• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.253-259
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• 1994

A clinical investigation was undertaken on primary male infertility patients of recent 5 years. The results obtained were as follow: 1. Suspective etiologic factors were: 1) testicular failure, 36.1 %; 2) varicocele, 18.7%; 3) endocrine abnormality, 13.5%; 4) obstruction, 13.5%; 5) idiopathic, 10.9%; 6) cryptorchidism, 2.6%; 7) necrospermia, 0.9%. 2. On semen analyses, azoospermia was found in 55.8%, single abnormal parameter in 21.5 %, and multiple/all abnormal parameter in 22.7% of the 163 cases. 3. For the evaluation of the sensitivity and specificity of noninvasive variables in predict in obstruction as the cause of azoospermia in patient who had undergone testicular biopsy, the testicular size and serum follicle-stimulating hormone(FSH) level revealed 100% of sensitivity. 4. Among the 43 patients with a testicular biopsy confirmed diagnosis there was a significant difference in testicular size, ejaculate volume(p<0.0001) and serum FSH(p<0.0001) between patients with testicular failure and those with ductal obstruction. 5. Of 93 treated patients with primary male infertility, 42 were managed by medical treatment including endocrine treament, retrograde ejaculation treatment, infection treatment and observation; 29 were managed by surgical treatment including varicocelectomy, vasovasostomy, vasoepididymostomy and TUR of ejaculatory duct; 20 were managed by sperm preparation treatment including artificial insemination(AI), electroejaculation plus AI and vibration ejaculation plus AI ; 2 were managed by microscopic epididymal sperm aspiration plus IVF, repectively. 6. 42 patients who could be followed-up, 21 patients(50%) impregnated their wives.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.156-162
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• 2021

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the predictive capability of fasting-state measurements of glucose and insulin levels alone for abnormal glucose tolerance in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: In total, 153 Korean women with PCOS were included in this study. The correlations between the 2-hour postload glucose (2-hr PG) level during the 75-g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and other parameters were evaluated using Pearson correlation coefficients and linear regression analysis. The predictive accuracy of fasting glucose and insulin levels and other fasting-state indices for assessing insulin sensitivity derived from glucose and insulin levels for abnormal glucose tolerance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: Significant correlations were observed between the 2-hr PG level and most fasting-state parameters in women with PCOS. However, the area under the ROC curve values for each fasting-state parameter for predicting abnormal glucose tolerance were all between 0.5 and 0.7 in the study participants, which falls into the "less accurate" category for prediction. Conclusion: Fasting-state measurements of glucose and insulin alone are not enough to predict abnormal glucose tolerance in women with PCOS. A standard OGTT is needed to screen for impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes mellitus in women with PCOS.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.162-167
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• 2009

Reproductive abilities in beef cattle herds are receiving increased attention due to recent rises in production costs. To achieve more efficient management, a measure of fertility, namely the number of calves produced at k yr of age ($NCP_k$), was developed and its genetic parameters were estimated from Japanese Black cows by restricted maximum likelihood procedures. The k examined were distributed from 2 to 10 yr of age and $NCP_2$ averaged 1.077 calves over 43,536 cows. The averages increased by approximately 0.9 calf with each additional 1 yr increment in k. Heritabilities of $NCP_k$ were estimated to be low ranging from 0.083 to 0.162, which seemingly suggested a difficulty of genetic improvement. However, large genetic variation and high accuracy were observed in predicted breeding values of $NCP_k$. For example, the breeding values of $NCP_7$ were predicted between -0.303 and +0.213 with average accuracy of 0.607 for cows with observations. Genetic correlations among different k were generally high and positive (0.474 to 0.995). The analyses showed that at least $NCP_4$ was required to maintain the genetic correlations of 0.8 or higher with subsequent $NCP_k$. Also $NCP_5$ maintained the genetic correlations of 0.9 or higher with subsequent $NCP_k$ The results suggested some possibilities for $NCP_k$ to be a selection criterion considering its genetic variation, high accuracy and consistency with subsequent performance.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.97-101
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• 2016

Objective: Growth hormone and its mediator, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), have been suggested to exert gonadotropic actions in both humans and animals. The present study was conducted to assess the relationship between serum IGF-1 concentration, seminal plasma concentration, and sperm parameter abnormalities. Methods: A total of 79 men were enrolled in this study from December 2011 to July 2012 and were prospectively analyzed. Patient parameters analyzed included age, body mass index, smoking status, urological history, and fertility history. Patients were divided into four groups based on their semen parameters: normal (A, n=31), abnormal sperm motility (B, n=12), abnormal sperm morphology (C, n=20), and two or more abnormal parameters (D, n=16). Patient seminal plasma and serum IGF-1 concentrations were determined. Results: Patient baseline characteristics were not significantly different between any of the groups. The serum IGF-1 levels in groups B, C, and D were significantly lower than the levels in group A; however, the seminal plasma IGF-1 levels were not significantly different between any of the groups. Conclusion: Men with abnormal sperm parameters had significantly lower levels of serum IGF-1 compared with men with normal sperm parameters. Seminal plasma IGF-1 levels, however, did not differ significantly between the groups investigated here. Further investigations will be required to determine the exact mechanisms by which growth hormone and IGF-1 affect sperm quality.

• Environmental Analysis Health and Toxicology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.305-310
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• 2003

A rapid, inexpensive enzymatic method is proposed for indirect water quality testing in terms of heavy metal toxicity. The activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was applied for heavy metal toxicity test as an effective criterion in water quality. The toxicity of Pb (lead) and Cd (cadmium) for water flea, Moina macrocopa, were evaluated for 2-8 days with variables of mobilization ability. And the reproduction impairment of Moina macrocopa were investigated as the parameter of chronic toxicity test for Pb and Cd. As a result, the EC$_{50}$ for immobilization of Moina macrocopa were Pb and Cd were 1.6749 and 0.4683, respectively. The values of reproductive impairment to Moina macrocopa for Pb and Cd were 9.5938 and 8.3264 in EC$_{50}$ A significant alteration of G6PDH (Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase) activity of Moina macrocopa was observed when Cd and Pb were treated in media. The results obtained indicate that G6PDH activity of Moina macrocopa can be used as an indicative parameter in aquatic toxicity tests for heavy metals.als.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.9-14
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• 2012

The purpose of this study was to estimate heritabilities and genetic correlations for reproductive and productive traits and to apply their estimates to selection strategies in a swine population. Reproductive and productive traits considered in this study were number of born alive piglet (NBA), number of weaned piglet (NW), loin eye area (LEA), days to 90 kg (D90KG), back fat thickness (BF), and lean meat content (LEAN). Data were collected from 9,886 litters on 2,447 sows for reproductive traits and 10,181 gilts and boars for productive traits from Jan. 2000 to Dec. 2008 in a swine GGP farm. The statistical model to estimate genetic parameters for considering traits was a multiple traits animal model with including animal and maternal additive effects and litter effects on reproductive traits and animal additive effects on productive traits as random as well as some of fixed effects. For estimating (co) variance components of several random effects, restricted maximum likelihood methodology was used on this assumed model. The estimated heritabilities by animal additive effects and maternal effects were 0.07 and 0.02 for NBA and 0.03 and 0.02 for NW, respectively. Genetic correlation estimate for direct genetic effects between NBA and NW was 0.14. Heritability estimates for direct genetic effects were 0.19, 0.39, 0.36, and 0.43 for LEA, D90KG, BF and LEAN, respectively. The genetic correlation of LEA with LEAN was 0.35. Productive traits were antagonistically correlated with reproductive traits. From these results it is concluded that, if selection is done for strong positive effects of reproductive traits, then this would decline productive performance.

• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.200-215
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• 2012

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the differences of pulse wave parameter between the non delivery group (single women with no childbirth experience) and the delivery group (married women who gave birth(s) in delivery). Methods : Sixty one healthy (non delivery) nulliparous women and fifty three delivery women participated in this study. We used 3 dimensional pulse analyser(3D MAC, DAEYOMEDI co., Korea), which measures radial pulse waveform non-invasively by way of tonometry method at 5 different applied pressure levels. From 114 subjects enrolled, pulse wave parameters were measured on the six locations of Chon, Kwan and Cheok of each hands. Results : Delivery group's pulse showed larger values in the following pulse wave parameters (Energy, Ap, RAI, As, Aw, h1, h2, h4, h4/h1, t, t1, t2, t4, Wm, Wm/t). Non delivery group's pulse indicated larger values in the pulse wave parameters such as Energy of left Chon, difference pulse energy between left and right hand, Ad, h5, h5/h1, t5. Conclusions : According to the analysis result, delivery group's pulse has bigger values in most part of pulse wave parameters, especially in Kwan and Cheok which correspond to Liver, Kidney, and Myeong-mun. We interpret these results that delivery women are more mature and stable in reproductive organs than non delivery group, as they have experienced delivery(deliveries) and child-caring through married life.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-16
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• 2010

An epidemic model with Classical Kermack-Mckendrick incidence rate under a limited resource for treatment is proposed to understand the effect of the capacity for treatment. We have assumed that treatment function is strictly increasing function of infective individuals and becomes constant when the number of infective is very large. Existence and stability of the disease free and endemic equilibrium are investigated, boundedness of the solutions are shown. Even in this simple version of the model, backward bifurcation and multiple epidemic steady states can be observed with some sets of parameter values. Hopf-bifurcation analyses are given and numerical examples are provided to help understanding.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.17
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• pp.313-317
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• 2001

The Ministry of Health and Welfare of Japan has set up six research groups concerning the endocrine disrupting chemicals. One of these projects was "A study on development of testing methodology for health effects due to exposure of environmental endocrine disruptors". In this paper, three topics are described. In OECD collaboration for pre-validation of uterotrophic assay, the most sensitive response to ethnyl estradiol was noted in the ovarectomized rats treated subcutaneously for 7 days. Secondly, it was suggested that changes of the serum $\alpha_{2u}$-globulin level may be a sensitive parameter for detecting the estrogenic activities of chemicals. Finally, development of the sexually dimorphic nucleus of preoptic area in the brain oj male rats was inhibited by the treatment with estrogenic chemicals, and their masculine behaviors and reproductive abilities were impaired after sexual maturation. In conclusion, these parameters are considered to be sensitive endpoints for testing estrogenic chemicals.chemicals.

• 대한생식의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.121.2-122
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• 2006