PURPOSE: To determine optimal pitch and slice thickness when detecting small hepatoma by spiral CT. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Three types of artificial liver phantom of 45, 65, and 85 HU using agarose and three types ofartifical nodules of cheese with 95 HU of CT attenuation (5, 10 and 15mm in diameter) were prepared. After thethree types of phantom were embedded with three kinds of artificial nodules of different sizes, nine types ofphantom were made. In addition, four more 10-HU artificial liver phantoms embedded with 5-mm nodules were made.After the phantoms were scanned by spiral CT at different slice thicknesses (5, 8 and 10mm) and different pitches(1.0, 1.25, 1.5 and 2.0), nodule detection rates were determined ; these rates were, in addition, determined afteroverlapping reconstruction and changes in CT attenuation according to pitch. RESULT: Regardless of size, pitchand slice thickness, all nodules with more than 30 HU difference between the embedded nodule and artificial liverphantom were detected. The detection rate of 5mm nodules with a density difference of 10 HU decreased at a pitchof 2.0 and at 10mm slice thickness. After overlapping reconstruction, detection rates increased and there were noCT attenuation differences according to pitch. CONCLUSION: Eight-mm slice thickness is preferred and for thedetection of a nodule by spiral CT, pitch should not be greater than 1.5. After overlapping reconstruction,additional nodules were detected.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Cheese ; Liver* ; Liver, Artificial* ; Sepharose ; Tomography, Spiral Computed*

To elucidate the effects of food texture such as hardness, cohesiveness, adhesiveness on mastication procedure, the electromyographic activity (EMG) of the masticatory muscles and the chewing movements were analyzed in eighteen young subjects during ordinary chewing. Seven different foods were selected by sensory texture profiling and mechanical test with texturometer; egg white, sausage, pizza cheese, yang-geng, biscuit, peanut and almond. The indexes of jaw movements used were the chewing number, chewing time, maximum opening, average opening, closing velocity and opening velocity. The EMG indexes analyzed were maximum and average integrated amplitude of the anterior temporal and masseter muscles. The results obtained were as follows. 1. The chewing time and chewing number, mandibular displacement and mandibular movement velocity were not changed by the hardness, cohesiveness and adhesiveness of the food (p>0.05). 2. The harder food materials showed a higher amplitude of the anterior temporal muscle integrated EMGs than the softer ones (p<0.05). 3. The maximum and average integrated EMGs of the masseter muscle increased with the increase of hardness of the food (p<0.05). 4. The integrated EMGs of preferred side and non-preferred side masticatory muscles increased with the increase of hardness of the food (p<0.05). 5. The adhesiveness and cohesiveness of the food were not the determining factor to the integrated EMGs of masticatory muscles (p<0.05).
Adhesiveness ; Cheese ; Egg White ; Hardness ; Jaw ; Masseter Muscle ; Mastication* ; Masticatory Muscles* ; Prunus dulcis ; Temporal Muscle

To perform the Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART), a high degree of deformable registration accuracy is essential. The purpose of this study is to identify whether the change of MV CBCT intensity can improve registration accuracy using predefined modification level and filtering process. To obtain modification level, the cheese phantom images was acquired from both kilovoltage CT (kappaV CT), megavoltage cone-beam CT (MV CBCT). From the cheese phantom images, the modification level of MV CBCT was defined from the relationship between Hounsfield Units (HUs) of kappaV CT and MV CBCT images. 'Gaussian smoothing filter' was added to reduce the noise of the MV CBCT images. The intensity of MV CBCT image was changed to the intensity of the kappaV CT image to make the two images have the same intensity range as if they were obtained from the same modality. The demon deformable registration which was efficient and easy to perform the deformable registration was applied. The deformable lung phantom which was intentionally created in the laboratory to imitate the changes of the breathing period was acquired from kappaV CT and MV CBCT. And then the deformable lung phantom images were applied to the proposed method. As a result of deformable image registration, the similarity of the correlation coefficient was used for a quantitative evaluation of the result was increased by 6.07% in the cheese phantom, and 18% in the deformable lung phantom. For the additional evaluation of the registration of the deformable lung phantom, the centric coordinates of the mark which was inserted into the inner part of the phantom were measured to calculate the vector difference. The vector differences from the result were 2.23, 1.39 mm with/without modification of intensity of MV CBCT images, respectively. In summary, our method has quantitatively improved the accuracy of deformable registration and could be a useful solution to improve the image registration accuracy. A further study was also suggested in this paper.
Cheese ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Evaluation Studies as Topic ; Intention ; Lung ; Noise ; Respiration

Gastrointestinal (GI) subepithelial tumors (SETs) are usually observed incidentally by endoscopy and have diverse prognoses, varying from benign to potentially malignant. When a GI SET is suspected, endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) is the most accurate diagnostic method to differentiate it from extraluminal compression. To determine the nature of GI SETs, EUS is also the most accurate diagnostic method, and reveals the precise sonographic nature of the lesion. There are some SETs with typical EUS findings of GI SETs, but most hypoechoic lesions are difficult to diagnose based on EUS images alone. EUS is also helpful to determine GI wall involvement in SETs and optimal treatment methods. For the diagnosis of GI SETs, obtaining a proper specimen is essential. EUS-guided cytology or biopsy methods such as fine-needle aspiration, Tru-Cut biopsy, and the newly introduced fine-needle biopsy (FNB) provide good results. To increase the diagnostic yield for GI SETs, cytology with immunocytochemical staining is used for cytological interpretation, resulting in good diagnostic yields. Recently, EUS-FNB using cheese slicer technology has been introduced, and has been reported to provide good diagnostic results for GI SETs.
Biopsy ; Biopsy, Fine-Needle ; Cheese ; Diagnosis ; Endoscopy ; Endosonography* ; Gastrointestinal Tract ; Methods ; Prognosis ; Ultrasonography

The dose re-calculation process using Megavoltage cone-beam CT images is inevitable process to perform the Adaptive Radiation Therapy (ART). The purpose of this study is to improve dose re-calculation accuracy using MVCBCT images by applying intensity calibration method and three dimensional rigid body transform and filtering process. The three dimensional rigid body transform and Gaussian smoothing filtering process to MVCBCT Rando phantom images was applied to reduce image orientation error and the noise of the MVCBCT images. Then, to obtain the predefined modification level for intensity calibration, the cheese phantom images from kilo-voltage CT (kV CT), MVCBCT was acquired. From these cheese phantom images, the calibration table for MVCBCT images was defined from the relationship between Hounsfield Units (HUs) of kV CT and MVCBCT images at the same electron density plugs. The intensity of MVCBCT images from Rando phantom was calibrated using the predefined modification level as discussed above to have the intensity of the kV CT images to make the two images have the same intensity range as if they were obtained from the same modality. Finally, the dose calculation using kV CT, MVCBCT with/without intensity calibration was applied using radiation treatment planning system. As a result, the percentage difference of dose distributions between dose calculation based on kVCT and MVCBCT with intensity calibration was reduced comparing to the percentage difference of dose distribution between dose calculation based on kVCT and MVCBCT without intensity calibration. For head and neck, lung images, the percentage difference between kV CT and non-calibrated MVCBCT images was 1.08%, 2.44%, respectively. In summary, our method has quantitatively improved the accuracy of dose calculation and could be a useful solution to enhance the dose calculation accuracy using MVCBCT images.
Calibration ; Cheese ; Cone-Beam Computed Tomography ; Electrons ; Head ; Lung ; Neck ; Noise ; Orientation

BACKGROUND: Medical dispute is increasing and its effect on society is serious, but reasonable settlement system is absent. Nevertheless patients and families choose medical dispute. But there is little research on patients and their families who choose to settle by medical dispute. Therefore this study examines the impact of medical malpractice to patients and their families and their reasons for choosing medical dispute after mishap. METHODS: Data were collected from 234 subjects who inquired of Medical Malpractice Family Association about malpractice suit. Questionnaire was composed of demographic characteristics, characteristics of hospital, characteristics of medical malpractice, degree of satisfaction with explanation and attitude of the treating doctor, effect of medical malpractice on patients' life and reasons patients and their families choose to settle by medical dispute. Factor analysis with varimax rotation was carried out to reduce the reasons to a smaller number of clearly interpretable factors. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to identify the variables relevant to these main themes. RESULTS: Degree of satisfaction with doctor's explanation and attitude was less than 10%. Over 60% of respondents stated that medical malpractice seriously affected their lives. Four main themes emerged from the factor analysis of reasons for dispute which includes dissatisfaction with doctor's attitude, wanting to prevent similar incident in the future, call t? account, and compensation. The relative importance in the order of frequency was wanting to prevent similar incident in the future, dissatisfaction with doctor's attitude, call to account, followed by compensation. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify the variables relevant to these four main themes. Clinical speciality group and degree of satisfaction on attitude were signi(icantly associated with the dissatisfaction with doctor's attitude. Clinical speciality group, patient's condition, effect of medical malpractiee on life and degree of satisfaction on attitude were significantly associated with the call to account. Academic carrier, clinical speciality group, patient's condition, effect of medical malpractice on life and degree of satisfaction on attitude were significantly associated with the compensation. CONCLUSIONS: From the above results, the reasons patients and their families cheese to settle by medical dispute were diverse and associated with demographic characteristics, doctor's attitude, effect of mishap on life, et. at.
Cheese ; Compensation and Redress ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Dissent and Disputes* ; Humans ; Malpractice ; Social Responsibility

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the milk intake patterns with lactose and milk fat in Korean male adults using the following variables: milk intake level, awareness of lactose, and milk fat, health problems, and necessity of milk intake. In addition, the factors affecting milk intake were analyzed by multiple regression analysis. METHODS: The subjects were 532 males aged 20 years or older among the nationwide milk purchasing group. The subjects were 223 (41.9%) in the 20–29 year age group, 188 (35.3%) in the 30–49 year age group and 121(22.7%) in the over 50 year age group. The survey was conducted using ANOVA and multiple comparative analysis to examine the differences in age and multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors affecting the intake of milk. RESULTS: The intake of milk in the subjects was 538.14 ± 494.23 ml per week. There were statistically significant differences in the subjects' age according to processed milk, low fat, nonfat milk, cheese, and ice cream. The perception of milk and lactose and milk fat was recognized as a good food for skeletal health when milk was consumed. Among the milk nutrients, lactose was highly recognized at the age of 20–29, and milk fat was recognized in those over 50 years. In addition to lactose and milk fat, calcium was the most highly recognized among the milk nutrients. Health problems associated with milk were skeletal health, obesity, and lactose intolerance. The perception of lactose intolerance was related to lactose intolerance and fatness, and the dietary behavior was unaffected. CONCLUSIONS: This study examined the milk intake patterns of adult Korean males. Many variables were found to be related to the intake of milk. In this study, the milk intake was high when there was no problem with the perception and dietary behaviors of milk nutrition (lactose and milk fat). This study focused on lactose and milk fat, which are major nutrients in milk, and it is a new perspective study among milk-related research.
Adult ; Calcium ; Cheese ; Humans ; Ice Cream ; Lactose Intolerance ; Lactose ; Male ; Milk ; Obesity

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the milk intake patterns with lactose and milk fat in Korean male adults using the following variables: milk intake level, awareness of lactose, and milk fat, health problems, and necessity of milk intake. In addition, the factors affecting milk intake were analyzed by multiple regression analysis. METHODS: The subjects were 532 males aged 20 years or older among the nationwide milk purchasing group. The subjects were 223 (41.9%) in the 20–29 year age group, 188 (35.3%) in the 30–49 year age group and 121(22.7%) in the over 50 year age group. The survey was conducted using ANOVA and multiple comparative analysis to examine the differences in age and multiple regression analysis was performed to investigate the factors affecting the intake of milk. RESULTS: The intake of milk in the subjects was 538.14 ± 494.23 ml per week. There were statistically significant differences in the subjects' age according to processed milk, low fat, nonfat milk, cheese, and ice cream. The perception of milk and lactose and milk fat was recognized as a good food for skeletal health when milk was consumed. Among the milk nutrients, lactose was highly recognized at the age of 20–29, and milk fat was recognized in those over 50 years. In addition to lactose and milk fat, calcium was the most highly recognized among the milk nutrients. Health problems associated with milk were skeletal health, obesity, and lactose intolerance. The perception of lactose intolerance was related to lactose intolerance and fatness, and the dietary behavior was unaffected. CONCLUSIONS: This study examined the milk intake patterns of adult Korean males. Many variables were found to be related to the intake of milk. In this study, the milk intake was high when there was no problem with the perception and dietary behaviors of milk nutrition (lactose and milk fat). This study focused on lactose and milk fat, which are major nutrients in milk, and it is a new perspective study among milk-related research.
Adult ; Calcium ; Cheese ; Humans ; Ice Cream ; Lactose Intolerance ; Lactose ; Male ; Milk ; Obesity

BACKGROUND: It is often stated that ingestion of food rich in histamine can result in absorption of sufficient histamine to provoke signs and symptoms of an allergic reaction. To date, No study has systemically examined in Korea. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the histamine content of 29 common dishes. METHODS: The histamine content of food was measured using high performance liquid chromatography and post column derivation system with fluorescence detector. RESULTS: Sausages (3,572 mg/kg) showed the highest histamine level and fish such as tuna (2,927 mg/kg) and mackerel (2,467 mg/kg) also showed high levels of histamine. From the fruit and vegetable group, spinach (1,358 mg/kg) showed the highest level, containing a moderate amount of histamine. From the dairy product group, cheese (533 mg/kg) showed a moderate amount of histamine. From the group containing caffeine green tea (878 mg/kg) showed a slightly high histamine level. The alcohol group showed relatively low levels of histamine. CONCLUSION: High histamine concentrations were found in fish, meat and processed meat, spinach, and green tea, etc. These results are in agreement with those of previous studies of histamine content of food in other countries. This is the first work that has evaluated histamine content in food in Korea. Further studies including other Korean food will be required.
Absorption ; Caffeine ; Cheese ; Chromatography, Liquid ; Dairy Products ; Eating ; Fluorescence ; Fruit ; Histamine* ; Hypersensitivity ; Korea* ; Meat ; Perciformes ; Spinacia oleracea ; Tea ; Tuna ; Vegetables

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the sources of vitamin D (duration of exposure to sunlight, intake of major food sources for vitamin D or vitamin D supplements) on the serum 25-(OH) D3 levels, and the physical growth of a child. METHODS: Subjects were 296 children aged 1 to 5 years who visited S hospital located in Changwon City. Survey data collection was carried out by direct interview method, and the biochemical data were collected using hospital records. RESULTS: The study subjects were divided into three groups according to their levels of serum 25-(OH) D3 (deficient, relatively insufficient, sufficient) and their percentage were 48.3%, 44.3% and 7.4% respectively. The average concentration of serum 25-(OH) D3 was 20.41 +/- 6.55 ng/mL, which was relatively insufficient. The average duration of exposure to sunlight was 58.86 +/- 49.18 minutes/day. A total score of vitamin D major food sources was 46.71 points (full marks 153), and the most frequently consumed food items were milk, eggs, and cheese. Thirty-four percent of the subjects took vitamin D supplements and their dose were 11.96 microg/day. Three vitamin D sources in sufficient group were higher than deficient or relatively insufficient group significantly. Intake of vitamin D supplements showed positive relation (+) and high explanation power (R2= 0.288) on serum 25-(OH) D3 concentration, but intake of vitamin D major food sources (+) and the duration of exposure to sunlight (+) had a low explanation power (R2= 0.068). The relations between serum 25-(OH) D3 concentration and physical growth (height and weight) were shown as negative (??, and their explanation powers were low as 7.3% and 5.9% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This study results can be useful when discussing the intake standard of vitamin D and the effective intake method for children. In addition, it will be helpful to build the children's nutrition policy and to plan the nutrition education program to improve the vitamin D status in children.
Cheese ; Child ; Child, Hospitalized* ; Surveys and Questionnaires ; Education ; Eggs ; Gyeongsangnam-do ; Hospital Records ; Humans ; Milk ; Nutrition Policy ; Ovum ; Sunlight ; Vitamin D*