• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.113-119
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• 2005

1. Objectives Taeyangin is more rare than other kinds of people of the Constitution in number. And there are few references on Taeyangin's diseases, symptoms, and characters. Therefore diagnosing and treating Taeyangin patients are very difficult. We think that out study might be helpful to make it easier to diagnose and treat Taeyangin. 2. Methods Among patients who have visited the Oriental Hospital of Dongguk University, four female patients were classified as Taeyangin. Their symptoms were lessened by treatment that is appropriate to Taeyangin. Thus, we report these four female patients' improvements of their conditions on stool, urine, infertility, menstruation, and skin. We looked over the other reports, in advance, to get more ideas on Taeyangin. 3. Results After treating four female patients with Taeyangin's treatment, we found out that it showed significant changes on stool and urine condition, and infertility, menstruation. After the treatment, urine came out very easily and bowel moved much better than before. Discharge from the womb also remarkably decreased. Even their skin turned out to be softer than before, which we did not expected. 4. Conclusions We obtained great results from treating four female patients with the Taeyangin's treatment. As there are few clinical studies on Taeyangin, more studies on Taeyangin will be needed so that we could get to know more on the mechanism of Tayangin's physiology. We can read the changes of urine and defecation after the Tayangin's treatment in the books written by Dongmu, and we can ascertain it through our study. But more study on Tayangin's physiology might be needed because we found out that the discharge from the womb or the condition of the skin was significantly improved after the treatment, which is not quite well revealed in the books written by Dongmu.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.59-65
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• 2000

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the important factors affecting survival and pregnancy rate in frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles. Methods: we performed retrospective analysis in 738 cycles of frozen-thawed embryo transfers, in relation to the insemination methods, the freezing stage of embryo, patient's age, infertility factors and the origin of injected sperm in ICSI cycles. After conventional IVF or ICSI, the supernumerary PN stage zygotes or multicellular embryos were cryopreserved by slow freezing protocol with 1,2-propanediol (PROH) as a cryoprotectant. Results: The survival rates of thawed embryos were 69.3% (1585/2287) in conventional IVF group and 71.7% (1645/2295) in ICSI group. After frozen-thawed embryo transfers, 27.0% (92/341) and 32.0% (109/341) of pregnancy rates were achieved in conventional IVF and ICSI group, respectively. There were no significant difference in the survival and pregnancy rates according to the insemination methods, the freezing stage and patient's age. However, the pregnancy rate (36.2%) of male factor infertility was significantly higher than the tubal (27.2%) and other female factor infertility (22.9%). In ICSI group, the origin of injected sperm did not affect the outcome of frozen-thawed embryo transfer cycles. Conclusion: The present study demonstrates that acceptable clinical outcomes can be achieved after the transfer of frozen-thawed embryos regardless of the stage of embryos for freezing, the patient's age and the origin of injected sperm.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.42-55
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• 2017

Objectives: This study were investigated clinical studies published in international and Korea's journals to assess the effect of Korean Medicine for infertility. Methods: PubMed and Oriental Medicine Advanced Searching Integrated System (OASIS) were searched for this review up to Nov 2016.: using terms of 'infertility' and 'subfertile'. Results: Fifty clinical studies were finally selected. All studies were assessed as the noncomparative studies, and mainly case reports. The year of publication of literatures was the highest at from 2011 to 2015, accounted for 44%. Among 50 studies, there were 5 studies on males, 43 studies on females and 2 studies on both male and female. The number of subjects varies from 1 to 1277. The number of studies with subjects less than 10 was the greatest. Of all the studies, only three were institutional review board (IRB) approved. There were 9 studies that indicated whether the grant was supported. The duration of treatment was between 30 and 360 days, and most cases were within 180 days. Intervention methods were 100% for herb medicine, 40% added on acupuncture, and 29% added on moxibustion. Conclusions: Further clinical trials of well designed is needed to accumulate enough information to establish the evidence for Korean Medicine for infertility.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.57-64
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• 2003

Objective : We investigate the effects of multiple attempts of embryo transfer because of retained embryos in the catheter and of contaminated mucus on the transferred catheter. Materials and Methods: We respectively analysed data between November 1998 and August 2002 from 305 patients of 369 cycles who underwent IVF-ET. Of these patients, 47 patients of 50 cycles (Group 2) were required multiple trial of embryo transfer. They were compared with an age-matched control groups (Group 1) with female factor infertility. Pearson's $?^2$ and Fisher's tests were used to compare proportions between discrete variables. Noncategorical data were compared using t-test. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Embryos were significantly more likely to be retained when catheter was contaminated with mucus (Group 1: 22.4%; Group 2: 44.0%). The clinical pregnancy rates, however, for the contaminated mucus or not, were 46.8%, 43.5% respectively. There was no significant difference clinical pregnancy rate between those who had all their embryos transferred at the first attempt (45.4%) and those who required more than one attempt (48.0%). Conclusions: Contaminated mucus in the catheter is associated with failed embryo transferred at the first attempt. Embryo transfers, however, that are repeated attempts do not adversely affect pregnancy rates following IVF-ET.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.582-597
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• 2022

Purpose: This study aimed to translate the Infertility Stigma Scale (ISS) into Korean and to evaluate its reliability and validity in the Korean context. Methods: Data were collected from 350 women who underwent in vitro fertilization (IVF). Data were analyzed using SPSS WIN 25.0 and AMOS 22.0. Content validity was analyzed using the item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and scale-level content validity index/averaging (S-CVI/Ave). The preliminary survey was conducted on 20 women who had experienced IVF at least once to check the level of understanding of the tool and the time required to fill out the questionnaire. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to test construct validity. Additionally, hypothesis-testing construct validity were tested. Cronbach's α was used to assess the reliability. Results: The Korean-ISS (K-ISS) consists of 25 items, excluding two items from the original ISS questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis identified four factors, which explained 75.6% of the total variance. The four distinct factors were infertility stigma with self-devaluation (56.8%), public stigma (8.1%), social withdrawal (6.5%), and family stigma (4.2%). In the confirmatory factor analysis, the 25 items in the four-factor structure were validated (χ² /df ≤ 3, RMSEA ≤ 10). The hypothesis-testing construct validity of K-ISS against FPI (r = .58~.71, p < .001) and FQI (r = - .49~- .65, p < .001) was tested and found to be significant. The internal consistency reliability of the K-ISS, assessed using Cronbach's α, was .97. Conclusion: The K-ISS has satisfactory construct validity and reliability; therefore, it can help minimize the negative impact of stigma by measuring the stigma associated with women experiencing infertility.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.17-26
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• 2005

Objective: Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is reserved for couples with a risk of transmitting a serious and incurable disease, and hence avoids the undesirable therapeutic abortion. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of PGD for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) cases by the fluorescent PCR with polymorphic linked markers and the conventional duplex-nested PCR methods. Methods: Biopsy of one or two blastomeres was done from the embryos fertilized by ICSI on the third day after fertilization. We performed two cases of PGD-DMD by the duplex-nested PCR for the causative mutation loci and the SRY gene on Y chromosome. The triplex fluorescent PCR for the mutation loci, the SRY gene and the polymorphic microsatellite marker on X chromosome was applied for two cases of PGD-DMD. Results: By the duplex-nested PCR, successful diagnosis rate was 95.5% (21/22), but we could not discriminate the female embryos whether normal or carrier in this X-linked recessive disease. However, the triplex fluorescent PCR method showed 100% (27/27) of successful diagnosis rate, and all female embryos (n=17) were distinguished normal (n=10) from carrier (n=7) embryos. Unaffected and normal embryos were transferred into mother's uterus after diagnosis. A healthy normal male was achieved after PGD with the duplex-nested PCR method and a twin, a male and a female, were delivered with triplex fluorescent PCR method. The normality of dystrophin gene was confirmed by amniocentesis and postnatal genetic analysis in all offsprings. Conclusion: The fluorescent PCR with polymorphic marker might be useful in improving the specificity and reliability of PGD for single gene disorders.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.143-148
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• 1995

To present and assess the efficacy of combination of microsurgical epididymal sperm aspiration(MESA) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection(ICSI) for the treatment of infertility due to unreconstructable obstructive azoospermia or congenital bilateral agenesis of vas deferens (CBAVD), MESA was performed in the 45 husbands ( 16 CBAVD, 29 unreconstructable genital tract obstruction), followed by ICSI of oocytes recovered from the wives hyperstimulated by GnRH agonist in combination with hMG and FSH. Cleaving embryos were transfered to the uterine cavity or follopian tube(ZIFT) 18 or 24 hours after ICSI procedure. In 45 cycles of MESA, 492 oocyte complexes were recovered. ICSI was carried out on 355 metaphase II oocytes and 226 oocytes (63.7%) showed normal two pronucleus fertilization. After 198 embryos were transferred in 43 cycles, an average of 5 per cycle, 20 patients presented a positive HCG and intrauterine pregnancy was confirmed by US. So, the clinical ongoing pregnancy rate per transfer was 46.5%. Until now, 8 patients have given birth to 9 babies, 5 male and 4 female, including 1 twin. The babies were all healthy except 1 twin female baby. There was 1 miscarriage at 7 weeks and chromosomal study of abortus revealed as 45X, monosomy. These results suggested that it was possible to achieve high normal fertilization and pregnancy rate by ICSI using epididymal sperm.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.143-154
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• 2000

Most eggs initiated the fertilization processes but arrested at specific stages. The stages included failure of the oocyte to exit from the meiotic metaphase-II with or without sperm penetration, failure of appropriate sperm aster formation, inability to form proper male and female pronuclei, failure of suitable pronuclear apposition, and failure to form proper number of either male or female pronuclei. Various images of defective microtubule organization and chromatin configuration during IVF and ICSI procedures were observed. We discussed the data with previous research results during normal fertilization in humans and other mammals. In conclusion, various aberrant patterns in microtubule assembly and chromatin configuration, which were assessed in the present study, could be used as criteria to improve assisted reproductive technology in clinics. However, further cellular and molecular characterization is needed to clarify these aberrant patterns of cytoskeletal assembly.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.203-210
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• 1995

Many oocytes fail to fertilize and cleave in vitro and many embryos transferred back to uterus fail to implant or maintain implantation. Chromosomal abnormalities in the male and female gametes may contribute to this loss. The higher incidence of meiotic chromosomal abnormalities bas been found in oocytes than in sperm. The wide range of incidence of chromosomal abnormalities in unfertilized oocytes has been reported in human IVF program (26-63%). However, factors affecting chromosomal abnormalities are not well understood. The present study has been conducted to investigate effects of the method for ovarian hyperstimulation, women's age, and the number of oocytes retrieved per patients on the incidence of numerical chromosomal abnormalities. Five hundred eighty four unfertilized metaphase II oocytes were subjected to chromosomal analysis. Included unfertilized oocytes were from 220 patients (mean $age=32.7{\pm}3.0$) and three hundred thirty oocytes were legible for analysis. Two hundred fourty five oocytes out of 330 (73.3%) were normal, while 38 (11.5%) were hyperploidy, 35 (10.6%) were hypoploidy, and 12 (3.6%) were diploidy. Significant difference in chromosomal abnormalities was not found between two patient groups stimulated by follicular stimulating hormone/human menopausal gonadotrophin (FSH/HMG) (25.9%) and gonadotrophin-releasing hormone agonist/follicular stimulating hormone/human menopausal gonadotrophin (GnRHa/FSH/HMG) (28%). There was a tendency of increasing chromosomal abnormalities in unfertilized oocytes from older patients (<30 yrs: 20.3%, 30-34yrs: 26.9%, >34 yrs: 35.3%). The number of oocytes retrieved per patient had no effect the incidence of chromosomal abnormalities (1-5: 31. 4%, 6-10: 29.8%, 11-15: 28.6%, > 15: 16.5%). These results from the present study suggest that the chromosomal abnormalities observed in the unfertilized oocytes has not affected by the stimulation methods, patient's age, and the number of oocytes retrieved per patients.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.85-94
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• 2011

Purpose: Hominis placenta have used widely for women's disease like climacteric syndrome, dysmenorrhea, infertility, but we don't have enough evidence with it. This study is to investigate efficacy and safety of Hominis Placenta on women by investigating papers. Methods: We searched for papers which had Hominis placenta, placental extract associated with women's disease in the Pubmed and Korean journals. Results: 20 papers were found. 15 papers were associated with menopausal disorder. Hominis placenta could have the efficacy on osteoporosis and climacteric syndrome induced by menopause. And each 2 papers were relevant to postpartum symptoms and menses. 1 papers was relevant to pregnancy. Most of studies have shown that Hominis placenta is useful for female disorders. Conclusions: Hominis placenta could be a good treatment for female disorder like climacteric syndrome, dysmenorrhea, infertility. But evidence is not enough with Hominis placenta, so more research will be needed.