• Development and Reproduction
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2013

Cynomorium songaricum (CS) has been used in traditional Korean medicine in treating male impotence and sexual dysfunction. We investigated the effects of aqueous CS extract on the reproductive activity of golden hamsters whose spermatogenetic capacity is active in summer and inactive in winter. The animals were divided into 5 groups: long photoperiod (LP) control, short photoperiod (SP) control, and SP animals treated with low, middle, or high concentrations of CS. The animals were orally ingested with low (0.5 g/kg), middle (1.0 g/kg), or high (2.5 g/kg) concentrations of the aqueous extracts for 8 weeks on the daily basis. The control animals received the vehicle. As results, the LP control animals showed active testicular function but SP control animals displayed remarkably reduced testicular weights. The outcomes of the reproductive activity from low and middle concentrations of CS treatments were identical and marked as low dose. The consequences were a partial blocking of regressing activity by SP. On the other hand, the animals treated with high dose of CS extract showed remarkable significance in comparison to the SP control, indicative of a complete blocking effect of the CS on the regressing testes by SP. There were a dose-dependent effects of the CS on the sexual function. These results suggest that the CS extract promotes the male fertility by strengthening the spermatogenesis in the golden hamsters.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.96-110
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• 2021

Korea is faced with the challenge of adapting to the world's fastest - growing low birthrate, aging society, and low growth with low interest rate era. With low fertility and aging population, the factors of financial income of health insurance are decreasing, and the increase of public interest in health, high cost medical technology and the development of medicine are leading to increase expenditure of health insurance. In this study, I will examine the strengthen protection of health insurance, financial stabilization, and fairness of medical care. First, the present status and limitations of health insurance were identified through domestic policy report, domestic and foreign literature, and precedent research. Second, the foreign health insurance policy measures to stabilize the finances were examined separately. Based on this study, in order to maintain sustainable health insurance through reinforcement and financial stabilization of health insurance, the current financial income structure of health insurance must be renovated. It will be necessary to expand government subsidies and discover new tax revenues. In addition, a policy to save finances by reorganizing the medical bill payment system and medical delivery system will also be needed.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.36 no.3 s.104
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• pp.381-388
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• 2003

The fertility of stream water in major streams of the Lake Shihwa Watershed was compared using water analyses and algal growth potential test (AGPT) in typical drought seasons from December 2001 to April 2002, The water quality varied considerably depending on streams. These streams were very rich in inorganic nutrients that the nutrient levels and characteristics of each stream could be easily determined. Through AGPT, 63.6% of growth was observed in the average values of each stream, with non-growth accounting for 36.4%. AGPT results showed that 40.9% of the 22 stations were in hypertrophic condition and 54.5% in eutrophic condition. AGPT values were significantly correlated with TIN, $NH_4$, and SRP (p <0.001); compared to other nutrients, however, they were more related to SRP and $NH_4$. Moreover, the values increased with high concentration of N and P and low N/P ratios. Nonetheless, the values were more dependent on P concentration than N concentration. This suggests that the effect of P on the water quality of lake situated in downstream may serve as a potential indicator of phytoplankton development. Depending on the drainage pattern of streams, the wastewaters of wastewater treatment plant (WwTP) and untreated wastewater (UTW) were found to have 53.4% and 46.6%, respevtively, of TIN, 51.9% and 48.1% of $NH_4$, 62.9% and 37.1% of $NO_3$, 62.6% and 37.4% of SRP, and 44.1% and 55.9% of SRSi. The AGPT value was 51.1% in WwTP wastewater and 48.9% in UTW wastewater, the concentration of WwTP wastewater was slightly higher. For untreated wastewaters flowing into the constructed wetland and into the lake, TIN accounts for 43.0% and 57.0%, respectively, of nitrogen components, $NH_4$ 44.4% and 55.6%, $NO_3$ 39.6% and 60.4%, SRP 53.5% and 46.5%, and SRSi 52.3% and 47.7%, respectively. The AGPT value was 58.0% in the constructed wetland and 42.0% in Lake Shihwa; the concentration in streams flowing into the wetland was slightly higher. Therefore, Persistent and large development of phytoplankton in Lake Shihwa cannot be prevented unless a measure tophytoplankton control is implemented. This is because the concentration of nutrients in specific streams flowing into the lake is very high, even though the inflow of water is low.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.125-143
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• 2012

This study examined the cause of the low fertility rate by the Policy on Childbirth Encouragement demographic of married males, parenting burden, parental role satisfaction, and policy on childbirth encouragement perception. It also explored these factors of having an effect on the Plan to have another Child. The study method involved a survey answered by married males in Seoul, Gyung-gi, Incheon and a total of 188 copies were used for the final analysis. The data analyses used SPSS 12.0 which employs basic statistics, reliability tests, and binary logistic regression. The results were as follows: First, It turns out that couples who don't have many children and when the wife is not that old, particularly have high parental role satisfaction. And when they acknowledge the policy on childbirth encouragement, they tend to choose the 'Both Husband and Wife want to give birth' category. Second, the 'Only wife wants to give birth' category was chosen for those who have a small number of children and when a wife was currently not working and the husband was not satisfied with his parental role. Third, the 'Only husband wants to give birth' category tends to be chosen when couples have a small number of children and especially if the wife is working. Last, it was shown that coupless who have many children choose the 'Both husband and wife don't want to give birth' category.

• Journal of the Korean Regional Science Association
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.59-72
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• 2019

This study focused on low fertility and population decline which threaten national competitiveness. Therefore, a comprehensive analysis was attempted on the impact of housing characteristics and residential area characteristics of newlyweds on their birth plan. To this end, the hierarchical linear model(HLM) was implemented using '2016 Korea Newlyweds' Housing Survey' data. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, the birth plan of newlyweds is affected not only by housing characteristics, but also residential area characteristics such as the average housing price, average private education expenses and the number of local child centers. Second, the use of housing loans and the housing tenure have an interaction effect with the average housing price and the number of local child centers among the residential area characteristics. In other words, the use of housing loans has a negative effect on the birth plan if the housing price is high in the area, and being renter household has a positive effect on the birth plan if the number of local child centers is high in the area. These findings suggest that governmental effort to raise the birthrate of newlyweds should take into account their housing characteristics as wells as residential area characteristics.

• Journal of the Korea Convergence Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.123-130
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• 2019

The Study aims at carrying out basic research on the future housing culture plan by the aging and low fertility phenomenon which is the most serious problem that Korean society faces today. In the future, the housing culture will be transformed into a 'convergence housing complex's residential culture' that can be coexisted with households with various members, rather than a housing type represented by apartments today, due to the phenomenon of nuclear family and the increase of one resident. In this regard, this study is a basic study on the housing complex culture of Korea. It is not that the hosing complex culture has been imported from the western society today, but the Korean traditional housing complex's culture proposed by Korean first developer Segwon Jeong has already existed in Korea urban and architectural perspective. In the early 20th century, Segwon's improved Hanok planned to complement the disadvantages of the existing hanok and the modernization of hanok such as the standardization of hanok, moreover the most important point is the beginning of the Korean style housing complex by modernization of the inner space of hanok. It is expected that this study for Segwon's housing complex of improved hanok will provide important basic data for the Korean-style convergence residential culture plan needed for our society in the future.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.274-284
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• 2022

The purpose of this study was to analyze the trend of the number of births in Gwangju and the number of outpatients in Pediatric Dentistry at Chonnam National University Dental Hospital over the past 10 years (2010 - 2019) and predict the next year using time series analysis. The number of births showed an unstable downward trend with monthly variations, with the highest in January and the lowest in December. The average number of births in 2020 was predicted to be 682 (595 to 782, 95% CI), and the actual number of births was an average of 610. The number of outpatients was relatively stable, showing a month-to-month variation, with highest in August and the lowest in June. The average number of patients in 2020 was predicted to be 603 (505 to 701, 95% CI), and the average number of actual visits was 587. Despite the decrease in the number of births, the number of outpatients was expected to increase somewhat. Due to the special situation of COVID-19, the actual number of births and patients was to be slightly lower than the predicted values, but it was that they were within the predicted confidence interval. Time series analysis can be used as a basic tool to prepare for the low fertility era in the field of pediatric dentistry.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.7
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• pp.4121-4126
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• 2013

Objective: Low dose radiation may stimulate the growth and development of animals, increase life span, enhance fertility, and downgrade the incidence of tumor occurrence.The aim of this study was to investigate the antitumor effect and hormesis in an erythrocyte system induced by low-dose radiation. Methods: Kunming strain male mice were subcutaneously implanted with S180 sarcoma cells in the right inguen as an experimental in situ animal model. Six hours before implantation, the mice were given 75mGy whole body X-ray radiation. Tumor growth was observed 5 days later, and the tumor volume was calculated every other day. Fifteen days later, all mice were killed to measure the tumor weight, and to observe necrotic areas and tumor-infiltration-lymphoreticular cells (TILs). At the same time, erythrocyte immune function and the level of 2,3-diphosphoglyceric acid (2,3-DPG) were determined. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of EPO and VEGFR of tumor tissues. Results: The mice pre-exposed to low dose radiation had a lower tumor formation rate than those without low dose radiation (P < 0.05). The tumor growth slowed down significantly in mice pre-exposed to low dose radiation; the average tumor weight in mice pre-exposed to low dose radiation was lighter too (P < 0.05). The tumor necrosis areas were larger and TILs were more in the radiation group than those of the group without radiation. The erythrocyte immune function, the level of 2,3-DPG in the low dose radiation group were higher than those of the group without radiation (P < 0.05). After irradiation the expression of EPO of tumor tissues in LDR group decreased with time. LDR-24h, LDR-48h and LDR-72h groups were all statistically significantly different from sham-irradiation group. The expression of VEGFR also decreased, and LDR-24h group was the lowest (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Low dose radiation could markedly increase the anti-tumor ability of the organism and improve the erythrocyte immune function and the ability of carrying $O_2$. Low-dose total body irradiation, within a certain period of time, can decrease the expression of hypoxia factor EPO and VEGFR, which may improve the situation of tumor hypoxia and radiosensitivity of tumor itself.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.181-188
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• 2022

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the metabolic energy levels of Korean native chicken breeder diets on laying performance, egg quality, fertility and hatchability. On the basis of dietary metabolic energy values (2,800, 2,700, and 2,650 kcal/kg), 168 twenty-week-old 'Woorimatdag' breeders (maternal line) were divided into three treatment groups (four replications per treatment with each replicate containing 14 birds) and reared until 32 weeks of age. We found that the body weight of hens increased with age, although there were no significant differences among treatments with respect to body weight or egg weight. Egg production ratio at 20-24 and 24-28 weeks of age tended to be low in birds fed the 2,700 and 2,650 kcal/kg diets, although the differences among treatments were none significant. Feed intakes was significantly decreased as the metabolic energy level reduced (P<0.05). There were no significant differences among treatments with respect to feed conversion ratio or the strength and thickness of eggshell. Similarly, we detected no significant differences among the three metabolic energy levels with regards to fertility, hatchability, or chick weight. In conclusion, our findings indicate that during the initial phase of laying, the metabolic energy level of 'Woorimatdag' breeder diets could be lowered to 2,700 kcal/kg without significantly influencing the laying performance of breeders or egg quality, fertility and hatchability, and chick weight.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.333-339
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• 2009

Various cultural practices have been promoted as management options for enhancing soil quality and health. The use of soil management methods can cause changes in fertility by affecting soil chemical properties. This study aimed to evaluate interactions between soil chemical properties and soil management methods in protected cultivation, and to classify soil management methods that similarly affect soil chemical properties. Water-logging and irrigation reduced soil pH and available $P_2O_5$ content. Application of animal manures has a positive effect on levels of organic matter, Av.$P_2O_5$, K, Zn, and Cu. The electrical conductivites tened to be low in the application of organic amendments, including rice and wood residues. Deeper plowing caused a reduction in Ca content. Practicing soil nutrient-considering fertilization and fertigation did not exert an influence on nutrient element contents. In a cluster analysis of the soil management methods according to major nutrients, low similarities were found with deeper plowing and crop rotation with rice in comparison with other practices. In a cluster analysis by minor nutrient characteristics, crop rotation and application of animal manures and rice residues were linked at a high Ward's distance, while other practices were found to be relatively low distinct. Each soil management method has a similar or different effect on soil chemical properties. These results suggest the necessity of establishing limits and standards according to the effects of soil management methods on soil chemical properties for economic soil practices.