• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.287-292
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• 1998

The objective of this study was to test whether ZP drilling using a 1.48$\mu$m diode laser beam on mouse IVF embryos becomes effective the hatching and normal in vivo development, as a preliminary test for obtaining the additional proof that the 1.48$\mu$m diode laser could be used safely for human applications. The results obtained in this experiment were as follows: when the hatched rates of mouse embryos by laser ZP drilling according to the embryonic stage were examined until 72 hr (in case of blast tocyst: day 4 after IVF) or 120 hr (in case of 4-cell: day 2 after IVF) after treatment, the d data of laser drilled blastocysts (81.8%) was significantly higher than those of control (hatching blastocyst: day 4 after IVF) (54.2%) and laser drilled 4-cell embryos (45.5%) (p<0.05). When the effect of laser drilling on implantation rates following embryo transfer in day 3 synchronized pseudopregnant recipients was examined, the l laser drilled group (48.7%) was slightly higher than that of control group (43.6%). In addition, when the several pregnant mice delivered in two groups were analysed their chromosomal normality and tested reproductive ability, all p pups were presented normal chromosomal number (n=40) and showed normal growth and reproductive ability. Therefore, these results dem-onstrated that ZP drilling using a 1.48$\mu$m diode l laser can increase the embryo hatching and ind duce the normal pregnancy of mouse embryos.

• Journal of the Korea Computer Graphics Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.1-16
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• 2016

In this paper, we propose and efficient curve reconstruction method based on the classical least-square fitting scheme. Specifically, given planar sample points equipped with normals, we reconstruct the objective curve as the zero set of a hierarchical implicit ZP(Zwart-Powell)-spline that can recover large holes of dataset without loosing the fine details. As regularizers, we adopted two: a Tikhonov regularizer to reduce the singularity of the linear system and a discrete Laplacian operator to smooth out the isocurves. Benchmark tests with quantitative measurements are done and our method shows much better quality than polynomial methods. Compared with the hierarchical bi-quadratic spline for datasets with holes, our method results in compatible quality but with less than 90% computational overhead.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.89-119
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• 2009

Objectives : This study was to investigate the association of Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index(PSQI), Insomnia Questionaire(IQ), Beck Depression Inventory(BDI) and Diagnos system of oriental medicine(DSOM) in the Insomnia Patients. Methods : For this study, we carried out PSQI, IQ, BDI and DSOM of 37 patients with insomnia who have come to Donguei oriental hospital of Donguei university from November 2008 to May 2009. And Using cross tabulation analysis, verified the association of PSQI, IQ, BDI and DSOM. Results : 1. The most Frequent Pathogenic Factor is blood-deficiency(血虛) in total patients. 2. The score of BDI has positive correlation with sc10 of deficiency of qi(氣虛), damp(濕), kdney(腎) in total patients. 3. The score of PSQI has positive correlation with zp of liver(肝) in total patients. 4. The score of PSQI has positive correlation with sc10 and zp of insufficiency of Yin(陰虛), and the score of BDI has positive correlation with sc10 of blood stasis(血瘀) and zp of liver(肝) in female patients. 5. The score of PSQI has positive correlation with sc10 of deficiency of qi(氣虛) and zp of heart(心), and the score of IQ has positive correlation with sc10 of liver(肝) in male patients. 6. The duration from onset in the group of 22-59years are longer than the group of 60-80 years and the duration of using hypnotics have positive correlation with total sleep time in 22-59years group. 7. The score of PSQI has positive correlation with zp of liver(肝) in 22-59years group. 8. The score of PSQI has positive correlation with the score of BDI in 60-80years group. 9. The score of BDI has positive correlation with sc10 of deficiency of qi(氣虛) and zp of blood-deficiency(血虛), and the score of IQ has positive correlation with zp of coldness(寒) in 60-80years group. 10. The score of IQ has positive correlation with sc10 and zp of dryness(燥) in below 6 Months Group. 11. The score of PSQI has positive correlation with the score of BDI in over 6 Months Group. 12. The score of PSQI has positive correlation with zp of liver(肝) in over 6 Months Group. 13. The score of IQ has positive correlation with sc10 of dryness(燥) in BDI 2nd Grade Group. 14. The score of BDI has positive correlation with sc10 of kidney(腎) and the age has positive correlation with zp of heart(心) in BDI 3rd Grade Group. 15. The age has positive correlation with sc10 of damp(濕) in BDI 4th Grade Group. Conclusions : This study provides insights into the complicated associations of the pattern of insomnia with depression and Diagnos system of oriental medicine. And especially this study showed apparent correlation between insomnia and depression in 60-80years group and over 6 months group.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.111-122
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• 2021

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate the flexural strength and translucency of three layers in 5Y-ZP and to assess the effect of additional firings on these properties. Materials and Methods: Sintered zirconia blocks were sectioned according to three layers : incisal, transition, and body. Disc-shaped specimens were fabricated from each layer. The diameter of specimens was 15.0 mm and each thickness of specimens for biaxial flexural strength test and translucency was 1.2 mm and 1.0 mm. The specimens were classified into subgroups according to the number of firing (0, 1, and 3 times; n = 10/subgroup) and the additional firings were performed under 900℃ using a furnace. Biaxial flexural strength and translucency was measured using universal testing machine and uv-vis spectrophotometer. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was used for measurement of the phase identification. One-way ANOVA, Tukey HSD test were performed (α = 0.05). Results: There was no significant difference in flexural strength between the three layers (P > 0.05), while there was significant difference in translucency between different layers (P < 0.05). The flexural strength of incisal and transition layer was decreased by the single additional firing, and the three additional firings significantly decreased the flexural strength of three layers. The translucency of layer was decreased by additional firings except the body layer. The XRD patterns of all groups were similar. Conclusion: Three layers of 5Y-ZP were different only in translucency. Additional firings affected the flexural strength and translucency differently depending on the layers but crystalline phases were not changed.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.129-134
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• 2018

Objective: In frozen and thawed embryos, the zona pellucida (ZP) can be damaged due to hardening. Laser-assisted hatching (LAH) of embryos can increase the pregnancy rate. This study compared thinning and drilling of the ZP before frozen embryo transfer (FET). Methods: Patients were randomly allocated into two groups for LAH using thinning or drilling on day 2 after thawing. Twenty-five percent of the ZP circumference and 50% of the ZP thickness was removed in the thinning group, and a hole $40{\mu}m$ in diameter was made in the drilling group. Results: A total of 171 in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection FET cycles, including 85 cycles with drilling LAH and 86 cycles with thinning LAH, were carried out. The thinning group had a similar ${\beta}$-human chorionic gonadotropin-positive rate (38.4% vs. 29.4%), implantation rate (16.5% vs. 14.4%), clinical pregnancy rate (36.0% vs. 25.9%), miscarriage rate (5.8% vs. 2.4%), ongoing pregnancy rate (30.2% vs. 23.5%), and multiple pregnancy rate (7.0% vs. 10.6%) to the drilling LAH group. There were no significant differences in pregnancy outcomes between subgroups defined based on age (older or younger than 35 years) or ZP thickness (greater or less than $17{\mu}m$) according to the LAH method. Conclusion: The present study demonstrated that partial ZP thinning or drilling resulted in similar outcomes in implantation and pregnancy rates using thawed embryos, irrespective of women's age or ZP thickness.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.962-968
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• 2009

The aim of this study was to compare the effects of oviductal fluid, porcine zygote medium (PZM)-3, PZM-4 and PZM-5, and modified PZM-5 culture media, and determine the effects of zona pellucida (ZP) removal on the development of nuclear transfer (NT) embryos. There were no significant differences in the rates of fusion and cleavage among the five different oviductal fluid concentrations. However, the rates of blastocyst formation and the cell numbers per blastocyst were high in the embryos at the 14 and 28 $\mu{g}$/ml concentrations of oviductal fluid compared to the 0, 56 and 100 $\mu{g}$/ml concentrations. The rates of cleavage and blastocyst formation, and the cell numbers per blastocyst were higher in the PZM-3, PZM-5 and modified PZM-5 media than in the PZM-4 medium. However, there were no significant differences in the fusion rates of oocytes among the four culture media. The cell numbers per blastocyst in the embryos without ZP were significantly greater than those with ZP. However, there were no significant differences in the rates of fusion, cleavage and blastocyst formation between the embryos with and without ZP. In conclusion, we improved blastocyst development and the quality of NT embryos by replacing PVA with 3 mg/ml of BSA in PZM-5 medium and supplementing the PZM-5 medium with 14 $\mu{g}$/ml oviductal fluid. The NT embryos produced by the zona-free NT method had a high rate of blastocyst formation in the modified PZM-5 medium.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.2361-2366
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• 2014

A new aliphatic acid amide, ZP-amide F (1), and eight known compounds, including bungeanumamide A (2), tumuramide C (3), ZP-amide A (4), ZP-amide B (5), ZP-amide D (6), hyperin (7), quercitrin (8), and (-)-sesamin (9), were isolated from pericarps of Zanthoxylum piperitum. The effects of these compounds on $TNF{\alpha}$-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activation and transactivational activity of PPARs, including $PPAR{\alpha}$, $PPAR{\beta}({\delta})$ and $PPAR{\gamma}$ subtypes, were evaluated. Compounds 7 and 9 exhibited potent inhibitory effects on $TNF{\alpha}$-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activation with $IC_{50}$ values of 5.50 and $8.10{\mu}M$, respectively. Aliphatic acid amide compounds 3, 4 and 6 displayed enhanced effects on PPAR transactivational activity with $EC_{50}$ values of 47.12, 19.13 and $12.02{\mu}M$, respectively. Among them, compound 4 demonstrated an increase in $PPAR{\alpha}$ transactivational activity, compound 3 showed a moderate increase on all PPAR subtypes, whereas compound 6 displayed weak PPAR transactivational activity.

• Journal of the Korean Mathematical Society
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• v.52 no.4
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• pp.727-749
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• 2015

We obtain the conditions on ${\beta}$ so that $1+{\beta}zp^{\prime}(z){\prec}1+4z/3+2z^2/3$ implies p(z) ${\prec}$ (2+z)/(2-z), $1+(1-{\alpha})z$, $(1+(1-2{\alpha})z)/(1-z)$, ($0{\leq}{\alpha}$<1), exp(z) or ${\sqrt{1+z}}$. Similar results are obtained by considering the expressions $1+{\beta}zp^{\prime}(z)/p(z)$, $1+{\beta}zp^{\prime}(z)/p^2(z)$ and $p(z)+{\beta}zp^{\prime}(z)/p(z)$. These results are applied to obtain sufficient conditions for normalized analytic function f to belong to various subclasses of starlike functions, or to satisfy the condition ${\mid}log(zf^{\prime}(z)/f(z)){\mid}$ < 1 or ${\mid}(zf^{\prime}(z)/f(z))^2-1{\mid}$ < 1 or zf'(z)/f(z) lying in the region bounded by the cardioid $(9x^2+9y^2-18x+5)^2-16(9x^2+9y^2-6x+1)=0$.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.23-29
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• 2000

Objective: Zona pellucida (ZP) has been thought to be the barrier of egg to sperm penetration before and after fertilization. The phenomenon of ZP hardening has been considered as a post-fertilization event until now, and it is generally accepted that it is caused by the secretory products of cortical granules released during the cortical reaction. Hardening of ZP could occur "spontaneously" in mammalian oocytes in standard culture conditions, and that it is probably not a consequence of cortical reaction. The purpose of our study was to investigate the effect of human amniotic fluid (HAF) on nuclear maturation (NM) and fertilization ability of mouse immature oocytes. Methods: HAF was obtained from patients undergoing amniocentesis at $16{\sim}20$ weeks of gestation. HAF from five to ten patients was centrifuged and the supernatants was pooled. Cumulusenclosed mouse immature oocytes were incubated in the medium containing HAF, and examined to confirm NM and fertilization. Female ICR mice (about 3 weeks old) were stimulated with 7.5 IU PMSG. Immature oocytes were isolated at $48{\sim}52$ hrs post PMSG injection and cultured in TCM-199 supplemented with 20% HAF for 18 hrs. FBS was used as a control for the examination. Matured oocytes (MII) were fertilized with sperms collected from the epididymis of male mice (over 10 weeks old). Fertilization was in conducted T6 medium containing 15 mg/ml BSA, and confirmed at 6 hrs post-insemination. Fertilization rate was assessed in zona-intact or zona-free oocytes (denuded by trypsin). Evaluation of NM and fertilization was carried out by rapid staining method. ZP hardening was evaluated by incubating cumulus cell-free mature oocytes in 0.001% chymotrypsin at $37^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. Results: There was no significant difference between the effects of HAF (86.6%) and FBS (87.7%) supplements on NM of immature oocytes. When maturation medium was supplemented with HAF, total fertilization rates (7%) were significantly lower (p<0.01) than that of FBS (85.1%). In HAF group, fertilization rate was increased (p<0.01) in zona-free oocytes (7% versus 100%). The resistance of mouse oocyte ZP to digestion by chymotrypsin after maturation in vitro was significantly higher (p<0.01) in HAF group (86.7%) than in FBS (6.7%). To culture oocytes in FBS were very effective in preventing ZP hardening. However cultured oocytes in HAF showed high rate of ZP hardening (p<0.01). Conclusions: These results suggest that HAF can be used as a supplement for the NM of mouse immature oocytes in vitro. However, HAF induces spontaneous hardening of ZP of mouse immaure oocytes during maturation in vitro.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-11
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• 1997

It is well known that the zona pellucidae of mouse oocytes become "hardened" when they are allowed to mature in vitro in the absence of serum components. To see if oocytes already undergone meiotic resumption in vivo exhibit similar zona hardening, hardening of ZP of cumulus-enclosed oocytes(CEOs) was examined after culture in vitro since their release from follicles various hours after hCG injection. When CEOs matured in vivo for 3h or longer were subjected to culture in vitro for 14h with BSA alone, zona hardening was significantly reduced compared to those cultured in vitro from the begining of maturation. However, when CEOs matured in vivo for 5h were freed from cumulus cells and then cultured in vitro with BSA alone, little reduction of zona hardening was observed. Preincubation of CEOs for 5h with fetuin, one of the well known inhibitor of in vitro zone hardening, did not prevent zona hardening during its subsequent culture of CEOs for 14h without fetuin. However, when CEOs precultured with both fetuin and PMSG for 5h and then further cultured with BSA alone for 14h, zona hardening was dramatically reduced. Under these conditions, the expansion of cumulus cell was observed. In addition, CEOs cultured with both BSA and dbcAMP to prevent their meiotic resumption showed a significant increase of zona hardening. Whether the observed zona hardening was correlated with the conversion of ZP2 to $ZP2_{f}$ was examined. Zona pellucida, isolated from CEOs matured for 5h in vivo and then further cultured with BSA alone was subjected to SDS-PAGE. Most of ZP2 molecules from these CEOs did not undergo conversion from ZP2 to $ZP2_{f}$. From these results, it is concluded that CEOs undergone meiotic resumption in vivo do not exhibit zona hardening when they were subsequently cultured in vitro without serum components. It appears that cumulus cells play an important role in this phenomenon.