• The Korean journal of helicobacter and upper gastrointestinal research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.168-173
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• 2018

Gastric cancer is still the leading cause of cancer deaths, especially in Asian countries. Recently, many studies have analyzed cell-free nucleic acids (cfNAs) circulating in the blood, for the early diagnosis of cancer and monitoring its progression. Circulating tumor nucleic acids (ctNAs) originate in a tumor and contain tumor-related genetic or epigenetic alterations. This review defines the nomenclatures of each form of cfNAs and describes the characteristics of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) and microRNA (miRNA), two major forms of ctNAs studied in gastric cancer research to date. We compare available studies on ctDNA, and explain trends observed in studies of miRNAs in gastric cancers. As these new blood-based biomarkers have attracted increasing attention, we have discussed several important points to be considered before the clinical translation of ctNA detection. We have also discussed the current status of research in this field, and clinical applications of specific ctNAs as tumor markers for gastric cancer diagnosis.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.236-239
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• 2005

This study investigated the effect of ovariectomy (OVX) on the rat bone fur long term (22 weeks). In previous researches, there were many studies for morphology of OVX-induced osteoporotic bones based on micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT). However, there were few studies fpr detecting and tracking changes of mechanical characteristics in the lumbar vertebrae of OVX rat fur long-term. For this study, one female Sprague-Dawley rat was used: an OVX rat. The 4th lumbar of the OVX rat was utilized as a specimen. Morphological characteristics could be investigated fur the lumbar vertebrae in an OVX rat by using in-vivo Micro-CT. An OVX rat was scanned at week 0 (just before surgery), at week 4, at week 8, at week 16 and at week 22 after surgery. Micro finite element $({\mu}FE)$ analysis was used to investigate mechanical characteristics in the lumbar vertebrae for an OVX rat.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.53-61
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• 2015

This study was conducted for the purpose of evaluating the stainless steel crowns on extracted primary molars and thus identifying frequent errors and defects. Visual assessment and micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) image analysis were performed on 97 primary molars for evaluation of the state of marginal adaptation, cement loss, secondary caries, ledge formation, attritive perforation and marginal polishing defect. The results were as follows: In the examination of object teeth by evaluation criteria, cement loss was found most frequently (98%), followed by secondary caries (42.3%), marginal polishing defect (41.2%), ledge formation (29.9%) and attritive perforation (17.5%), in this order. The cement loss at the margins showed a significant relationship with marginal gap and secondary caries: the larger the marginal gap is, the more frequent is the cement loss (p < 0.05). The average marginal gap was $0.31{\pm}0.26mm$ and showed the highest value in the maxillary 2nd primary molars. The location of the crown margin above the cementoenamel junction was found most frequently and it was found that the higher the crown margin is located, the less the marginal gap becomes (p < 0.05). In conclusion, it is thought very desirable to pay closer attention to crown margins and shapes for stainless steel crown restoration in order to minimize the marginal gaps and consequent cement loss.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.61-70
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• 2012

In this study, a simple post-reconstruction dual-energy computed tomography (CT) method is proposed. A dual-energy CT algorithm for monochromatic x-rays was adopted and applied to the dual-energy CT of polychromatic x-rays by assigning a representative mono-energy. The accuracy of algorithm implementation was tested with mathematical phantoms. To test the sensitivity of this algorithm to the inaccuracy of representative energy value in energy values, a simulation study was performed with mathematical phantom. To represent a polychromatic x-ray energy spectrum with a single-energy, mean energy and equivalent energy were used, and the results were compared. The feasibility of the proposed method was experimentally tested with two different micro-CTs and a test phantom made of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), water, and graphite. The dual-energy calculations were carried out with CT images of all possible energy pairs among 40, 50, 60, 70, and 80 kVp. The effective atomic number and the electron density values obtained from the proposed method were compared with theoretical values. The results showed that, except the errors in the effective atomic number of graphite, most of the errors were less than 10 % for both CT scanners, and for the combination of 60 kVp and 70 kVp, errors less than 6.0 % could be achieved with a Polaris 90 CT. The proposed method shows simplicity of calibration, demonstrating its practicality and feasibility for use with a general polychromatic CT.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.1411-1412
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• 2011

• The Journal of Engineering Geology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.461-465
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• 2010

Weathering and permeability in rocks play a very important role in underground disposal of radioactive waste and their long-term management as well as stability security of rock structures. Weathering and permeability of rocks are largely controlled by the characters of inner structures of rocks. In other words, weathering rate can be accelerated depending on the quantity of pore and microcrack in rocks. Quantitative evaluation of inner structures of rocks can serve as a tool that can assess the degree of weathering of rocks. Therefore it can be said that the understanding of three dimensional distribution of the inner structure of rocks is important for long-term management of rock structures. This study was performed to analyze three dimensional distribution of pore in rocks using Micro Focus X-ray CT on fresh granite and weathered granite from Korea. Results of the analysis clearly show distribution of pore and porosity of the inner rock.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.342-352
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• 2014

This paper proposes an automatic segmentation method of cortical bone and trabecular bone and describes an implementation of structural analysis method of trabecular bone in micro-CT images. The proposed segmentation method extract bone region with binarization using a threshold value. Next, it finds adjacent contour lines from outer boundary line into inward direction and sets candidate regions of cortical bone. Next it remove cortical bone region by finding the candidate cortical region of which the average pixel value is maximum. We implemented the method which computes four structural indicators BV/TV, Tb.Th, Tb.Sp, Tb.N by using VTK(Visualization ToolKit) and sphere fitting algorithm. We applied the implemented method to twenty proximal femur of mouses and compared with the manual segmentation method. Experimental result shows that the average error rates between the proposed segmentation method and the manual segmentation method are less than 3% for the four structural indicatiors. This result means that the proposed method can be used instead of the combersome and time consuming manual segmentation method.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
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• v.32 no.6 s.95
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• pp.435-441
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• 2002

Surgical microscrews were introduced and used as one method to provide absolute anchorage. Some clinicians implanted microscrews or miniscrews into the basal bone below the roots of the teeth to evade damage to the roots. Because the implanted microscrews were positioned too low the applied force was insufficient to retract the anterior teeth or protract the posterior teeth, and the use of microscrews or miniscrews seemed limited in applying vertical force. However Park implanted microscrews(micro-implants (1.2mm in diameter)) into the alveolar bone between the roots of the posterior teeth to change the direction of the applied force toward increasing horizontal component of the force. Moreover, these microscrew implants were positioned in the alveolar bone between the roots without causing discernable damage to the roots. This study was performed to provide guidelines and anatomic data to assist in the determination of the safe location for micro-implants. By measuring the CT images from 21 patients, anatomical data were obtained which were then used as a guide to determine the location for the implantation of micro-implants. The thickness of the cortical bones at the alveaolar bone region increased from the anterior to the posterior teeth area. The mandibular posterior teeth area showed thicker cortical bone. A greater distance was observed in distance between the second premolar root and first molar root in the upper arch, between the first molar root and the second molar root in the lower arch. The alveolar bone of the posterior teeth area is considered the best site for the implantation of micro-implants.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.252-260
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• 2012

The reduction of radiation dose from x-ray is a main concern in computed tomography (CT) imaging due to the side-effect of the dose on human body. Recently, the various methods for dose reduction have been studied in CT and one of the method is a iterative reconstruction based on total variation (TV) minimization at few-views data. In this paper, we evaluated the image quality between total variation (TV) minimization algorithm and Feldkam-Davis-kress (FDK) algorithm in micro computed tomography (CT). To evaluate the effect of TV minimization algorithm, we produced a cylindrical phantom including contrast media, water, air inserts. We can acquire maximum 400 projection views per rotation of the x-ray tube and detector. 20, 50, 90, 180 projection data were chosen for evaluating the level of image restoration by TV minimization. The phantom and mouse image reconstructed with FDK algorithm at 400 projection data used as a reference image for comparing with TV minimization and FDK algorithm at few-views. Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), Universal quality index (UQI) were used as a image evaluation metric. When projection data are not insufficient, our results show that the image quality of reconstructed with TV minimization is similar to reconstructed image with FDK at 400 view. In the cylindrical phantom study, the CNR of TV image was 5.86, FDK image was 5.65 and FDK-reference was 5.98 at 90-views. The CNR of TV image 0.21 higher than FDK image CNR at 90-views. UQI of TV image was 0.99 and FDK image was 0.81 at 90-views. where, the number of projection is 90, the UQI of TV image 0.18 higher than FDK image at 90-views. In the mouse study UQI of TV image was 0.91, FDK was 0.83 at 90-views. the UQI of TV image 0.08 higher than FDK image at 90-views. In cylindrical phantom image and mouse image study, TV minimization algorithm shows the best performance in artifact reduction and preserving edges at few view data. Therefore, TV minimization can potentially be expected to reduce patient dose in clinics.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.21-26
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• 2016

Purpose Because of many advantages, PET-CT Scanners generally use CT Data for attenuation correction. By using CT based attenuation correction, we can get anatomical information, reduce scan time and make more accurate correction of attenuation. However in case metal artifact occurred during CT scan, CT-based attenuation correction can induce artifacts and quantitative errors that can affect the PET images. Therefore this study infers true SUV of metal artifact region from attenuation corrected image count -to- non attenuation corrected image count ratio. Materials and Methods Micro phantom inserted $^{18}F-FDG$ 4mCi was used for phantom test and Biograph mCT S(40) is used for medical test equipment. We generated metal artifact in micro phantom by using metal. Then we acquired both metal artifact region of correction factor and non metal artifact region of correction factor by using attenuation correction image count -to- non attenuation correction image count ratio. In case of clinical image, we reconstructed both attenuation corrected images and non attenuation corrected images of 10 normal patient($66{\pm}15age$) who examined PET-CT scan in SNUH. After that, we standardize several organs of correction factor by using attenuation corrected image count -to- non attenuation corrected count ratio. Then we figured out metal artifact region of correction factor by using metal artifact region of attenuation corrected image count -to- non attenuation corrected count ratio And we compared standard organs correction factor with metal artifact region correction factor. Results according to phantom test results, metal artifact induce overestimation of correction factor so metal artifact region of correction factors are 12% bigger than the non metal artifact region of correction factors. in case of clinical test, correction factor of organs with high CT number(>1000) is $8{\pm}0.5%$, correction factor of organs with CT number similar to soft tissue is $6{\pm}2%$ and correction factor of organs with low CT number(-100>) is $3{\pm}1%$. Also metal artifact correction factors are 20% bigger than soft tissue correction factors which didn't happened metal artifact. Conclusion metal artifact lead to overestimation of attenuation coefficient. because of that, SUV of metal artifact region is overestimated. Thus for more accurate quantitative evaluation, using attenuation correction image count -to-non attenuation correction image count ratio is one of the methods to reduce metal artifact affect.