• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.425-431
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• 2015

Measurement accuracy was evaluated for the respiratory air flow transducer developed for applications under emergent situations. Pressure-Flow calibration equation was obtained by acquisition of air flow signals from the transducer in response to 6 flow waveforms, similar to those of artificial ventilation, generated by the standard flow generator system. Tidal volume and maximal flow rate were calculated on the flow signal then compared with the error-free data obtained by the linear displacement transducer of the flow generator system. Mean relative error of the tidal volume was within 3% and that of the maximal flow rate, approximately 5%, demonstrating accurate enough measurements. Therefore, the transducer could be applied to emergent situations to monitor the respiratory air flow signal as well as diagnostic parameters in real time.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.115-122
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• 2015

A standard air flow generator system was developed to generate air flows of various levels simultaneously applied to two different air flow transducer modules. Axes of two identical standard syringes for spirometer calibration were connected with each other and driven by a servo-motor. Linear displacement transducer was also connected to the syringe axis to accurately acquire the volume change signal. The user can select either sinusoidal or square waveform of volume change and manually input any volume as well as maximal flow rate levels ranging 0~3 l and 0~15 l/s, respectively. Various volume and flow levels were input to operate the system, then the volume signal was acquired followed by numerical differentiation to obtain the air flow signal. The measured volumes and maximal air flow rates were compared with the user input data. The relative errors between the user-input and the measured stroke volumes were all within 0.5%, demonstrating very accurate driving of the system. In case of the maximal flow rate, relatively large error was observed when the syringe was driven very fast within a very short time duration. However, except for these few data, most measured flow rates revealed relative errors of approximately 2%. When the measure and user-input stroke volume and maximal flow rate data were analyzed by linear regression analysis, respectively, the correlation coefficients were satisfactorily higher than 0.99 (p < 0.0001). These results demonstrate that the servo-motor controls the syringes with enough accuracy to generate standard air flows. Therefore, the present system would be very much practical for calibration process as well as performance evaluation and comparison of two different air flow transducer modules.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.61 no.9
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• pp.1350-1357
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• 2012

Medical system for personal health management recently changes its paradigm from hospital service to self home care based on ubiquitous technology for healthcare anywhere at any time. The present study developed a wireless bio-signal measurement system for patients to self manage pulmonary disease and benign prostate hyperplasia(BPH), both of which are chronic diseases with increasing frequency in modern society. Velocity-type respiratory air flow transducer adapted to develop respiratory module for pulmonary disease management was simplified in structure to measure uni-directional flow since most important diagnostic parameters are evaluated on the expiratory flow signal only. Standard weight measurement technique was introduced to obtain urinary flow signal for BPH management. Three load cell signals were acquired for averaging to minimize noise, followed by accuracy evaluation. Transmission and receiver modules were also developed with user program for wireless communication. Averaged relative errors were 2.05 and 1.02% for respiratory volume and maximal flow rate, respectively, and the relative error was 2.17% for urinary volume, demonstrating that both modules enabled very accurate measurements. Wireless communication distance was verified within 15m, long enough for home care application. The present system allows the user to select a necessary measurement module on a particular health demand and to immediately provide the self-test results, thus better quality health care would be possible.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.7-15
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• 1975

The maximum breathing capacity (MBC) and the maximum mid-expiratory flow rate (MMF) are widely used in evaluation of the ventilatory function, among various parameters of pulmonary function. The MBC volume is the amount of gas which can be exchanged per unit time during maximal voluntary hyperventilation. Performance of this test, unlike that of single breath maneuvers, is affected by the integrity of the respiratory bellows as a whole including such factors are respiratory muscle blood supply, fatigue, and progressive trapping of air. Because of this, the MBC and its relation to ventilatory requirement correlates more closely with subjective dyspnea than does any other test. The MMF is the average flow rate during expiration of the middle 50% of the vital capacity. The MMF is a measurement of a fast vital capacity related to the time required for the maneuver and the MMF relates much better to other dynamic tests of ventilatory function and to dyspnea than total vital capacity, because the MMF reflects the effective volume, or gas per unit of time. Therefore, it is important to have a prediction formula with one can compute the normal value for the subject and the compare with the measured value. However, the formulas for prediction of both MBC and MMF of the Korean children and adolescents are not yet available in the present. Hence, present investigation was attempt to derive the formulas for prediction of both MBC and MMF of the Korean children and adolescents. MBC and MMF were measured in 1,037 healthy Korean children and adolescents (1,035 male and 1,002 female) whose ages ranged from 8 to 18 years. A spirometer (9L, Collins) was used for the measurement of MBC and MMF. Both MBC and MMF were measured 3times in a standing position and the highest values were used. For measurement, the $CO_2$ absorber and sadd valve were removed from the spirometer in order to reduce the resistance in the breathing circuit and the subject was asked to breathe as fast and deeply as possible for 12 seconds in MBC and to exhale completely as fast as possible after maximum inspiration for MMF. During the measurement, investigator stood by the subject to give a constant encouragement. All the measured values were subsequently converted to values at BTPS. The formulas for MBC and MMF were derived by a manner similar to those for Baldwin et al (1949) and Im (1965) as function of age and BSA or age and height. The prediction formulas for MBC (L/min, BTPS) and MMF (L/min, BTPS) of the Korean children and adolescents as derived in this investigation are as follows: For male, MBC=[41.70+{$2.69{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}BSA$ $(m^{2})$ MBC=[0.083+{$0.045{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm) For female, MBC=[45.53+{$1.55{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}BSA$ $(m^2)$ MBC=[0.189+{$0.029{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm) For male, MMF= [0.544+{$0.066{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm) For female, MMF=[0.416+{$0.064{\times}Age(years)$}]${\times}Ht$ (cm)

• Proceedings of the KOR-BRONCHOESO Conference
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• 1982.05a
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• pp.11.2-12
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• 1982

The major advancement in phonosurgery due to recent development of laryngomicrosurgery enabled more accurate diagnosis and treatment of patient with voice disorders. Among large proportion of voice disordered patients, prominent linear furrow running parallel along the free edge of vocal cord extending from the vocal process to anterior commissure can be seen as well as incomplete closure during phonation. These cases were illustrated and coined as sulcus vocalis by Salvi in 1901, since then other similar paper was reported in Europe and Japan, but has not been reported in Korea. The exact etiology and therapeutic methods of sulcus vocalis has not been elaborated. At Department of Otolaryngology of Yonsei University College of Medicine a series of voice analysis were performed among those 35 patients with sulcus vocalis visited to Vocal Dynamics Laboratory from May, 1981 to March, 1982. Following is the result of clinical statistical investgation and therapeutic modality. 1) The incidance of sulcus vocalis among 290 patients with voice disorder visited to Vocal Dynamics Laboratory was approximately 12%(35 cases). 2) Onset of this voice disorder was most frequent among patient under 10 year-old groups; 19 cases (54%) followed by second decade, third decade groups in decreasing frequency respectably. 3) The etiology of sulcus vocalis was mostly unknown. The sequelae after measle (4 cases) and severe upper respiratory infection (3 cases) and congenital deformity (2 cases) were the possible causes of sulcus vocalis. 4) These patients were involved bilaterally in 25 cases (71%), left side only in 8 cases (23%) and right side only in 2 cases (6%). 5) Almost all patients complained hoarseness and 7 patients were suffering from chronic laryngitis. 6) In aerodynamic analysis, Maximal Phonation Time was decreased in 20 cases (57%), Phonation Quotient was increased in 22 cases (63%) and Mean Air Flow Rate was increased in 23 cases (66%). 7) Among them, 33 cases were analyzed with stroboscopy. The findings were as follows; incomplete glottic closure during phonation in 31 cases (93%), regular vocal cord movement in whole cases, asymmetric cord movement in 4 cases (12%), decreased amplitude in 5 cases (21%) and small mucosal wave in 24 cases (73%). 8) Intracordal Teflon injection in 5 cases and Sulcusectomy in 1 cases were performed as therapeutic management, however, the therapeutic results were not effective except one case with Teflon injection.