• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.121-132
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• 2004

Purpose: This study aimed to develop a breast feeding program for mothers of premature infants. The program was applied and its effect was evaluated on stress, knowledge and breastfeeding behaviors of premature infant mothers. Method: This study employed a one group pre- and post-test quasi-experimental design. The data were collected from 17 participants from August 15 to October 24, 2004, at a N1CU at D University Medical Center located in Susan, Korea. Data were analyzed by means of frequency, SD, and t-test using SPSS version 10. Result: After the program, participants significantly showed a greater level of knowledge than before the program (t=-5.750, p=.000). No statistically significant differences in stress level scores were found (t=1.453, p=.153). The breastfeeding practice rate was 94.1%: Conclusion: This educational program using a handbook and video had a positive effect on increasing knowledge and practice of breastfeeding among premature infant mothers. It is suggested that this study be replicated with a larger sample size to compare group responses.

• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.461-480
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• 2015

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of mothers' parenting beliefs and supportive interaction on maternal parenting stress. It also examined variations of the results by household income levels and mothers' employment status. Participants of the study were 770 mothers of children aged 23-31 months who were a part of the 2010 wave of the National Survey for Panel Study on Korean Children. The analyses revealed that parenting stress was affected by mothers' parenting beliefs and supportive interaction. Mothers' supportive interaction has been shown significantly to predict parenting stress in all four groups of this study. The results demonstrated that the strength of the relationship between parenting stress and parenting beliefs and reciprocal interaction varied based on the combination of income and work status. These findings suggested that income and employment status are important to examine collectively.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.20-20
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• 2017

Plant genomes include heterochromatic loci that consist of repetitive sequences and transposable elements. LTR retrotransposon is the major class of transposons in advanced plants in terms of proportion in plant genome. The elements contribute not only to genome size but also to genome stability and gene expression. A number of cases have been reported transposon insertions near genic regions affect crop traits such as fruit pigments, stress tolerance, and yields. Functional LTR retrotransposons produce extrachromosomal DNA from genomic RNA by reverse transcription that takes place within virus-like-particles (VLPs). DECREASED DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) plays important roles in maintaining DNA methylation of heterochromatin affecting all sequence contexts, CG, CHG, and CHH. Previous studies showed that ddm1 mutant exhibits massive transcription of retrotransposons in Arabidopsis, but only few of them were able to create new insertions into the genome. RNA-dependent RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6) is known to function in restricting accumulation of transposon RNA by processing the transcripts into 21-22 nt epigenetically activated small interfering RNA (easiRNA). We purified VLPs and sequence cDNA to identify functional LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 plants. Over 20 LTR copia and gypsy families were detected in ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 sequencing libraries and most of them were not reported for mobility. In ddm1rdr6, short fragments of ATHILA gypsy elements were detected. It suggests easiRNAs might regulate reverse transcription steps. The highest enriched element among transposon loci was previously characterized EVADE element. It has been reported that active EVADE element is more efficiently silenced through female germline than male germline. By genetic analyses, we found ddm1 and rdr6 mutation affect maternal silencing of active EVADE elements. DDM1-GFP protein accumulated in megaspore mother cell but was not found in mature egg cell. The fusion protein was also found in early embryo and maternal DDM1-GFP allele was more dominantly expressed in the embryo. We observed localization of DDM1-GFP in Arabidopsis and DDM1-YFP in maize and found the proteins accumulated in dividing zone of root tips. Currently we are looking at cell cycle dependency of DDM1 expression using maize system. Among 10 AGO proteins in Arabidopsis, AGO9 is specifically expressed in egg cell and shoot meristematic cells. In addition, mutation of AGO9 and RDR6 caused failure in maternal silencing, implying 21-22 nt easiRNA pathway is important for retrotransposon silencing in female gametophyte or/and early embryo. On the other hand, canonical 24 nt sRNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathways did not contribute to maternal silencing as confirmed by this study. Heat-activated LTR retrotransposon, ONSEN, was not silenced by DDM1 but the silencing mechanisms require RdDM pathways in somatic cells. We will propose distinct mechanisms of LTR retrotransposons in germline and somatic stages.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Crop Science Conference
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• 2017.06a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2017

Plant genomes include heterochromatic loci that consist of repetitive sequences and transposable elements. LTR retrotransposon is the major class of transposons in advanced plants in terms of proportion in plant genome. The elements contribute not only to genome size but also to genome stability and gene expression. A number of cases have been reported transposon insertions near genic regions affect crop traits such as fruit pigments, stress tolerance, and yields. Functional LTR retrotransposons produce extrachromosomal DNA from genomic RNA by reverse transcription that takes place within virus-like-particles (VLPs). DECREASED DNA METHYLATION 1 (DDM1) plays important roles in maintaining DNA methylation of heterochromatin affecting all sequence contexts, CG, CHG, and CHH. Previous studies showed that ddm1 mutant exhibits massive transcription of retrotransposons in Arabidopsis, but only few of them were able to create new insertions into the genome. RNA-dependent RNA POLYMERASE 6 (RDR6) is known to function in restricting accumulation of transposon RNA by processing the transcripts into 21-22 nt epigenetically activated small interfering RNA (easiRNA). We purified VLPs and sequence cDNA to identify functional LTR retrotransposons in Arabidopsis ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 plants. Over 20 LTR copia and gypsy families were detected in ddm1 and ddm1rdr6 sequencing libraries and most of them were not reported for mobility. In ddm1rdr6, short fragments of ATHILA gypsy elements were detected. It suggests easiRNAs might regulate reverse transcription steps. The highest enriched element among transposon loci was previously characterized EVADE element. It has been reported that active EVADE element is more efficiently silenced through female germline than male germline. By genetic analyses, we found ddm1 and rdr6 mutation affect maternal silencing of active EVADE elements. DDM1-GFP protein accumulated in megaspore mother cell but was not found in mature egg cell. The fusion protein was also found in early embryo and maternal DDM1-GFP allele was more dominantly expressed in the embryo. We observed localization of DDM1-GFP in Arabidopsis and DDM1-YFP in maize and found the proteins accumulated in dividing zone of root tips. Currently we are looking at cell cycle dependency of DDM1 expression using maize system. Among 10 AGO proteins in Arabidopsis, AGO9 is specifically expressed in egg cell and shoot meristematic cells. In addition, mutation of AGO9 and RDR6 caused failure in maternal silencing, implying 21-22 nt easiRNA pathway is important for retrotransposon silencing in female gametophyte or/and early embryo. On the other hand, canonical 24 nt sRNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM) pathways did not contribute to maternal silencing as confirmed by this study. Heat-activated LTR retrotransposon, ONSEN, was not silenced by DDM1 but the silencing mechanisms require RdDM pathways in somatic cells. We will propose distinct mechanisms of LTR retrotransposons in germline and somatic stages.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.165-176
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• 1996

The purpose of this study was to contribute to family nursing in the areas of reducing stress and improving coping for parents of mentally retarded children. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires during a period of 2 months between November 1994 and January 1995 in the Kyoung-in area. The subjects consist of 176 parents (88 mothers and 88 fathers) of mentally retarded children attending schools for the handicapped. The levels of general stress and of parental role stress were measured with the General stress scale and the Parental role stress scale, respectively. The coping scale developed by Folkman ＆ LaZarus was adopted to measure the level of coping, and the patterns of adaptation scale developed by Damrosch ＆ Perry was adopted to measure the patterns of adaptation. The data were analyzed by a SAS program using Fisher's exact test, paired t-test, and oneway ANOVA. The results are as follows ; 1. The level of general stress was significantly higher in mothers than in fathers. Mothers experienced a significantly greater level of parental role stress than fathers did. No significant difference in the level of coping was observed between mothers and fathers. There were differences in maternal and paternal patterns of adaptation. 2. The adaptation pattern of fathers was different according to their level of general stress, parental role stress and coping. The adaptation pattern of mothers was not different according to their level of general stress and parental role stress, but was according to their level of coping. 3. General stress experienced by fathers was different according to education, health status and support from their spouses. Satisfaction with family life, satisfaction with spouse and the support from spouse influenced coping used by fathers. Their level of parental role stress was not associated with any of their general characteristics. 4. In mothers, the level of general stress was different according to their health status, the level of parental role stress was related to satisfaction with family life and satisfaction with spouse. Their level of coping was associated with the sup port from spouse. The above findings indicate that mothers did not have more coping strategies than fathers did, despite the results which showed that mothers experienced greater stress than fathers did. Especially, the adaptation pattern of mothers was different according to their level of coping. Hence, nursing interventions directed at managing stress and improving coping should be used with mothers who use adaptation pattern 1. In particular, fathers should actively participate in parenting, and support their spouses.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.224-239
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• 2000

This descriptive study was conducted to understand the contents and degree of parental stress level in the NICU patients, and to give a baseline data in developing nursing intervention program. Subjects were the 62 mother of hospitalized newborn in NICU of 1 University Hospital in Taejon City from May 1st, 1999 to November 30th, 1999, who agreed to take part in this study. The instrument used in this study were Parental Stressor Scales : NICU(PSS:NICU) developed by Miles et al. and validated by 3 NICU practitioners and 3 child health nursing faculties. The questionnaire has 4 dimensions and 45 items; sight and sounds of NICU(5 items), babies' appearance and behavior(19 items), parental role alteration and relationship with their baby(10 items), communication with health team(11 items). The questionnaire asks parents to rate each item on a five-point Likert type scale that ranges from (1) to (5). Total scores representing overall stress from the NICU environment are calculated by summing response to each item. A high score indicates high stress. A subscale score is calculated by summing the responses to each item in the subscale. Cronbach's α coefficients were .93. The data was analyzed as average, Frequency, Standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient by use of SPSS/PC+. The results of this study is summarized as follows ; 1. The total perceived stress level score of mothers was slightly high(3.6±.7). The highest scored dimension was 'appearance and behavior of the baby'(3.9±1.5), and next were 'relationship with their baby and parental role change'(3.5±1.4), 'communication with health team'(3.4±.9), 'sight and sounds of NICU'(3.2±.8). 2. Two variables were statistically significant with PSS:NICU total scale ; mother's perceived severity of the baby's condition (r=.482, P=.002) and mother's religious attendance(t=2.83, P=.01). The more the mother perceive their baby's condition severe, the higher the total stress score. There were high stress score noted in the mother of no religious attendance. 3. Four variables were statistically significant with NICU environment subscale ; mother's educational background(F=3.45, P=.04), religious attendance(t=2.28, P=.04), sex of the baby(t=2.83, P=.01) and NICU patients' hospital day(r=.359, P=.004). That is mother with high educational background and girl baby were high NICU environment subscale score. 4. Four variables were statistically significant with appearance and behavior of the baby subscale ; when first saw baby(F=3.52, P=.04), incubator care(t=2.83, P=.01), mother's perceived severity of the baby's condition(r=.303, P=.017), number of NICU visit(r=.441, P=.002). That is, seeing the baby first in the NICU and recieved incubator care was very stressful. Also, the more the mother perceive their baby's condition severe and more NICU visit, the higher the appearance and behavior of the baby subscale stress score. 5. Four variables were statistically significant with relationship with their baby and parental role change subscale ; when first saw baby(F=3.37, P=.04), sex of the baby(t=2.36, P=.03), incubator care(t=5.60, P=.00), mother's perceived severity of the baby's condition(r=.401, P=.001). That is, seeing the baby first in the NICU and girl baby was very stressful. Also, the more the mother perceive their baby's condition severe, the higher the relationship with their baby and parental role change subscale stress score. 6. Three variables were statistically significant with communication with health team subscale ; mother's educational background (F=3.63, P=.04), incubator care(t=4.24, P=.00), gestational age(r=-.394, P=.047), and birth weight(r=-.460, P=.004). That is, mother with high educational background and receiving incubator care were high communication with health team subscale score. Also, the shorter the gestational age and smaller the baby's birth weight, the higher the communication with health team subscale score. In conclusion, information about physical environment of NICU, the mother's perceived severity of baby's illness state, maternal role change related variables and the knowledge of characteristics of NICU patients must be included in nursing intervention program of mother's of NICU patients in reducing the maternal stress and anxiety level.

• Korean Parent-Child Health Journal
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.46-60
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore married immigrant women's child-rearing experiences including parenting stress and parenting efficacy using parallel/simultaneous mixed method design. Method: Participants of this quantitative study were 53 immigrant women in G City. Data was collected from May 1 to July 31 and analyzed using the SPSS 14 program. Qualitative data was collected from 8 immigrant women through focus group discussions from April, 22 to August 5, 2008 in G City and G Province. The data was analyzed using a content analysis method. Results: The mean score of parenting stress scale and parenting efficacy were 63.49 and 43.11 respectively. Significant differences were found in parenting stress according to nationality, length of stay, religion, economic status, education level, Korean language skill, number of children, and program participation. Significant differences were found in the Parenting efficacy according to the nation, length of stay, economic status, education level, Korean language skill, children's health status, and program participation. Three themes emerged through this analysis: 1) Isolation from the maternal parent, 2) Insufficient support system, 3) Conflicts and Compromise of child-rearing practices. Conclusion: Married immigrant women experience double burdens of mothering. There is a need to develop educational and support programs for them.

• Journal of Families and Better Life
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.175-185
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• 2003

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether there is any difference between the dual residence couples and the single residence couples in terms of the situation of child care, development of their child and mother's parenting guilty or parenting stress. Also, this study aimed to explore the variables which influence parenting guilty and parenting stress of dual residence mothers. The 178 mothers of three to eight tear-old participated the survey. Half of them were dual residence mothers and another half were those of single residence. These two groups were matched in terms of the occupation of the mother and the age of the child. Major finding were as follows. 1) Compared with single residence couples, dual residence couples used multiple methods of child care. And they depended maternal families more than paternal ones as a care-giver. They also payed much more for the child care than single residence couples. 2) Children of the dual residence couples did not differ with those of the single residence couples in terms of cognitive and social development. 3) Dual residence mothers had more parenting guilty than those of single residence while these two groups did not differ in terms of parenting stress. 4) While dual residence mother's parenting guilty was significantly related with the amount of information provided by the paternal families, their parenting stress was significantly related with the frequencies of communicating with the husband, the mother's age, the flexibility of time in the mother's work place, the mother's orientation to the career, and the supports of the husband. In conclusion, dual residence families in Korea were not so negative as expected. Furthermore, this study suggests that the parenting difficulties of the dual residence mothers could be decreased by the change of social and economic situations and the psycho-social support of the husband.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.12
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• pp.1071-1078
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• 2015

Superovulation induced by exogenous gonadotropin treatment (PMSG/hCG) increases the number of available oocytes in humans and animals. However, Superovulatory PMSG/hCG treatment is known to affect maternal environment, and these effects may result from PMSG/hCG treatment-induced oxidative stress. 2-Cys peroxiredoxins (2-Cys Prxs) act as antioxidant enzymes that protect cells from oxidative stress induced by various exogenous stimuli. Therefore, the objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that repeated PMSG/hCG treatment induces 2-Cys Prx expression and overoxidation in the reproductive tracts of female mice. Immunohistochemistry and western blotting analyses further demonstrated that, after PMSG/hCG treatment, the protein expression levels of 2-Cys Prxs increased most significantly in the ovaries, while that of Prx1 was most affected by PMSG/hCG stimulation in all tissues of the female reproductive tract. Repeated PMSG/hCG treatment eventually leads to 2-Cys Prxs overoxidation in all reproductive organs of female mice, and the abundance of the 2-Cys Prxs-$SO_{2/3}$ proteins reported here supports the hypothesis that repeated superovulation induces strong oxidative stress and damage to the female reproductive tract. Our data suggest that excessive oxidative stress caused by repeated PMSG/hCG stimulation increases 2-Cys Prxs expression and overoxidation in the female reproductive organs. Intracellular 2-Cys Prx therefore plays an important role in maintaining the reproductive organ environment of female mice upon exogenous gonadotropin treatment.

• Women's Health Nursing
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.18-26
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• 2022

Purpose: This study investigated whether parenting stress, work-family conflict, resilience affect retention intent in Korean nurses returning to work after parental leave. Methods: The participants in this study were 111 nurses recruited from 10 hospitals in Korea, who were working after formal parental leave from their hospitals. Collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, the t-test, analysis of variance, the Mann-Whitney U-test, Pearson correlation coefficients, and hierarchical regression. Results: Retention intention (33.80±7.78), parenting stress (101.70±17.57), and resilience (85.02±12.75) were at greater than moderate levels and a midpoint level of work-family conflict (29.63±7.00) was noted in this sample of mostly women nurses in their 30s. The factors affecting retention intent were parental leave duration, the number of times that participants had taken parental leave, health condition, work-family conflict, and resilience. The total explanatory power of these variables was 36.7%. Retention intent had a negative correlation with parenting stress and work-family conflict. Conversely, retention intent was positively correlated with resilience. Conclusion: This study supports the need for flexible adjustment of returning nurses' working hours and family-friendly policies to promote balance between work and family. It is also necessary to develop and apply measures that boost resilience and support health improvement for nurses returning to work.As nurses are often assigned to new areas of work upon return, training programs to aid their adjustment may also be helpful.