• Annals of Hepato-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.158-165
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• 2023

Backgrounds/Aims: Within two years of surgery, 70% of resected intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) recur. Better biomarkers are needed to identify those at risk of "early recurrence" (ER). In this study, we defined ER and investigated whether preoperative neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic-inflammatory index were prognostic of both overall relapse and ER after curative hepatectomy for iCCA. Methods: A retrospective cohort of patients who underwent curative-intent hepatectomy for iCCA between 2005 and 2017 were created. The cut-off timepoint for the ER of iCCA was estimated using a piecewise linear regression model. Univariable analyses of recurrence were conducted for the overall, early, and late recurrence periods. For the early and late recurrence periods, multivariable Cox regression with time-varying regression coefficient analysis was used. Results: A total of 113 patients were included in this study. ER was defined as recurrence within 12 months of a curative resection. Among the included patients, 38.1% experienced ER. In the univariable model, a higher preoperative NLR (> 4.3) was significantly associated with an increased risk of recurrence overall and in the first 12 months after curative surgery. In the multivariable model, a higher NLR was associated with a higher recurrence rate overall and in the ER period (≤ 12 months), but not in the late recurrence period. Conclusions: Preoperative NLR was prognostic of both overall recurrence and ER after curative iCCA resection. NLR is easily obtained before and after surgery and should be integrated into ER prediction tools to guide preoperative treatments and intensify postoperative follow-up.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.183-191
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• 2024

Accurate seismic vulnerability assessment requires high quality and large amounts of ground motion data. Ground motion data generated from time series contains not only the seismic waves but also the background noise. Therefore, it is crucial to determine the high-pass cut-off frequency to reduce the background noise. Traditional methods for determining the high-pass filter frequency are based on human inspection, such as comparing the noise and the signal Fourier Amplitude Spectrum (FAS), f² trend line fitting, and inspection of the displacement curve after filtering. However, these methods are subject to human error and unsuitable for automating the process. This study used a deep learning approach to determine the high-pass filter frequency. We used the Mel-spectrogram for feature extraction and mixup technique to overcome the lack of data. We selected convolutional neural network (CNN) models such as ResNet, DenseNet, and EfficientNet for transfer learning. Additionally, we chose ViT and DeiT for transformer-based models. The results showed that ResNet had the highest performance with R² (the coefficient of determination) at 0.977 and the lowest mean absolute error (MAE) and RMSE (root mean square error) at 0.006 and 0.074, respectively. When applied to a seismic event and compared to the traditional methods, the determination of the high-pass filter frequency through the deep learning method showed a difference of 0.1 Hz, which demonstrates that it can be used as a replacement for traditional methods. We anticipate that this study will pave the way for automating ground motion processing, which could be applied to the system to handle large amounts of data efficiently.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.2
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• pp.365-378
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• 2020

Purpose This study was performed to determine whether the T1 relaxation time of gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MR imaging is useful for detecting and staging liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease. Materials and Methods One hundred and three patients with suspected focal liver lesion underwent MR imaging and Fibroscan. Fibroscan was chosen as the reference standard for classifying liver fibrosis. T1 relaxation times were acquired before (preT1), 20 minutes after (postT1) contrast administration, and reduction rate of T1 relaxation time (rrT1) on transverse 3D VIBE (volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination) sequence using 3T MR imaging. The optimal cut-off values for the fibrosis staging were determined with ROC analysis. Results PreT1 and postT1 increased and rrT1 decreased constantly with increasing severity of liver fibrosis according to the METAVIR score (F0-F4). There were statistically significant differences between F2 and F3 in preT1 (F2, 836.0 ± 74.7 ms; F3, 888.6 ± 77.5 ms, p < 0.05) and between F3 and F4 in postT1 (F3, 309.0 ± 80.2 ms; F4, 406.6 ± 147.7 ms, p < 0.05) and rrT1 (F3, 65.4 ± 7.7%; F4, 57.3 ± 11.4%, p < 0.05). ROC analysis revealed that combination test (preT1 + postT1) was the best test for predicting liver fibrosis. Conclusion PreT1 and postT1 increased constantly with increasing severity of liver fibrosis. T1 mapping in gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MR imaging could be a helpful complementary sequence to determine the liver fibrosis stage.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.348-354
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• 2007

Purpose : Perinatal hepatitis B viral infection is decreasing; however, 10% of babies to HBeAg positive mothers still become chronic carriers despite perinatal prophylaxis. Although, the cause of prophylaxis failure is still unclear, an importance of maternal HBV-DNA level at the delivery time has been suggested. This study was established to certify if it would be a useful predictable factor for the outcome of perinatal prophylaxis. Methods : Twenty-nine HBeAg positive mothers whose babies had known outcomes of prophylaxis were selected. To determine the amount of maternal HBV-DNA, a quantitative PCR was performed with the WHO International Standard for HBV DNA NAT assays. Results : The mean logarithm HBV-DNA level of mothers with failed outcomes was significantly higher than that of mothers with succeessful outcomes (7.99 vs. 6.72, P=0.015). The predictable maternal HBV-DNA cut-off level to prophylaxis outcome was $2.83{\times}10^7copies/mL$ (100 pg/mL). None out of the case 16 (0%) who had below this level, and 5 out of 13 (38.5%) who had above this level of maternal HBV-DNA failed in perinatal prophylaxis. Conclusion : Mothers with higher levels of HBV-DNA at delivery time would be prone to a worse outcome of prophylaxis using the conventional approach. Perinatal prophylaxis failure rate can be reduced, if we try to introduce more potent prophylactic treatment into the cases with this risk factor.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.177-186
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• 2005

The latest concrete structure has showed that the deterioration of durability has been increased by the damage from salt, carbonization, freezing & thawing and the others. Therefore, the measures for the concrete which has deteriorated durability have been taken. Among them, it has been often used that surface treatment which cuts off the deterioration factors of durability by protecting the surface of concrete. However, troubles such as fracture and rupture in the repair layer have been reported as time goes by due to the difference between the organic repair material like epoxy and concrete properties. Researchers have been developing the repair material which can cut off the deterioration factors of durability such as $CO_2$ gas, chloride ion and water by making the formation of concrete elaborate through the reaction with calcium ion when the surface improving agent is coated on the concrete. The main ingredient of that is inorganic substance which is the same as the concrete property. This study was evaluated the surface improving agent for permeability, watertightness, air-permeability, chemical resistance and elution resistance. As a result, it has been reported that the surface improving agent improves watertightness and air-permeability by penetration more than 10mm within concrete. Therefore, it is concluded that the surface improving agent developed in this research prevents deterioration of concrete durability when it is coated on the concrete structure.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 1974

The object of this research is aimed to determine the activity of adenyl cyclase in both skeletal muscle sarcolemma and fat cell ghost of epididymal adipose tissue isolated from rats exposed to cold for various length of time in an attempt to evaluate whether the tissue sensitivity to catecholamine is increased when rats are exposed to cold for long periods of time Methods: a)Animals: Albino rats ranging in weight from 150 to 200 gm were used throughout this study. For experimental purposes, the rats are divided into two groups: experimental animals were place4 in a cold room at $4^{\circ}C$, controls being kept at $25^{\circ}C$. At the end of 2, 4, 6, 12, and 16 weeks. exposure to cold the rats were used to measure the adenyl cyclase activity. b) Isolation of plasma membrane from skeletal muscle and adipose tissue: The Plasma membrane of skeletal muscle from hind limbs of rats are prepared by the method employed by Rosenthal et at. and fat cell ghost of epididymal adipose tissue of rats by the method employed by Rodbell. c) Adenyl cyclase assay: Adenyl cyclase activity were measured by the method employed by Marinetti et al. Briefly, plasma membrane was incubated with $3^H-ATP$, various amount of noradrenaline and other incubation mixture at $37^{\circ}C$ for 20 minutes. After stopping the enzyme reaction by immersion in boiling water, carrier 3',5'-AMP was added to the system as a marker and $100\;{\mu}1$ aliquots of incubation mixture were pipetted on $20{\time}20$ Whatman No. 3 MM filter paper for one dimensional chromatography. The cyclic AMP spots were cut off and placed in counting vials containing 10ml of Bray's scintillation cocktail. Radioactivity was determined with a Packard Tri-Carb liquid scintillation counter. The enzyme activity is expressed as nanomoles of cyclic AMP produced per mg of membrane per hour. Result: 1. Average adenyl cyclase activity in the plasma membrane of skeletal muscle before and after noradrenaline administration was significantly higher in the cold-exposed rats as compared to the control. Continuous exposure to cold Produced an increased adenyl cyclase activity before and after noradrenaline administration. Adenyl cyclase activity reached peak levels at the 6 weeks exposure to told and level of adenyl cyclase activity remained high. Noradrenaline administration to the incubation medium induced a significant increase in adenyl cyclase activity and the degree of stimulation were proportional to the hormonal concentration But the rate of inclement in adenyl cyclase activity by noradreasline was the same in both groups. 2. Adenyl cyclase activity in fat cell ghost between cold exposed and control rats showed no significant differences before and after noradreualine administration. In summary, it can be concluded that cold adaptation give rise an increased activity of adenyl cyclase in plasma membrane of skeletal muscle in rats.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.71-80
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• 2013

Objectives: Outbreaks of pneumonia caused by Mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP) occur every 3-4 years in Korea, most recently in 2011. The aim of our study was to determine the optimal time to perform indirect particle agglutination antibody assays to improve early diagnosis of MP pneumonia in children. Methods: A database of 206 pediatric patients treated for pneumonia at the Hanyang University Hospital from June to October 2011 was analyzed retrospectively for demographic characteristics and laboratory test results. Results: Among the 206 patients treated for pneumonia during the study period, there were 160 children (mean age, 5.44 years) diagnosed with MP pneumonia, who were studied further. The mean age of these MP pneumonia patients was 5.44 years. Antibody titers increased with increasing time between symptom onset and the collection of serum collection: MP titers were <1:640 for sera collected after 5.44 days and titers ${\geq}1:640$ for those collected after 8.58 days; P<0.001). Antibody titers were considered positive when they reached ${\geq}1:640$. In 42 MP pneumonia patients in whom there was a four-fold or greater increase in titer between successive serum samples, the optimal cut-off time-point for distinguishing between the initial and second titer groups was 7.5 days after the onset of symptoms (sensitivity, 90.5%; specificity, 92.9%). Conclusions: Negative MP antibody titers earlier than 8 days after the onset of symptoms in children with pneumonia may require repeating to confirm the diagnosis. This finding could optimize diagnosis and result in better therapeutic outcomes of MP pneumonia in children.