• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.35-41
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• 1998

This study was carried out to investigate the development rates of human embryos co-cultured with cumulus cells to each blastocyst stage. Human zygotes were co-cultured on cumulus cell monolayer in YS medium supplemented with 20% hFF. On day 2, if patient had four or more "good" embryos (regular blastomeres without fragmentation), embryos were further cultured for 72hrs. Blastocysts on day 5 were classified into early blastocyst (ErB), early expanding blastocyst (EEB), middle expanding Blastocyst (MEB), and expanded blastocyst (EdB) on the basis of their morphological aspects of trophectoderm cells and blastocoele. Subsequently, maximum 3 of best blastocysts were transferred in 486 cycles. The results in this study were as follows: Patients who had four or more "good" embryos on day 2 were 498 persons, but patients whose embryos could not be transferred due to failure in development to the blastocyst stage on day 5 were 12 persons (2.4%). The development rate of embryos to the blastocyst stage was 58.2% (2,885/4,957) on day 5, and the rates that developed to the ErB, EEB, MEB, and EdB stage were 15.0% (743/4,957), 14.9% (739/4,957), 14.4% (714/ 4,957), and 13.9% (689/4,957), respectively. Total 1366 blastocysts were transferred in 486 cycles (mean number=2.81). The implantation rate and the ongoing implantation rate obtained by observing the number of G-sac and FHB were 29.9% (409/1,366) and 22.5% (308/1,366), respectively. The clinical pregnancy rate was 51.2% (249/486), and the ongoing pregnancy rate' was 39.1% (190/486). Among women showing ongoing pregnancy, women with singleton were 50% (95/190), women with twin were 37.9% (72/190), and women with triplet were 12.1% (23/190). Although triplet pregnancy rate in this study was high such as 12.1%, because many blastocysts with high viability were produced in our co-culture system using cumulus cells on day 5, we really believe that a multiple pregnancy except twin should not occur by selecting good embryos for maximum two blastocyst transfer. These results demonstrate that autologous cumulus cells may be used for the production of blastocysts with high developmental competence, and the use of autologous cumulus cells to be collected easily, and to be treated conveniently at OPU must be an effective means for obtaining high implantation and pregnancy rate.

• Korean Journal of Head & Neck Oncology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.179-184
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• 2001

Objective: The role of chemotherapy in locally advanced head and neck cancer has been established in nasopharynx and larynx as definitive therapy and organ preserving therapy, respectively. Oral cavity cancers are relatively uncommon and local recurrence is the main cause of treatment failure. We planned this retrospective study to evaluate the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy in locally advanced oral cavity cancer patients. Materials and Methods: From 1988 March to 2001 February, locally advanced, previously untreated oral cavity cancer patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy were examined. Chemotherapy had been done in the following patients: Histologically proven squamous cell or poorly differentiated carcinoma, stage 3 or 4, and performance state 0-2 patients. Chemotherapy regimen consisted of cisplatin and infusional 5-fluorouracil. Response was evaluated after 2 cycles and in case of no response, definitive local therapy was done; otherwise 3 cycles was done before local treatment. Results: 48 patients were treated and 47 patients were evaluable for responses. Complete response rate was 6.4%(3/47) and partial response 80.0%(38/47), scoring overall response rate of 87.2%. Median time to progression was 27.0 months (95% CI : 0-58months) and overall 5 year survival was 54.8%. 5-year disease-free survival in the patients in remission after local treatment was 51.9%. In multivariate analysis, contributing factor to the survival were response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and local treatment modalities. Extensive surgery was done in 10 patients and 25 patents (52.1%) was followed up with preserved function. With median follow-up of 57.0 months, 19 recurrences were detected, most of which were local or regional type. Conclusion: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by local treatment in oral cavity cancer showed high response rate and was thought to be effective therapeutic approach especially in view of organ preservation.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.157-163
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• 2006

[ $\underline{Purpose}$ ]: To evaluate the role of postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancer, we retrospectively analyzed the treatment outcome of patients with rectal cancer taken curative surgical resection and postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. $\underline{Materials\;and\;Methods}$: A total 46 patients with AJCC stage II and III carcinoma of rectum were treated with curative surgical resection and postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. T3 and T4 stage were 38 and 8 patients, respectively. N0, N1, and N2 stage were 12, 16, 18 patients, respectively. Forty patients received bolus infusions of 5-fluorouracil ($500\;mg/m^2/day$) with leucovorin ($20\;mg/m^2/day$), every 4 weeks interval for 6 cycles. Oral Uracil/Tegafur on a daily basis for $6{\sim}12$ months was given in 6 patients. Radiotherapy with 45 Gy was delivered to the surgical bed and regional pelvic lymph node area, followed by $5.4{\sim}9\;Gy$ boost to the surgical bed. The follow up period ranged from 8 to 75 months with a median 35 months. $\underline{Results}$: Treatment failure occurred in 17 patients (37%). Locoregional failure occurred in 4 patients (8.7%) and distant failure in 16 patients (34.8%). There was no local failure only. Five year actuarial overall survival (OS) was 51.5% and relapse free survival (RFS) was 58.7%. The OS and RFS were 100%, 100% in stage N0 patients, 53.7%, 47.6% in N1 patients, and 0%, 41.2% in N2 patients (p=0.012, p=0.009). The RFS was 55%, 78.5%, and 31.2% in upper, middle, and lower rectal cancer patients, respectively (p=0.006). Multivariate analysis showed that N stage (p=0.012) was significant prognostic factor for OS and that N stage (p=0.001) and location of tumor (p=0.006) were for RFS. Bowel complications requiring surgery occurred in 3 patients. $\underline{Conclusion}$: Postoperative adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was an effective modality for locoregional control of rectal cancer. But further investigations for reducing the distant failure rate are necessary because distant failure rate is still high.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.17 no.11
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• pp.15-21
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• 2016

Nowadays, some studies have been performed for rockbolt method widely used in Korea. To make large slopes, tunnels or rock structures stable, supporting systems, such as anchor bolt, rock bolt which are developed recently, are commonly used. In this study, laboratory pullout tests were carried out to compare the characteristics of rock bolt that is most widely used with ones of rock bolt by newly developed circular model testers. Re-pullout test for the rock bolt in which loading and unloading cycles are repeated several times showed that the maximum pullout load is almost constant irrespective of the number of loading cycles, which may be due to no failure between rock bolt and filler that is filled with soils and concrete as a substitute. A development of rock bolt fillers as supporters using to protect people in tunnels and slopes is reviewed as a probable man-made hazard after excavation works. The functions of the grouted rock bolts associated with reinforcement effects also should be assessed in this study, which develop the sealing apparatus preventing from overflowing mortar out of a rock bolt hole for securing safety in the tunnel and slopes in order to secure stability named the sealing packer.

• The Journal of The Korea Institute of Intelligent Transport Systems
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.128-139
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• 2017

Railway is one of the public transportation systems along with shipping and aviation. With the recent introduction of high speed train, its proportion is increasing rapidly, which results in the higher risk of catastrophic failures. The wheel bearing to support the train is one of the important components requiring higher reliability and safety in this aspect. Recently, many studies have been made under the name of prognostics and health management (PHM), for the purpose of fault diagnosis and failure prognosis of the bearing under operation. Among them, the most important step is to extract a feature that represents the fault status properly and is useful for accurate remaining life prediction. However, the conventional features have shown some limitations that make them less useful since they fluctuate over time even after the signal de-noising or do not show a distinct pattern of degradation which lack the monotonic trend over the cycles. In this study, a new method for feature extraction is proposed based on the observation of relative frequency energy shifting over the cycles, which is then converted into the feature using the information entropy. In order to demonstrate the method, traditional and new features are generated and compared using the bearing data named FEMTO which was provided by the FEMTO-ST institute for IEEE 2012 PHM Data Challenge competition.

• Clinics in Shoulder and Elbow
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2009

Purpose: In arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs there are generally weak link in tendon suture interface, arthroscopic rotator cuff repairs can have higher retear rates than open repairs. The purpose of this study was to compare the strength of UU (Ulsan University) suture than open modified MA (Mason-Allen) suture when suture anchored into bone. Materials and Methods: The human supraspinatus tendons were harvested from the shoulder of the cadaver and split in 2 times, producing four tendons per one shoulder, for a total of 24 specimens. Two suture configurations (UU, MA) were randomized and checked on each set of tendons. Specimens were cyclically loaded under force control between 5 and 30 N at 0.25 Hz for fifty cycles. Each specimen was loaded to failure under displacement control at 1 mm/sec. Cyclic elongation, peak to peak displacement, stiffness, ultimate tensile load, mode of failure were checked. Results: No significant difference was found between two suture configuration with respect to peak to peak displacement, cyclic elongation, and stiffness. With regard to ultimate failure load, there were no significant difference statistically between the UU suture and modified MA suture (109.4 N, 110.6 N). The most common mode of failure between both sutures was suture pull-out through the tendon. Conclusion: The UU suture and modified MA suture produced similar biomechanical properties.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.464-474
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• 1996

A principal advantage of a plastic tooth over a porcelain tooth should be its ability to bond to the denture base material. But plastic teeth could craze and wear easily, so more abrasion resistant plastic denture teeth have been developed. To resist abrasion, the degree of cross-linking was increased, but bonding to denture base meterial became more difficult. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bond strength of plastic teeth and abrasion resistant teeth bonded to heat-curing, self-curing and light-curing denture base material. Denture tooth molds were chosen that had a>8mm diameter. The denture teeth was bonded to three denture base materials and then machined to the same dimensions. Three denture base materials were used as control groups. Prior to tensile testing, the specimens were thermocycled between $5^{\circ}C\;and\;55^{\circ}C$ for 1000cycles. Tensile testing was performed on an Instron Universal testing mechine. Experimental group ; plastic teeth(Justi Imperial)+heat-curing resin(Lucitone 199) plastic teeth(Justi Imperial)+light-curing resin(Triad) plastic teeth(Justi Imperial)+self-curing resin(Vertex SC) abrasion resistant teeth(IPN)+heat-curing resin(Lucitone 199) abrasion resistant teeth(IPN)+light-curing resin(Triad) abrasion resistant teeth(IPN)+self-curing resin(Vertex SC) Control group ; heat-curing resin(Lucitone 199) light-curing resin (Triad) self-curing resin(Vertex SC). The results were as follows : 1. The denture teeth bonded to heat-curing resin showed the cohesive failure and those bonded to the other resins showed adhesive failure. 2. Tensile bond strength of the plastic teeth bonded to self-curing resin was not significantly greater than bonded to light-curing resin(p>0.05). 3. Tensile bond strength of the abrasion resistant teeth bonded to self-curing resin was not significantly greater than bonded to light-curing resin(p>0.05). 4. Tensile bond strength of the plastic teeth to self-curing resin was not significantly different from that of the abrasion-resistant teeth(p>0.05). 5. Tensile bond strength of the plastic teeth to light-curing resin was significantly greater than that of the abrasion resistant teeth(p<0.01).

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.555-567
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• 2013

An Remote Corrosion Monitoring (RCM) system consists of an anode with low potential, the metallic structures against corrosion, an electrode to provide reference potential, and a data-acquisition system to ensure the potential difference for anticorrosion. In more detail, the data-acquisition (DAQ) system monitors the potential difference between the metallic structures and a reference electrode to identify the correct potential level against the corrosion of the infrastructures. Then, the measured data are transmitted to a central office to remotely keep track of the status of the corrosion monitoring (CM) system. To date, the RCM system is designed to achieve low power consumption, so that it can be simply powered by batteries. However, due to memory effect and the limited number of recharge cycles, it can entail the maintenance fee or sometimes cause failure to protect the metallic structures. To address this issue, the low-overhead energy harvesting circuitry for the RCM systems has designed to replenish energy storage elements (ESEs) along with redeeming the leakage of supercapacitors. Our developed energy harvester can scavenge the ambient energy from the corrosion monitoring environments and store it as useful electrical energy for powering local data-acquisition systems. In particular, this paper considers the energy harvesting from potential difference due to galvanic corrosion between a metallic infrastructure and a permanent copper/copper sulfate reference electrode. In addition, supercapacitors are adopted as an ESE to compensate for or overcome the limitations of batteries. Experimental results show that our proposed harvesting schemes significantly reduce the overhead of the charging circuitry, which enable fully charging up to a 350-F supercapacitor under the low corrosion power of 3 mW (i.e., 1 V/3 mA).

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.88-95
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• 2014

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study is to evaluate if pre-treatment with desensitizers have a negative effect on microtensile bond strength before cementing a restoration using recently introduced self-adhesive resin cement to dentin. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Thirty-five human molars' occlusal surfaces were ground to expose dentin; and were randomly grouped as (n=5); 1) Gluma-(Glutaraldehyde/HEMA) 2) Aqua-Prep F-(Fluoride), 3) Bisblock-(Oxalate), 4) Cervitec Plus-(Clorhexidine), 5) Smart protect-(Triclosan), 6) Nd:YAG laser, 7) No treatment (control). After applying the selected agent, RelyX U200 self-adhesive resin cement was used to bond composite resin blocks to dentin. All groups were subjected to thermocycling for 1000 cycles between $5-55^{\circ}C$. Each bonded specimen was sectioned to microbars ($6mm{\times}1mm{\times}1mm$) (n=20). Specimens were submitted to microtensile bond strength test at a crosshead speed of 0.5 mm/min. Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Levene's test, Kruskal-Wallis One-way Analysis of Variance, and Conover's nonparametric statistical analysis were used (P<.05). RESULTS. Gluma, Smart Protect and Nd:YAG laser treatments showed comparable microtensile bond strengths compared with the control group (P>.05). The microtensile bond strengths of Aqua-Prep F, and Cervitec Plus were similar to each other but significantly lower than the control group (P<.05). Bisblock showed the lowest microtensile bond strength among all groups (P<.001). Most groups showed adhesive failure. CONCLUSION. Within the limitation of this study, it is not recommended to use Aqua-prep F, Cervitec Plus and Bisblock on dentin when used with a self-adhesive resin cement due to the decrease they cause in bond strength. Beside, pre-treatment of dentin with Gluma, Smart protect, and Nd:YAG laser do not have a negative effect.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.298-306
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• 2008

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Effect of surface treatment of ceramic under loading does not appear to have been investigated. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of surface treatment of esthetic ceramic, which is performed to increase the bonding strength, on the fracture stress under controlled cyclic loading condition. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty 1.0 mm-thick specimens were made from Mark II Vitablocs (Vita Zahnfabrik, Germany) and divided into 3 groups: polished (control), sandblasted, and etched. Specimens of each group were bonded to a dentin analog material base including micro-channels to facilitate the flow of water to the bonding interface. Bonded ceramics were cyclically loaded with a flat-end piston in the water (500,000 cycles, 15Hz). Following completion of cyclic loading, specimens were examined for subsurface crack formation and subsequent stress was determined and loaded to next specimen by the staircase method according to the crack existence. RESULTS: There were significant differences of mean fatigue limit in the sandblasted (222.86 ${\pm}$ 23.42 N) and etched group (222.86 ${\pm}$ 14.16 N) when compared to polished group (251.43 ${\pm}$ 10.6 N) (P<.05; Wald-type pair-wise comparison and post hoc Bonferroni test). Of cracked specimens, surface treated group showed longer crack propagation after 24 hours. All failures originated from the radial cracking without cone crack. Fracture resistance of this study was very low and comparable to failure load in the oral cavity. CONCLUSION: Well controlled cyclic loading could induce clinically relevant cracks and fracture resistance of Mark II ceramic was relatively low applicable only to anterior restorations. Surface treatment of inner surface of feldspathic porcelain in the matsicatory area could influence lifetime of restorations.