• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.2179-2184
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• 2012

Introduction and aim: To compare reproductive factor influence on patients with pathological diagnosed malignant and benign tumor in the Breast Department, The First Peoples' Hospital of Kunming in Yunnan province, China. Methods: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted on 263 breast cancer (BC) cases and 457 non-breast cancer controls from 2009 to 2011. The cases and controls information on demographics, medical history, and reproductive characteristics variables were collected using a self-administered questionnaire and routine medical records. Histology of breast cancer tissue and benign breast lesion were documented by pathology reports. Since some variables in data analysis had zero count in at least one category, binomial-response GLM using the bias-reduction method was applied to estimate OR's and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). To adjust for age and menopause status, a compound variable comprising age and menopausal status was retained in the statistical models. Results: multivariate model analysis revealed significant independent positive associations of BC with short menstrual cycle, old age at first live birth, never breastfeeding, history of oral contraception experience, increased number of abortion, postmenopausal status, and nulliparity. Categorised by age and menopausal status, perimenopausal women had about 3-fold and postmenopausal women had more than 5-fold increased risk of BC compared to premenopausal women. Discussion and Conclusion: This study has confirmed the significant association of BC and estrogen related risk factors of breast cancer including longer menstrual cycle, older age of first live birth, never breastfeeding, nulliparity, and number of abortions more than one. The findings suggest that female hormonal factors, especially the trend of menopause status play a significant role in the development of BC in Yunnan women.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.310-317
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• 2006

This study was conducted to investigate the influence of drought stress during the pod developing and seed filling stage on source-sink relationships of soybean (Glycine max). Drought treatments were imposed by withholding water at the full-pod stage, 19 days after flowering, and then limited watering was relieved at 15 days after the initiation of drought treatment. Soybean seed yield was reduced by 39% mainly due to decreased pod number under drought stress, but the 100-seed weight was relatively less reduced. In spite of the 15-day drought during the full-pod stage, soybean produced good seeds showing similar l00-seed weight, protein, starch and soluble sugar content to those from the well-watered. Although drought during the full-pod stage caused source limitations; i.e. accelerated leaf senescence and reduced leaf soluble sugars, it did not cause limitations of other source characteristics such as SGR and leaf starch level. This is because the reduction in size of sinks, such as pod and seed abortions compensated for source limitations, resulting in balanced source-sink as expressed by LAR and the ratio of leaf area to seed dry weight. Drought stress during the pod developing and seed filling stage did not disrupt the source-sink balance

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.135-140
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• 1998

It was reported that the etiologies of recurrent spontaneous abortion are immunologic factors, endocrinologic problems, anatomical abnormalities, genetic abnormalities, infection, and unexplained factors. Among those etiologic factors, genetic abnormalities occur in about 5% of the couples who experience recurrent spontaneous abortions, and most common parental chromosomal abnormality contributing to recurrent abortion is balanced translocation. The advent of in vitro fertilization (IVF), the development of skills associated with the handling of human embryo, and an explosion of knowledge in molecular biology have opened the possibility of early diagnosis of genetic disease in preimplantation embryos. Therefore preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is indicated for couples, infertile or not, at risk of transmitting a genetic disease. A case of successful pregnancy and term delivery by PGD using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique in patient with recurrent spontaneous abortion due to balanced translocation is presented with brief review of literatures.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.126-134
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• 2011

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is gradually widely used in prevention of gene diseases and chromosomal abnormalities. Much improvement has been achieved in biopsy technique and molecular diagnosis. Blastocyst biopsy can increase diagnostic accuracy and reduce allele dropout. It is cost-effective and currently plays an important role. Whole genome amplification permits subsequent individual detection of multiple gene loci and screening all 23 pairs of chromosomes. For PGD of chromosomal translocation, fluorescence $in-situ$ hybridization (FISH) is traditionally used, but with technical difficulty. Array comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) can detect translocation and 23 pairs of chromosomes that may replace FISH. Single nucleotide polymorphisms array with haplotyping can further distinguish between normal chromosomes and balanced translocation. PGD may shorten time to conceive and reduce miscarriage for patients with chromosomal translocation. PGD has a potential value for mitochondrial diseases. Preimplantation genetic haplotyping has been applied for unknown mutation sites of single gene disease. Preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) using limited FISH probes in the cleavage-stage embryo did not increase live birth rates for patients with advanced maternal age, unexplained recurrent abortions, and repeated implantation failure. Polar body and blastocyst biopsy may circumvent the problem of mosaicism. PGS using blastocyst biopsy and array CGH is encouraging and merit further studies. Cryopreservation of biopsied blastocysts instead of fresh transfer permits sufficient time for transportation and genetic analysis. Cryopreservation of embryos may avoid ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome and possible suboptimal endometrium.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.81-90
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• 1973

Since there is nothing in the literature regarding how Koreans value their children, this is an exploratory study attempting to (1) generate ideas as to why women of child- bearing age want children and (2) discover aspects of the interaction between the value of children and the fertility behavior according to socio-economic class and level of education. Fifty women from the Yonhee A Citizen′s Apartment and 50 women from the slum area surrounding the Yonhee Apartment were interviewed by the investigator during the period of October 10 to October 25, 1972. All of the women interviewed were under 35 years of age and had more than one child. The questionnaire consisted of questions regarding the general characteristics of the respondents, the status of current family planning practice, the number of induced abortions and the reasons for wanting children. An open ended question followed by a forced choice question was the method used to determine the reasons for wanting children. The results of the study were as follows: 1. Half of all the respondents were between 30 and 34 years of age. 2. Four percent of the respondents had no schooling, 51 percent had graduated from primary school, and 45 percent were educated beyond middle school. 3. The most important reasons tot wanting children given by the respondents were categorized as follows: (1) carrying on the family name, (2) old age security, (3) value of life, (4) fun of rearing children, (5) avoidance of loneliness, (6) responsibility of women. 4. The number of consistent answers between the open ended and forced choice questions regarding reasons for wanting children was significantly different. Only 30 women among the total respondents gave consistent answers. Carrying on the family name was the category in which there was the highest rate of consistency. 5. The reasons for wanting children were not significantly different for age, educational level, and number of living children for all of the respondents. 6. In response to the question "If you want to have only one child, which sex , would you prefer\ulcorner" 96 percent of the respondents said they would select a son. 7. Major suggestions for further study were to differentiate. (1) between reasons women want children and reasons women have children and (2) between reasons men want children and reasons women want children.

• Journal of Genetic Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.78-81
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• 2010

Pericentric inversion is not rare in humans and is usually benign. However, pericentric inversion can lead to production of an unbalanced recombinant and might be a cause of repetitive pregnancy loss. Pericentric inversion of chromosome 22 is rare and only a few cases have been reported. We report a case of inv(22)(p13q12) carrier who had history of repetitive pregnancy loss including three spontaneous abortions and one fetal hydrops in which the chromosomal complement was rec(22)dup(22q) inv(22)(p13q12)mat. The maternal inv(22) and fetal rec(22) were confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization using region-specific probes (TUPLE1 on 22q11.2 and ARSA on 22q13). Because the identification of inv(22) or rec(22) in conventional karyotyping might be easily overlooked, great attention and additional molecular tests are required for accurate diagnosis of inv(22) and rec(22).

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.268-275
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• 2023

Background: With the establishment of international guidelines and changes in insurance policies in Korea, the role of targeted ultrasonography has increased. This study aimed to identify the rates and clinical course of anomalies detected using prenatal targeted ultrasonography. Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of all pregnancies with targeted ultrasonography performed in a single secondary medical center over 5 years. Results: Fetal anomalies were detected by targeted ultrasonography in 137 of the 8,147 cases (1.7%). The rates of anomalies were significantly higher in female fetuses (2.0% vs. 1.3%). In cases of female fetuses, the rate of anomalies was significantly higher in the advanced maternal age group (2.4% vs. 1.2%). In cases of male fetuses, the rate of anomalies was significantly higher in nulliparous (2.4% vs. 1.5%) and twin (5.7% vs. 1.9%) pregnancies. Pulmonary anomalies were significantly more common in the multiparity group (17.6% vs. 5.8%). Among the 137 cases, 17.5% terminated the pregnancy, 16.8% were diagnosed as normal after birth, and 42.3% were diagnosed with anomalies after birth or required follow-up. Conclusion: Through the first study on the rates and clinical course of anomalies detected by targeted ultrasonography at a single secondary center in Korea, we found that artificial abortions were performed at a high rate, even for relatively mild anomalies or anomalies with good prognosis. We suggest the necessity of a nationwide study to establish clinical guidelines based on actual incidences or prognoses.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.21 no.1 s.23
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• pp.21-30
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• 1988

To measure the fertility rate and pregnancy wastage of women in rural area, 3,780 married women under 50 years old who were not sterilized either woman or husband in Gunwee county were followed up for 2 years. Seventeen Myun health workers visited these women periodically to check the status of their family planning practice and menstruation. Pregnant women were interviwed for their past obstetric history and followed up to the time of delivery. Family planning was practiced in 51.6% of the 6,826 women-years observed during the period from April 1, 1985 to March 31, 1987. Pregnancy, abortion and delivery covered 7.6% of the observed women-years and family planning was not practiced in 36.5% of the women-years. When sterilized women at the beginning of the study were included, the family planning practice rate was 72.1% which was slightly higher than the national family planning practice rate. However, 28% of the women of 30-39 years old had not practiced family planning although they had 2-3 children and they used more such less effective methods as safe-period method and condom than the women of 20-29 years old. Overall pregnancy rate was 14.3 per 100 woman-years. Women of 25-29 years old had the highest pregnancy rate of 27.4 per ,100 woman-years. Pregnancy wastage including spontaneous and induced abortions and still births was 22.0% of all pregnancies and it increased with the age of women; 15.8% in women less than 30 years old and 43.7% in women of 30 years and over. Women who terminated the pregnancy with induced abortion had more pregnancies, more previous induced and spontaneous abortions and shorter pregnancy interval than those women who terminated with live birth. Pregnant women terminated with a live birth had received 4.2 prenatal cares on the average. Eighty-five percent of deliveries occurred at a medical facility and 15% at home which was substantially lower home delivery rate than the other rural area of Korea. This may be due to the effects of the demonstration project for the primary health care in 1970s in Gunwee county. These findings suggest that family planning service in rural area should be strengthened by promoting the use of more effective contraceptive method among women over 30 years of age.

• Korea journal of population studies
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.182-227
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• 1998

Korean government decided to adopt an explicit population control policy in 1961 and from the following year the establishment and operation of the national family planning programme was included in each of the Five-Year Economic Development Plans that began in 1962. This policy was pursued in the understanding that without proper population control measures korea could not be able to achieve economic development. Korean national family planning programme is characterized by contraceptive target system through public health network with distribution of free contraceptives by family planning field workers and clinical contraceptive services such as IUD, vasectomy and tubaligation at designated clinics by the government. In addition, IE&C activities by the Planned Parenthood Federation of Korea and programme evaluation and research by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs contributed to the development of the government programme. Between 1960 and mid 1980s the nation's total fertility rate was reduced from 6.0 to population replacement level of 2.1 and thereafter it has been maintained at 1.6 to 1.7 of below replacement level. With a short period of less than three decades fertility transition was completed in Korea. It is estimated that if the current level of below replacement fertility continues, the population in Korea stabilize at around 52.78 million people by the year 2028, and it will begin to decrease thereafter. Under this circumstances, the government adopted new directions and strategies of the population policy in June 1996, focused primarily on population quality and social welfare than on demographic arenas. In spite of over 80 percent of high contraceptive prevalence among married women, high incidence of induced abortions is maintained. Moreover, the prevalence of sex selective induced abortions using procedures to determine the sex of the fetus has resulted in an imbalance in the sex ratio at birth. In order to overcome those problems associated with reproductive health new policy for population quality control and health promotion programme should be highly strengthened in the future.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2002

The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical aspects on bovine abortion and stillbirth in Korea. Three hundred thirty eight bovine fetuses were collected from farms and submitted to the College of Veterinary Medicine, Seoul National University. Submitted fetuses were evaluated for season, parity and gestation stage on abortion during a 3 years period (June, 1999 to April, 2002). Out of four seasons, incidence of bovine abortion was significantly higher in summer than other seasons (P＜0.05) due to high temperature and humidity. After surveying of incidence of abortion according to parity, it was concentrated in low parity (1, 2 and 3 parity). However, this result was not caused by parity but because most of surveyed cow was low parity. For surveying the distribution of abortion incidence according to days of gestation, we divided the days of gestation into 3 stages including with early (0∼150 days), middle (151∼250 days) and late (251days∼term). Out of 319 aborted fetuses, incidences of abortion were significantly higher in the middle and late stage than early stage (P＜0.05). A high rate (75％) of stock farms did not vaccinate animals, therefore most of cows in Korea were found to have a high risk of becoming infected upon exposure to pathogens. Many of abortions occurred in stock farms where animals of other species were being bred. More studies will be needed to investigate possible linkages between bovine abortion and the breeding of other animal species.