• Title/Summary/Keyword: Procedure Quality

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The Patient Specific QA of IMRT and VMAT Through the AAPM Task Group Report 119 (AAPM TG-119 보고서를 통한 세기조절방사선치료(IMRT)와 부피적세기조절회전치료(VMAT)의 치료 전 환자별 정도관리)

  • Kang, Dong-Jin;Jung, Jae-Yong;Kim, Jong-Ha;Park, Seung;Lee, Keun-Sub;Sohn, Seung-Chang;Shin, Young-Joo;Kim, Yon-Lae
    • Journal of radiological science and technology
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    • v.35 no.3
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    • pp.255-263
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    • 2012
  • The aim of this study was to evaluate the patient specific quality assurance (QA) results of intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) through the AAPM Task Group Report 119. Using the treatment planning system, both IMRT and VMAT treatment plans were established. The absolute dose and relative dose for the target and OAR were measured by using an ion chamber and the bi-planar diode array, respectively. The plan evaluation was used by the Dose volume histogram (DVH) and the dose verification was implemented by compare the measured value with the calculated value. For the evaluation of plan, in case of prostate, both IMRT and VMAT were closed the goal of target and OARs. In case of H&N and Multi-target, IMRT was not reached the goal of target, but VMAT was reached the goal of target and OARs. In case of C-shape(easy), both were reached the goal of target and OARs. In case of C-shape(hard), both were reached the goal of target but not reached the goal of OARs. For the evaluation of absolute dose, in case of IMRT, the mean of relative error (%) between measured and calculated value was $1.24{\pm}2.06%$ and $1.4{\pm}2.9%$ for target and OAR, respectively. The confidence limits were 3.65% and 4.39% for target and OAR, respectively. In case of VMAT the mean of relative error was $2.06{\pm}0.64%$ and $2.21{\pm}0.74%$ for target and OAR, respectively. The confidence limits were 4.09% and 3.04% for target and OAR, respectively. For the evaluation of relative dose, in case of IMRT, the average percentage of passing gamma criteria (3mm/3%) were $98.3{\pm}1.5%$ and the confidence limits were 3.78%. In case of VMAT, the average percentage were $98.2{\pm}1.1%$ and the confidence limits were 3.95%. We performed IMRT and VMAT patient specific QA using TG-119 based procedure, all analyzed results were satisfied with acceptance criteria based on TG-119. So, the IMRT and VMAT of our institution was confirmed the accuracy.

Predicting the Nutritional Value of Seafood Proteins as Measured by Newer In Vitro Model -1. C-PER and DC-PER of Shellfish Proteins- (수산식품단백질 품질평가를 위한 새로운 모델 설정 -1. 패류의 C-PER 및 DC-PER-)

  • Ryu, Hong-Soo;Lee, Kang-Ho;Kim, Jang-Yang;Choi, Byeong-Dae
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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    • v.14 no.3
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    • pp.265-273
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    • 1985
  • To predict the nutritional quality of seafood proteins using a newer in virto model, 10 species of shellfish protein samples were used in determining the extent of in vitro digestibility, trypsin indigestible substrate (TIS), computed protein efficiency ratio (C-PER), discriminant computed protein efficiency ratio (DC-PER) and predicted digestibility which calculated solely from amino acid profile. The content of TIS in eviscerated samples were ranged from 1.10 to 5.09 mg/g solid, whereas the whole samples were ranged from 1.26 to 7.30 mg/g solid expressed quantitatively as mg of soybean trypsin inhibitor. The in vitro digestibility showed $82{\sim}86%$ for eviscerated samples in contrast with $78{\sim}84%$ for whole ones. Therefore, the results suggested that in vitro digestibility of shellfish was influenced by the present of viscera. The lysine content of Mya arenaria, Saxidomus purpuratus, Anadara subcrenata, and Anadara broughronii were lower than that of ANRC casein, but Corbicula fluminea, Cyclina sinensis, and eviscerated Mytilus edulis, were showed the value about 10.0 g/16g N. In all samples, the content of tryptophan and cystein were more higher than those of ANRC casein. The C-PER of whole samples showed the value below 2.0 while the values above 2.5 noted in the eviscerated samples. DC-PER of most samples were greater than those of C-PER and a greater discrepancies were revealed in whole shellfish which possesses the lower in vitro digestibility. The shellfish sample showed a high in vitro digestibility and a low TIS content such as eviscerated ones may need the DC-PER and predicted digestibility procedures rather than C-PER and four-enzyme in vitro digestibility procedure could offer more advantages in predicting the protein quality of whole shellfish samples which have poor in vitro digestibility and high TIS content.

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Studies on Processing and Keeping Quality of Retort Pouched Foods (5) Preparation and Keeping Quality of Retort Pouched Seasoned Ark Shell (레토르트파우치 식품의 가공 및 품질안정성에 관한 연구 (5) 레토르트파우치 조미피조개제품의 제조 및 품질안정성)

  • LEE Eung-Ho;OH Kwang-Soo;AHN Chang-Bum;LEE Tae-Hun;CHUNG Young-Hoon;SHIN Keun-Jin;KIM Woo-Jun
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.19 no.2
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    • pp.109-117
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    • 1986
  • For the purpose of obtaining basic data which can be applied to processing of retort pouched shellfishes, retort pouched seasoned ark shell, Anadara broughtonii, was prepared. The frozen ark shell was thawed and seasoned with a mixed seasoning powder prepared with $10.0\%$ of sorbitol, $2.0\%$ of table salt and $0.5\%$ of monosodium glutamate at $5^{\circ}C$ for 10 hours, and then dried at $45^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours. The dried seasoned ark shell was coated with $1.0\%$ sodium alginate solution, dried with cola air blast for 2 hours and then vacuum-packed in the laminated plastic film bag (polyester/casted polypropylene= $12{\mu}m/70{\mu}m,\;15{\times}16cm$), and finally sterilized up to Fo=6.0 in hot water circulating retort at $121^{\circ}C$ for 10 minutes. The major fatty acids of raw ark shell and retort pouched seasoned ark shell products were 16:0, 20:5, 22:6, 18:0 and 18:3, and predominant free amino acids of those were lysine, arginine, glycine, alanine, glutamic acid and leucine. In nucleotides and its related compounds of raw ark shell and retort pouched seasoned ark shell products, the most abundant one was AMP, and total extract-N of those was chiefly consisted of free amino acids, betaine and nucleotide and its related compounds. During the processing procedure such as drying and sterilization, unsaturated fatty acids slightly decreased while saturated fatty acids increased, and total extract-N content decreased about a half. From the results of chemical and microbial experiments during storage, it was concluded that the products could be preserved in a good condition for 100 days at room temperature, and their duality could be improved by the coating treatment of sodium alginate solution.

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Application of Patient Safety Indicators using Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury Survey (퇴원손상심층자료를 이용한 환자안전지표의 적용)

  • Kim, Yoo-Mi
    • Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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    • v.14 no.5
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    • pp.2293-2303
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    • 2013
  • Objective: This study aims to determine whether national patient safety indicators (PSIs) can be calculated. Methods: Using PSI criteria from Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Health Technical Papers 19 based on the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), PSIs were identified in the Korean National Hospital Discharge In-depth Injury Survey (KNHDIIS) database for 875,622 inpatient admissions between 2004 and 2008. Logistic regression was used to estimate factors of variations for PSIs. Results: From 2004 to 2008, 3,084 PSI events of 8 PSIs occurred for over 80 thousands discharges. Rates per 1,000 events for decubitus ulcer (PSI3, 4.88), foreign body left during procedure (PSI5, 0.05), postoperative sepsis (PSI13, 1.32), birth trauma-injury to neonate (PSI17, 7.92) and obstetric trauma-vaginal delivery (PSI18, 32.81) are all identified between ranges from maximum to minimum of OECD rates, respectively. However, rates per 1,000 events for selected infections due to medical care (PSI7, 0.22), postoperative pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis (PSI12, 0.90) and accidental puncture or laceration (PSI15, 0.71) are below the minimum of OECD range. 7 PSIs except PSI 18 showed statistically significant relationship with number of secondary diagnoses. When adjusting patient characteristics, there are statistically significant different rates according to bed size or location of hospitals. Conclusion: This is the first empirical study to identify nationally number of adverse events and PSIs using administrative database. While many factors influencing these results such as quality of data, clinical data and so on are remain, the results indicate opportunities for estimate national statistics for patient safety. Furthermore outcome research such as mortality related to adverse events is needed based on results of this study.

A Study of variables Related to Nursing Productivity (간호생산성에 관한 연구: 관련변수의 검증을 중심으로)

  • 박광옥
    • Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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    • v.24 no.4
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    • pp.584-596
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    • 1994
  • The objective of the study is to explore the relationships between the variables of nursing productivity on the framework of system del in the tertiary university based care hospital in Korea. Productivity is basically defined as the relation-ship between inputs and outputs. Under the proposition that the nursing unit is a system that produces nursing care output using personal and material resources through the nursing intervention and nursing care management. And this major conception of nursing productivity system comproises input, process and output and feed-back. These categorized variables are essential parts to produce desirable and meaningful out-put. While nursing personnel from head nurse to staff nurses cooperate with each other, the head nurse directs her subordinates to achieve the goal of nursing care unit. In this procedure, the head nurse uses the leadership of authority and benevolence. Meantime nursing productivity will be greatly influenced by environment and surrounding organizational structures, and by also the operational objectives, the policy and standards of procedures. For the study of nursing productivity one sample hospital with 15 general nursing care units was selected. Research data were collected for 3 weeks from May 31 to June 20 in 1993. Input variables were measured in terms of both the served and the server. And patient classification scores were measured drily by degree of nursing care needs that indicated patent case-mix. And also nurses' educational period for profession and clinical experience and the score of nurses' personality were measured as producer input variables by the questionnaires. The process varialbes act necessarily on leading input resources and result in desirable nursing outputs. Thus the head nurse's leadership perceived by her followers is defined as process variable. The output variables were defined as length of stay, average nursing care hours per patient a day the score of quality of nursing care, the score of patient satisfaction, the score of nurse's job satis-faction. The nursing unit was the basis of analysis, and various statistical analyses were used : Reliability analysis(Cronbach's alpha) for 5 measurement tools and Pearson-correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis, and canonical correlation analysis for the test of the relationship among the variables. The results were as follows : 1. Significant positive relationship between the score of patient classification and length of stay was found(r=.6095, p.008). 2. Regression coefficient between the score of patient classification and length of stay was significant (β=.6245, p=.0128), and variance explained was 39%. 3. Significant positive relationship between nurses’ educational period and length of stay was found(r=-.4546, p=.044). 5. Regression coefficient between nurses' educational period and the score of quality of nursing care was significant (β=.5600, p=.029), and variance explained was 31.4%. 6. Significant positive relationship between the score of head nurse's leadership of authoritic characteristics and the length of stay was found (r=.5869, p=.011). 7. Significant negative relationship between the score of head nurse's leadership of benevolent characteristics and average nursing care hours was found(r=-.4578, p=.043). 8. Regression coefficient between the score of head nurse's leadership of benevolent characteristics and average nursing care hours was significant(β=-.6912, p=.0043), variance explained was 47.8%. 9. Significant positive relationship between the score of the head nurse's leadership of benevolent characteristics and the score of nurses' job satis-faction was found(r=.4499, p=050). 10. A significant canonical correlation was found between the group of the independent variables consisted of the score of the nurses' personality, the score of the head nurse's leadership of authoritic characteristics and the group of the dependent variables consisted of the length of stay, average nursing care hours(Rc²=.4771, p=.041). Through these results, the assumed relationships between input variables, process variable, output variables were partly supported. In addition it is also considered necessary that-further study on the relationships between nurses' personality and nurses' educational period, between nurses' clinical experience including skill level and output variables in many research samples should be made.

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Improvement of Pregnancy Rate by Assisted Hatching of Human Embryos in In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer Program (체외수정시술시 배아의 보조부화술을 이용한 임신율 향상에 관한 연구)

  • Kim, Seok-Hyun;Kim, Kwang-Rye;Chae, Hee-Dong;Lee, Jae-Hoon;Kim, Hee-Sun;Ryu, Buom-Yong;Oh, Sun-Kyung;Suh, Chang-Suk;Choi, Young-Min;Kim, Jung-Gu;Moon, Shin-Yong;Lee, Jin-Yong
    • Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.119-133
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    • 1997
  • In spite of much progress in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) program, the pregnancy rate remains at 20-30%, and the endometrial implantation rate per embryo transferred at 10-15%. As a result, about 90% of embryos may fail to implant to the endometrium, and many attempts such as optimization of follicular development, improvement of in vitro culture system including coculture, and micromanipulation of zona pellucida have been made to improve embryonic implantation after IVF-ET. Recently, several procedures of assisted hatching (AH) using micromanipulation have been introduced, and pregnancies and births have been obtained after AH. To develop and establish AH as an effective procedure to improve embryonic implantation, AH with partial zona dissection (PZD) was performed in 116 cycles of 89 infertile couples who had previous repeated failures of standard IVF-ET more than two times (Group I: 71 cycles in 54 patients), or who had implantation failure of embryos with good quality (Group II: 15 cycles in 13), or who had undergone AH without specific indication (Group III: 30 cycles in 22) from January, 1995 to Februry, 1996, and the outcomes of AH were analyzed according to pregnancy rate. The number of oocytes retrieved after controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) was $9.9{\pm}7.1$ in Group I, $11.5{\pm}4.5$ in Group II, and $7.9{\pm}6.4$ in Group III. The number of embryos transferred after AH was $4.7{\pm}1.8$ in Group I, $5.3{\pm}1.3$ in Group II, and $3.5{\pm}2.4$ in Group III. The mean cumulative embryo score (CES) was $56.8{\pm}30.0$ in Group I, $76.1{\pm}35.9$ in Group II, and $38.5{\pm}29.9$ in Group III. The overall clinical pregnancy rate per cycle and per patient was 12.7% (9/71) and 16.7% (9/54) in Group I, 33.3% (5/15) and 38.5% (5/13) in Group II, and 6.7% (2/30) and 9.1% (2/22) in Group III, respectively. There were significant differences in the numbers of oocytes retrieved and embryos transferred, CES, and the clinical pregnancy rate per cycle among three groups. There was a significant inverse correlation between basal serum FSH level and CES, and no pregnancy occurred in patients with CES less than 20. In conclusion, AH of human embryos with PZD prior to ET has improved the implantation and pregnancy rates in IVF-ET patients with the past history of repeated failures, especially in spite of transfer of embryos with good quality, and AH will provide a range of novel techniques which may contribute much to effective management of infertile couples.

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Critical Pathway Development for the Hysterectomy Patients and its applied Effect (자궁적출술 환자를 위한 critical pathway 개발과 적용효과)

  • Noh, Gi-Ok;Park, Kyung-Sook
    • Women's Health Nursing
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    • v.6 no.2
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    • pp.234-257
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    • 2000
  • At present in the medical care, the study and effort for producing health service to consider efficiency, effectiveness, and quality are urgently called for because of the difficulty in the keen competition according to the inter- nationalization and opening, the operation in the medical institution service testing system, the change in the medical policy of KDRGs, and the lack of the health care cost increasing rate. As an alternative, the case management for the new management system is introduced in the U.S., and the Critical Pathway that is the method designing the contents of activity and its result has been developed and applied in order to anticipate and manage the patient-outcome for the realization of the cost-effective case-management. Thus, this study intended to analyze the effectiveness to obtain by developing the Critical Pathway presented as the method to improve the quality-betterment and cost effectiveness through the continuous and consistent patient management for the hysterectomy patient and applying it to the real practice. As a study method, this author formed a conceptual framework through considering five Critical Pathway used in the current U.S. and three Critical Pathway presented in the literature to develop the Critical Pathway for the hysterectomy patient, and made out the preliminary Critical Pathway through reviewing the old chart. This author made the verified the validity of the expert group about the developed Critical Pathway, and to confirm the possibility of practice application, completed and settled the final Critical Pathway after using the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient from March 1st to 15th, 1997. Finally, to analyze the application-effect of the developed Critical Pathway, this author offered health care service applying the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient from April 15th to August 31th, 1997. The guide for the Critical Pathway was carried out in advance by outpatient setting nurse for outpatient setting visit before the operation, and after hospitalization the primary nurse monitored the execution degree on the every duty. After discharge this author surveyed the complication through phone visiting, and one month after discharge surveyed the patient's reaction about the offered service when outpatient setting visit and analyzed the result. The source for health care cost was obtained by the statistics about the hospital charge which was offered by the General Business Department. The results were as follows. 1. It was decided that the vertical line of the Critical Pathway was made up of eight items such as monitoring/assessment, treatment, line/drains, activity, medication, lab test, diet, patient teaching, and the horizontal line of the Critical Pathway was made up of from hospitalization to discharge. 2. After the analysis of service contents through reviewing the old chart, it was decided that the horizontal line of the preliminary Critical Pathway was made up of from hopitalization to fourth postoperative day, and the vertical line of it was divided into eight items which were the contents to occur with the time frame of the horizontal line. 3. After the verifying the validity of the expert group about the preliminary Critical Pathway, the horizontal line was amended from hopitalization to third postoperative day, and taking their consensus, some contents of the horizontal line was amended and deleted. 4. From March 1st to 15th, 1997, to confirm the clinical suitability, this author offered eight hysterectomy patients the medical service through the Critical Pathway. The result was that three of them could be discharged at the expected discharge day, and the others later than that day. Supplementing the preliminary Critical Pathway through analyzing the cause of that delay- case, this author developed the final Critical Pathway. 5. There were no significant differences between the experimental and the control group in the incidence of complication(P > 0.05). 6. The 92.4% of experimental group was satisfied with the Critical Pathway service. 7. The length of hospital stay of the experimental group offered with the Critical Pathway service was 4.6 days and there was a significant difference that it was 1.3 days shorter than that of the control group(t=-29.514, P=0.000). 8. There wsa a significant difference that the mean medical charge per one patient of the experimental group offered the Critical Pathway service was cheaper \124,150 than that of the control group(t=-9.826, P=0.000). 9. The result that the author assumed and analyzed hospital income with the rate of turning bed was assumed that the increase of hospital income was \63,245,072 for that study, and the income increase was expected with \68,704,864 for a year. The result that this author applied the Critical Pathway to the hysterectomy patient have no differences in the incidence of complication, high satisfaction with that service, and the length of hospital stay decreased in the experimental group, and the mean hospital charge per one patient decreased, but hospital income increased. Suggestions for further study and nursing practice are as follows. 1. The study to apply the Critical Pathway for a year, verify the validity, and measure the effect repeatedly is needed. 2. To apply and manage the Critical Pathway effectively, the study to computerize it is needed. 3. The study to develop hospital-based Critical Pathway about other diseases or procedure, and measure the effect is needed.

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Effects of SNP Markers of the Apolipoprotein E (APOE) Gene on Meat Quantity and Quality Traits in Korean Cattle (한우 아포지단백질 E (APOE) 유전자의 SNP Marker가 육량 및 육질형질에 미치는 영향)

  • Shin, Ki-Hyun;Shin, Sung-Chul;Chung, Ku-Young;Chung, Eui-Ryong
    • Food Science of Animal Resources
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    • v.29 no.1
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    • pp.108-113
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    • 2009
  • Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is a plasma lipoprotein in mammals and plays an important role in the transport and metabolism of lipids such as phospholipids and triglycerides. Therefore, the APOE gene could be a candidate gene controlling lipid metabolism in beef cattle. This study was performed to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the APOE gene and to investigate the effects of SNP genotype on the carcass traits such as meat quantity and quality in Korean cattle. For PCR amplification, pooled DNA made from unrelated 60 individuals was prepared and primer pairs were designed based on the cDNA sequence of exon 4 region of the bovine APOE gene. A SNP was identified at position 2034 (T/C substitution) of the exon 4 region in the APOE gene. PCR-RFLP procedure with restriction enzyme ACC I was developed for determining the SNP genotype for each of a total of 309 animals with pedigree information and performance records through the national progeny testing program. The frequencies of the genotypes TT, TC and CC were 10.9, 46.9 and 42.2%. Gene frequencies were 0.344 for T allele and 0.656 for C allele. The g.2034T>C SNP genotype showed a significant effect (p<0.05) on dressing percentage and meat color, respectively. Animals with the TT genotype showed higher dressing percentage than those with the CC genotype, and TT genotype had desirable meat color compared with CC genotype. These results suggest that the g.2034T>C SNP genotype of the APOE gene may be useful as a DNA marker for meat quantity index and dressing percentage in Korean cattle.

Presown Seed Treatments to Elevate Seedling Emergence of Codonopsis pilosula $N_{ANNF}$ (만삼의 입묘율 향상을 위한 파종전 종자처리의 모형화)

  • Kang, Jin-Ho;Shim, Young-Do;Jeon, Byong-Sam
    • Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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    • v.9 no.2
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    • pp.99-107
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    • 2001
  • Germination of Codonopsis pilosula seeds and afterward their seedling emergence have been occasionally very poor due to their dormancy and structural defects. The study was done to determine the treatment effects of priming, $GA_3$, agitation and washing during and after priming, drying and water imbibition after drying on germination of its seeds and then of the successive three combined treatment after priming on the its seedling emergence to model its presown seed treatment. While agitation at the speed of 10 rpm was made or not, priming using $Ca(NO_3)_2$ and $GA_3$ under their different concentrations and light quality illuminated for 12 hours a day were done separately. Then their two best results were compared to determine the better one. Using the above determined best result, washing was done 3 minutes in the tap water or not, and drying of washed seeds was made under 4 different lights, and water imbibition of the dried seeds with differed period were successively done to deduce its presown seed treatment. In the comparison of the best germination rate of priming and $GA_3$, the former showed considerably higher rate than the latter; the priming treatment was done at agitated $Ca(NO_3)_2$ 150 mM solution under darkness or 12 hour red light illumination a day for 2 days. Washing after priming enhanced the rate compared to no-washing. Drying was the best way at which seeds washed were desiccated under $35^{\circ}C$ and 4 hour red light illumination. Water imbibition immediately before sowing must be made for 2 days. Seedling emergence rate was the highest at the seeds from successive 4 treatments, priming, washing, drying and water imbibition before sowing of two others, the priming and washing, or the priming, washing and water imbibition, meaning that its presown seed treatment must follow the procedure of the above 4 successive ones.

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Comparison of ICSI Outcomes between Fresh and Cryopreserved-Thawed Testicular Spermatozoa (신선 고환조직 정자와 냉동보존-융해 고환조직 정자를 이용한 난자세포질내 정자주입술 결과의 비교 연구)

  • Choi, Young-Sik;Choi, Young-Min;Kim, Soo-Woong;Paick, Jae-Seung;Jee, Byung-Chul;Ku, Seung-Yup;Suh, Chang-Suk;Kim, Seok-Hyun;Kim, Jung-Gu;Moon, Shin-Yong
    • Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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    • v.35 no.2
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    • pp.131-141
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    • 2008
  • Objective: To compare the outcomes of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with fresh and cryopreserved-thawed testicular spermatozoa in patients with azoospermia. Methods: One hundred and nine cycles (66 couples) where ICSI was planned with fresh or cryopreserved-thawed testicular spermatozoa were included in this study; Ninety two cycles (61 couples) with fresh testicular spermatozoa (fresh group) and seventeen cycles (13 couples) with cryopreserved-thawed testicular spermatozoa (cryopreserved-thawed group). We compared ICSI outcomes such as fertilization rate, implantation rate, pregnancy rate and miscarriage rate, which were statistically analyzed using Mann-Whitney U test or Fisher's exact test, where appropriate. Results: In 9 out of the 92 cycles where ICSI was planned with fresh testicular spermatozoa, testicular spermatozoa could not be retrieved. Fertilization rate tended to be higher in the fresh group than in the cryopreserved-thawed group ($58.0{\pm}27.8%$ vs. $45.9{\pm}25.0%$, p=0.076). The number of high quality embryos was significantly higher in the fresh group ($0.9{\pm}1.2$ vs. $0.2{\pm}0.5$, p=0.002). However, there were no significant differences in clinical pregnancy rate, implantation rate and miscarriage rate between the two groups. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that although the use of cryopreserved-thawed testicular sperm for ICSI in patients with azoospermia may reduce fertilization capacity and embryo quality, it may not affect pregnancy rate, implantation rate and miscarriage rate. If testicular sperm can be obtained before ICSI procedure, the use of cryopreserved-thawed testicular sperm may also avoid unnecessary controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and cancellation of oocyte retrieval when spermatozoa cannot be retrieved as well as damage on testicular function by repeated TESE.