a relatively cold region and transmits the ultrasonic waves into the hot radioactive liquid sodium through a long waveguide, it offers better reliability and is less susceptible to thermal or radiation damage. A 10 m horizontal beam waveguide sensor capable of radiating an ultrasonic wave horizontally was developed, and beam profile measurements and basic experiments were carried out to investigate the characteristics of the developed sensor. The beam width and propagation distance of the ultrasonic wave radiated from the sensor were assessed based on the experimental results. Finally, a feasibility test using cylindrical targets (corresponding to the shape of possible obstacles) was also conducted to evaluate the applicability of the developed ranging inspection technique to actual applications.

Recent Advancement in the Differentiation of Tissues and Organs and Regulation of Gene Expression (조직.기관의 분화와 유전자 발현의 조절, 최근의 진보)

  • Harn, Chang-Yawl
    • Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.1-35
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    • 1997
  • Fertilized egg, by successive cell divisions, differentiates into different tissues and organs with various structures and functions. Different cells and tissues contain different proteins, products of selective gene expression. Not all the genes in any genomes are equally active, temporal and spatial gene expression being the general rule. Present paper attempts to review the tanscriptional mechanisms or the initiations of transcription from several angles. In some of the organisms the genes in the process of transcription or the genes in the inactive state can be seen under the light microscope. Some bands of Drosophila polytene chromosomes may exhibit a swollen or puff appearance under certain conditions. A puff, unfolded or decondensed form of chromomere, represents sets of intense transcriptional activity or RNA synthesis. The heterochromatic X chromosome whose genes remain inactive in the female mammals can be visualized as a dark staining structure called Barr body, Configuration of chromatin differs between transcribed and nontranscribed chromatin. Modification to the chromatin facilitates RNA synthesis. The movement of large polymerase molecule along the DNA would probably be facilitated if some modifications of the chromatin configuration is effected. Methylation of cytosines in CG sequences is associated with inactive genes. Methylation can play a role in determination of mammalian cells during embryogenesis. Demethylation is necessary for the gene to be expressed during development A histone modification that is also known to be correlated with transcriptional capacity of chromatin is acetylation of the lysine residues of the core histones. Chromatin containing a high level of histone acetylation is very sensitive to DNase 1. For the transcription to occur TBP must first bind to the TATA box. Another TF, TF IIB, then binds to the promoter-TBP complex, facilitating the access of RNA polymerase to the transcription initiation site. As recently as eight years ago researchers assumed that histones were irrelevant to the regulation of gene expression. Histones combine with the DNA to form nucleosome of the chromatin. Histones are vital participant in gene regulation. Histone and basal factors compete for access to TATA box. When DNA is exposed to basal factors before histones are introduced, the basal factors assemble on TATA boxes preventing the access of histones, allowing transcription to occur, for transcription to begin, activator protein at the upstream activation sequence or enhancer must interact with the tail of histone H4 at TATA box and cause the histone role particle to dissociate from the TATA box leading to partial breakup of the histone core particle and allowing the basal factors to bind to the TATA box. New concept of genomic flux in contrast to the old concept of static genome has been developed based on the powerful new molecular techniques. Genomic changes such as repetitive DNAs and transposable elements, it is assumed but not yet proved, may affect some of the developmental patterns that characterize particular cells, tissues, organs, and organisms. In the last decade or so remarkable achievement have been made in the researches of the structures and functions of TFs and the specific target sequences located in promoters or enhancers where these TFs bind. TFs have independent domains that bind DNA and that activate transcription. DNA binding domain of TFs serves to bring the protein into the right location. There are many types of DNA binding domains. Common types of motifs can be found that are responsible for binding to DNA. The motifs are usually quite short and comprise only a small part of the protein structure. Steroid receptors have domains for hormone binding, DNA binding, and activating transcription. The zinc finger motif comprises a DNA binding domain. Leucine zipper consist of a stretch of amino acids with a leucine residue in every seventh position Two proteins form a dimer because they interact by means of leucine zippers on similar α-helical domain. This positions their DNA binding basic domains for interaction with the two halves of a DNA sequence with dyad symmetry of TGACTCA, ACTGAGT.

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Geological Structures and Geochemical Uranium Anormal Zone Around the Shinbo Mine, Korea (신보광산 주변지역의 지질구조와 우라늄 지화학 이상대)

  • Kang, Ji-Hoon;Lee, Deok-Seon
    • Economic and Environmental Geology
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    • v.45 no.1
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    • pp.31-40
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    • 2012
  • This paper examined the characteristics of ductile and brittle structural elements with detailed mapping by lithofacies classification to clarify the relationship between the geological structure and the geochemical high-grade uranium anormal zone and to provide the basic information on the flow of groundwater in the eastern area of Shinbo mine, Jinan-gun, Jeollabuk-do, Korea. It indicates that this area is mainly composed of Precambrian quartzite, metapelite, metapsammite, which show a zonal distribution of mainly ENE-WSW trend, and age unknown pegmatite and Cretaceous porphyry which intrude them. But the Cretaceous Jinan Group which unconformably covers them, contrary to assumption, could not be observed. The main ductile deformation structures of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks were formed at least through three phases of deformation [ENE striking regional foliation (D1) -> ENE or EW striking crenulation foliation (D2) -> WNW or EW trending open, tight, kink folds (D3)]. The predominant orientation of S1 regional foliation strikes ENE and dips south, being similar to the zonal distribution of Precambrian metasedimentary rocks. Most predominant orientation of high-angled brittle fracture (dip angle ${\geq}45^{\circ}$) [ENE (frequency: 24.3%) > NS (23.9%) > (N)NW (18.8%) > WNW (16.9%) > NE (16.1%) fracture sets in descending frequency order], which is closely related to the flow of groundwater, strikes ENE and dips south. It also agrees with the zonal distribution of metasedimentary rocks and the predominant orientation of S1 regional foliation. The next one strikes NS and dips east or west. Considering the controlling factor of the geochemical uranium anormal zone in the Shinbo mine and its eastern areas from the above structural data. the uranium source rock in these areas might be pegmatite and the geochemical uranium anormal zone in the Sinbo mine area could be formed by an secondary enrichment through the flow of pegmatite aquifer's groundwater into the Sinbo mine area like the previous research's result.

A Study on the roof curved ratio and slope of Korean Traditional Wooden Building - Focused on the Central Hall of Buddhist Temple - (전통목조건축물 지붕곡과 기울기에 관한 연구 - 사찰의 주불전을 중심으로 -)

  • Go, Jung-Ju;Lee, Jeong-Soo
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.15 no.6
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    • pp.3894-3906
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    • 2014
  • The aim of this study was to classify the central Buddhist temple among the state-designated cultural assets, which were measured precisely, into the gable roof buildings and the gambrel roof buildings to analyze the Ang-Goak, Inside waist, ridge ratio, and roof inclination represented on the roof, and prepare basic objective material for the restoration and repair of cultural assets. As a result, as for the relationship between the roof curve and the inclination of the gable roof building and gambrel roof building, the following conclusions could be drawn. First, the Ang-Goak and Inside waist of the gable roof building had a close correlation with the building size, and the internal high pillar existence. In addition, the Ang-Goak and Inside waist were shown in the 7-ryangga structure, which is greater in size than in the 5-ryangga structure. This was found to be related to the building size. Second, the Ang-Goak and Inside waist of the gable roof building has a correlation with each other, and it was found that Inside waist also was large in the building with a larger Ang-Goak. The roof inclination rarely had a connection with variable factors (plane factor, elevation factor, and cross section factor). The sizes of Ang-Goak, Inside waist, and ridge ratio were similar in the outside 1 chulmok and outside 2 chulmok of gongpo but those sizes were relatively larger in outside 3 chulmok. Third, the Ang-Goak and Inside waist of the gambrel roof building moved independently for each building without a correlation with each other, unlike the case of the gable roof building. The front and the side showed a correlation with each other, and in the building with the large curve of the front side, the curve was also large in the sides. Fourth, in the case of the building with a high pillar inside the gambrel roof building, the Ang-Goak and Inside waist were larger. On the other hand, they were smaller in the case of a building without a high pillar. This was found to have a close relationship with the building size. In addition, the ridge ratio has a close connection with the building size and building height. Therefore, the ridge ratio is larger in a high building or large sized building. The roof inclination rarely has a correlation with variable factors, as in the case of the gable roof building.