• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.47-53
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• 2020

Background: This study was conducted to analyze clinical factors that can affect pregnancy rates in normal responders undergoing the freeze-all policy in in vitro fertilization. Methods: We evaluated 153 embryo transfer cycles in 89 infertile women with normal response to controlled ovarian stimulation (COS). After COS, all embryos were cultured to the blastocyst stage, and good quality blastocysts were vitrified for elective frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET). Clinical variables associated with COS and the results of COS and culture, including the number of retrieved oocytes, fertilized oocytes, and frozen blastocysts were compared between the pregnant group and the non-pregnant group. Results: After a single cycle of COS for each patient, 52 patients became pregnant while 37 did not. Significant differences were observed in the number of matured oocytes, fertilized oocytes, frozen blastocysts, and transferred embryos. The number of frozen blastocysts in the pregnant group was almost twice that in the non-pregnant group (5.6±3.1 vs. 2.8±1.9, p<0.001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for the 4 frozen blastocysts was 0.801 in the pregnant group. Conclusion: In the freeze-all policy, the number of matured oocytes, number of fertilized oocytes, and number of frozen blastocysts might be predictive factors for pregnancy.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.245-249
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• 1998

White blood cells (WBCs) are present in most human ejaculates, but abnormally high concentration of seminal leukocytes may reflect an underlying pathological condition. The World Health Organization (WHO) has defined leukocytospermia as status of more than $10^6$ WBC/mL of semen. The purpose of this study was firstly, to compare the outcomes between conventional IVF and ICSI in leukocytospermia, and secondly, to investigate whether ICSI may be an alternative treatment for patients with leukocytospermia. Total 121 cycles of conventional IVF and ICSI candidates underwent IVF cycles at PL Infertility Clinic. Semen Parameters including concentration, motility, morphology of spermatozoa and concentration of leukocytes were assessed from the raw ejaculates. There was no difference in sperm concentration, motility and morphology. The rates of fertilization and good embryo development from ICSI were significantly higher than those from conventional IVF in leukocytospermia (63.9% & 48.6%, respectively for ICSI group and 33.4% & 24.1%, respectively for IVF group, p<0.001). The pregnancy rate after ICSI was also higher than that from conventional IVF (34.3% vs 21.6%, p<0.05). These results indicate that the presence of seminal leukocytes ($>1\times10^6$ WBC/mL of semen) is adversely related with fertilization, embryo development and pregnancy rate. Therefore the measurement of seminal leukocytes in routine semen analysis appears to be of prognostic value with regard to male fertilizing potential. In conclusion, it is suggested that ICSI is an alternative choice of treatment for patients with leukocytospermia.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.136-142
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• 2015

Objective: Smoking has been reported to harm nearly every organ of the body, but conflicting results have been reported regarding the effects of smoking on assisted conception. In this prospective cohort study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of positive urinary cotinine tests in infertile couples and whether cotinine positivity was associated with infertility treatment outcomes. Methods: A qualitative urinary cotinine test was administered to 127 couples who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF, n=92) or intrauterine insemination (IUI, n=35). Results: The overall prevalence of positive urinary cotinine test was 43.3% (55/127) in the male partners and 10.2% (13/127) in the female partners with similar prevalence rates in both genders in the IUI and IVF groups. Semen characteristics, serum markers of ovarian reserve, and number of retrieved oocytes were comparable among cotinine-positive and cotinine-negative men or women (with the exception of sperm count, which was higher among cotinine-positive men). The results of urinary cotinine tests in infertile couples were not associated with IVF and IUI outcomes. Conclusion: The presence of cotinine in the system, as indicated by a positive urinary cotinine test, was not associated with poorer outcomes of infertility treatment.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.209-209
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• 2017

The application of liquid swine manure to soil has been commonly reported to increase crop productivity by improving plant nutrient availability. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of liquid swine manure (LSM) application on yield of green manure crops in paddy. Three different application rates of LSM equivalent to 25%, 50%, and 75% of standard fertilization rate of P were applied to the paddy field after rice harvest, and two cover crops, hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), were subsequently mix-seeded and cultivated. Plant height of barley was 7% higher in LSM P25% and LSM P50% compared to control treatment (no LSM application), while no significant difference was observed between LSM P75% and control. However, there were no significant differences in plant height of hairy vetch among treatments. Dry matter (DM) yield of green manure increased with LSM application rate, reaching a maximum at LSM P50% (38 and 17% yield increase over control for hairy vetch and barley, respectively), but it decreased at LSM P75% rate. Nitrogen production by green manure crops was the highest in LSM P50% treatment, where the amount of produced N was 57% higher than the optimum N fertilization level for rice ($90kg\;N\;ha^{-1}$). Excess green manure biomass above an optimum level can be removed and utilized either for incorporation into nearby cropland or for sale as fresh forage. Therefore, it is concluded that the application rate of LSM P50% is recommendable for the maximum biomass and nitrogen production from green manure crops in paddy.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Embryo Transfer Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.84-84
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• 2002

The advantages of the OPS techniques(Vajta G et al, Mol Reprod Dev 51: 53-58,1998) give 1) high survival rates of various types of eggs, 2) quick and simple process, 3) inexpensive equipment and reduced chilling injury. The efficiency of IVM/IVF technique in the porcine species is relatively lower than that obtained in other species such as ruminants. Two experiments were designed to investigate the effects of in-vitro fertilization of porcine oocytes matures using different OPS protocol for chilling and warming of vitrification. Porcine oocytes from ovaries collected at abattoir were matured for 44 hours in TCM199 Earle's salt supplemental with pyruvate, pff, L-cysteine, hormones and gentamycin. Oocytes were denuded and fertilized with frozen boar semen by common method. Porcine embryos produced routinely by in-vitro culture system of NCSU23 medium. The vitrification and the warming were conducted by OPS method with the glass micropipette instead of straw vessels and modified the protocol of G.Vajta(1999). In Exp 1, Chilling/Warming:Holding Medium(HM)+EG+DMSO/HM +sucrose Medium(SM) at 39$^{\circ}C$ warm stage. In Exp 2, : PBS+CS+EG+Ficoll+ Trehalose/PBS+Trehalose at 25$^{\circ}C$ stage. Filling, freezing, packing, thawing out and further culturing were performed to follow the basic protocol of G Vajta. During IVM-lVC and post-warming, fertilization parameter and developmental potential were compared to and statistically analysed. It was not significantly different from Exp 1 and Exp 2 but 25$^{\circ}C$ of stage was slightly higher on the morula/blastocyst forming rate and better atmosphere for worker than that at 39$^{\circ}C$ stage.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.37-43
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• 2020

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different nitrogen levels on the yield and nutrient quality of a newly developed domestic hybrid of Teosinte, Geukdong 6〔Zea mays L. subsp. mexicana (Schrad.) H. H. Iltis〕. The field experiment was conducted in a randomized block design with three replicates and consisted of four nitrogen (N) application rates, T1 (200 kg/ha), T2 (300 kg/ha), T3 (400 kg/ha), and T4 (500 kg/ha). No differences were found in plant length, leaf length, leaf width, leaf number, dead leaves, stem hardness, tiller number, and fresh yield (p>0.05). The T3 showed significantly greater dry matter yield at harvest (heading stage) compared to the other treatments (p<0.05). The crude protein content of T4 (10.49%) was higher than those of T1 and T2 (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between T4 (10.49%) and T3 (9.63%). The effects on crude fat, crude ash, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and crude fiber were not significant (p>0.05). The sugar content was higher in the T2 treatment than the other treatments (p<0.05). For Ca, T3 showed significantly greater content (p<0.05). However, no significant effects were found in the contents of Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, and Zn (p>0.05). Na content was higher in order of T2 > T4 > T3 > T1 (p<0.05). Total mineral contents were not significantly different among the treatments (p>0.05). Given these results, we recommend the amount of nitrogen fertilization necessary for "Geukdong 6" to be around 400 kg per ha (T3), when considering, high fresh yield, dry matter yield, number of leaves and content of crude protein.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.25-30
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• 2018

Objective: This study conducted a preliminary examination of the effects of three-area laser-assisted zona thinning (LAZT) during the cleavage stage of embryo development on the hatching process in human in vitro fertilization-embryo transfer (IVF-ET) with subjects of advanced female age or frozen-thawed (FT) embryos. Methods: Eight-cell stage embryos were treated with LAZT in three areas of the zona pellucida at $120^{\circ}$ intervals. The control group was embryos without LAZT. Of the 72 consecutive fresh cycles and the 28 FT embryo transfer cycles, the patients in 55 fresh cycles and 17 FT cycles declined LAZT, and those cycles were defined as the control group. Results: In the fresh cycles, the pregnancy rates were similar in the LAZT and control groups. However, in the FT cycles, the pregnancy rate was significantly higher in the LAZT group than in the control group (45.5% in the LAZT group vs. 23.5% in the control group, p< 0.05). Conclusion: These results show that multi-area LAZT resulted in significantly improved pregnancy outcomes in human 8-cell embryos compared to controls.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.219-224
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• 1999

The effect of several potential antioxidants were examined as a means of increasing the in vitro development of in vitro matured and in vitro fertilized oocytes into morulae and blastocysts. Korean native cattle embryos after in vitro fertilization were cultrued for 7 days at 38.5$^{\circ}C$ in CR1aa containing varing concentration of the antioxidants in a gas phases consisting of 5% CO2, 95% humidified air. The results obtained were summarized as follows; The proportion of embryos developed to morulae and blastocysts in CR1aa containing 2.5uM $\alpha$-tocopherol(11.0% and 6.0%) was significantly higher than those of 0, 5.0, and 7.5uM $\alpha$-tocopherol (P<0.05). concentration of 50uM L-ascorbic acid (7.5% blastocysts) did affect the proportion of embryos developing into blastocystes(P>0.05). Addition of 200uM cysteamine was significantly higher than those of 0, 100 and 300uM (P<0.05). When the fertilized oocytes were cultured at 0. 200, 400 and 600uM of selenium for 168 hrs, the morulae rates were 12.2, 5.2, 16.0 and 16.1% respectively, and addition of 200uM selenium was significantly higher than those of 0, 400, 600uM (P<0.05). These results suggested that the addition of $\alpha$-tocopherol, L-ascorbic acid, cysteamine and selenicum can enhanced development to the morulae and blastocysts of in vitro derived fertilized oocytes.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.36-40
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• 2019

A viable spermatozoon is a prerequisite for fertilization in intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). Thus, it is crucial to select viable but immotile spermatozoa on the day of ICSI. We report conflicting results in the identification of viable but immotile spermatozoa between the eosin-nigrosin staining and the laser test, which resulted in confusion for embryologists during assisted reproductive technology (ART). Three patients' semen samples that showed no motile spermatozoa are described in this report. To identify viable spermatozoa, we used both the eosin-nigrosin test and the laser test for each sample, and repeated the semen analysis twice in each patient. Viable but immotile spermatozoa selected by the laser test were used for ICSI. Viable spermatozoa were detected by both the eosin-nigrosin and laser tests in two patients (case 1, 95.00% vs. 24.21% and 92.68% vs. 22.22%; case 2, 41.18% vs. 23.48% and 39.81% vs. 22.52%), indicating consistent results between the two methods. In the third patient, the eosin-nigrosin test yielded viability rates of 20.75% and 19.14%, while the result of the laser test was 0%. Thus, testicular aspiration was performed to collect viable sperm from this patient. Normal fertilization was achieved after the injection of viable but immotile spermatozoa selected from these patients by the laser test, resulting in the birth of two healthy babies. Our study documents a case where the eosin-nigrosin test showed a limitation in identifying viable but immotile spermatozoa for ART, while the laser test may overcome this limitation. Larger samples may be required to corroborate the clinical value of the laser test.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.377-385
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• 2020

Recently, wheat consumption has been increasing in Korea, requiring increased production. Nitrogen fertilization is a critical determinant in crop yield; therefore, it is necessary to optimize the nitrogen fertilization regime with current trends that emphasize the minimum impact of nitrogen fertilizer on the environment. In this study, both nondestructive spectral analysis using a hyperspectral camera and growth analysis were performed to determine the optimal N top-dressing rates after heading. The nitrogen application regimes consisted of three conditions according to the secondary top-dressing rate: N_4:3:0 (0 kg 10 a^-1), N_4:3:3 (2.73 kg 10 a^-1), and N_4:3:6 (5.46 kg 10 a^-1). Subsequently, growth and physiological investigations were performed at the jointing, heading, and ripening stages of wheat, and spectral investigations were conducted. On April 29, as the nitrogen fertilization rate was increased to N_4:3:3 and N_4:3:6, plant height and grain yield increased by 4% and 8%, and 8% and 52%, respectively, compared to those under N_4:3:0. Leaf area index and SPAD value also increased by 13% and 24%, and 32% and 43%, respectively. The R (red), G (green), and B (blue) of leaf color were lowered by 15, 11, and 4 in N_4:3:3 and 44, 34, and 18 in N_4:3:6, respectively, as compared to the control. Grain yield was the highest at high top-dressing (N_4:3:6), however, there was no difference between no top-dressing (N_4:3:0) and intermediat top-dressing (N_4:3:3). The reflectance analyzed using a hyperspectral camera showed a difference in the near-infrared (NIR) region on March 19, and on April 29, there was a difference both in the visible light region greater than 550 nm and the NIR region. Vegetation indices differed according to fertilization regime, except for the greenness index (GI). The results of this study showed that not only growth and physiological analysis but also spectral indices can be used to optimize the nitrogen top-dressing rate.