Ultrasound is a versatile and well-established technique using sound waves with frequencies higher than the upper limit of human hearing. Typically, therapeutic and diagnosis ultrasound operate in the frequency range of 500 kHz to 15 MHz with greater depth of penetration into the body. However, to achieve improved spatial resolution, high-frequency ultrasound (>15 MHz) was recently introduced and has shown promise in various fields such as high-resolution imaging for the morphological features of the eye and skin as well as small animal imaging for drug and gene therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Phenome-wide association studies (PheWASs) have been conducted on Asian populations, including Koreans, but many were based on chip or exome genotyping data. Such studies have limitations regarding whole genome-wide association analysis, making it crucial to have genome-to-phenome association information with the largest possible whole genome and matched phenome data to conduct further population-genome studies and develop health care services based on population genomics.
Results: Here, we present 4,157 whole genome sequences (Korea4K) coupled with 107 health check-up parameters as the largest genomic resource of the Korean Genome Project.
Background: Ultrasound imaging is the most frequently performed for the patients with chronic hepatitis or liver cirrhosis. However, ultrasound imaging is highly operator dependent and interpretation of ultrasound images is subjective, thus well-trained radiologist is required for evaluation. Automated classification of liver fibrosis could alleviate the shortage of skilled radiologist especially in low-to-middle income countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present LT1, the first high-quality human reference genome from the Baltic States. LT1 is a female human reference genome assembly, constructed using 57× nanopore long reads and polished using 47× short paired-end reads. We utilized 72 GB of Hi-C chromosomal mapping data for scaffolding, to maximize assembly contiguity and accuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control
June 2022
Implementation of a high-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) beamformer is computationally challenging because of its high sampling rate. This article introduces an efficient beamformer with sub-Nyquist sampling (or bandpass sampling) that is suitable for HFUS imaging. Our approach used channel radio frequency data sampled at bandpass sampling rate (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Two-dimensional (2D) photoacoustic (PA) imaging based on array transducers provide high spatial resolution in the lateral direction by adopting receive dynamic focusing. However, the quality of PA image is often deteriorated by poor elevational resolution which is achieved by an acoustic lens. To overcome this limitation, we present a three-dimensional (3D) image reconstruction method using a commercial one-dimensional (1D) array transducer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChemical reactions between homogeneous precursors are typically used to synthesize monodisperse nanoparticles with well-controlled size and morphology. It is difficult to predict the evolved nanostructures when using two heterogeneous precursors. In this study, three types of Mo-Te nanoparticles shaped like leaves, spindles, and rice grains (denoted respectively as nanoleaf, nanospindle, and nanorice) were obtained from dextrose-mediated proton-coupled electron transfer reaction between the solid polyoxomolybdate (POM) and the ionic tellurite anion as precursors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCoronavirus disease, COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), caused by SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), has a higher case fatality rate in European countries than in others, especially East Asian ones. One potential explanation for this regional difference is the diversity of the viral infection efficiency. Here, we analyzed the allele frequencies of a nonsynonymous variant rs12329760 (V197M) in the gene, a key enzyme essential for viral infection and found a significant association between the COVID-19 case fatality rate and the V197M allele frequencies, using over 200,000 present-day and ancient genomic samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To develop an in vitro culture system for tissue engineering to mimic the in vivo environment and evaluate the applicability of ultrasound and PLGA particle system.
Methods: For tissue engineering, large molecules such as growth factors for cell differentiation should be supplied in a controlled manner into the culture system, and the in vivo microenvironment need to be reproduced in the system for the regulation of cellular function. In this study, portable prototype ultrasound with low intensity was devised and tested for protein release from bovine serum albumin (BSA)-loaded poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) particles.
Recent advances in sensor technology have allowed us to develop many interesting applications and enhance the quality of human life [...
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHigh-frequency ultrasound (HFUS) imaging has emerged as an essential tool for pre-clinical studies and clinical applications such as ophthalmic and dermatologic imaging. HFUS imaging systems based on array transducers capable of dynamic receive focusing have considerably improved the image quality in terms of spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) compared to those by the single-element transducer-based one. However, the array system still suffers from low spatial resolution and SNR in out-of-focus regions, resulting in a blurred image and a limited penetration depth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been extensively used in the tissue regeneration therapy. Ex vivo therapy with well-differentiated osteogenic cells is known as an efficient treatment for musculoskeletal diseases, including rheumatoid diseases. However, along with its high cost, the current therapy has limitations in terms of restoring bone regeneration procedures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Welfare Genome Project (WGP) provided 1,000 healthy Korean volunteers with detailed genetic and health reports to test the social perception of integrating personal genetic and healthcare data at a large-scale. WGP was launched in 2016 in the Ulsan Metropolitan City as the first large-scale genome project with public participation in Korea. The project produced a set of genetic materials, genotype information, clinical data, and lifestyle survey answers from participants aged 20-96.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The polygenic risk score (PRS) developed for coronary artery disease (CAD) is known to be effective for classifying patients with CAD and predicting subsequent events. However, the PRS was developed mainly based on the analysis of Caucasian genomes and has not been validated for East Asians. We aimed to evaluate the PRS in the genomes of Korean early-onset AMI patients (n = 265, age ≤50 years) following PCI and controls (n = 636) to examine whether the PRS improves risk prediction beyond conventional risk factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAdvancements in diagnostic systems for metastatic cancer over the last few decades have played a significant role in providing patients with effective treatment by evaluating the characteristics of cancer cells. Despite the progress made in cancer prognosis, we still rely on the visual analysis of tissues or cells from histopathologists, where the subjectivity of traditional manual interpretation persists. This paper presents the development of a dual diagnosis and treatment tool using an in vitro acoustic tweezers platform with a 50 MHz ultrasonic transducer for label-free trapping and bursting of human breast cancer cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) of pancreatic β-cells, the rise of free cytosolic Ca concentration through voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs) triggers the exocytosis of insulin-containing granules. Recently, mechanically induced insulin secretion pathways were also reported, which utilize free cytosolic Ca ions as a direct regulator of exocytosis. In this study, we aimed to investigate intracellular Ca responses on the HIT-T15 pancreatic β-cell line upon low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) stimulation and found that ultrasound induces two distinct types of intracellular Ca oscillation, fast-irregular and slow-periodic, from otherwise resting cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe provide a Kazakh whole genome sequence (MJS) and analyses with the largest comparative Kazakh genomic data available to date. We found 102,240 novel SNVs and a high level of heterozygosity. ADMIXTURE analysis confirmed a significant proportion of variations in this individual coming from all continents except Africa and Oceania.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper reports the feasibility of Nakagami imaging in monitoring the regeneration process of zebrafish hearts in a noninvasive manner. In addition, spectral Doppler waveforms that are typically used to access the diastolic function were measured to validate the performance of Nakagami imaging. A 30-MHz high-frequency ultrasound array transducer was used to acquire backscattered echo signal for spectral Doppler and Nakagami imaging.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control
January 2020
Biological studies often involve the investigation of immobilized (or trapped) particles and cells. Various trapping methods without touching, such as optical, magnetic, and acoustic tweezers, have been developed to trap small particles. Here, we present the manipulation of a single cell or multiple cells using ultrasound-array-based single-beam acoustic tweezers (UA-SBATs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSoftware-based ultrasound imaging systems provide high flexibility that allows easy and fast adoption of newly developed algorithms. However, the extremely high data rate required for data transfer from sensors (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control
August 2018
Ultrasound guided needle biopsy is an important method for collection of breast cancer tissue. In this paper, we report on the design and testing of a high-voltage 1 to 64 Multiplexer/Demultiplexer (MUX/De-MUX) integrated circuit (IC) for ultrasound-guided breast biopsy applications implemented in a high-voltage CMOS process. The IC is intended to be incorporated inside the breast biopsy needle and is designed to fit inside the needle inner diameter of 2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control
December 2018
Super-resolution imaging with moving microbubbles has shown potential in identifying fine details of deep-lying vascular compartments. To image the extravascular targets, this paper has employed nanometer-sized, optically triggered perfluorohexane nanodroplets (PFHnDs). In response to pulsed laser irradiation, the PFHnDs repeatedly vaporize and stochastically recondense, resulting in random changes of ultrasound signals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComput Assist Surg (Abingdon)
December 2017
Purpose: A conventional see-through head mount display contains many optical lenses, which can be problematic in image-guided treatment applications due to its size, weight, structure, and focus limitation. Therefore, we have designed a new type of see-through head mount display with a reduced number of optical lenses and an adequate optical resolution that can be utilized for image-guided treatment applications.
Materials And Methods: A new type of adjustable focus head mount display with expanded virtual images and an external treatment space that can be provided to the eyes of a user by enlarging the images of a small display is designed and investigated in this study.
Myotis rufoniger is a vesper bat in the genus Myotis. Here we report the whole genome sequence and analyses of the M. rufoniger.
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