• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1149-1155
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• 2016

Background: Examination of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsies provides accurate nodal staging for breast cancer and plays a key role in patient management. Procurement of SLNs and the methods used to process specimens are equally important. Increasing the level of detail in histopathological examination of SLNs increases detection of metastatic tumours but will also increase the burden of busy laboratories and thus may not be carried out routinely. Recommendation of a reasonable standard in SLN examination is required to ensure high sensitivity of results while maintaining a manageable practice workload. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four patients with clinically node-negative breast cancer were recruited. Combined radiotracer and blue dye methods were used for identification of SLNs. The nodes were thinly sliced and embedded. Serial sectioning and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining against AE1/AE3 were performed if initial H&E sections of the blocks were negative. Results: SLNs were successfully identified in all patients. Ten cases had nodal metastases with 7 detected in SLNs and 3 detected only in axillary nodes (false negative rate, FNR=30%). Some 5 out of 7 metastatic lesions in the SLNs (71.4%) were detected in initial sections of the thinly sliced tissue. Serial sectioning detected the remaining two cases with either micrometastases or isolated tumour cells (ITC). Conclusions: Thin slicing of tissue to 3-5mm thickness and serial sectioning improved the detection of micro and macro-metastases but the additional burden of serial sectioning gave low yield of micrometastases or ITC and may not be cost effective. IHC validation did not further increase sensitivity of detection. Therefore its use should only be limited to confirmation of suspicious lesions. False negative cases where SLNs were not involved could be due to skipped metastases to non-sentinel nodes or poor technique during procurement, resulting in missed detection of actual SLNs.

• Journal of Korea Soil Environment Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 1998

The biodegradation of ($C^{14}$)phenanthrene was studied in water and soil-water systems with nonionic surfactants and biosurfactant : polyoxyethylene alkyl ester($C_{17}$$H_33$COO($C_2$$H_4$O)nH) and sophorolipid. The extents of so1ubilization and biodegradation were monitored by radiotracer technique. Experimental results showed that surfactant concentrations above the critical micelle concentration were toxic to the phenanthrene-degrading bacteria in soil or active sludge and the presence of surfactant micelles inhibited mineralization of PAHs. Solubility and bioavailibility of phenanthrene in water and soil-water system were enhanced by mixed surfactants system. The optimum water content and hydrogen concentration were 30% (w/v) , pH 7, respectively.

• The Korean Journal of Nuclear Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.87-94
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• 1991

To evaluate the diagnostic usefulness of quantitative sacroiliac joint scintigraphy and its clinical significance in the ankylosing spondylitis, we measured SIS ratio (Sacroiliac Joint/Sacrum Uptake ratio) by region of interest method in 52 patients with ankylosing spondylitis. As compared with radiological grade, SIS ratio was significantly elevated in the early stage of ankylosing spondylitis and returned to normal range in the late stage. Scintigraphic finding of focal uptakes of radiotracer at multiple spinal apophyseal joints was characteristic and proximal large joints were more involved than distal joints. The incidence and extent of the arthropathy revealed by scnitigraphy exceeded that which was clinically evident, and scintigraphy was more sensitive to detect symptomatic lesion than radiography. Therefore, it is suggested that bone scan is useful for the early diagnosis and the assessment of clinical activity of involved joints of ankylosing spondylitis.

• Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.253-258
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• 2009

Bone scintigraphy using $^{99m}$Tc-labeled phosphate agents has long been the standard evaluation method for whole skeletal system. However, recent shortage of $^{99m}$Tc supply and advanced positron emission tomography (PET) technology evoked the attention to surrogate radiopharmaceuticals and imaging modalities for bone. Actually, fluorine-18 ($^{18}$F) was the first bone seeking radiotracer before the introduction of $^{99m}$Tc-labeled agents even though its clinical application failed to become pervasive anymore after the rapid spread of Anger type gamma camera systems in early 1970s. However, rapidly developed PET technology made us refocus on the usefulness of $^{18}$F as a PET tracer. Early study comparing $^{18}$F-Na PET scan and planar bone scintigraphy reported that PET has higher sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of metastatic bone lesions than planar bone scan. Subsequent reports comparing between PET and both planar and SPECT bone image also revealed better results of PET scan in similar study groups. Rapid clinical application of PET/CT also accumulated considerable amount of experiences in skeletal evaluation and this modality is known to have better diagnostic power than stand alone PET system as well as bone scan. Furthermore $^{18}$F-Na PET/CT revealed better or at least equal results in detection of primary and metastatic bone lesions compared with CT and MRI. Therefore, it is obvious that $^{18}$F-Na PET/CT has potential to become new imaging modality for practical skeletal evaluation so continuous and careful evaluation of this modality and radiopharmaceutical must be required.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.55-65
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• 1991

Soil-to-plant transfer coefficients of Mn-54, Co-60, Zn-65, and Cs-137 were estimated for the edible parts of the rice, soybean, lettuce, carrot, and squash grown in different soils by radiotracer uptake experiments using pot cultures. The transfer coefficients of radionuclides were in the order of Zn-65 > Mn-54 > Cs-137 > Co-60 in most of the cases studied. The coefficients for soybean were roughly an order of magnitude higher than those for rice. Among vegetables, lettuce mostly showed the highest value and squash, the lowest. In the strongly acidic soils, transfer coefficients were much higher than in the moderately acidic soils. From the data obtained. crop-specific transfer coefficients of the four nuclides were proposed for the use in Korean food-chain radiation dose assessment.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.438-445
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• 2004

A radiotracer study was conducted to evaluate the influence of body size and temperature on the uptake rates of Cd, Se and Zn in the California mussel, Mytilus californianus. Uptake rates of Cd, Se and Zn were determined simultaneously with clearance of the mussels with 3 different size classes (0.07, 0.24 and 0.73 g flesh dry weight $individual^{-1})$ and at 4 different temperatures (3, 8, 13 and $21^\circ{C})$. The weight-specific uptake rates of 3 elements significantly decreased with body size, but increased with temperature. Simultaneously measured clearance rates of mussels were closely associated with metal uptake rates. The significant association of clearance rates and metal uptake rates of mussels emphasizes the importance of functional role of water pumping activity in the metal uptake process in filter-feeding organisms.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.104-108
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• 2015

Human serum albumin (HSA) has potential for diagnosis and therapy in clinical setting. The purpose of experiments was to develop and evaluate $^{68}Ga$-HSA as a PET agent for diagnosis of acute inflammation. NOTA-HSA was synthesized by conjugating 2-(p-isothiocyanatobenzyl)-1,4,7-triazacyclononane-1,4,7-triacetic acid to HSA in 0.1 M sodium carbonate buffer (pH 9.5) and then purified using a PD-10 size-exclusion column. NOTA-HSA was labeled with $^{68}Ga$ at room temperature for 10 min, and 8.4% sodium hydrogen carbonate buffer was added for neutralization. $^{68}Ga$-NOTA-HSA was purified using alumina N plus light cartridge and $0.22{\mu}m$ syringe filter. Labeling efficiency and radiochemical purity were determined by ITLC-SG with 0.1 M citric acid. Biodistribution study was performed in a male BALB/c mice model of Carrageenan-induced acute inflammation. Animal PET study was performed in acute inflammation mice model after tail vein injection of $^{68}Ga$-HSA. This radiotracer showed high labeling efficiency (>99%) around pH 7. Biodistribution study showed higher inflamed footpad uptake than control footpad uptake. Animal PET study revealed 2 times higher uptake on inflamed footpad compared to control footpad. In these experiments, we developed $^{68}Ga$-HSA for acute inflammation PET imaging and evaluated it in a mouse disease model. The results demonstrated that $^{68}Ga$-HSA has potential as a PET imaging agent for diagnosis of acute inflammation.

• Journal of Breast Cancer
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.442-446
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• 2018

Purpose: The definition of nodal pathologic complete response (pCR) after a neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) just included the evaluation of axillary lymph node (ALN) without internal mammary lymph node. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of internal mammary-sentinel lymph node biopsy (IM-SLNB) in patients with breast cancer who underwent NAC. Methods: From November 2011 to 2017, 179 patients with primary breast cancer who underwent operation after NAC were included in this study. All patients received radiotracer injection with modified injection technology. IM-SLNB would be performed on patients with internal mammary sentinel lymph node (IMSLN) visualization. Results: Among the 158 patients with cN+ disease, the rate of nodal pCR was 36.1% (57/158). Among the 179 patients, the visualization rate of IMSLN was 31.8% (57/179) and was 12.3% (7/57) and 87.7% (50/57) among those with $cN_0$ and cN+ disease, respectively. Furthermore, the detection rate of IMSLN was 31.3% (56/179). The success rate of IM-SLNB was 98.2% (56/57). The IMSLN metastasis rate was 7.1% (4/56), and all of them were accompanied by ALN metastasis. The number of positive ALNs in patients with IMSLN metastasis was 3, 6, 8, and 9. The pathology nodal stage had been changed from $pN_1/pN_2$ to $pN_{3b}$. The pathology stage had been changed from IIA/IIIA to IIIC. Conclusion: Patients with visualization of IMSLN should perform IM-SLNB after NAC, especially for patients with cN+ disease, in order to complete lymph nodal staging. IM-SLNB could further improve the definition of nodal pCR and guide the internal mammary node irradiation.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.54-60
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• 2019

Sentinel lymph node (SLN) imaging plays an important role in surgery of patients with breast cancer and melanoma. In this study, avidin (Av), a tetrameric protein glycosylated with mannose and N-acetylglucosamine molecules, was labeled with $^{64}Cu$ and then evaluated for LN imaging. $^{64}Cu$-Labeled $NeutrAvidin^{TM}$ (NAv), a non-glycosylated form of Av, was used for comparison. 1,4,7,10-Tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N'',N'''-tetraacetic acid (DOTA)-conjugated Av and NAv were prepared from the corresponding proteins and DOTA-NHS ester, which were then labeled with copper-64 and purified using PD-10 columns. The numbers of DOTA molecules conjugated to Av and NAv were 4.9 and 3.3, respectively. [$^{64}Cu$]Cu-DOTA-conjugated Av and NAv were prepared in 93% and 73% radiochemical yields, respectively. In vitro serum stability study showed that copper-64 remained stable on all radiotracers for 24 h (>97%). MicroPET/CT images showed that high radioactivity was accumulated in LNs within 15 min after footpad-injection of radiotracers. Tissue distribution data of mice demonstrated significantly higher uptake in the popliteal (PO) LN than lumbar (LU) LN for $^{64}Cu$-labeled Av (relative % ID/g excluding the injection sites: 66.2% and 26.0%, respectively) compared with those of $^{64}Cu$-labeled NAv (43.0% and 49.2%, respectively). The results of this study suggest that mannose molecules on Av enabled the radiotracer to retain in the first LN after mouse footpad-injection.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2018

Great efforts are currently devoted to the development of new approaches for the labeling of cells using appropriate radionuclides. While fluoride-18 and copper-64 have been extensively studied as short-term and intermediate-term trafficking agents, iodide was studied less intensely. Here, we report a new cell labeling agent labeled with $^{131}I$, $[^{131}I]$oleyl-4-iodobenzoate ($[^{131}I]$OIB) for long-term cell trafficking. A precursor of $[^{131}I]$OIB was obtained in two steps, with the yield of 35%. The radiochemical yield of $[^{131}I]$OIB was over 50%. While $[^{131}I]$OIB could label different cells, L6 cells showed the highest cell-labeling efficiency. The $[^{131}I]$OIB-labeled L6 cells were imprinted into a rat heart, and then monitored noninvasively for 2 weeks by gamma camera imaging. We conclude that $[^{131}I]$OIB is a good candidate molecule for a long-term cell trafficking agent.