• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.676-683
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• 2007

A non-invasive respiratory gated radiotherapy system like those based on external anatomic motion gives better comfortableness to patients than invasive system on treatment. However, higher correlation between the external and internal anatomic motion is required to increase the effectiveness of non-invasive respiratory gated radiotherapy. Both of invasive and non-invasive methods need to track the internal anatomy with the higher precision and rapid response. Especially, the non-invasive method has more difficulty to track the target position successively because of using only image processing. So we developed the system to track the motion for a non-invasive respiratory gated system to accurately find the dynamic position of internal structures such as the diaphragm and tumor. The respiratory organ motion tracking apparatus consists of an image capture board, a fluoroscopy system and a processing computer. After the image board grabs the motion of internal anatomy through the fluoroscopy system, the computer acquires the organ motion tracking data by image processing without any additional physical markers. The patients breathe freely without any forced breath control and coaching, when this experiment was performed. The developed pattern-recognition software could extract the target motion signal in real-time from the acquired fluoroscopic images. The range of mean deviations between the real and acquired target positions was measured for some sample structures in an anatomical model phantom. The mean and max deviation between the real and acquired positions were less than 1mm and 2mm respectively with the standardized movement using a moving stage and an anatomical model phantom. Under the real human body, the mean and maximum distance of the peak to trough was measured 23.5mm and 55.1mm respectively for 13 patients' diaphragm motion. The acquired respiration profile showed that human expiration period was longer than the inspiration period. The above results could be applied to respiratory-gated radiotherapy.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.187-193
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• 2010

In this study we have designed and fabricated an inexpensive micro electronic system that we call Alvitek. It can indirectly but accurately predict and display the partial pressures of alveolar oxygen and carbon dioxide for the patients in the ICU of a hospital. Alvitek consists of both hardware part and software part. Performance of the system is tested by animal experiment with pigs for various $F_{t}e_{2}$ and RR(Respiratory Rate) values under the mechanical ventilation. The predicted alveolar gas partial pressures are cprpared with the approximate alveolar oxygen partial pressures easily calculated by the physician’s bedside formula. As a result, we have concluded that the relative error of A-$aDe_2$ calculated by the bedside formula grows seriously for lower $F_{t}e_{2}$ values. The present prediction method of Alvitek is henceforth believed very meaningful to the physicians. The system hardware and software are described in the text.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.435-442
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• 1999

A fuzzy-ART(adaptive resonance theory) network for the PVC(premature ventricular contraction) classification using wavelet coefficient is designed. This network consists of the feature extraction and learning of the fuzzy-ART network. In the first step, we have detected the QRS from the ECG signal in order to set the threshold range for feature extraction and the detected QRS was divided into several frequency bands by wavelet transformation using Haar wavelet. Among the low-frequency bands, only the 6th coefficient(D6) are selected as the input feature. After that, the fuzzy-ART network for classification of the PVC is learned by using input feature which comprises of binary data converted by applying threshold to D6. The MIT/BIH database including the PVC is used for the evaluation. The designed fuzzy-ART network showed the PVC classification ratio of 96.52%.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1997 no.05
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• pp.165-170
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• 1997

In this paper, we consider the aortic sinus baroreceptor, which is the most representative baroreceptors sensing the variance of pressure in the cardiovascular system(CVS), and propose heart activity control model to observe the effect of delay time in heart period and stroke volume under the regulation of baroreflex in arotic sinus. The proposed heart activity baroreflex regulation model contains CVS electric circuit sub-model, baroreflex regulation sub-model and time delay sub-model. In these models, applied electric circuit sub-model is researched by B.C.Choi and the baroreflex regulation sub-model transforms the input, the arotic pressure of CVS electric circuit sub-model, to outputs, heart period and stroke volume by mathematical nonlinear feedback. We constituted the time delay sub-model to observe sensitivity of heart activity baroreflex regulation model by using the variable value to represent the control signal transmission time from the output of baroreflex regulation model to efferent nerve through central nervous system. The simulation object of this model is to observe variability of the CVS by variable value in time delay sub-model. As simulation results, we observe three patterns of CVS variability by the time delay. First, if the time delay is over 2.5 sec, arotic pressure, stroke volume and heart rate is observed nonperiodically and irregularly. Second, if the time delay is from between 0.1 sec and 0.25 sec, the regular oscillation is observed. Finally, if time delay is under 0.1 sec, then heart rate and arotic pressure-heart rate trajectory is maintained in stable state.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.48-53
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• 2015

Sudden infant death syndrome(SIDS) continues to be general cause of infant death. Also, apnea is supposed to be one of the main risk factor of SIDS. Therefore, Infant's respiratory monitoring and real-time apnea detection is very important to prevent SIDS. In this study, we proposed a non-contact home monitoring system for infant's respiration using Doppler radar in order to prevent SIDS. The respiration data were acquired from a commercialized baby simulator(Simbaby$^{TM}$) using a Doppler radar. To evaluate a performance of the proposed system, the simulator was placed in a supine and prone position and the chest belt was used simultaneously as a reference signal. As a result, correlation coefficients between respiration rates of Doppler radar and the chest belt in each position were 0.95(p < 0.001) and 0.98(p < 0.001), respectively. The averages of difference were $-0.29{\pm}5.21(mean{\pm}1.96{\cdot}$ standard deviation) in supine and $-0.12{\pm}3.05$ in prone from Bland-Altman analysis. The results indicated an excellent performance in detecting apnea with a sensitivity of 100% and a positive predictive value of 100% in each posture respectively. These results demonstrated that a proposed Doppler radar system is suitable for non-contact respiratory monitoring in order to prevent SIDS of infant.

• Journal of the Optical Society of Korea
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.252-263
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• 2011

In this work, for the first time, the quality of restoration in wide-field microscopy images after deconvolution was analyzed as a function of different Point Spread Functions using one deconvolution method, on a specimen of known size and on a biological specimen. The empirical Point Spread Function determination can significantly depend on the numerical aperture, refractive index of the embedding medium, refractive index of the immersion oil and cover slip thickness. The influence of all of these factors is shown in the same article and using the same microscope. We have found that the best deconvolution results are obtained when the empirical PSF utilized is obtained under the same conditions as the specimen. We also demonstrated that it is very important to quantitatively check the process' outcome using several quality indicators: Full-Width at Half-Maximum, Contrast-to-Noise Ratio, Signal-to-Noise Ratio and a Tenengrad-based function. We detected a significant improvement when using an indicator to measure the focus of the whole stack. Therefore, to qualitatively determinate the best deconvolved image between different conditions, one approach that we are pursuing is to use Tenengrad-based function indicators in images obtained using a wide-field microscope.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.416-422
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• 2013

PURPOSE. This study was performed to define attachment and growth behavior of osteoblast-like cells and evaluate the gene expression on zirconia compared to titanium. MATERIALS AND METHODS. MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured on (1) titanium and (2) zirconia discs. The tetrazolium-based colorimetric assay (MTT test) was used for examining the attachment of cells. Cellular morphology was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity was measured to evaluate the cell differentiation rate. Mann-Whitney test was used to assess the significance level of the differences between the experimental groups. cDNA microarray was used for comparing the 20215 gene expressions on titanium and zirconia. RESULTS. From the MTT assay, there was no significant difference between titanium and zirconia (P>.05). From the SEM image, after 4 hours of culture, cells on both discs were triangular or elongated in shape with formation of filopodia. After 24 hours of culture, cells on both discs were more flattened and well spread compared to 4 hours of culture. From the ALP activity assay, the optical density of E1 cells on titanium was slightly higher than that of E1 cells on zirconia but there was no significant difference (P>.05). Most of the genes related to cell adhesion showed similar expression level between titanium and zirconia. CONCLUSION. Zirconia showed comparable biological responses of osteoblast-like cells to titanium for a short time during cell culture period. Most of the genes related to cell adhesion and signal showed similar expression level between titanium and zirconia.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.223-232
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• 2017

Purpose: To report the use of multiband accelerated echo-planar imaging (EPI) for resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) to achieve rapid high temporal resolution at 3T compared to conventional EPI. Materials and Methods: rs-fMRI data were acquired from 20 healthy right-handed volunteers by using three methods: conventional single-band gradient-echo EPI acquisition (Data 1), multiband gradient-echo EPI acquisition with 240 volumes (Data 2) and 480 volumes (Data 3). Temporal signal-to-noise ratio (tSNR) maps were obtained by dividing the mean of the time course of each voxel by its temporal standard deviation. The resting-state sensorimotor network (SMN) and default mode network (DMN) were estimated using independent component analysis (ICA) and a seed-based method. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed between the tSNR map, SMN, and DMN from the three data sets for between-group analysis. P < 0.05 with a family-wise error (FWE) correction for multiple comparisons was considered statistically significant. Results: One-way ANOVA and post-hoc two-sample t-tests showed that the tSNR was higher in Data 1 than Data 2 and 3 in white matter structures such as the striatum and medial and superior longitudinal fasciculus. One-way ANOVA revealed no differences in SMN or DMN across the three data sets. Conclusion: Within the adapted metrics estimated under specific imaging conditions employed in this study, multiband accelerated EPI, which substantially reduced scan times, provides the same quality image of functional connectivity as rs-fMRI by using conventional EPI at 3T. Under employed imaging conditions, this technique shows strong potential for clinical acceptance and translation of rs-fMRI protocols with potential advantages in spatial and/or temporal resolution. However, further study is warranted to evaluate whether the current findings can be generalized in diverse settings.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.501-509
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• 2016

Shikonin, which derives from Lithospermum erythrorhizon, has been traditionally used against a variety of diseases, including cancer, in Eastern Asia. Here we determined that shikonin inhibits proliferation of gastric cancer cells by inducing apoptosis. Shikonin's biological activity was validated by observing cell viability, caspase 3 activity, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, and apoptotic marker expressions in AGS stomach cancer cells. The concentration range of shikonin was 35-250 nM with the incubation time of 6 h. Protein levels of Nrf2 and p53 were evaluated by western blotting and confirmed by real-time PCR. Our results revealed that shikonin induced the generation of ROS as well as caspase 3-dependent apoptosis. c-Jun-N-terminal kinases (JNK) activity was significantly elevated in shikonin-treated cells, thereby linking JNK to apoptosis. Furthermore, our results revealed that shikonin induced p53 expression but repressed Nrf2 expression. Moreover, our results suggested that there may be a co-regulation between p53 and Nrf2, in which transfection with siNrf2 induced the p53 expression. We demonstrated for the first time that shikonin activated cell apoptosis in AGS cells via caspase 3- and JNK-dependent pathways, as well as through the p53-Nrf2 mediated signal pathway. Our study validates in partly the contribution of shikonin as a new therapeutic approaches/agent for cancer chemotherapy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Medical Physics Conference
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• 2002.09a
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• pp.267-268
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• 2002

Microbeam is a new avenue of radiation research especially in radiation biology and radiation protection. Selective irradiation of an ionizing particle to a targeted cell organelle may disclose such mechanisms as signal transaction among cell organelles and cell-to-cell communication in the processes toward an endpoint observed. Bystander effect, existence of which is clearly evidenced by application of the particle microbeam to biological experiments, suggests potential underestimation in the conventional risk estimation at low particle fluence rates, such as environment of space radiations in ISS (International Space Station). To promote these studies we started the construction of our microbeam facility (named as SPICE) to our HVEE Tandem accelerator (3.4 MeV proton and 5.1 MeV $^4$He$\^$2+/). For our primary goal, "irradiation of single particle to cell organelle within a position resolution of 2 micrometer in a reasonable irradiation time", special features are considered. Usage of a triplet Q magnet for focussing the beam to submicron of size is an outstanding feature compared to facilities of other institutes. Followings are other features: precise position control of cell dish holder, design of the cell dish, data acquisition of microscopic image of a cell organelle (cell nucleus) and data processing, a reliable particle detection, soft and hard wares to integrate all these related data, to control and irradiate exactly determined number of particles to a targeted spot.