• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.237-243
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• 2006

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of frozen-thawed ET in poor prognosis patients such as the old age (38~44 years; OA group) and the patients who did not achieve clinical pregnancy with the first fresh ET cycle (non-pregnant patients; NP group). Methods: Laboratory and clinical data were collected from fresh and frozen-thawed ET cycles of OA and NP group. Controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) and conventional insemination or ICSI, in vitro culture and ET were performed by routine procedures. Supernumerary embryos were frozen by the slow freezing method, and frozen embryos were thawed by the rapid thawing method. Embryo development, pregnancy and implantation rates were statistically analyzed by Student t-test and chi square test Results: Mean ages were similar between fresh ET ($40.0{\pm}1.8$ years, n=206) and frozen-thawed ET ($39.9{\pm}1.9$ years, n=69) cycles in OA group. However, the clinical pregnancy and implantation rate of subsequent frozen-thawed ET significantly higher than those of fresh ET cycles (29.0% and 11.2% vs. 16.5% and 7.0%, p<0.05). In NP group, there was no difference in the mean age between fresh ET ($31.2{\pm}2.3$ years, n=40) and frozen-thawed ET ($31.9{\pm}3.1$ years, n=119) in subsequent cycles. The clinical pregnancy and implantation rates were similar between the subsequent fresh ET (42.5% and 22.6%) and the frozen-thawed ET (40.3% and 18.8%). Conclusion: In old age patients, higher pregnancy rate of frozen-thawed ET compared to fresh ET cycles in this study. It may be related that better uterine environments for implantation in frozen-thawed ET cycles than that of non-physiological hormonal condition in uterus of fresh COH cycles.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.219-227
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• 1992

Background: Acute and chronic airway inflammation are important in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. Corticosteroids have proved to be very effective in the management of asthma. Although the mechanism by which they produce this effect is still debated, suppression of the inflammatory response is thought to be the most likely. Although inhaled steroids are known to be safe and have less side effects than oral steroids, the extent which inhaled steroids have beneficial and the detrimental effects in the treatment of asthma has remained open to question. Budesonide is a recently developed corticosteroid for inhalation treatment with a strong local effect combined with rapid inactivation in the systemic circulation. We set out to look in more detail at the time course of change in bronchial reactivity, clinical symptoms and the effects on the adrenal function during 6 weeks of treatment with budesonide (800 ug per day). Methods: Clinical symptoms, pulmonary function test, histamine $PC_{20}$, serum ACTH and cortisol (8 AM and 4 PM) were measured in 23 allergic asthmatic patients before and after 6 weeks of treatment with budesonide. Results: 1) Pulmonary function test; PEFR, FEV1 and FVC after 6 weeks of treatment with budesonide were higher than those before treatment. 2) Clinical symptoms; Clinical symptoms were significantly improved after 3 weeks and 6 weeks of treatment with budesonide. 3) Histamine provocation; Histamine $PC_{20}$ after 6 weeks of treatment with budesonide was significantly higher than that before treatment. 4) Adrenal function; 6 weeks of budesonide therapy did not significantly affect the level of serum ACTH and cortisol. Conclusion: From these results, it is concluded that budesonide therapy improved the clinical symptoms, pulmonary function and bronchial hyperreactivity after 3 weeks of treatment and the improvement after 6 weeks of treatment was higher than that after 3 weeks of treatment. During 6 weeks of treatment with budesonide, the inhibitory effect on the adrenal function was not obvious.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.258-266
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• 2015

The modern radiotherapy technique which delivers a large amount of dose to patients asks to confirm the positions of patients or tumors more accurately by using X-ray projection images of high-definition. However, a rapid increase in patient's exposure and image information for CT image acquisition may be additional burden on the patient. In this study, by introducing structural similarity (SSIM) index that can effectively extract the structural information of the image, we analyze the differences between daily acquired x-ray images of a patient to verify the accuracy of patient positioning. First, for simulating a moving target, the spherical computational phantoms changing the sizes and positions were created to acquire projected images. Differences between the images were automatically detected and analyzed by extracting their SSIM values. In addition, as a clinical test, differences between daily acquired x-ray images of a patient for 12 days were detected in the same way. As a result, we confirmed that the SSIM index was changed in the range of 0.85~1 (0.006~1 when a region of interest (ROI) was applied) as the sizes or positions of the phantom changed. The SSIM was more sensitive to the change of the phantom when the ROI was limited to the phantom itself. In the clinical test, the daily change of patient positions was 0.799~0.853 in SSIM values, those well described differences among images. Therefore, we expect that SSIM index can provide an objective and quantitative technique to verify the patient position using simple x-ray images, instead of time and cost intensive three-dimensional x-ray images.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.251-258
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• 2004

Soil testing for silicon (Si) in the upland soils has not been sufficiently investigated. The objective of this study was to identify a suitable Si extraction method for upland soils of oriental melon (Cucumis melo L.). Thirty-eight surface soil samples and matured leaf samples were collected from plastic film houses in Sungju, Gyeongbuk province. In the laboratory, six different methods were used for extracting Si from the soils. The methods included 0.5 N HCl extraction, 1 N sodium acetate buffer (PH 4.0) extraction, citric acid 1% extraction, water extraction, Tiis buffer pH 7.0 extraction, and extraction after incubation with water for 1 week. The concentration of dissolved Si in soil extracts from all methods was determined colorimetrically. With 1 N sodium acetate buffer extraction, as the available soil Si increased, the concentration ofSi in oriental melon leaf increased until around $14g\;SiO_2\;kg^{-1}$ was reached in the form of a saturation curve. Also, among the methods studied, extraction with 1 N sodium acetate buffer was the only method provided a significant linear correlation with oriental melon leaf Si content in the range of extractable soil Si lower than the level which inducing Si saturation in oriental melon leaf. These results indicate that 1 N sodium acetate buffer extraction procedure is the best soil Si test method for upland soils of oriental melon. This sodium acetate buffer extraction procedure is rapid and quite well acquainted with scientists and farmers, since the method has been used for routine paddy soil testing.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.121-130
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• 2012

In analyzing pesticide residue, LLE (liquid liquid extraction) is generally applied as one of the existing methods, but needed quite a lot of organic solvents and analytical apparatuses for the sample pre-treatment. In addition to its long analysis time and complex analytical processes, it is required to develop a more rapid and efficient method at present. In order to establish an economic and simple pesticide residue analytical method, this study carried out a comparative experiment on the existing analytical method with a new sample pre-treatment method named QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe), which extracts and refines pesticide components by directly adding solid powder into the sample. Both the two analytical methods showed favorable values of correlation coefficient ($R^2$ > 0.99) of calibration curves. In terms of the detection limit (identification limit), imidacloprid showed 0.02 mg/kg, while the rest of pesticides showed a level around 0.05 mg/kg. The results of this experiment revealed that the recovery of LLE was 92.8-100.9% and the RSD was below 2.5%. On the other hand, the recovery of QuEChERS was 92.2-101.6% and RSD was below 1.9%. As a result of comparing the amount of pesticide residue by the time between the two analytical methods by using Paired t-Test, there was no significant difference between the two analytical methods as the p-value ranged from 0.3148-0.9890. Considering the results of the two methods, the QuEChERS method had similar recovery, compared to the analytical method using the existing LLE, and the analytical time was shortened by about one fourth of that of the existing method. Moreover, since it excludes the use of harmful organic solvents like dichloromethane during the process of extraction, thus leading to protecting experimenters health and remarkably reducing the amount of disused solvents, it is judged as an echo-friendly and economic analytical method.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.35-42
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• 1993

The dose response of the number of micronuclei in cytokinesis-blocked (CB) lymphocytes after in vitro irradiation with $\gamma$-rays and neutrons in the 5 dose ranges was studied for a heterogeneous population of 4 donors. One thousand binucleated cells were systematically scored for micronuclei. Measurements performed after irradiation showed a dose-dependent increase in micronuclei (MN) frequency in each of the donors studied. The dose-response curves were analyzed by a linear-quadratic model, frequencies per 1000 CB cells were ($0.31{\pm}0.049$)D+($0.0022{\pm}0.0002)D^2+(13.19{\pm}1.854) (r^2=1.000,\;X^2=0.7074,\;p=0.95$) following $\gamma$ irradiation, and ($0.99{\pm}0.528$)\;D+(0.0093{\pm}0.0047)\;D^2+(13.31{\pm}7.309)\;(r^2=0.996,\;X^2=7.6834,\;p=0.11) following neutrons irradiation (D is irradiation dose in cGy). The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of neutrons compared with $\gamma$-rays was estimated by best fitting linear-quadratic model. In the micronuclei frequency between 0.05 and 0.8 per cell, the RBE of neutrons was $2.37{\pm}0.17$. Since the MN assay is simple and rapid, it may be a good tool for evaluating the $\gamma$-ray and neutron response.

• Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.133-139
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• 2009

Purpose: In spite of many reports about Helicobacter pylori infection in children with functional gastrointestinal disorders, there are few reports about the influence of H. pylori infection to functional dyspepsia and gastric motility. Therefore, we studied the influence of H. pylori infection on gastric myoelectrical activity in children with functional dyspepsia. Methods: Between August 2006 and December 2008 upper gastrointestinal endoscopies with biopsies, the rapid urease test and/or $^{13}C$ urea breath test, and electrogastrography (EGG) were performed on 63 patients with histologic chronic gastritis; patients with chronic disorders were excluded. Comparisons about gastric myoelectrical activities were made between H. pylori-positive children (n=25) and H. pylorinegative children (n=38). Results: The percentage of pre- and post-prandial normogastria was relatively lower in H. pylori-positive children than H. pylori-negative children (80% vs. 65%, and 80% vs. 68%, respectively). Compared to H. pylori-negative children, H. pylori-positive children had lower postprandial predominant power (8.18${\pm}$22.36 dB and 32.20${\pm}$24.18 dB, respectively; p<0.01) and a lower power ratio (${\delta}P$; -1.28${\pm}$6.18 vs. +4.62${\pm}$5.93, respectively; p<0.01). Conclusion: It was suggested that the gastric myoelectrical activity in children with chronic gastritis can be influenced by H. pylori infection. Thus, this study indicates that H. pylori infection may be predictable in children with functional dyspepsia through analyzing the EGG parameters, and treatment may be considered in H. pylori-positive children with impaired gastric activity, especially in the lower prevalence area.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.295-301
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• 2004

Recently, the rapid increase and global spread of extended-spectrum $\beta-lactamase$ producing clinical isolates has become a serious problem. The incidence of extended-spectrum $\beta-lactamase$ producing clinical isolates of Escherichia coli in Korea and susceptibility to antimicrobial agents were investigated. Total 233 isolates of E. coli were obtained from urine from hospitalized patients in Guro hospital, Korea University in 2001. One hun­dred and eighty four isolates $(78.9\%)$ were resistant to ampicillin, 80 isolates $(34.3\%)$ were resistant to ceph­alothin, 93 isolates $(39.9\%)$ were resistant to gentamicin, and 64 isolates $(27.5\%)$ were resistant to norfloxacin. Among 233 isolates, 17 isolates $(7.3\%)$ were positive as determined by the double disk synergy test. When min­imal inhibitory concentrations were assayed with additional 6 antimicrobial agents, 13 isolates $(76.5\%)$ were multi-drug resistant to at least four different class antimicrobial agents. Extended-spectrum $\beta-lactamase$ were characterized with isoelectric focusing gel electrophoresis and DNA sequencing. They were TEM-1 in 5 iso­lates, TEM-15 in 1 isolate, TEM-20 in 1 isolate, TEM-52 in 4 isolates, TEM-1 and AmpC in 2 isolates, TEM-1 and OXA-30 in 1 isolate, TEM-1 and OXA-33 in 1 isolate, TEM-1, CTX-M-3, and AmpC in 1 isolate, but SHV was not detected. Antimicrobial resistance genes were transferred to animal isolate of E. coli (CCARM No. 1203) by the filter mating method. Extended spectrum $\beta-lactamase$ producers studied in the current study have low correlation to each other as determined by random amplified polymorphic DNA and pulsed field gel elec­trophoresis. This is a contradictory result from the general hypothesis that extended-spectrum $\beta-lactamase$ pro­ducers in one hospital is a result from a clonal spread.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.349-354
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• 2004

Stress-susceptible pigs have been known as the porcine stress syndrome (PSS), swine PSS, also known as malignant hyperthermia (MH), is characterized as sudden death and production of poor meat quality such as PSE (pale, soft and exudative) meat after slaughtering. PSS and PSE meat cause major economic losses in the pig industry. A point mutation in the gene coding for the ryanodine receptor (RYR1) in porcine skeletal muscle, also known calcium (Ca$^{2+}$) release channel, has been associated with swine PSS and halothane sensitivity. We used the PCR-RFLP(restriction fragment length polymorphism) and PCR-SSCP (single strand conformation polymorphism) methods to detect the PSS gene mutation (C1843T) in the RYR1 gene and to estimate genotype frequencies of PSS gene in Korean pig breed populations. In PCR-RFLP and SSCP analyses, three genotypes of homozygous normal (N/M), heterozygous carrier (N/n) and homozygous recessive mutant (n/n) were detected using agarose or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, respectively. The proportions of normal, carrier and PSS pigs were 57.1, 35.7 and 7.1％ for Landrace, 82.5, 15.8 and 1.7％ far L. Yorkshire, 95.2, 4.8 and 0.0％ for Duroc and 72.0, 22.7 and 5.3％ for Crossbreed. Consequently, DNA-based diagnosis for the identification of stress-susceptible pigs of PSS and pigs producing PSE meat is a powerful technique. Especially, PCR-SSCP method may be useful as a rapid, sensitive and inexpensive test for the large-scale screening of PSS genotypes and pigs with PSE meat in the pork industry.y.

• Journal of Oral Medicine and Pain
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.53-67
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• 2013

This study was aimed to evaluate the masticatory efficiency after botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) injection during 12 weeks using objective and subjective test. Also, we compared the difference of masticatory efficiency between group that injected into the masseter muscle only (M-group) and group that injected into the masseter and temporalis muscle (M-T group). The mixing ability index (MAI) was used as the objective indicator, and visual analogue scale (VAS) and food intake ability (FIA) index were used as the subjective indicators. It was concluded that masticatory efficiency was significantly lowered after a BTX-A injection into the masticatory muscle, but it gradually recovered in a predictable pattern by the 12 weeks. The disturbance of subjective masticatory efficiency was lasted longer than objective masticatory efficiency. The masticatory efficiency was lower in M-T group than M group. It was statistically significant in the VAS and FIA at 4 weeks, but the MAI showed no significancy. After 4weeks, there was rapid recovery of muscle function in M-T group, and the difference between two groups was not significant. It could be concluded that there will be no serious disturbance of mastication compared to injection is done only into the masseter muscle, even if injection is done into the masseter and temporalis muscle in dose of this study. According to the food properties, it was confirmed that people feel more discomfort on taking hard and tough foods after BTX-A injection and not only hard foods, but also intake of soft and runny foods were influenced by botulinum toxin injection.