• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.23-33
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• 2022

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to establish a Korean medical perspective on the human body through understanding of the meridians according to the distribution of the three yin and three yang (삼음삼양) and the opening, closing and pivot (관합추) as defined in ≪Huangdi's Internal Classic≫. Methods : A total of 8 medical databases including KISS, Earticle, DBpia, RISS, OASIS, KMbase, and ScienceON were used to search studies published through July 2021, and literature was included without limitations on the publication period. The search terms were "(meridian OR acupoint OR meridian sinew) AND position" OR "Gwan-Hap-Chu" OR "Gae-Hap-Chu" OR "three yin and three yang". Two researchers independently made choices among the searched literature based on the preplanned selection/exclusion criteria. The search terms were"(meridian OR acupoint OR meridian sinew) AND position" OR "Gwan-Hap-Chu" OR "Gae-Hap-Chu" OR "three yin and three yang". Results : Of the 36 obtained from the survey, 19 (53%) followed the definitions of "internal diameter" for "three yin and three yang" and "the opening, closing and pivot," but 6 (about 16%) took a neutral position and 10 (22%) avoided mentioning. Therefore, it was judged that research was needed to end the debate on the distribution of 'three yin and three yang' and 'the opening, closing and pivot'. In order to apply the definition of ≪Huangdi's Internal Classic≫ on 'distribution of the three-yin and three-yang' and 'the opening, closing and pivot' to the upper limb and lower limb as well as the torso of the human body, this author proposed a human body model with both upper limb and lower limb attached, inspired by the posture of the fetus in the developmental stage. Conclusions : In this study, using a new human body model, it was revealed that the distribution of the three yin and three yang and the opening, closing and pivot' as defined in the ≪Huangdi's Internal Classic≫ can be applied not only to the torso of the human body, but also to the upper limb and lower limb. Based on the understanding of meridians, the selection of meridians in the clinical acupuncture should be made accurately, and continuous interest and research on this are expected.

• Journal of Christian Education in Korea
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• v.65
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• pp.55-80
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• 2021

This study attempted to find a Christian religious alternative to the seriousness of the problem of low birth rate which has become a national and social problem, and its alternative. Korea is a low birth rate country. The phenomenon of low birth rate and childbirth avoidance is a reality that not only are national problems but also Korean churches are experiencing serious problems, and will continue to affect them. It will affect the church in four major ways. First, is a sharp decline in the number of members. Second, is the decline of Sunday schools. Third, various family problems and generational conflicts will arise. And it brings problems such as a crisis of faith among members. Young people living today have an unconventional attitude toward marriage, childbirth, and parenting. But for Christians, childbirth is a way of living in that God blessed us to "be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth." In other words, childbirth must be recognized as a blessing from God, not a human decision. Therefore, we must know how precious the fetus is in front of God and that it is a precious life. Thus, we should be interested in how to nurture the life God has given. To do so the church's role is education is to shape the value of life from a biblical perspective. Therefore the church needs to see how the Christian faith of young and married couples who are about to marry, give birth, and raise children, affects the childbirth and rearing of children. And it is necessary to study what the role of church and Christian education is to solve the problem of low birth rate and to suggest alternatives. For this study, we will first identify the factors of low birth rate. Then we will confirm childbirth and the blessing of God through the Bible. Finally, the role of the church in low birth rate and educational alternatives will be presented.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.43-52
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• 2023

Objective: This study aimed to examine the influence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection on pregnancy in cytokeratin-18 (K18)-hACE2 transgenic mice. Methods: To determine the expression of hACE2 mRNA in the female reproductive tract of K18-hACE2 mice, real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed using the ovary, oviduct, uterus, umbilical cord, and placenta. SARS-CoV-2 was inoculated intranasally (30 μL/mouse, 1×10⁴ TCID₅₀/mL) to plug-checked K18-hACE2 homozygous female mice at the pre-and post-implantation stages at 2.5 days post-coitum (dpc) and 15.5 dpc, respectively. The number of implantation sites was checked at 7.5 dpc, and the number of normally born pups was investigated at 20.5 dpc. Pregnancy outcomes, including implantation and childbirth, were confirmed by comparison with the non-infected group. Tissues of infected mice were collected at 7.5 dpc and 19.5 dpc to confirm the SARS-CoV-2 infection. The infection was identified by performing RT-PCR on the infected tissues and comparing them to the non-infected tissues. Results: hACE2 mRNA expression was confirmed in the female reproductive tract of the K18-hACE2 mice. Compared to the non-infected group, no significant difference in the number of implantation sites or normally born pups was found in the infected group. SARS-CoV-2 infection was detected in the lungs but not in the female reproductive system of infected K18-hACE2 mice. Conclusion: In K18-hACE2 mice, intranasal infection with SARS-CoV-2 did not induce implantation failure, preterm labor, or miscarriage. Although the viral infection was not detected in the uterus, placenta, or fetus, the infection of the lungs could induce problems in the reproductive system. However, lung infections were not related to pregnancy outcomes.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.2-8
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• 2022

Humanity is in the midst of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, and vaccines-including mRNA vaccines-have been developed at an unprecedented speed. It is necessary to develop guidelines for vaccination for people undergoing treatment with assisted reproductive technology (ART) and for pregnancy-related situations based on the extant laboratory and clinical data. COVID-19 vaccines do not appear to adversely affect gametes, embryos, or implantation; therefore, active vaccination is recommended for women or men who are preparing for ART. The use of intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIG) for the treatment of immune-related infertility is unlikely to impact the effectiveness of the vaccines, so COVID-19 vaccines can be administered around ART cycles in which IVIG is scheduled. Pregnant women have been proven to be at risk of severe maternal and neonatal complications from COVID-19. It does not appear that COVID-19 vaccines harm pregnant women or fetuses; instead, they have been observed to deliver antibodies against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2) to the fetus. Accordingly, it is recommended that pregnant women receive COVID-19 vaccination. There is no rationale for adverse effects, or clinical cases of adverse reactions, in mothers or neonates after COVID-19 vaccination in lactating women. Instead, antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 can be delivered through breast milk. Therefore, breastfeeding mothers should consider vaccination. In summary, active administration of COVID-19 vaccines will help ensure the safe implementation of ART, pregnancy, and breastfeeding.

• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.149-159
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• 2021

Purpose: Antibiotic exposure during pregnancy may affect the fetus and newborn in many ways. This study investigated the impact of prenatal antibiotic exposure duration on neonatal outcomes in very preterm (VP) or very low birth weight (VLBW) infants. Methods: From September 2015 to December 2020, preterm infants with gestational age less than 32 weeks or with a BW less than 1,500 g who were admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit, and their mothers were enrolled. Prenatal antibiotic exposure was defined as antibiotics received by mothers before delivery, and the patients were categorized into the non-antibiotic group, short-duration (SD; ≤7 days) group, or long-duration (LD; >7 days) groups. Results: A total of 93 of 145 infants were exposed to prenatal antibiotics, among which 35 (37.6%) were in the SD group and 58 (62.4%) were in the LD group. Infants in the LD group had a significantly higher birth weight-for-gestational-age (BW/GA) Z-score than those in the non-antibiotic group, even after the adjustment for confounding factors (beta, 0.258; standard error, 0.149; P<0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that prolonged prenatal antibiotic exposure was independently associated with death (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 8.926; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.482-53.775) and composite outcomes of death, necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), and late-onset sepsis (LOS) (aOR, 2.375; 95% CI, 1.027-5.492). Conclusions: Prolonged prenatal antibiotic exposure could increase the BW/GA Z-score and the risk of death and composite outcomes of death, NEC, and LOS in VP or VLBW infants.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2001.03a
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• pp.68-68
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• 2001

Blastocyst formation, consisting of the inner cell mass (ICM) and trophectoderm (TE), is the first differentiation process during embryonic development in mammals. It has been hypothesized that the proportion of ICM to TE in the blastocyst may be crucial for subsequent developmental competence of early embryos, which it may be expressed as a sensitive indicator for evaluating in vitro systems. In this study ICM/total cell ratio of nuclear transfer (NT) embryos was compared with IVF-derived and in vivo embryos. Somatic cell nuclei obtained from a fetus at Day 40 of gestation were transferred into the enucleated oocyte and then cultured in NCSU 23 medium for 6 days as previously described (Koo et al., Biol. Reprod. 2000; 63:986-992). ICM and TE cells of blastocysts were determined by using a differential staining method (Han et al., Biol. Reprod. 1999; 60:1110-1113). Development rate (9.8$\pm$2.5%, 23/225) to the blastocyst stage of NT embryos was lower than IVF embryos (23.8$\pm$2.7%, 53/223). Thus, a difference was detected in the in vitro developmental rate to blastocyst stage between NT and IVF-derived embryos (P<0.05). In the next experiment, we investigated ICM and TE nuclei to assess the quality of blastocysts that produced by NT, IVF and in vivo, respectively. NT blastocysts (27.6$\pm$8.3) showed a smaller total cell number than IVF-derived (42.6$\pm$17.4) and in vivo embryos (283.9$\pm$103.5) (P<0.05). Ratios of ICM/total cells in NT, IVF and in vivo blastocysts were 15.1$\pm$ 18.6% (n=56), 12.3$\pm$9.2% (n=57) and 30.4$\pm$6.8% (n=40), respectively. Individual blastocysts for the ratio of ICM/total cells were assigned to 3 groups (I; <20%, II; 20 to 40% and III;>40%). As the results, most in vivo blastocysts (97.5%, 39/40) were distributed into group II while most NT (78.6%, 44/56) and IVF-derived blastocysts (82.5%, 47/57) were allocated to group I. Thus, our data show that NT or IVF-derived embryos have aberrant morphology during early development in vitro systems, suggesting that these anomalies may result in developmental failures of the NT embryos to term.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.124-124
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• 2003

The successful development of embryos cloned by nuclear transfer (NT)have been dependent on a wide range of known factors including cell cycle of donor and recipient ooplast, oocyte quality, NT procedure and oocyte activation. The present study compared the development of cloned porcine embryos following different activation treatments. Cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) were aspirated from 26 mm follicles of slaughterhouse ovaries and cultured for 22 h in NCSU #23 medium supplemented with 10% porcine follicular fluid, 0.57 mM cysteine, 0.5 g/mL LH, 0.5 g/mL FSH and 10 ng/mL EGF. The COCs were further cultured for an additional 22 h in the same medium at $39{\cird}C$ in an atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$ in air, without hormonal supplements. Primary cultures of fibroblasts isolated from a female fetus on day 40 of gestation were established in DMEM + 15% FCS. For nuclear donation, cells at the 5th-6th passage were cultured in DMEM +0.5% FCS for 5 days in order to arrest the cells in G0/Gl. After enucleation, oocytes were reconstructed by transfer of donor cells and fusion with three DC pulses (1.4 KV/cm, 30 sec) in 0.28 M mannitol containing 0.01 mM $CaCl_2$ and 0.01 mM $MgCl_2$. Eggs were then divided into three treatment groups, control (without further treatment, Group 1), eggs cultured in 10 g/ml cycloheximide (CHX) for 5 h (Group 2), and eggs cultured in 1.9 mM 6-dimethylaminopurine (6-DMAP) for 5 h (Group 3). The eggs were then cultured in sets of 30 in 60 I drops of NCSU#23 supplemented with 4mg/ml BSA (essentially fatty acid free) until day 7 at $39{\circ}C$ in a humidified atmosphere of 5% $CO_2$. On day 4 the culture were fed by adding 20 I NCSU #23 supplemented with 10% FBS. Development rates into blastocysts were significantly higher (P<0.05) in Group 3 embryos compared to Group 1 controls ($27.6 \mu 2.7% vs. 20.1 \mu 4.1%$, respectively), but rates did not differ in Group 2 compared to control ($23.8 \mu 5.7%$). Total cell number in Group 3 blastocysts was however significantly higher (P<0.05) than in Groups 1 and 2 ($44.6 \mu 2.4 vs. 19.9 \mu 1.9 and 21.9 \mu 2.1$, respectively). These results suggest that 6-DMAP is more efficient than cycloheximide in the activation of electrically fused NT oocytes during in vitro production of cloned porcine embryos.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.5
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• pp.429-435
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• 2023

Epidemiological studies suggest that maternal infection, maternal stress, and environmental risk factors during pregnancy increase the risk of brain development abnormalities associated with cognitive impairment in the offspring and increase susceptibility to schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder. Several animal models have demonstrated that maternal immune activation (MIA) is sufficient to induce abnormal brain development and behavioral defects in the fetus. When polyinosine:polycytodylic acid (poly I:C) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which is commonly used in maternal immune activation animal models, was introduced into a pregnant dam, an increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines and microglial activity was observed in the offspring's brain. Microglia are brain-resident immune cells that play a mediating role in the central nervous system, and they are responsible for various functions, such as phagocytosis, synapse formation and branching, and angiogenesis. Several studies have reported that microglia are activated in MIA offspring and influence offspring behavior through interactions with various cytokines. In addition, it has been reported that they play an important role in brain circuits through interactions with neurons and astrocytes. However, there is controversy concerning whether microglia are essential to brain development or lead to behavioral defects, and the exact mechanism remains unknown. Therefore, for the potential diagnosis and treatment of brain developmental disorders, a functional study of microglia should be conducted using MIA animal models.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.28-37
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• 2022

Pregnancy requires an important interpretation of thyroid function tests. The presence of anti-thyroid antibodies and viral infectious agents affect the health of both the fetus and the mother. Hence, a selective evaluation of thyroid function in pregnancy is required. This study is a retrospective cross-sectional survey to examine the correlation between thyroid hormones and viral infections during pregnancy. The results showed that the triiodothyronine (T3) decreased with increasing age, especially in the hepatitis C virus (HCV)-positive group (P<0.01). In addition, although negative for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), thyroxine (FT4) showed a significant increase in near-threshold or twin pregnant women (P<0.05). The thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) was highly distributed at the age of 30, and there was no statistically significant correlation with other viral infection factors. In addition, as a result of dividing and analyzing the result of TSH by the quantiles, FT4 and T3 showed a positive correlation but showed a negative correlation with TSH (P<0.05). Therefore, the evaluation of prenatal thyroid screening during pregnancy and viral infection factors should reflect the time of pregnancy, exposure to infection, and the quantitative values. Adequate thyroid hormone and viral infections availability is important for an uncomplicated pregnancy and optimal fetal development.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.490-497
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• 2023

Pregnant women may need to take medications to treat preexisting diseases or diseases that develop during pregnancy. However, some drugs may be fetotoxic and lead to, for example, teratogenicity and growth retardation. Predicting the fetotoxicity of drugs is thus important for the health of the mother and fetus. The fetotoxicity of many drugs has not been established because various challenges hinder the ability of researchers to determine their fetotoxicity. The need exists for in silico-based fetotoxicity assessment models, as they can modernize the testing paradigm, improve predictability, and reduce the use of animals and the costs of fetotoxicity testing. In this study, we collected data on the fetotoxicity of drugs and constructed fetotoxicity prediction models based on various machine learning algorithms. We optimized the models for more precise predictions by tuning the hyperparameters. We then performed quantitative performance evaluations. The results indicated that the constructed machine learning-based models had high performance (AUROC >0.85, AUPR >0.9) in fetotoxicity prediction. We also analyzed the feature importance of our model's predictions, which could be leveraged to identify the specific features of drugs that are strongly associated with fetotoxicity. The proposed model can be used to prescreen drugs and drug candidates at a lower cost and in less time. It provides a predictive score for fetotoxicity risk, which may be beneficial in the design of studies on fetotoxicity in human pregnancy.