• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.22
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• pp.9823-9829
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• 2014

Background: High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is recognized as an efficient component of therapy against pediatric osteosarcoma in combination with other drugs such as cisplatin (CDP), carboplatin (CBDCA), doxorubicin (ADM), etoposide (VP-16) and ifosfamide (IFO). Objectives: To demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the HD-MTX/CDP/DOX/VP-16/IFO [MTX(+)] protocol comparable to CDP/ADM/CBDCA/IFO [MTX(-)] for treating childhood osteosarcoma at Ramathibodi Hospital (1999-2014). Materials and Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of osteosarcoma patients aged less than 18 years treated with two chemotherapeutic regimens between 1999 and 2014. A total of 45 patients received the MTX(-) and 21 the MTX(+) protocol. Results: Overall limb-salvage and amputation rate were 12.9% and 77.7%, respectively. Kaplan-Meier analysis results for 3-year disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) regardless of treatment regimens were $43.4{\pm}6.0%$ and $53.2{\pm}6.1%$ respectively. The 3-year DFS and OS were improved significantly with the MTX(+) protocol compared to MTX(-) protocol (p=0.010 and p=0.009, log rank test) [$69.8{\pm}10.5%$, $79.8{\pm}9.1%$ for MTX(+) and $31.1{\pm}6.9%$, $42.2{\pm}7.4%$ for MTX(-) protocol, respectively]. Patients with metastatic osteosarcoma treated with the MTX(+) protocol had statistically significant higher 3-year DFS and OS than those treated with the MTX(-) protocol ($66.7{\pm}13.6%$ and $15.0{\pm}8.0%$ for 3-year DFS, p=0.010, $73.3{\pm}13.2%$ and $20{\pm}8.9%$ for 3-year OS, p=0.006, respectively). The independent risk factors for having inferior 3-year DFS and OS were poor histological response (tumor necrosis <90%) and treatment with the MTX(-) protocol. The multivariate analysis identified only the treatment with the MTX(-) protocol as an independent predictor of inferior OS with a hazard ratio (HR) of 3.53 (95% confidence interval of 1.2-10.41, p=0.022). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated the tolerability, feasibility and efficacy of the HDMTX-based regimen improving the survival rate in pediatric osteosarcoma cases, in line with reports from developed countries.

• Korean Journal of Digital Imaging in Medicine
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.115-119
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• 2009

I think this will be valuable reference for assuring consistency and homogeneity of clarity and managing dental radiation equipment by experimentation of dental radiation equipment permanent which based on KS C IEC 61223-3-4 standard and KS C IEC 61223-2-7. Put a dental radiation generator and experiment equipment as source and film(sensor) length within 30 em, place the step-wedge above the film(sensor). Tie up tube voltage 60 kVp, tube current 7 mA and then get an each image through CCD sensor and film by changing the exposure time as 0.12sec, 0.25sec, 0.4sec. Repeat the test 5times as a same method. Measure the concentration of each stage of film image, which gained by experiment, using photometer. And the image that gained by CCD sensor, analyze the pixel value's change by using image J, which is analyzing image program provided by NIH(National Institutes of Health). In case of film, while 0.12sec and 0.25sec show regular rising pattern of density gap as exposure time's increase, 0.4sec shows low rather than 0.12sec and 0.25sec. In case of CCD sensor density test, the result shows opposite pattern of film. This makes me think that pixels of CCD's sensor can have 0~255 value but it becomes saturation if the value is over 255. The way that getting clear reception during decreasing human's exposed radiation is one of maintaining an equipment as a best condition. So we should keeping a dental radiation equipment's condition steadily through cyclic permanent test after factor examination. Even digital equipment doesn't maintain a permanent, it can maintain a clarity by post processing of image so that hard to set it as standard of permanent test. Therefore it would be more increase the accuracy that compare a film as standard image. Thus I consider it will be an important measurement to care for dental radiation equipment and warrant homogeneity, consistency of dental image's clarity through comparing pattern which is the result from factor test against cyclic permanent test.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.46-53
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• 2004

In this study, we compared the levels of methylotrophic bacterial community diversity in the leaf, stem, grain, root and rhizosphere soil sainples of four rice cultivars collected from three regions of Korea. Thirty five pigmented and five non-pigmented isolates showing characteristic growth on methanul were obtained. When phylotypes were defined by performing numerical analysis of 42 characteristics, four distinct clusters were formed. While two clusters, I and IV diverged on the basis of nitrate and nitrite reduction, other two clusters, comprising only pink pigmented colonies, diverged on the basis of cellulase activity. Out of the two reference strains used in the analysis, Methyhbacterium extorquens AM1 diverged from all the clusters and M. fujisawaense KACC 10744 grouped under cluster III. All the isolates were positive for urease, oxidase, catalase and pectinase activity and negative for indole production, MR and VP test, $H_2S$ production, starch, and casein hydrolysis. No clusters were found to possess thermotolerant isolates, as no growth of the isolates was observed at $45^{\circ}C$. Two strains in cluster I were found to possess gelatin hydrolysis and methane utilizing properties respectively. Most of the isolates in all the four clusters utilized monosaccliarides, disaccharide and polyols as carbon source. Six isolates showed considerable nitrogenase activity ranging from 86.2 to $809.9nmol\;C_2H_4\;h^{-1}\;mg^{-1}$ protein.

• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.393-400
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to suggest a method to reduce the dose by Analyzing the dose area product (DAP) and image quality according to the change of tube current using NEMA Phantom. The spatial resolution and low contrast resolution were used as evaluation criteria in addition to signal to noise ratio (SNR) and contrast to noise ratio (CNR), which are important image quality parameters of intervention. Tube voltage was fixed at 80 kVp and the amount of tube current was changed to 20, 30, 40, and 50 mAs, and the dose area product and image quality were compared and analyzed. As a result, the dose area product increased from $1066mGycm^2$ to $6160mGycm^2$ to 6 times as the condition increased, while the spatial resolution and low contrast resolution were higher than 20 mAs and 30 mAs, Spatial resolution and low contrast resolution were observed below the evaluation criteria. In addition, the SNR and CNR increased up to 30 mAs, slightly increased at 40 mAs, but not significantly different from the previous one, and decreased at 50 mAs. As a result, the exposure dose significantly increased due to overexposure of the test conditions and the image quality deteriorated in all areas of spatial resolution, low contrast resolution, SNR and CNR.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1549-1555
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• 2010

Streptococcus suis is a worldwide pathogen of a variety of porcine infection and has also been described as a pathogen for humans. We studied biochemical characteristics, antimicrobial susceptibility, and identification of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of S. suis isolated from diseased pigs in Gyeongbuk province from 2004 to 2009. Sixty-one isolates were identified as S. suis by biochemical characteristics and PCR from 40 farms. The biochemical characteristics of S. suis isolates were production of VP-negative, hippurate, esculin, and arginine decarboxylase-positive, and fermentation of carbohydrate was variable lactose, trehalose, inulin, and raffinose, which was typeable 11 phenotype. In an antimicrobial susceptibility test, the majority of isolates were highly susceptible to amoxicillin/clavulanic acid, ampicillin, cephalothin, cefoperazone and florfenicol, while being highly resistant to streptomycin, kanamycin, amikacin, neomycin, erythromycin, clindamycin, and tetracycline. The isolates were divided into 11 phenotypes of biochemistry. By using PCR, the 16S-rRNA gene DNA fragment was detected at 304 bp from all of isolates. These results may provide the basic information needed to establish strategies for the prevention of S. suis infection in pigs.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.5
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• pp.256-263
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• 2017

By using the buildup characteristics of the radiophotoluminescence glass dosimeter(RPLGD), it is aimed to help the measurement of the accurate dose by measuring the radiation dose according to the time of the glass element. Five glass elements were arranged on the table and the source to image receptor distance(SID) was set to 100 cm for the build-up radiation dose measurement of the fluorescent glass dosimeter glass element(GD-352M). Radiation doses and saturation rates were measured over time according to irradiation time, with the tube voltage (30, 60, 90 kVp) and tube current (50, 100 mAs) Repeatability test was repeated ten times to measure the coefficient of variation. The radiation dose increased from 0.182 mGy to 12.902 mGy and the saturation rate increased from 58.3% with increasing exposure condition and time. The coefficient of variation of the glass elements of the fluorescent glass dosimeter was ranged from 0.2 to 0.77 according to the X - ray exposure conditions. X - ray exposure showed that the radiation dose and saturation rate were increased with buildup characteristics, and degeneration of glass elements was not observed. The reproducibility of the variation coefficient of the radiation generator was included within the error range and the reproducibility of the radiation dose was excellent.

• Korean Journal of Computational Design and Engineering
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.159-169
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• 2016

In order to realize the virtual prototyping (VP) of digital products, it is important to provide the people involved in product development with the appropriate visualization and interaction of the products, and the vivid simulation of user interface (UI) behaviors in an interactive 3D virtual environment. In this paper, we propose an approach to web-based 3D virtual experience using Unity and Leap Motion. We adopt Unity as an implementation platform which easily and rapidly implements the visualization of the products and the design and simulation of their UI behaviors, and allows remote users to get an easy access to the virtual environment. Additionally, we combine Leap Motion with Unity to embody natural and immersive interaction using the user's hand gesture. Based on the proposed approach, we have developed a testbed system for web-based 3D virtual experience and applied it for the design evaluation of various digital products. Button selection test was done to investigate the quality of the interaction using Leap Motion, and a preliminary user study was also performed to show the usefulness of the proposed approach.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 2013

This study examined the radiopacity of eight contemporary luting cements by direct digital radiography. Five disc-shaped specimens ($5mm{\times}1mm$) were prepared for each material tested (BisCem, Clearfil SA Luting, Duolink, Maxcem Elite, Multilink Speed, Panavia F 2.0, RelyX Unicem Clicker, V-link). The specimens were radiographed using a Kodak CS 7600 image plate (Carestream Health, Inc., Rochester, NY, USA) and an aluminum step wedge with a range of thicknesses (1.5 to 16.5 mm in 1.5 mm increments) and a 1 mm tooth used as a reference. A dental X-ray machine Kodak 2200 Intraoral X-ray System (Carestream Health, Inc., Rochester, NY, USA), operating at 70 kVp, 4 mA, 0.156 s and a source-to-sample distance of 30 cm, was used. According to international standards, the radiopacity of the specimens was compared with that of an aluminum step wedge using NIH ImageJ software (available at http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/).The data was analyzed by ANOVA and a Tukey's post hoc test. Maxcem Elite (5.66) showed the highest radiopacity of all materials, followed in order by Multilink Speed (3.87) and V-link (2.83). The radiopacity of Clearfil SA Luting (1.35), BisCem (1.33), Panavia F 2.0 (1.29) and Duolink (1.10) were between enamel (1.79) and dentin (0.19). RelyX Unicem Clicker (0.71) showed the lowest radiopacity, which was higher than that of dentin. All materials showed a radiopacity above the minimum recommended by the International Organization for Standardization and the American National Standards/American Dental Association with the exception of RelyX Unicem Clicker.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.6
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• pp.1477-1492
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• 2021

Purpose Dedicated breast CT is an emerging volumetric X-ray imaging modality for diagnosis that does not require any painful breast compression. To improve the detection rate of weakly enhanced lesions, an adaptive image rescaling (AIR) technique was proposed. Materials and Methods Two disks containing five identical holes and five holes of different diameters were scanned using 60/100 kVp to obtain single-energy CT (SECT), dual-energy CT (DECT), and AIR images. A piece of pork was also scanned as a subclinical trial. The image quality was evaluated using image contrast and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). The difference of imaging performances was confirmed using student's t test. Results Total mean image contrast of AIR (0.70) reached 74.5% of that of DECT (0.94) and was higher than that of SECT (0.22) by 318.2%. Total mean CNR of AIR (5.08) was 35.5% of that of SECT (14.30) and was higher than that of DECT (2.28) by 222.8%. A similar trend was observed in the subclinical study. Conclusion The results demonstrated superior image contrast of AIR over SECT, and its higher overall image quality compared to DECT with half the exposure. Therefore, AIR seems to have the potential to improve the detectability of lesions with dedicated breast CT.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.134-139
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• 2014

Purpose: Adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) technique is a reconstruction method of CT image using statistical noise modeling which is known to reduce image noise and to preserve image quality despite reducing radiation dose. The aim of this study is to evaluate images using ASIR on bone SPECT/CT which is primarily performed in our hospital. Materials and Methods: We compared the images of applied ASIR (ASIR level: 20-80%) and none ASIR by changing the mA based on 120 kVp, 100 mA using Discovery NM/CT 670 (GE, U.S.A). First, we evaluated attenuation correction in SPECT image by changing the ASIR level using Anthropomorphic phantom. Second, we compared the contrast to noise ratio (CNR), image noise and spatial resolution in CT image using ACR phantom. Third, after selecting the ASIR level applicable patient using lower torso phantom, we examined 2 patients who followed up bone SPECT/CT and we performed blind test. Results: The degree of attenuation correction in SPECT image showed no significant difference between applied ASIR and none ASIR (P>0.05). When applied ASIR, the noise of CT image were reduced at least 17 up to 52% by changing the mA. The CNR of image with ASIR was maintained more than 0.8 at 40 mA (ASIR 60%) while those without ASIR showed 0.42 at standard 40 mA. In comparison of the high contrast object, we distinguished 12 line pairs/cm at 40 mA regardless of appling ASIR. Comparison of the patients image applied ASIR level 60% (40 mA) which found out by spine image of lower torso phantom showed no signigicant difference between applied ASIR and none ASIR in blind test. The CTDIvol and DLP for applied ASIR 60% showed decreased by 60%, 60% on average than using standard mA. Conclusion: The study show that the radiation dose in SPECT/CT using ASIR can be reduced despite degradation of SPECT and CT images. In addition, higher ASIR level could be possibly applied characteristics of SPECT/CT that region of interest is limited to bone.