• Childhood Kidney Diseases
• /
• v.3 no.2
• /
• pp.170-179
• /
• 1999

Purpose: To evaluate whether or not sodium restriction had its own beneficial effect and increased the efficiency of the anti-hypertensive drugs on the progression of renal failure. Methods: We studied using the excision remnant kidney model. Treatment groups were as follows: 5/6 nephrectomy and a 0.49% (normal-high) sodium diet (NN); 5/6 nephrectomy and a 0.25% (normal-low) sodium diet (LN); 5/6 nephrectomy, a 0.49% sodium diet and enalapril (NNE); 5/6 nephrectomy, a 0.49% sodium diet and nicardipine (NNN); 5/6 nephrectomy, a 0.25% sodium diet and enalapril (LNE); 5/6 nephrectomy, a 0.25% sodium diet and nicardipine (LNN). Both diets were isocaloric and had the same content of protein, phosphorus and calcium. Proteinuria, remnant kidney weight, mesangial expansion scores, and glomerular volume were assessed. Results: Blood pressure tended to be lower in LN compared to NN (P<0.05). NN developed progressive hypertension. LNE, LU, NNE, and NNN reduced blood pressure. LNE, LNN, NNE, NNN, and LN had significantly less proteinuria than NN at 16 weeks (P<0.05). At 24 weeks, LN developed proteinuria (82 mg/day), which were lessened in LNE (54 mg/day) and not lessened in LNN (76 mg/day). Mesangial expansion scores were significantly less in LN rats compared to those in NN rats. Glomerular volumes at 24 weeks in LN rats were significantly less compared to those at 16 weeks in NN rats. Mesangial expansion scores and glomerular volumes at 4, weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks were not different among LN, LNE, and LNN groups. Conclusion: Dietary salt restriction lessens renal damage, at least in part, by inhibiting compensatory renal growth and reducing blood pressure. Enalapril was particularly successful in reducing proteinuria and glomerular injury when combined with dietary salt restriction.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
• /
• v.16 no.1
• /
• pp.67-75
• /
• 1974

The studies are to know how much cocoon crops is damaged by the stained leaf with nicotine produced from the tobacco field cultivated in mulching system in spring season and by residual nicotine in autumn season. Furthermore, the new knowledges are to make both industries keep up with their development. In spring season mulberry Held is located higher on the West-North of tobacco held below 20 degrees of slope and with 36 per cent of East-South wind and 18 per cent of South wind blowing from tobacco fold to the mulberry fold. In addition, silkworm larvae are fed with the mulberry leaf produced in the different plots placing by the different distances, l0m, 25m, 50m, 80m, and loom far from the tobacco Held as a control and it is also considered that narcotic larvae including the dead larvae are not observed. On the other hand, it is noted that better leaf quality and abundant growth of mulberry tree is produced from the mulberry fold closer to the tobacco field and with a low slope. 1) Maximum weight of larval body at the 5th stage is damaged by the stained leaf with the nicotine up to 25m far from the tobacco held. 2) The larvae fed with the mulberry leaf in mulberry Held up to 25m far from the tobacco fold produce small number of the fresh cocoons per 1 liter. 3) Low single cocoon weight and low cocoon shell weight are produced by the poison damaged larvae fed with the mulberry. leaf up to 25m far from the tobacco field and weight of cocoon shell is damaged higher than the single cocoon weight. It is resulted in low percentage of cocoon shell. 4) Cocoon yield including the double cocoon from 10,000 larvae is decreased by the larvae fed with the stained leaf in the mulberry fold up to 25m far from the tobacco fold and 19 per cent of cocoon yield is decreased with 2.4kg of cocoon yield in l0m plot and with 2.5kg of cocoon yield in 25m plot at the first season and at the 2nd season with 1.8kg o( cocoon yield in l0m plot and with 11.5kg of cocoon yield in 25m plot, 11 per cent and 9 per cent of cocoon yield including double cocoon from 10,000 larvae is decreased, as compared with the control, respectively. With these results, it is observed that nicotine damage is occurred to the silkworm larvae if the larvae are fed with the leaf in the mulberry Held within 25m-50m far from the tobacco field.

• Women's Health Nursing
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.5-27
• /
• 1997

This study was carried out to identify the difference between nursing needs and levels of satisfaction of primiparae during the early postpartum period. The goal of the study was to obtain data needed to develope maternal education programs and to improve the nursing quality for primipara. The subjects were 111 primiparae who had normal delivery at 2 general hospitals in the Seoul area. The data was gathered using an 81 items questionnaire which was developed by the researcher from Nov. 30, 1995 to Feb. 5, 1996. Results found are as follows : 1. The characteristics of subjects : The majority of subjects were aged 26-30yrs(60.4%), high school graduated(49.5%), jobless(52.3%), had no religion(49.5%), no antenatal(74.5%), and postnatal education on self and infant care(55.9%). A large proportion of primiparae intended to feed breast milk(49.5%) but in fact only 7.2% fed breast milk while in the hospital. Many subjects perceived that they had reasonable self confidence about self care(46.8%), and infant care(36%). 2. The level of nursing needs of overall nursing care was relatively high(Mn 3.98) but the level of satisfaction was of average level(Mn 3.09). Therefore, difference between the level of nursing needs and satisfaction was significant(p=0.0001). 3. The nursing needs by category of nursing care the highest need was on the education of infant care(4.29), the lowest was on physical care(3.80). The level of satisfaction was higher on environmental care(3.40) and physical care(3.32). But the category that showed the lowest satisfaction was education of infant care(2.67). Hence, difference of categories between the level of nursing needs and satisfaction was significant(p=0.0001). 4. Among items of physical care, observation of primiparas' conditions(4.21), accurate medication and treatment(4.18), care of breast engorgement(4.07) and control of postpartal hemorrage(4.01) showed high nursing needs. On the other hand, only the level of satisfaction was higher on accurate medication and treatment(3.82). The rest of items revealed only average level of satisfactions. Difference of items between the level of nursing needs and satisfaction was significant(p=0.0001) except items of dietary care. 5. Among items of psychological care, 8 items of nursing needs were high(3.72-4.29), expecially detailed explanation on which mothers want to know(4.29), treatment and nursing care they receive(4.23), kind and faithful care(4.22), early contacts with their baby(4.20), and adequate draping during the care and treatment(4.18). Among items of psychological care higher satisfactions were shown on items of kind and faithful care(3.80), personal treatment(3.70), and detailed explanation to mothers, but the least satisfied items was early contact with baby(2.13). Difference between the level of nursing needs and satisfaction was significant(p=0.0001). 6. Among items of environmental care, the highest level of need and satisfaction was on the items of neat bedding and pajamas(3.54). The difference was significant (p=0.0001). 7. Among the items of educational needs on self care, all of 22 items revealed higher educational needs(3.50-4.33) but the levels of satisfaction varied with a range of 2.63-3.42. Among the items the satisfactions were high on items of breast care including massages(3.42), perineal care(3.36) and expression of breast milk(3.32). Less satisfied items were drugs not be taken by breast milk feeder(2.63), maintenance of breast figure(2.76) and postpartum exercise(2.80) and so on. The difference was significant(p=0.0001). maintain 8. Among the items of educational needs on infant care, 19 items revealed higher educational needs(3.28-4.54). And the highest need were on the 3 items of normal growth and development of infant, safety and emergency care, symptoms of sick(4.45) and the meaning of crying of the baby(4.52). The level of satisfaction among items of education of infant care ranged from 2.47 to 3.16. Most satisfied items were buriping(3.16), bathing(3.11) and diapering(3.09). The items of which the mother's needs were high revealed the lowest satisfaction level. The difference was significant (p=0.0001). 9. Relationship between nursing needs and levels of satisfaction among primiparae of different characteristics were as follows : 1) Nursing needs of physical and psychological areas were significantly different among different age levels but no relationship was found on other categories regardless of the level of satisfaction. 2) With regard to different levels of education, some relationship was found in nursing needs of psychological area(p=0.007), educational needs on infant care(p=0.04) and environmental care(p=0.01). Also, the difference of satisfaction level was significant. 3) Working mothers had higher nursing needs and were more satisfied on items of physical care(p=0.05), education on self care and infant care. Difference were significant between nursing needs and level of satisfaction. 4) With regards to different religion a moderate relation was found between nursing needs of environmental care infant care education but no relationship was found on levels of satisfaction. 5) With regards to antenatal education, the mothers who have had no antenatal education revealed higher nursing needs on physical care but those who had antenatal education were more satisfied with education on self care and infant care. The difference was significant. (p=0.0001). 6) With regards to postpartum education, the mothers who have had some sort of postpartum education revealed higher nursing needs on physical and self care. And they were more satisfied with nursing of every category except infant care than mothers who had not any postpartum education. Differences was significant between the nursing needs and levels of satisfaction.(p=0.0001). 7) With regards to breast feeding experience during the hospitalization, those who had no experience of breast feeding revealed higher nursing needs on physical care in contrast to breast feeders, who had higher educational needs on infant care. And breast feeder were more satisfied with all categories. Differences was significant(p=0.0001). 8) With regards to perception of self confidence on self care and infant care, no relationship was found on nursing needs and level of satisfaction in every category of nursing.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.3 no.3
• /
• pp.177-186
• /
• 1970

The spawning of the abalone, Haliotis discus hannai, was induced In October 1969 by air ex-position for about 30 minutes. At temperatures of from 14.0 to $18.8^{\circ}C$, the youngest trochophore stage was reached within 22 hours after the egg was laid. The trochophore was transformed into the veliger stage within 34 hours after fertilization. For $7\~9$ days after oviposition the veliger floated in sea water and then settled to the bottom. The peristomal shell was secreted along the outer lip of the aperture of the larval shell, and the first respiratory pore appears at about 110 days after fertilization. The shell attained a length of 0.40 mm in 15 days, 1.39 mm in 49 days, 2.14 mm in 110 days, 5.20 mm in 170 days and 10.00 mm in 228 days respectively. Monthly growth rate of the shell length is expressed by the following equation :$L=0.9981\;e^{0.18659M}$ where L is shell length and M is time in month. The density of floating larvae in the culture tank was about 10 larvae per 100 co. The number of larvae attached to a polyethylene collector ($30\times20\;cm$) ranged from 10 to 600. Mortality of the settled larvae on the polyethylene collector was about $87.0\%$ during 170 days following settlement. The culture of Nauicula sp. was made with rough polyethylene collectors hung at three different depths, namely 5 cm, 45 cm and 85 cm. At each depth the highest cell concentration appeared after $15\~17$ days, and the numbers of cells are shown as follows: $$5\;cm\;34.3\times10^4\;Cells/cm^2$$ $$45\;cm\;27.2\times10^4\;Cells/cm^2$$ $$85\;cm\;26.3\times10^4\;Cells/cm^2$$ At temperatures of from 13.0 to $14.3^{\circ}C$, the distance travelled by the larvae (3.0 mm In shell length) averaged 11.36 mm for a Period of 30 days. Their locomation was relatively active between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., and $52.2\%$ of them moved during this period. When the larvae (2.0 mm in shell length) were kept in water at $0\;to\;\~1.8^{\circ}C$, they moved 1.15cm between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. and 0.10 cm between midnight and 8 a.m. The relationships between shell length and body weight of the abalone sampled from three different localities are shown as follows: Dolsan-do $W=0.2479\;L^{2.5721}$ Huksan-do $W=0.1001\;L^{3.1021}$ Pohang $W=0.9632\;L^{2.0611}$

• Journal of Intelligence and Information Systems
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.1-21
• /
• 2020

With the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology, various techniques have been developed to extract meaningful information from unstructured text data which constitutes a large portion of big data. Over the past decades, text mining technologies have been utilized in various industries for practical applications. In the field of business intelligence, it has been employed to discover new market and/or technology opportunities and support rational decision making of business participants. The market information such as market size, market growth rate, and market share is essential for setting companies' business strategies. There has been a continuous demand in various fields for specific product level-market information. However, the information has been generally provided at industry level or broad categories based on classification standards, making it difficult to obtain specific and proper information. In this regard, we propose a new methodology that can estimate the market sizes of product groups at more detailed levels than that of previously offered. We applied Word2Vec algorithm, a neural network based semantic word embedding model, to enable automatic market size estimation from individual companies' product information in a bottom-up manner. The overall process is as follows: First, the data related to product information is collected, refined, and restructured into suitable form for applying Word2Vec model. Next, the preprocessed data is embedded into vector space by Word2Vec and then the product groups are derived by extracting similar products names based on cosine similarity calculation. Finally, the sales data on the extracted products is summated to estimate the market size of the product groups. As an experimental data, text data of product names from Statistics Korea's microdata (345,103 cases) were mapped in multidimensional vector space by Word2Vec training. We performed parameters optimization for training and then applied vector dimension of 300 and window size of 15 as optimized parameters for further experiments. We employed index words of Korean Standard Industry Classification (KSIC) as a product name dataset to more efficiently cluster product groups. The product names which are similar to KSIC indexes were extracted based on cosine similarity. The market size of extracted products as one product category was calculated from individual companies' sales data. The market sizes of 11,654 specific product lines were automatically estimated by the proposed model. For the performance verification, the results were compared with actual market size of some items. The Pearson's correlation coefficient was 0.513. Our approach has several advantages differing from the previous studies. First, text mining and machine learning techniques were applied for the first time on market size estimation, overcoming the limitations of traditional sampling based- or multiple assumption required-methods. In addition, the level of market category can be easily and efficiently adjusted according to the purpose of information use by changing cosine similarity threshold. Furthermore, it has a high potential of practical applications since it can resolve unmet needs for detailed market size information in public and private sectors. Specifically, it can be utilized in technology evaluation and technology commercialization support program conducted by governmental institutions, as well as business strategies consulting and market analysis report publishing by private firms. The limitation of our study is that the presented model needs to be improved in terms of accuracy and reliability. The semantic-based word embedding module can be advanced by giving a proper order in the preprocessed dataset or by combining another algorithm such as Jaccard similarity with Word2Vec. Also, the methods of product group clustering can be changed to other types of unsupervised machine learning algorithm. Our group is currently working on subsequent studies and we expect that it can further improve the performance of the conceptually proposed basic model in this study.

• The Journal of the Petrological Society of Korea
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.129-150
• /
• 2012

The tectonic evolution of the Central Ogcheon Belt has been newly analyzed in this paper from the detailed geological maps by lithofacies classification, the development processes of geological structures, microstructures, and the time-relationship between deformation and metamorphism in the Ogcheon, Cheongsan, Mungyeong Buunnyeong, Busan areas, Korea and the fossil and radiometric age data of the Ogcheon Supergroup(OSG). The 1st tectonic phase($D^*$) is marked by the rifting of the original Gyeonggi Massif into North Gyeonggi Massif(present Gyeonggi Massif) and South Gyeonggi Massif (Bakdallyeong and Busan gneiss complexes). The Joseon Supergroup(JSG) and the lower unit(quartzose psammitic, pelitic, calcareous and basic rocks) of OSG were deposited in the Ogcheon rift basin during Early Paleozoic time, and the Pyeongan Supergroup(PSG) and its upper unit(conglomerate and pelitic rocks and acidic rocks) appeared in Late Paleozoic time. The 2nd tectonic phase(Ogcheon-Cheongsan phase/Songnim orogeny: D1), which occurred during Late Permian-Middle Triassic age, is characterized by the closing of Ogcheon rift basin(= the coupling of the North and South Gyeonggi Massifs) in the earlier phase(Ogcheon subphase: D1a), and by the coupling of South China block(Gyeonggi Massif and Ogcheon Zone) and North China block(Yeongnam Massif and Taebaksan Zone) in the later phase(Cheongsan subphase: D1b). At the earlier stage of D1a occurred the M1 medium-pressure type metamorphism of OSG related to the growth of coarse biotites, garnets, staurolites. At its later stage, the medium-pressure type metamorphic rocks were exhumed as some nappes with SE-vergence, and the giant-scale sheath fold, regional foliation, stretching lineation were formed in the OSG. At the D1b subphase which occurs under (N)NE-(S)SW compression, the thrusts with NNE- or/and SSW-vergence were formed in the front and rear parts of couple, and the NNE-trending Cheongsan shear zone of dextral strike-slip and the NNE-trending upright folds of the JSG and PSG were also formed in its flank part, and Daedong basin was built in Korean Peninsula. After that, Daedong Group(DG) of the Late Triassic-Early Jurassic was deposited. The 3rd tectonic phase(Honam phase/Daebo orogeny: D2) occurred by the transpression tectonics of NNE-trending Honam dextral strike-slip shearing in Early~Late Jurassic time, and formed the asymmetric crenulated fold in the OSG and the NNE-trending recumbent folds in the JSG and PSG and the thrust faults with ESE-vergence in which pre-Late Triassic Supergroups override DG. The M2 contact metamorphism of andalusite-sillimanite type by the intrusion of Daebo granitoids occurred at the D2 intertectonic phase of Middle Jurassic age. The 4th tectonic phase(Cheongmari phase: D3) occurred under the N-S compression at Early Cretaceous time, and formed the pull-apart Cretaceous sedimentary basins accompanying the NNE-trending sinistral strike-slip shearing. The M3 retrograde metamorphism of OSG associated with the crystallization of chlorite porphyroblasts mainly occurred after the D2. After the D3, the sinistral displacement(Geumgang phase: D4) occurred along the Geumgang fault accompanied with the giant-scale Geumgang drag fold with its parasitic kink folds in the Ogcheon area. These folds are intruded by acidic dykes of Late Cretaceous age.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.357-373
• /
• 1975

This study was conducted to evaluate the winter active polycross progenies of 10 genotypes selected at the hot and dry climate of the Southern Oregon in their performance in the progeny test comparing with a high yielding variety, 'Fawn', and a winter active variety, 'TFM', as the control varieties at Daejon, Korea. Various plant and leaf characteristics, especially which related to photosynthesis, and forage production during the first summer after their establishment, were examined. The important conclusions of this study are summarized as follows: 1. The winter active genotypes and variety had less leaf fresh weight and dry weight per leaf than variety 'Fawn'. Variations among polycross progenies of genotypes for these characteristics were great. 2. The winter active genotypes and variety had less leaf area per leaf than variety 'Fawn'. Leaf area among polycross progenies of genotypes deviated greatly and poly cross progenies of 'genotype-16' had the same average leaf area as 'Fawn'. 3. Differences of specific leaf weight (S. L. W.) in the winter active genotypes and variety were not significant. Probably the genetic diversity for S. L. W were not big and were narrowed down already in this genetic population. It was suggested that the photosynthate production within the population might not be different and there might be differences in the photosynthate production-translocation balance. Further study for the diurnal change in S. L. W. within the population might be useful. 4. The winter active variety and genotypes had less leaf width than 'Fawn' does. Leaf width among polycross progenies of genotypes deviated significantly. 5. Differences among controls and polycross progeny group in the initial plant height were significant and variety 'Fawn' was taller than the winter active genotypes and variety. But the differences were not significant in the regrowth of plant height after the first forage harvest. On the contrary. the differences among polycross progenies of genotypes were not significant in the initial plant but the differences in their polycross progeny performance became obvious and great in the regrowth ability which is an improtent agronomic characteristics for forage crops produced in the pasture and for hay and silage. 6. Plant width of the winter active genotypes and variety was lesser than 'Fawn' variety. 7. Differences of tiller number became evident and variety 'Fawn' had higher tiller number than the winter active genotypes and variety after the first forage cutting. There, deviations among polycross progenies of genotypes were great for this characteristic. It was obvious that the genetic differences became more evident in the second measurement after the first cutting of forage probably because this characteristic were stimulated by defoliation in the cartain genotypes and variety. 8. The winter active genotypes and variety on the initial growth. the regrowth ability andtotal yield had lesser forage yield than variety 'Fawn'. Deviation of forage yield among polycross progenies of genotypes were great and gave basis for selection according to their polycross progeny performance improving the forage yield of these winter active tall fescue population during summer. 9. It was concluded that the winter active variety and genotypes in this study was poorer than variety 'Fawn' for the most of leaf and plant characteristics including forage yield. For these measurements, the variations among polycross progenies of genotypes were great. and plant breeding might able to improve further this winter active tall fescue through the polycross progeny testing method for the higher forage production during summer in Korea. 10. The result of the associations among various characteristics under study were quite agreeable with the results of the analysis of variance and woul be useful in the selection of desirable genotypes for the development of a new variety.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.273-284
• /
• 1996

Embryos and fetuses are more sensitive to various environmental agents than are adults or children. The biological effects such as intrauterine death and malformation are closely connected with prenatal exposure very various agents. The sensitivity of these embryonic/fetal effects depends on the stage of pregnancy. From the viewpoint of fetal development, embryonic and fetal stages can be divided into three stages : Preimplantation, organogenetic and fetal. Each stage corresponds to 0 to 4.5days, 4.5 to 13.5days, and 13.5days of gestation in mice, respectively. Many studies on the biologcal effects of mice irradiated by ${\gamma}-rays$ at various stages during organogenesis and fetal period have been performed. Based on these results, the dose-effect and dose-response relationships in malformations, intrauterine death, or retardation of the physical growth have been practically modeled by the ICRP(International Commission on Radiological Protection) and other international bodies for radiation protection. Many experimental studies on mice have made it clear that mice embryos in the preimplantation period have a higher sensitivity to radiation for lethal effects than the embryos/fetuses on other prenatal periods. However, no eratogenic effects of radiation at preimplantation stages of mice have been described in many textbooks. It has been believed that 'all or none action results' for radiation of mice during the preimplantation period were applied. The teratogenic and lethal effects during the preimplantation stage are one of the most important problems from the viewpoint of radiological protection, since the preimplantation stage is the period when the pregnancy itself is not noticed by a pregnant woman. There are many physical or chemical agents which affect embryos/fetuses in the environment. It is assumed that each agents indirectly effects a human. Then, a safety criterion on each agent is determined independently. The pregnant ICR mice on 2, 48, 72 or 96 hours post-conception (hpc), at which are preimplantation stage of embryos, were irradiated whole body Cesium-gamma radiation at doses of 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.5, and 2.5 Gy with dose rate of 0.2 Gy/min. In the embryos from the fetuses from the mice irradiated at various period in preimplantation, embryonic/fetal mortalities, incidence of external gross malformation, fetal body weight and sex ratio were observed at day 18 of gestation. The sensitivity of embryonic mortalities in the mice irradiated at the stage of preimplantation were higher than those in the mice irradiated at the stage of organogenesis. And the more sensitive periods of preimplantation stage for embryonic death were 2 and 48 hpc, at which embryos were one cell and 4 to 7 cell stage, respectively. Many types of the external gross malformations such as exencephaly, cleft palate and anophthalmia were observed in the fetuses from the mice irradiated at 2, 72 and 96 hpc. However, no malformations were observed in the mice irradiated at 48 hpc, at which stage the embryos were about 6 cell stage precompacted embryos. So far, it is believed that the embryos on preimplantation stage are not susceptible to teratogens such as radiation and chemical agents. In this study, the sensitivity for external malformations in the fetuses from the mice irradiated at preimplantation were higher than those in the fetuses on stage of organogenesis.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.52 no.4
• /
• pp.317-329
• /
• 2002

Background : Immunotherapy is another treatment modality for various cancers. There is little information on the antitumor effects of immunotherapy on implanted lung cancer mouse models. Toxoplasma gondii is able to potently induce a nonspecific stimulation of the host immune system. Therefore, this study evaluated the antitumor and antimetastatic effect of nonspecific immune stimulation by T. gondii in a Lewis lung cancer mouse model. Methods : Female C57BL/6 mice were injected with either Lewis lung cancer cells ($1{\times}10^6$ per mouse) or 5 cysts from the T. gondii Me49 strain with various schedules. The number of survival days, the tumor size of the implanted muscle and the histopathological findings of each group were noted. In addition to these mice, the Toxoplasma antigen($50{\mu}g$ per mouse) or a lymphokine (0.5 ml per mouse) was added to boost the immunotherapy. Results : No mouse in the Toxoplasma-infected group had died, whereas the mice receiving only the cancer cells (cancer control) survived for $29.1{\pm}4.4$ days. Cancer cells were revealed from 1 week after cancer cell inceulation in the muscle and from 3 weeks in the lung of the cancer control, whereas cancer cells were found in both the preinfection control and coinfection control groups from 2 weeks and 4 weeks in the lung respectively. The in the number of survival days were $32.4{\pm}3.3$ in the mice receiving T. gondii 2 weeks prior to the cancer cells inoculation (preinfection control), $30.9{\pm}5.1$ in mice received both simultaneously (coinfection control), and $34.9{\pm}2.9$ in mice received T. gondii 2 weeks after cancer cells implantation (postinfection control). These 3 infection groups had significantly longer survival days and suppressed tumor growth than those of the cancer control. In addition to these mice, and injection with the Toxoplasma antigen alone or in combination with lymphokine resulted in a significant increase in the number of survival days. Conclusion : These findings suggest that an injection with T. gondii can induce the antitumor and antimetastatic effects in Lewis lung cancer mouse models. Moreover, these effects were increased with an injection of the Toxoplasma antigen alone or in combination with lymphokine. However, this therapy can not prevent the development of cancer.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.111-119
• /
• 2009

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical efficacy of clomiphene citrate (CC) and letrozole combined with gonadotropins for controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) in patients with CC-induced thin endometrium Methods: Fifty-one intrauterine insemination cycles performed in patients who previously had a thin endometrium (<8 mm) to ovulation induction using CC were included in this study. A CC 100 mg/day (CC+gonadotropin group, n=26) or letrozole 2.5 or 5 mg/day (letrozole+gonadotropin group, n=25) was administered on day 3~7 of the menstrual cycle, combined with gonadotropins at dose 75~150 IU every other day starting on day 5~7. We compared total dose of gonadotropin used, endometrial thickness, endometrial pattern, number of follicles ${\geq}14\;mm$ on hCG day, pregnancy rate and multiple pregnancy rate between the two groups, which were statistically analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test or Fisher's exact test, where appropriate. Results: There were no significant differences in clinical characteristics such as age, duration of infertility, number of previous IUI cycles, basal serum hormone levels and cause of infertility between the two groups. In both groups, the endometrium was significantly thicker than that of previous ovulation induction cycles using CC. No significant differences were found in the total dose of gonadotropin used, day of hCG administration, the rate of triple endometrium and pregnancy rate. The number of follicles ${\geq}14\;mm$ was significantly lower ($3.7{\pm}1.7$ vs. $2.8{\pm}1.7$, p=0.03) and the endometrium on hCG day was significantly thicker ($7.7{\pm}1.5$ vs. $9.1{\pm}1.7$, p=0.001) in letrozole+gonadotropin group compared to CC+gonadotropin group. Conclusion: The clomiphene citrate and letrozole combined with gonadotropins appear to avoid the undesirable effects on the endometrium frequently seen with CC for ovulation induction. However, in terms of adequate endometrial development or optimal follicular growth, letrozole may be more beneficial than CC for gonadotropin-combined COS in patients with CC-induced thin endometrium. Further prospective randomized controlled studies in a larger scale will be necessary to confirm our findings.