• 대한생식의학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.11a
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• pp.105-105
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• 2007

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.303-308
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• 2008

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of preoperative semen parameters on both seminal improvement and pregnancy rates following varicocelectomy. Methods: This survey was done in 278 patients who underwent microsurgical inguinal varicocelectomy from January 2001 until October 2006. By the total motile sperm counts (TMSC) before operation, the patients were stratified into three groups. Group A (mild oligoasthenospermia) was defined as above 20 million, group B (moderate oligoasthenospermia) was defined as between 5 and 20 million, and group C (severe oligoasthenospermia) was defined as below 5 million. Improvement rates of TMSC and pregnancy rates following varicocelectomy of each groups were compared. Results: The average TMSC of all the patients was 25.75 million before operation and after operation, it was 80.24 million, showing an average increase of 54.49 million (211.6%). To take a look at mean absolute increase (mean relative increase proportion), group A showed 67.90 million (131.2%), group B 62.20 million (482.5%) and group C 26.33 million (1841.2%). The patients with varicocele whose semen parameter is in bad condition show relatively a low mean absolute increase but high mean relative increase proportion. There was no significant difference in natural pregnancy rate among each groups (p=0.119, p=0.059). Conclusions: Even in the varicocele patient whose semen parameter was in bad condition before surgical operation. varicocelectomy could be chosen as the first treatment to male infertility.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.67-81
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• 1997

To determine the concentration and the physiologic role of metal components in blood plasma and seminal plasma in relation to male infertility, the concentrations of twelve metal components in blood plasma and seminal plasma including Na, Mg, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se, Cd and Pb were measured by atomic absorbance spectrophotometery or ion selective electrode analysis. Semen and blood samples were obtained from a total of 110 men including 70 male infertility patients, 20 vasectomized persons and 20 fertility proven volunteers visited to the Male Infertility Clinic of Pusan National University Hospital. The concentrations of Ca, Zn, Mg, Cr and Cd in control group were higher in seminal plasma than in blood plasma, and additionally Pb were higher in infertility group. The concentrations of all metal components revealed no significant difference according to patients' age, resident, occupation, sperm density, motility and hormone level in blood plasma, but some metal components including Ca, Mg, Cu, Mn, Cd and Pb revealed a significant difference according to each these parameters except patient's age in seminal plasma. The concentrations of Mn, Cd and Pb in the vasectomy persons were higher than in the infertility group III including testicular and epididymal factors, but not in blood plasma. We conclude that the quantitative changes of metal components in the seminal plasma may have effects on not only spermatogenesis and sperm function, but also contribute to diagnostic parameter according to organ specificity of the metal in the male reproduction.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 2004

Purpose: To determine the efficacy of $Carnitil^{(R)}$ (acetylcarnitine, Hanmi, Korea) therapy in idiopathic oligoasthenospermic men. Materials and Methods: Forty-four subfertile men with abnormal semen parameters were treated between March, 2003 and March, 2004 with 3 g of $Carnitil^{(R)}$ daily for 3 months. Changes in semen parameters were evaluated 3 months after this therapy. Results: The mean age was 34.2 years and the mean follow-up duration was 3.7 months. In asthenospemic patients (n=28), semen analysis before and after $Carnitil^{(R)}$ treatment showed an increase in volume ($2.64{\pm}1.65\;ml$ vs. $3.10{\pm}1.60\;ml$), motility ($35.1{\pm}17.7%$ vs. $45.9{\pm}20.4%$) and viability ($51.4{\pm}20.3%$ vs. $59.3{\pm}13.6%$) respectively. In oligoasthenospermic patients (n=16), semen analysis before and after $Carnitil^{(R)}$ treatment showed an increase in sperm count ($10.7{\pm}54.4\;million/ml$ vs. $38.4{\pm}32.5\;million/ml$) respectively. Conclusions: These results suggested that in idiopathic oligoasthenospermic men the empirical medical therapy with acetylcarnitine may be considered as primary treatment.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.57-66
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• 2023

Asset valuation of social infrastructure is essential for rational decision-making for efficient management of assets. In addition, it can be an indicator for correctly recognizing assets. In general, Korea applies depreciated replacement cost based on the straight-line method to evaluate asset value, yet this is unsuitable for evaluating actual value because it is depreciated at a constant rate over the useful life period. In order to evaluate the asset value considering the performance of the bridge, the performance index of the bridge is estimated using the Weibull distribution. Using the estimated performance indicators and defect index, a new asset value evaluation method is proposed and compared and analyzed with the existing method. The proposed valuation method can take into account the performance of the bridge, so it is judged to be more objective and reasonable than existing method.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 2009

Objective: Hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (HH) is an uncommon cause of male infertility. We investigated the outcome of gonadotropin therapy for restoring fertility and pregnancy outcomes in patients with HH. Methods: Medical charts of 10 infertile male patients with HH treated with gonadotropin were reviewed. Initial testicular volume were estimated. Semen analysis parameters (semen volume, sperm counts, motility), serum leutenizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), total testosterone were determined before and after human chorionic gonadotropin/human menopausal gonadotropin (hCG/hMG) treatment. Differences were analyzed statistically. Results: Of 10 patients, 7 (70%) succeed at pregnancy (nature pregnancy in 4). Semen analysis parameters, serum FSH, and testosterone were increased significantly after treatment. The population was stratified according to initial testicular volume into a small testis subset (testicular volume less than 10 cc in 4) and a large testis subset (testicular volume 10 cc or greater in 6). Semen analysis parameters and serum testosterone were increased significantly after treatment in large testis subset. Conclusion: Infertile men with HH initiate and maintain spermatogenesis with gonadotropin (hCG/hMG alone or combined) therapy, thus gonadotropin therapy is good choice in infertile men with HH.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.245-251
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• 2010

Objective: Human sperm nucleus DNA damage may negatively affect pregnancy outcome, and the spermatozoa of infertile men have more DNA damage than that of fertile men. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of microsurgical varicocelectomy on human sperm nucleus DNA integrity. Methods: We reviewed the medical records of 18 subfertile male patients who underwent microsurgical varicocelectomy at our hospital from April 2006 to April 2007. Varicocele was diagnosed by physical examination and Doppler ultrasound. Standard semen analysis was performed in 18 patients before and 4 months after microsurgical varicoceletcomy using a computer assisted semen analyzer. Sperm nucleus DNA integrity was assessed by a single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet assay). Results: No recurrence of varicocele was observed after 4 months later. The DNA fragmentation index improved after varicocelectomy compared with pre-operatively (19.3 versus 13.7%, respectively, p<0.05). Semen analysis parameters (total count, concentration, motile sperm, viability, strict morphology) increased after varicocelectomy, but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Conclusion: Our data suggest that microsurgical varicocelectomy can improve semen analysis parameters and human sperm nucleus DNA integrity in infertile men with varicocele.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.145-149
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• 2011

We studied any variations of skin mucus cells of Misgurnus mizolepis caused by inducing a great change of water temperature including high temperature- and low temperature-adapted groups and then compared them with a control group of normal water condition. The high temperature-adapted group showed no significant different in size and number of the mucus cell (P>0.01), whereas in the low temperature-adapted group, the surface area of mucus cell layer and shape of its mucus cell, and the number of mucus cell remarkably increased in all the skin regions of dorsum, lateral region and occiput (P<0.01). Returned to the same condition as the control group, the low temperature-adapted groups showed the same features that appear in the normal water condition (P<0.01). Based on these results, the skin mucus cells of M. mizolepis seems to be very sensitive to cold water temperature and therefore they may play a key role in assessment of its environmental conditions.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.281-288
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• 1995

For the two-dimensional observation on the growth and development of CLonorchis sinensis, an image analysis system (IBAS 2000, Kontron, Germany) was used in this study. On 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 21, 30 and 90 days of infection, 474 worms were collected from rats infected with 50 metacercariae each. The overall recovery rate was 31.6%. The worms grew rapidly in their length and width up to 30 days of infection and then, did slowly to 90 days of infection. However, the growth pattern of body area was not similar to that of body length and width, because the body area increased continuously even after 30 days of infection. With the image analysis system, the sizes of irregular-shaped genital organs were measured easily, which showed sigmoidal growth patterns . The growth rate of genital organs increased rapidly. until 21 days of infection when the uterus was filled with numerous eggs, and then gradually slowed down to 90 days. There was no difference in growth pattern between the anterior and posterior testis. The seminal receptacle , however, showed an abrupt increase in size between 15 to 21 days of infection when it was filled with condensed semen. Therefore, the growth pattern of seminal receptacle might be used as another criteria to estimate the extent of sexual maturation of C. sinensis. From this study, it is suggested that image analysis system is very useful to reveal the growth and development pattern of C. sinensis, especially of their internal organs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.337-340
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• 2012

The genetic connectedness between herds is an essential requirement to make robust across-herd estimation of the breeding values of the animals. In this study, genetic connectedness between herds was evaluated by a connectedness rating method. A total of 24,971 records of days to 90 kg (D90KG) of the pigs on performance testing programs collected from six herds (labeled from 'A' to 'F') of Duroc breed along with pedigree information comprising 456,697 families were used. Results showed that a total of eight boars were used for semen exchange programs among participant farms. Herds 'A' through 'E' were found strongly connected among them. But 'F' herd was genetically connected strongly only with 'A' herd. The highest average connectedness rating was 91.7% between 'A' herd and 'C' herd. The lowest average connectedness rating was 65.1% between 'D' and 'F'. The concept of a single genetic group comprising six Duroc herds studied is meaningful due to high connectedness rates among them. Therefore, with this high genetic ties between participant Duroc farms, the more accurate genetic evaluation would be possible.