• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.158-164
• /
• 2014

Objective: To assess whether an early GnRH antagonist start leads to better follicular synchronization and an improved clinical pregnancy rate (CPR). Methods: A retrospective cohort study. A total of 218 infertile women who underwent IVF between January 2011 and February 2013. The initial cohort (Cohort I) that underwent IVF between January 2011 and March 2012 included a total of 68 attempted IVF cycles. Thirty-four cycles were treated with the conventional GnRH antagonist protocol, and 34 cycles with an early GnRH antagonist start protocol. The second cohort (Cohort II) that underwent IVF between June 2012 and February 2013 included a total of 150 embryo-transfer (ET) cycles. Forty-three cycles were treated with the conventional GnRH antagonist protocol, 34 cycles with the modified early GnRH antagonist start protocol using highly purified human menopause gonadotropin and an addition of GnRH agonist to the luteal phase support, and 73 cycles with the GnRH agonist long protocol. Results: The analysis of Cohort I showed that the number of mature oocytes retrieved was significantly higher in the early GnRH antagonist start cycles than in the conventional antagonist cycles (11.9 vs. 8.2, p=0.04). The analysis of Cohort II revealed higher but non-significant CPR/ET in the modified early GnRH antagonist start cycles (41.2%) than in the conventional antagonist cycles (30.2%), which was comparable to that of the GnRH agonist long protocol cycles (39.7%). Conclusion: The modified early antagonist start protocol may improve the mature oocyte yield, possibly via enhanced follicular synchronization, while resulting in superior CPR as compared to the conventional antagonist protocol, which needs to be studied further in prospective randomized controlled trials.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.111-120
• /
• 2015

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of Sunsik prepared by steaming -drying cycles- on blood glucose and inflammatory markers in high fat diet-induced obese rats. The experimental animals were divided into five groups and subjected to diets for 8 weeks; normal diet (control), high fat diet (HF), and high fat diet+10% supplementation of Sunsik (1HF, 3HF, 7HF, 9HF). The results showed body weight, food efficiency ratio, blood glucose and insulin levels of high fat diet groups were significantly higher than those of the control group. Increased glucose levels by high fat diet were reduced to normal levels by the four Sunsik supplementations. Insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) of the HF group was significantly higher than those of the control group, whereas supplementation with the four types of Sunsik reduced insulin resistance to similar levels as the control group. Increased insulin secretion and leptin levels of high fat diet-induced obese rats were significantly reduced by supplementation with the four types of Sunsik. C-reactive protein (CRP) of inflammation related components was significantly higher than the control group. However, increased CRP concentration by high fat diet was significantly reduced by supplementation with Sunsik.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.61-68
• /
• 2014

Objectives : To study the effect of SB injection on tumor size in an advanced non-small cell lung cancer patient. Methods : A patient was clinically diagnosed as advanced non-small cell lung cancer (Stage IIIa). Four cycles of intravenous SB injection were conducted. Each cycle lasted 4 days. The content of 7vials SB was injected every day. To compare the tumor size before treatment and after four cycles of SB injection, chest computed tomography (CT) was performed. Results : Follow-up CT images showed that the tumor size was reduced. In admission, size of the tumor $6.7{\times}8.5{\times}9.5cm$ on the left lower lobe of lung. After SB injection, size of the tumor $5.6{\times}6.8{\times}8.4cm$ by Chest CT. The patient's symptoms such as cough, sputum were improving until four cycles of SB injection. Numerical rating scale (NRS) showed improvement of Chest pain from point 3 to point 0. Conclusions : This case study suggests that intravenous SB injection may have significant effects of anti-tumor for non-small cell lung cancer.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.197-205
• /
• 2007

Objective: This study evaluated the pregnancy and implantation rates in fresh IVF-ET cycles or frozen-thawed ET (F-ET) cycles based on serum estradiol concentrations of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH). Methods: Clinical outcomes of 1,565 cycles of fresh IVF-ET with COH and 670 cycles of F-ET were retrospectively analyzed. Serum estradiol levels on the day of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) administration were categorized into Group-A (1,000$\sim$2,000 pg/ml), Group-B (2,000$\sim$3,000 pg/ml), Group-C (3,000$\sim$4,000 pg/ml) and Group-D (> 4,000 pg/ml). Clinical pregnancy (CPR), implantation (IR) and delivery rates (DR) were compared among four groups subdivided into younger (< 35 years) and older ($\geq$ 35 years) women. Statistical analysis was performed by Student's t-test and chi-square test. Results: Overall clinical outcomes with fresh IVF-ET and F-ET cycles were similar: 41.2% vs 44.8% of CPR, 18.8% vs 19.6% of JR, and 33.2% vs 34.5% of DR, respectively. There were no significant differences in the clinical outcomes of all four groups between fresh IVF-ET and F-ET cycles of younger women according to the estradiol levels. However, the clinical outcomes of F-ET cycles of older women in Group-D were significantly higher than those of fresh IVF-ET cycles (51.3% vs 25.0% of CPR*, 18.6% vs 9.9% of IR and 33.3% vs 19.4% of DR;* p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that supraphysiological levels of estradiol during COH in fresh IVF-ET cycles of older women ($\geq$ 35 years) may be detrimental to implantation environments of endometrium and clinical outcomes, which could be improved by F-ET cycles.

• International Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.118-123
• /
• 2006

A few commonly used correlation equations of the enthalpy of vaporization essential to the analysis of refrigeration cycles are reviewed. A new four-parameter correlation equation is proposed assuming that the enthalpy of vaporization could be represented with a linear form of the temperature and an additional function which slowly decreases as the temperature increases. It is not a common practice to measure the enthalpy of vaporization by experiment; therefore, performance of the new correlation is examined using numeric data from the ASHRAE tables for 22 pure substance refrigerants. The new correlation equation and other existing ones are fitted to the data optimizing the root mean squared deviation. All data points are weighted equally and NBP (normal boiling point) is used as a fixed point since the NBP is important for refrigeration application. The new four-parameter equation yields an average absolute deviation of 0.05% for 22 refrigerants which is smaller than those of other four-parameter equations, such as Guermouche-Vergnaud (0.08%), Aerebrot (0.13%), Radoz-Lyderson (0.08%), and Somayajulu four-parameter equation (0.08%).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.1117-1122
• /
• 2015

Background: Cisplatin is still used as a first-line medication for solid tumors. Nephrotoxicity is a serious side effect that can decrease renal function and restrict applicable doses. This research aimed to obtain the profile of cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and its associated factors in adult cancer patients at Dharmais National Cancer Hospital (DNCH). Materials and Methods: The design was cross-sectional with data obtained from patient medical records. We retrospectively reviewed adult cancer patients treated with cisplatin ${\geq}60mg/m^2$ for at least four consecutive chemotherapy cycles from August 2011 to November 2013. The nephrotoxicity criterion was renal function decline characterized by creatinine clearance <60 ml/min using the Cockroft-Gault (CG) equation. Results: Eighty-eight subjects received at least four chemotherapy cycles of cisplatin. The prevalence of cisplatin nephrotoxicity was 34.1%. Symptoms could be observed after the first cycle of chemotherapy, and the degree of renal impairment was higher with increased numbers of cycles (r=-0.946, $r^2=89.5%$). Factors that affected the decline of renal function were patient age (p=0.008, OR=3.433, 95%CI= 1.363-8.645) and hypertension (p=0.026, OR=2.931, 95%CI=1.120-7.670). Conclusions: Cisplatin nephrotoxicity occurred in more than one-third of patients after the fourth cycle of chemotherapy and worsened after each cycle despite preventive strategies such as hydration. The decline of renal function induced by cisplatin ${\geq}60mg/m^2$ was affected by age and hypertension.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.387-390
• /
• 2012

A combination of 5-fluorouracil plus actinomycin D (5FU plus Act D) is the regimen that has been commonly administered to Chinese and Japanese gestational trophoblastic neoplasia patients as the first or second line of treatment with an excellent outcome. However, the efficacy of this regimen in a salvage setting was unclear. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of the 5 FU plus Act D regimen utilized in this condition, all GTN patients resistant to at least three previous chemotherapy regimens who received the 5 FU plus Act D regimen between August 2009 and January 2011 at Chiang Mai University Hospital were reviewed. There were five cases who met the criteria. Four of those patients were in FIGO stage III to IV with a WHO scoring of more than 12. The median number of cycles for each patient was two and only one case achieved remission while four of the cases were unresponsive. The toxicity was evaluated in 12 cycles. Common complications were uncomplicated myelosuppression and mucositis. In conclusion, this regimen revealed modest efficacy in a salvage setting with manageable toxicity.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
• /
• v.16 no.4
• /
• pp.387-394
• /
• 2016

This paper presents a fully digital delay locked loop (DLL) that can acquire lock in four clock cycles with a resolution of a 1/4 NAND-delay. The proposed DLL with a multi-dither-free phase detector acquires the initial lock in four clock cycles with 1/2 NAND-delay. Then, it utilizes a multi-dither-free phase detector, a region accumulator, and phase blenders, to improve the resolution to a 1/4 NAND-delay. The region accumulator which continuously steers the control registers and the phase blender, adaptively controls the tracking bandwidth depending on the amount of jitter, and effectively suppresses the dithering jitter. Fabricated in a 65 nm CMOS process, the proposed DLL occupies $0.0432mm^2$, and consumes 3.7 mW from a 1.2-V supply at 2 GHz.

• Journal of Communications and Networks
• /
• v.15 no.2
• /
• pp.217-221
• /
• 2013

Quantum low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes based on the Calderbank-Shor-Steane construction have low encoding and decoding complexity. The sum-product algorithm(SPA) can be used to decode quantum LDPC codes; however, the decoding performance may be significantly decreased by the many four-cycles required by this type of quantum codes. All four-cycles can be eliminated using the entanglement-assisted formalism with maximally entangled states (ebits). The proposed entanglement-assisted quantum error-correcting code based on Euclidean geometry outperform differently structured quantum codes. However, the large number of ebits required to construct the entanglement-assisted formalism is a substantial obstacle to practical application. In this paper, we propose a novel class of entanglement-assisted quantum LDPC codes constructed using classical Euclidean geometry LDPC codes. Notably, the new codes require one copy of the ebit. Furthermore, we propose a construction scheme for a corresponding zigzag matrix and show that the algebraic structure of the codes could easily be expanded. A large class of quantum codes with various code lengths and code rates can be constructed. Our methods significantly improve the possibility of practical implementation of quantum error-correcting codes. Simulation results show that the entanglement-assisted quantum LDPC codes described in this study perform very well over a depolarizing channel with iterative decoding based on the SPA and that these codes outperform other quantum codes based on Euclidean geometries.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.29 no.11
• /
• pp.670-676
• /
• 2019

We study substrate support structures and materials to improve uptime and shorten preventive maintenance cycles for chemical vapor deposition equipment. In order to improve the rolling of the substrate support, the bushing device adopts a ball transfer method in which a large ball and a small ball are mixed. When the main transfer ball of the bushing part of the substrate support contacts the substrate support, the small ball also rotates simultaneously with the rotation of the main ball, minimizing the resistance that can be generated during the vertical movement of the substrate support. As a result of the improvement, the glass substrate breakage rate is reduced by more than 90 ~ 95 %, and the equipment preventive maintenance and board support replacement cycles are extended four times or more, from once a month to more than four months, and the equipment uptime is at least 15 % improved. This study proposes an optimization method for substrate support structure and material improvement of chemical vapor deposition equipment.