• Anatomy and Cell Biology
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.119-128
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• 2024

Glucocorticoids play a physiologic role in the adult male reproductive functions, modulating gonadal steroid synthesis and spermatogenesis, through the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The expression of GR has been described in several key testicular cell types, including somatic cells and early germ cell populations. Nothing is known on GR in human spermatozoa. Herein, we explored the GR expression and its possible role in normal and testicular varicocele semen samples from volunteer donors. After semen parameter evaluation by macro- and microscopic analysis, samples were centrifuged; then spermatozoa and culture media were recovered for further investigations. By western blotting and immunofluorescence analyses we evidenced for the first time in spermatozoa the presence of GR-D3 isoform which was reduced in sperm from varicocele patients. By treating sperm with the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (DEXA), we found that survival, motility, capacitation, and acrosome reaction were increased in both healthy and varicocele samples. GR involvement in mediating DEXA effects, was confirmed by using the GR inhibitor mifepristone (M2F). Worthy, we also discovered that sperm secretes different cortisol amounts depending on its physio-pathological status, suggesting a defence mechanism to escape the immune system attach in the female genital tract thus maintaining the immune-privilege as in the testis. Collectively, our data suggests a role for glucocorticoids in determining semen quality and function, as well as in participating on sperm immune defensive mechanisms. The novelty of this study may be beneficial and needs to take into account in artificial insemination/drug discovery aimed to enhancing sperm quality.

• Journal of Animal Reproduction and Biotechnology
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.81-87
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• 2024

Background: Platelet-derived growth factor receptor alpha (PDGFRα) is essential for various biological processes, including fetal Leydig cell differentiation. The PDGFRα^EGFP mouse model, which expresses an eGFP fusion gene under the native Pdgfrα promoter, serves as a valuable resource for exploring PDGFRα's expression and function in vivo. This study investigates PDGFRα expression in adult testicular cells using PDGFRα^EGFP mouse model. Methods: Genotyping PCR and gel electrophoresis were used to confirm the zygosity of PDGFRα^EGFP mice. Histological examination and fluorescence imaging were used to identify PDGFRα expression within testicular tissue. Immunohistochemical analysis assessed the co-expression of PDGFRα with c-Kit, ANO-1, and TASK-1 in testicular cells. Results: Genotyping confirmed the heterozygous status of the mice, which is crucial for studies due to the embryonic lethal phenotype observed in homozygotes. Histological and fluorescence imaging revealed that PDGFRα⁺ cells were primarily located in the interstitial spaces of the testis, specifically within Leydig cells and peritubular myoid cells (PMCs). Immunohistochemical results showed PDGFRα co-localization with c-Kit and ANO-1 in Leydig cells and a complete co-localization with TASK-1 in both Leydig cells and PMCs. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate specific expression of PDGFRα in Leydig cells and PMCs in adult testicular tissue. The co-expression of PDGFRα with c-Kit, ANO-1, and TASK-1 suggests complex regulatory mechanisms, possibly influencing testicular function and broader physiological processes.

• Child Health Nursing Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.159-176
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• 1998

In effort to conduct comparative study on the caregiving environment of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit(NICU) in both U. S and Korea, this study was been conducted first in the U.S. Purpose : The purpose of this study is to identify the physical environment and direct caregiving practices to lowbirth weight infants in NICU in the US. It also aims to examine the NICU outcome status and behavioral reponses of lowbirth weight infants. Methods : A study design using descriptive and inferential statistics was been conducted through an observational, field method. A sample of 15 preform infants admitted to NICU were recruited for the study. The subjects were those with birth weight between 1,000 gm to 1,500 gm, born at the gestation period of 27 to 33 weeks, and without any chromosomal or other genetic anomalies, major congenital infections, or maternal illness. Thirty minutes observation(three times of ten minutes of continuous observation)of the infant's behavior and physiological status, and an four-hour observation of the physical environment and direct care giving procedures were been conducted on the 3rd and 10th day after birth, and on the day of discharge from the NICU or at 34weeks postconception. The data to be collected were in four areas : the demograghic characteristics of the infants, the physical environment and care giving procedures, the frequency of the infant's designated behavior and physiological response, and NICU outcome variables. A descriptive analysis and Kruskal-Wallis, Pearson r were been applied according to variable characteristics. Results : 1. Mother's mean age was 29.47. The sample consisted of 6 males and 9 females. Mean gestational ages were 29.17 weeks. Mean birth weight was 1236.33g. Mean Apgar scores at one minute were 6.6, and 7.8 at five minutes. 2. The location for the incubator was in the distance from the light, X-ray screens and nursing station, in proximity to side-lamp, telephone and faucet on the third day after birth. The location for the incubator was in the distance from the light and radio on the tenth day and in proximity to nursing station on the day of dischage from the NICU or at 34weeks postconception. 3. Nesting was the most applying aids to the infants. And foot roll, shielding and plastic frame were frequently using by nurses for facilitating well modulated restful posture. 4. There were statistically significant changes in the patterns of physical environment included locating the infant's incubator and bedding, specific aids to self regulation on the 3rd and 10th day after birth, and on the day of discharge from the NICU or at 34weeks postconception. 5. Statistically significant changes were not appeared in the patterns of direct caregiving procedure to the infants included stress inducing or reducing manipulations on the 3rd and 10th day after birth, and on the day of discharge from the NICU or at 34weeks postconception. 6. The stress response of the infants in NICU were significantly reduced as the infants grow older. 7. There were not statistically significant correlation between the physical envronment and the stress responses of the infants in NICU. 8. There were statistically significant correlation between the direct caregiving procedure to the infants and the stress response of the infants in NICU in the second and third observation on the day three. 9. Average weight gain per day from birth to discharge was 38.73g, number of days in the hospital was 42.60, number of days before bottle feeding was 3.6. Postconception age starting bottle feed ing was 31/sup +5/ weeks. Number of days on mechanical ventilator was average 7.64, 11.42 was an average number of days of oxygen need. Conclusion : It, thus, appears that to minimize the sensorymotor stimulation for the low birthweight preterm infant in NICU, manipulation of care giving practices to the babies whatever the stress inducing or reducing procedures, have to be limited in the immediate early stage after birth. And it needed to be reexamine to identify the appropriate and specific physical environment and the patterns of direct caregiving to the low birthweight preform infant as the infants grow older in NICU.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.135-146
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• 1993

Background: In acute pulmonary embolism it has been postulated that the constriction of bronchi and pulmonary artery secondary to neurohumoral response plays an important role in cardiopulmonary dysfunction in addition to the mechanical obstruction of pulmonary artery. Serotonin is considered as the most important mediator. Positive end expiratory pressure (PEEP) stimulates $PGI_2$ secretion from the vascular endothelium, but its role in acute pulmonary embolism is still in controversy. Methods: To study the cardiopulmonary effect and therapeutic role of Ketanserin, selective antagonist of 5-HT2 receptor, and PEEP in acute pulmonary embolism experimental acute pulmonary embolism was induced in dogs with autologous blood clot. The experimental animals were divided into 3 groups, that is control group, Ketanserin injection group and PEEP application group. Results: Thirty minutes after embolization, mean pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance increased and cardiac output decreased. $PaO_2,\;P\bar{v}O_2$ and oxygen transport decreased and physiological shunt and $PaCO_2$ increased. After injection of Ketanserin, comparing with control group, mean pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary vascular resistance and physiological shunt decreased, while cardiac output, $PaO_2$ and oxygen transport increased. All these changes sustained till 4 hours after embolization. After PEEP application pulmonary vascular resistance, $PaO_2$ and $PaCO_2$ increased, while physiological shunt, cardiac output and oxygen transport decreased. After discontinuation of PEEP, mean pulmonary arterial pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance decreased and were lower than control group, while $PaO_2$ and cardiac output increased and higher than control group. $PaCO_2$ decreased but showed no significant difference comparing with control group. Conclusion: It can be concluded that Ketanserin is effective for the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism. With PEEP hemodynamic status deteriorated, but improved better than control group after discontinuation of PEEP. Thus PEEP may be applied carefully for short period in acute pulmonary embolism if the hemodynamic status is tolerable.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.506-525
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• 1992

Older people, because of the psychological and physiological changes related to the aging process are more vulnerable to experiencing powerlessness than any other age group. This self destructive cycle of depression in older people related to the experience of continued and long term powerlessness can lead even to death. The purpose of this study was to measure powerlessness and resources to increase power in older people, and to measure the effectiveness of a psychological rehabilitation program for reducing powerlessness. The research methodology used was a two step process. In the first step, a survey was done of perceived powerlessness and power resources comparing four groups of elderly people ; those living at home, those in hospital, those living in nursing homes and those attending educational programs for the elderly. The total sample size was 236. In the second step, a psychological rehabilitation program was carried out, pre and post measurements were taken related to this program. The sample consisted of 29 residents in a nursing home. The results of the study are as follows : 1. Powerlessness was classified as cognitive, emotional, activity and learning. The lowest score for powerlessness was in the area of activity, that is the people in the sample felt more power concerning their activities. The highest score was in the area of cognition where they felt they had less power. 2. When the different groups of elderly were compared, it was found that the residents of the nursing home had the highest score on perceived powerlessness and the group who were living at home had the lowest score. 3. Among the general characteristics, the factors influencing the powerlessness score were age, sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the interaction effects among these factors, it was found that level of education and health status were factors influencing perceived powerlessness. The elderly with lower education and poorer health status had the higher scores for perceived powerlessness. 4. The power resources could be classified into the following areas : physical strength, emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge, motivation and belief system. Belief system was given the highest score among the power resources and energy, knowledge and motivation were given low scores. 5. The group participating in an educational program for the elderly had the highest score for power resources while the group made up of residents of a nursing home had the lowest score as well as the highest score for perceived powerlessness. 6. The factors influencing the power resource scores were sex, level of education, financial resources and health status. In the analysis of the interaction effect among the factors, it was found that sex, level of education and financial resources were the factors that influenced the power resource score, that is, women, those with a low level of education and those with poor financial resources reported a lower level of power resources. 7. There was a negative correlation between perceived powerlessness and power resources in the elderly in this study. Since power resources explainded 49% of the variance for powerlessness, it can be concluded that the power resources can be used to reduce powerlessness. 8. The psychological rehabilitation program was carried out with the nursing home residents over a period of five weeks. No statistically significant difference was found in the scores on powerlessness between the pre and post tests, but there was a slight decrease in the raw scores on the post test for emotional, activity and learning powerlessness. There was a statistically significant increase in the power resource scores for emotional strength, positive self-image, energy, knowledge and motivation in the post test as compared to the pre test. In conclusion, the study indicates that a psychological rehabilitation program for the elderly could be effective in increasing power resources and this in turn could lead to a decrease in perceived powerlessness.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.266-274
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• 2010

This study aim to investigate fundamentally the growth and physiological responses of tomato plants in responses to two different levels of water deficit, a weak drought stress (-25 kPa) and a severe drought stress (-100 kPa) in soil. The two levels of water deficit were maintained using a micro-irrigation system consisted of soil sensors for the real-time monitoring of soil water content and irrigation modules in a greenhouse experiment. Soil water contents were fluctuated throughout the 30 days treatment period but differed between the two treatments with the average -47 kPa in -25 kPa set treatment and the -119 kPa in -100 kPa set treatment. There were significant differences in plant height between the two different soil water statuses in plant height without differences of the number of nodes. The plants grown in the severe water-deficit treatment had greater accumulation of biomass than the plants in the weak water-deficit treatment. The severe water-deficit treatment (-119 kPa) also induced greater leaf area and leaf dry weight of the plants than the weak water-deficit treatment did, even though there was no difference in leaf area per unit dry weight. These results of growth parameters tested in this study indicate that the severe drought could cause an adaptation of tomato plants to the drought stress with the enhancement of biomass and leaf expansion without changes of leaf thickness. Greater relative water content of leaves and lower osmotic potential of sap expressed from turgid leaves were recorded in the severe water deficit treatment than in the weak water deficit treatment. This finding also postulated physiological adaptation to be better water status under drought stress. The drought imposition affected significantly on photosynthesis, water use efficiency and stomatal conductance of tomato plants. The severe water-deficit treatment increased PSII activities and water use efficiency, but decreased stomatal conductance than the weak water-deficit treatment. However, there were no differences between the two treatments in total photosynthetic capacity. Finally, there were no differences in the number and biomass of fruits. These results suggested that tomato plants have an ability to make adaptation to water deficit conditions through changes in leaf morphology, osmotic potentials, and water use efficiency as well as PSII activity. These adaptation responses should be considered in the screening of drought tolerance of tomato plants.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.25 no.7
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• pp.586-596
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• 1992

To investigate the role of vitamin E in protection against lipid per-oxide formation and to monitor the changes in the status of vitamin E. A and reduced glutathione(GSH) in fish oil feeding male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups. Control group was fed soybean oil and fish oil groups(FO, FI, FII) fed menhaden oil and soybean oil(9:1) mixture at the level of 10% (w/w) respectively. Dietary vitamin E levels were 30 T, E for control and FI, 2 T.E. for FO and 140 T. E for FII Feeding periods were 4, 8, and 16 weeks. Throughout all periods plasma vitamin E levels(either per ml or per mg lipid) of FO group were extremely low and liver and adipose tissue vitamin E levels were also the lowest among four groups, Plasma vitamin E levels per ml were lower in FI and FII than control but per mg lipid were in the order of FII>FI$\geq$control but vitamin E level per mg lipid did not differ in liver and adipose tissue. As feeding prolonged vitamin E levels in plasma and other tissue were decreased in FO but increased in the other groups. Plsama and liver thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance(TBARS) values were elevated in FO. but increased in the other groups. Plasma and liver thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance(TBARS) values were elevated in FO. While plasma TBARS values as per ml plasma were similar or lower in FI and FII as compared to control plasma TBARS values as per mg lipd and liver TBARS values were in the order of $FI\geqFII>control.$ Plasma and liver vitamin A blood GSH but not liver GSH appeared to be in the order of FII control>FI>FO and this was most significant in 8 weeks. This results suggests that both type of dietary oil and levels of vitamin E affect not only lipid peroxidation but also the status of other physiological antioxidants which have the potential to spare the role of vitamin E.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.316-338
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• 1988

To identify the physiological phenomena on the sudden wilting of japonica/indica crossed varieties, Pot experiment was carried out under the heavy N application with various levels of potassium in Japan. The results obtained are as follows. 1. Sudden wilting was occurred in both varieties used, Yushin and Milyang 23. The former showed a higher degree than the latter. 2. Sudden wilting was occurred into two types, one at early ripening stage and the other at late ripening stage. The former type was found in the field with low potassium supply and the latter was seemed to be related to varietal wilting tolerence. 3. By the investigation of concerning the effective tillering rate and the change of dry weight of each organ at the heading stage, it was inferred that the growth status from young panicle formation stage to heading stage were related to sudden wilting tolerence. 4. Manganese content at heading stage, ratio of Fe/Mn and Fe. Fe/Mn in stern at late ripening stage and $K_2$ O/N ratio of stem at harvesting stage were recognized as the specific factors in connection with sudden wilting. Mn content in the sudden wilting rice plant was already in creased remarkably at heading stage. In relation to root age and absoption characteristics of Mn, the senility of root before heading stage was inferred as the cause of increase the value of Fe/Mn or Fe. Fe/Mn. 5. The $K_2$ O/N ratio of culm at harvesting stage was lower in upper node than lower node in relation to sudden wilting. And it was well accordance with the fact that the symptoms of sudden wilting proceeded from upper leaf to lower leaf. These phenomenon was different from the usual one that the effect of potassium deficiency was more remarkable in lower node than upper node. 6. All varieties which have a condition of potassium deficiency have a high degree of nitrogen content of leaves at heading stage and the $K_2$ O/N ratio of each organ was low, Especialy, $K_2$ O/N ratio is much lower in sheath and culm than leaves.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 1975

Nitrogen efficiency for grain yield(E) and its relation to grain yield(Y), harvesting index(HI), percent translocation of nitrogen from straw to grain(T), nitrogen uptake amount(N), concentration in grain (GN%) or straw (SN%) and total dry matter yield (TY) among rice varieties (Oryza sativa, old and new varieties) were investigated at four nitrogen nutritional status (high and low fertilizer levels in high and low fertility fields) by simple correlation analysis. Relation between any two of above parameters or total dry matter yield (TY) and nitrogen efficiency for total dry matter yield (TE) was also investigated. 1. E is significantly and positively correlated with T, Y, HI but negatively with SN%, N, GN% and in negative trend with TY. 2. T is significantly and positively with GN% or Y, but negatively with SN%. 3. TE is significantly and positively correlated with TY but negatively with N. 4. The order of E among varieties showed consistency among different nitrogen nutritional environments. 5. From the above facts it was concluded that high yielding varieties have high nitrogen efficiency due to high percent translocation of nitrogen from straw to grain, subsequent low nitrogen concentration in straw and that translocated nitrogen in grain is greatly diluted with photosynthates. 6. Reported physiological characteristics of newly bred high yielding IR lines are well accordance with their high nitrogen efficiency and rice breeding was a selection on the basis of nitrogen efficiency. 7. It is postulated that high nitrogen efficiency varieties for yields have high nitrogen efficiency for root growth in early stage so that uptake more efficient soil nitrogen in later growth stage.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.335-346
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• 2004

Factors associated with milk urea nitrogen on milk yield and milk composition were investigated in this study regarding feeding management and Physiological status of lactating cows. The data for 3 years between 1999 and 2002 for this study were collected from 129,645 cows by Korean Agricultural Cooperatives Federation. The objectives of this study were to describe the relationships between milk urea concentrations and seasonal factors, cow factors and production of milk, milk fat, protein and somatic cell score(SCS). Milk urea was highest in summer and it also showed a nonlinear association with milk yield. Milk yield was higher at milk urea concentrations of 21 ${\sim}$ 24mg/dl, however it decreased at higher level of milk urea concentrations than 24mg/dl. Milk urea was higher with increased parities of cows and in particular, at 3 to 4 parities. There was a negative association between milk urea and SCS in milk. SCS in milk was lowest at milk urea concentrations of 2l${\sim}$24mg/dl. Milk fat and milk protein were greatly affected by days in milk(DIM), year of birth, season and milk urea concentrations, respectively. While milk urea increased in summer, milk fat and protein were decreased. Milk protein decreased according to longer days in milk. With regard to the influences of parity, milk protein in overall was negatively correlated to milk urea in all lactations, however the extent of decrease of milk protein at high concentrations of milk urea was bigger at third lactation. The balanced supply of energy and protein to the animals might have greatly affected the urea concentrations and protein content of milk.