Development of Anthropomorphic Fetal MRI phantom

The accuracy of MRI in obstetric settings is often limited by motion artifacts from frequent and spontaneous fetal gross body movement. Development of new MR sequences that avoid these artifacts pivots on extensive testing. Development of an MRI phantom that simulates fetal tissue properties, anatomical structures, and gross body motion will allow for rapid testing, along with reproducible data that will shorten the development time of such MR sequences. This thesis proposes an anthropomorphic MRI phantom of fetal gross body and brain that simulates MR imaging properties, dielectric properties, and the anatomical shape. Various experiments, including relaxometry, dielectric, and mechanical tests, were performed to determine the most appropriate tissue-mimicking material for simulating properties of tissues of interest. For simulating the anatomical shape, MRI data of a 35-week fetus was used to reconstruct a 3D model applied for designing and 3D printing of the phantom molds.</p

Demographic and clinical characteristics, according to pterygium status in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008–2011.

<p>Demographic and clinical characteristics, according to pterygium status in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2008–2011.</p

The odds ratios of pterygium according to quintiles of blood vitamin D levels (reference group = lowest vitamin D quintile group).

<p>The odds ratios of pterygium according to quintiles of blood vitamin D levels (reference group = lowest vitamin D quintile group).</p

The comparison of odds ratios of ocular diseases including dry eye syndrome (DES), cataract, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), any diabetic retinopathy (DR), and vision-threatening DR (VTDR) according to the blood vitamin D levels (reference group = lowest vitamin D quintile group).

<p>The comparison of odds ratios of ocular diseases including dry eye syndrome (DES), cataract, age-related macular degeneration (AMD), any diabetic retinopathy (DR), and vision-threatening DR (VTDR) according to the blood vitamin D levels (reference group = lowest vitamin D quintile group).</p

Flow diagram showing the selection of study participants.

<p>Flow diagram showing the selection of study participants.</p

Demographic and clinical characteristics by quintile blood 25-Hydroxyvitamin D categories among representative Korean adults aged 19 years or older.

<p>Demographic and clinical characteristics by quintile blood 25-Hydroxyvitamin D categories among representative Korean adults aged 19 years or older.</p

Baseline characteristics according to frequency of dairy product intake among the adults in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) 2007–2009.

<p>Frequency of dairy product intake includes milk and yogurt items.</p><p>P-value was calculated by GLM for continuous variables and Chi-square test for categorical variables.</p

Demographic and clinical characteristics, according to dry eye syndrome (DES) status, as reported in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010–2012.

<p>Demographic and clinical characteristics, according to dry eye syndrome (DES) status, as reported in the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2010–2012.</p

Multivariate and calcium-adjusted ORs and 95%CIs for obesity according to the frequency of dairy products intake using food frequency questionnaire for 1 year among the adults in the Korean Health and Examination Survey (KNHANES) by gender.

<p>Multivariate models were adjusted to the covariables except gender as denoted in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0099085#pone-0099085-t002" target="_blank">Table 2</a>.</p

Relative association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and ocular diseases including diabetic retinopathy (DR), vision threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataract and dry eye syndrome (DES) among representative Korean adults.

<p>Relative association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and ocular diseases including diabetic retinopathy (DR), vision threatening diabetic retinopathy (VTDR), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), cataract and dry eye syndrome (DES) among representative Korean adults.</p