• Analytical Science and Technology
• /
• v.12 no.5
• /
• pp.428-435
• /
• 1999

A method for measuring Rn-222 and Ra-226 in aqueous sample using liquid scintillation counting technique has been studied. The Rn-222 was extracted easily from the water sample (10 mL) by 12 mL of xylene based organic scintillant. After radioactive equilibrium between Rn-222 and its alpha emitting decay products for three hours, the alpha activity from Rn-222 and its decay products were measured in a scintillation vial using the Wallae $1220^{TM}$ Quantulus liquid scintillation counter. Ra-226 concentration in aqueous sample was determined, after isolation of Ra-226 from the sample matrix, by extraction the ingrowth of the Rn-222 and its alpha emitting decay products with xylene based organic scintillant. The optimum pulse-shape analysis (PSA) value was evaluated by the figure of merit (FM) criterion. Minimum detectable activity (MDA) is about 0.14 Bq/L (3.78 pCi) for the region of Rn-222 and its alpha emitting decay products and 0.06 Bq/L (1.63 pCi) for the region of Po-214 respectively, with 200 min, counting time at PSA level 100 in the low-diffusion polyethylene vial and xylene based cocktail solution. Experiment on the optimum sample-cocktail volume ratio, the influence of agitation and the diffusion of radon from vial were carried out.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.10 no.3
• /
• pp.151-162
• /
• 1977

Distribution of marine algae is diverse in Korea and the resource of edible algae is abundant marking 239,037 tons of yearly production in 1976. They have been known as a protein source and used as a supplement in Korean diet. It is necessary to estimate the potentiality and properties of usable algal proteins especially as food resources and studies of extraction and separation of the proteins, therefore, are basically required for this purpose. In this study, the influence of various factors including the sample treatment, extraction time and temperature, sample us extraction solvent ratio and pH upon the extractability of the water soluble protein was determined. And the effect of precipitation treatment for isolation of the algal protein from the extracts was also tested. Nine species of algae, the major ones in consumption as food namely Porphyra suborbiculata, Undaria pinnatifida, Hizikia fusiforme, Sargassum fulvellu, Enteromorpha linza, Codium fragile, Sargassum kjellmanianum and Ulva pertusa were collected as fresh from Kijang, Yangsan Gun, in the vicinity of Busan city. The content of crude protein $(N\times6.25)$ of the algae ranged from $9.46\%\;to\;24.14\% showing the highest value in Porphyra suborbiculata and the minimum in Hizikia fusiforme. In the effort of maceration of blending methods on the extractability, immersion freezing in dry ice-methanol solution appeared most effective yielding 1.5 to 2.5 times extractability than that of the mortar grinding method. The effect of the ratio of sample vs solvent on extractability differed from species. It was enhanced at the ratio of 1:20 (w/v) in Ulva pertusa and Enteromorpha linza while the ratio was 1:30 (w/v) for Cedium fragile, Undaria pinnatifida, Hizikia fusiferme, Sargassum fulvellum and Porphyra suborbiculata and 1:40 for Sargassum kjellmanianum respectively. The effect of extraction time and temperature was revealed differently from species which might be caused by differences in the constitution of algal tissues resulting in that the extraction for 1 hour at $50^{\circ}C$ gave the maximum extractabilily in Ulva pertusa and Enteromorpha linza, 2 hours in Porphyra suborbiculata, Hikikia fusiforme, Undaria pinnatifida, Sargassum kjellmanianum and 3 hours in Codium fragile. And the extractability was higher at $50^{\circ}C$ to $60^{\circ}C$ for the most of the tested samples except Hizikia fusiforme. The optimum pH for the extraction was 9 to 12. The recovery of extractable nitrogen to the total nitrogen was $63\%$ in average with the first extracts and $8.6\%$ with the second extracts respectively. Both extracts were prepared by 2 hour extraction at $50{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ with dry ice-methanol frozen and seasand macerated materials. And these conditions assumed to be an optimum for the extraction of water soluble algal proteins since the nitrogen content after the first extraction covered $90\%$ of the total water extractable nitrogen. In the precipitation of the extracted proteins, Barnstein method and methanol treatment seemed to be more efficient than other precipitation methods.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.710-717
• /
• 2008

Background: Atrial fibrillation is associated with several complications such as cerebro-vascular accidents and peripheral arterial embolism. Most of the patients who have this arrhythmia chronically feel their heart beating and so they are frightened; therefore, the quality of a patient's life is decreased. The purpose of this article is to determine the long term results of a modified Maze procedure and the factors that influence the success of the procedure. Material and Method: This study enrolled 88 patients who underwent the modified Maze with using cryoablation between June, 2001 and February, 2007. The 88 consecutive patients were divided into two groups ac cording to how the pulmonary veins were isolated, that is, with or without cryoablation. There were 58 patients who were isolated by cutting and sewing in the right pulmonary veins and by cyroablation in the left pulmonary veins in group 1 (group 1, n=58), and 30 patients who underwent isolation by cryoablation in the right & left pulmonary veins were placed in group 2 (group 2, n=30). The ECG was checked at discharge to determine the sinus conversion rate and we followed up the patients to determine whether or not the patients maintained sinus rhythm. We also checked the ECG at the last visit to determine the patients' heart rhythm. Result: The mean follow up time was $44.3{\pm}19.2$ months. At discharge, 72.4% of the patients in group 1 were in proper sinus rhythm and 66.7% of the patients in group 2 were in proper sinus rhythm. At the last follow up, 81% of the patients in group 1 were in normal sinus rhythm and 60% of the patients in group 2 were in normal sinus rhythm. When we analyzed the data via the Kaplan-Meier method, 86.5% of the patients were free from atrial fibrillation (% free from AF) at 1 year, 80% of the patients were free from atrial fibrillation at 5 year in group 1 and 70% of the patients were free from atrial fibrillation at 1 year and 51 % of the patients in group 2 were free from atrial fibrillation at 5 year. Conclusion: The modified Maze technique using cryoablation was a simple and effective procedure. But the success rate of the Maze technique using cryoblation is lower than that of the standard Maze III. The method using cryoablation shorten the operation time, but we must conduct more studies to get a better result of the modified Maze technique with using cryoablation.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
• /
• v.17 no.1
• /
• pp.62-66
• /
• 2013

Purpose: I-131 is a radioisotope widely used for thyroid gland treatments. The physical half life is 8.01 and characterized by emitting beta and gamma rays which is used in clinical practice for the purpose of acquiring treatment and images. In order to reduce the recurrence rate after surgery in high-risk thyroid cancer patients, the remaining thyroid tissue is either removed or the I-131 is used for treatment during relapse. In cases of using a high dosage of radioactive iodine requiring hospitalization, the patient is administered dosage in the hospital isolation ward over a certain period of time preventing I-131 exposure to others. By checking the radiation amount emitted from patients before discharge, the patients are discharged after checking whether they meet the legal standards (50 uSv/h). After patients are discharged from the hospital, the contamination level is checked in many parts of the ward before the next patients are hospitalized and when necessary, decontamination operations are performed. It is expected that there is exposure to radiation when measuring the ward contamination level and dose check emitted from patients at the time of discharge whereby the radiation exposure by health workers that come from the patients in this process is the main factor. This study analyzed the correlation between discharge dose of patients and ward contamination level through a variety of factors such as renal functions, gender, age, dosage, etc.). Materials and Method: The study was conducted on 151 patients who received high-dosage radioactive iodine treatment at Soon Chun Hyang University Hospital during the period between 8/1/2011~5/31/2012 (Male: Female: 31:120, $47.5{\pm}11.9$, average dosage of $138{\pm}22.4$ mCi). As various factors expected to influence the patient discharge dose & ward contamination such as the beds, floors, bathroom floors, and washbasins, the patient renal function (GFR), age, gender, dosage, and the correlation between the expected Tg & Tg-Tb expected to reflect the remaining tissue in patients were analyzed. Results: In terms of the discharge dose and GFR, a low correlation was shown in the patient discharge dose as the GFR was higher (p < 0.0001). When comparing the group with a dosage of over 150mCi and the group with a lower dosage, the lower dosage group showed a significantly lower discharge dose ($24{\pm}10.4uSv/h$ vs $28.7{\pm}11.8uSv/h$, p<0.05). Age, gender, Tg, Tg-Tb did not show a significant relationship with discharge dose (p> 0.05). The contamination level in each spot of the treatment ward showed no significant relationship with GFR, Tg, Tg-Tb, age, gender, and dosage (p>0.05 ). Conclusion: This study says that discharge of the dose in the patient's body is low in GFR higher and Dosage 150mCi under lower. There was no case of contamination of the treatment ward, depending on the dose and renal association. This suggests that patients' lifestyles or be affected by a variety of other factors.