Current digital radiography systems are rapidly growing in clinical applications. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of a mobile digital radiographic system. The performance of the mobile DR system was evaluated by measuring the modulation transfer function (MTF), noise power spectrum (NPS), and detective quantum efficiency (DQE). Measurements were made on a LISTEM Mobix-1000 generator and a Teleoptic PRA Alpha-R4000 detector. Imaging characteristics were measured for these two systems using the IEC-61267 defined RQA5 (kVp: 74, additional filtration: 21 mmAl) radiographic condition. The MTF at 10% was measured as 2.4 cycles/mm and the DQE(0) values for radiation exposure 0.19, 0.5, and 1.3 mR were measured as 54%, 55%, and 76%, respectively. The NPS curves gradually decreased at high spatial frequencies. This high DQE at low frequencies, may be useful for low frequency information. The results suggested that mobile DR system could be integrated with emergency ambulance system in teleradiologic imaging applications.
Ambulances ; Emergencies ; Filtration ; Noise ; Radiographic Image Enhancement

Variant angina pectoris is characterized by chest symptoms at rest and transient ST elevation on the electrocardiography due to coronary artery spasm. Although most patients with coronary spasm respond well to medical treatment with vasodilators such as calcium channel blockers and nitrates, some patients show intractable attack of coronary vasospasm despite standard medical therapy. We experienced 50-year-old woman with intractable chest pain due to coronary artery spasm, who suffered from ventricular fibrillation despite continuous intravenous nitrate therapy.
Angina Pectoris, Variant ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac* ; Calcium Channel Blockers ; Chest Pain ; Coronary Vasospasm ; Coronary Vessels ; Electrocardiography ; Female ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Muscle Spasticity* ; Nitrates ; Nitroglycerin* ; Spasm ; Thorax ; Vasodilator Agents ; Ventricular Fibrillation

The World Anti-Doping Agency has made efforts to promote the safe use of medications and prevent doping in sports globally. International standards have been established and experts have advocate anti-doping education to athletes and healthcare professionals. Pharmacists are expected to participate in the pharmaceutical care activity of sports medicine in protecting the athletes while providing the spirits of clean sports. In this review, we described the pharmacists’ roles and functions in six areas of sports pharmaceutical care: awareness, treatment, prevention, optimization, abuse, and monitoring. Sports pharmacists should be able to prevent inappropriate drug use and manage athletes’ illness and injury using pharmacotherapy. Further pharmacists should actively involve to educate and counsel athletes, trainers, and healthcare teams. In conclusion, pharmacists are expected to play important roles in sports pharmacy, which is the emerging area of specialized pharmaceutical care services.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has made efforts to promote the safe use of medications and prevent doping in sports globally. International standards have been established and experts have advocate anti-doping education to athletes and healthcare professionals. Pharmacists are expected to participate in the pharmaceutical care activity of sports medicine in protecting the athletes while providing the spirits of clean sports. In this review, we described the pharmacists’ roles and functions in six areas of sports pharmaceutical care: awareness, treatment, prevention, optimization, abuse, and monitoring. Sports pharmacists should be able to prevent inappropriate drug use and manage athletes’ illness and injury using pharmacotherapy. Further pharmacists should actively involve to educate and counsel athletes, trainers, and healthcare teams. In conclusion, pharmacists are expected to play important roles in sports pharmacy, which is the emerging area of specialized pharmaceutical care services.

Cardiogenic dysphagia is a rare type of esophageal dysphagia caused by external compression of the esophagus by an enlarged left atrium. Long-term comparisons between the degree of cardiogenic dysphagia and heart failure have not been reported due to its low incidence. We hereby report the case of a 74-year-old woman with valvular heart disease, suspected of having oropharyngeal dysphagia following a recent intracerebral hemorrhage, who performed a swallowing function test. Videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS) revealed a supraglottic penetration, confirming the oropharyngeal dysphagia. Furthermore, post-VFSS chest radiograph revealed esophageal residual barium, suggestive of reduced esophageal food transition secondary to external compression, at the level of the T6 vertebral body. Chest computed tomography showed mid-esophageal compression caused by left atrial enlargement. She had pulmonary edema which was managed with diuretics. Post-VFSS chest radiographs also revealed a direct association between the diameter of the esophageal barium residue and body weight. A reduction in body weight led to the resolution of the barium residue and vice versa. Development of cardiac dysphagia may be one of the signs of acute exacerbation of heart failure.

Peutz-Jeghers syndrome is an autosomal dominant inherited disease that manifests as a combination of mucocutaneous pigmentation and gastrointestinal hamartomatous polyps that usually cause intussusception and intestinal hemorrhage. We report the case of a 40-year-old male patient who was diagnosed 20 years ago and had previously undergone 3 intestinal resection surgeries. This time, with the use of combined operative and endoscopic polypectomy, more than 100 polyps were removed. This technique is useful for providing a "clean" small intestine that allows the patient a long interval between laparotomies and reduces the complications associated with multiple laparotomies and resections.
Adult ; Endoscopy ; Hemorrhage ; Humans ; Intestine, Small ; Intussusception ; Laparotomy ; Male ; Peutz-Jeghers Syndrome* ; Pigmentation ; Polyps*

A survey was performed in Korea to monitor the prevalence of five bovine arboviruses [Akabane virus, Aino virus, Chuzan virus, bovine ephemeral fever (BEF) virus, and Ibaraki virus] in arthropod vectors, such as Culicoides species. To determine the possible applications of survey data in annual monitoring and warning systems in Korea, we examined the prevalence of bovine arboviruses in arthropod vectors using RT-PCR. To compare the sensitivity and specificity of virus detection, nested PCR was also performed in parallel for all five viruses. Using the RT-PCR, the detection limits were at least up to 10(1.5), 10(2.8), 10(2.0), 10(1.8), and 10(4.0) TCID50/ml for Akabane virus, Aino virus, Chuzan virus, BEF virus, and Ibaraki virus, respectively. When nested PCR was performed using 1 micronl of PCR product, the detection limits were increased, to 10(0.05), 10(1.8), 10(1.0), 10(0.008), and 10(2.0) TCID50/ml for Akabane virus, Aino virus, Chuzan virus, BEF virus, and Ibaraki virus, respectively. Thus, nested PCR increased the sensitivity of the virus detection limit by 1~2 log. We pooled 30~40 mosquitoes in one sample. We collected 113 samples in 2006, 135 samples in 2007, and 100 samples in 2008. Among these samples, Chuzan virus and BEF virus genes were detected at a range between 0.82% and 1.19%, and Akabane virus, Aino virus, and Ibaraki virus genes were detected at less than 0.20%. These data may provide some insight into future epidemiological studies of bovine arboviral diseases in Korea.
Animals ; Arboviruses ; Arthropod Vectors ; Arthropods ; Cattle ; Ceratopogonidae ; Culicidae ; Ephemeral Fever ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Korea ; Limit of Detection ; Organothiophosphorus Compounds ; Palyam Virus ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Prevalence ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Viruses

Aino virus infection is characterized by abortion, stillbirth, and congenital abnormalities such as arthropgryposis-hydranencephaly syndrome in calves. In Korea, Aino virus infection was first reported in 1997 by researchers who were investigating the cause of newborn calf deformities. Given the incidence of Aino-related deformities, the need for a study of the Aino virus infection status in Korea was recognized. In this study, we investigated the nationwide seroepidemiological status of Aino virus infection. A total of 9,921 serum samples collected between 1993 and 2001, and 23,760 serum samples between 2002 and 2007 were tested using a virus neutralization assay. The seroprevalence of Aino virus was 73.1, 63.8, 44.9, 56.0, 38.5, 28.4 18.3, 19.6, and 23.2%, respectively, between 1993 and 2001, and 43.8, 42.9, 50.7, 55.3, 31.4, and 25.4%, respectively, between 2002 and 2007. Aino virus infection does not pose a major threat to the bovine industry in Korea till now. The future prospects for Aino virus infection in cattle, however, may change with the global warming phenomena. The results of this study may serve as a basis for future epidemiological studies on Aino virus infection.
Animals ; Cattle ; Congenital Abnormalities ; Epidemiologic Studies ; Global Warming ; Humans ; Incidence ; Infant, Newborn ; Korea ; Seroepidemiologic Studies ; Stillbirth ; Viruses

The current PET/CT system with high quality CT images not only increases diagnostic value by providing anatomic localization, but also shortens the acquisition time for attenuation correction than primary PET system. All commercially available PET/CT system uses the CT scan for attenuation correction instead of the transmission scan using radioactive source such as 137Cs, 68Ge. However the CT scan may substantially increase the patient dose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate quality of PET images reconstructed by CT attenuation map using various tube currents. In this study, images were acquired for 3D Hoffman brain phantom and cylindrical phantom using GE DSTe PET/CT system. The emission data were acquired for 10 min using phantoms after injecting 44.03 MBq of 18F-FDG. The CT images for attenuation map were acquired by changing tube current from 10 mA to 95 mA with fixed exposure time of 8 sec and fixed tube voltage of 140 kVp. The PET images were reconstructed using these CT attenuation maps. Image quality of CT images was evaluated by measuring SD (standard deviation) of cylindrical phantom which was filled with water and 18F-FDG solution. The PET images were evaluated by measuring the activity ratio between gray matter and white matter in Hoffman phantom images. SDs of CT images decrease by increasing tube current. When PET images were reconstructed using CT attenuation maps with various tube currents, the activity ratios between gray matter and white matter of PET images were almost same. These results indicated that the quality of the PET images using low dose CT data were comparable to the PET images using general dose CT data. Therefore, the use of low dose CT is recommended than the use of general dose CT, when the diagnostic high quality CT is not required. Further studies may need to be performed for other system, since this study is limited to the GE DSTe system used in this study.
Brain ; Fluorodeoxyglucose F18 ; Humans ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Water

With recent advancement of the medical imaging systems and picture archiving and communication system (PACS), installation of digital radiography has been accelerated over past few years. Moreover, Computed Radiography (CR) which was well established for the foundation of digital x-ray imaging systems at low cost was widely used for clinical applications. This study analyzes imaging characteristics for two systems with different pixel sizes through the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF), Noise Power Spectrum (NPS) and Detective Quantum Efficiency (DQE). In addition, influence of radiation dose to the imaging characteristics was also measured by quantitative assessment. A standard beam quality RQA5 based on an international electro-technical commission (IEC) standard was used to perform the x-ray imaging studies. For the results, the spatial resolution based on MTF at 10% for Agfa CR system with I.P size of 8x10 inches and 14x17 inches was measured as 3.9 cycles/mm and 2.8 cycles/mm, respectively. The spatial resolution based on MTF at 10% for Fuji CR system with I.P size of 8X10 inches and 14x17 inches was measured as 3.4 cycles/mm and 3.2 cycles/mm, respectively. There was difference in the spatial resolution for 14x17 inches, although radiation dose does not effect to the MTF. The NPS of the Agfa CR system shows similar results for different pixel size between 100 micrometer for 8x10 inch I.P and 150 micrometer for 14x17 inch I.P. For both systems, the results show better NPS for increased radiation dose due to increasing number of photons. DQE of the Agfa CR system for 8X10 inch I.P and 14x17 inch I.P resulted in 11% and 8.8% at 1.5 cycles/mm, respectively. Both systems show that the higher level of radiation dose would lead to the worse DQE efficiency. Measuring DQE for multiple factors of imaging characteristics plays very important role in determining efficiency of equipment and reducing radiation dose for the patients. In conclusion, the results of this study could be used as a baseline to optimize imaging systems and their imaging characteristics by measuring MTF, NPS, and DQE for different level of radiation dose.
Diagnostic Imaging ; Humans ; Noise ; Photons ; Radiographic Image Enhancement